After a long while, they finally pulled apart. Sophia gasped for breath, staring at Magnus. His face was flushed, and her eyes dropped to his stomach - his hand still clutched it tightly, soaked in blood. But the bleeding had stopped.
"You’re not dead?" Sophia’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"I an... I didn’t want you to be a widow," Magnus mumbled, guilty.
"This... that’s impossible! My aim isn’t that bad! At that distance - " Sophia shoved his hand aside to check the wound. His shirt had a hole, blood sared on the skin beneath - but no real injury.
"No way! How the hell did you do that?" She took a step back, like she’d seen a ghost. Grace stared wide-eyed too, equally stunned.
Magnus stood up, brushed the dirt off, and scratched his head. "My awakening’s about like yours. This ability... saves lives."
"I don’t buy it!" Sophia fud. She felt tricked and scrambled to find her lost pistol - intent on shooting him again.
If that bullet had hit his head, even God couldn’t have saved him. Luckily it hit his stomach. And there was no way Magnus was giving her another shot - he bolted for the car fast.
He swore to himself - he really had planned to teach Sophia a lesson today. But hitting a woman? That’s just low.
Back then, hot-headed as he was - she’d called him a scoundrel, right? So he figured hell, might as well act like one. Didn’t expect she’d actually shoot! That just made him angrier. Not ssing with her a bit after that... felt like his gut got shot for nothing.
*****
Ten minutes later, all five of them were in the car again. Not what Magnus expected - no one brought up what just happened. Sophia sat behind the wheel, face cold, deep in thought.
Maybe she figured one shot was enough punishnt.
By 8 p.m., night had fully fallen. Shoulder-fired rockets lost accuracy past 300 ters, so Magnus had the team dismount. The five crept forward, stopping about 50 ters from the military airfield. Using a night-vision scope, they scanned the place.
The base had four runways - three already bombed out, wrecked planes still lying there. No idea who did it.
Only one runway left intact. On it sat three bombers, two fighters, and two gunships.
So just six aircraft in total? Magnus had the team double-check everything. "Make sure nothing slips by."
Then he turned to Sophia. "You think you can hit those six from here? How long would you need?"
Sophia shot him a glance. "Less than three minutes. No interference - I can guarantee it."
"Good. Then we hit now. First the barracks. Then the planes," Magnus ordered firmly.
"Wait," Grace chid in. "The patrol truck cos back in ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Shouldn’t we take that out first?"
The patrol vehicle was an infantry fighting vehicle - trouble, but manageable. By late afternoon, the team had figured out its route. Magnus checked the airfield through his binoculars, then turned to look at the patrol’s direction. He nodded. "Alright, once you see the patrol, hit the barracks first, then the vehicle, then the aircraft."
Within ten minutes, the patrol rolled into view. Magnus signaled Sophia. The four won quickly set up the rocket launcher. Sophia took a deep breath and fired two rounds straight at the barracks.
A string of explosions followed - flas lit up the building. Must’ve hit sothing flammable inside, maybe a furnace or supplies. The barracks were wiped out.
The patrol vehicle had just reached the gate when Sophia fired again. One hit - boom, vehicle flipped. Next target: aircraft.
Suddenly, alarms wailed across the airfield. Sophia acted fast, loaded the launcher, and fired six rockets in a row. One after another, planes erupted into flas.
"Hit the runway too! Don’t let them fly again!" Magnus snapped.
"Got it!" Sophia replied, calm as ever. She hefted the launcher again, sent another rocket screaming out.
"Move out!" Magnus shouted.
They bolted back to the Humvee. Things had gone smoother than expected. Sophia jumped into the driver’s seat. "Where to now? Back to the shelter?"
"No. South Gate of Springvale."
Just like that, a new plan ford in Magnus’s head.
"South Gate?" Sophia stared at him, surprised. "After all that noise, Cliff’s gonna get wind of it fast. He’ll send troops. You’re thinking ambush?"
Magnus shook his head. "Nope. No ambush."
"Then what? You want a head-on fight?" Sophia frowned, not following.
"I want to lure the tiger out of the mountain..."
*****
At the South Gate, Cliff had already been alerted about the airfield. Rage took over. In no ti, he dispatched an armored company to respond.
No planes ant he was no better than the outside riffraff - just with more numbers. No way he’d let that happen. Even a single aircraft had to be saved at all costs.
An hour later, Magnus and his crew hid the Humvee and made their way into Springvale City with ten rockets and one launcher. Their destination - Lightwater Residences.
It was a gated complex, not far from the city center, and surrounded by tall buildings. Magnus and the others didn’t use tal Crystals to avoid drawing attention. Instead, they activated Fire Crystals and slipped quietly into a nearby 22-story building.
On the seventh floor now, the best vantage point. They crawled in the dark, pressed to the window, and raised binoculars.
If this went well, Cliff could suffer a real blow. But after a few minutes scanning, Magnus’s expression darkened.
Cliff wasn’t dumb. He hadn’t lumped all his n into one building. Over thirty in the complex, with every one they could see having sealed windows.
The upper floors were sealed, probably as a defense against mutants - just keeping the place shut tight. Troops had to be on the first or second floors.
"Hey, Sophia, you think one rocket’s enough to take out a whole building?"
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