The Supe leader sent by Vought poked his head out from behind the wreckage of the overturned pickup truck and pulled a silver-white tal canister from a side pouch on his tactical vest.
The canister was not large, slightly smaller than a beer can. A line of small Russian text was printed on its surface, along with a faded red skull symbol.
Edgar had obtained it through special channels and had soone modify it.
The original Novichok needed close-range pressure contact to take effect, but Edgar’s weapons experts had added a dispersal device to the canister.
It was basically like a smoke grenade. All they had to do was throw it near Soldier Boy.
The leader pressed the release button on top of the canister.
Then he threw it. The canister arced through the air and landed precisely less than a ter in front of Benjamin’s feet.
The instant it hit the ground, a built-in dispersal chanism popped open. Pale blue smoke gushed from the vents around the canister and slowly spread along the ground.
Novichok itself was colorless and odorless.
But when this improved batch was produced, a blue dye had been deliberately added to the agent for no other reason than to let the user see the range of the gas and avoid accidentally inhaling it themselves.
Under the afternoon sunlight, that pale blue smoke gave off an eerie fluorescent glow.
It was like a poisonous mist that should not exist in this world.
"He got hit!"
The Supe leader clenched his fist, his voice filled with the wild joy of soone who had barely survived.
"He can’t get away now! One breath of Novichok is enough..."
The words stuck in his throat.
Benjamin lowered his head and looked at the smoking tal canister on the ground. His expression did not change at all.
Then he bent down and picked up the canister of Novichok.
Benjamin gripped both sides of the canister, aid the nozzle at his mouth, and under everyone’s stunned gaze, took a hard inhale.
Blue smoke was drawn into his lungs, breath after breath. The level of the toxin inside the canister dropped at a visible speed.
"What... what are you doing?!"
Mindstorm shouted.
Benjamin casually tossed the empty tal canister to the ground. He wiped the remaining blue droplets from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, then casually rubbed the poison on the back of his hand against his Supersuit.
"Novichok."
His voice was not loud, but everyone present heard it clearly.
"A fourth-generation binary nerve agent secretly developed by the Soviet Union. In Russian, it ans ’newcor.’ What exactly did you think this was going to do?"
...
Everyone who saw it felt their scalp go numb.
Mindstorm crouched behind the broken maple tree, his lips trembling violently.
Maybe it was because all those Soviet experints and torture had failed to kill him.
Instead, they had caused so kind of change in his body that none of them could understand.
Maybe it was tolerance. Maybe the receptor structure for Compound V in his body had been rewritten. Maybe forty years of repeated exposure had made Novichok as harmless to him as water.
What kind of monster had the Russians created?
Edgar had gotten his hands on the toxin and thought he was holding a trump card.
But in Soldier Boy’s eyes, that card was not even worth a scrap of paper.
"Everyone!"
Mindstorm stood up from behind the broken maple tree.
"Run! Run now!"
After shouting that, he turned and rushed backward first.
But very soon, Mindstorm stopped.
Because soone was blocking his retreat.
A red cape slowly fluttered in the wind at the edge of the maple grove.
Holander walked toward them slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, his boots crunching over the fallen leaves.
Those terrifying blue eyes glowed with a dangerous red light. The red light circled slowly around the edges of his pupils, like a lit fuse.
Mindstorm’s legs went weak.
"Holander..."
Mindstorm’s lips trembled as he forced out the na.
The Vought Supes behind him who had not had ti to run also froze in place.
Then they all saw that figure walking toward them with his hands behind his back.
So dropped their guns. So collapsed straight to the ground.
The Supe leader who had thrown the Novichok canister stood at the very front.
He knew better than anyone what had happened.
Holander had flown here from New York. He had co to save his father.
And just now, they had actually tried to use Novichok to knock out his father.
The leader opened his mouth and explained hoarsely, "Holander, we were just following orders... it was Edgar... Edgar told us to..."
Holander did not look at him.
His gaze passed over everyone and landed on the figure in the dark green Supersuit standing in the middle of the maple grove.
Benjamin was still standing there, his shield held in his left hand, the empty Novichok canister lying by his feet.
There was not a single wound on him. His Supersuit was splattered with plenty of blood, but none of it was his.
Seeing this, Holander finally relaxed.
He murmured to himself,
"My father was betrayed by you once before, and I wasn’t there... This ti, I am."
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