Free Web NovelChapter 48: Ch 47: Lemurian Star Hijack VII
Luke decided to completely ignore that slight, unsettling oddity in Luna’s expression for now. frёeωebɳovel.com
He cleared his throat, turning to the armed mercenary behind her. "Marcel, be a lamb and tie our lovely Luna back to her chair, would you? Gently, please. She’s had a very tough day."
"Oui, Veritas," Marcel grunted, immediately pulling her arms back and securing them with fresh metal restraints.
Luna didn’t resist as she sat down on her chair. She didn’t even seem to notice. Her eyes remained fixed on Veritas with that same quiet, unsettling peace.
Veritas turned his attention back to the rest of the hostages.
The moment his hollow eyeholes swept across the room, 45 remaining hostages collectively shuddered, some of them even pressed themselves back into their seats.
The unyielding, fearless spirit that these trained S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel had displayed just thirty minutes ago had completely drowned out, vanishing just like Luna’s bright, cheerful smile.
Behind his mask, an amused smirk tugged at the corners of Luke’s mouth.
Even if Luke didn’t have the list provided by Jasper Sitwell, looking at all the faces who looked a little extra afraid and desperate, he could say that it was hilariously obvious who the undercover Hydra agents were.
His phone floated in front of him. He glanced at the time displayed on the screen.
It had been exactly 103 minutes since they had hijacked the Lemurian Star.
He frowned internally. According to the intel Maria Hill had provided him, the S.H.I.E.L.D. response team’s ETA was supposed to be a total of 97 minutes post-hijack.
’Are they late...?’ Veritas wondered for a brief second.
Then he shook his head, dismissing the thought.
’No... S.H.I.E.L.D.’s elite STRIKE team and Captain America don’t do late. If they weren’t knocking on the front door yet, it simply meant they were still infiltrating and setting up. But one thing was unmistakable, they were already on the ship now.’
Just like in the canon, they were extremely stealthy right before they sniped the terrorists in the hostage rooms. And this was... even after Luke had warned Batroc’s men of their arrival. He specifically told them not to engage and press a damn alert button...
Batroc’s men were competent, but apparently not enough to best a super soldier and STRIKE commandos.
In that case... It’s time to turn up the heat.
Veritas reached out, grabbed the floating camera with both hands, and pulled it right up to his mask.
"Would you look at that, America?" Veritas sighed, his voice echoing across millions of screens nationwide. "34 minutes out of the 35 I generously gave S.H.I.E.L.D. have already ticked away. One minute left and still no ransom, no response..."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of the most powerful organizations in the world. My friends are waiting for their funds... yet it seems like S.H.I.E.L.D. cares more about some quick change rather than the lives of their own personnel...Tsk, tsk. What a terribly irresponsible homeland security division."
He lazily pointed a gloved finger at the very messy remains of Lucas West. "And this passivity is after they’ve already lost a hostage! I know, I know the credit for that goes to our Luna here but still..."
"Oh! I get it..." he said as if the realization just dawned on him this instant, "They simply don’t care about a monster like Lucas, so they think they can still salvage this whole mess somehow. They still think that they can deal with this situation. I don’t know why... but maybe... they think they still have... hope."
His voice dropped further, turning cold and dangerous. He clenched his gloved fists, the leather creaking audibly in the sudden silence.
"If they are thinking that, then they are... gravely mistaken..." The last words were barely a whisper and this silent mumbling sent a chill down everyone who watched – The hostages, people of America, and even just barely Maria Hill.
He turned back toward Luna, who was now securely bound to her chair once more. Marcel stood beside her, his arms crossed, waiting for his next command.
Luke was really starting to like this heavily armed mercenary. He was just so wonderfully obedient. It was genuinely hard to find good help these days.
"Marcel, my favorite friend," Veritas spoke, "You are just a delightfully excellent, helpful, you know that? Tell you what, I’ll personally throw in a crisp $250,000 bonus from my own cut just for you."
Marcel’s eyes lit up, his chest puffing out slightly as he imagined the shiny new sports car he was going to buy. "Merci, Veritas."
Veritas cracked his neck, and for a brief second, his gaze drifted lazily toward the single, high window of the gallery. He had been glancing towards it for a long time now.
But this time, a rather relieved smile formed on his lips behind the mask.
"Now then, Marcel," Veritas ordered, "The moment I finish counting down, I want you to put a bullet right through Miss Luna’s head."
"Oui!" Marcel replied eagerly, immediately raising his assault rifle and taking aim at the girl.
With that, Veritas began to walk backwards, finally lowering himself into his chair right near the hostages... and, entirely by ’coincidence’, moving completely out of the window’s sightline.
"Let’s begin, shall we?" he asked the camera. He clapped once, the sharp sound echoing in the terribly tense room. "Ten..."
The hostages... Luna’s friends... held their breath.
"Nine..."
Luna closed her eyes, her small smile still in place.
"Eight..."
BANG! BANG!
Two suppressed, high-caliber sniper rounds shattered the gallery’s window in a shower of sparkling glass.
’Oh, come ooon!’ Luke groaned internally as he saw Marcel fall and another one of Batroc’s men drop to the ground. The poor guys had been standing right in the open, completely visible from the gallery window.
Marcel’s $250,000 dream ended instantly as a bullet tore straight through his temple. He dropped to the steel deck like a sack of bricks. At the exact moment, a second mercenary standing a few feet away from Marcel suffered the exact same fate.
He shook his head in absolute disappointment. ’You guys were supposed to shoot on ’one’! Or ’zero’! Who the hell shoots on eight?! SHIELD people know absolutely nothing about showmanship... zero respect for my efforts to nail their arrival time with my countdown!’
Internally, he wanted to pat his back. The timings for everything: the declaration, the game, the killing... were all so perfect... just as he had planned.
To be honest, a major credit for his planning went to Maria Hill. Without her precise intel, this mission’s orchestration was nearly impossible.
The remaining three mercenaries barely had time to register what had happened to their comrades when the heavy steel door to the gallery exploded inward, its hinges blasted clean off by a controlled charge.
Before the smoke even cleared, a blur of white and pink came slingshotting through the opening - a human missile with perfect aim...
She was fast. Terrifyingly fast.
Her kick was already mid-arc, spinning through the air with the precision of a guided weapon.
The trajectory was locked directly on Veritas’s masked face. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
’Ah. There she is. My TP cow...’ Luke thought as he watched her approach, ’Still adamant about giving me a face kick. Hm, her suit’s a bit different...’
But just as the sole of her boot was a fraction of an inch away from caving in his face... he vanished.
Gwen’s eyes widened behind her mask. Realizing she was about to overshoot and crash straight into the hostages, she quickly flicked her wrist backward.
Thwip!
A strand of webbing shot out, anchoring to the back wall and instantly killing her forward momentum.
Her feet gracefully landed on the very chair Veritas had occupied a heartbeat ago.
Gwen’s eye-lenses narrowed. ’Where did he go?’
An instant later, her Spider-Sense screamed - they were not warning her of an attack on herself, but pointing directly toward the entryway.
BOOOOOOM!
Gwen quickly spun around toward the source of the noise.
There, standing casually amidst the thick, billowing smoke of the entryway, was Veritas. And right at his feet lay STRIKE team leader Brock Rumlow and his right-hand man, Jack Rollins.
Veritas had bypassed Gwen entirely, welcoming the heavily armed S.H.I.E.L.D. commandos with a point-blank, localized explosion. The blast had critically scorched their advanced tactical armor, melting the heavy Kevlar and severely burning the men.
Gwen’s breath hitched at the horrifying scene.
As Rumlow and Rollins collapsed onto the steel deck, completely unconscious and groaning weakly, she observed their chests rising and falling. They were burnt to a degree that their facial skin had melted... yet they were somehow still breathing.
Veritas straightened up slowly, adjusting the cuffs of his gloves like a businessman who’d just finished a mildly annoying meeting.
He turned around to face her fully.
And then, with the audacity of a man who hadn’t just flash-fried two elite agents, he clapped his hands together.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Amazing, Miss Spider! Truly amazing!" His voice was bright, almost giddy. "You traveled all the way from America just to come see little old me. Honestly, I’m incredibly flattered! Deeply."
He tilted his head, the dark, hollow eyeholes of the Jester mask locking onto her. That painted grin somehow looked even more insufferable.
"But I have to ask, and please be honest with me..." He leaned on the side wall, "Is it duty that brings you here tonight? Or is it something more... personal? Something... romantic, perhaps?"
"Is it... love?" He mumbled shyly... ANNOYINGLY!!!!!
Gwen hopped down from the chair with a sigh, rolling her shoulders before cracking her neck.
"Oh, definitely, love. I love punching terrorists in the face."
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Thanks for reading!
Yeah, Luke could really spot so-called stealthy SHIELD snipers from the window. Here is a screenshot from the movie, when Sitwell spotted them.
(Image)
oops, wrong screenshot...
here’s the real one:
(Image)
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