Soldier of Time

XXIII - Mercenary 2 (2)

The Deer saw it and said with antipathy, “Checking twice eliminates the accidents...”

Hearing that, the man burst out laughing while his companions imitated him inside the car. And when he could contain his laughter once more, he asked, “And who taught you that beautiful rule, Deer?”

“My platoon leader.”

The laughter fell instantly, and all the policemen adopted a very serious face. They all looked at the young man inferring what that answer meant but few of them dared to ask.

From the car, a door opened, and one of the officers came out looking at the Deer to ask, “Were you in the Civil War?”

The Deer nodded slowly without knowing if that answer would be well received by those people.

In many places, the battles of that fight were so bloody that the resentment of these people was indomitable, but it could never be anticipated whether they hated the rebels or the officers of the national army.

“My brother died there,” the officer said as he looked at the boy with sympathy. “The army had no compassion, but he always spoke of a platoon that made them suffer. I assume you belonged to that platoon, didn’t you?”

The Deer slowly nodded again, and the officer raising his hand to his chest, said solemnly, “For the people, we die.”

Hearing that the Deer turned on his heels, he placed his hand on his chest and said, “For the people, we fight.”

And with those words, he went on his way. The war had separated many things in Javelin, but it had unified the people in a way. The leaders and the citizens saw the determination of the people who fought for their rights to be respected.

So much destruction and death had weakened the nation but strengthened its ideals. The rebels had achieved their objectives even though they had lost the war.

The night was as calm as the day, tranquility that only an army of armed men could provide.

Hanibal could appear at any moment, but the truth was that the men stationed here to protect Irving were dangerous, and not even a stray bullet-like Hanibal would put himself at risk, or so the Deer thought.

When the sun rose, all the preparations were made, the patrols were preparing to transport the witness at the agreed time. All the public was ready, and they just had to give them the star. And there was a particular man waiting for that star.

As he waited, his breathing was calm, and he waited while his eyes did not leave the prize. He knew what he had to do as soon as Irving showed his face, even though the method he employed was not his favorite.

At the agreed time, the police officers moved, and the man held his breath as his window of opportunity was opening.

From the house, several men began to leave, all were dressed in the same way, and all had their faces covered with masks, all the masks were identical, and therefore it was impossible to identify which of them was the target.

Hanibal was puzzled, but his thought was to kill everyone, and without a doubt, he would find the target. He was about to start shooting when suddenly a man surrounded by two more came out, they all had the same masks, but that man looked scared he was walking almost crouched looking in all directions, without a doubt that was his man.

Hanibal put his eye on the peephole, but when he was about to shoot, the man panicked and started running towards the police car. The front yard of the house was huge, almost ten meters away from the street, the man tried to bridge that distance by running, but several shots rang out in the environment.

The man fell to the ground while his guards took cover and tried to find out where the shots had come from. Hanibal, who was in a building in front of the house, heard how, on the stairs of that building, several people tried to reach his position.

The killer grabbed a rope he had ready, tied it to a harness on his belt, and launched himself into the void, making sure to shoot as he fell. Some tried to shoot him, but it was useless. As soon as Hanibal touched the ground, his ability began to activate and eliminate the men who were opposing him.

The terrified man saw that murderer approach, and without thinking twice, he ran back to the house. Many shots flew in his direction but missed their target. Hanibal eliminated the soldiers that appeared as he chased the terrified man into the hunt.

The assailant entered the front hallway when a man attacked him from the side. He evaded the blow and attempted to hit him back, but the subject was considerably fast.

The back guard who was standing up to Hanibal tried to take a pistol from his belt, Hanibal rolled onto his back, and as that subject tried to pull out the pistol,

Hanibal shot him in the chest. Only to find out that he was wearing a vest.

Without considering it too much, he left the guard back there and made his way inside the house. Many mercenaries simply chose to ignore Hanibal because of the fear he caused them.

Hanibal followed the best option to avoid the shots of the Guards who were still inside the house, and while he was running, he got a column to protect himself.

Two men with automatic weapons began to unload their rounds against that column, waiting for one of their bullets to hit the target. Hanibal activated his ability, and a blue figure of himself showed him the way to go.

The killer came out of hiding and raising the weapon without continuing to aim the shot, making a target in the chest of one of his assailants.

The other bodyguard started to shoot, but Hanibal rolled onto his back and jumped in a huge spin in the air, evading all of the man’s shots only to land by putting his gun to his chest and said, “Goodbye…”

He shot him three times. Hanibal’s target saw what that man did and resumed his running, trying to get out of that hall.

Hanibal fired several shots trying to keep the man still, but out of nowhere, that terrified character pulled out a gun and began firing at the murderer.

He moved even faster and tried to capture his target. The man in the mask ran out the door, turning into a hallway that would lead him to another part of the house, and Hanibal followed behind.

But before entering the hall, Hanibal used his power to determine what would be the safest entrance to that place.

His ability revealed the way, and when he entered, he saw how two shots from the man he was chasing missed only by millimeters thanks to his decision.

The man tried to shoot the mark, but this somersault kicked the gun out of Hanibal’s hand. The assassin responded by moving fast forward, preventing the target from aiming at him, and hitting his wrist made him drop the gun.

He then tried to hit him in the face, to which the guy evaded by moving his head efficiently and avoiding Hanibal’s blows. After that, the target turned on his heel and kicked Hanibal’s chest, making him fall backward as he reached for his weapon.

The man took the pistol from the floor, but when he turned to aim, Hanibal was still on the ground, and the pistol that he had efficiently snatched from him was again in the assassin’s hands as he pulled the trigger, hitting the arm of the masked man.

When the bullet made contact, the man staggered and fell to the ground, hitting the wall and losing his mask. Under that mask was the face of the Deer.

Hanibal got up and kicked the gun away from the mercenary, looked at him for a second, and then said, “You’re the guy from the road!”

Slevin wryly smiled as he stopped time to try to find a way out of this problem. But there was no such. He once again was at the mercy of that murderer.

“You really know how to put on a show, man!! Tell me where that trash Irving is. I have a bullet with his name on it.”

The Deer was silent, and Hanibal asked once more, “Come on, buddy, tell me. Shutting up isn’t going to save him.”

“Actually, it will. Sorry… buddy. But Mr. Irving is on his way to court,” To which the Deer responded by giving him another smile.

Hanibal looked at the boy, saw all the fuss with the masks, and everything became clear in his mind. The Deer was still looking for a way out of the problem in his mind when he heard Hanibal’s laugh.

“The son of a b***h got away while I was chasing you!” He said before laughing frantically. “You’re a bastard. Wasting my time.”

After that, he pointed the Deer straight in the face and said, “I must admit it was good” while he spoke, he did not stop smiling. “Who made up the theatrical?”

“You’re seeing him,” Slevin said while smiling at the barrel of the gun. “It’s me. I fooled you.”

Hanibal looked at the young man with curiosity and lowering the gun. He said, “You set yourself as bait. Impressive. I really respect that. It’s funny, but every time I see you, you earn the right to live. I hope the next one will be more interesting.”

The man did not show an ounce of annoyance, or anger at what he had lost, nothing, and he showed enthusiasm and some joy instead. The blonde lowered the gun and walked to the door but not before turning and saying to the Deer with a huge smile on his face.

“The next one will be the last old sport, and we are one to one. I do not plan to lose.”

And after that, he disappeared. The Deer felt how the pain of the shot in his arm burned. He knew that he had died again at the hands of that savage, and he kept wondering how long his luck would last.