Being followed

The sudden voice rang out startlingly loud on the quiet floor. The man's pupils contracted, and his right hand darted to his waist. He drew a pistol and fired several shots without even turning his head.

The sound of metal striking something hard came from behind him. Only then did the man turn around.

Behind him, Mercer's forearm had transformed into a shield half a person's height, blocking every bullet.

This was an Abomination-enhanced Blacklight Shield. Mercer believed that even if he were shot, Blacklight matter would help him recover.

But that did not mean he wanted to get shot. It would still hurt, and he had no desire to experience that pain.

"What the hell?"

Seeing all his shots blocked, the man's eyes filled with surprise.

He tried to launch another attack, but Mercer rushed forward and threw a punch straight at him.

"So fast!"

The man dropped his gun and raised his arms to guard himself.

The punch smashed into his arms. The searing pain made him bare his teeth and suck in a sharp breath, the surprise in his eyes growing.

"How can a normal person have that kind of strength?!"

That punch had carried strength beyond anything a human could muster. The man felt as though a speeding motorcycle had crashed head-on into him.

That single punch had already ruined his forearms.

He tried to raise them again, but the intense pain forced him to abandon the idea.

"Still couldn't control my strength properly? Looks like I need to work on that."

Mercer's voice carried a hint of disappointment as he shook his head regretfully.

He had intended to hold back and test the fighting techniques he had absorbed from Abomination's Normal-Human Form.

Yet even after reducing his strength to a tenth, that punch had still dealt a devastating blow, far beyond anything a normal person could withstand.

The man might have been an assassin, but his physical capabilities were still those of an ordinary human. He could not possibly withstand Mercer's punch.

"Wait, whatever your terms are, we can talk this over..."

The man lifted his hands, numb with pain, hoping to keep Mercer from attacking again.

Before he could finish, a simple, direct kick grew larger in his vision.

Thud!

Mercer's foot landed squarely on the man's head. With a dull impact, the tremendous force crushed it flat.

Countless cracks spread across the floor around the man, a testament to the power of that stomp.

It was a crushing victory, a fight whose outcome had never been in doubt.

After crushing the man's head, Blacklight matter spread over Mercer's foot, making contact with the lifeless man beneath it.

The corpse dissolved into streams of black-and-red liquid and merged into Mercer's body.

In the blink of an eye, Mercer took on the man's appearance.

"So Hydra did send him!"

After going through the man's memories, Mercer learned that he was an assassin working with Hydra. His mission had been to eliminate Mercer-or rather, subdue him.

"Hydra. Looks like I'll have to make time to pay that organization a visit."

Mercer narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint showing through. He had never intended to make an enemy of Hydra, but they had chosen to provoke him.

As far as he was concerned, not wiping out that evil organization was already a courtesy.

Now that they had come after him, Mercer did not mind cutting out that cancer.

After tidying up what was left on the floor, Mercer helped himself to the sniper rifle.

Leaving it there certainly would not do. He had no use for it, but it would make a decent addition to a collection.

Once he returned downstairs, Mercer called Carter and asked her to come down, telling her the problem had been dealt with.

Carter was not particularly surprised that he had resolved it so quickly. After all, Mercer could overpower Abomination with ease.

If he said he had a way to deal with the sniper, then he certainly did. Carter had not been all that worried.

An engine roared nearby as Lockdown drove over on his own and stopped beside Mercer.

"Want to get in and take a drive?"

"Is this your car?"

Carter paused, staring at the open door. Before Mercer got in, there had been no one inside. How had it driven over?

Mercer smiled and courteously opened the door on the other side for Carter, gesturing for her to get in.

Carter hesitated, finding the young man before her increasingly difficult to figure out.

Not long ago, he had seemed like nothing more than a poor high school student. How was he driving a Lamborghini now?

"Lockdown, this is Carter. Say hello."

Mercer spoke as he buckled his seat belt.

Carter was puzzled, then suddenly heard a mechanical voice inside the car.

"Hello, Ms. Carter. I'm Lockdown." His voice startled her.

"Is this... artificial intelligence?"

She studied the Lamborghini's interior curiously. Carter had encountered artificial intelligence before-Stark's AI, JARVIS.

"I am a living being in my own right. Please don't lump me in with primitive technology like artificial intelligence."

Lockdown's haughty voice rang out.

Carter: "..."

Artificial intelligence was primitive technology?

AI was nowhere near widespread on Earth. At most, ordinary people's phones had assistants that could answer a limited set of questions.

How far ahead did someone have to be to call artificial intelligence outdated?

"Let's drive around for now and see if there are any houses for sale. I need to find somewhere to live first."

Mercer gave Lockdown his instructions, and the car began moving.

Inside, the two chatted intermittently, mostly about their pasts.

Mercer had little to say about his own past, so he mostly listened to Carter.

"Creator, we're being followed."

Lockdown's voice suddenly rang out. The rearview mirror adjusted itself to frame a black van behind them.

"This vehicle has followed us for two blocks, maintaining a constant speed. Given the time of day, there shouldn't be a car trailing us for this long."

Through the rearview mirror, both Mercer and Carter saw the van behind them.

They could not see anything inside through its windshield. That was not normal for an ordinary vehicle.

"That's specially made bulletproof glass!" Carter said immediately.

The glass was not merely bulletproof. Concealing the interior also kept the occupants from being exposed.

"Lockdown, see if you can lose them," Mercer said.

The Lamborghini abruptly accelerated and shot into a lane filled with heavier traffic.

The Lamborghini stood out among the cars, not just because of its speed, but even more because of the extraordinary driving.

It always found gaps in traffic and slipped through them. After several turns, the pursuing van was visibly struggling to keep up.

"Uh-oh. Looks like they don't want to waste any more time chasing us."

Two vans suddenly appeared three hundred meters ahead, immediately reminding Mercer of a movie he had watched in his previous life.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury had been boxed in by several vans belonging to Hydra.

These vans looked to be operating in much the same way.

After thinking it over, he said to Lockdown, "There are more enemies up ahead. You can tell which ones they are, right?"

"Creator, if you think something this trivial could stump me, you're seriously underestimating my title as Cybertron's number one assassin."

Lockdown sounded a little indignant, making Mercer smile. Carter still had no idea what he was planning.

"Good. You handle the vehicles ahead. Leave the one behind to me."

"No problem!"

They reached an understanding in a rapid exchange. Mercer turned to Carter beside him with a smile.

"Get ready. We're about to eject."

"E... eject?"