A Second Chance

Part 11 - I am the danger

"Let's split up," I suggested. "We can spread out our search, but be careful; there's a bunch of traps and an elite fighter could be there,"

Each team member nodded, acknowledging the importance of their assigned role in this high-stakes operation.

We split up, me by myself and the team going in pairs of two in order to ensure safety.

I traversed the long hallways, taking notes of my surroundings. This place looks worn down and cranky, the type of place where you would expect a hostage to be. I wonder what type of traps could be here other than a potential ambush.

"It's gonna take me some time to get Senator Red's exact location," Mark cautioned. "Explore this place while I'm trying,"

"They definitely have some sort of ambush planned if the location was that easy to find," I wondered. "Maybe I shouldn't have split everyone up,"

"No, the point of the mission is the senator's safety," Mark replied. "We need to find him as fast as possible, so you did the right thing. On top of that, they're SWAT. They should know what they're doing,"

"I'm just scared that an executive might have planned this," I sighed. "I'm no match for them, even by Billy's standards. He told me to avoid them at all costs,"

"You can avoid them," Mark assured me. "If you face an executive, then just evade, then take the senator and run. Tell SWAT to evacuate. You can use lightning on your feet, to run faster, right? That's how you escaped Nightshade, if I remember correctly,"

He was right... I didn't have to fight the executives. There were also the fighters ranked 11th-7th, which were supposed to be a different breed than those ranked 12th-25th, meaning that I had more on my plate to worry about.

"Mark, do you know about the fighters ranked 11th - 7th?" I inquired. "Do you know what makes them so strong?"

"No idea," Mark replied. "All I know is that they kill everyone that fight them, so nobody knows who they truly are,"

"No witnesses?"

"That's right. They all have ways to leave no witnesses; that's how strong they are,"

"I see how it is,"

Damn... so nobody knew about how they operated, because they killed the ones who saw their actions.

"But...what if someone just...saw it?"

"Those fighters don't engage in most crimes, so no. It's just them against SWAT, and nobody gets out alive from those fights. They've only got a little information on the fighters ranked 25th-12th, and then again, even those guys can't be detained that easily because of how strong they are,"

"They need more power..." I muttered.

"No, they need better coordination," Mark corrected. "They could take down elite fighters if they have the right strategy. They did have a good commander back in the past, but he's dead now. Somebody as capable as him needs to take the spot,"

"We should focus on that after saving Senator Red,"

"We'll need to, especially during The Purge,"

"The what?-"

Suddenly, a forceful kick struck me from behind, jolting me back to my surroundings. I swiftly turned around and blocked an incoming punch, before throwing a kick.

My enemy jumped back, effectively avoiding my kick.

"You're Power-Punch?" he asked.

He was strong to evade me like that, no doubt. I think he's one of the main culprits behind the kidnapping of Senator Red. Maybe he's one of those "elite fighters" that Billy was talking about. Hopefully, he isn't part of the bunch ranked 11th-7th; otherwise, I won't be able to win.