The explosion was a sight to behold, its licking heat, its sound, its smell. It was something many would never see in their life, unless it's down the barrel of a gun, meters away. It was now a matter of simplicity, with the blatant leak of information, the MTF now had a location to explore and centralize. They were already headed towards the outskirts of the city searching for it.
They whipped past cars and outran the police, who were few and unwilling to do their jobs at this point. Hydroplaning was an advantage to them somehow, as they slid around corners, and pulled off maneuvers thought insane and near human limit by most. The MTF found the location quickly; however, keeping an entire street silent with very obvious agents is conspicuous.
The MTF was prepared this time; they shifted gears, yanked the wheel, opened the doors, and jumped out as the car rolled out. The vanguard was tasked with a simple rule: by any means necessary, make it an even fight. They had prepared something similar to the Empire of Japan, except the "plane" was unmanned.
KABOOM!
The car exploded, launching metal fragments everywhere, similar to a grenade but hotter and bigger. The agents were not idiots; they heard the car driving in pretty fast, so most dodged while others simply took cover. The MTF knew this was going to cause close to no harm, but it gave them time to actually do something. With the distraction, the vanguard moved up rapidly, taking advantageous positions as they fired down the area, keeping the agents behind cover. The other MTF moved up super close and spread out in an oval formation.
As for Clint and the other agents leading 280, Clint heard the explosion and the gunfire as well as the agents, but if he pulled off from 280 and went to aid the other agents, there is a high chance 280 would kill them, and disappear into New York. As much as it pained him, he stayed and sent good wishes to his fellow agents. They were almost there, so if they could hold off the MTF, Clint could instantly help.
The agents were not getting many opportunities to pop off shots, let alone coordinate. They had been split up as they found cover under the enlarged grenade, which sent fumes everywhere. They could barely hear each other over the sounds of gunfire and rain, and enemy positions were only those that could be seen through the fog and sound. The MTF, setting up a quick assault, was not heard as they kept quiet and moved with the rain.
When an agent spotted the first MTF, he was already lying face-first in the concrete. The other agents who saw him fall didn't manage to process how he died before a concussion grenade hit them. They collapsed and hit the ground with a small thud, unheard.
The rest of the MTF arrived soon after, but so did Clint and the agents. They arrived in the midst of a lot of shooting. The MTF had already set up an advantageous position around the agents without them realizing, but with the Hight Clint could see what was going on. Seeing how bad things were here, the agents leading 280 realized they would have to hold it off somehow before any securing could be done.
Clint nocked a special arrow, aimed it against the wind to an extent, and released. It zipped against the wind, causing it to wobble and fly with the wind, but the momentary resistance gave it enough aim to land exactly where Clint wanted it to land.
It smacked straight into the ground, next to the MTF, before they could react to the arrow, which created a circuit, and the electrons within the clouds felt it. The static electricity launched down, and with thunder, the MTF were charred. The ones who got hit collapsed onto the ground like a rag doll; meanwhile, the MTF, seeing the charred remains of the others, looked to see the remains of an arrow.
When the main force arrived, they also brought with them a secret weapon to use against the girl if she showed up. The reality anchor, while intended to be used against the girl, it will be put to good use now that another superhuman has shown up.
They grabbed the thing from out the back and activated it without hesitation. Another arrow was already flying towards them, but as it reached the threshold, it ceased to exist. As for those inside the threshold, the world looked frozen in time, with droplets floating midair.
The world was not frozen; it instead took all the matter that was already existing when it went off and made the Hume level the average, so anything entering it that was not there before ceases within a certain limit, and any reality-bending weaker than the anchor resets to an estimation of what was there to average the Hume out.
(IK it's not how it is in the wiki, but bear with it, okay?)
The frozen drops and bullets make for a scene so astonishing that even Medusa would be petrified. 'Tis but a moment, as matter is not frozen to an absolute. The droplets fall again, repeating where they land, bullets reach the threshold and reappear where they were shot from. Interestingly enough, humans can move around and continue firing and fighting, except that nothing can come in and cause a ruckus.
No matter how many times Clint fires an arrow at the MTF, it will never make it, as it always deletes. The agents inside the threshold are holding onto whatever sanity they can; every time they move, the same droplets hit them, and if they stand still, a droplet will always hit where it has before. The bullets keep whizzing by them and hitting the same spot, except it always resets.
They can move, they've tried, but everything is wrong. The MTFs are used to this clear violation of laws, so they use the confusion and disparity the other side feels, and make a mad dash, like Krieger's. Since they understood the way the anchor works better, they had the upper hand, as they had brought in more ammo.
Even though a bullet is inside a mag, it can be fired inside as all the matter that was the bullet is still there, just in different forms, allowing for fighting, it won't loop, however.
The mad dash paid off as the bullets being fired previously kept repeating, covering their run, and when they made it to the corner, were the charred remains of the other MTF laid they held the trigger down and fired.
The agents were caught off guard and were peppered with bullets, collapsing in a heap. As for the agents keeping 280 looped, they had been getting helped by Clint, as no matter how he tried, all arrows simply disappeared. He had been keeping an eye on the inside of the bubble, which, while invisible, with the help of the arrows, he managed to pinpoint an edge.
He saw that all the agents died, and helplessly too. As much anger as he felt, no matter what, he couldn't pass an arrow through the barrier they had set up. The MTF on the inside were not idle after they wiped the agents out, they made their way back to the car and disabled the anchor. As soon as they did, the bullets finally stopped looping, and the rain stopped repeating.
The cars roared out and headed straight to 280, the remaining agents, and Clint. With anger, 3 arrows were launched in succession, but just like before, they suddenly disappeared, and the cars moved forward, jerked backwards, but lost no speed. Turning it on and off repeatedly was really damaging to reality and the device, but it allowed for a quick snatch.
With Clint being momentarily preoccupied trying to kill the MTF, the agents under the assault of 280 finally suffered some heavy damage, as one of them had their index finger cut off. They were running out of time, energy, and resources. They didn't have the aim, reflexes, and precision like Clint, so without his help, they were screwed.
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That's the end of this chapter
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Reality Anchors... I changed how they work because I think this is cooler, I will explain them more when they are used in scenarios and loopholes/weaknesses are exposed. Also I was thinking of making a draft chapter that has all the abilities and other metrics of the main characters in case I forget, do you also want to see it?