Novels2Search
Age Of Superhumans
Chapter 18: Class-D Anomaly Part 3

Chapter 18: Class-D Anomaly Part 3

As the driver of the vehicle was shot down, the surrounding members of the band all showed looks of absolute shock and surprise. After all, they were all under the impression that this was going to be a simple job, in which they would only be against one person.

It was almost too easy, and thus, there was a lot of complacency from them rather than caution, and the leading man just paid the price.

Riddick, also caught by surprise, quickly got over his shock as he turned his gaze toward the house. ‘It seems Johnny has decided to post up.’

The decision didn't really surprise Riddick, although, in all fairness, he hadn't expected him to do this.

In Riddick's mental simulation, he had thought that Johnny would be too overcome by emotion when he saw Jamie and that he would touch her body, at which point he'd possibly die. And if not that, perhaps he would've been overcome by hopelessness.

However, it was then that Riddick remembered Johnny and Jamie's child. Had she died too, Johnny definitely would not have fought back, as he would likely be in too much despair.

But thinking of this, Riddick felt this was also a good direction for things to go. ‘At least he has something to fight for, which means he will hang on to the very end. Which gives me enough time to observe.’

Riddick crouched deeper onto the ground and no longer looked like he was ready to spring out and join in the attack. After all, the intruders would now be focused solely on the house, and that became the case immediately. As in the next moment, the man who had been texting on the phone, Phil, looked at the fallen man with his eyes wide in shock.

Phil crouched down and shook the large man, with his jaw hanging in disbelief. He looked toward where the gunshot could have come from. His eyes then immediately settled on the window.

At this time, Johnny had already been trying to take another shot, but because his hands were trembling so wildly and his breathing was so off-base, he couldn't get his aim right.

Two more shots were fired, but unlike the first, they were completely off the mark, with one hitting the metallic vehicle, and another striking the ground near the man's corpse.

“Fuck!” Johnny cursed himself for the error, trying to get more bullets loaded, but fumbling them still, and dropping them. Even then, he began to understand that he wouldn't be as accurate as he would like, with the first shot being nothing short of a miracle.

Phil, now ducking down over his brother's body, protecting it despite its lifelessness, his none-too-friendly-looking face showed genuine sadness on it.

As he turned toward the others, who at this time asked questions,

"Is Bobby okay?”

“Is he breathing?"

Phil looked down at the man named Bobby and angrily banged his hand against the car, *Bang!*

"Fucking hell. That bitch must've betrayed us. She tricked us into coming here."

This time, Phil now moved behind the car for cover, while dragging the comically large gun away. His eyes began to shift from a look of sadness to that of anger.

His mind also immediately shifted toward the image of Jamie. It was just too coincidental that they were entering without an issue, only for Bobby to be shot in the head, like someone was waiting.

Although they weren't the brightest, they weren't dumb enough to believe all this was a coincidence. And so, sadness quickly shifted toward anger and rage. Collective yelling began to spring from the 12 individuals present and hidden around the cars.

"Storm that house and get those fuckers in there! I'm going to make them pay!" Saying this, Phil raised the gun off the ground, its weight clear from the sight alone. He grunted as he raised it, as if he were holding a machine gun, and then pointed it toward the house, where he frowned and muttered, "There!" before immediately firing.

The large gun he held turned on with a mechanical hum, with a blue outline marking much of its design, then the huge rotary clip began to spin. As it did so, bright red beams began to be shot from the barrel at terrifyingly fast intervals.

*Bop!* *bop!* *bop!* They rang with violent power, and each time they shot out of the barrel, Phil could be visibly seen to be struggling, his veins popping on his arms, with his legs planted firmly on the ground as each shot pushed him back slightly.

Having provided this cover, his men began to charge forward.

Meanwhile, Johnny, who was the target of the strikes, crouched down, narrowly dodging the first beam that obliterated through the window and struck the wall, shattering everything in its path.

Terrified, Sabrina, who was hidden beneath the panels, couldn't help but let out a tiny yelp as she looked through the cracks of the panel with worry, "Please be okay," she prayed silently for her father.

Luckily for Johnny, he hadn't died. In that split second, he had chosen to crouch down onto the floor, being missed by the beam. But more shots came.

One shot passed slightly below the window, narrowly missing his shoulder and hitting the doorway. He could hear it shatter the wall, then the next wall, before eventually popping out of the other side of the house. It was incredibly destructive.

The force from it had knocked his other guns out of the way. Luckily for Johnny, Phil could only keep this up for so long before he dropped the gun and began to pant heavily, his face now reddish from strain.

Looking at this, Riddick grew more relaxed as he confirmed they were not a threat, with no incredible superhuman displays in sight. So Riddick felt comfortable staying low as he watched the conflict arise.

But was that really the case?

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The rest of the members, with Phil providing cover fire, began to charge the house. However, upon reaching his limit, he let out an angry grunt and threw the gun down.

"Fuck!" he cursed as he kicked it, causing it to tumble a few inches forward.

Riddick watched with a calm expression, expecting Phil to soon rush ahead as well, most likely to exact vengeance on Johnny. However, this didn't happen.

Instead, Phil reached into his truck's trunk and popped it open, a sight that caused Riddick to immediately grow concerned.

Phil reached in to remove a large and old-looking black duffel bag, it was clearly heavy because Phil needed to pull it out with all his strength, visibly strained once more with his veins popping as he brought it out from the trunk and onto the ground with a loud metallic thump.

Riddick began to get a bad feeling, and his once calm expression turned to one of understandable worry.

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‘What is he up to?’ Riddick wondered.

In the next moment, Riddick's answer came, in the form of Phil unzipping the duffel bag and removing a large, 13 cm long cylindrical metallic casing with a green outline embedded into the metal.

Riddick's eyes immediately widened at this sight.

"An enhancer?" Riddick muttered to himself with a look of incredible worry on his face.

"How the hell did he get so much of it?"

As with all breakthroughs, and as with everything humans took part in, they would always try to find shortcuts or cheats in everything they did, and this was the same for superhumans.

In the same way regular drugs existed for common folk that helped boost their fitness, stamina, senses, and so on, they equally existed drugs that helped boost one's superhuman abilities.

However, different drugs have different effects and aftereffects. So before Riddick could really become worried, he needed to know what exactly that drug was.

So he muttered out loud, "Zoe, I need you to go open network with the Morgan and try to identify that drug..." Riddick trailed off and raised his water to an angle at which the camera could pick up and zoom in on the item Phil was currently holding.

This happened in an instant, as those reply came promptly.

"Affirmative, give me one moment." And immediately, a moment passed, Zoe returned with an answer. "Going on data I was able to find, I am 86.7% sure that the vial that man is holding is supracell."

Riddick frowned as he heard this name. "I don't think I've heard of that one before. Is it a new strain of something that already exists?"

Zoe affirmed, "Yes, it is a strain of enhancium-9. It is a highly advanced bio-augmentative pharmaceutical designed to enhance superhuman capabilities beyond their natural physiological limits through the manipulation of cellular regeneration, mitochondrial efficiency, and genetic expression.”

“Supracell targets the body's innate mechanisms for growth, healing, and adaptation, pushing them into what you could call hyperdrive. It works on the molecular level to stimulate the production of specialized proteins and enzymes, enhancing muscle density, neural conductivity, and sensory perception. The drug is infused via a biocompatible nanotech-infused serum, ensuring precise delivery to the targeted cells and minimizing systematic stress."

Riddick didn't like what he was hearing because from what he could tell, it was at the very least a Class-B drug. So he couldn't help but wonder, ‘How the hell did they get their hands on that?’

But the answer didn't matter in the moment. What he really needed to know was, "What are the benefits, and what are the cons for supracell?"

“The optimum benefits would be enhanced physical abilities, accelerated healing, enhanced mental acuity, adaptive resistance, and longevity. However, the negatives include cellular stress, risking premature cellular senescence, and potential organ failure. Then there are the psychological effects such as heightened aggression, anxiety, and mental instability. Then, of course, as with all drugs, there is dependency, which in this case would involve severe fatigue and depression. There is also a risk of genetic mutability, as the drug's interaction with genetic material may lead to unpredictable genetic mutations or alterations, potentially causing unforeseen physical and mental health issues. It is because of this and other social and ethical concerns that it is currently listed to be under military trials only. I am unsure of how that individual got his hands on so many."

Hearing this, it was clear to Riddick how much of a threat supracell posed. So, to avoid this, Riddick felt he needed to sacrifice the element of surprise that he still had in order to kill Phil and prevent a potentially unforeseen variable.

He took a deep breath and looked down the sights of his makeshift rifle.

Because it wasn't a proper gun, it obviously lacked accuracy, power, and stability, all of which would have been needed to shoot someone from that far out.

However, Riddick didn't really have a choice. He just had to take aim as best as he could and hope it hits.

But, just as Riddick was about to take his shot, the charging for the house had finally reached the entrance and immediately stormed in not knowing that electric surges were still running.

Unsurprisingly, electricity was quick to catch those without insulated footwear, as powerful currents charged up from the floor and eventually triggered the secondary power source, the generator, to go on. This further intensified the voltage, quickly killing those without insulated footwear, leaving only two people alive.

They stood in this sea of electrocution, covering their heads and moving about in a panicked manner, afraid that they would get electrocuted. As in such a situation, one wouldn't assume their shoes were even insulated, as it was a feature most everyday people overlooked.

In their panicked minds, they were simply getting lucky and dodging the electricity as they rushed for the staircase.

The band member in the lead looked absolutely frightened, barely holding onto his firearm as he ascended the staircase, only to stop as he found Jamie's charred corpse, which still twitched eerily.

“AH!” The man yelled, causing his friend behind him just below the stairs to also panic, "Hey! hurry up!"

The friend remained frozen in place as he muttered a reply, "A body, body. I think- I think it's Phil’s chick, man, what the hell is going on here."

The other band member exhibited shock, "What? are you sure?"

But as he was asking that, the man, out of breath, had moved his hand to the wall to lean on for support. Unfortunately for him, this part of the wall had a metal mesh that was connected to a wire, which was barely visible due to the darkness and flickering lights.

So, the moment he touched it, a surge of electricity, double what Jamie had felt, struck and caused him to be flung across the room, colliding with the wall, furniture, and eventually the floor, charred to a crisp and dead instantly.

The band member left on the stairs was absolutely flabbergasted. He saw that his friend was nowhere to be seen and instead, only an eerie smoke was left where he was standing.

“W-what the fuck!” He felt like he had walked into something straight out of a horror movie and now… he was alone.

At this time, his mind had completely forgotten that Johnny was just up the stairs and that he was the whole reason he even came into the house. Fear and panic clouded his thoughts and rational thinking as he stood frozen on the stairs, his eyes gazing from direction to direction but barely able to see anything due to the darkness and flickering lights.

Eventually, he realized that going up the stairs was his best bet. He could simply go out of the window and jump from the roof, and so he began to scramble up the stairs, making sure he was absolutely careful what he touched.

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Meanwhile, occurring at the same time interval, the initial scream of the band members as they first started getting electrocuted was heard throughout the compound.

And as the man named Phil heard the sound, he shifted his head to look in that direction, and it was this small movement that put Riddick off just as he had hit the trigger.

*Woosh!*

A tiny nail shot out of Riddick’s makeshift rifle at a frightening speed. However, due to Phil moving his head, it struck the metallic body of the 4 x 4 instead, just narrowly missing Phil's head.

The sound obviously caught Phil's attention as he looked behind him and then down to see the nail that had narrowly missed his head, making him look in the direction where Riddick was.

However, Phil couldn't see Riddick as he was dressed in black and crouched under a car.

"There's another one!" It was at this time, Phil remembered that Jamie had mentioned that there was a client. Now he really begun to think, ‘Shit, that bitch must've fucked us over. They must be after our camp.'

Phil inwardly cursed his own stupidity then grabbed the bag of supracell and dragged it as he moved for cover behind his 4x4, feeling like the circumstances weren't in his favor.

Unfortunately for Phil, now that he was exposed, Riddick didn't let off shooting more shots. However, with Phil ducking and several other cars present nearby, the shots kept ricocheting off or zooming above him.

At this time, Phil now began to feel a genuine sense of fear. His brother was dead, while his two cousins, and the rest of the group he came with were screaming miserably in the house ahead. It truly felt like they had been set up.

Phil quickly tried to peek above one of the 4 x 4's hood but he felt another nail narrowly missed his cheek.

Riddick kept a keen eye on the 4 x 4, but it wasn't because he was trying to hit Phil. Rather, he was trying to make Phil have nowhere else to go. By doing so, he made Phil have no choice but to focus his attention on the uncovered cars.

For people in the OT communities, hijacking certain makes of cars came as easy as breathing. So to him, this was a ticket to a way out.

He was about to begin doing this when he looked at the bag of supracell vials. "Dammit… Bobby said there was big name that wanted this shit." Greed soon overcame fear as Phil grabbed onto the bag and made his way into the cars parked on the left-hand side, targeting one of those uncovered.

He managed to safely make it there and quickly stopped near neat white car.

At this time, Riddick could no longer see any signs of Phil, and so he came out from under the car.

As he was closer to the house, he could still hear the band members inside screaming in agony, and he knew they were likely done for.

At the same time, Phil was likely trudging through the cars on the left-hand side of Johnny's gate, where he would soon find an terrible surprise. In Riddick's mind, the job was done.

Currently, Phil had successfully broken into the car he targeted and got inside, putting the huge bag of vials on his lap as he inserted jack drive into the car's smart key starter, which turned the car on almost immediately.

But as the dashboard flashed to life, Phil heard a loud *Click!* before everything around him burst into a sea of flames.

*Boom!*