There was a reasonable chance that this was going to be Eyeball's last flight as well. As the helicopter landed, he counted dozens of guards around the platform; a literal formation of hundreds, or even thousands, seemingly preparing for a parade of some sort not too far off. Tanks. Combat helicopters.
He was struck by a moment's hesitation as he stepped off the helicopter. Unless everything went absolutely perfectly, he and Butcher would need to kill many of these men in order to get out alive. Not dozens, or hundreds; likely thousands. He would need to use neurotoxin, controlled Pale Ones, regular gunfire, and handle god knows how many enemies; and there were probably dozens of metahumans nearby as well.
They knew his reputation. They knew he killed Tai. But here, in the heart of their power, they had every reason to believe he was no threat; or, at least, that he would be dead before he could accomplish anything.
Some of these men were willing participants in the sort of evil Zhou was the champion of. Others...
Zhou smiled as he led the two down off of the platform. "And this, the heart of power here in China. We will not discuss our arrangements in the open; they are not, as we would say, official. But once we reach a more private office, we can speak. I trust you have what you need?"
Eyeball nodded. "Of course. I had the information I needed from my people before I came; and you've given me more than enough. This is truly an inspired operation. I see hallmarks of the work of Mengele, and I suspect that in your results we'll see what would happen if someone with that kind of vision were allowed to work for years on end, without the threat of enemy bombs overhead to cut everything short. Barring the unforeseen, this alliance should put our joint nations atop the world in decades to come."
Zhou glanced back at Eyeball, frowning. He didn't like the comparison, but wasn't sure whether the villain meant it in a positive light. Was he one of those Neo-Nazi sorts? His profile gave no indication... He put on a false smile, as he opened the door in front of him. "While the overall ruler, of course, knows about this operation, the mastermind behind it is Zhao Xi, and the only ones outside of it fully aware are the standing committee. The unusual surge of metahuman births with time will be easily enough explained in the years to come."
Eyeball mouthed the names to himself a few times, not wanting to avoid confusing any of this as they entered the building... and a door was held open by two guards; both wearing heavy body-armor, assault rifles, and advanced side-arms that looked not too dissimilar from some of the advanced anti-metahuman weaponry Eyetech sold. The armor was vulnerable... in the armpits, the sides of the neck, the thighs...
He nodded to himself as they stepped in; and noticed a lack of bodyguards inside; just the man himself, Zhao Xi. He stopped, and glanced at Butcher. "You can wait outside with them if you don't mind, Butcher."
Zhou nodded in approval; the massive figure was clearly a bodyguard, and here, in this most secure chamber, his place was outside. He glanced at Eyeball's own weapons with a bit of discomfort as he stepped in, and smiled. "Zhao! I have brought our new associate in to see us."
Eyeball nodded, and held up a hand. "If you wouldn't mind shutting off any video, I'd like to remove my helmet for this, have a true face to face. I'd prefer if nobody outside this room saw my new face, but if we're going to be partners in this, obviously a show of trust is required."
Zhao smiled... and tapped his wrist. "Shut off all video in this room for the next two hours." Eyeball nodded; he didn't understand Mandarin well enough to grasp the full sentence, but he got the basics; and his helmet provided helpful subtitles.
Once Zhao nodded, Eyeball reached up; and popped the secure catches holding his helmet on. With an audible hiss, the airtight seal keeping his filters in place was separated; and he set his helmet on the man's desk, before extending his hand. Zhao shook it, looking a bit confused. "Ahh... Mister. Bennet? I was led to believe your appearance was... different."
A very faint, undetectable hiss filled the room, as a low-grade neurotoxin started to filter out of a packet inside the helmet itself; one that Eyeball, of course, was immunized to.
"Simple enough. While I was a fugitive on the run, I took on the appearance of a dead man, a Victor Hardy, so I could continue to operate in public once the government knew my face. Now, I promised a sample of the hair of a Titan, and that we would be making a discussion here about future exchanges, yes?"
Zhao smiled, and settled down into his chair, while Eyeball and Zhou did the same on the other side. Eyeball lifted out a simple glass cylinder containing a very fine black bit of... hair? Wire? Whatever it was, it was surprisingly heavy. "The hair is remarkably durable. If we can ever figure out a way to properly reproduce it, it would make incredible material for body-armor." He extended it across the desk, and Zhao took it in his hands, focusing on it.
He blinked, seeming a bit confused. The edges of his vision were going a bit dark. He was feeling... sleepy. "I've got good news on another front. The neurotoxin you're inhaling? Non-fatal. It'll leave you confused, unable to really put much energy into anything. Zhou here has a self-destruct device on him; if I killed him, he'd go off like a grenade. Smart move. Great idea to make sure that if I were here to kill you two, I'd die with you."
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Eyeball slid out the 40mm revolver. "Mostly, it'll keep you from screaming in pain when this happens." He pulled back Zhou's shirt, pressing the barrel against his flesh; and pulled the trigger. A far softer pop sound; Zhou twitched and shifted about, his eyes growing more unfocused, as Eyeball stepped around to the other side; and pressed it against Zhao's shoulder as well, pressing the barrel under the uniform shirt.
He backed off, looking between the two. "Stand up, both of you."
Inside their bodies, hundreds of tiny wires were burrowing through flesh, attaching to nervous tissue, artificially sending out signals. After a few seconds, they had secured control; and in the typical half-limp movement of a Pale One, they both rose to their feet. Eyeball lifted his helmet, settling it back on his head; after a few moments, the seal reformed; and reached into the seemingly bottomless magazine of the 40mm weapon; retrieving an incendiary grenade.
"Zhao. Hold this object." Moving in a stilted, robotic fashion, one hand stretched out, taking hold of the cylinder. Eyeball pressed a bit of wire around one finger, attached it to a small hook.. and nodded. "Put it in your pocket, keeping your hand in that pocket." The hand slid it into place in one of his jacket pockets. "Perfect. After myself and Zhou leave, the next time someone enters this room, other than us, remove your hand from the pocket, but leave the object. If no-one enters by the time battery level reaches ten percent, remove your hand from the pocket, but leave the object. Sit down behind your desk, and wait."
The man simply settled into place behind his desk. A faint red line was visible on the side of his neck; likely one of the numerous wires just happened to leave a visible trace. Eyeball glanced at Zhou; he could see a few spots. If anyone looked close, it would be obvious. Hopefully, it would last long enough.
He looked at the office around him. Beautiful. Opulent. Hand-carved wooden desk that might be centuries old, golden trim. High-end computer systems, a holographic projector. He'd badmouth the display of wealth, but knew full well leaders of his own country would be every bit as ostentatious. The doors were hermetically sealed. The ventilation system had filters. The glass had the subtle wire mesh of a faraday cage built into it. This room was ridiculously secure. Unlike the lab or the other facilities, if he dropped a neurotoxin bomb here, it would wipe out the men outside... and leave all of the men inside an office like this intact.
Would a fire get them leaving? Was it worth taking out the men outside to get the others ultimately responsible for this? He thought for a moment.. and removed a pair of the more lethal neurotoxin cartridges from storage, studying them. If dispersed properly, these things were horrific weapons that would cause a painful death to thousands of people; a single one detonated in an airburst could take out a mid-sized stadium.
He looked at Zhao again. The man was aware again, by now. Aware that he was trapped in his own body, doomed to light himself on fire with a grenade when someone opened that door, and suffering quite a bit of pain. It wasn't enough of a punishment. But... it would have to do. Even if they used an EMP on the man, his final convulsions as the controller short-circuited would lead to his death. Which... would be fine for now.
Eyeball stood atop the desk, reaching the fire suppression system mounted in the ceiling; and gently secured the two toxin cylinders beside it with some double-sided tape, wiring them to the sprayer itself. When the grenade went off, the fire suppression system would activate shortly; not doing anything to save this man's life, but spraying the room with the neurotoxin, and hopefully driving others to open their own doors in order to flee the building.
He sighed... and dropped down. Turned to Zhou. "Open the door, and lead us back to the helicopter at a steady walk." His HUD immediately flashed; the instructions he'd given weren't direct enough. The controller didn't know where the helicopter was. He gave a soft chuckle... and spent a couple of minutes laying out a series of waypoints for the general to follow to take them right back where they'd landed.
The moment he finished, he was briefly surprised; as Zhou stepped forward at a quick pace, jerking open the door; and started walking, brushing against a startled soldier.
Eyeball stepped along after, nodding at Butcher; the two guards at the door looking at the three in confusion as the door shut behind them. Zhou was drawing strange looks as he marched directly back towards the helicopter; the crew were outside, refueling it. Eyeball sorted through his voice recordings of Zhou; and, standing beside him, whispered low. "Open and close your mouth on command."
A string of mandarin emerged as they reached the helicopter; the commands he'd issued to have them fly to the base on the coast, the first they'd stopped at. The men immediately began starting up the chopper; the blades starting to spin, as Eyeball and Butcher secured themselves in the back; and at a remote command from his helmet, Eyeball had Zhou grab one of the handholds and look out of the helicopter; so that the two guards who boarded would, hopefully, not notice his grimace of pain.
Just as they lifted off the ground, feeling the familiar twist as gravity yanked them towards the floor of the aircraft, Eyeball saw a flash of light from one of the windows; and then alarms start to go off down the length of the building. The two guards in the chopper noticed; and immediately turned to Eyeball and Butcher, assuming the worst; Butcher simply grabbed the closer guard, and threw him out of the aircraft; as Eyeball hit the second with a Controller shell.
The pilots didn't seem to have noticed quite yet as the guard spasmed in pain and simply fell out of the craft; but within seconds, he could hear yelling in mandarin over the channel the pilots used to communicate with the passengers on the previous flights, too distorted for his helmet to interpret; and grimaced, pulling out his combat knife from a boot sheathe. "Load up the pilot program." He was, at best, an amateur helicopter pilot; and now he was going to be doing hours of flying, possibly over hostile territory, depending on just what signals got to who. His helmet would give him some guidance and direction; mostly programmed in with Emerald's style of flying; but nothing could substitute for an actual competent human pilot.
Butcher looked out the hatch behind them as Eyeball moved forward to deal with the pilots; watching as men heading towards the building, investigating the alarm... simply collapsed. He glanced back at Eyeball before looking at the scene they were leaving behind. How many people had Eyeball just killed? Obviously the ones in charge of all this were bad, but... Well. He'd just have to trust the boss's judgement. he knew what he was doing, right?