Kenny had snuck through the forest to head to where the sniper was. That time with Hannah paid off: running after the ermine taught him how to navigate this environment quickly. Since the snipers were scoped in on the installation, Kenny could use the cryopistol to get the drop on them. Kenny could admit he was never the best shot, but any idiot can hit a bullseye if they had superspeed and the element of surprise. With the snipers out of the way, the rest of them could take down Anthony.

Yeah, that would prove them wrong, that would prove Kenny is a hero to them—and to himself. All he had to do was keep low and keep moving to surprise the villains with a cryo blast.

The flash and crack of the gunshots flicked Kenny on. He looked to the side at the same four bullets and in front of him, the gas that spread out from the sniper muzzles was close enough to see. He ducked behind a rock and flicked off. They must’ve seen him but they should have been focused elsewhere right? No, snipers have a spotter to look out for them; there must be at least a fifth person with them. With the element of surprise gone, this became all the more difficult.

A different sound this time, like someone hocked a loogie, before a red hue arrived and heat splattered against the rock. That must have been a plasma weapon. He crawled along the ground before the rock burned away completely. They could not see him, but eventually, the shake of a bush was spat on with a plasma glob to flush him out. He stood up and dodged another glob as he zipped behind a tree—then to another, and another as they shot his after-image again and again.

Kenny feinted a motion to the next spot of cover which caused the plasma gun to be raised in anticipation. Kenny raised his cryopistol and flicked the switch on; from this blurred world where even bullets were too slow to catch him, he let loose a volley of ice. Each blast left a trail of vapor that wrote calligraphy on their flight in between the trees and above the brush. Almost all of them were off the mark—they hit branches, leaves, and bark on the way if not missing entirely. But all it took was one to enter the mouth of the plasma gun as it was fired.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The plasma gun’s throat choked on ice and the volatile chemical within burst out to slather the wielder in bubble fury. She screamed in agony for a moment as she was seared through at the abdomen and her whole body collapsed into a pile of limbs. The other villains dissolved as the last one tossed their rifle away in their scramble to her but the puddle of plasma had already melted her into a slurry that spread with it across the dirt as it dug into the ground.

This close, Kenny could see that the villain only had black fatigues and body armor on, not the gargoyle flesh. Their hands shook as they hunched over the molten pool then they grabbed their head as if they were in disbelief. Was the villain grieving their comrade?

They stepped away from the puddle to pull out their pistol, but when Kenny flicked on at the sound of gunshots, the bullets hit the last villain.

Two of the soldiers from the installation had come around the lake into the forest thanks to Kenny’s distraction. Kenny watched as the bullets bore into the villain’s body on one side and blew out the other side with red confetti. Kenny flicked off, and the soldiers pumped the villain full of lead with a constant stream of bullets. Unlike their comrade, they did scream before they stopped moving. One of the soldiers stepped up to put one last magazine full in the villain’s head.

“Kid, I think you’re making me a believer!” said the corporal when he saw Kenny. Beneath the corporal was a bloody pulp that was once a person and behind him was a pool of gore that turned the air crimson. Kenny felt dizzy, vision blurry, stomach churned, then he hit the ground as he passed out.