Amid the disastrous train wreckage, Zack had stood off against the super soldier duo who confronted him. The only indication of his nervousness was Zack's furrowed eyebrows. His jet-black mask had obscured the remainder of his face.
"Before I kill you, I'm going to rip that damn mask off your face!" Jacob exclaimed. "I want to know who dare attack us!"
The modified soldiers spared no extra second conversing as they darted at their enemy. Zack had anticipated this, however, as he immediately tossed his backpack towards them.
"Huh--"
BOOM!
The bag gleamed with a tangerine orange glow as it soared to the soldiers before exploding in their faces. The blast's yield knocked the soldiers several meters away, and Zack immediately started running.
It's a good thing I didn't use all the explosives in the backpack to take down the train. Zack thought. But super soldiers won't go down that easily.
"Ha! What the hell!? You kept some explosives in your bag!?" With an excited grin, Luke commented. "Nice reaction, but that won't kill us--"
Zack paid no heed to his comment as he hopped on top of one of the wagons of the crashed train.
"Ha! Did you get cold feet now!?" Luke mocked as he dashed towards the train. "Don't try to run now!"
Luke couldn't be more wrong about his assumption of Zack attempting to escape, as he was greeted by several explosives on the wagon. Knowing he would be pursued on the train, Zack had placed several explosives as traps.
The super soldier had no time to react as Zack forcibly detonated the explosives which flung Luke many meters in the area.
"Tsk, what are you doing, Luke!?" Jacob, who witnessed his partner getting blown up, questioned in annoyance. "Stop screwing around!"
Without grace, Luke landed on the ground after bouncing several times. He sustained burns and bruises on his body from the explosion.
"Tsk, this bastard likes bombs a lot!" Luke exclaimed as he stood up. Jacob, who witnessed Zack entering a train wagon, quickly chased him. He emitted a deafening shockwave behind him as Luke moved at supersonic speeds.
Keeping some explosives on my person was a good idea, too. Zack thought as he ran past injured and dead soldiers through multiple wagons. I heard from Nathan, Charles, and Jack that super soldiers have a harder time fighting with regular humans nearby as they don't want to harm them. Fighting the super soldiers in an enclosed area with a lot of their comrades in the crossfire would be beneficial for me. I have to find the wagon with the serums so I don't accidentally destroy them all--
Zack was alerted by the sounds of footsteps behind him. The intensity and loudness of the footsteps increased as Jacob approached Zack. Zack quickly turned around and was greeted by Jacob's fist inches away from his face.
With impressive reaction speed, Zack lifted his arms to block Jacob's right hook. The two engaged each other in a short round of close combat. Jacob threw a flurry of punches which Zack narrowly weaved and blocked. The audible grunts made it clear that Zack had difficulty parrying the super soldier's powerful strikes.
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Shit! Of course, he's strong. Zack thought. I'm at a big disadvantage in close combat!
While Zack was focused on weaving Jacob's punches, he received a powerful kick to the side of his right leg which caused Zack to stagger.
"Ugh!"
Jacob took advantage of Zack's loss of balance and delivered a powerful straight punch to Zack's chest. This blasted Zack right through the wagon and into another.
Urgh...dammit.
Jacob didn't give him any resting time as he darted at Zack, but he suddenly noticed a grenade soaring toward him. Zack had defended himself by taking a frag grenade from a pocket on his overalls and tossed it at the enemy.
BOOM!
Jacob had protected his face with his arm from the blast, and his body recoiled a few meters. Zack regained his composure and suddenly grabbed a soldier on the ground who was visibly bleeding profusely from the crash.
"I'll murder this bastard if you keep attacking me!" Zack exclaimed as he clenched the soldier's neck. "If you don't want him to die, take the other super soldier and leave!"
"L-Let...me go!" Due to his injuries, the soldier weakly questioned.
The pin on the grenade he threw was still on, and the explosion was far stronger than expected. Jacob pondered as he sustained burns and bruising. There's no way it could be that guy, right?
"Hey!? Did you hear what I just said!?" Zack yelled. "Do you want him to die--"
"HA! DO YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT THAT GUY!?" Jacob loudly questioned as he darted at Zack with no hesitation. Zack's intimidating expression he had while holding the soldier hostage quickly morphed into shock as he watched Jacob charging at him.
Jacob remorselessly delivered a straight punch so powerful that his fist went through the soldier's chest and struck Zack.
"UGH!" Zack uttered as he was knocked away from the force. He attacked me!? Even though I held his comrade hostage!?
"It may have been frustrating that you caused such a disaster, but I couldn't care less about these weaker soldiers," Jacob coldly stated. "A true super soldier does not need such emotions in battle."
*
Jacob immediately recollected a memory. His memory had set in the grounds of a military base, with himself standing with Luke in a squad of super soldiers. The super soldiers' gazes were fixated on the person before them - President Ada Foster.
"Greetings, my new super soldiers. I am so glad I got the chance to meet you all. Thank you for all the service you have done for this country before becoming super soldiers!" Ada thanked. "You all have been recognized for your accomplishments as soldiers, and so you have been chosen as some of the first super soldiers since the massacre of the previous generation."
To think I got the chance to meet the president in the flesh. Jacob thought. She's as pretty as everyone says...
"I know you all will perform better than the previous super soldiers of the Anti-Blessed Malefactor Corps because I have a tip for you. The main reason for their downfall was not that their strength was lacking, they were just fearful of collateral damage or civilian casualties while combatting with a blessed criminal, so they'll fail to give it their all in those situations," Ada explained. "I'd love nothing more than to preserve everyone's well-being, but sometimes that's not the case. Regular humans are too weak to survive and be protected. As super soldiers, your task is to eliminate blessed criminals, even if many sacrifices are to be made."
*
"Heh, thanks for the free hit though!" Jacob mocked. After landing on his feet, Zack rubbed the part of his chest that Jacob punched.
"Tsk, it seems like you aren't like most super soldiers," Zack stated. I didn't think they were going to leave when I took that soldier hostage, but I at least thought I could get some free hits on them...Wait, where's the other super soldier--
Zack's question was non-verbally answered, as Luke rushed through an entrance of the wagon at Zack's blindspot. Zack heard his footsteps but didn't have the speed to react in time. Zack received a powerful hook to his face, which violently blasted him through metallic walls of the train wagon. He violently bounced across the ground before stopping himself by planting his hands on the ground.
"That's for setting those traps on me!" Luke exclaimed.
Zack frantically slipped his mask up to reveal his mouth, so that he could spit out heavy amounts of blood.
Ouch...shit.
"You're not like most humans, either!" Jacob responded as he and Luke walked the train and confronted Zack. "That's the fourth punch you've taken and you're still alive and kicking!"
Dammit...I'm in the open space now. This is what I wanted to happen the least. Zack thought. I can win this, but I'm going to get the shit beaten out of me...