Suddenly, the hunter made a sharp turn, revealing his head for just a split second.

Emir seized the opportunity as he activated his ability and fired the rifle.

The bullet almost instantly pierced through the rogue's helmet, lodging itself in their skull.

The hunter fell off their bike, straight to the ground...

Or at least that's what he thought would happen.

They somehow lived through the shot and began shooting back at Emir, with one bullet hitting his shoulder.

Clang!

Thankfully, the augmented suit negated most of the damage, but he was still pushed back.

A quiet beep resounded, filling Emir with dread.

'FUCK!'

'Shit... the augmented suit just ran out of power…'

He thought in panic as he looked for cover.

Emir lost the extra strength and the force shield.

So if another shot managed to hit him, death would be definite.

Quickly ducking down behind a different set of crates, he calmed himself while trying to think of a way out.

'What to do, what to do....'

'Fuck it, let's risk it!'

He could control the recoil safely, but only for a few shots, beyond that, his body would start breaking due to the kickback.

'I'll jump up and shoot.'

'The one with the fastest reaction time wins, and with my ability, it'll be a piece of cake.'

Emir took a deep breath, bracing himself while preparing for his next move.

As he counted down in his head, he could feel his heart almost jumping out of his chest.

'...'

'Three...'

He finally exhaled and calmed himself, his inky eyes focused.

'...'

'Two...

The world slowed, his concentration reaching greater heights than ever before.

'...'

'One...'

His twitching finger was hovering over the trigger, threatening to pull at any moment.

'Now!'

With his breath held and ability activated, he leaped up from his hiding spot, his rifle at the ready.

Emir's eyes darted around until they locked at his target.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He fired off three quick shots, two to the head and one to the body.

In retaliation, the hunter managed to fire one back, aimed right at Emir's head.

But with slowed time he saw the muzzle flash and managed to tilt his head, causing the bullet to whiz past him, barely grazing his head.

Ducking back down again, Emir quickly checked on his information gathering device.

'No signal from that side... he's dead.'

Emir rejoiced for a moment, and let out a sigh of relief.

'That was close, too damn close....'

'One inch to the left and my head would've been blown off.'

'I did that even after they told me not to be reckless, but I do have an excuse for it, so it's fine...'

'I guess.'

His victory was short-lived, as the remaining hunters began to further close in on their truck, guns blazing.

Shots were fired everywhere, and the truck's armor was slowly losing power.

Emir attempted to shoot back but he was outgunned and outnumbered.

It was a lost cause.

'WHERE THE HELL ARE THE OTHER HUNTERS AT DAMMIT?'

As if knowing his plight, Jake, and Emma, followed by hunter trainees Emir had yet to know, finally arrived and fired back at the cruisers.

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'Took you long enough.'

Emir smiled at the sight and returned his attention to their adversaries.

'My weapon is too weak to damage those vehicles' barriers, but I can try to pick off the ones with their heads sticking out.'

He quickly took aim and shot at one of the hunters who was on top of a cruiser using its weapons.

The bullet hit them square in the neck, causing them to slump over dead.

But there were still more to take down, and the truck was still taking a beating.

'With every shot I take, the more broken my body gets...'

'I'm not experiencing much of the pain 'cause of the adrenaline, but I'll probably be in a world of pain after this is over.' He mused as he struggled to even pull the trigger.

The chaos of battle heightened as more hunters and trainees came in firing.

Emir kept low, only killing those who showed themselves.

It was a brutal fight, with bullets flying and bodies falling on both sides.

But in the end, they emerged victorious.

The rogue hunters were all dead or dying, and their truck was damaged but had survived.

Emir lowered his rifle, his hands shaking from the adrenaline, as he looked around at the carnage.

He felt sick to his stomach at the sight of the dead bodies, but at the same time, a sense of pride filled him.

He had done his part; he had protected them and fulfilled his obligation to Emir's family.

And as they drove away from the scene, he couldn't help but wonder who had betrayed them, sending their location to those rogues.

But for now, all that mattered to him was making sure that Laura and Lily were safe.

He tried to join them to regroup, but when he stepped forward, his body fell to the ground, limp.

The adrenaline rush had subsided and his body couldn't take it anymore.

Emir had sustained serious internal injuries during the battle, and as his body slightly relaxed, it was already over.

He felt his consciousness slipping away and everything around him faded to black.

…

…

When Emir woke up, he found himself in a hospital room with bandages wrapped around his body.

He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through his chest, leading him to groan in agony.

A nurse rushed to his side, helping him lie back down on the bed.

"You've been through a lot," she said, adjusting the pillows behind his head.

"You need to rest."

"How long have I been out?" Emir asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Two days," she replied, checking his IV drip.

"Your injuries were pretty severe, but it's nothing old-world medicine can't fix."

He nodded, taking in the gravity of the situation.

"What happened to the others?" He questioned, his mind racing.

"They're all safe," the nurse assured him.

"They're waiting outside to see you. But you need to rest for a little while longer before you can see them."

Emir closed his eyes, still trying to make sense of everything that had happened.

Even if most of his internal organs and bones were destroyed, as the nurse said, those injuries were easy to heal using old-world medicine.

So he had nothing to worry about.

That, combined with the nanobots in the hunter's bloodstream, led to hunters being hard to kill, requiring multiple shots to make sure that they would not get up ever again.

Laying further down in bed, his mind began to wander, replaying the events of the battle over and over again.

He began to piece together what he could've done better.

However, the nurse's words brought him back to reality.

"Your teammates and family are waiting outside. Would you like me to bring them in now?"

Emir nodded weakly, and the nurse walked towards the door.

A few moments later, it opened.

Jake, Emma, Laura, and Lily walked into the room.

He tried to sit up, but the pain in his chest made him wince.

"Hey, take it easy," Jake said, walking over to the bed.

"We're just glad you're okay."

"How are you feeling?" Emma asked, sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"Like I've been hit by a truck." Emir joked weakly, earning a small smile from Emma.

"I'm sorry about all of this," she said, her voice laced with guilt.

"If we hadn't come so late, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"Why were you so late in the first place?" Emir asked.

"We were ambushed by the group that betrayed us."

Jake's voice was filled with anger.

"It was one of our own, a hunter, and the trainees under him, they attacked us while we were going back up."

"Who?" Emir asked.

Emma answered with a tone similar to that of Jake's:

"He's the hunter that was on the lookout with me, I can't believe that he was sending them our location right in front of me..."

"DAMMIT!"

"But why? All this planning just for some cargo, that's impossible, it wouldn't make sense if that were the case..."

Emir paused for a moment and closed his eyes.

"Unless the cargo has something amazing that I don't know of, there has to be something more to this attack."

"HQ was hiding this from us. Turns out we have a princess on board, and all of this was an elaborate assassination attempt." Jake answered.

"Come on, don't keep me in suspense, say it, who is the princess?"

Jake took a deep breath before speaking.

"It's the daughter of the Hyperion Arms Manufacturing Company, Ava Nguyen."

Emir's eyes widened in shock as he looked at Emma.

"Ava?" He repeated, barely able to believe it.

"Yes," Emma spoke up, her voice cold with anger.

"HQ didn't trust us enough to tell us the truth about the cargo, this princess."

"They kept it hidden, even from us. And because of that, we were ambushed, and you got hurt."

Emir felt a surge of frustration bubble up inside him, but he calmly spoke instead, trying to reason with what happened.

"I can understand why they would do that though."

"After all, she is a big shot, and they didn't know who they could trust, but there is no way they would let her go to the academy in a random convoy..."

"So here's a question, what else did HQ do to protect that princess?"

"You're right about that last part, HQ prepared many other decoy convoys heading to the academy, each from different locations, we just happened to be unlucky and house the princess, and with even worse luck, we happened to have many traitors too, all of this making HQ's plan obsolete."

"Still though, we put our lives on the line for them, and they didn't even have the decency to tell us the truth?" Emma complained.

"It's not just that," Jake said, his voice low with fury.

"They were willing to sacrifice all our lives to save the princess, just to keep themselves safe from her father's wrath. If it weren't for us, she'd be dead by now."

"But who would dare assassinate her?" Emir asked, still trying to process everything.

Emma explained, "This Michael Nguyen, the president of Hyperion Arms, he had been facing pressure as his business had become a target for other corporations over the years."

"There are those who want to destabilize the company, and this little princess here is a huge target, so if she dies, it'll be easier to do that."

"Is she the last heir of the Nguyen family?" Emir asked, quickly met by a "Yeah," from Jake.

"I understand now." He said ending their conversation.

Emir finally gained the courage to look at the two people who had been silently staring at him ever since they entered the room.