The Legendary Junkmaster

Chapter 111: Bigger Picture

Jason stopped due to the shock from seeing a crimson beam strike the area on the other side of the broken building that was now their wall. A blinding flash accompanied it, along with a sudden blast of heat.

Jason's ears and eyes were well protected, thanks to his visor. However, despite wearing the Infinity, the heat from the blast made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. His skin felt prickly and uncomfortable as he watched the scene unfold.

A rain of beastly body parts fell all over the area, the blood that should have come with it had been vaporised. Silence descended among the cadets, or so it seemed. The explosion was so loud that they could no longer hear each other screaming in pain.

Jason stood there dumbfounded by the overwhelming display. However, for some reason, the sight excited him. His brain tried to make sense of what it was seeing. It did everything it could to try and understand the theory behind it. 

'I don't understand it...' Jason gasped when he realised that it was hopeless. His eyes wandered towards the behemoth in the sky that was still quite a distance away.

"Rust... So that blast probably came from Sentinel..." Jason was so shocked from seeing what his mentor was capable of that he could not help but say that aloud. Luckily, none of the cadets was capable of hearing him for now.

The beasts seemed even more bewildered by the development. Their instincts were screaming at them to get away from that place as quickly as possible! However, where would they go?

Their allies behind them had just been massacred, and they were in no fit state to fight to the death due to their own injuries from the blast. At this point in time, only Jason was still capable of moving freely since the Infinity had protected him.

However, anymore fighting right now would only waste the few reserves he still had left. It would be a far better outcome if he could avoid clashing with any more of these creatures. Fighting for the sake of fighting was pointless. But if they tried to attack the vulnerable cadets, he would certainly put them in their place.

Before the beasts could recover, another blinding flash, shot out from Rust's flying fortress. This one was not as devastating. To Jason, it seemed like whatever the weapon was must need a charge. 

It looked like Sentinel had chosen to launch this one as quickly as possible for an extra shock effect to scare the creatures. Rather than build it up to kill as many as possible. Jason felt a tinge of pity for the beasts. The weaker ones amongst them had been killed just from the sound.

'Shit! The cadets!' Jason turned his back on the flailing beasts and ran to check if anyone was in critical condition due to Sentinel's bombardment. Although they were in a bad state, Jason could not spot any life-threatening injuries. 

But that did not alleviate his worries. He knew all too well that just because he did not see it, that did not mean it was not there. More explosions provided background noise as he carefully moved the cadets one by one down the wall to gain more protection.

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He lay Adam and Gerald down in a separate area so that he could keep a better an eye on them since they had the worst injuries. The blasts never stopped while Jason worked tirelessly. The red flashes lit up the night sky overhead for another hour as the explosions gradually got further away.

'From the sounds of it, they chased after the beasts. Maybe these guys can finally get some rest!' Jason felt responsible for the cadets and Guardians that had survived. None of them could do anything for themselves, so Jason was forced to make sure they would be safe.

Eventually, he heard heavy footsteps approaching his position. However, he could tell from the sound that it was a few humans at least. It certainly did not sound like any beasts that chosen to hide instead of run.

Still, Jason decided to play it safe and found a bit of rubble to take cover behind while making sure his shotgun was loaded. 'I count five. Maybe six.' He waited patiently as sweat ran down his brow. The last thing he needed right now was any more surprises.

When the people appeared, they were not wearing the usual armour of the Guardians. Instead, they more metal plates that had been shaped to look like trench coats. Jason immediately realised that something had just gone very wrong.

"Is this everyone Captain Horst?" The man in the lead asked as he turned to look at one of the other men.

"My Power isn't picking up anyone else in the area. But if I had to guess, I would say that someone was here until recently that could freely move about."

"Alright, let us just grab one or two and take them back with us. We need as much information as possible for this to be a success." The first man responded as he scanned the area.

"Yes, Sir!" The four others moved off to start checking those that Jason was watching over. It seemed like they were looking for someone or something in particular.

Jason frowned as he analysed the situation. It did not bode well for him. Logically speaking, he should let them take a couple if it meant securing the rest. Engaging these new enemies right now would just endanger everyone.

However, when he spotted one of them moving towards Adam and Gerald, his reasoning went out the window. Jason burst out from behind his cover and fired sporadically at the man.

He appeared surprised at first but quickly shielded himself with his coat. The shrapnel that Jason had shot bounced off of it after a brief clinking sound as they left the enemy unharmed.

'What the hell is that made of?' Jason wondered as the man he fired at pulled a rifle out from inside his coat! The sound of gunshots filled the air as shell casings struck the ground. 

Jason could hear the bullets chipping away at his armour and was shocked by the damage that they could do. This was a whole new surprise that he had not been expecting. After all, most folks had heard about guns but never seen one before.

'They seem designed for fighting other humans rather than beasts. What went on in the Old World?' Jason's curiosity had piqued as he saw four more barrels emerging from the other men. 'Why don't they use their Powers?'

The situation made Jason feel perplexed as he realised his armour was not threatened by the old weaponry too much. 'This fight is in my favour!' Jason grinned madly as he started firing back, relying on the Infinity to keep him safe in the process.

Jason quickly closed the distance with these newcomers to prevent any stray shots from accidentally hitting his comrades. However, these new opponents held their ground and even looked unworried.

Their attitude told Jason that they were professionals. But why would they be interested in abducting some of the cadets? A lot of questions were emerging in Jason's mind as he eyed his searched his opponents for any details that might give away who they were.

Unfortunately, besides the armour he could not see anything definitive. 'Is this why they aren't using their Powers? Because they could be identified by them if I survive?' Jason did not like where that train of thought was going as one of the men yelled.

One of Jason's projectiles had managed to slip through a gap and injure the man. However, he steadily took aim again and continued to fight as if his life were on the line. 

Jason was close enough now that a short sprint would bring him face to face with the closest individual. He decided that it was better to switch to his hammer and holstered his shotgun to do so.

The momentary respite from Jason's assault allowed one of the men to retrieve something strange from inside of his coat. It was a sphere but it seemed to be covered in some kind of liquid. Jason's mind raced as he tried to figure out what it was for. He felt like most of the necessary information was already there in his mind but he was missing something crucial to completely identify it.

The man holding the strange projectile grinned and threw it towards Jason. This man must have had super strength since the device flew straight and too fast for Jason to avoid it!

Jason heard a thunking noise as it struck his chest area but nothing happened. With some confusion on his face, Jason glanced down to see that it had stuck to his armour. 'What's the point of this thing?'

However, before he could even guess what it might be for, the men scattered and seemingly tried to find cover. Jason's brows furrowed into a tight knit frown as he heard a beeping noise coming from his chest.

It was a sound he had never heard before but he knew it signified that nothing good was about to happen. He quickly attempted to tear it off to no avail. Jason suddenly felt panicked as the beeping got faster. 

The only thing he could think of was to try and crush it beneath the weight of his armour. So he dove to the ground. A slight cracking noise was heard before a deafening boom went off!

Jason was launched into the air with a gaping hole in the front of the Infinity. The armour had been blown inwards while around half of it fell off of the exoskeleton! 

Jason's head smashed into the side of the interior and knocked him unconscious. The Infintiy fell the short distance back to the ground, landing on it's back.

The other men heaved a sigh of relief when they saw that the armoured man was no longer moving. But none of them moved for a while.

"Captain Horst. Kill that one and finish the mission..."