Chapter 299: Operation Polar Bear - Final Act
Invisible electromagnetic ripples spread outward. The helicopter engine, which had just lifted off, suddenly died in mid-air. The rotors spun slower and slower until the aircraft lost lift and plummeted to the ground.
"BOOM!"
The helicopter exploded. At the same time, the propellers of the nuclear submarine began to spin.
"FUCK! Can someone explain to me why an unmanned nuclear sub is running?! Why?!" Ron roared through his exosuit's comms. His voice echoed through everyone's channel.
"Cipher just restarted the submarine. She hijacked the command system. Jesus Christ! This sub has remote control capabilities!" Tej shouted into the radio.
"No wonder they're keeping this military installation classified. This must be their new tech. What do we do now, Ron?" Hobbs asked.
"She's trying to steal that nuclear submarine—of course we have to stop her! We cannot let it reach open water!"
Ron thought for a moment. "Now we split into two teams. Ramsey, get over here and into my vehicle. I'll take you to the control room and see if we can regain control of the sub through the command center.
Hobbs, you take some men and escort Tej onto that submarine. Pull the guidance chips so they can't launch missiles at will. Now, start the operation immediately."
Ramsey drove a white SUV and immediately arrived at the other side of the dock, where Ron's team was positioned. As soon as she parked, Mrs. Smith pulled her into the vehicle.
Ron's exosuit slapped the truck body. "Okay, everyone's here. Let's move out immediately."
The two vehicles rushed down the hillside toward the dock, one after the other. Hank climbed onto a small rise, squinted one eye, and aimed at the sentry at the dock entrance.
"BOOM!" The sentry at the gate had just raised his weapon and hadn't even fired a single round at Ron's vehicle when he was blown off his feet.
"Nice shot, Hank! Keep it up! Now you cover Ramsey's vehicle. I'll handle the rest."
Arthur drove while Ron's exosuit mounted a massive minigun on top of the pickup's cab. "Gentlemen, the party's starting!"
As soon as he finished speaking, blue flames erupted from the minigun's barrels, and the rotating gun began spinning rapidly. "BRRRRRRRRT..."
As everyone knows, the minigun is a rotary machine gun, theoretically perfectly suited to benefit from Ron's marksman skills, and indeed it was.
The rounds fired from the minigun seemed to have eyes, tracking the fleeing terrorists in all directions, and the high-powered .50 cal bullets tore each terrorist's body apart, leaving no chance of survival.
Of course, the terrorists stationed at the dock weren't idiots either. Once power was restored, they immediately raised the barriers.
Seeing the truck about to crash, Arthur slammed the brakes and simultaneously cranked the wheel hard to the right.
"SCREEEECH!" The tires shrieked against the pavement, and the truck skidded sideways, continuing to slide toward the barrier. It crashed into it with a heavy thud, but the braking had reduced momentum considerably, and the collision didn't injure Arthur or Ron.
However, it also prevented Ron from maintaining aim with his minigun. Inside the dock, countless terrorists had their weapons trained on the truck.
Excitement welled up in these hardened fighters. Now, with just a squeeze of the trigger, they could avenge their fallen comrades. Although there was no real bond between them, nobody would refuse the thrill of payback.
Unfortunately, they miscalculated.
Just before they pulled their triggers, as if choreographed, before the truck had even stopped completely, Arthur threw open the door and bailed out.
At the same time, Ron's experimental exoskeleton suit unplugged the charging cable from its back and leaped off the vehicle, clutching the minigun.
"WHOOSH!" Two terrorists popped out of two different windows. One RPG, trailing a long plume of flame, shot toward the vehicle, detonating it, while the other hurtled toward Ron's suit.
But while the rocket was still airborne, Ron slightly adjusted his weapon's angle. "BRRRRT..."
A burst of rounds detonated the RPG in mid-air!
"Holy shit, boss!" Even the usually cocky Arthur couldn't help but cheer loudly for Ron's incredible shot.
Keep in mind—that was a flying rocket, inherently too fast to track. If it were just that, Arthur might have attempted it, but only with a precision rifle best suited for careful aim.
But what did Ron use? A minigun! And in mid-air! Using a minigun, which is inherently less accurate, while airborne with no stable platform, to shoot down a rapidly flying aerial target—that was insanely difficult.
"Of course. That's why I'm the boss," Ron boasted. At that moment, the SUV carrying Ramsey pulled up behind them and stopped at the barrier.
Thanks to Ron and his team, the terrorists' fire was mainly focused on them, and the Smiths' vehicle suffered minimal damage.
"Arthur, you three escort Ramsey to the control room. Leave the rest of these bastards to me!" Ron ordered, and the three immediately hustled Ramsey toward the command center.
Ron himself stood his ground, letting the terrorist rounds ping off the suit's armor plating while returning fire at every hostile who shot at him.
"What kind of monster is this?!" The terrorists were nearly driven insane. They'd never seen anything like this exosuit—a monster impervious to bullets and seemingly unaffected by rockets. It was even harder to deal with than the tanks they'd faced on the battlefield.
Of course, this didn't mean Ron's suit was more durable than a tank. In reality, Ron's suit could only stop small arms fire at best; it couldn't survive a direct RPG hit.
But this thing was far more agile than a tank!
Ron wasn't stupid—he'd at least dodge an RPG, not stand there and tank it. The suit's mobility was almost identical to a human's, allowing him to even roll on the ground to evade rockets.
But his good fortune didn't last.
Even the longest ammo belt eventually runs dry. The minigun was powerful with a high rate of fire; the ammunition drum was quickly emptied.
"CLICK!" The distinctive sound was particularly jarring in the suddenly quiet battlefield.
"He's out of ammo! Move in, let's take him down!"
"Rifles are useless! Use grenades, RPGs, quick!"
Seeing Ron's gun go dry, the terrorists became aggressive again, firing wildly while closing in on Ron's position.
But Ron wasn't rattled at all. He tapped a storage compartment on the suit's leg, and a high-frequency combat knife sprang out. "When the bullets run out, the blade steps up."
With that, he angled the suit's upper body forward, pushed off the ground with his toes, and then the entire suit shot forward like a missile.
"SHHHHINK!"
The sound of the combat knife slicing through flesh—the blade became incredibly sharp under high-frequency vibration. Ron barely felt any resistance before cutting clean through, gun and all.
"Monster! This is a fucking monster!" The terrorist screamed, firing a burst at Ron with his AK, but apart from making "clang" sounds as they pinged off the suit's outer shell, they had no effect.
Ron simply sheathed his blade, sprinted forward two steps, and kicked the terrorist in the gut.
"WHAM!" The terrorist was launched by the suit's overwhelming force, slamming into the wall behind him and cracking it. He was already dead.
"So, darling, does the exoskeleton I personally instructed that idiot Howard to design meet your expectations?" A pleasant female voice suddenly came through the suit's comms. It was Paige, whom Ron hadn't heard from in a while.
However, Ron wasn't surprised. If Paige wanted to, there was no system in the world she couldn't hack.
"Okay, I thought Sheldon had a stroke of genius. Thanks, Paige. But I still have to ask—you weren't discovered, were you?"
"Of course not. I didn't even leave my apartment. I just had an asset called 'Root' swap out Howard's blueprints while he was passed out. That idiot thought he perfected the designs in his sleep."
Only in front of Ron would Paige so brazenly flaunt her dangerous intelligence, because she knew Ron wouldn't harm her, and he'd always been extremely tolerant of her monstrous intellect—more curse than blessing.
"'Root'? That's a new name. Seems I've really been out of touch with the underground for too long. I didn't even know such a player existed." Ron muttered to himself as he engaged the terrorists around him.
"No, I don't recommend you contact too many of these shady types on the dark web. They're usually very cunning and ruthless. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Don't worry, they know nothing about me, but I have all their intel. For example, this 'Root'—I hacked her system and turned on her webcam. She's an attractive woman."
"Alright, then I'll let you work." Ron used his scavenged AK to clear out the terrorists in the last window and gave Arthur an OK sign from the control room. "If you have time soon, could you upgrade the battery on this suit for me? I only ran it for twenty minutes, and the power's already critical."
Is the suit powerful? Absolutely. But unfortunately, it's limited by the battery, and the runtime is way too short. It's like swapping Ron's body with Leonard's but keeping his stamina the same. Even if Leonard becomes a machine, his poor endurance will still put him at a disadvantage in his "battles" with Penny, and he'll get dominated.
Of course, it's also possible Leonard just likes that sort of thing.
"Impossible. Until a new energy storage method is discovered, only the development of miniaturized nuclear fission technology can meet your requirements, but with current tech levels, don't even think about it for at least thirty years."
Paige ruthlessly shattered Ron's beautiful fantasy.
"Alright, forget it then. So, can you take five, or go grab a coffee, and let me contact those two flyboys?"
"Okay, I'll transfer you now."
After a burst of meaningless static, the comms connected to Deckard Shaw's channel. Along with Deckard's cursing came the sound of gunfire like popcorn. Ron frowned. "Deck, how's it going on your end?"
"Bang bang bang..." After a three-round burst, Deckard finally replied. "Tell Toretto I've got his son, but we didn't find Cipher on the plane. She vanished like a ghost."
"Alright, I only have one request: bring Dom's kid back safely."
"Don't worry."
Hearing Deckard's response, Ron nodded with satisfaction. Deckard was the type who was ruthless and didn't waste words, but once he said something, he'd definitely deliver—except for things like giving Ron a beating.
Ron pulled a flare from his storage compartment and lit it.
With a loud "WHOOSH," the flare shot into the sky and exploded.
Meanwhile, on another hillside, the bearded operative, his sniper rifle propped on Toretto's car hood, continued his smug provocation, his sights trained on Hobbs and his crew as they tried to storm the submarine.
"Dom, it's your choice—take out your pride and joy O'Connor first, or your other girlfriend so she can join your son's biological mother? I think if they meet in heaven, one a bio mom, the other a stepmom, they'll have plenty to discuss about you. Have you decided? Which one do you want me to smoke first?"
Toretto, whose face had been twisted in a grimace, finally broke into a long-lost smile upon seeing the flare. "No. You won't take either of them, because I'm taking you out right now!"
CRACK! A wrench, somehow now in Toretto's hand, became his weapon, instantly striking the bearded man, leaving him bleeding from the head.
"No! You can't do this to me! Cipher will kill your son! Do you want your son dead?!" The bearded man rolled to the ground, his eyes fixed on the wrench in Toretto's hand, backing away in terror.
"Cipher! Cipher! Toretto's gone rogue! Kill his son, boss, say something!"
Unfortunately, no matter how the bearded operative screamed, there was no response from Cipher. He began to realize something was wrong and pleaded with Toretto. "Dom, calm down, listen to me... everything before was Cipher's orders..."
"Is that so? Then let me tell you something," Toretto raised the wrench high and then swung it down hard, crushing the bearded man's skull. "Everything now is my order!"
(End of Chapter)