Don't shoot, repeat: Don't shoot!" Ares's voice was cold and undeniable.
These people were quite professional; those on the periphery held their guns as steady as a rock, while those closer in switched their weapons to daggers. Mike had once used Hiding in Mist Technique against the Big Foot Gang, but the Big Foot Gang's thugs shot wildly without regard, and five or six of their members were killed by their own people.
"Bower! Is your ability useful?!"
"Yes!"
Bower replied. There was an energy in the mist that affected his X-ray vision, making the scene after X-raying not the original 4K high-definition, but rather blurred—like an uncensored crack, where the general outline was clear but details couldn't be seen.
"Twelve o'clock direction!" Bower saw a blurry Shadow.
Almost simultaneously, Ares drew her gun and fired two shots without hesitation. Only then did her subordinates react, firing a suppressive barrage towards the twelve o'clock direction.
"Stop!"
Some ran out of ammo, retreated to reload, and their teammates moved forward to fill the gap, all well-trained.
It was Ares who called the stop. She asked Bower, "Did you hit him?"
"Hit him." Bower swallowed, "But the opponent was like, like… Water, disintegrated."
"Go take a look." Ares ordered her subordinate named Edward.
Clearly, this was a very dangerous mission, and Edward didn't want to go. He glanced at Ares, whose eyes were indifferent. Sighing inwardly, Edward knew he couldn't hesitate any longer, or Ares would shoot him dead.
Edward cautiously entered the thick mist, moving forward.
Bower's eyes suddenly widened, and he yelled into the radio, "Edward, someone's behind you."
Edward turned his head, simultaneously gripping his knife in a reverse grip and stabbing backward, but behind him… there was nothing.
Perhaps they didn't usually get along, but Edward felt that Bower wouldn't joke or prank at a time like this.
"Did Bower watch too many adult films and his eyes are playing tricks?" Edward maliciously wondered.
"He, he's still behind you." Edward's voice trembled slightly, fear slowly gripping his heart.
The figure didn't disappear; it remained behind Bower, but when Bower turned, the figure moved synchronously, staying in Bower's blind spot.
"Is the opponent human?!" This thought simultaneously arose in Bower and Edward's minds, accompanied by deep fear.
Thwack!
The figure delivered a hand chop, and Edward softly fell to the ground.
Bower swallowed and said, "Edward passed out."
"Good eyes." A strange voice suddenly sounded beside Bower.
Bower sharply turned his head and saw a masked figure behind Ares, with a strange dagger (kunai) held against Ares's neck.
At this critical moment, for some reason, an extremely absurd thought popped into Bower's mind: "What a White neck! Such beautiful collarbones!"
Ares suddenly slammed the back of her head backward, hitting nothing. She staggered backward, falling onto her backside. She found that the masked figure, who had been behind her, had flashed to Bower's back.
"Damn it!" Ares was shocked. In the thick mist, Bower was the eyes of the entire team. If…
Well, there was no 'if.' Bower followed in Edward's footsteps and passed out.
At this point, everyone reacted, and various long and short, cold and hot weapons were aimed at the masked figure.
"Who are you?" After surrounding the masked figure, Ares's face was grim.
He pulled down his face covering, revealing Mike's face: "You traveled thousands of miles to hunt me down, and you ask who I am?"
"It's you!" Ares gritted her teeth. The feeling of the hunter becoming the hunted was not pleasant. "But you made a mistake. You shouldn't have run into the encirclement yourself."
Mike: "I disagree with that. I think you're the ones surrounded, by just me! So… I'll go first."
If Coulson didn't want them alive, these people wouldn't have had a chance to get off the plane alive.
"Forget it, forget it. It's returning a favor, just consider it helping Coulson once." Mike thought of Coulson's rapidly receding hairline and his heart softened.
Mike's figure flickered, moving through the encirclement like a ghost.
Mike was too fast; if they shot, it would essentially be murdering their teammates, so only a few could surround and attack, while the others provided suppression.
Suddenly, there was a ripple in the air, and a tactical dagger abruptly appeared, piercing Mike's lower back.
Mike's expression froze, and he dissolved into a puddle of Water.
"Not the main body!" Ares loudly reminded, "Don't be careless!"
After thinking for a moment, Ares said, "Everyone, back to back, coordinate your defense, and get out of the mist's range."
However, after walking several hundred meters, they couldn't get out of the mist's range. From the outside, the thick mist looked like a huge milky White cover that moved with them.
"Where's Kevin? He was just here!"
"Rupert is gone!"
"Eri is gone too!"
"…"
Even back to back was useless; people would occasionally disappear, and the team was on the verge of collapse.
The team was finally left with only about ten people. Ares finally gritted her teeth and said, "There's no other way. We can only scatter and run. The opponent is only one person. As many as can escape, escape. After escaping, do not contact the North U.S. branch. Winston is not trustworthy. No matter what, you must transmit what happened here back to headquarters."
In Ares's view, their biggest problem was insufficient intelligence. Mike's ability might be terrifying, but as long as the essence of the ability was understood, countermeasures could be found. Once countermeasures were found, so-called superpowers weren't so scary, just like the many Mutants Ares had seen before.
"Scatter!"
At Ares's command, the others fled in various directions, while she alone stood tall, tilting her head slightly and raising her chin, like a proud Gaul rooster.
From time to time, grenade explosions, gunshots, and muffled grunts came from the thick mist. When these sounds disappeared, a Shadow slowly walked towards Ares.
Ares took off her suit and shirt, leaving only a White vest, revealing skin covered in colorful tattoos, like wearing an alternative leather jacket.
"Is it the real body? I don't want to fight a fake." Ares was very calm.
But her heart was beating so fast… and two heartbeats!
Mike suddenly moved sideways, and a sharp dagger grazed his body.
Mike threw out the kunai with a backhand.
Thud!
The sound of a blade entering flesh.
Scarlet blood dripped onto the ground, like blooming Red Mei.
A figure emerged. His skin was milky White, just like the White mist. The kunai was stuck in his lower back, and his skin gradually returned to a normal complexion.
"So fond of going for other people's kidneys, don't you know how important that place is to a man?!" Mike spat.
This person was Toby, another Mutant in the team. Toby's Mutant ability was similar to a chameleon's, making him very difficult to detect with the naked eye. The problem was, Hiding in Mist Technique's perception didn't rely on the naked eye.
Additionally, Toby's ability could only affect himself. To achieve a disguise effect, he had to be naked, which was rather awkward.
Ares's apparent surrender was actually another trap. So, never easily trust your enemy.