Ethan's heart started beating faster than normal as adrenaline began surging in his veins.
He slowly and stealthily shifted his hand towards the side of his vest where his knife was usually secured.
Ethan waited for the right moment. He just hoped he wouldn't mess it up.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed the agent seated beside him subtly adjusting his grip, positioning the ICER in a way that would allow him to fu*k Ethan up in a single, clean motion.
These ICERs were inventions by Agents Fitz and Simmons which fired energy blasts instead of bullets which on contact would spread throughout the body and directly target the nervous system of an enemy to knock them unconscious instead of outright killing them.
For a guy like Ethan who had the ability to resurrect this type of gun was a bane. What if his enemy didn't kill him and just knock him out with a gun like this and restrain him? That would definitely be worst of his nightmares.
Ethan quickly shook off the unnecessary thoughts.
He increased his body mass by 5 kilograms. It was the maximum he could use at Level 1. His body did not grow bigger. He simply became slightly denser. His strength increased just enough to match the added mass.
Just as he confirmed the agent's intentions, he didn't hesitate and pulled out his knife and thrust it at the agent's neck, precisely in the gap between the chest armour and the helmet.
The tip of Ethan's knife easily penetrated the thin fabric on the agent's neck.
Gack—
The agent let out a painful grunt as shock flooded his eyes.
Everything happened so quickly that he barely had time to react.
Meanwhile the moment Ethan had struck, the other traitors had already revealed themselves and launched their attacks on the SHIELD agents.
Unlike Ethan who was aware of the presence of HYDRA, the other SHIELD agents were caught completely off-guard. Some of them were killed instantly. While the rest recovered from their shock and engaged into a brutal close-quarters combat.
As Agent Sanders finished taking care of the one beside him, he turned just in time to see that Agent Roy had failed in his attempt to kill Ethan.
Without wasting a second, Agent Sanders raised his ICER, aimed, and fired.
But Ethan reacted instantly.
He grabbed Agent Roy's body and yanked it into the line of fire, using it as a shield.
Sanders shot at him again, but the charge hit the lifeless Roy instead, making the body jerk violently in Ethan's grip.
Ethan knew that using Roy's body as a shield wouldn't work for long. With Sanders constantly firing at him, it was already becoming problematic to handle the heavy corpse. Also, if Ethan tried to reach for his handgun with one hand, he would lose his grip on Roy, exposing a fatal gap in his defense.
So, with an intent to quickly eliminate Sanders, Ethan advanced towards him and shoved the dead Roy's body onto him with all his strength after ripping the knife secured on his vest.
His strength was slightly higher because of the added mass. The shove was not superhuman. But in the tight cabin, even a little extra force made a difference.
The dead Agent Roy slammed into Sanders, catching him completely off guard. The ICER got trapped between them, and the force of the shove knocked it right out of Sanders's hands, sending it sliding across the floor.
Before Sanders could recover his footing, Ethan used the falling body as a decoy and hurled the knife.
Sanders reacted on pure instinct, jerking sideways at the last second. He narrowly avoided the same fate as Agent Roy, twisting out of the blade's direct path.
Even so, the knife still grazed his neck, drawing a thin line of blood. Sweat broke out across his forehead as he realized how close that had been.
Ethan didn't wait for Sanders to recover and pulled out a handgun style ICER from the holster secured at his thigh and fired.
Once again Sanders rolled away just in time, the ICER blast striking empty wall where his torso had been moments earlier.
But Ethan had anticipated the move.
He reduced his mass by 5 kilograms. His body became lighter. This made his movements slightly faster. It was easier to change direction in the narrow aisle.
He lunged forward and delivered a vicious kick to Sanders's collarbone, knocking the air out of his lungs.
Hhk—!
A painful grunt escaped Sanders's mouth as he crashed back against the seats in the cabin.
He drew in rugged breaths as his one hand fumbled for the handgun at his holster. When he had finally grasped it, a kick to his wrist from Ethan sent it skittering to the floor.
Sanders looked up and saw Ethan was already standing over him with gun aimed at his face.
Seeing that his fate was already sealed, a smile spread across his face.
He shouted, "Hai—!"
But before he could finish whatever he was saying, Ethan fired the ICER at point-blank range on the uncovered part of his face.
Sanders' body went limp as the impact of the shot knocked him unconscious, wiping the smile off his face.
Ethan didn't spare him another glance and using his spare hand to pick up the fallen knife, he pierced the dude's throat.
Suddenly, a blue-white blast struck the back of his head. The impact knocked him out instantly.
His body fell straight on top of Sanders. Their faces ended up so close that their lips were only a hair's breadth apart, almost as if they were about to kiss.
Behind them stood four agents, breathing hard. One of them still had his weapon raised and pointed forward. He was the one who had just fired the shot.
That same agent then stepped forward, crouched down, and after pushing Ethan off Sanders' body, he drove the knife in his hand straight into Ethan's neck.
Only then did the remaining three agents sigh in relief. They hadn't failed their organization and had successfully carried out the mission.
Although there had been some sacrifices, they were for the greater good, and those men were glad to have died for their organization's cause.
"What the..?" The agent who had driven a blade into Ethan's neck staggered backward, staring at Ethan's supposedly dead body, which was behaving unnaturally.
The body started disintegrating into multiple particles of light and vanished as if it was never there, leaving the agents shell-shocked.
"What in God's name was that?" one of them muttered, his eyes darting around the cabin, searching for any trace of Ethan's vanished body.
The rest followed the agent in the search but after scouring the entire cabin, they couldn't find any trace of him.
"Agent Miller," one of them spoke into his earpiece, his voice tense. "Agent Hunt's body has disappeared."
..
...
....
The moment the HYDRA agent killed Ethan, he opened his eyes and found himself standing at the exact spot where he had fallen.
He was still inside the same jet, yet something was fundamentally different. The cabin looked identical, the agents were still there, the engine hum still vibrated through the air.
But none of the agents could see him. One of them hurried past and walked straight through him, as if he were nothing more than mist. There was no resistance, no sensation of contact.
Ethan looked down at himself. He was wearing the same tactical uniform as before, the handgun still resting in his grip.
Inside the cabin, the four agents seemed to be searching for something, which he presumed to be his dead body.
The spot where his body should have been was marked by a white floating sign that read: "Place of Death."
There was no corpse. No blood. No trace that he had ever been there.
In the corner of his vision, a timer glowed faintly.
30… 29… 28…
It had started at thirty seconds and was steadily ticking down.
Memories surfaced in his mind. The information he had received after transmigrating included details about this as well.
After death, he would enter a separate dimension for thirty seconds.
Within these thirty seconds, he could move anywhere he wished in the dimension. And when the timer reached zero, he would resurrect at the chosen location in the real world.
His first thought was the cockpit. That was the best option. After all, he would be able to control the plane and land it safely once he took down the pilot.
Miller, the pilot, was HYDRA too. The message he had sent was the trigger that started this entire mess. If Miller saw Ethan come back to life and start killing agents again, there was a real chance he might make a harsh decision and crash the plane.
Ethan was not completely sure Miller would go that far, but HYDRA was filled with crazy fucks, and only God knew whether Miller was one of them or not.
Unfortunately, he couldn't access the cockpit.
This dimension was a parallel layer perfectly aligned over reality. It existed at the same coordinates as the physical world, allowing him to observe events in real time. However, it functioned under its own rules.
He could move freely within open, continuous space connected to his place of death.
However, walls, floors, reinforced doors, and sealed partitions defined boundaries in both dimensions. He could not phase through them.
If a door was unlocked, he could open it normally and pass through. But if it was locked from the other side, there was only one option.
He would have to break it.
Which would depend entirely on whether he was strong enough to do so.
His physical attributes in this dimension were exactly the same as in the real world. His strength, speed, and mass were unchanged. This dimension did not weaken him, but it did not make him stronger either.
If he could not break the reinforced cockpit door while alive, then he would not be able to break it here.
If he broke through it, he could choose the cockpit as his resurrection point.
The rules were consistent.
Still, he was not ready to give up. He reached for the handle and tried to push the door open, hoping it might not be locked from the inside.
But luck was not on his side. The reinforced cockpit door did not move.
Realizing it was useless to try further, he turned away from the cockpit and looked across the cabin. The agents were still searching near the middle of the plane, around the spot where his body had disappeared.
Ethan studied their positions carefully. He needed a good spot to resurrect. It had to be far enough to give him an advantage, but still within the distance he was allowed to move.
His eyes moved toward the rear of the plane.
Near the back wall, he saw an ICER assault rifle lying on the floor. It had probably slid there during the fight.
After choosing his position, Ethan walked to the back of the plane, near the ICER assault rifle.
He crouched the instant he arrived, settling into a ready position to grab the rifle the moment the timer ended. The spot was perfect, one where he could maximize his advantage while hunting the remaining agents.
Once he was in position, Ethan wondered whether he should level up his Mass Manipulation ability.
Yeah, he could upgrade his abilities even inside this dimension.
He had no idea how any of this truly worked, nor did he understand the logic behind it. But the how and why were the least of his concerns right now.
What actually mattered was the uncertainty.
He didn't know how much his mass would increase after leveling up. The system had not given him exact numbers.
Also, before dying, he had managed to farm two Resurrection Points. One had already been consumed for this resurrection, leaving him with only one.
He only needed 15 EXP to reach Level 2 of his special ability. But to gain that EXP, he would have to convert his last Resurrection Point. If the mass increase turned out to be insufficient, he would be gambling everything and might even die for real.
Deciding against leveling up, his eyes shifted to the timer as it continued to count down steadily.
'It's Round 2, you fu*kers,' Ethan thought with a smile on his face.
☩ ───── End of Chapter ───── ☩
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Author's Note:
I have seen different versions of how ICER rounds work. In some scenes, they knock people out even if they are wearing tactical vests. In other scenes, they seem less effective. I also searched on GPT and Gemini and found different answers. Some say ICERs work on normal clothes but are weaker against vests. Others say nothing can stop them from knocking someone out.
For my story, I am choosing a middle option. ICERs work fully on exposed skin and normal clothing. They are less effective on vests, except for the physical knock-back from the impact.
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