7:29am.

The moment Mr. Representative Ben saw the new military-grade truck approaching, he finally became desperate.

This was because he could tell immediately that this reinforcement was not for him, it was enemy reinforcement.

'Dammit!' This A.I Construct cursed in frustration and anger.

He was the only Ascended in the whole escort force. This was a logical force combination, afterall, nobody expected the convoy to suddenly be attacked by a force of multiple Ascended.

This was supposed to be an easy and safe escort mission.

He mobilized the escort team with the belief that the only threat that the convoy would face were Neon Beasts that they would encounter on the road.

Even if an E Rank Neon Beast emerged, with him being part of the escort team, they could easily take care of it.

Afterall, with the existence of Mechanists, mundane soldiers can get access to lethal technological weapons that enable them to pose a threat to Neon Beasts and even Ascended.

This was why Ben didn't bring an additional Ascended along.

But in hindsight, this was a dangerously wrong decision.

With the enemy E Rank NetRunner holding him at bay, forcing him into a psionic battle and with countermeasures made against his Neural Projection ability, he could only watch as the enemies picked his subordinates apart.

Daren obliterated his target truck and its inhabitants within less than a minute.

As for Leon and Brick, the combination of both Ascended was too much for the soldiers in their target truck.

The soldiers were already on their last leg, one step away from total annihilation by the hand of the Ascended. And with more enemy reinforcement coming, Ben saw no way out of the current situation.

He became desperate.

His ghostly green eyes in his AR state gleamed even as he was engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy E Rank NetRunner.

His brain swirled with ideas. He thought, he plotted, he grasped for straws, and then an idea suddenly came.

The idea came when the enemy Cyber Gladiator started accelerating forward towards the bus at the front of the formation.

Ben's eyes gleamed dangerously as he stared at the accelerating Cyber Gladiator, he just realized that he missed an important point previously!

When he used Ping Scan at the beginning to search through the enemies, he was taken aback to discover that apart from the E Rank NetRunner, none of them had smartphones on them for him to hop into.

But apart from the sole smartphone, he discovered another neural device.

His surprise at the situation plus Talia's quick reaction meant he couldn't think deeper into it then as he was forced into a psionic battle, but now in his desperation, he finally remembered that there was a neural device.

He looked at the Cyber Gladiator, then he focused on the gauntlets on both of his hands. 'It's those gauntlets!'

Engaged in a fierce battle against the E Rank NetRunner who she already identified as an A.I Construct, Talia instantly made the connection that he had ties to the Omnicore Federation.

As the intense psionic battle between them raged, she suddenly noticed that his focus briefly became distracted.

She noticed but she couldn't react on time before he disappeared.

Neural Projection!

Bzzz!

Mr. Representative Ben disappeared.

'What? How?!' Talia was alarmed.

Before she realized what was happening, she heard Daren grunt in pain as the Cyber Gladiator coughed blood.

Data Lash!

Ben was ruthless.

Daren didn't even realize that his gauntlets were already invaded when he experienced what felt like a concussive whip lash out against his mind!

It was an extremely painful experience, leaving him concussed as he jerked on top the bike, coughing blood as more blood flowed from his eyes and nose.

His vision became blurry.

The Karaki CT-3X wobbled as he almost lost control of the super bike, but he held on by sheer willpower though he still didn't realize what was happening to him and exactly how he was attacked.

This was the insidious element of NetRunners.

The enemy was hiding inside his own gauntlets and just dealt devastating damage to him, yet Daren never even realized where he was and how he was attacked.

Daren didn't realize, but Talia did, Leon did too.

Neural Projection!

Talia didn't fully understand what happened yet because she didn't use Ping Scan, but she did not hesitate to go band for band with the A.I Construct.

You can enter the gauntlets? That means I can too.

She hopped into the gauntlets, taking their battle from the psionic realm into the personal digital space of the gauntlets!

Only then did Daren notice something wrong as his gauntlets began to malfunction, his eyes widened in shock.

Apart from Talia, Leon also noticed the anomaly when Daren was attacked.

Though he crossed over to the left side to help Brick finish off the soldiers in his target truck, he still paid attention to Daren's situation.

When he saw the Cyber Gladiator suddenly suffer damage without any visible physical attack, the first thought that came to him was, 'Data Lash'.

He looked at the gauntlets, then he remembered. 'The VX-09 Emberfist gauntlets has a neural interface and a neural impulse driver!'

Without hesitation, Leon once again drove his bike in between the two buses back to the right and accelerated, rapidly closing the distance to Daren.

He didn't care that he was dangerously close to an enemy E Rank NetRunner now. He had faith in Talia to protect him, so he moved without fear.

"Your gauntlets!" Leon screamed at the Cyber Gladiator as he came close.

Before Daren could react, Leon looked back and focused on the familiar truck with Rex, Kain, and the other rebels- their reinforcement.

He raised his left hand and made a gesture for them to go help Brick, then he screamed. "The buses!"

He didn't need to explain further, he believed that both Kain and Rex would understand what he meant and he wasn't wrong.

With them taking care of most of the enemies already and with Talia keeping the E Rank threat busy, the next priority was hijacking the buses and rescuing the slaves.

Kain accelerated forward, driving to the left where Brick was with the final enemy military truck as the rebels unleashed fire at them.

Within a few seconds, Brick's final slippery opponent inside the truck was killed as the truck finally veered off-track again, falling behind then somersaulting into the distance.

And then, Brick went full throttle again as he led the way forward, driving towards the bus that was at the very front of the formation.

Meanwhile, Leon finally focused on Daren again.

By now, Daren could already tell that something was wrong with his gauntlets no matter how dense he was and with Leon calling for them, he knew that the Mechanist most likely had a solution.

Just like Leon did when he used his Air Gun, Daren also balanced himself on the bike and raised both his hands, pointing both gauntlets at Leon.

Leon's solution was simple. 'The neural impulse driver is a core component of the VX-09 Emberfist gauntlets, but since it's the cause of the threat, there's no need keeping it right now'.

As for how he would deal with it, simple. Mechanists were not just construction experts, they were also demolition experts.

Deconstruct!

Leon outstretched his palms and pointed them at the gauntlets even as his grayish ADE flared around him, extending tendrils into the gauntlets.

Leon didn't just rampantly deconstruct though. Instead, with a target in mind, he deliberately tried to direct his deconstruct target this time and it worked.

By deliberately directing the flow of his ADE, he focused the ability on only a specific component of the gauntlets, the neural impulse drivers.

And since he wasn't trying to deconstruct the full gauntlets, deconstruct acted faster this time.

Within just 40 seconds, 2 piece of materials like implant chips appeared in Leon's hands and he calmly kept them in his pocket.

As soon as those two materials left his gauntlet, Daren felt his connection to both gauntlets instantly drop. Without the help of a neural connection anymore, his connection with both gauntlets no longer felt as seamless and effortless.

Now, it felt like he was carrying a block of metal in both of his hands instead.

It brought him a great deal of discomfort but on the brighter side, the 2 E Rank NetRunners fighting a psionic battle inside the digital world of his gauntlets were finally evicted out.

BZZZ!

Talia and Ben were forced out of the gauntlets.

Both were still in their illusory forms like ghosts, both were surrounded by wildly flaring neon green ADE and without hesitation, they resumed their psionic battle in mid-air.

While Talia and Ben continued their battle, Daren and Leon did not hesitate as they went full throttle again, accelerating from the 2 psionic beings as they rushed towards the front bus instead.

By the time they arrived, Brick, Rex, and Kain with the help of the rebels already hijacked the first bus at the front of the formation.

There were 3 other soldiers in the first bus alone, one of them being the driver while the 2 others were reinforcement.

They tried to use the slaves to threaten the enemies but with 3 Ascended against them, they could do very little before being eliminated.

"The second bus!" Rex poked his head from inside the bus and screamed at them as soon as he noticed Leon and Daren driving towards them.

Hearing that, Leon and Daren immediately changed targets, driving towards the second bus instead.

They faced resistance.

Tututututu…!

Just like the first bus, the second bus had 3 soldiers manning it.

As soon as the soldiers attacked, Leon slowed down, allowing Daren to take the lead and fearlessly charge at them with his Karaki CT-3X super bike even as he drove in zig-zag patterns to dodge the rain of bullets.

As for Leon, he let go of his super bike again as he equipped the Air Gun Rifle and took careful aim with the help of the scope.

BAM!

Headshot.

BAM!

Headshot.

BAM!

The third soldier ducked at the last moment, dodging the compressed air projectile but by then Daren already drove to the side of the bus as he abandoned the super bike and jumped inside the bus.

The soldier tried to wrestle him in close-range but wresting a Cyber Gladiator? It was suicide.

The poor soldier signed his death warrant.

Darren stabbed the Synth soldier in the neck as thick synthetic oil spurted out before casually tossing him outside through the window.

And then, he took the driver's seat.

Seeing that two of the buses were already hijacked, Leon's brain whirred as still on top the Karaki CT-3X, he looked back at the remaining 3 buses and the silhouettes of Talia and the enemy leader still embroiled in an intense battle, then he got an idea.

"Block the road!" He yelled at Daren, then he turned, accelerating back towards the first bus.

He arrived and yelled the same thing at them.

They quickly understood his intentions.

The first and second buses slowed down to a crawl before placing their large frames horizontally on the road, blocking the path of the final 3 buses.

The buses had no choice but to slow down unless they wanted to crash into the 2 buses blocking their path.

They were too cumbersome and big to easily maneuver past such a blockade, so they slowed down, and that was the opportunity Leon needed as he charged with his super bike towards the third bus.

Bam… bam… bam…

They shot at him and missed as with his kinetic pistol, he retaliated, shooting at them till he arrived just beside the bus, then he jumped inside, abandoning the Karaki CT-3X super bike just like the others.

Inside the bus at such close range, Leon abandoned his kinetic pistol as he pulled his dagger and assaulted the 3 soldiers.

He was no Cyber Gladiator but as an Ascended, he still easily overwhelmed all 3 soldiers, stabbing them to death in close range.

And then, he hijacked the 3rd bus.

When Leon turned to stare at the frightened slaves at the back seats all cowering in fear, he heaved a sigh of relief. 'We did it'. He thought.

They successfully hijacked 3 buses in quick succession, and with the remaining 2 buses forced to stop, they were sitting ducks waiting to be hijacked.

Yet, just as Leon moved to leave the 3rd bus and go to the 4th one, he froze as he noticed dust rising from the distance.

'Is that…?'

Leon saw 5 Karaki CT-3X super bikes rushing towards them, and he noticed the familiar silhouette of Alexander Cain among the bike riders.

'Parasite!'

After over 10 minutes since Mr. Representative Ben sent out a distress signal to Parasite, his reinforcement finally arrived.

The time was 7:37am.

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