novelThe Death of Brooke
| ← Ch.520 | Ch.522 → |
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lane's mission was simple and that was to collect footage of these criminal activities, then swoop in and arrest them, and collect all the evidence needed.
Once interrogated, the arrested criminals were going to spill their connection eventually, which would lead back to Brooke. This would surely destroy Brooke's reputation and throw him down from his pedestal.
Before entering Martin Luther King Avenue, Lane took a cape and threw it around himself and also wore a mask to not stand out among the crowd. Although this did make him look like quite a suspicious individual, at least it allowed him to strut inside without any worry.
Lane found some secluded corner for him to park his bike. Then, he took a short sprint to gain momentum and hopped up to the third floor of a building with just one jump. He continued hopping along the rooftops and slowly advanced toward Bartlett.
The night became the perfect cover for Lane. The streetlamps in this area were out of service for a long time ago and despite the government's effort of fixing the streetlamps, the bulbs would inevitably be smashed with rocks within two days.
Certain people did not want this neighborhood basked in light...
After traveling along the rooftops for more than ten minutes, the clock was slowly approaching the appointed time of two o'clock at midnight. The so-called Bartlett Bar was located in a run-down building more than several decades old whose interior had been refitted into a bar. Bright lights on the inside of the building seeped through the windows and into the streets. The bar was packed with crowds and loud noises.
Right outside the bar was a small gathering of several members of an unknown gang. They were chattering and laughing away about something.
Was it this group?
Lane squinted and looked at this group gathered outside and quickly noted that none of them had any items in hand. Besides, they would not conduct illegal trades in open spaces like this.
This meant that the meeting spot Brooke mentioned was not at the entrance of Bartlett, but a certain room inside the bar instead.
With this in mind, Lane patrolled around the area to look for clues. He soon spotted a scene through a window of several men in suits sitting in a row inside a room.
It was this place!
Lane took off his mask and instantly, the helmet deployed the neckline of the armor that covered his face. After that, he zoomed in using the lens of the helmet and performed a basic scan of the individuals inside.
[Faulkner Ladin: Born in 1988, 40 years old, birthplace: Texas. Sentenced to three years in prison in 2015 for drug trafficking and two years in prison for robbery in 2009. ]
[Ruskin Hunt: Born in 1993, 37 years old, birthplace: New York. Sentenced to five years in jail in 2010 for drug trafficking. ]
[Anglio Feiz: Born in 1985, 43 years old, birthplace: Nevada. Sentenced to 3 years in 2018 for... ]
After performing the scan, Lane was not surprised to see that all of them were drug dealers.
Upon spotting a black briefcase a man named Hunt carried, Lane was certain that these people must be the ones whom Brooke spoke to earlier this morning.
The best time to swoop in and arrest them and take possession of the evidence would be after they had completed the exchange.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a pop-up with a glaring red warning sign suddenly projected into his vision. At the same time, he heard an electronic voice chanting repeatedly, "Unknown interference, unable to receive satellite signals!"
"Huh, what's going on..."
Lane murmured. Although places like these were known for poor signal reception, it should not be to such an extent where it should disrupt the satellite signals from reaching his armor.
Without networking and communication capabilities, this set of armor had lost a large portion of its analysis capabilities.
While Lane was occupied with this sudden interference, he suddenly noticed the group of people occupying the room suddenly turning in his direction in unison with a suspicious look in their eyes.
"They saw me?"
Lane was slightly caught off guard since he was under the impression that he was perfectly concealed in the darkness. There should be no way for them to detect him. He seemed to have sensed that something was off and his expression quickly changed!
"Oh no!"
He immediately bolted upright and attempted to get away from the scene. From the corner of his eye, he caught a spark igniting from a building far away from his position.
Immediately after that, a tremendous jolt knocked him over. It felt like he was stuffed inside a steel bucket and someone kicked the steel bucket from the outside!
"Ah!"
Lane cried out in pain and tumbled down from the rooftop!
"Warning, warning, officer 0004 is under attack. The identified weapon is a Remington 4000K sniper rifle. Helmet sustained damage: 30%. Officer's heartbeat has risen to 156 beats per minute... Detected mild concussions, the officer may experience mild dizziness. Injecting an emergency dosage of adrenaline shot..."
After collapsing onto the ground from the rooftop, Lane felt his head spinning in dizzy circles. He wanted to pull himself up from the ground but in his state of daze, he could only fumble around like a toddler on the ground, unable to get up despite the best of his efforts...
It was at that moment when he suddenly felt a sharp prick in the back of his neck as if he was injected with something. He immediately felt himself becoming rejuvenated. The armor's intelligent detection system had revived him!
Now that his mind was clear, Lane was certain that he had fallen into a trap!
It seemed that Brooke was aware that he was being spied on and had deliberately set up this meeting location and blocked the local satellite signal so he could assassinate Lane!
Lane's hand reached for the helmet and felt the giant hole formed in the shield of the mask with a bullet lodged into it. If it was not for its protection, Lane would have been long dead by now!
As soon as Lane came to this realization, another thick barrel poked out from a certain window in the bar, with its aim dead set on him!
Lane had just managed to pull himself on his feet when the armor quickly issued a warning."Infrared signal located. Potential shoulder-mounted artillery detected. Evasive maneuver is advised!"
Lane was startled by this as he snapped toward the direction of the bar and he was immediately greeted by the head of the barrel in the distance!
Run!
Lane bolted without a second thought. A mere second after he took off, a blinding flare was fired from the window of the bar. It barely missed Lane's feet and punched into the wall behind him!
"Bang!"
A tremendous wave of explosion sent the ground quaking. Lane was lifted off his feet like a piece of straw and sent flying more than ten meters away before crashing into the ground!
"Clank!"
The pulse rifle wrenched itself free from Lane's grip and flew off into a pack of dense bushes.
"Oh my God!"
"It's the bionic police, when did these guys get here?"
"Should we kill him?"
"What do you mean kill, let's get out.."
After hearing the tremendous explosion, the people inside the bar flushed outside to see what was happening. They were aghast to see Lane lying on the ground and caused a great commotion as they quickly fled the scene in all directions...
"Hack, hack!"
Lane could taste the scent of blood swelling up in his throat. He could tell he had sustained significant internal damage because his entire body was throbbing with pain. The armor he wore was certainly impressive since even when he was only mere meters away from the point of explosion, he was only blasted away into the distance without losing consciousness as the armor had absorbed most of the kinetic and thermal force of the explosion.
Lane picked himself up with sheer determination this time. Then, he sprinted off into the distance in the same direction the crowd went...
The armor of the bionic police had many high-tech implementations. The moment he started running, he instantly accelerated to a speed of a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour like a high-power sports car. He continued to run for several minutes until he was no longer surrounded by his foes and arrived at a barren plot of land in the neighborhood.
Even after making it out here, his armor was still under the effect of the signal disruption.
"Hack, hack, hack..."
Lane had another round of violent coughing fit. His helmet retracted on its own and he spat out a mouthful of blood."D*mn it, why is the signal still disrupted? I should've made it out of the signal blockage range..."
"Because I've been next to you all this time."
Lane suddenly heard a low voice uttered right behind him. His eyes shrank as he snapped around. For a moment, he could not believe his eyes!
It was... Captain Brooke!
Brooke was wearing the same armor as he did. There was a device strapped to his chest that was constantly emitting blue light at regular intervals. Amid the surrounding darkness, it illuminated Brooke's face with its periodic glows.
"You, why are you here..."
Lane's voice was hoarse. The shock in his tone could not be any more clear.
"Is it so surprising for you to find me here?"
Brooke answered blankly, "Didn't you come out here to collect evidence of my drug trafficking? I figured I might as well come in person to greet you properly."
As he said this, he slowly approached the distraught-looking Lane."So, what do you think about this surprise appearance?"
"Brooke..."
Lane gritted his teeth, his eyes beaming with rage."I knew it, you already know I was spying on you..."
"That's not the only thing I know about. I also know that you were once a part of the little squad that Christina assembled."
Brooke smiled."Isn't that right, Lamb?"
When Lane heard Brooke uttered his old nickname, he was so shocked that he was temporarily at a loss for words. He stumbled several paces backward and looked at Brooke like he had seen a ghost.
"I know even more than that. I know of your background as well. You lost your mother due to a mistake I made in the middle of an operation, which is why you've been holding a grudge against me. You joined Christina's squad because you think that I was the one who killed your mother and you want revenge by destroying me..."
Brooke slowly inched toward Lane."I know what's on your mind. You must be dying to know how I've come to know all this."
"The answer is simple. It's because I'm 'Cain'. I'm the mysterious benefactor of the little revenge squad you joined..."
As soon as Brooke mentioned this, he suddenly planted his feet into the ground and charged at Lane. Lane did not even have time to process everything that he was just told when he saw his captain coming toward him with a balled fist hovering in front of his face!
Despite his condition, Lane's military training had honed his senses enough to make him instinctively put his arms up to guard himself against this devastating blow!
Little did he know, this attack was merely a fluke. As Brooke jabbed his right fist toward Lane, he also held a dagger in his left hand and plunged it into Lane simultaneously!
"Thud!"
Lane heard an ominous rattle produced by the dagger cutting into him. He was so mentally disjointed by everything that had been revealed to him that his body could not react in time to avoid the blow. All he managed was to hold his breath and dodge backward ever so slightly.
"Swoosh!"
Bright sparks burst from Lane's chest region. The sharp screech penetrated the dead silence of the night!
Lane backed away as far as he could when he recognized an opening. After he separated himself and investigated the damage done, he saw a foot-long crevice cut into the breastplate of his armor!
An armor that even a bullet fired from a sniper rifle could not penetrate was sliced open by a mere dagger!
"High-frequency vibration nano dagger, sharp enough to cut diamonds..."
Brooke sneered and dashed forward again before Lane had time to catch his breath.
Lane tried his best to jump out of the way, but with his body encumbered from all the damage sustained so far, he could not keep up.
After several more strikes, Lane's armor was completely torn apart by the dagger. This time, the dagger found its way straight into his chest. He felt a throbbing pain that spread from his stomach region. His body could not hold out any longer and collapsed stubbornly onto the ground...
"Hack, hack..."
As Lane lay on the ground full of despair, he coughed out several mouthfuls of blood.
"After you die, I'll tell everyone that you were killed by gang members while in the middle of an operation with me. You'll be remembered as a hero..."
Brooke mocked his victim with a wry smile. He pressed Lane into the ground with his feet and raised his dagger into the air!
Lane closed his eyes.
However, death did not come to him even when he expected it. Lane, with his eyes closed, heard the abrupt clank of an object clattering against his chest.
Lane slowly opened his eyes and saw Brooke frozen in his pose with his arms raised high in the air. The dagger had slipped away from his grip and dropped onto the floor.
"What, what's going on... Impossible..."
Brooke was utterly baffled by what was happening. He tried desperately to wring himself free, to command his body to move, but the armor seemed to have been disconnected and would not budge no matter what. He stood still in place like a statue...
Lane immediately registered what was happening. Without a moment's delay, he grabbed the dagger and plunged it into Brooke's face that was frozen with horror!
"Ah!"
The sharp, excruciating scream only lasted for a brief instant before it was muffled.
After that, dead silence...
After a minute had passed, Lane slowly pulled himself up and rooted himself to the ground. He looked at Brooke who was lying lifelessly on the ground. Brooke with a nano dagger penetrated through his helmet and planted in the middle of his face.
There was certainly no hope of Brooke coming back to life from this.
"What's going on..."
Lane heard a familiar, feminine voice whispering to him through his earpiece, "Lane, is Brooke dead?"
"Aus, Austin?"
It was the voice of the manager of the BHB Combative Police Force!
Lane gasped."What's going on, wasn't the signal disrupted?"
"I have no idea what happened either. I relayed what was happening to the higher-ups when your signal was suddenly cut off just now. The signal was restored just as Brooke was about to kill you..."
Austin sounded very anxious."My fingers immediately went to the termination button to suspend Brooke's usage of the armor!"
| ← Ch. 520 | Ch. 522 → |