Chapter 42: Send Off
Ratatatatatatat!!!
The loud echo of a helicopter came from above Mark and he looked up to see a military-grade helicopter landing on top of the helipad on the NSA building. Mark was currently standing on top of the building along with Tyler, Fiona, Talia, and the old man James. Behind the five of them were more than fifty Superhumans of B and A ranks scattered around the roof.
The superhumans there all gave Mark a wide berth, but they couldn't stop the awed looks in their eyes as they watched him. They all knew what had happened earlier that day. Mark was able to fend off a Calamity Class Anima all on his own, and he even won! That was something almost none of them could do, and they respected the power that Mark had!
The superhumans who were going to join the raid were from different guilds all over the country, and many of them had already tried talking to Mark about joining their guild earlier, but they were immediately chased away by Fiona's stare! None of them wanted to piss off the head of the Artemis guild since they knew that the Artemis guild was one of the strongest guilds in America!
They would just wait for Mark to be alone before they spoke to him! Those who didn't bother staying away because of Fiona didn't even know when they started to walk away from Mark because of Fiona using her blessing on them! They didn't stand a chance against a blessing that could literally get into your head and make you do whatever Fiona wanted!
There were two S ranks joining the team of superhumans, and they were both standing to the side away from the rest of the group as they looked towards Mark. The two men were wearing simple black outfits just like Mark. One of them was thin and the other one had a very large build that almost made him look fat!
The fat one was eating a burger while waiting for James to give the go-ahead for them to leave. Mark could immediately recognize both of them since he had seen them on the news a lot of times when they were fighting against Anima. The man who was eating was called Meta, and he had a blessing from the goddess of harvest.
He could turn his food into raw power and store it in his body in the form of fat, and whenever he wanted to fight, he could use that raw power as fuel to increase his strength and make himself stronger!
Mark didn't really like this power because you never know when you could run out of raw power to burn as fuel when you are in the middle of a long fight, but Mark could still respect the amount of power that Meta had! Meta was only a lower-level S rank, but he was still one of the strongest in America.
The other man was called Archer. He was blessed by the God of hunting, and he had the ability to create arrows out of his mana and fire them using a black bow that he always carried with him! He and Meta were a team that worked together most of the time! Meta would be in charge of rushing the enemy, and Archer would stay back and help Meta by providing support from the rear!
It was brilliant teamwork that always worked, and the two of them have managed to take down more than five Calamity Class monsters all on their own!
Mark noticed how both Meta and Archer were staring at him, and he didn't look away from their stare and responded with an intense stare of his own until they finally looked away. Meta and Archer were curious about Mark just like everybody else. Meta and Archer were two of only three S ranks that agreed to join the NSA and work under the government. Salazar was the third.
They heard from James that Mark refused to join the NSA after their big fight happened and Salazar told them not to approach Mark because James wanted to make sure they had a good relationship with Mark, so they decided that they would not do anything, and they just kept their distance from Mark!
Talia was standing close to Mark, and she was using one of her hands to hold onto his trousers with a pout on her face! She was angry because her grandfather told her that sh couldn't come with them.
They didn't know how strong the monsters on the island were going to be and James didn't want to put Talia in harm's without know exactly what they were going up against so he told her that she was forbidden from coming wth them! Talia has refused to talk to her grandfather and she has been pouting and hanging off Mark ever since he told her that.
Mark would never understand what went on in her head and why she decided that she would get this close to him! He literally just met her today, but for some reason, she was latching on to him and following him everywhere he went!
She hasn't let go of his trousers once since they came up to the top of the building! Mark thought that it was just because she was afraid of heights, and she was using him to get rid of that fear for now, but he was proved wrong when she went and looked down from the side of the building at all the reporters that were still on the ground!
Someone afraid of heights would never try something like that in their life! They would sooner die than go to the edge of such a high building!
Mark didn't understand it, but he just decided to live with it. After all, she wasn't bothering him and he didnt have to entertain her since she was staying silent. He was more than happy to allow her to cling to him forever if she wanted to.
The sound of a second military-grade helicopter also joined the first one, and Mark put his hand up to his ear to speak to Pat. Mark already changed his outfit from his school uniform, and he was now wearing a simple black shirt and trousers with combat gloves. Thankfully, Mark didn't have any cumbersome weapons to carry with him, so it was always easy for him to be ready to fight!
[Just give it a few seconds; the helicopter will be there soon. There was a small issue with the fueling since I was only going to use it for a crash test, but I managed to expand it and add some more. It should be able to get you to the island and back according to my calculations.]
Pat's haughty voice came through the AirPods that Mark managed to recover after his fight with James, and Mark thanked Pat as he saw the helicopter coming towards him from the distance! It was a regular-looking helicopter, but it had been fitted with military-grade weapons on its sides and a large protector on the front nose to protect against an Anima charges! Or wait..
was it to protect against the crash test that Pat wanted to do?
Mark still had no idea what the hell Pat wanted to crash a helicopter like this into! This helicopter had to cost at least ten million dollars, and Pat was planning to use it for a crash test!? Mark just shook his head as he could never understand what Pat was thinking half the time.
"Hey, you gotta let go now. Go to your grandfather and stay with him; I'll see you when I get back. I'm bringing someone with me, and I'm sure you'll really like her."
Mark looked down and said all this to Talia, and Talia pouted up at him for a moment before nodding and skittering away to go and hug her grandfather's leg instead! James smiled down at his granddaughter and carried her up to speak to her kindly. He was glad that she wasn't angry at him anymore.
Talia was not the sort of child who wouldn't understand when a situation is too serious for you to act selfish, and she just let go of her anger immediately so she could wish her grandfather gooodluck!
Mark walked up to the helicopter, and he nodded at the man who was in the driver's seat! Mark asked him if he knew where they were going and how dangerous it was, and the man nodded and told Mark that Pat explained everything to him before he agreed.
"He's paying me one million dollars to drive you over to the island, wait for you there until you find the girl and bring you both back. I understand that it is dangerous, and he said that if I die, then he will send the money to my family. That is not the sort of deal I can say no to. Whatever happens, I know everything will turn out alright."