[b][i]Mission Three - Assault on Jinghong Dam[/i][/b]

[b]Jinghong Dam - 10/25/2022, 22:00 UTC+8[/b]

It was 22:00, aka 11 PM, one hour till midnight, in the New Moon. Yet the stars were giving way to the light of premature dawn as bright orange wisps of superheated gas began spinning together in the sky just above the chain, rolling themselves into a nebula, then a consolidated proto-star, and then, as Myron hurriedly took off his night vision goggles, a brilliant artificial [i]Sun[/i] that revealed all of their faces to the full view of the person behind the bunker window to their left. As Noel cursed his luck, Huo Ren glared at all of them and said, "[i]Where[/i] is Nico Makri?"

Myron was already snarking back, "Out of your reach, you obsessive scumbag. Nice to see the reports are right that your priorities are skewed. Now please withdraw and give back the prisoners you took or we'll shoot; we have a plan to get rid of you."

It was daylight, yet it should not be. Right now, the skies were lit, rendering Noel's trump cards useless but also exposing just who or what was rendering them such. They needed to get rid of Huo Ren, but how would that be possible when the riverbanks were brimming with mundane troops, hidden behind sandbags and trenches dug on the dried riverbanks on each side of the shrunken stream? Noel Alonso could see red dots on his hands and the others could see one on his head; he'd reckon. With just one signal, Huo Ren could order these people, who had Anti-Materiel Rifles, to fire, and even their enhanced physiques would not be enough to withstand such an assault... Wait, they had Qingshe.

Even as Noel saw that beyond the sandbags, there were mortars, recoilless rifles, rocket and grenade launchers, and even light artillery, he smirked as he knew that although Lei Qingshe had a habit of just holding back and letting the group do things on their own, Huo Ren didn't necessarily know that. And Myron grasped that truth too when he followed up with, "Don't throw your lives away now; you know who we brought."

He turned to see Huo Ren grin and say, "You're not hiding behind [i]that snake's[/i] nonexistent coattails; you forget who worked with her for a long time."

The shadows below shrank as the artificial sun rose higher, to deter any intervention from Lotus Squadron or allied air forces; if it rose high enough, it could act as its own Anti-Aircraft asset that was itself airborne. But as Huo Ren concentrated on keeping his constructed star flying, there was a flicker of inattention in his eyes as he raised his brow.

A decisive blunder on his part; Noel just needed to distract him so that the others could act, assuming that Cristina, Henri, and Marta would work together with Ernesto and Nil to form a plan to take out Huo Ren so that Noel could unleash his Noble Arm's strongest power. And he knew just how to do that, assuming that he guessed Huo Ren's reason for wanting Nico Makri here right...

"Hey," Noel blurted out, breaking the moment's silence, "You know that I'm eighteen now, right? Why inquire after Nico Makri's whereabouts when quite frankly, I'm a better [i]target[/i]? After all, he managed to defeat you, but I managed to slay Tian Fei. That and I can fight as hard as he could, should it come to a one-on-one between us..."

[i]Be vague, Noel, be vague,[/i] said the eighteen-year-old to himself. [i]Don't vomit at the very thought of getting his attention.[/i]

Huo Ren raised an eyebrow, and looking at his face showed that he was no longer thinking about the battle, that he was successfully distracted, and that he was holding back the troops under his command, as well as his own artificial sun's beams. He then smirked, and said in a light, giddy tone, "You know I only want to fight as a prelude to capture; I prefer to hunt down my targets, not to have them delivered pre-processed. But yes, I will force you to surrender; I will not have you hand yourself over to me, Noel Alonso - You know that won't be any fun..."

His eyes were no longer focused on the battlefield, where more troops were driving in under the cover of Armored Personnel Carriers; three of them for each bank of the river and each carrying a complement of Chinese Marines. Which side would squander their advantage first?

[@Lewascan2][@Gerlando][@Nimbus][@QJT][@Amidatelion][@Digmata][@Chiro]