They walked to the open area, where three Avalon fighters were parked. The first was an older model, primarily used for transportation. The sed was a bat unit outfitted with ons, missile racks, and cloud bombs. The third, still under stru, was surrounded by dozens of meical Ants busy welding and assembling parts.

  “Avalon,” Zack begauring toward the sleek aircraft. “Dual-mode flight system. Turbine engines for vertical take-off and h; jet engines fh-speed thrust. Top speed? Mach 1.3.”

  Ava’s usually impassive expression softened as she approached the Avalon. Her love for flying was evident in the way her eyes lit up. “Never flown one of these before,” Ava admitted, her voice betraying a hint of excitement.

  “It’s not hard,” Zack assured her with a small smirk.

  Ava wasted no time stepping into the cockpit. As she studied the trols, her hands trembled slightly. She silently mouthed the names of fallen rades, a quiet tribute to those who’d flown beside her. Determined, she followed the flight guide dispyed on the s and executed a fwless vertical lift-off in record time. “Impressive,” Zack said, raising an eyebrow as Ego chimed in.

  “Sir, it seems Ava’s flying skills surpass yours,” the AI teased.

  “Hey! My first flight was a test run!” Zack retorted, his face reddening slightly. “You ’t rush perfe!”

  With that, Zack activated the Apex’s thrusters, taking off and h in front of the Avalon’s cockpit. “Follow me,” he said firmly. “If you fall behind, use the navigation.”

  “Uood,” Ava replied, her toeady. She tightened her grip on the trols, determination evident in her voice.

  After switg to flight mode, Zack slowly pushed the power lever forward. The Avalon responded smoothly, gradually accelerating to follow him.

  Ava, in trast to Zack’s usual recklessness, meticulously followed the flight manual step by step. Yet Zaew this precision was limited to non-bat sarios. Once Ava entered a fight, her posure vanished—repced by the chaos of a full-blown madwoman. As the Avalon and Zack’s suit hit the skies, a deafening boom echoed in the air—they both broke the sound barrier almost simultaneously. The difference?

  The Avalon capped its speed at Mach 1.3, steady and trolled. Zack, however, roared ahead, climbing to an insane Mach 4.5. In seds, Ava was left far behind, a fading dot on the radar. “Open navigation,” she muttered, watg Zack's rapidly shrinking figure on the s. Activating the satellite guidance system, she smirked faintly. “Let’s see if you’re still ughing ter.”

  Zack, cruising at a terrifying Mach 4.5, soon reached the skies above Newark City. From his elevated vantage point, the city’s sprawling urban ndscape stretched endlessly across the horizon. His expression hardened as the grim details from his earlier interrogation came to mind. The ander had spilled everything: this mysterious anization’s base was here, guarded by anti-aircraft defenses powerful enough to rival those of a military instaltion.

  Slowing his flight slightly, Zack sed the horizon. “If what that guy said is right, heading any closer will trigger a missile barrage,” he murmured.

  But Zack had pnned for this. Equipped with decoy bombs specifically for this mission, he grinned. “Let’s see how good you really are.”

  He adjusted his thrusters and dove straight toward Newark City. As he desded past 6,000 meters, the sky exploded into chaos.

  Boom! Boom!

  Three anti-aircraft missiles unched simultaneously, their bright exhaust trails tearing through the air.

  Beep, beep, beep!

  The HUD in Zack’s Apex armor bred warnings as the missiles locked onto him. He g the radar, raising an eyebrow. “Is this for real? Mach 2.5? These things are slower than I expected.”

  The speed discrepancy made Zack chuckle. “Guess I won’t even need decoy bombs.” Pushing his thrusters to Mach 3, he maneuvered with precision, positioning himself for a head-on collision with the ining missiles.

  As the missiles screamed closer, Zack’s Apex’s left fp thruster fired abruptly. At Mach 3, he veered sharply to the right in a trolled arc, avoiding all three missiles with surgical precision. The anti-aircraft missiles, uo match his sudden maneuver, shot past him. Their engines fred as they slowed, turned, and locked onto him again, resuming their pursuit. Zack grinned. “Too slow.”

  The honeyissile bay on his left shoulder opened, revealing 42 micro-guided missiles ly packed inside. His HUD immediately locked onto the three ining missiles. “Fire,” Zaanded.

  With a hiss, three miissiles shot out. Although subsoni speed, their pinpoint accuracy made up for the ck of raw velocity. As the rger missiles, flying at Mach 2.5, barreled forward iable trajectories, the smaller, mile miissiles closed in.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Three fiery explosions lit up the sky like miniature suns. Zack smirked as debris scattered harmlessly around him. “Not bad for pencil-sized missiles.”

  In the heart of Newark City, within a heavily fortified building, chaos erupted among the and staff. On the main s, a bck-masked figure appeared, his voice a distorted, meical growl. “Lord Bck Hand!” the anders greeted in unison, standing at attention.

  “Evacuate all non-batants and secure critical data underground,” the masked figure ordered. “bat units, prepare to engage.”

  “Yes, sir!” The room became a hive of activity as personnel scrambled to obey. Stists and non-batants rushed to elevators, carrying boxes filled with research materials. Meanwhile, soldiers in the base began mobilizing, setting up defensive positions.

  Deep within a factory-like se of the base, rows of gss tanks lihe walls. I figures floated in a greenish nutrient solution, their muscles grotesquely rown. Arms bred as the tanks began draining. “Wake the supersoldiers!” a ander barked.

  The nutrient solutioied, revealing nearly a hundred enhanced fighters. Their breathing was harsh and deep, resonating like growls. The rgest of them, nearly four meters tall, loomed over the others, his shadow casting an intimidating presence.

  Outside, ordinary soldiers scrambled to prepare. The enemy’s forces were armed with a diverse range of onry, from Soviet anti-aircraft guns to NATO-grade missiles. It atchwork Armory, but formidable heless. “Target spotted! The intruder is here!” someone shouted.

  All eyes turo the sky, where a bck dot streaked toward them, leaving shattered gss and a trail of destru in its wake. Zack observed the base through the HUD in his armor, which acted like a high-powered telescope. The yout of the base was crystal clear, and he could evehe shock etched on the soldiers' faces as they scrambled into a.

  “Fire! Intercept the target!” The shouts of the base ander rang out as two M163 Vul Air Defense Systems roared to life. Shells streaked into the sky, their trajectories illuminated by tracers. The thunderous boom of explosions filled the air as the shells burst, scattering shrapnel in a e pattern that transformed the sky into a death zone.

  Zack smirked. “Too bad I’m not that easy to hit.” Diving sharply, he maneuvered the Apex armor into a steep dest. Anti-aircraft guns had their limitations; their elevation angles couldn’t track targets that flew too high or too low. Zack exploited this weakness with ease.

  “Deploy the Stingers!” barked the ander. On the rooftops below, five soldiers armed with stinger missiles scrambled into position. They opeheir unchers, log onto Zack’s desding figure. The sharp, urgent beeping of lo alerts filled the air.

  “Stingers, huh?” Zack muttered, a mischievous grin f.