Chapter 270: The Long-Lost Adam "Smasher
"! Aerial Interception!
"What the hell is going on here?!"
Seeing the scene unfold before him, Admiral Terrence erupted with fury, demanding an explanation.
On the other end of the comms, a stationed officer immediately reported,
"Sir! We've come under attack by an unknown force. Casualties are severe. I advise you to evacuate the headquarters immediately."
Hearing such a cowardly suggestion only enraged Terrence further. This was the UNSC Headquarters—the most fortified military installation on Earth.
And now, agents from LA Universal Megacorp had the audacity to storm in and cause chaos? This was a blatant act of provocation!
"How many are attacking?"
"Approximately… thirty, sir."
The officer's voice wavered as he gave the number, clearly finding it hard to believe himself—let alone say it aloud to Terrence.
After all, Sydney HQ was garrisoned by thousands of elite UNSC Marine Corps soldiers—humanity's finest warriors.
Beyond the core facility, there were tens of thousands more in reserve units, all top-tier in both equipment and training.
And yet, even with this kind of force, the LA Universal Megacorp agents had punched their way into headquarters? If word got out, it would be a monumental disgrace!
"What did you say? Thirty?!"
In that moment, Terrence suddenly recalled the elite strike team Margaret had mentioned—the one that had assaulted the Arcadia Research Institute. It was likely this was the same unit, now here to assassinate them.
The senior UNSC officials present were visibly shaken upon hearing the elite agents were here. Panic crept into their expressions as they began plotting their escape.
If LA Universal Megacorp had only sent thirty troops for such a bold assault, that meant they were fully prepared.
As the highest-ranking officer present, Admiral Terrence quickly took command and issued orders to the officer:
"Deploy all fighter jets surrounding the base—hit the enemy with air-to-ground missiles. Order the armored divisions to advance and link up with the garrison at the east gate for a joint defense."
"Also, pull additional troops from the outer perimeter for reinforcement. No one stationed on the defensive lines around HQ is to leave their post without my direct order!"
Terrence had seen his share of wars and major crises. He wasn't about to lose his composure over a small strike team.
He refused to believe that thirty so-called super-soldiers could withstand missile bombardment and the relentless firepower of armored units.
No carbon-based lifeform could survive that kind of assault!
"Yes, sir. I'll get on it right away."
With the admiral's command given, the officer ended the holographic transmission and rushed to carry out his orders.
At that moment, Margaret stepped forward and urged Terrence:
"I believe our top priority should be to evacuate the HQ and relocate to the orbital station. The Navy's defenses up there will be impenetrable—those agents have no ships, they won't be able to follow us."
From this attack, Margaret had realized the surface of Earth was already thoroughly infiltrated by LA Universal Megacorp's agents. A large-scale crackdown now would be far too late.
If the ground was no longer safe, they had to escape to the orbital station—to the Navy's base.
But her suggestion only made Terrence angrier. He glared at ONI's Commander-in-Chief and barked:
"Do you even hear yourself? The Admiral of the UNSC and the head of ONI—running scared from thirty agents? You think that's acceptable?!"
"If that gets out, where do you think our dignity goes?!"
Seeing that Terrence still refused to listen, Margaret snapped back:
"General, now is not the time for pride. Do you really think your reputation is worth more than everyone's lives here?!"
"If LA Universal Megacorp dared to send such a small team to kill us, what makes you think they wouldn't escalate and lob a tactical nuke if they fail?"
"Do you believe this HQ's anti-air defenses are stronger than those of the orbital station or a carrier strike group?"
"Furthermore, everyone here is part of the UNSC's core leadership. If we all die, the entire command structure collapses. The entire organization will fall into chaos!"
"At that point, everything we've built—our systems, our hierarchy—will disintegrate overnight. Staying here is reckless!"
Margaret's words snapped the high-ranking UNSC officials back to their senses. The thought of being vaporized by a nuclear strike sent them scrambling to their comms, calling in transport ships to get them out.
Meanwhile, outside, UNSC fighter jets had arrived at the scene and launched a barrage of air-to-ground missile clusters at their targets.
BOOM—!!
A thunderous explosion ripped through the area, flipping nearby structures and engulfing the east gate in a firestorm. The shockwave tore through the earth and rattled the very foundations of the HQ building.
Every high-ranking official inside felt the sheer destructive power of those missiles. Under normal circumstances, no carbon-based lifeform could have survived that.
And yet, moments later, gunfire and heavy weapons echoed again from the east gate. Through the thick smoke, the Astartes strike team was still advancing—completely unfazed—as they charged the headquarters once more!
Clearly, the missile barrage had been utterly ineffective. Each agent was equipped with the most advanced miniaturized antimatter shields.
Conventional weapons like missiles could no longer inflict any meaningful damage.
Seeing this, the UNSC leadership wore expressions of utter disbelief—as though they'd just seen ghosts. If even missiles couldn't stop these super-soldiers, who could?
"General, we're almost out of time. You must make a decision now. And I strongly urge you—initiate nuclear strike protocol immediately!"
Margaret's voice grew more urgent. If she weren't merely the head of Intelligence, she would have long since taken a shuttle to the orbital station and ordered the Navy to seal off Earth and every route out of the solar system.
Instead, she was stuck here, still trying to reason with Terrence.
This time, Terrence didn't hesitate for long. He immediately nodded in agreement to Margaret's request and ordered everyone:
"All personnel, evacuate to the orbital space station immediately. I'll dispatch the Navy to escort us the entire way. Everyone, move fast."
Stubborn as he was, Terrence wasn't stupid. Against this group of super operatives who could survive missile strikes, their only option was to deploy nuclear weapons.
As for the elite troops stationed near the Sydney headquarters, they'd just have to be considered martyrs for the organization. They'd be posthumously awarded medals for their sacrifice in due time.
At this moment, outside the east gate of the headquarters base—
Bang!
BOOM—!!
A barrage of bullets and heavy-caliber shells rained down like a storm upon the advancing Astartes warriors—but these attacks were almost entirely nullified by their antimatter shields.
The scene looked like something out of a fantasy world—like "Qi Gong"—with fireballs and metal projectiles disintegrating the moment they touched the invisible force fields in the air.
At the forefront was David Martinez, leading the charge with a boltgun in hand. He darted left and right, gunning down the defending soldiers with precision.
Bang!!
Just then, a high-explosive round from a sniper rifle struck his head, hitting precisely in the split second when his antimatter shield was recharging.
A violent explosion erupted, and thick black smoke engulfed David's head—but for him, this was a complete nonissue.
After all, he was wearing the Mark X Power Armor—the most defensive heavy armor model—designed specifically for brutal frontline engagements.
When the sniper and stationed troops saw David take a headshot and still continue leading the charge, advancing toward the main plaza, they were nearly driven to despair.
What kind of invincible iron-clad monsters were these?!
Elsewhere, many UNSC soldiers began wavering at the sight of these "walking steel coffins" that bullets and artillery couldn't even scratch.
But military orders were absolute. They had no choice but to stay and maintain suppressive fire on the Astartes warriors.
Naturally, David wasn't going to show mercy. He returned fire while advancing, occasionally breaking through enemy lines and swinging his chainsword to sever limbs and cripple soldiers.
With their full-body Power Armor and antimatter shields, the Astartes warriors were practically immune to conventional damage.
They bulldozed their way through the defense lines like an unstoppable juggernaut.
David deliberately avoided killing, inflicting injuries instead—just like what Rita did to the rebels in Secundus City. Wounding the enemy was sometimes far more effective than killing them.
On the battlefield, the harrowing screams of the wounded had a far greater psychological impact than silent corpses.
After all, people can grow numb at the sight of dead bodies, but the cries of half-dead comrades tap directly into an instinctive, primal fear.
This fear spread like a virus through the ranks, infecting even well-trained soldiers, shattering their composure.
In the skies above, fighter jets and gunships ceased fire to avoid hitting the swarms of wounded scattered across the battlefield.
Meanwhile, several large Wasp-class transport craft had already taken off, carrying UNSC high-ranking personnel toward low-Earth orbit.
As David continued performing "amputations" on the UNSC defense forces, he spotted the flight formation lifting off from the roof of the Sydney headquarters—and immediately ordered the Astartes warriors behind him to follow.
…
At 4,000 meters altitude, inside one of the Wasp transports—
"Looks like they've retreated."
Seated in the cabin, Margaret watched the scene at Sydney HQ through live surveillance footage. Though the terrifying assassination attempt had ended, her confusion had only deepened.
Typically, assassinations were a one-shot deal—either the assassin died or the target did.
If the first attempt failed, the chance of succeeding in a second round would skyrocket in difficulty.
Could the megacorp have more tricks up its sleeve? Or… did they plant agents in the space station as well?
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Margaret immediately alerted Terrence, urging him to thoroughly vet all suspicious personnel onboard the space station and its fleet carriers.
Especially any ship crew who had recently transferred posts—no one with less than two years of service was to be trusted.
Not long after, the fighter jets tracking David and his team transmitted real-time footage to Margaret.
When she saw the super operatives heading straight toward the heavily populated Sydney city center, her face nearly turned green with rage.
Their original plan was to lure David's Astartes warriors into the HQ and trap them with defense troops, then wipe them out with micro-nukes.
But what Margaret hadn't anticipated was how fast David and his squad could move—charging like locomotives, leaping over buildings in a single bound, smashing through obstacles with raw brute force.
David was already nearing the edge of the central district. Dropping a nuke now would undoubtedly cause civilian casualties.
And the residents of Sydney weren't just nobodies. Even the lowest-level citizens had some kind of background. Many top-ranking officers and UNSC officials had families living in Sydney!
If Margaret dared authorize a nuclear strike on civilians, she'd be dragged straight to a military tribunal for crimes against humanity.
As Margaret and the UNSC leadership racked their brains for a way to deal with the rampaging Astartes, a sudden alarm blared.
Beeep—!!
Moments later, the transport pilot's voice came over the intercom:
"Attention, command staff—we've detected a group of unidentified aerial units approaching fast from all directions!"
He then enabled shared visual feeds, transmitting the scene to Terrence and Margaret.
On the holographic screen, they saw a formation of red flying units had completely surrounded the transport convoy, matching their speed in tight formation.
The pilot zoomed in on the closest unit—only then did they realize what they were looking at.
It wasn't a drone. It was a humanoid aerial unit.
Encased in striking red armor, a glowing orange core blazed from its chest—clearly its energy source.
There was no mistaking it. That was a cybernetic warrior in an anti-Hulk suit: Adam Smasher long presumed missing.
After his rampage at Arasaka Tower, where he'd been demolished by the Titan mech, Adam had been taken to the megacorp's medical facility for emergency treatment.
Although his brain had suffered irreversible damage and parts of it had to be removed, his life had been saved.
For years, Adam had served as the ideal test subject for the megacorp's cutting-edge cybernetic tech. All the latest advancements went to him first.
After countless procedures and reconstructions, his nervous system had developed durability rivaling even someone like V.
Of course, by now he was a pure killing machine—emotionless and fully obedient. Under the megacorp's control and conditioning, he followed every order to the letter.
He now bore cybernetic systems from Arasaka, Kanto, and Militech—combined with a unique 2% organic brain composition—and a state-of-the-art anti-Hulk armor system.
At this point, just like V, Adam was nothing short of a living miracle.
Before Terrence could even give the order to have the fighter escort engage Adam, the cyber-warrior looked to his side at the converging jets, adjusted his flight posture, and raised both hands.
Plasma pulses burst from his palms—brilliant orbs of destructive energy—instantly shooting down several fighter craft.
Then Adam opened fire in all directions, weaving and dodging mid-air with ghostlike agility. One by one, the escort fighters were picked off.
Watching this unfold, the high-ranking UNSC officers inside the cabin were stunned into existential despair.
It was bad enough that the megacorp had invincible monsters on the ground—now they had flying humanoid weapons too?!
ONI Commander Margaret and Admiral Terrence stared blankly at the screen, nearly speechless.
Who would've believed the megacorp was still hiding such a deadly trump card?
Soon after, the panicked shouting began:
"Speed up! Get us away from that monster! Or we're gonna be the next ones shot down—I don't want to die in a crash!"
"This is it! We're all gonna die up here!"
"We should've stayed put at headquarters—damn it!"
"…"
Within minutes, Adam and the other anti-Hulk units had shot down every fighter surrounding the Wasp convoy.
In the sky, only the transports remained—and Adam flew directly up to the sealed cockpit window, hovering with a menacing pose.
The other Astartes warriors flanked the windows on all sides, plasma charges flickering in their palms—ready to reduce the entire transport to burning wreckage at any moment.
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