(MNIBP)Chapter 51 - Commence the first Ten Rings operation

The Highlands, New Jersey, USA.

Ben's P.O.V.

The first item he picked up seemed to be similar to a knight helmet with futuristic characteristics. It had a curved blade running along from the top of the head to the nose, with the weapon’s size reducing as it went down. The lethal piece was part of a larger one, the latter being able to slide down in a bid to cover the relatively thin horizontal eye slit. The latter was protected by a glass-like material when the blade part was in its upward position. Despite a few questions traversing his mind, he simply kept silent and started examining the other armor parts.

His gaze was quickly attracted to the other four components of the suit. A pair of gloves, a long-sleeved ‘shirt’, a pair of pants, and a pair of boots were what greeted his sight. Every piece of garment was armored with some thin grey plates and the former could be automatically attached and detached thanks to a special mechanism in the fabric. 'I wonder how I’d look with it on?’ He thought briefly.

Apparently, he was not the only one intrigued as Clint exclaimed with some anticipation lacing his voice. “Put it on, Parker!” He threw a brief glance in his direction while grinning with anticipation before turning his eyes back to the gear and proceeding to swiftly remove his clothes until his underwear was the only fabric left on his body.

“Is there a particular way to put it on?” He asked the other two. “Just put the whole thing on like normal clothes. It’s been made with your measurement in mind and it’s relatively elastic, so it won’t be hard to wear it.” Natalia responded, amused. “Alright, then...” Ben mumbled as he picked up the pants part before easily slipping it on his lower body as if he was trying on some running clothes instead of plate armor.

Feeling pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and perfectly fitted the attire was, the silver-eyed man could not help but be curious about the material it was made of. Instead of asking, though, he started to deal with the other parts, wearing the boots, then the shirt, and finally the gloves.

Once he had every piece of armor but the helmet, his eyes were momentarily attracted to the segments linking each piece of armor, wondering how it was possible that no seam or slit could be found, belying the fact that it was made from multiple parts. ‘It’s like it’s made from one piece instead. The technology behind it is impressive. I wonder if it comes from those Gods...’ He pondered silently.

The question in his mind was probably pretty obvious as Clint explained. “Don’t bother! The whole suit is made by Stark from Asgardian technology. The guy made all our stuff since SHIELD is, and I quote, ‘A den of incompetent morons’.” Choosing to ignore that last part, Ben stated. “If that’s the case, I really need to find time to thank him.”

Nodding his head, Barton replied. “I’m sure you’ll have time after this operation. Just be aware that he can be a bit of a... jerk at times.” Snickering at his words, Ben retorted. “I think I can manage. But thanks for the heads-up.” As soon as his words left his lips, he grabbed his helmet and put it on. Amazingly, the item automatically stuck itself to the suit’s neck area, creating an enclosed space inside.

From the eye slit, the silver-eyed man was able to see perfectly in front of him. However, something else attracted his attention: the different electronic indicators displayed in front of his eyes. With a quick sweep, he noticed his current body temperature, a radar, and a few other information that he did not know how to interpret. Thankfully, after a quick explanation from the redhead, he was able to master the high-tech gear swiftly. His superhuman intelligence was not only for show, after all.

Once decked in his cool-looking armor, Ben started grabbing the other interesting items in the duffel bag. Among them was an armored high-tech backpack, which had a few very practical characteristics, the best being the automatic distribution of any item stored in it from two openings located on the bag’s two sides. When carrying explosives, the item would be a perfect tool for avoiding lethal accidents.

The muscular man also attached his heavy handgun on the right side of his hip, and a military-sized dagger on the left side before the armor 'sprouted’ a few metallic straps that coiled around the two weapons, fixing them in place and giving him the freedom to move around without having to wear a bulky belt for them.

With everything ready, he looked toward the other two ‘costumed’ agents and claimed. “I’m done. Shall we go?” Indeed, while he was ecstatically examining his new ‘toy’, Natalia had activated the auto-pilot and as a few minutes went by, they had already reached their destination. At least, his helmet told him as much through the holographic radar/map in front of his eyes.

He did try to deploy his Divine Sense a few times previously, however, it could not go through the room’s walls. It was not much of a surprise for Ben, though. After all, if simple items such as suitcases could be built with the kind of technology that obfuscated Divine Sense, then he was certain that those vehicles like the Quinjet would also have it in their frames.

What was interesting was that even his armor had a similar tech, the only difference being that his own Mind could reach outside of the gear without problem, however, no one below a certain level was able to penetrate it with their Divine Sense. His identity was thus somewhat safe. Of course, if people already knew who was inside the suit, like SHIELD, then it would not change much, but Ben would take what advantages he could without fussing over what he could not control.

“Alright. We’ll just communicate through the team network, so don’t forget to cut off your external sound output.” The other two nodded before Ben stated. [”Copy that.”] Quickly followed by Clint who added. [”Since you were the one who found the intel, we’ll follow your lead, Nat.”] The redhead threw a brief look toward the two men before she turned toward the cargo hatch while the latter opened automatically.

As it was happening, the sight that greeted Grey Knight’s sight was a mountainous scenery scattered with lush trees for miles with no human presence registering in his senses. Strangely, the latter being completely unimpeded by the completely sealed armor, allowing the numerous and random noises, coming from birds, squirrels, etc to flood his sensitive ears.

Due to his superhuman hearing, the overwhelming amount of sound briefly distracted him before his brain adapted to it by helping him ‘ignore’ them and focus on more important things like the fact that Black Widow and Hawkeye already left the plane while he was distracted. Throwing a glance in his direction, the redhead asked. [”Used to it, yet?”] Feeling a bit embarrassed at his blunder, Ben responded while dashing in their direction. [”Yep. Sorry about that. I got overwhelmed by the noises for a second.”]

Waving his apology away, she replied. [”Don’t worry about it. It happened to all of us. Our senses became too strong so they need some getting used to. Anyway, we’ve got a bit of walking in front of us, so let’s start running.”] Following her instruction, the three started ‘jogging’ at a pace that all of them could easily sustain for hours if not days, but would be impossible to reach for even Peak Olympic athletes.

Their feet then led them toward a mountain separated from the one they were in by a small forested valley through which a sizable river ran unimpeded and with some small animals visible here and there. The peaceful atmosphere was however broken as they crossed the boundary between the place they were previously in and the hollow. Picking up something, Black Widow made a discreet hand sign to make them stop.

Unlike Clint who asked in his coms. [”You caught something?”] Ben instantly understood what happened. Although the three were extra careful in their march, if their target set up some decent surveillance, it was not really surprising that they were able to notice some traces of their presence. Thankfully, after a quick Mind’s inspection, he found that the strongest among the four armed guards moving toward his group barely reached the Second Level Novice Rank, while the other three were around the First Level.

There was something strange about the energy they emitted, though. It felt very unstable, with a hint of fire energy. In any case, it was not the time for an in-depth investigation and the redhead understood that fact perfectly. [”Knight, left flank. Hawk, right flank. I’ll act as bait while you take them down. Be as discreet as possible.”] At that point, even Clint, who had weaker senses due to his lower cultivation base, noticed the group walking toward them.

The two quickly followed her instructions, with Ben dashing to the left at top speed, not forgetting to activate one of the spells he recently learned: ‘Five-Elements Veil’. The latter’s use was, as its names implied, to hide someone from any visual, mental, or electronic investigation. The way it worked was by using the Five Elements to blend one’s entire being into the surroundings.

Of course, there were limitations to the technique and one of them was the immense difficulty in mastering it. Although the silver-eyed knight knew that with his perk, it was only a matter of time before he became completely proficient in it, he DID need some time, and with the fact that he only had a few days and several spells to practice, he did not succeed in turning completely invisible. Instead, his body shape became blurry and, unless one was much stronger, it became very hard to notice him.

However, with how overwhelmingly stronger and faster he was compared to the enemies, that ‘poor’ result might as well be complete invisibility, especially with the fact that his armor also had some obfuscating attributes, which amplified his technique. After a quick sweep of his Divine Sense, he found a perfect ambush point for their team, and, while his body seemed to teleport to the place he discovered, he quickly coordinated with the other two so that the three would be able to maximize the element of surprise.

After what seemed to be several minutes but was barely a few seconds, the three were positioned in a triangle with Hawkeye crouching on a small hill behind a medium-sized tree, Black Widow standing behind some light bushes right outside the normal path, and Grey Knight having his left knee on the ground while hiding behind another lush tree, much further than the other two, to be able to move and attack from their backs.

As the targets were moving rapidly along the dirt path, the raven-haired knight’s breathing slowed down while his brain detected and registered every single event happening around him before formulating a plan of action and adapting it as new things occurred. ‘Four people walking slowly and in single file. Cautious attitude. Easy take down as long as I use the last one as a shield and I’m quick enough.’ He thought, not too surprised at how a group of civilians, at least from what the lack of vigilance they exuded implied, used a formation as stupid as that one.

‘If those morons keep moving like that I won’t even have to...’ His thought was suddenly interrupted as the group, which had just passed his position, abruptly broke up to surround Black Widow’s location who was hiding around 150 feet away behind a few bushes. From the conversation he picked up with his Divine Sense, he gained a few precious pieces of information that he swiftly shared with the other two.

[”Grey Knight, here. The hostiles only caught a few movements on their scanning device. They’ve got no clue about our true position.”] As his words left his lips at a very high speed, the four security guards formed two groups of two people each, with one of them circling to the left and the other to the right, with the ones in front covering the center and front with what seemed to be some Chitauri rifles’ knock-offs in hands, while the ones behind covered the exterior, armed with similar weapons.

The new formation instantly threw a wrench in the superhero’s plan, as Hawkeye’s current movement speed would decrease the chance of knocking anyone down before one of them fired his weapon. ‘Why can’t just stay stupid?’ The raven-haired knight thought while sharing his deduction with the others. As he was talking, he noticed Black Widow moving back, instantly widening the gap between her and the guards.

[”Copy that. Here’s the new plan...”] While sharing her strategy the two men started moving simultaneously to follow the redhead’s instructions.