Bullet Time.
The moment Noah's new talent activated, reality shifted into something that belonged in a physics textbook written by a madman.
His pupils dilated as his heart rate spiked to levels that should have required immediate medical intervention. The sensation was familiar—adrenaline flooding his system like it had during Francis's torture sessions—but amplified beyond anything human physiology should have been capable of producing.
Four hundred beats per minute, Noah noted with detached fascination. If I still had that fake heart rate monitor, I would have detonated myself dozens of times by now.
But instead of cardiac arrest, the massive adrenaline surge triggered something extraordinary. His sensory perception expanded dramatically, visual processing accelerated to superhuman levels, and the world around him began moving with the sluggish pace of honey sliding down glass.
In this enhanced state, Noah could see everything with crystalline clarity—the trajectory of incoming bullets, the precise angle of the pursuing vehicles, even the microscopic changes in air pressure that indicated wind direction and velocity.
His brain processed this flood of information with computer-like efficiency, calculating angles, distances, and timing with mathematical precision that made advanced physics feel intuitive.
This is what being a superhuman marksman actually means, Noah realized. Not just good aim—perfect spatial awareness and the ability to calculate impossible shots in real time.
Without conscious thought, following an instinct that felt more natural than breathing, Noah raised his pistol and fired.
The bullet left the barrel spinning on a trajectory that defied conventional ballistics, its path curving through the air like it was following invisible guidelines drawn in space.
Through his enhanced vision, Noah watched his bullet intercept another projectile mid-flight—a Russian gangster's shot aimed directly at Frank's head.
PING!
The two bullets collided with the sound of metal kissing metal, both projectiles deforming into harmless discs that fluttered to the pavement like deadly confetti.
Frank's eyes went wide with something approaching religious awe.
"Did you just..." Frank began, his voice carrying the tone of someone whose understanding of marksmanship had just been fundamentally challenged.
"Intercept a bullet with another bullet?" Noah finished cheerfully. "Yeah, apparently I can do that now."
Bullet interception, Frank thought, his military training struggling to process what he'd just witnessed. That's not marksmanship—that's superhuman precision bordering on the impossible.
Noah didn't pause to appreciate Frank's amazement. In bullet time, he could see three more vehicles pursuing them, and his enhanced perception was already calculating their vulnerabilities.
He fired again, the shot seeming to hang in the air as it arced toward its target—the front tire of the lead SUV.
The bullet struck with surgical precision, shredding rubber and sending the vehicle into an uncontrolled spin that would have impressed stunt coordinators.
The out-of-control SUV careened into its companion vehicle, creating a collision that launched both into a spectacular crash involving a fire hydrant, several parked cars, and what appeared to be someone's very expensive motorcycle.
Two vehicles eliminated with one bullet, Noah noted with satisfaction. Efficiency through physics.
The Russian coordinator, sitting in one of the remaining SUVs, watched this demonstration of impossible marksmanship and made the kind of tactical decision that comes from suddenly realizing you're hunting something significantly more dangerous than anticipated.
"Fall back!" he shouted to his remaining vehicles. "Keep distance and radio for the roadblock!"
Frank caught the tactical shift immediately. "They're setting up an ambush ahead," he warned, his voice tight with pain from his wounded arm.
"I know," Noah replied, his bullet time perception already showing him the heat signatures of additional vehicles positioning themselves at the upcoming intersection. "Looks like about six cars and a dozen shooters. Standard urban blockade formation."
Standard, Frank thought. The kid's talking about tactical formations like he studied them.
They crested a hill, and the roadblock came into view—six vehicles arranged in a semicircle across the intersection, armed Russians using them as cover while automatic weapons tracked their approach.
It was the kind of overwhelming firepower that would have stopped a small army, let alone two men on a motorcycle.
"What's the plan?" Frank asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.
"We go through them," Noah said, his grip tightening on the handlebars.
"That's..." Frank paused, considering the mathematical impossibility of their survival. "Actually, that might work."
If anyone else had said that, I'd assume they were suicidal, Frank realized. But this kid just shot down bullets with other bullets while driving one-handed through Brooklyn traffic.
Noah's pupils dilated further as his enhanced physiology kicked into an even higher gear. His skin flushed red as his cardiovascular system operated beyond human limitations, pumping supercharged blood through his enhanced nervous system.
Frank could feel heat radiating from Noah's body like he was sitting behind a motorcycle-mounted furnace.
The kid's body is running hot enough to cook an egg, Frank noted. Whatever he is, he's definitely not entirely human.
Noah's consciousness expanded into that crystalline state of superhuman awareness, his mind constructing a perfect three-dimensional model of the battlefield ahead. Every shooter's position, every vehicle's angle, every potential ricochet surface—all of it mapped and calculated with the precision of a military targeting system.
"Hold on tight, Frank," Noah said, a grin spreading across his face as his system reached peak performance. "Time to find out what Ultimate Marksman can really do."
The intersection rushed toward them at speeds that turned urban landscape into abstract art, but in Noah's enhanced perception, he had all the time in the world to plan something spectacular.
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