Their Mistake, Her Rise - Chapter 260: Chapter 260

However, Johann quickly bit back the words he was about to say. Right after his shouting about his gun, a bullet suddenly shot in from afar, drilling straight through his forehead.
With the slightest sounds, Johann hit the ground, dead on the spot.
The sight sent Team Quiver's members into a panic, their bodies shaking uncontrollably.
"Even Johann's dead? This woman is seriously terrifying."
"Let's bail. We can't take them—fall back!"
Team Quiver couldn't handle the onslaught any longer. As the bombardment grew fiercer, they chose to retreat, leaving the job of dealing with Zoe and Shawn to the helicopter gunners and the heavily armed troops circling above.
Little did they know that Zoe and Shawn couldn't care less about their escape.
Seeing them escape, Shawn came back to Zoe and handed her the rocket launcher he'd just picked up—he knew she was a natural with it. That showdown in the northern Jelonsburg desert had already shown him just how many surprises she had up her sleeve.
Zoe took the launcher from Shawn without a hint of hesitation. She hefted the fully loaded weapon onto her shoulder, aimed at the sky, and unleashed a relentless barrage.
Then there were endless booms. In her hands, the rocket launcher was as precise as a guided missile.
The attack came out of nowhere, leaving everyone from Team Quiver in the choppers—armed to the teeth—completely stunned.
They thought fighting from the air meant they were untouchable. But Zoe was actually wild enough to just grab a rocket launcher and start blowing their helicopters out of the sky. It felt like she was a total madwoman.
Watching their own helicopters start dropping one after another, panic swept through Team Quiver all over again.
"Oh my God, she actually took down a chopper!"
"No, that's two..."
"She's still going—more are going down."
"This woman's unstoppable. It's like she never loses any fight she's in."
"Retreat!"
"Everyone fall back! We'll regroup and figure out our next move later."
They changed their minds and tried to run away.
But Zoe and Shawn weren't about to let them get away that easily. With just a glance, they reached a silent understanding and made up their minds—to hijack the enemy's helicopter and do whatever it took.
In perfect sync, Zoe and Shawn sprang into action, cutting off the Team Quiver members scrambling for the chopper. Shawn handled the close combat on the outskirts, while Zoe fired her rocket launcher at the fleeing enemies, blasting a way through the chaos.
Seizing the moment, Shawn charged toward the nearest helicopter.
Realizing their target was the helicopter, Team Quiver's fighters lost their cool and rushed forward in a frenzy, but Zoe's rocket fire drew all their attention and pinned them down.
Shawn, tall and powerfully built from years of training, made quick work of two men sprinting ahead to claim the chopper—snapping their necks with ease. With a swift move, he climbed aboard.
As a legendary warrior, Shawn had mastered everything from fighter jets to submarines. Piloting a helicopter was child's play for him. In no time, the rotors thundered overhead as he maneuvered the chopper to hover just a few meters above Zoe.
"They've got the helicopter! They're getting away!" someone from Team Quiver shouted.
But it was already too late. Shawn had dropped the rope ladder, and Zoe grabbed hold without missing a beat.
To keep Team Quiver at bay, Zoe hefted her rocket launcher one-handed and fired a salvo without hesitation. By the time the black smoke cleared, she'd already climbed into the helicopter, and Shawn was flying them toward safety.
The area around them was nothing but open sea. Shawn flew the helicopter straight out over the water, knowing the guys on land would never catch up in time. The only ones who could were the heavily armed attack choppers.
Sure enough, those gunships swarmed in like flies, turning what had been a ground fight into a full-on battle in the sky.
Zoe kept firing the rocket launcher at the helicopters chasing them, blasting away at their pursuers. Both sides exchanged fire, and before long, every last enemy chopper was blown out of the sky.
But things never go exactly as planned. One of the rockets hit the tail of an enemy chopper, sending it spinning out of control—straight toward Shawn and Zoe's own helicopter.
The two helicopters were seconds from colliding in a fiery explosion... At that critical moment, Shawn made his move. He wrapped an arm around Zoe's waist, and they jumped out of the helicopter together.
But it was already too late. The massive blast sent shards of metal flying everywhere. Even though Shawn and Zoe had jumped right away, there was no way to dodge it all.
As they plummeted toward the ocean, burning debris rained down around them, threatening to tear them apart before they even hit the water.
With danger closing in from every direction, there was no escaping the full force of the blast.
In that desperate moment, Shawn made a split-second decision. He pulled Zoe tightly into his arms as they fell, turning his back to the explosion. Using his own body as a shield, he took the brunt of the blast, protecting her from the deadly shrapnel.
Something wet trickled down from above, and Zoe instantly recognized that all-too-familiar scent of blood.
When she reached out, her hand landed on Shawn—her fingers coming away sticky, smeared with blood, and brushing against countless jagged shards of metal. Looking closer, she saw Shawn's back, torn to shreds by shrapnel from the explosion at point-blank range.
He'd used his own back and shoulders to shield her from the chaos, taking the brunt of the blast so she could land safely, untouched by the storm raging around them. In that moment, a sharp ache twisted in Zoe's chest.
She couldn't make sense of it. She'd always meant to kill this man, and he'd never once let down his guard around her—clearly, he suspected her. But even so... why would he risk his life to protect her, putting himself right in harm's way?
For the first time in her life, Zoe felt a kind of fear she couldn't name, and for the first time, she found herself truly questioning her mission to assassinate Shawn.