Somewhere in the Mountains of Syria
0200 UTC

All was quiet on the mountains. A sniper/spotter team from the French Foreign Legion were posted up behind a treeline on top of one of the mountains surveying the area. They have been there for well over 13 hours, playing the waiting game for their target, a French national whom had been radicalised and carried out an attack on Bastile Day, claiming the lives of over 40 people and injuring hundreds more before fleeing to Syria. As a result, they were deployed to take him out. After getting some information from an informant, they were inserted and posted up shop and began playing the waiting game. A lot of their time was silent, including a 5-hour sleep switchoff. Both of them were awake now and waiting. The spotter pulled away from the scope and let out a breath and looked at his watch before bringing his face back up to the scope.

"So are you ever going to tell me why you joined the Foreign Legion?" the sniper said out of the blue.

"When we have time." the spotter replied mindlessly.

She lifted her head from her rifle and looked over at him.

"I don't know about you Hanzo, but we have nothing but time here." she said.

Hanzo pulled away from the spotter's scope again and looked at her a moment before shaking his head and letting out a breath, going back to the scope.

"Some other time, Amelie." he said.

She let out a breath and shook her head, returning her head to the scope.

"You know, you can't hide the reason fore..."

Hanzo suddenly cut her off. He noticed some movement off in the distance.

"What the..."

"What?"

Hanzo pulled from his scope and squinted a little to see before looking through the spotter scope again and focusing in. That was him. That's who they were looking for.

"Look at the boulder in 3-Bravo."

Amelie looked at the boulder.

"Got it."

"From the boulder, look to the 9 o'clock position approximately 40 mils."

Her eyes darted to the position and spotted who he was looking at.

"Target acquired."

"Prepare to engage."

She adjusted her rifle and then moved back to her scope.

"I see the target on the mountaintop. Wearing black with an RPG on his back, treeline to his 12 o'clock..."

"That's him." he cut off, "Check parallax and mil the target."

Amelie reached with her support hand and began to adjust her scope before mil-ing.

"0.9." she said

Hanzo confirmed her mil before pulling away from the scope and punched numbers into the ballistics calculator.

"Confirm level." he said as he did so.

Amelie made adjustments to make sure she was level, peeking at her anti-cant device to confirm she was nice and straight.

"Confirmed."

"Holdover, 4.3." Hanzo said as he moved back to his scope.

She made her holdover adjustment and then her finger wrapped around the trigger and slowly began to squeeze the trigger to get right at the break point and awaited his final wind call.

"Ready." she affirmed.

"Right, 0.6." he called.

Amelie made her final wind adjustment and then after the natural pause at the apex of her breath, she pulled the trigger in one fluid motion. Both watched through their scopes and waited to see if the shot would connect. They knew it did when it hit him right square in the heart and sent him to the ground, seeing the spray of blood and flesh from the exit wound as he fell. Some of his friends ran to the top where he was and began firing wildly in every direction.

"Target is down. I see why they call you the 'Widowmaker'." Hanzo said as he pulled away from his scope, "Now let's get the hell out of here before they find us."

He then began to put things away. She worked the bolt and cycled a new round and pulled her head away from the scope and picking up the brass and placing it in a pouch on her vest. She looked over at him a moment and smirked a little before also beginning to put her things away. After everything was packed up, they began to make their way towards the extraction point. Hanzo turned his radio on.

"HQ, this is Hunter Actual. Mission accomplished. Making our way to extraction point Alpha, over."

"Rodger that, Hunter Actual. Excellent work. We're sending someone over to pick you up now. HQout."

Hanzo looked over at Amelie and then motioned with his head for her to follow. Amelie slung her AXMC over her shoulder and then followed after him. The two had been working together as a team for a little over 6 months now and while their initial beginnings were a little rocky at first, they made a natural team. Hanzo, a Japanese national, joined the Foreign Legion somewhat out of nowhere and Amelie joined the Legion a couple years after the death of her husband, who was a policeman killed in the line of duty. Both had seen battle multiple times before finally meeting each other and it was because of their excellent service record that their superiors felt that they'd make an excellent team. And an excellent team they were; with over 40 successful missions, they quickly became the preferred team to send after important targets.

"I can't wait to get home." Amelie said out of nowhere.

Hanzo looked over at her a moment and then looked straight ahead again, nodding in agreement.

"Me as well."

"I just want to take a nice hot shower, enjoy a hot cup of espresso, lounge around in a bathrobe and watch Netflix all day." she said with a slight chuckle at the thought of it.

"There's an espresso machine on base."

"Yeah, but it's not the same." Amelie said, "And the coffee quality is shit, to say the least."

"I guess." Hanzo replied, "But a nice hot shower does sound nice."

Assuming nothing came up, they were set to go home after this mission for a while. They had been flying around the Middle East and Africa, practically living on the field for months, though it felt like an eternity to both of them. Simple things like a hot shower and a proper cup of coffee, something that most people completely take for granted, seemed like the greatest luxury to them.

"What are you going to do when you get home?" she asked as she looked over at him.

Hanzo intially didn't respond as he had to think about it.

"I...don't know. I guess I never really thought about it." he admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Hanzo paused, letting his voice trail, "We've been out on the field so long, that the thought of going home is a foreign concept to me now."

"That's...rather depressing to hear."

"Yeah, well..." Hanzo mused as he shrugged his shoulders.

In all honesty, Hanzo had been so lost in his life now that the field was his home. There was a reason why he left Japan in the first place and joined the Foreign Legion as opposed to the JSDF. He was trying to find his way in life, and his life back home was just not doing it for him. He had a great desire to find his calling in life but...he didn't know what it was. Yet, anyway.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Amelie said as she stopped suddenly and looked around.

Hanzo stopped and looked around.

"No, what was it?" he asked.

"Listen."

He listened intensely but still couldn't hear….

"What the fuck was that?" Amelie said, snapping her head in the direction she heard noise.

Hanzo heard it as well.

"Hide! Hide!" he said.

The two scurried off to the side and took some cover behind logs and bushes. A few moments later, a patrol began making their way through. They were speaking too each other, and while neither one of their Arabic was up to scratch, Amelie did pick up a few words here and there.

"I think they're looking for us." she whispered to him.

"You think?" Hanzo whispered back.

Amelie's head snapped to him and gave him a glare; she couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious. Hanzo, however, continued to watch the patrol, ignoring her stare. Hanzo's grip on his FAMAS tightened and he took it off safe as quietly as he could as the patrol came closer to them; Amelie slowly and carefully drew her Glock 19. Their breathing both slowed down as they remained as quiet and motionless as possible. They watched as the patrol passed by them slowly, remaining out of sight. Once they were passed and far enough away, both of them let out a breath of relief.

"That was close." Hanzo said, "For a second there, I thought we were going to get caught."

"IINAHUM HNA!"

They both spun around as Hanzo brought his rifle up and fired two rounds in rapid succession at the man who spotted them, killing him before he hit the ground.

"Merde..." Amelie winced.

They heard the patrol group call out and run back towards them and opened fire on them.

"Go! Go!" Hanzo said as he motioned her to run.

The two began to run as they were being chased by the patrol, bullets flying past them and striking trees and rocks beside them.

"God fucking damn it! I knew it was too good to be true that this mission would go by smoothly!"

They both peeled to the side and took cover behind a tree and turning around to engage their pursuers.

"Hunter Actual, this is Eagle One. ETA to Extraction point, 5 minutes, over." came the voice of their pilot over the radio, the sound of the helicopter's engine roaring in the background.

"Eagle One, this is going to be a hot extraction! I hope you brought some firepower with you!" Hanzo shouted into the radio as the sound of Amelie's gunfire penetrated his comms and flinching when a stay bullet struck the tree right next to his head, "Holy shit!"

"Rodger that, Hunter Actual. We'll be ready. Eagle One, out."

Hanzo returned fire until his magazine was empty before looking over at Amelie.

"Come on! We have to keep moving!" he said.

They broke from cover and continued running, reloading while on the run. Reinforcements soon joined the pursuit and increased the volley of bullets flying past them.

"Goddamn reinforcements!" Hanzo cursed.

The two peeled behind a large tree again to engage their pursuers once more, taking a few of them out before running out of ammo and having to break cover and reload while on the run again. They made it to the edge of the treeline and saw the open area where the helicopter would be picking them up. They had to hold up here until their pickup arrived. As if on cue…

"This is Eagle One. ETA, 60 seconds!" the pilot came over the radio.

He looked over at Amelie.

"Our pickup is going to be here in 60 seconds! We have to hold them off until then!"

"60 seconds?!" Amelie exclaimed, "This is going to be a long fucking minute!"

The two took cover and re-engaged their pursuers once again. Bullets were flying everywhere and both sides engaged each other. Amelie took cover to reload and noticed something.

"I only have one mag left!" she said, "They'd better get here soon!"

"Ain't that the truth!"

She went through her mag and then reloaded and once she was through with that one and her slide locked back, she grimaced and re-holstered her pistol.

"That's it, I'm out!"

Right when she said that, they heard the helicopter off in the distance and making it towards them fast.

"It's about fucking time!" Hanzo called out, "Fall back!"

Amelie broke away and made her way towards the LZ, grabbing her rifle and holding it at the low-ready. The helicopter hovered over her and then began to descend, the door sliding open and revealing the machinegunner who began to open fire while they were still overhead. Once that happened, Hanzo's final mag went dry and he began running towards the helicopter. The machinegunner ceased fire a moment to prevent friendly fire as Hanzo retreated towards the helicopter. Their pursuers capitalised on this and began to aggressively push forward. One made his way to the front at the edge of the treeline and then opened fire and struck Hanzo in the leg, sending him tumbling to the ground. Amelie raised her rifle up, approximated aim and then pulled the trigger. The bullet sailed through the air and struck the assailant in the chest and send him flying back and onto the ground. With that, she dropped her rifle and dashed out to Hanzo, who was trying to get up.

"Come on! Come on! We need to go!" she exclaimed.

Instead of waiting for him to get back up though, since seconds were precious, she picked him up and slung him over her shoulders in a fireman carry and the trudged back to the helicopter.

"Don't worry about us! Let them eat lead!" she shouted at the machinegunner as she was making her way back.

He didn't need to be told twice as he opened fire again, mowing down the initial line of pursuers. Once at the helicopter, Amelie literally tossed Hanzo inside before jumping in herself and then wildly motioning to the pilot to go.

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" she shouted at the pilot.

At that, the pilot pulled up and they gained altitude before flying off. Once they were free from fire, they slid the door clothes and then Amelie let out a breath before looking over at Hanzo, who had already applied QuikClot and was bandaging his leg.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

"I'm fine. Just a clean through-and-through."

"Good."

After taking a moment to catch their breaths, Hanzo winced as he sat upright, looking over at her.

"I want to eat a steak overlooking the river when we get back." Hanzo said.

"Sounds good." she said, "But I'm buying. The woman never pays for the meal."

Hanzo shook his head and gave her the middle finger. Everyone else in the helicopter laughed as they flew off.