"This is Helix Security! You are under arrest!" Captain Fareeha 'Pharah' Amari's voice echoed through the necropolis as she and her team ran through the entryway to the tomb. They held their weapons at the ready, ready to finally take in the criminals that had been causing all of Helix trouble. They looked around, pointing their assorted weapons in all directions.
It was deserted. Completely and utterly deserted. Pharah gripped her rocket launcher tighter.
"Again? How many times will they get away?" Saleh broke the tension. The team had been tracking The Shrike and Soldier: 76 for months. Every time they had gotten a lead, the bounty hunter and vigilante were gone when they got there. This was their most consistent one yet, and it had just failed.
"Wait a minute," Pharah muttered to herself, noticing an old mattress with red blankets on the ground. It was fresh. "Search the perimeter. Call and engage if you find them. Saleh, you take right, Tariq left. I'm going up."
"Yes, captain." the two soldiers nodded and went up the stone steps began searching. Pharah followed them up into the chilly Egyptian night. She fired the jump jets in her Raptora armor and shot up into the air. The necropolis was made up of three different tombs. The one that had just been searched, and two others.
"I got pulse rifle ammo in mine. 76 was definitely here," Tariq announced over the comm.
"Mine's empty, too," Saleh reported.
Hovering in the air, Pharah swung her head around. The display inside her hooked glass helmet visor lit a white outline around the Helix Sandcrawler. It was moving.
"I see them. Pharah engaging. Converge on my position." She called out and pressed forward. Saleh and Tariq joined her on her flanks and they flew through the desert air.
Pharah fired her rocket launcher. The projectile whizzed down to the Sandcrawler, leaving a white smoke trail behind. It landed far behind it, making a crater in the sand.
Soon after the initial impact, a faint blue light flickered, accompanied by the sound of Soldier: 76's heavy pulse rifle. There was a spack against Pharah's armor. She raised her hands to protect her face.
"Evasive maneuvers! Watch your six!" Pharah yelled to her fellow soldiers before pulling into a sharp nosedive. Saleh and Tariq spun mid-air and joined Pharah, who had pulled out of the dive. Skimming the sand, they open fired onto the Sandcrawler. Pharah released rocket after rocket, avoiding the shrapnel cloud that she flew through at high speeds.
"This is Captain Fareeha Amari of Helix Security! You are under arrest! Stand down now!" Pharah switched to the public channel. The crawler slowed down some, and the team closed ground.
To her left, Tariq yelped and started to fall head first into the sand. Saleh stooped down to catch him. They both hit a sand dune. Pharah kept going.
"Saleh! Status!" Pharah yelled into the comms.
"Tariq down. Tranquilizer dart. He'll be fine, though"
"Take care of him, I'm going after them!" She turned upwards and shot into the sky. When she was at the minimum height, she launched row after row of missiles from the armor on her shoulders and thighs. The barrage finally overturned the Sandcrawler, hitting the sand in front of it, creating a ditch. Pharah saw the two targets jumping out of the crawler before it exploded. She dived back down to the wreckage.
The forms of The Shrike and Soldier:76 were trying to run from the wreck, but Pharah saw them. She launched the concussive missile on her forearm. It found its mark and launched the two off their feet.
Pharah hit the ground running and tackled Soldier:76. She clicked him into handcuffs and tied his feet.
"Good job, Reeha," He gruffed. Pharah kicked him down into the sand, ignoring his use of her childhood nickname.
Pharah turned her head and came face to face with the masked Shrike. They had a tranquilizer gun held to the exposed part of her face. The silent tension went on for some time.
In a split second, Pharah grabbed the gun and flipped the shrike over her shoulder and onto the sand. She grabbed their hood and exposed a long, silver braid. The Shrike hit her in the chin with the heel of her hand. Pharah let go. The Shrike grabbed her sniper rifle and pointed it at Pharah. Her mask clicked up to reveal an old Arabic woman that had an udjat tattoo on her right eye, the opposite of Pharah's.
"Your left side is weak, ḥabībti," she said with a hesitative smile.
"Mom? How are you alive?"
"Death didn't take," Ana Amari shrugged her shoulders and offered her daughter her hand. Pharah took it.
"She's not the only one," Soldier: 76 broke his handcuffs over his back, untied the binding on he feet, got up, and took off his orange tactical visor.
"Jack? You're alive too?"Pharah questioned.
"And Reyes," He gruffed, rubbing his ribcage.
"I'm still supposed to arrest you," Pharah said reaching for a fresh pair of handcuffs.
"Not if you never catch us. Keep in touch, Fareeha. I'm so proud of you," Ana pressed a piece of worn paper into Pharah's hand. Not more than a second passed before a sleep dart was logged in her neck and she knew no more.
A/N: This was actually an assignment in my creative writing class (I got an A:). Thought I'd share.
-Coollizzylou