Disclaimer: Don't own anything you could find here. I only own the story.
Sousuke looked at his issued rifle with interest gleam in his eyes.
It is an extremely modern G36K 5.56mm auto rifle, complete with laser sight, a built-in scope and a flash suppressor that would double as a silencer. He also has his personal Glock holstered on the side of his right hip. He also got an assortment of HE and flash grenades at his disposal. These are the weapons that are deadly when handled with care and professionalism.
Into Sousuke's hands however, the weapons will be handled by a Specialist.
His other teammates, an elite Rainbow Squad, composed of men from several different regions around the world, is assigned to take down the terrorists inside the sprawling Central Bank of Japan. Through years of training and experience, these men have been hardened to the core. Some of them could even match the Mithril sergeant's skills, if one would ignore the age difference between him and them. One observant look from Sousuke says that they are all professionals.
Yes, really, they are all professionals minus the idiocy Sousuke has.
They had been briefed about what group the terrorists belong, what kind of weapons they have brought, the building plans, the insertion points for Red, Green and Gold teams, and so on. Their briefing just took place five hours after the terrorists have taken over the building. Tension have been rising on that place since then, as a number of killed or injured policemen, SWAT officers, hostages and civilians has been rising to the point that they would need a drastic solution to end this drastic problem, by force.
They had come to the fact that collateral damage wouldn't be avoided.
That's where the elite Rainbow team has been called.
Sousuke's own private briefing however is different, and that was an hour after the bank heist. According to his briefing with Tessa along with Mardukas and Kalinin, they said that one of the bank's vaults has Japanese Government bearer bonds that has more value than any of the money combined inside, and that amounted to whopping 50 billion dollars. The intelligence told them that the terrorists may use those bearer bonds to buy or develop advanced weaponries. The last thing they need to happen is that they may use the funds to finance development of weapons powered by Black Technology.
So in order to accomplish their objectives, Sousuke will be inserted into the Rainbow team that would participate in the theater of operations as Lieutenant Domingo "Ming" Cortez. No one would know that a Mithril agent was with them, and since no one bothered who he was behind his balaclava and a visor helmet, no one would know what he looked like, although they all guessed already that he is only just a kid in his teens.
Although Sousuke would be disappointed leaving Kaname's side temporarily, this incident would provide him with an opportunity to sharpen again his skills on gunnery and demolitions. It's been awhile since engaging the enemy in firefight, and he feared that he might have lost his edge. Not to worry though, she will be guarded by his two erstwhile teammates Kurz Weber and Melissa Mao.
This would also provide him an opportunity to recover from the blows he received from Kaname's ever so present halisen.
Sousuke sweated.
If the situation ever escalated into a clear and present danger, Arbalest is on standby, ready to be launched from Danaan.
You will never know what the enemy has as a backup plan… it's best to be prepared. Who knows, the enemy might be having an AS ready for action. Who knows, it might be Gauron.
All of Mithril has security paranoia. But Sousuke went overboard with it.
Earlier ago two operatives who specializes in recon and infiltration had already gone inside the banking complex and disabled the surveillance cameras, and now they have been given a go signal to move in.
"Alright boys listen up!" the captain barked "Gold team has given us a go! It's game time! Remember the briefing and all would go well!"
Sousuke is not really feeling the adrenalin they all have. He hopes that the terrorists can give him an effort to take them down.
He then moved along with the Red team members, his rifle in hand and senses all jacked up searching for any hostiles. Their insertion point is designated on the northwestern entrance of the bank, while the Green team is on the east side. The Gold team went inside through the ventilation shaft as their insertion point earlier.
Guns all up, the team leader gives a signal and they all moved forward. One of the operatives skillfully pick locked the door knob. Opening it silently he moved ahead, searching for trouble. Finding none, he signaled his teammates to move in.
Silence inside the compound met them while they trudged forward, searching the hallways for possible tangos. That's the term for enemy hostiles.
Domingo "Ding" Chavez, the assigned leader of the Red team pressed his communicator headset on "Green team status report, over"
"Sir, we got hostiles just been silently dispatched near the administrator office, admin clear from our insertion point" the Green team leader named Daniel Bogart said "What's the status over there sir, over"
"We're sweeping the hallway leading to offices; so far looks clear to me… we're now heading towards the lobby, starting another sweep, over"
"Gold team report"
The leader of Charlie team named Antonio Maldini responded "Holding at the Monitoring Room A on the ground floor of the bank. Still the terrorists have not yet felt our presence"
"Too quiet…" Alain DuBarry remarked. He is one of the Rainbow's electronics experts.
"Permission to speak sir?" Sousuke said.
"What's on your mind?" Ding asks.
"We might be in some form of trap sir" the young Mithril agent said, surveying the foreground "Otherwise we would be in a firefight". Since entering the compound during the search he noticed something shimmering in the background, but it must have been his imagination.
He didn't have enough sleep last night.
Ding shrugged, not really believing "True… let's see about that… you go check that another hallway with McAllen"
Sousuke could see that he was underestimating him.
"Sir yes sir!" the Mithril undercover agent wisely replied.
"So you're a newcomer huh?" Roger McAllen said, his smile obvious behind the balaclava "Let me see what you got, lead the way"
"Sir yes sir!"
Taking point, Sousuke searched the separate hallway while occasionally entering doors and checking rooms. So far they are all empty of life.
They are about to turn at the right side of the path when Sousuke signaled for a stop. Then they heard footsteps, with padding.
Both operatives flattened at the corner instinctively. Sousuke let his weapon hang loose around his shoulder and waited.
A terrorist came walking by, smoking a cigarette. He lost his smoke when Sousuke grabbed him and delivered a fatal break neck, the sound so sickening to hear.
McAllen was wide-eyed when he saw how efficiently "Ming" dispatched the armed gunman.
Hiding him inside the conveniently placed janitor's locker, they moved along.
Then they saw sign which leads to "Monitoring Room A". Following the path, they silently dispatched three terrorists trudging along the way.
Peeking inside the huge room of monitors, they spotted their Rainbow operative manning the controls.
Sousuke and McAllen noticed something strange to their Gold team operative. His upper body was leaning to the monitors, sprawled like a dead man.
Feeling dread, they went inside the room, guns up. And they saw another operative, lying on the floor.
Bathing in his own blood, the blood coming from the wide gash in his neck.
"Shit…" McAllen spat.
"Sir, Monitoring Room A secured, over" Sousuke reported to his communicator headset.
"Affirmative, what's the status of the Charlie team? Over" Ding responded.
"Very dead sir, the terrorists may now have felt our presence, over"
"Is that so? Then they should have met us with firefight, even earlier ago…" A pause, then he continued "Something's going on; I want you to fall back here at the lobby and regroup. Keep your guard at all times, over"
"Affirmative, over" Sousuke replied. He then faced McAllen, about to say that they will now regroup at the lobby, when he noticed a shimmering in the background again, just nearby to the door they just entered.
That kind of shimmering is only seen on M9s when their ECS is activated.
McAllen noticed the young sergeant's apprehension, his eyes suddenly searching for unwanted intruder. Sousuke then called Ding over the radio, but failed because he only hears static. He frowns because it is impossible to have static, unless something was blocking his transmission to their team leader.
"My man, what is it?" McAllen said, flustered by his actions. 'Maybe this newcomer has security paranoia'. "Come on man, our surroundings is—"
"Be alert, we may have an intruder in our midst"
McAllen is confident that there are no terrorists within their immediate vicinity "Oh is that so? Come on relax—"
All of his training as an excellent marksman and demolitions went down the drain as unseen blade suddenly materialized and pierced his back, the blade piercing through his spinal column, passing through his vital heart, and breaking through the other end. McAllen died immediately.
Sousuke jumped to the corner to avoid any surprises from the back. Familiar on how the ECS works, he shot the emergency fire sprinklers in the ceiling, causing to create a rain inside the room. Expensive equipments were rendered worthless immediately.
There he saw a faint outline of someone as he materializes, his suit sparkling with electricity, rendering it also useless.
"So you are equipped with electronic cloaking system. How nice… do you belong with the terrorists?" Sousuke asks 'What a plot twist' he thought.
"Ah so you know how ECS works… oh well so much for this expensive gadget… by any chance are you a Mithril undercover?" the man with what looked like a samurai blade said, suited with a tight fitting black ops suit, his high-tech looking goggles and a visor only protecting his identity. He is roughly the same size and body shape like that of Sousuke. He then removed a piece of device, obviously the ECS device, and threw it to the Mithril operative, who caught it.
"You didn't answer my first question. My second question, do you belong to Amalgam? One of the now defunct A21? Another one of Gauron's men?" Sousuke asks, not answering the question the unknown intruder gave to him. He must get possible answers from that man before he shot him point blank in the face.
Thoughts of Leonard and Kaname went through his mind. Even Gauron too.
"No…" the man then looked at his watch. It looked waterproof enough "You got a third question?"
That man is obviously a wisecracker.
"Might as well… how…" Sousuke looked at the man's portable ECS device on his grasp. 'This kind of device forpersonal and human useisn't readily available for the next 5 years… how did he manage to get his hands on this?'
"It's a secret, now I got to move along… my companion is waiting impatiently for me… who knows we might see each other again 'cause you look interesting. I think you belong to Mithril. I think you are Sousuke Sagara"
The man turned away.
'How does he know my name?'
Sousuke fired in full auto.
The man just dodged his bullets and deflected others with his sword. Then he slid down to one side and side-tripped Sousuke so fast, he didn't have time to blink. Sousuke's head smacked to the desk so momentarily he saw stars. The man used the opportunity to get away.
Shaking his head to clear the stars encircling him, Sousuke stood up and went outside the room and searched for the interloper, but he got the feeling that he was gone by then.
Then he heard gunshots, small arms fire coupled with high powered ones, then the sounds of simultaneous explosions.
Over the whole banking surroundings at once.
Sousuke ran to the lobby to regroup, the gunfire sounds are getting louder and louder for each second. Dashing through the hallway he spotted a terrorist just about to point his P90 at him.
Doing a flying leap, his main weapon hanging loose in his shoulder, he kicked the terrorist point blank before deftly ramming his Glock to the terrorist's skull. Brains and innards decorated the window.
Turning left then running through the hallway, he collided with another terrorist. Both sprawling in the floor, they lost their hold on their weapons. In the floor, they are already engaging in fist fight, neither can use their weapons hanging on their backs, neither gaining an upper hand for a moment, until Sousuke kicked him in his family jewels.
It is the only part in his body not protected by Kevlar armor.
Recently he had learned this technique from Kaname after she had single handedly dispatches unruly thugs back at school. Disgraceful, but effective.
"YOU SON OF A—" he never got to finish his word because Sousuke placed an HE grenade inside his back pocket before kicking him away to the room and closing the door.
The resultant explosion caused the door to go off its hinges, slamming on Sousuke like some wild beast trying to force inside its entry.
Picking his Glock, he holstered it back. He readies his G36 and dashed into the fray in the lobby.
"Where have you been! I'm trying—" Ding paused to fire "—to reach you!"
"You couldn't reach me because of some static producing device nearby my vicinity" Sousuke paused before continuing "Charlie team is out of commission, McAllen is dead"
"McAllen? Dead?"
No time for explanations now because bullets are now flying between them, causing some ricochets.
Operatives began to return fire as Sousuke took his position behind a pillar, sighting two terrorists with FAL automatic rifles. He never encountered a problem as he dispatches them with two single shots.
Another terrorist open fire from above with a Famas G2 and managed to hit one of Sousuke's teammates in the shoulder. Not serious hit enough, the operative retaliated by throwing an HE grenade on the balcony and shouting "Fire in the Hole!" The result is a deafening explosion and a burnt body flying away with a shriek.
"Move! Green team report!" Ding exclaimed on his communicator.
"Sir, engaging enemies at the back of the building, giving us hell of a time sir! They got hostages!"
"How many?"
"Ten sir, two are equipped with machineguns, we are pinned. Jamal took a hit and Daniel too during the forced entry, but not serious—shit! Incoming RPG!"
Ding heard a crack of explosion on the radio.
"Ah shit—"
"INCOMING RPG!"
Ding turned to see a rocket propelled grenade going directly in his way. Instinctively he ducked just as the rocket propelled past him before hitting a pillar behind them.
Another one of the operatives took a bullet hit in the hand and in the gut, causing him to drop the weapon on the floor. He also dropped to the floor like a sack and anguished the pain.
"Bring it on then bastards!" Eddie, another one of his teammates, gunned down that RPG toting hostile at once with his G36K.
Sousuke also does the same to another three hostiles coming from the lower balcony.
Another group of terrorists then came from the inside, all equipped with M4 and all had M203 attachments. Each of them prepares to bombard the red team operatives into kingdom come.
"Ming!" Ding franctically shouted to Sousuke. He was busy dealing with the other wave that came from downstairs "Tangos at our three o'clock!"
Sousuke automatically shot down those three hostiles, but before the last one died, he managed to pull the trigger on the grenade launcher. With a dull whoomp, the grenade hit the already hit pillar and exploded, causing it to fell upon the operatives.
Not all of the operatives got away just in time. Two were caught in the fall of the pillar, their legs broken.
Ding shouted in his radio, calling for med evac and more backup. Sousuke went to his side and assisted three remaining team members in action.
Green team leader then radioed in, calling for backup. Ding noted his frantic voice in his headset.
"Sir! Green team exchanging fire with the terrorists but it looks like they are shooting someone in their position! Are you engaging them sir?"
"No, we are sitting here while they are handing our asses to us!" Ding exclaimed, emptying his own G36 to another terrorist.
"Is that so… by the way we have already secured the hostages in the main hall—oh my GOD! We need backup right now someone is attacking our hostages our rear but we couldn't see—oh shit! We need backup—arrrkkkkhhhh!"
Ding heard a sickening stab sound over his radio headset, causing him to jerk off and drop his mag.
He then beckoned Sousuke over "Ming, I want you and Arnavisca to go over Green team's position and provide backup, the rest of us will clear this lobby immediately! Do you understood?"
"Sir yes sir!" Sousuke and Arnavisca responded.
"Now go!"
Sousuke and Arnavisca then dashed through the hallway, occasionally using pillars to avoid gunfire and provide cover for each other.
"Cover to the right and head left!" Arnavisca ordered.
Sousuke risked a peek into the right corner and saw no one in the hallway.
"Clear! Go!"
Arnavisca then dashed toward the left hallway with Sousuke at his heels, running backwards to cover their rear. Then they slowly approach the door leading to the large hall where the Green team is. Intermittent gunfire still erupts at the other side. He began to worry when he is now only hearing AK74 fire.
The whole Rainbow team is all equipped with G36K rifles.
A well trained and professional soldier can identify weapons immediately through gunfire alone. Sousuke is not a stranger to this.
The operative then called the Green team. Not receiving the team leader's response he said anyway that they are coming from the door south of their position.
He then ordered Sousuke "Open, flash and clear"
"Right away sir"
Fishing a flashbang from his pack, he opened the door a little bit before tossing the grenade. He then closed the door and readies his weapon.
After the distinct "bang" of the grenade, Sousuke, alias "Ming" and Arnavisca stormed, looking for hostiles. They saw one.
But he was not aiming the weapon at them. He is aiming at something else.
Or someone.
"A ghost! A ghost!" he shrieked, wildly firing in the ceilings.
Both operatives trained their sights at him. Sousuke is sure that the "ghost" he is referring to is surely another accomplice of that man in a black suit he encountered just moments ago.
Arnavisca is plainly confused.
Sure enough, an invisible being just chopped that terrorist's head off before retreating by jumping outside through the window.
Now Arnavisca is wondering what's going on. There are no windows breaking by themselves.
Sousuke then turned to see what's left of the main hall.
He saw littered bodies of the Green team and the terrorists, along with the hostages.
At least one hostage and one green team operative was left alive, but one of their limbs is missing and in great pain.
"Another mission failure"
That's what Tessa told him during the debriefing. And it's not about the whole mess that deals with dead operatives, dead hostages and dead terrorists.
It is about that government bond amounting to a whopping 50 billion dollars, and it is now missing from the central bank inventory after the theater of operations investigating team—the undercover Mithril agents—had checked and looked around.
He had failed to prevent the theft of that valuable piece of paper. Along that, he had failed to prevent the loss of lives during this operation.
Many times he had felt a damper to his feelings after coming alive from a mission that involves collateral damage.
During the debriefing he just stood there in front of his private communications console in his apartment after he got home from the operation, listening to Tessa and Mardukas berate him over the outcome of the mission. They even considered getting his ass assigned somewhere else. Away from Kaname.
"But that's not the point" Tessa said over the secure line "We have another mission for you that requires your exceptional skills. And it is…" a crack of static was heard, followed by another before Sousuke could hear her voice again "—very important…" another static.
"Another mission?" Sousuke asks, perturbed at what he is hearing right now. Danaan's communication line to him should be loud and clear, so maybe they have defective equipment. Or maybe he has defective equipment.
"Yes… you should be… rece—… Sergeant—hear me?—respond…"
Another wave of static, and then Tessa went offline.
Then Sousuke heard multiple beeps in his another console device. Looking closely to the monitor he spotted several targets moving in to the apartment building, where Kaname lives. Those targets are unknown people dressed in black camo and sporting night vision goggles.
Good thing he installed several hidden video surveillance cameras along with sentry guns.
Kurz then called in "Urzu 7, can you confirm the targets?" he said. He was aboard on a cloaked M9.
"Affirmative, I will now contact Urzu 2"
Picking up his communicator, he then dialed Melissa's number.
"Hey Sousuke what's up!" Melissa aka Urzu 2 cheerfully said, nursing a beer. She said "Sousuke" a little bit louder for Kaname to hear.
Kaname's ears perked up.
Melissa smiled gleefully when she saw her reaction.
"Eh? You said so Sousuke? Kurz, you hear that?"
Kaname was already beside her, listening in.
"Yes sis" Kurz said, his voice deadpan serious, clear enough for Kaname to hear "You know where Sousuke had hidden his stash of weapons in your current building?"
"Of course! I had memorized their every location!" Melissa replied. Sousuke had handed her blueprints of Kaname's apartment building. Encircled on the sheets of blueprints are the locations where Sousuke had hidden the weapons.
Sousuke had even hid a spare TMP, MP5, Glock, USP, grenades, spare magazines and even a rocket launcher under Kaname's bed during the time he visited her to do together their homework, when she wasn't looking. Melissa knows that fact.
"Hidden stash of weapons?" Kaname asked, perturbed "Is Sousuke going otaku again?"
The whole surroundings went dark suddenly, followed by multiple sounds of helicopters. Then it was followed by a very loud droning sound of a jet.
"Incoming multiple missiles!" Kurz screamed over Melissa's phone. Sudden barrage of bullets being discharged from Urzu 6's M9 had Urzu 2 and Kaname diving for cover as he try to hit the missiles.
NEXT! Assault on Chidori Apartment!