Before this story starts, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to read this. It really means a lot. I'm trying to improve my writing in any way I can, so if you liked this story, leave a review. If you didn't like it, tell me what I should change. Anyway, thank you, and enjoy!

Chapter 1:

Terror

"What the hell is happening?" The man stood behind an intelligence officer.

"So far we have hits in New York City, Warsaw, Moscow, Ottawa, Paris, Los Angeles, London, Rome, Berlin, Hong Kothch…" The officer stumbled in his words, struggling to keep the list in order. "Hong Kong, Beijing, Madrid, Lisbon, and DC. An attack in Dublin was stopped by the police."

"Shit." The man said. "Any word from the UN?"

"Not yet sir, though it is unlikely the Pentagon will get any specific instructions." The intelligence officer said. "This is not just an attack on American soil."

"So we just have to wait it out." The man said. He paused for a second, contemplating the best course of action. "Shut down all large public events for the next week. I want the military to be on high alert. Make sure no other attacks occur on American territory."

"Yes, sir."

One day earlier

"Checkmate" Mike (Thacher) said.

"Oh come on! Jack (Pulse) complained. "You always get me with the same damn tricks!"

"Add one more for the brits!" Mike said.

Mark (Mute) happily added a tally to the S.A.S column, making the score 3 for the S.A.S and 2 for the FBI.

"We win." Mark said, placing the pencil down.

The S.A.S operators celebrated with high fives and pats on the back while the FBI seemed slightly upset. The GSG 9 and Spetsnaz operators briefly glanced back from the couches to look at the final results of the game. Mike put up a tournament style chart on the wall showing the Germans and Russians being knocked out in the first round, and the Americans losing to the Brits in the final round.

"Good game." Eliza (Ash) said, still slightly upset from the loss.

The door on the opposite side of the room opened, as Yumiko (Hibana) stepped through. She, like the rest of the operators in the room, was wearing fairly plain clothes, sporting a t-shirt and sweatpants.

"Who won?" She asked.

"We did." Replied Seamus (Sledge)

"Good job." Yumiko replied back. "I hate to cut this short, but this noise is keeping everyone up."

Mike took a quick look at his watch.

"I guess it is pretty late." Jordan (Thermite) said. "We'll wrap this up."

"Thank you." Yumiko said as she back stepped and pulled the door close.

"Alright everyone," Mike said. "Let's just go to bed. We will clean this up in the morning."

Everyone gave a slight nod and made their way for the exits. The dorms were just across the hall, so the operators would be asleep in no time. Mike was the last to leave, making sure the TV and the lights were off. Soon, the game room was silent, and the sounds of doors closing in the dorms were all that remained.

...

The door opened, and out walked Elizabeta, (Ela) wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Next to her dorms were that of Meghan (Valkyrie) and Zofia. Ela had earphones in which were connected to her phone in her pocket. She was listening to piano music, which was a first for her. She only did so because Dominic (Bandit) recommended it, and so far she wasn't impressed. Meghan soon exited her dorm and saw Ela begin to put her earphones away.

"Good morning, Ela!" She said.

"Good morning Meg, what you up to?"

"Just gonna swimming. You want to join?"

"So you can challenge me to a race and destroy me again?"

Meghan paused for a second.

"Yeah, pretty much." She eventually said.

"Sounds good to me." Ela replied with a grin.

They both made their way down to the pool, passing Grace (Dokabi) and Taina (Caviera) on the way. Grace was too invested in her tablet to notice them, and Taina gave nothing more than a small wave.

They arrived at the pool and got changed quickly. Nobody else was there, so it was fairly quiet. Upon exiting the changing room, Meghan broke the silence.

"100-meter race?" Meghan asked.

"Yeup! Start!" Ela yelled as she ran and dived into the pool.

Meghan ran behind her, making sure Ela wouldn't have much of a head start. The two swam like hell. Ela felt like she was swimming faster than she could run. She made the turnaround with ease, and proceed back to the start. It wasn't long until she was there, and looked up to see if she beat Meghan. Unfortunately, she found she was not so lucky, as Meghan was waiting for her.

"What!" Ela yelled. "How? I had a head start?"

"You underestimate my usual victory margins." Meghan said with a grin.

"Did you even go?"

"Yes."

"Did you cheat?"

"No."

"Do you find joy in my suffering?"

"Yes." Meghan said, chuckling. "Your tears hydrate me."

Ela laughed. She probably should have seen this coming. Nobody beats Meghan in a race unless it's on foot, in which Ash dominates.

Ela soon got lost in thought, and her facial change notified Meghan.

"What's wrong?" Meghan asked.

"When's the next time you think we'll be deployed?" Ela asked.

"What makes you say that?" Meghan responded.

"For an elite counter-terrorist organization, we haven't been doing much countering."

"That's because the white mask hasn't made any moves."

Ela paused to clean up her thoughts.

"We almost always have at least one team deployed, but everyone has been here for over a month."

"You forget that's a good thing, Ela." Meghan said. "Six will call us if he needs us, and besides, it's probably best he's getting time to learn everything about being a 'director.' He is new to this after all."

"I guess." Ela said. "Grace is calling him Harry, though I'm not sure why."

"I think he told her to."

"Why?"

"Not sure, though is it important?"

"Not really."

Ela noticed Marius (Jager) walking by the pool with his carbine in hand.

"Hey, guys!" Marius said.

"Hey, Maruis! Where ya headed?" Ela asked.

"The gun range." He replied. "I challenged Craig (Blackbeard) to an accuracy competition."

"Really?" Meghan said. "I've always wanted to see his ass get whipped in a shooting contest."

"You want to come?" He asked.

"Sure!" Meghan replied. "Are you up for it?" Meghan said, facing Ela.

"Not now." Ela responded. "I need to do some weights."

"Alright." Meghan turned back to the German. "I need to get changed. I'll see you there?"

"Ja, We're starting in about 5 minutes, so you should have time."

"Sounds good. See you soon." Meghan said, getting out of the pool.

Ela followed Meghan into the changing room, and they both put their clothes back on.

...

Yumiko looked at her launcher, the side opened. She was fiddling with the cylinder that holds her x-kairos pellets. The lab around her was full of explosive equipment, including several of Thermite's charges.

"Hey Jordan," Yumiko said. "Do you think there is a way to make the blast bigger?

"Why do you ask that?" he replied.

"Well, sometimes when I shoot the pellets in training, they don't align correctly, leaving a small bar in between."

"That's just bad luck." Jordan replied. "Besides, If we increase the blast radius, we would have to make the pellets bigger, and in turn the cylinder, and in turn the launcher which would just make it hard to carry."

"But would it be worth it?" Yumiko asked.

"That's up to you. It's not me lugging that thing around."

Yumiko chuckled. He had a point. She liked the ability to move quickly, and she would lose that.

"Alright." She said. "I'll stick with what I got."

"Okay. Let me know if you think of any other ideas, and I'll try my best to shoot them down."

"Like your idea of a 'quiet' breaching charge?"

"Oh shut up. It seemed good at the time."

Yumiko laughed at the memory. She couldn't think of anyone else but Jordan recommending something like that.

"I'm gonna go figure out a way to make my pellets invisible." Yumiko said as she began to leave the room.

"Fuck you." Jordan responded with a smirk on his face.

"Fuck you too!" And with that, she left.

...

The door read Directors Office. Grace looked at it, and proceed in. Harry was sitting at his desk, typing something on his computer. He looked up.

"Hey, Grace, what do you need."

"Just a new tech upgrade I made. I thought you should know about."

Harry smirked. "You know I don't need to know about every upgrade you make."

Grace looked taken back, and Harry immediately regretted saying anything.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I won't bother you again." Grace began to leave the room, head down.

"Wait." Harry said, trying to recover. "If you want to, you can still tell me. I'm interested."

Grace looked up.

"Alright." She said, walking back into the room.

"I managed to more than quadruple the range I can view cameras at to 3500 kilometers. If we need, I can watch camera feeds from buildings in Turkey and still have dinner here."

"That's amazing! How did you do it?"

"Short version or the long version?" Grace asked.

"Short."

"Magic." Grace responded with a smirk on her face.

Harry let out a small laugh, which was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Hang on. He said. "I need to take this."

Harry picked up the phone, and grace heard a deep voice on the other side. She was about to leave the room when she saw Harry's face turn pale.

"Yes, sir." He said, and he hung up the phone.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked.

"Give me a second." Harry replied. He began to type on his computer, followed by a few clicks. He then turned up the volume on his laptop, and Grace heard the news castors voice:

"Fourteen cities have been attacked in what is being called the largest terror attack in history. The world is in panic as each country struggles to find survivors. The combined death toll is in the high hundreds so far, but the number is expected to rise in the coming hours. The UN is asking everyone to 'remain calm' and 'make it easy for the police to do their job.'

The video paused.

"They emailed me this video." Harry said.

He then picked up a mic on his desk and spoke into it.

"Attention all operators. There has been an attack in fourteen major cities. Deployments will happen soon. Increase training until then."

Harry put the mic down.

"Fourteen cities?" Grace repeated, shocked.

"I guess so." Harry responded.

"Is this the white mask?"

"Likely. They said they might have a lead on our next target, and will inform me if it's confirmed."

"Alright. Let us know when we are being deployed." Grace said, backing out of the room.

"Thank you Grace, I will." Harry said as Grace closed the door.