A/N: So I didn't really do a second read-through of this chapter. Do I have an excuse? You bet your sweet ass I do.
Spring break ended and I literally only got 3 hours of sleep today and I was not willing to sit through the night editing what is now the longest chapter ever (yea I decided to combine them). Not only that, but considering how much I did today, it was tiring. I had a personal trainer appointment (he pushes me to my limits), and I'm trying to finish homework all the while practicing bass.
I literally didn't get on my computer until like 9 pm. And most of the time I spent on writing the fic today was more or less contributing to the next chapter, which is the climax.
So all I ask is to give me a little leeway on this one. I may come back in future and edit it, but as of now, this is what I got.
Hope you guys still enjoy even though it's a little crap. Please review!
Chapter 4: The Search Begins
Lamar Khaate Palace, Northern Kabul, Afghanistan
1300 hours
"Nap time's over boys, we've arrived at LZ!", Pequod called to them, rotating from his seat to face the people in the copter. Pequod slightly frowned when he noticed all of them were wide awake. "Huh. Jeez. Did you guys get any extra sleep at all?"
"A little. But it's hard to get some shuteye when you got blades spinning like wildfire and makin' noise.", Mastiff scoffed as he laid on the helicopter seats length wise, his head rested near the door and feet dangling off near the co-pilot seat.
"Aw shucks. Wittle baby didn't get his nappy-poo cause of the hewicoptuh.", Pequod teased with the most shit-eating grin.
"Shut up!", Mastiff groaned as he flipped the bird while Pequod was still giggling.
"Right, anyways. We're here Boss!"
The legendary soldier took the chance to open the helicopter door, watching as the multiple dunes kicked up dust from the wind the choppers created. Turning, he saw the large cargo chopper drop off the truck with half of it's bed being filled with supplies, and the other half reserved for seating.
"Boss, this is Maverick! Just tell me whenever you guys are running out. Mark it with your iDroid and I'll drop it for no cost!", the pilot of the cargo chopper chipped in via Boss's headset radio.
Boss pushed a button on the outside of the ear piece. "Roger, Maverick. Be careful."
"10-4. Maverick here, departing. Over and out.", the large helicopter lifted off and headed in the opposite direction as the two smaller ones containing the staff were lowering at the landing point.
Once they were at a low enough altitude, Boss and the rest in the helicopter jumped off after grabbing their weapons. He could see from the peripheral vision that the others has just got done offloading. The two then rose up again and turned around. "Be careful down there, Boss! Good luck!", Pequod radioed in as the choppers got farther and farther.
"Squad, huddle around!", Jackal called out as they were coming towards the three men and dog.
"Here. What's up?", Puma stepped up first to Jackal, his vision shifting from the Boss to him.
Jackal signaled at Boss to begin, but he simply rose a brow in reply. The horned soldier then cleared his throat loudly and kept his focus on the group. "Right. So here's the plan so far. We're gonna retrace the steps of where me and Quiet were. Once we reach the last known position, we'll try to predict where she went next. Shouldn't be too hard to detect if it's right with DD here."
"Boss, did you grab anything that could have her scent?", Wallaby checked as her nervously brought it up.
"Course I did. I ripped a piece off the mattress in her cell.", he reached into his sneaking suit's back pocket and pulled out the white fabric before putting it back. "Any more questions before I continue?"
The team all shook their heads. "Good. Now, who's the best recon here?"
"Jackal and Scorpion. They work the best together. Alone…not so much.", Octopus grinned through her mask as she elbowed Jackal.
"Right. Thank you…", he read the codename under the patch. "…Octopus. You two are on me. The rest of you, stand perimeter and watch for any movement. Except you…um….", Boss's eyes went up to his head as he racked his brain for the man's name.
"Puma."
"Right, Puma. Except you. You take the truck and drive it somewhere not too far from here where it can be hidden and out of the enemy's way.", Boss ordered as he pointed to the truck then to the intended direction.
"Yes sir."
Boss looked at the two men he asked for before jogging towards the palace with them close by. Making a sharp turn off the road, boss crouched behind two concrete, barbed-wire structures that were near a street light and a power system. Pulling out his intel scope, the two followed his action and examined the large, broken down outpost.
"Alright, so I entered in via the road east of the palace, there I found Quiet breaking out of the outdoor prisoner holds. See them?", Boss quietly started talking to them.
"Yea. Those dark green boxes?", Scorpion marked and unmarked it as he mentioned it.
"Exactly. The farthest west hold was the one she broke out of. This Soviet strangled her in a dumpster full of water. She was clothed in the prisoner garb. Dumbass unzipped it so he could try and…you know.", Boss kept the intel scope focused on the wall where the dumpster was flush to.
"Rape her? Jesus.", Jackal whispered.
"Yea, well, he ended up giving her a way to breathe again. So she kicked all their asses. Killed them with ease. I was gonna try and free her from the rope tie, but she did it herself.", Boss smirked as he reminiscence the moment. "Moment was painful to watch though. She stabbed a guy multiple times in the balls."
The three winced at the thought of it. "God, dude! Too soon.", Scorpion started to grab his own pair.
"Anyways. So tanks came. We blew them up. Things calmed down, but not for long. Massive sand storm blew in and it suffocated Quiet again. Had to carry her out while avoiding more reinforcements. And that's all that happened here."
"Boss, quick question. Quiet jumps really high and stuff, right?", Scorpion lowered the binoculars and revolved towards Boss, who was in the middle of the group.
"Yea. Why?", Venom tucked the INT. scope away, as Jackal lowered them slightly to face Scorpion.
"I think I got someone who could really help you.", Jackal pushed his earpiece. "Hey Mastiff, come over to our location."
Boss squinted at him. "Are you sure about that? He's a fool."
"You'll see.", Scorpion sat down against the rock as they waited. Mastiff slowed his run as he reached them, squatting down.
"What's up?", Mastiff asked.
"Hey, Boss. What point did Quiet go to for sniping when those tanks attacked? Mark it.", Scorpion gestured his thumb towards Lamar.
Venom marked it with his intel scope, wondering just what Scorpion was doing. As he set the binoculars back where he kept them, he watched as Mastiff was scribbling on a small notepad. "How long does it take for her to arrive at that spot?", Mastiff inquired as he continued to write.
"A second.", now this made the legend raise a brow as heard the mumbles of the troublemaker.
"That's around…100 feet…hey how far from the wall was she when she jumped?", Mastiff broke his normal muttering to ask another question, waving his pencil in the air of Boss's direction.
"Bout 2 feet."
More unintelligible speech from the young soldier as he continued to scribble. "Got it! Hey, Boss, where was the last point you knew she was at?"
Snake's expression showed he was curious. Just what was this kid doing?
"Follow me."
[- -]
"So here was the last thing I got from Quiet I could remember her by. The tape hanging on the tree by a thread. You heard it from the briefing tape included, right?", Boss spun around to Jackal, Mastiff, and Scorpion.
"Yea. I kinda understood a little why you were down for so long.", Jackal crossed his arms and directed his gaze down.
"Well, the footprints end here. So where could she have gone?", Boss went back to view the landscape of the dunes. He then suddenly noticed that the noise of a pencil writing down got more furious. He could then hear the victorious whispers of none other than Mastiff as he kept going at it. The whispers transitioned to a normal volume before he let out a slightly loud, "Eureka!"
Scorpion's head went up, his irises moving towards Mastiff as he kept his head in a still position. "What is it?"
"I think I found Quiet's position! Where she was before she completely disappeared!"
Venom's eyes perked up at this. "What?!"
"There was a point where you could spot her from a distance by looking out over that cliff, right?", Mastiff walked over to the cliff, making hand gestures with his pencil.
"Yea. I remember seeing a random cloud of dust out there."
"Well, at that point, maybe we could begin tracking her!", Mastiff's voice changed to a tone of excitement.
"But how? Footsteps disappear in sand, dumdum.", Scorpion got up from his lazy position.
"Scents! The footsteps may be gone, but I bet the scent's still there! It's only been a couple of weeks, right? Then there still must be some trace! I think we got a lead, guys!"
Silence. Then, a clapping erupted from Boss. "Good job, Mastiff. So that's what Scorpion said you'd be useful for."
Jackal's balaclava wrinkled from his grin. "Mastiff may have behavior issues, but I'll be damned if he ain't a smart kid.", he patted Mastiff on the back.
"Right. Let's get in the truck and go. Mark the point you found with your intel scope, Mastiff."
MARKER PLACED. "Way ahead of you boss."
[- -]
Puma started the truck and began driving, with Jackal and Boss stuffed in front, and the others sitting at the far end of the bed with DD in the middle as he drove towards the point Mastiff marked. Music was playing on the car radio that Puma put on.
"Don't sweat it, get it back to you! Overkill! Overkill! Overkill!"
"Motorhead, dude? Really?", Mastiff called from the back.
"Driver picks the music. Passengers shut their damn mouths!", Puma shot back, as whoops went off in the crowd. Mastiff slapped away the elbows as the soldiers laughed at him.
Turning further away from the roads, Puma parked the truck. Turning to the two beside him, he did Ocelot's signature point with one of his hands, the other on the wheel. With the passenger door opening, Jackal and Boss got out, with the latter circling around the back.
"DD!", the dog barked and climbed over the railing of the trunk bed, jumping into Venom's arms as the man caught the wolfdog, placing him down on the ground. "Let's go, buddy."
Jackal caught up with him as he ran towards the objective marker, slowing down to a halt as he stopped.
YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT YOUR DESTINATION. The iDroid quirked. The fallen legend pulled out the torn mattress material and put his hand out at waist level. DD eagerly tottered to it and began sniffing it profusely before sniffing the ground below him. Catching a scent, DD yapped at the two persons behind him and as he went along a trail sniffing it.
Jackal whistled and made a motion towards him, then holding up three fingers. Octopus, Wallaby, and Mastiff came hopping out and sprinting towards them while Scorpion peeked out of the truck with his sniper. Puma pulled out his Geist P3 with a laser sight and kept it in his hand, closely inspecting around him.
Wallaby took out his S1000 AIR, while Mastiff readied a Riot SMG and Octopus used a WU.S Pistol. Boss and Jackal took out their UN-ARC-NLs, with the only difference between them being paint and the under barrel. Snake had a smoke grenade launcher, whilst Jackal attached a grip.
D-Dog eventually lead them to a cliff next to Outpost 12, where he pointed his nose upward and barked with a lower volume. The squad then formed a semi-circle in front of it as Snake went in to investigate. "Really?", Snake uttered in a stunned way. "How the hell am I gonna get up there?"
Wallaby scanned the giant rock before suggesting something. "You could climb it. Sure, there's no cracks, but there's an angled corner, and lots of stuff sticking out."
"Are you nuts? What if I fall? The mission will fail, and I'll have a broken back! Then we'll have lost her!", Snake hissed back.
"Not to be disrespectful, but you don't have much of a choice. Unless you wanna go the long way around.", Wallaby kept his gun pointed in different directions.
"Guys…that enemy outpost to the right of us. I think one of em is noticing us. We might have to take 'em all out.", Mastiff elbowed Wallaby who was next to him. As they all rotated, they noticed that one of the Soviet guards did notice them.
"Damn. Forgot it was daytime. High visibility.", Jackal shook his head in shame.
"Boss, we got them. You get climbing.", Octopus promised as she tranquilized the soldier, causing the others to get alerted.
"Go, go, move!", Jackal ordered as they went towards the outpost and started to cover Boss. "Damn helmets!", he spat as they snuck up by proning in the grass.
Venom Snake sighed as he backed up and used the headstart to jump up into the corner, using his hands and feet to keep him suspended. Slowly, he began moving up one limb at a time. Left arm, right leg, right arm, left leg was the order he repeated. As he got closer and closer, his iDroid chirped.
GUARD OUTPOST: CAPTURED.
The soldiers then went back to their semi-circle position as before, but Jackal moved to the corner, standing below Boss so he could prevent Boss's fall from being too severe. Eventually, Boss reached the top of the cliff and pulled himself up, rolling over onto the land. He would've started panting real loud, but he heard the sounds of guards.
What the? How did they get up here?
Then the Boss remembered. Long way. Shit.
Going back over on his stomach, he got up to a crouch, turned around and took cover behind a rock, pushing his ear piece twice so he could broadcast the conversation over the squad radio as he peeked out.
"So this is the damn thing they sent us for? The so-called important thing? A fucking blanket?", the guard spoke in Russian, but the text on the iDroid translated it in real time. The man was obviously pissed judging by his flailing body language and the fact he pointed his gun towards the afghan blanket.
The other, more heavily armed guard chided the other. "Look, stuff like this isn't cheap. Takes a long time to make them. Besides, this thing is connected to that sniper."
"You mean that bitch?! The one that stupid XOF is looking for?"
"Bingo."
"I know we captured her for a reason, but we know that those men were dead cause of her! You saw the bodies! One guy has his nuts stabbed off! His fucking balls! I say, we forget this, and leave the sniper alone!"
"We can't. XOF paid us a lot of money to cooperate. You know how Comrade Chernenko is."
"Chernenko is a damn idiot! I hope Reagan succeeds in bringing down the Union!"
"Are you crazy?! That kind of talk will you get killed!"
"Who cares?! I'm pissed off! Ugh, whatever, let's take the blanket and go! Forget I ever said that!", the man finished as he faced down to the blanket, shaking his head as he began to bend down and grab it. However, Venom was on the move and got to them before he could even touch it.
"Boss, I'm able to speak for a short period of time so listen up.", Ocelot quickly chattered. "Mastiff updated me on the progress. I heard that conversation too. Get that blanket. It's the only lead we may have on Quiet!"
By the time Ocelot was finished, Boss had already successfully knocked them out with a grab, a tranq. head shot and a knockout choke. "Already did it.", he leaned down and snatched the item from the ground as the two were sucked up into a fulton wormhole.
"Wow. You're pretty good. Right, now, if you can't find another lead on her direction, fulton it and I'll take look at it. Or come back to Mother Base if you're paranoid enough. That's all I can say for now before Miller notices. Good bye, Snake!", Boss listened as he walked towards the edge of the cliff, throwing down the blanket to Jackal. He then climbed down on to the ledge before sliding down the corner of the rock, grappling its surface with his bionic hand to slow his descent.
"This is what DD picked up, huh?", Jackal held the blanket and stared at it, speaking up when he heard the thud of Boss's feet connecting with the ground.
"Yea. Good dog!", Boss smiled lightly as he petted D-Dog, the wolfdog happily taking the affections.
"So those guards were after it huh?", Jackal's eyes narrowed out of seriousness. "And Cipher's on to her as well?"
"If that's the case, we better hurry. Last thing we need is XOF getting her back.", Octopus stretched and relaxed.
"Why would they want her back though? She would be deemed a traitor.", Wallaby scratched his head.
"Maybe they're gonna kill her. They view her as an experiment gone wrong. She was supposed to kill Boss and every last one of us. But she didn't. So to prevent more rebellion and anything else that might happen should Quiet be found by anyone else, they're gonna try to pull the plug.", Mastiff kicked rocks and walked in a circle as he reasoned, for once not making a smart ass remark.
"Yea. She's proof of their horrible "tests" of the vocal parasites. If the US finds out, they're gonna end XOF as we know it.", Jackal's head slowly rose to face Big Boss. "But who knows what'll happen to us if they find out she was involved in our operations? Boss may lose her…and us. Forever."
"Then stop talking and move. We don't need to figure out reasons why Cipher is on the prowl for her. Leave that to Ocelot. If we know XOF is searching, then we need to move now. Let's go to the truck and have DD point us in her direction again.", Snake turned to Jackal as he told the last sentence to the group.
Jackal nodded and got down on one knee, holding the blanket so that it was crumpled. "DD, sniff!"
The dog dug his muzzle into the blanket, taking in the smell of it in extreme detail before backing up and barking, his head pointed north. Boss pulled up his iDroid and followed D-Dog, noting the direction. "Looks like next point is at the Yakho Supply Outpost. Or in the general direction of it.", he pointed his finger in the direction of the place. "Get Puma. We're heading out again."
[- - -]
Near Yahko Oboo Supply Outpost, Northern Kabul, Afghanistan
1700 hours
"More days to come, new places to go. I've got to leave, it's time for the show! Here I am! Rock you like a hurricane!", the car played another one of Puma's songs as he hummed and tapped the wheel to the beat of it.
SUN WILL SET SHORTLY.
"So where to? Want me to pull over here, or over by that bridge?", Puma asked as he stopped the car and pointed around the various entry points.
"No. Keep driving. Go past the spotlights.", Boss sank into the cushion of the truck.
"Really? What about them?", Puma made a thumb signal to the ones in the back. "They might get spotted Boss. We can't speak Russian. If they stop us, we're done for.", Puma leaned his arm on the seat, his other hand gripped onto the wheel as he turned towards Snake. "And where the hell are we going anyways?"
Boss glanced behind him. "We're going to a back way. Besides, they can either play dead, or use the blanket and cover themselves. Besides, the only two people that knew the location and what it looked like were fultoned."
"Won't they still stop us?"
Boss smirked. "Not we if we keep driving. Act like we can't hear them."
Puma sighed and shook his head. "Hope you know what you're doing Boss.", he shifted it back into drive gear as he stomped on the clutch.
The sun finally sunk under the horizon, giving way to the black night sky.
"Hey! Cover yourself with that blanket and act like you got one between the eyes! We're coming up onto some hostiles!", he called as the truck started moving slowly. The people in the back scrambled for the afghan and got under it, and immediately laid as still as can be to appear dead.
The car kept going along the main path to what would be the Aabe Shifap Ruins, eventually going under the spotlight. "Hey!", the man operating the light that caught them called, but he would be ignored as the truck kept moving along. One of the soldiers in a gun pit went out to the farthest spotlight and stared upwards, shrugging and making an expression of confusion.
"The hell do you want?"
"Uh…nothing. Nevermind…it was nothing. I must be seeing things.", the spotlight man waved it off as he still looked towards the path of the car.
The guard on the ground threw his hands up, blew raspberries and headed back to where he came from. "Idiot…"
As the road curved, Venom tapped Puma. "Pull over near there.", and Puma did as ordered, stopping the car and turning it off in the middle of a flatter part that curved left amidst a series of hills.
"This is the back way?"
"Yea. Let's go, DD!", he opened the car door and waited for the dog to get out first before he did. He turned and patted the seat. "Come on Puma. Your turn. Show me what you got."
"Yes sir.", he saluted as he exited the driver's seat and shut the door at the same time as Snake. "Watch the perimeter, and stay hidden!", he called to them before moving through the area.
He followed Snake to a cliff looking out over behind the supply outpost, directly above a high point in the building structure. Puma look surprised. "So this is the "back way". Interesting. Wait, you forgot the blanket."
"DD's still got the scent. See?", he pointed to DD slightly behind him sniffing at the area. He barked again, pointing towards the empty building to the right of them that was lit up.
"Next clue. Let's see what we got.", the two crouch-walked all the way to it, peeking inside the building. Both of the men were confused.
"Where is it? I don't see anything. Just some materials, but nothing else.", Puma made note of the small white box marked with red and a flame. The horned man took the materials and extracted them. "DD! Sniff!", the soldier whispered as the dog pushed his way through the two. With his mouth, DD snatched something and gleefully brought it back to his eye-patched master, dropping it in his hand as the man held it out.
Putting it between his index and thumb, Snake's blue irises analyzed it deeply.
"A bullet? What use does that have?", Puma huffed and crossed his arms as he stood up. "Are we even going to find anything from-"
"Hush.", Boss lightly slapped Puma's face while still concentrating on the bullet. Boss walked back to a safe place over by the path they came from and stopped walking abruptly. He pivoted to Puma. "I know what this is. Look!"
He presented the casing to Puma. "See the back? It's been used. It must've dropped in that building. She shot something there. It's kinda fresh too. Only been half a week since it was fired."
Puma scrunched his brows down. "OK…and? How can you tell it's hers? What if it's a Soviet's?"
"It's not. This is a special sniper caliber used for a sniper rifle based off the Brennan. It's supposed to add an oomph to it. Make it hit harder. That's how I can tell.", it was a first that he ever saw Boss grin like a madman. Nor did he ever witness the man power walking.
"What happened that caused her to use such a caliber?", Puma was still muddled by the Boss's ecstatic ramblings.
"She was battling armor. Like choppers and other vehicles in that category.", Boss pulled open the truck door and hopped in after DD.
"Really? Damn. You think it's Cipher?", Puma got into the driver's seat and ignited the vehicle once more.
"Not them specifically. But I bet it's Soviets manning Cipher tech.", Boss said as he held the bullet casing up to DD's muzzle and let him snuffle away at it.
"Well let's mosey along then. Where to, DD?", Puma shifted its gears into reverse. The wolfdog barked in the direction of the ruins.
"We might be close. Real close. Go Puma!", Snake's eyes were lit with the same fire as when they hunted Skull Face.
[- - -]
Aabe Shifap Ruins, Northern Kabul, Afghanistan
1750 hours
At the sounds of an enemy chopper ahead, Puma slowed the vehicle to a halt as it entered the area. Puma's eyes at this point have never been wider. "Holy shit.", he voiced his shock at the scene before him.
"No kidding.", Boss agreed as he got out the truck and used his intel scope. "Two tanks…two armored supports, a chopper…6 walker gears?! No, wait…8 walker gears! And about 6 more infantry!"
Puma exited the vehicle as well, with DD crawling out his side door. "Guess you right when you said we were close. She might be here."
Jackal jumped off the bed of the truck and knocked on it to alert the others. "Emphasis on might. These guys are probably way behind her. But they sure mounted an effort."
"You were right on two things Boss. That gear is from Cipher. And we are close.", Puma perceived as he used his own scope. "I saw dust moving on the arch. It means she's here."
"Well let's hurry and-", the legend stopped in awe when he noticed the chopper had spotted them with the light, completely unnoticeable beforehand. Puma stumbled to the car and slammed on the gas. Boss watched as it seemed what happened was going in slow motion. Everyone ducking for cover as the chopper's speaker droned. "Enemy spotted!"
"CP, CP, this is Dmitri 7! We have encountered enemy hostiles, over!"
"Roger, Dmitri 7! Kill them now before they stop your search!"
Snake dived for the sides as the chopper's guns shot away, thankfully missing everyone. Puma crashed into the same area Boss had ducked for cover when Quiet tried to kill him again. Puma rolled out of the car and sprinted, sliding under the tree and going for the river.
"Guys, remember the code red I mentioned? Well this is it! Go, get the weapons!", he yelled out as they all sprinted for the truck, tossing their non-lethal guns and swapping it out for standard rounds.
Wallaby immediately swiped his FB rocket launcher and shot at the chopper, running for cover and reloading. While the chopper was busy with Wallaby, Snake joined the others at the crashed truck and grabbed weapons. Pulling out an LMG, he tossed it to Octopus.
"Find Puma and hand it to him!"
"Got it!", she saluted before using the new stealth camo to rush towards Puma's location. Another rocket shot out as it hit the chopper and caused it to crash right into an oncoming tank, making the following one shoot a round after maneuvering around the destruction, while the accompanying D-Walkers fire their chain guns on Boss.
The tank shot thankfully missed him as he ducked for cover next to the truck, but he still caught some of the damage from it. He winced from the pain of it, but it wasn't anything he couldn't survive. He managed to go through a helicopter crash before. And a tank shot too. But that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt like hell as normal.
To make matters worse, it seemed from men from the nearby outpost from behind were coming no thanks to the sound of the helicopter crashing nearby. Great. Just great.
A synchronized explosion rang out, and Boss peeked to see the tank smoking. Must've been Wallaby and Mastiff using hand grenades.
And he was right, as he spotted Mastiff ducking while Wallaby shot the rocket, causing the tank to explode. Wallaby just barely dodged a shot from the armored support vehicles, and apparently, some D-Walkers were closing in too.
"CP! CP! This is Dmitri 7! Hostiles have taken out our armor and chopper! Requesting immediate backup, over!"
"Roger that, Dmitri 7! Sending extra vehicles to you now!"
One by one, the infantry was getting picked off by Scorpion, who was hiding out in some bushes on the other side of the river. Boss took the chance of them being distracted to crawl underneath the fallen tree and hide near the rocks. Hearing the two men from the outpost come, Snake kept his AM-MRS-4 at the ready, aiming carefully as he took them out easily by headshots as he slowly came out from the sloped position.
The 2 nearby D-Walkers' chain gun made him get back down to where he was as he nearly got shot in the head. However, a sniper shot from Scorpion killed one. And as he peeked out from under the giant rock, Octopus has used her stealth camo to slit the other's throat and fultoned the two Walkers. Boss immediately rushed out from his hiding place to get a GROM-11 rocket launcher he spotted on the body of an infantry man.
"Wallaby!", he pushed his earpiece to contact him.
"Yea?"
"Sync a rocket shot with me on the APV. The one in the front!"
"Got it Boss!"
"On my mark!", Boss crouched and aimed through the scope of the weapon. "3…2…1…"
"Now!", the two rockets went flying towards the vehicle and made a direct hit, causing it to explode. The other started shooting its guns at Boss's position, which made him run to the side and duck into the grass.
More shots rang out as Scorpion took out the last infantry and another D-Walker.
"Boss! 1 Walker, 1 APV to go. Then we're all clear!", Scorpion assured the team.
"Wait! Guys!", Jackal yelled over the comms. "I'm over by the arch. In a little structure near it. Me and Puma were doing guerilla ops by it!"
"Yeah, and your point is?", Mastiff complained in a rude tone.
"Me and Puma hear more coming! There's reinforcements coming!"
"Shit, really?!", Wallaby bellowed.
"Uh…Boss? Octopus? Look behind you…I see a tank!", Mastiff was starting to sound scared.
Boss sighed. He knew he was screwed. That they were screwed. There was no getting out of this one. But he had one more chance. He knew his support helicopters has the best armor and weapons possible. He worked hard to get those developments. He ordered it via his iDroid.
SUPPORT HELICOPTER: REQUESTED.
"Let's do this guys. We're gonna finish it, right?", Scorpion shouted in order to raise their morale. "We're Diamond Dogs Special Ops, the Ocelot Unit! We can do it! Right?"
"Right." , they all replied in unison.
"Then get it done!", Snake watched as the tank rolled by his position. He got up onto one knee and reloaded the rocket launcher with its last round.
Breathing heavily, he aimed through the scope. "Night, night, Cipher."
The rocket shot off and heavily damaged the tank, but not enough. Another moment that in Snake's eyes, happened in slow mo. The tank slowly turned to his position, its barrel staring him down right to his face. In a stupid act of courage, Boss, stood up completely and pulled two grenades and their pins, tossing them with a hard force at the tank.
"Boss!", Scorpion's voice rang out in the altered time perception. "No!"
The tank's barrel lighted up as the round went flying towards him. And then…
BOOM!
