AUTHOR'S NOTE: And here is the chapter! Hope you enjoy.

REPLIES:
MyrenBritanika - Glad you liked the chapter! Yeah, in the original, I think they were kinda like that and while I was re-reading it, I was kinda like "Uhhh, yeeaahh, this is isn't going to work." Lol, so I'm glad I've been able to portray their relationship in a way that isn't over bearing or unrealistic.

...

Victor Ramos. According to Elias, he was one of the few men that Rorke actually considered a friend. Elias made the decision to let Rorke go fifteen years ago, and now, that decision had returned to not only haunt him, but his team. The Federation had gotten to Rorke before a rescue team could. Whatever they did to him, they turned him. Made him one of their own. And now, we were going back to where it all begin so we could put an end to this madness.

[ Federation Day
June 15th, 0:41:15
Caracas, Federation Capital ]

"He's right on time." Keegan announces, lowering his binoculars. "Time to earn the mask." Keegan pulls his mask over his face, as the helicopters in the air pass us and head for the building. Fire works explode in the sky, painting the darkness in various shades of red and green. I lower myself off the edge of the building and onto the next one.

"Chopper's are landing, confirm visual ID."

"On it," Logan replies, activating the optic scanner. Keegan nods, and turns back to face the target building.

"Scarecrow, this is Six-Two. Prepare to receive optical feed."

"Target confirmed, mission is a go." Elias responds. I make my way over to Hesh as Keegan continues talking to Logan. He's checking the zipline launchers, and I begin to help him after making sure my parachute was secure.

"Are you ready for this?"

"It's a mission, of course I'm ready." I scoff back at Hesh, who only nods in response. I finish securing the zipline launcher, and step back just as Keegan and Logan re-join us. Keegan gives the signal, and we all deploy our launchers before shooting the line, and on Keegan's next call we hook on. The wind whips through my hair, even though it's tied back. Keegan calls out for us to detach from the lines, and we do. I brace myself, but the impact still sends jolts through my body. We slowly begin to rappel down the building.

"Enemies in the room below." I announce. "What's the call, Keegan?"

"Let them be. Lights inside will keep them blind to us."

I nod back, continuing to rappel down the building. Being in the field and taking orders from Keegan was different. Ever since I started going out on missions, Hesh had been the one in charge, and it had always been just us. Now, it wasn't. Keegan raises a fist, ordering us to stop moving and he points through the window. A Fed sits at the table, oblivious to our presence.

"Logan, take him out on my go." Keegan commands, "Alex, shift right and take the second one out. Left is mine... Now." As soon as Keegan says the word, we all take out our enemy, the glass shattering before the bodies hit the ground.

"Targets down." Hesh calls out. "I see no one sign of anyone else on this floor."

"Good, keep moving." Keegan was the first out of the group to descend down, and the rest of us followed shortly after. "Hold your fire. Three at the poker table over here."

"Left side. One in the kitchen. One on the way." Hesh calls out.

"Logan, shift left. Hit the kitchen first. Wait until he's in the kitchen and take them both down. Me and Alex got this side." Logan nodded, while both him and Hesh moved to the left until they were in position. They fired at the same time, as did Keegan and I. The man in the middle of the room stood up, ready to call out, when we dropped him. We continue moving down.

"Control center is on this floor. Let's get inside." I flick the safety on my rifle on, letting it hang from my side as I pulled out the tool needed to cut through the window. I push back from the window, letting my feet hit the cut part as I swung inside. I unclipped myself from the line, as did the others, and we slowly made our way through the building. Logan went off with Hesh, as I followed Keegan to the power system.

"Patch in, upload the virus." Keegan waves to me, as he takes watch.

"On it." I pulled the drawer open, revealing part of the console as I put the device into the slot. The upload progress begin, and I kept an eye on the bar as it slowly rose.

Fifteen percent...

Twenty...

The number increased, and the upload was nearly complete when the sound of approaching foot steps and hushed voices grew louder. My head snapped up, looking at Keegan. He nodded his head, indicating that we still had a little time before the group approached us. The upload hit eighty-nine percent, and I switched between keeping an eye on the door and the progression bar. Keegan soon ducked back, motioning for me to pull out and hide.

Ninety percent...

Keegan ducked into the alcove, giving me urgent looks as I waited for the upload to complete. My heart raced as the voices grew louder. The upload finally completed, and I pulled the device out and ducked back into another alcove just as the group entered the room. One was walking backwards, talking to the other three in the group as they conversed in Spanish. I crouched lowly, moving slow as I used the shadows to conceal myself. As the group of soldiers walk by and get through, one pauses right in front me as he checks his phone. The rest continue to have their conversation. The others continue on, laughing among themselves as the last one looks up, right at me.

"¿Que?" He tilts his head, stepping forward as Keegan springs from his hiding place and knifes the man.

"I've got your back," Keegan nods at me. "Let's get back to the ropes and hook up." I follow Keegan back to the ropes as he re-group with Hesh and Logan, hooking back onto our lines. "Kill the lights... now." I trigger the virus, the lights inside the building simultaneously shutting down.

"Beautiful. Let's move."

"I got two on the left balcony." I call out.

"Move down, take them out silently." Keegan orders. Logan gives me a nod, and the two of us holster our rifles, pulling our knives out as we silently descend upon the unsuspecting enemy. I pause right above one as he takes a drag on his cigarette, counting down silently with my hand before me and Logan make our move. The guard struggles, before his body falls limp and I let him the balcony. I look over at Logan to see he's taken his enemy down as well, before we continue rappelling down, stopping at the floor to elevator controls.

"Remember, we gotta shut down the elevators, seal off his chance to bolt."

"I've got the main bank in the west wing, I'll take Alex." Hesh looks at me, and I nod.

"We'll rendezvous in the junction to cut the secondaries. Logan, you're with me." Keegan replies. Logan gives us a half-assed salute, before following Keegan in. I chuckle, cutting another hole in the window before me and Hesh make our way inside as well. I crouch in the dark, following Hesh through the halls when the elevator next to us stops.

"Hold, let them pass." Hesh holds up a hand and I stop, carefully looking around the corner as two men exit the elevator, their rifles held loosely as they walk past chatting between themselves. Once they're out of earshot, Hesh gives the signal and we keep moving forward.

"Hesh, Alex, check in."

"Almost there, we'll keep you posted." I reply to the man.

"Copy." We make our way to the controls, and I take watch by the door as Hesh begins to shut the system down.

"Main elevators offline, secondaries still active." Hesh announces.

"Copy that, see you in five."

"Alright, let's go re-group." Hesh turns to me. We make our way back out, a group of soldiers hanging by the window and watching the fireworks. "Small group, how do you want to do this?"

"Strobes probably won't help. Too much light coming in from outside. Move fast?"

"On your shot, then." Hesh nods. I slowly move to cover, Hesh flashing me a thumbs up once he's ready and I take the first shot, sending the man falling over the balcony. The rest let out confused yells, panicking as they turn to search for us. I take down two more, Hesh dropping the other three before they can find us. "Clear." Hesh calls out, stepping out from behind cover.

"We're entering from the northeast corner."

"Roger that. We're almost to the control room."

"They found our position! Get back here now!"

"Guess that's our cue to double time it." Hesh sighs.

"Sounds like it." I shake my head as me and Hesh begin to jog back. Logan and Keegan are pinned behind cover, as a group of enemies shoot at their position. We take cover, providing supporting fire and letting Keegan and Logan fight back as the enemies scramble for cover.

"We're losing time we need to move!" Keegan yells out. More enemies enter the room, forcing us to back into cover again.

"Give me your extra charges I'll cover our exit!" Hesh yells, Logan pauses his firing for a moment as he throws the charges over to Hesh who begins setting them up.

"Hook up to the ropes. Grab your line. We need to move." Keegan orders. We blindly fire at the enemy as we make our way back over to the ropes and quickly hook up onto the line as more enemy reinforcements enter the room

"Make it quick, Hesh!" I yell out, firing at enemy. Hesh blows up the charges and he regroups with us. We back out of the building, rappelling down a few floors before we enter the building once again.

"We have to get to the HVT! Push through! We can't let Ramos get away!" Keegan yells, immediately taking cover as more enemies enter the room. We shoot them when we can, slowly being able to advance forward. I duck behind cover as someone begins firing at me, peeking around the other edge to take them down.

"Clear!" Keegan calls out, and we meet in the middle of the room. "Ramos in this room. Logan, we'll take this door. Hesh, Alex, go the other way. Cut off his chances of escape."

"Rodger that, sir." I nod, following Hesh around the room to the other door. He stacks up on side, ready to breach and I take the other side.

"In position."

"Likewise."

"Alright. Let's do this." Keegan announces, as Hesh kicks the door open. He looks to his left first, before a blurry figure darts out from behind the door with a raised fist. Hesh stumbles back, and I let my rifle swing from my side as I hit Ramos in the face with a fist as well, quickly bringing my side arm out as I aim it at Ramos. The man quickly raises his hands, stepping back a bit as his head shakes, searching for another way out.

"You okay?" I ask Hesh, not taking my eyes off of Ramos.

"I'm fine." He spits back, glaring at Rorke's right hand man. Ramos suddenly charges me, knocking me back into the ground. I groan, hitting the floor and the surprise attack knocking a bit of wind out of me. Ramos charges for the door, when Hesh grabs him by the back of his collar.

"Damn it! He's not here! Hesh?"

"I got him." Hesh replies bitterly, as I pull myself to my feet. I swing the other door open, stepping into the office and moving to the side as Hesh drags Ramos into the room, throwing him into a chair. Ramos moves to run again, when Hesh shoves him back down and I point my side arm at Ramos once again.

"Don't." I said sternly. Ramos swallowed thickly, looking between the four of us and putting his hands up in surrender.

"He knew you would come." Ramos speaks, carefully looking between each of us. I shared a glance with Logan, frowning.

"Where's Rorke? Where is he?" Keegan demands.

"I don't know. No one knows."

"Hesh." Keegan sighs, stepping back from the desk as Hesh advances. Hesh steps around me, grabbing Ramos by his collar again as he slams him into the table, pinning one of his arms behind his back. I put my pistol away again, moving to lean against the wall as I watch the exchange.

"You have five seconds to deliver coordinates on Rorke... Four!"

"He's not here!"

"Three... two... on-"

"His location is in there. In an encrypted file!" Ramos panics, using his head to nod towards a briefcase on the table. Keegan moves to grab the briefcase, when the TV behind Ramos flickers on, showing Rorke. Hesh lets go of Ramos, letting the man collapse back into his chair as he turns to face the TV.

"Well, well, well, if it ain't the walking dead." Rorke taunts. I clench my fist, Rorke's image making my blood boil. "I knew you'd follow the bread crumbs."

"You killed my mom, you piece of shit!" I snap, launching myself off the wall and towards the TV. Rorke gives an amused chuckled, Hesh holding an arm out to stop me as I advance towards the TV. I try to push past Hesh, but he shoves me lightly back, keeping an arm between me and the TV. I turn my glare to Hesh, pacing behind him as I wait for Rorke to speak again.

"Ah, Alexandria Walker." Rorke chuckles. "You look so much like Natalie. She was a feisty one." I let out an angered yell, trying to dart by Hesh and charge for the TV when Hesh wraps an arm around my waist, holding me back. I struggle against him, but he's much stronger than I am.

"Alex!"

"Hesh, get her out of here." Keegan dismisses with a wave of his hand. Hesh nods, pulling me out of the room and shutting the door behind us. I try to get past Hesh but he continues blocking the door way.

"He killed my mom, Hesh. You can't expect me to sit back and listen-"

"I don't." Hesh says sternly. "But-"

"He tried to kill Elias too, or did-"

"Jesus christ, Alex!" He snaps, "No, I didn't forget any of it. But right now, we need to find where he's hiding so we can go after him."

"Yeah," I sigh, defeated. I pinch the bridge of my nose, Hesh going to touch my arm and say something else when the building begins to shake violently. Keegan and Logan hurry out of the room, Logan holding the briefcase tightly in his hand.

"You alright?" He asks me.

"Fine." I mutter, still angry. Hesh was right, though. As long was Rorke was in hiding, we weren't going to get anywhere. Logan nods, patting my arm as we hurry after Keegan through the shaking building.

"Scarecrow, mission is compromised! Attempting an aerial exfil from the 52nd floor." Keegan informs command, leading us down a stairwell. The stairs shake, knocking Logan over and I grab the sleeve of his uniform to keep him on his feet as we continue sprinting.

"Copy, Six-Two. Prepping emergency team for your new rally point."

"Windows ahead!" Logan calls out.

"Copy we can jump from here! Get to the window!" Keegan confirms. We hurry to the windows, the building tilting and throwing us off our feet. We slide across the floor, reaching to grab onto something to steady ourselves. I reach out for a broken pipe, when it comes loose in my hands and I'm sent sprawling through the slanted floor again.

"Alex!" Hesh yells, reaching for me but missing. I claw at the floor, trying to find anything to grab onto when Keegan reaches out and grabs the back of my vest. With a grunt, he pulls me up so I can grab onto a nearby bar.

"Told you, I have you back." He grunts, before yelling out to the rest of us. "Ready your chutes, then let go... Drop... now!" We all let go of what we were holding onto, Keegan shooting the glass below our feet before we fall through and into the night sky. On Keegan's command, we open our chutes and drift through the air.

"Scarecrow, we're airborne! En route to rally point echo." Keegan looks over his shoulder at us, "Good work you three. Now let's get the hell out of here." I throw one last look at the collapsing building behind me, wanting to get far from this doomed place.

...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The beginning of the chapter was a bit iffy to write, I guess since most of it was rappelling down the building and just Keegan giving orders out, but once I got to Ramos, I actually had a lot of fun writing it.

Alex, upon seeing Rorke, might have acted un-professionally, but still understandable. I think we can expect a conversation about her actions in the near future. I also don't mean to make Hesh seem like a dick on missions, but they do have to act professionally, engaged or not. The mission does have to come first, after all. But I hope I'm still able to balance their jobs/relationship well.

I'll start Unloved Take-Two tomorrow, and have that up on either Thursday or Friday. Finally, do we want to see some more of Logan and Alex, or Keegan and Alex? I feel like it's been focused on Alex and Hesh too much lately. Heh..

Sorry for such a long author's note! And this chapter is uh.. almost at 3k words. Oops. Ah, I'll stop rambling now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feel free to review/comment if you wish, and I'll see you awesome folks next time.
-Hawk