A/N: Here's chapter 11 folks, have fun. I don't own X-Com and all that junk. Kindly Read and Review.
The sounds of gunfire guided the X-Com team straight towards their target. The Council strike team was certainly making the Greys earn it, that was for sure. Volker carefully directed his team through the streets of Jerusalem, the Israeli capital was practically deserted, all the civilians had already fled the area and the Council had pulled some strings to keep the local forces from involving themselves. That meant anyone who wasn't with the Council was with the Greys and were fair game.
To say this mission made Volker nervous was an understatement, he had only just met his new team members the other day therefore he had no idea what their abilities were or how well they would hold up in combat, and then there was the Council team, they were an unknown, would they need protecting or could they be a valid asset to the mission. Add in the unknown number of hostiles and the orders for a live capture to be attempted, and he was left a little out of his depth. His teams new scout, a young Croatian lad named Anton, signalled for a stop and gestured Volker forward.
"Report" Volker whispered quickly.
"Firefights on the other side of these buildings sir, if we head north and south we can trap them in a crossfire and take most of them out, especially with the support of the Council team" Volker paused pondering this information.
"Are you sure? It sounds like the fighting is further north than this" It really did sound like that to Volker, but then again in these winding streets he was having trouble identifying where sounds were coming from, it was almost like being in a tunnel, and Volker had little experience in this kind of urban warfare.
The Croatian shook his head "Yes sir, definitely just past these buildings sir, trust me I have experience in this kind of conflict"
Volker nodded and gave the order. Yuki and Rafael, the teams new heavy, would regroup with the Council team and ensure that the greys remained trapped in the alley. Anton and Maxim would head south and cut off the greys escape. Meanwhile Volker and the last rookie Adela would head north and head off any chance of the targets escape from that way. The team split up and immediately set out.
Yuki silently slipped up through the empty building, and immediately set out for the stairs leading up to the roof, where the remaining members of the Council team were still firing from. As she slipped in one of the council operatives spotted her and waved her over "Bout time back up got here, how many of you are there?"
"Six, two more north and two more south" She spoke quietly as she took up position alongside the remaining three council soldiers, while Rafael took up position downstairs. Yuki cursed when she saw how many Thin Men were down below. Easily a dozen of them were down there firing up at the group of commandos.
"Captain, 13 hostiles confirmed, plus target, engaging" She waited till Volker acknowledged her brief report before she started firing. Her first shot blew most of a Thin Man's torso apart. Her second missed and sent the remainder scattering into cover. Before they could make it however Rafael opened fire, catching three of the alien infiltrators before they could make it to cover, only two however were successfully killed, the third limped the rest of the way to cover. The aliens return fire was sporadic at best as they attempted to get to better positions, against the heavier X-Com weaponry their current cover behind a mixture of wooden pallets and dumpsters was proving inadequate.
The soldier next to Yuki jerked and dropped without a word when a lucky shot caught him in the face. Even with the height advantage the aliens weren't going to make it easy for them to win. Yuki shifted and lined up her sights for another shot, before she could take it however, the windowsill she was leaning against exploded from a burst of concentrated plasma fire, she screamed as she felt a sharp pain in her right side and then before she could brace herself she was falling, forward outside the building into the alley. The ground raced up to meet her and she hit it hard, losing consciousness on impact.
Anton cursed as he entered the alley. Yuki lay in the open unmoving. The aliens were dug in around the target, who was hiding behind a large dumpster in the middle of the alley. Anton lined up his sights and opened fire, catching two of the Thin Men in their exposed flanks, the first, already injured went down immediately, the second followed after a second and then Maxim added his fire and sent a third to the afterlife.
"Maxim, cover me, I'll grab Yuki" The Belgian nodded and opened fire on the aliens, not particularly aiming to score any kills, just to keep their heads down. Anton moved out into the open ground ignoring the plasma and bullets flying across the alley. He dropped down to his knees as he reached Yuki and began to assess the damage. The sniper was alive but unconscious. The plasma had caught her on the right side of her torso, he could see the severe burns spreading across the exposed flesh and continuing under what little remained of her chest plate. Wrapping one arm around the woman he began dragging her backwards, towards the building she head fallen from. He heard Rafael cry out and the almost constant stream of cover fire from his LMG ceased.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit" Anton repeated the curse over and over again praying that none of the sizzling bolts of green death would hit him. His prayers were answered and soon he was setting the injured sniper down inside the two story building. Once inside he proper her up against the wall and moved to check Rafael. The Heavy was dead. A plasma round had hit him in the throat and literally decapitated the British commando. Anton cursed and moved to the doorway, peering out at the Thin Men, and their target. Volker and Adele had joined the fight and sent a further three aliens to their end. The remaining four aliens found themselves in a precarious position, under attack from three sides, there was little they could do to protect themselves without exposing themselves to at least one of the operatives.
Volker fought to keep calm. He had spotted Anton dragging Yuki into the building has he and Adele had entered the alley. Volker was fond of the Japanese sniper, not the friendly fond, the 'I would date exclusively' fond and now she was either dead or badly injured. He leaned out of cover and quickly counted the remaining aliens. Four, that was all that was left of over a dozen. He put a burst into another one of the aliens. It screeched and fell. Plasma sliced through the air towards him and Adele. He cursed and dropped back into cover behind the stack of wooden pallets, for all the good it did him. He could hear a soft hissing as the plasma hit the far side of the pallets and splattered, some of it making it through to his armoured shoulders. He swept upward firing over the stack at the X-rays. A second fell. The remaining two turned and fired at him simultaneously. The earlier plasma impacting against the pallet had already left it weakened and the first few shots finished the frail wood off, shattering the stack. The other rounds continued right through to Volker. He screamed as the first shot hit his right thigh. The second caught his left shoulder. The final came at him in a flash of green, and then the right side of his face exploded in pain. Volker watched as the ground rushed up to meet him. He blacked out before he even hit the pavement.
"Shit, shit, shit" Adele cursed as she watched Volker go down. She leaned out of cover and fired, six rounds into one of the Thin Men. It went flying backwards, into the wall of the building behind it. The remaining one jumped upwards, attempting to escapee only to fail when one of the council operatives opened up on it. It fell back into the alley with a screech, spasming once before going still. The second it stopped moving Adele ran to Volker's side. She immediately went to work, slipping her satchel of medical gear open. His injuries were bad but not unrecoverable. Fatal if left untreated though.
"Adele! Yuki's hit, I need you over here!" Anton called out from inside the building.
"The Captain took some hits too, just give me a minute!" Adele snapped at the scout.
"Damn it!" Adele ignored him and continued her work until she was satisfied Volker's life wasn't in danger, at which point she turned and raced into the building to work on Yuki. She was careful to avoid looking at Raphael's remains. The two of them had been playing pool just four hours ago. She hesitated as she assessed Yuki's injuries, the sniper had severe burns across most of her torso, originating from a jagged, blackened hole in her chest. She sighed and went to work.
Anton stepped back, giving Adele the room she needed to work and turned to survey the alley, only to be interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. He turned to face the pair of council operatives.
"Did any of you think to grab the target?" The leader asked as she strode past him, heading towards the alley.
"Fuck!" Anton shouted.
"Relax, I got him" Maxim grinned as he strode forward, practically dragging the struggling politician by the collar of his suit. He threw the man down at the feet of the two council operatives.
"Thanks for the help, we'll handle it from here" The leader roughly hauled the struggling man to his feet and began to drag him away. Maxim just looked at Anton and shrugged.
"So what'd I miss?" He asked, giving Anton a toothy grin. The Croatian snorted back some laughter and moved to grab Volker.
