Here it is. The final round of the CQB complete with paly by play of each team. I had a lot of fun writing this and I'm sure Z had a lot of fun beta-ing it. So here we go. Hope you enjoy it to. Scratched my head for a week on this and assembled it on Friday.
As always, all remaining mistakes are mine. Z- I put that "Yer" back in because it's an Irish thing.
CQB Pavilion 0900 Hours
Jane leaned into the table conspiratorially, "Is it me or does Griggs seem unusually happy this morning?"
Liv looked over the younger woman's shoulder, "He probably got laid last night."
"That's not a sex smile," Elliot said, "That's a pleased with himself smile."
"Like he just got one over on somebody," Jane agreed, "He's cooked up something and he's happy as all get out about it."
"And why does that make me nervous?" Kate asked in an overly nervous tone.
"It kinda bothers me too." Jane said.
Elliot nodded, "This should be fun."
"Interesting at least," Liv added.
Colin rolled up a few minutes later followed closely by a man in camouflage riding a Yamaha Banshee. While the quad rolled off to the side of the pavilion, Colin parked his Street Stalker right underneath the pavilion. He smiled warmly to his friends and stripped off his helmet. He climbed off his bike and hung his helmet on the handle bar. The man also stripped of his helmet and immediately pulled a black beret out of his pocket and stuck it cleanly to his head. Two silver bars adorned the shield on the front of the military cover.
"SVU, NYB," he addressed them, "Good morning and welcome to the CQB Final round."
He sat side saddle on his bike and clasped his hands together as they awaited him to brief them.
"So since you are all aware of the difficulties this year, particularly with the live rounds that were loaded into Bluto over there," he waved a hand at the battle damaged drone that stood in front of the service door, "It took us two and a half days to put the CQB back in order and you are all aware that this had an effect on our scheduled time table. Since you all agreed to rerun round four we had something of a mix up in our plans for you for round five."
The Army Captain watched them carefully as Colin continued, "The sniper was supposed to be in round five but we only had enough functioning drones to run that scenario we were forced to give it to you a round early. This put us at the CQB in kind of a pickle as to what we were going to put together for you for round five."
He stood up and smiled, "I'm sure you noticed how happy Griggs is today."
The sergeant lifted his head and smiled, it was almost eerie.
"It's because I asked him to select the final round for you." He shook his head, "I have to admit that even I underestimated his diabolical nature. Since the awards ceremony is scheduled for noon today, we are truncating the round and running both teams simultaneously. The CQB has been split into two halves and the scenario is identical in every way with one sole exception. The lay outs are mirrored."
"'Mirrored'," Jane said.
"Yes." He said as he cleared his throat, "You will be entering through the hangar door. One team will follow the hallway to the left, the other to the right. The exit door at the rear of the building is blocked so there is no way out. It's a gun fight to the end. You either take out the drones or they take you out. The final round is a fight to the proverbial death and that is all I am at liberty to disclose about the round."
"So, who is this?" Elliot said as he nodded to the Captain.
"I'm glad you asked that, Stabler." He stood up tall, "This is Captain James Marcus from Fort Benning. He specializes in CQB gunfights and hand to hand combat. He has been asked by myself, Colonel Sanchez, and Mr. Huff to personally observe the CQB final round. Mr. Huff wants to show off our little playground. Colonel Sanchez wants to make sure that no one can cry foul, and I asked for an impartial judge because both teams stay under my roof."
Jane looked at Kate, "Always to protect the integrity of the games."
Kate nodded and Colin scoffed at her, "You don't want to be stuck in the barracks next year do you, Jane."
"Hell no, I like my little room." She said with a grin.
"Good. Then no one has an issue with both myself and Griggs stepping away from the console, so to speak?"
They all motioned in confirmation and acceptance.
Colin dug in to his pocket and produced a large coin, "Since SVU is the reigning partnership champions the call goes to them. Left or right, heads or tails."
Elliot looked at Liv, "Right side."
"Tails." She replied.
She nodded and Colin held out the coin. "Sir, would you do the honors?"
Captain Marcus nodded and took the coin. He rolled it between his knuckles and flipped it almost to the ceiling. He caught it cleanly and slapped it down on his the back of his other palm with a loud smack. Stepping forward so all could see he removed the hand covering the coin.
"Heads," He said. "NYB take the left side, SVU to the right."
"Alright then," he said jovially, "Suit up, collect your magazines and stand ready for the final battle."
Jane was the last in line right behind Kate. Griggs handed her six magazines, of which she promptly shoved the first in place into her pistol and holstered it. The remaining five she slipped into the back loops of her vest.
They took positions near the door and were greeted by Captain Marcus.
"Just so you are aware. There is a cat walk on top of the divider that separates the two teams. I will be up there observing both sides. Do not shoot at me or you will be disqualified."
They nodded their understanding and he walked inside the CQB through the service door. Two minutes later the light at the service door started blinking its count down. When the buzzer sounded, the huge hangar doors opened four feet and they entered. As soon as the last person was in, they closed with a loud clang. It took both teams a second to adjust to the darkness.
Jane looked at Liv and nodded, "Good luck."
Liv smiled, "You too." They headed off in separate directions.
CQB Round Five: SVU Team
They made it all of about five yards when the first drone came out a small door. Elliot popped a round in its face and it retreated back the way it came.
Liv sighted her gun down the hall and clicked on her laser sight. A small red dot appeared at the end of the hallway. She carefully stepped forward with Elliot behind her.
"Keep an eye on our backs."
"Always do." He said as he glanced over his shoulder.
Liv made it to the end of the hall and a pair of drones came out of false offices. She put the red dot on one and fired. Splashed in green paint it shut down and folded up. She sighted the other one and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
She slammed against the wall and shouted, "Cover!"
Elliot ducked behind the corner as the drone fired.
Liv, flat against the wall racked her weapon. She was terribly exposed as the drone closed on her. She re sighted the dot on its face and pulled. Her Glock coughed once and the drone shut down and retreated. The folded drone also retreated back into the office.
"Clear." She said and Elliot joined her.
"What the hell was that?" He said as he eyed her weapon.
"No fire." She pulled her flashlight and shined it on the floor. She found the round she ejected and picked it up. She shined it on the rim and found a neat hole where the firing pin had hit the Center pin of the round. She flipped it over and looked at the bullet.
"It's a plastic shaft." She said, "It's a dummy round."
Elliot slid his mag out and looked at it. He could see the gel round encased in thin plastic. "Guess the next question is: how many bad rounds did we get?"
As a drone rolled into the hallway, Liv fired again. "Don't know but we don't have time to check!" She fired off two more rounds at the drones that kept coming.
Elliot stepped in front of her partner and blasted away. "Let's hope we don't get one at the same time."
CQB Round Five: NYB Taskforce Team
They retreated down the hallway and around the corner. Kate fell in behind Jane who swung her left arm around the wall and started shooting. Green paint splattered drones in the face as the wave continued.
Suddenly her pistol stopped working. "Switch!"
Without another word Kate swung around and with her back to the corner, stretched her right arm out around the corner and fired. Jane racked her weapon and caught the round that came out. Seeing the plastic tip she pocketed it and grabbed her partner.
"Check your mag," She said as she resumed her place.
Since it was a right hand corner, Jane being left handed could hold the area better than Kate could with her chest pressed against the wall where Kate had to essentially fire one handed over behind her or expose her entire right side to shoot.
Kate pulled her mag and looked at the paint encasing bullets. "What am I looking for?"
Jane pulled the round out with her right hand and held it up. Kate took it and cursed; "Griggs put dummies in there."
"Clear them out and hook me up."
Kate immediately started yanking rounds out of her mag and found two plastic blanks inside, "Two in mine."
Jane cursed and racked her weapon before going back to shoot again. "Hope it's only two per."
Kate finished with the mag and yanked a fresh one off of Jane's back. She replaced it with the clean one. "Right one clean."
She ran through the magazines as quickly as she could, removing round after round until she found two duds right next to each other. She reloaded the magazine and as Jane pulled the clean one out she replaced it. It took her a few minutes to run through Jane's mags but in the end she had found nine duds.
Jane paused and looked down the hall. No more drones came out. She pulled a clean mag out and handed it to her partner. Kate replaced the one in her Glock with the clean one and Jane stepped back.
Kate too up a firing position and Jane went to work on her partner's magazines. It was risky and would kill their time but with a look, both of them agreed that neither wanted to head any further until it was dealt with. It was a risk on their points but it was riskier than needing a shot and not having one.
CQB Control Room
As Colin watched on the monitor he nodded his approval.
"That's the difference," He said to Griggs. "Elliot and Liv should be doing the same thing but instead they're pushing on."
"They'll clean out the kill house faster that way." He said as he pointed to the monitor, "they're almost up to the stairwell."
"I'll be surprised if they both make it out without taking some hits." He said, his brogue getting thick again, "SVU have been partners for ten years and they're great together but NYB functions like they've always been together."
"I bet you a steak dinner that SVU doesn't take a single hit." He said as he held his hand up.
"Yer' on, Lad." Colin said, slapping the hand.
SVU Team
Elliot cursed as he pulled the trigger and found another blank. He stepped back from the stair well and yanked on the slide. He looked into the chamber and verified that he had a legitimate round going in as he let go. The slide locked in place and he rose up to fire but found that Liv had already taken out the drone on the second floor.
"This is getting old, fast." He cursed.
Liv's weapon barked and then nothing. She racked it back and looking in found a second dud. She immediately pulled the trigger and racked the weapon again. "We should get the bad rounds out El."
"Yeah," he said as he spun around and took out a roller that was sneaking up behind them. "Let's find a safe place to do it though."
She nodded, "Ladies first," and she climbed the stairwell.
At the top she found a storm of paint as round after round was discharged at them. She lay down on the steps. Pulling back on the slide she verified a good round and she waited. Elliot did the same but from a standing up position behind her.
Soon a roller was sent to look and she promptly shot it in the heart. As it blinked and retreated. She jumped up and followed it, using it for cover as she methodically fired at the room full of drones. She cursed as her pistol racked and stayed open. She pulled a mag from her belt and ducked behind a desk. She looked and saw a dud behind the first round. She peeled the good one out and shoved it directly into the breach of her weapon and hit the release just in time to see a drone come around the desk. She shot it with her right hand while her left knocked the bad round out of the magazine.
She shoved it in place and hit the release again, not sure whether the third round was any better than the second. She swung around and began shooting as Elliot ran across to the nearest cover, an old copy machine about the size of a desk.
He fired then cursed as he was forced to, again, clear his weapon. He looked up to see Captain Marcus standing on the divider looking down at them with a clipboard. He noted that the captain wasn't looking at the other side of the wall at all.
He shouted to his partner, "Think they're having as much fun as we are?" He said as he sighted up against another drone.
Liv looked up and noted the same thing he had. "They're still trying to figure out why they can't shoot!"
The captain shook his head as he wrote on his clipboard.
With the last drone down Liv quickly stepped up to the door and looked out. They were on the second floor of a warehouse like structure that had a long cat walk that reached to the far wall and descended on a spiral with no workable cover. There was a large sea container not far below and several automotive crates that created a lengthy kill zone for an ambush.
A drone fired at her from the floor and she ducked it. Elliot looked out and gauged the situation.
"Well, this isn't going to be fun." He said.
"Time to clear out our problems," She pulled her still loaded mags and sat down on a desk and began clearing them. Taking good rounds out of one mag and putting them into an empty. It was a lengthy process although they had fewer rounds to do than NYB because of the fire fight. Within a few minutes she had all clean magazines and the empties sat on the desk with the dummy rounds piled up next to them. She kept vigil while Elliot too cleared his magazines of blanks.
She looked up to the Captain and shouted, "Tell Griggs I'm going to make him eat one of these blanks."
He laughed and something caught his eye from the other side of the wall.
She could hear Jane's voice shouting out to her, "Babe, I'm gonna help you!"
There was significant exchange of gunfire that lasted a few minutes. And then the room fell silent again. Elliot nodded his readiness and they stepped out into the cat walk.
NYB Taskforce Team
They ascended the stairs slowly and gingerly. Easing around the corner Jane caught sight of the drones. Noises from the far side of the divider had their sensors trained on the wall.
They're distracted! She sent to Kate.
Kate smiled wide as she silently eased up to the corner. They could hear some light sounds coming from the wall. Just some slight tinkling like the kind when a spent shell hits the floor.
El and Liv are taking out the blanks. She nodded her amusement.
It had been hell fighting down the hallway and through the small office before getting to the stairs. Neither one could imagine doing it with the blanks still hidden in their ammo.
Jane's head snapped up as she heard Liv holler out what she was going to do with Griggs and the blanks.
Kate nodded her readiness and Jane couldn't help it.
She aimed at the nearest drone and shouted to her friend. "Babe, I'm gonna help you!"
Kate smiled as she opened fire on the drones. It took half of the time to clear out the room as it had SVU mostly due to the blanks but in the end, twelve drones sat on the floor folded up neatly.
Standing next to the divider and looking out the door they saw the cat walk and the spiral staircase.
Jane looked back at Kate, Hell no!
It's a slaughter house. Kate agreed.
Jane looked around a second before a round nearly hit her in the face. She pulled back.
"Okay," Jane said quietly, "Both teams are caught here so we either try to clear them out from up here…"
Gunfire erupted from the dividing wall and they smirked. It was exactly what SVU was doing.
Kate shook her head, not believing where her thoughts were going, "Or Crazy Bitch can come up with some hare-brained idea on how to get us on the ground."
Jane smiled a dimple exposing grin as she stuck her head out of the room for a second and ducked as a few paint rounds splattered the wall.
Do you really trust me? Jane passed to Kate.
Kate didn't like the look Jane was giving her but she nodded, With my life.
Jane smiled that maniacal smile again and she stood up and prepared to run out of the office.
Kate readied herself to follow, thinking that this was proverbial suicide as Jane ran three steps out of the office, grabbed the hand rail and vaulted right over the side.
Kate's eyes went wide as she looked down to see Jane rolling off the sea container and onto the floor.
She turned and fired as drones came out of nowhere.
A clipboard fell in front of her as she hauled herself over the side of the cat walk and landed six feet below onto Bruno's box and rolled off to meet her partner.
Jane spun at the sound and was relieved to see Kate turning her back and firing. Jane pressed hers against her partner and they cleaned out the small alleyway. They took their time and got it right as the drones fell again and again. Jane realized that the ones who attacked them were coming out of the metal box so she directed her attention to that.
She pressed her back harder against Kate and her partner took the meaning clearly as she stepped forward. They went through a magazine each as they moved away from the sea container door. Kate quickly exchanged it and regrouped her fire.
Jane made as much of a dent in the drones as she could and just as she was going to round the back of the container Kate shoved her against the wall. Jane lost a shot at a drone and her weapon was empty. Kate fired down her end and quickly caught the one that Jane had missed.
She ducked as another round went flying passed them to smack the wall.
She looked at Jane, "Sniper's back."
Jane cursed and finished off the three drones near the metal door. "This is fun."
Kate chuckled, "You've never had it so good." She said as she rounded the door. With the drones neatly folded up inside the box there was no need to clean it out. She kicked the door shut and it clanged loudly. She latched the door and looked on the wall for the tell-tale track Jane had told her about. She couldn't find it and backed away.
"Can't see it."
Jane scowled and looked around the edge. She caught sight of Sniper as he rounded a pipe between two stacks of crates.
"He's got a different kind of track." She said, "Looks like piping."
Kate scowled as she looked up at the wall. It was covered with piping. "Either he's got a lot of track or Griggs camouflaged it."
Jane swung around and, sighting a drone, she shot it in the head.
SVU Team
Liv groaned as she shot again and missed. "I'd give anything for my M-4 right now."
"No kidding." Elliot said as he shot one down.
They paused a second and realized that there was no gunfire from the divider.
"Either they're out or they found a faster way to do this." Elliot said.
She shook her head, "I don't know." She dotted a drone and fired.
He looked out and fired again, "Time to make a break for it."
She patted him on the shoulder, "Go. I'll cover you."
He nodded and ran across the cat walk as fast as his muscular legs could carry him. He caught sight of a roller and fired, his round caught the drone in the eye. After making it across the catwalk he ran his hip along the edge of the rail and took the spiral two steps at a time before he hit the floor and fired at a new group of drones coming out of the sea container.
"Oh shit." He said as he started pumping round after round at them.
He knew he needed to reload and there was virtually no cover but a gunshot from over his head told him that Liv was right behind him. He got a mag ready and when the slide locked he hit the mag release and sent the new one in its place.
His right arm registered the impact and he looked down to see a bright red smear on his shoulder. He shifted his pistol to his left hand and began firing again.
Liv caught the movement of his weapon out of the corner of her eye as she shot down the last drone from the box. They ran around the corner of the sea container and she looked over her partner.
"Two hits to the shoulder," She said. Your right arm is out."
"Yeah I figured that. How are you?"
She did a twirl in front of him and he could see no real hits, "You're clean."
"Okay." She said, "Time to get going." He nodded.
She took his pistol and reloaded it before handing it back, "Remember to call out your reload. I don't want to get DQ'ed for it."
He nodded with a grumble and they headed around the container again.
NYB Taskforce team
Kate spun around and slammed her pistol into the face of the drone around the corner. Its red eyes blinked and it collapsed, She fired into the next one and crouched behind the one she "knocked out". Using enemy bodies for cover was a time honored war tradition so she knew she couldn't be reprimanded for it. Jane still stood behind her finding cover behind the giant plastic auto parts crate. Her pistol was trained in the air.
Kate watched as much of the room as she could as she eased forward. She caught sight of a drone rolling away and she fired at it but missed as it turned. She was tempted to go after it but knew that it was more than likely a trap. Griggs had been evilly diabolical in his design of this scenario and Kate wasn't about to underestimate him.
Jane's weapon coughed twice and she cursed. She had missed the sniper. She retrained her weapon and fired again before coming up behind her partner. They were aimlessly roaming the maze of boxes on a mission of seek and destroy. Kate was in charge of the front and Jane being a slightly better shot, was watching both the rear and the sky for the sniper. Kate caught sight of the bastard as he wheeled around the ceiling looking for a shot. She rose up but Jane already had two shots heading for him.
She popped another round at him anyway and he changed directions, running back the other way. Jane tilted her head and shot again. The drone changed directions. Jane smirked as did Kate. They raised their weapons and aimed at a point on either side of the drone and fired. Each time they shot, the drone's room got smaller and smaller until they both landed hits on its face.
The drone shut down and they returned to scanning the area. Jane froze as she heard the drone start up again and streak across the wall towards the divider. It continued straight into it and disappeared through the wall.
"Guess that explains it." She said, "One sniper, two courses."
Kate nodded, "That's why we couldn't find it half the time. It was on the other side." They lowered their weapons and continued to scan the area for more drones.
SVU team
Liv fired a round and landed a hit. She fired two more and each one brought down a drone. Elliot fired sparingly so as not to take his partner's attention too often. He shot a drone and watched as it closed up.
Without a word Liv backed up and took his gun. She reloaded it and handed it back. Hearing a sound she didn't recognize she looked around and lost track of it as a pair of rollers came at them from a maze of crates. She turned to face them and they retreated without her firing a shot. She immediately stepped to follow but remembered her partner. She stopped just as a single shot rang out, the paint skimmed her outstretched hand as it smacked loudly into the crate she was standing next to.
The angle suggested an elevated shooter. She looked up but didn't see anything. She backed up slowly and turned in time to see Elliot shoot a drone.
"Told you I got your back."
She smiled and turned in time to see the sniper sight her in. She leapt to the right and before she could yell to Elliot, he spun around and dropped to the floor. The paint round flew over his head and smacked into the cement between his ankles. He was in a prime position and fired a double tap into the sniper drone left handed.
The drone shut down immediately. He looked to his partner.
Liv had slammed herself against a wall of crates and had rattled her brain. Several strands of her hair had broken loose from the tight ponytail and were dangling before her eyes. She blew a breath sharply to clear her vision and realizing that it was her hair she tucked the loose strands under her the arms of her shooting glasses.
El climbed to his feet one armed and scanned the area with his pistol. He watched as three drones roared out of the crates and he and Liv dispatched them quickly.
NYB Taskforce team
Kate fired her last bullet at the drone and the lights went out. The buzzer sounded and slat after slat of the dividing wall twisted until there were fifteen panels that slid neatly into a vertical stack on the back wall and the massive hangar doors opened, allowing daylight into the CQB.
Griggs voice came over a PA. "Okay teams. The exit is the same way you entered. Please head there now."
Jane spotted Liv and Elliot as they climbed the stairs and headed across the catwalk. She smirked as she saw the bright red smear on his shoulder. He shook his head and tapped his watch.
Walking out into the daylight they found Colin sitting on the picnic table, grinning. He stood up and held a hand out to each of them in turn and shook his head at Jane.
Griggs came over with a cooler and passed out each player's favorite beer. He tossed Colin a Harps Lager and he promptly opened it. The others followed suit and he held his beer out.
"To the successful first year of the CQB. It has been a bumpy one but a success none the less."
Beers were clanked and long pulls were swallowed as he saluted them.
"I'd love to tell you who won but all I can say for certain is that SVU finished three minutes earlier than NYB but El here took a shot in the arm. Captain Marcus is going over the video feeds and statistics right now but he said he will announce the winner at the awards ceremony."
"Then why the beer?" Jane asked.
He smiled, "I saw the video feeds from the control room and all I can really say is that I'm proud to know each of you."
Kate held up her beer, "Well on that note I'd like to officially say that I'm proud as hell of my partner. Even though she's from Boson and even though she's insane," She looked at Jane. "I hope you come back every year so we can do this again and again."
Liv smiled and held her beer against Kate's. "I'll second."
Elliot laughed, "Third." He added his to the pile.
Coin smiled warmly to her, "Welcome to the Rabble, Jane." He said.
Jane eyed the beers and grinned. "Thanks. I'll be back next year so long as the beer's cold and the bed's warm." She knocked her beer hard on top of the four beer necks and laughed as her friends' beers burst into foam and roared out of the bottle's necks.
They cursed at her as she laughed her ass off. "Four at once, that has to be a record somewhere."
Colin shook his head as his hand was covered in spilled beer. He growled at her, "That was dirty as hell Jane." He tried to contain his laughter until he saw Kate with a hand to her mouth, trying not to reveal her amusement.
El tried to keep it from pouring on him as Liv sucked it down like a shot gun. He smiled as he realized that Jane shook them up and you could always count on her doing the unexpected.
He set his beer down and looked at her, "So I guess we've found Jane's thing. She's a gagster."
Kate nodded, "Yep. I can't wait to see what she does next."
Jane smiled, "Just wait till next year. Imagine what I can pull off if I have an entire year to plan."
Elliot frowned, "Oh good god help me."
Colin smiled wide, "Yeah, she's one of us alright!"