I do not own the rights to the Tom Clancy Games, having said that Enjoy!

Ch 25. coming back

Ben loaded a drum into his shotgun as he kicked the boot of a dead cleaner looking around at the aftermath of the battle when he heard guns cocking and echoing in the hallway he ran behind a car and grabbed the seeker on his bag and waited till the door burst open before he dropped it to the ground. Ben pulled from cover and aimed at the tank cleaner lining up his sights when the seeker detonated on the man and sent him into the door.

Ben squeezed the trigger and watched the lights smack into his chest when he felt the cold sting smack into his chest, looking up another cleaner aimed an LMG forcing him to dive into cover behind a broken truck as the bullets dug into the metal. Ben felt his chest feeling for any wounds but took a deep breath when they didn't break through the chest plate. Peering over the truck Ben watched the cleaner get up and walk closer to the truck while two more came from the top of the parking garage armed to the teeth.

"Ben, are you there?" Faye broke through on the comms as a bullet broke through the other side of the truck next to Bens shoulder. Moving over to the hood of the truck Ben clicked his watch and ISAC Beeped connecting the two.

"Ben ISAC is going off saying your in trouble, is everything alright?"

"Yeah Faye, I'm just a little busy with some cleaners"

"do you need Backup, we have people close by" Ben fired off shots on one of the cleaners with a flamethrower circling around, grazing him Ben watched him double back as flames erupted on the other side of the truck. Ben ran and doubled back to another car a few meters away and immediately doubled to the other side of this car.

"Ben, do you need Backup? Ben?"

Post office

Faye sat at her desk hearing the gunfire and flames as the lone went dead. She tried to connect again but it seemed all she got was static. Faye ran her fingers through her hair before she got up and limped over to the cafeteria. Faye looked around as Cavieria stood up and shook Harris's hand before he walked away, and IQ and Blackbeard sat down with her.

"We have a problem" Blackbeard looked up to Faye as he set his down his coffee.

The parking garage

Ben ran as bullets whizzed by and sank into the cars in front of him. running to the left Ben ran up a ramp and dove for cover behind a concrete wall dropping another Seeker as he ran up and dove into cover, the explosion was his signal to turn and aim for any of them too busy from the explosion.

Two of them tried to sit up as the other two circled around the other side, Ben fired on one of the two on the ground with the SMG when he went over the side of the wall and pulled the shotgun out when he landed. Ben unloaded a full clip into the Cleaner in the burned looking suit closest to him blowing limbs and suit everywhere, regaining his composure Ben stood up and dropped the drum pulling a fresh one out just in time as the cleaner in a white mask fired his LMG at the ground and him. Ben jumped around for a second till he ran off to his left and far enough the Cleaner stopped firing to move closer, Ben again swapped his Shotgun for the SMG and took a few deep breathes before he looked at his clip.

"Cant keep playing cat and mouse with these guys" Ben looked over the side of the car and noticed the other three coming in his way in full force, Ben took a deep breath and looked around and ran for the dilapidated bus at the entrance of the garage, Ben climbed in and took cover when he looked over to the dead Marksman next to him and slowly went for the rifle. He took the clip out of the M14 and looked at the 7 rounds inside before he popped it back in. the horsemen walked closer and in sight as Ben took a deep breath and lined up his sight on the one in the red and black suit. He took a dep breath and peered the barrel of the rifle out of a broken window he rested it on the window and lined the sights up on his mark.

The rifle cracked as a bullet whizzed past his grazing his shoulder and forcing them to stop.

"mother fucker clipped my arm"

"you alright?"

"I will be when I watch him burn" Ben cocked the rifle again and fired as soon as he had a mark but again only managed to graze him this time by the tube on his mask. he recoiled again as the tube fell. Ben closed his eyes and took another deep breath

"One Batch, Two Batch" Ben lined up the sights and exhaled before he took another deep breath "penny and dime" he squeezed the trigger as a spray of pink mist covered the snow and forced his body to fall forwards. Ben slammed the receiver back letting a bullet fly out and land with a clink. The cleaner with the white mask opened fire on the bus forcing Ben to take cover again.

He crawled forwards on the bus as bullets broke through the metal and cloth of the insides of the bus, Ben felt a sharp pain in his shoulder forcing him to drop again, but it wouldn't stop him from getting back up and going to the entrance. Forcing his way to the stop as cushions tore open and scattered around him, Ben slithered out of the bus and moved to the other side as he crouched down low and looked over to a broken-down SUV to his right. The gunfire seemed to focus on the bus itself, giving Ben just enough time to run to it and keep moving. Ben tightened the grip on the rifle in his hands as he softly moved around cars and lampposts trying to not get the attention of the last two Cleaners attacking the destroyed bus.

Ben peered over to the bus and its attackers as he noticed they hadn't moved from there spots. Moving from car to car, Ben got behind them picked up the rifle and aimed at the pair. Peering through the sights Ben lined up the shot and waited for the perfect moment when he switched targets.

"One Batch, Two Batch" he took a deep breath and then exhaled "Penny and Dime" Ben squeezed the trigger as the bullet left the chamber as the gas tank on the Cleaners corpse exploded. It sent the cleaner in yellow flying forwards and the one in the white mask into the side of the car. Ben stood up and dropped the rifle on the ground as he took the shotgun off his back and cocked it. The smell of burnt rubber and flesh stunk in the air as he got closer to the incapacitated duo. the yellow cleaner stood up shakily as his flamethrower dangled off his hip. He spun around and hazily tried to grab the gun on his side before Ben aimed the gun at him and squeezed the trigger sending wave after wave of buckshot into his chest before he collapsed into a pile of blood and bone paste. Dropping another drum Ben slung the shotgun away and pulled out the SMG just in time for the other Cleaner to stand up and try to get his rifle.

Ben shook his head as the Cleaner made a break and tried to get the LMG on the ground only to drop on his stomach as Ben emptied the magazine into his back. taking a deep breath Ben slung the weapon on his back and reached for his pistol turning around Ben lowered the weapon and breathed easy as Craig was facing him while the members of Rainbow and JTF came around and into the parking garage.

"whoa now Ben" Craig placed his hands in his pockets as Ben holstered his Pistol. "you okay? your hit"

"it was a ricochet I think, I'm okay" Ben said as he walked to the other side of the compound. Craig and the others followed him as they tried to keep up.

"so, I guess we missed all the action huh?" Ben didn't say anything as he walked closer and closer to the doors where the cleaners came from when he was spun around by Blackbeard. "Ben slow down and wait a minute, I mean hell your bleeding" Ben shrugged it off

"ill be fine, go back to the post office" Blackbeard followed Ben as he walked to the doors.

Caveira looked over to Ben as he shrugged off Blackbeard and walked inside, she looked over to twitch and IQ who were looking around at the bodies of the cleaners Ben left in his wake.

"he made a mess" Twitch said as she walked back to the other JTF going back to the post office.

"yeah, but he gets results" Caveira said as she followed leaving IQ looking around before she zipped up her purple winter jacket and made her way to the others. Ben walked through the hallway and pulled out his SMG as he didn't seem to show any sign of slowing down when more gunfire erupted forcing him to slow down and go for cover.

Blackbeard heard the gunshots and slowed the others down as they got closer before it stopped again. The others all gathered but looked in confusion as at least 9 other bodies piled up in the hallway.

"Jesus Ben" the others passed through examining the battle they missed as they noticed Ben at the end of a hallway in a crane operation room.

"Troy, I'm stuck in a room and it looks like we might need Rhodes help with getting this truck destroyed"

"Shit alright ill get him to work on it, in the meantime hang tight, never know when we can get it ready."

"copy that, Kelly out" Ben walked out of the little room into the hallway and sat down with his SMG in his hands and looked over as the Rainbow operators stepped into view.

"what's the problem" IQ said as they walked closer to Ben,

"just got to wait a sec before Rhodes can let me into the next room but we don't know when that is" the others slung their gear and leaned up to or sat down next to Ben as they waited for the okay. Ben didn't seem to move as the others looked at him with concern, they passed out water and food as Ben didn't seem to even blink, he just wore a blank stare on his face as if he was in a different place.

IQ looked at him in puzzlement across the tiny hallway as she kicked his boot. Ben looked up as she got a good look at the face caked in sweat blood and a little dirt

"what are you thinking about?" Ben shook his head as he looked down at the ground again with the same blank expression. "your thinking about Elliot aren't you" Blackbeard looked over to Ben who clenched his SMG a little tighter yet didn't say anything. IQ looked at him a little concerned before she looked over to Tianna who leaned on the wall. "you remember what I told when Rook died?" Ben closed his eyes and tilted his head back on the wall. "the minute you blame yourself for other deaths there's no coming back from that" Ben opened his eyes and stood up. "Ben, if you're going to blame anybody you need blame the man who killed him a-"

"Stop" Ben looked At IQ with anger in his eyes as he cocked his SMG. "your right, your one hundred percent right Monika, I sent them in, its my fault I'm gone" Ben walked back into the room as the others were still in the hallway when they heard a loud explosion. Tianna was the first to enter as a massive hole was in the far corner with Ben jumping in.

"BEN WAIT!" the others came in as Ben fell through the hole and into the garage.

"agent I got Rhodes finally hang on let me Patch you through" Ben slammed against some cover as the others jumped into the room after him, doors on both sides of them burst open as Cleaners of all sorts ran into the room while the cannon on the truck at the far side of the room rotated to the left and fired off a shot setting the floor next to it on fire, Ben looked to both sides as Cleaners armed with shields and Axes came straight for him. he cocked his SMG as they close enough for him to pull from cover.

Blackbeard cocked his rifle as he aimed for the two or three cleaners flanking on Ben while the others ran for cover against an elevated platform. The cleaner's shield in front of Ben broke apart from the spray from the SMG before he dropped it screaming at Ben, IQ trained his head for a second before she squeezed the trigger making him drop right in front of Ben. He looked up to her who currently had her Balaclava over her face and trained her Acog sight on another Cleaner, Caveira Switched to her SMG as well as she focused more on the Cleaners splitting up and going for them before Blackbeard turned Ben and faced him towards him. Ben felt a fist across his Face as he fell to the ground than was dragged right back up.

"IF YOU HAVE A FUCKING DEATH WISH AT LEAST DO US A FAVOR AND DIE AFTER WE GET OUT OF THIS FUCKING DEATH TRAP" Blackbeard screamed in his face before he raised his rifle again and sprayed in the direction of the Truck. Ben snapped back into the fight and trained his sights on the incoming Wave of bullets and flames before they seemed to stop for a second.

"Agent you need to focus on the levers near the center of the room, they control the crane carrying that huge tank above you" Ben looked up to the massive crane holding the napalm tank and looked to the control levers in the middle of the room. He looked over to Blackbeard who noticed him after tapping his shoulder.

"we need to go for the levers in the middle of the room" Blackbeard looked at where Ben pointed and nodded before they both broke from cover and ran to the middle of the room.

"Now your gonna need to press them at the same time or else its gonna jam and this whole thing will start again" Ben looked over to Craig who got into position then nodded when he was ready as Ben counted down on his free hand and at the same time they pressed the button and watched the crane start to move till it stopped suddenly a few feet from where it was originally.

"ah dammit hang on agent ill try to get it to work again, hang on" Ben and Blackbeard looked over to each other when IQ screamed at them.

"WE GOT COMPANY!" they both looked over to each side as more and more Cleaners poured into the room. Ben saw as Blackbeard took a bullet to the shoulder without flinching as he ran back to cover as they bullet stated to fly again just in time for them to get behind something. IQ peered from cover noticing bullets flying as a stray lodged itself in her leg forcing her to groan and scream in pain forcing Caveira to to stop and try and help only to have a bullet graze the side of her neck making her take cover again. Ben took cover behind a pillar feeling something bite him. he closed his eyes as the chaos seemed to go on forever when something took over.

"how fucking pathetic are you, your throwing yourself into danger over and over and for what to get yourself killed like Elliot? It was his choice not yours and now because of your choices the rest of them are gonna die" Ben opened his eyes as the others tried to cling to cover as best, they could with bullets whizzing and ricocheting inching slowly close to them every time. "is that what you want?" Ben shut his eyes again forcing something to come over him. "NO!" Ben opened his eyes as he looked over to his side, noticing Blackbeard having a hard time by himself.

Ben slammed into cover next to Blackbeard who was to busy returning fire to notice when he felt a tap on the shoulder. He spun around and noticed as Ben was right next to him

"Ill cover you, get some ammo" Confused where this came from Blackbeard dropped the mag with one last round in it pulling a fresh one out of his vest, cocking the rifle Blackbeard dug a shield out of his bag and slammed it on his rifle before grabbing one of the riot shields from the ground.

Taking the shield and throwing it in front of Ben Blackbeard felt the bullets smack against the riot shield as they felt the true force of a small army, a very angry army.

The corner of the shield broke off as Ben continued to fire in the front as Blackbeard held the shield and covered their rear. Ben dropped a mag as IQ and Caveira were holding their position another small chunk of the shield broke off but as Ben continued to fire in the front. Blackbeard turned to Ben who was busy firing at the front noticed as the shield shattered as Ben and Blackbeard opened fire from the front forcing the Cleaners to dive for cover as they Advanced to the next set of switch's, Ben took a seeker and a grenade and tossed the grenade first throwing it to the right, than throwing the Seeker to the left.

The seeker lit up red and sped off as Cleaners tried to run before the mine detonated and threw them over the side and against the wall. The grenade made them jump up just at the right time as Blackbeard took aim and lit up the entire upper level dropping body after body. Ben dropped another mag and looked over to Blackbeard then the girls before Rhodes spoke up again.

"Alright try this one more time Agent" Ben and Blackbeard walked up to the buttons and pressed them again as the crane moved over the truck and stopped again. "Ah Shit its stuck again" Ben rolled his eyes as he took another grenade and tossed it directly onto the claw of the crane.

The force from the small explosion caused the claw to open as the tank dropped on the truck tearing it open causing the napalm to light and force the truck out of commission.

"I mean that's one way to get the job done, Good job Agent"

"thanks Rhodes, let Faye know that the truck is out of commission, also have Kandal prep some supplies, we have wounded I'll stabilize them and get them on their feet but they should get checked out before their clear for field work again"

"you got it, and welcome Back Ben" Rhodes tuned out as Ben walked over to the others looking around the room and then to each of his injured teammates. Caveira clamped at her neck as she helped IQ limp over to Blackbeard who took a cigarette out and took a long drag.

They looked at Ben who slung his SMG on his back and pulled out a med kit from his bag.

"Where the hell did that come from?" IQ asked as Ben said nothing as he opened the bag and looked over to Blackbeard.

"take off your jacket" IQ looked at him confused as she sat down on a barrier. Still looking over to Ben Blackbeard did as Ben said and took off the Jacket hoodie leaving him in a T-shirt and tac vest as Ben cut the shoulder of the shirt to get a better look at the wound.

"you caught a bullet, I think it's still in there, so I can either get it out now or you can wait till we get back"

"pulled the damn thing out, I'll be okay" Blackbeard smiled as Ben got to work.

"Ben?" IQ asked as Ben looked up long enough for her to notice the life seemed to return to his eyes.

"yeah Monika?" Ben asked as he looked back down at his kit grabbing the supplies he needed.

"What happened?" Ben stopped for a second before he picked up a tongue depressor and wrapped some cloth around it and handed it to Blackbeard to bite onto.

"I don't know, looking around when you all got hit something snapped and I guess it was like a light switch, and I- like I said I don't know but I'm not about to let anyone get to fucked up while I can help" Monika smiled beneath her face gear as he pulled some pliers and a small silver flask from the kit as well.

"I don't have any sterilizer, but I got some whiskey" Ben opened the lid looking at Blackbeard.

"hang on" Blackbeard said as he took the flask and took a small swing before he handed it back to Ben and bit down on the depressor. He winced as Ben poured a small amount of the whiskey on the hole before he stuck the pliers in causing Craig to groan before he pulled a rifle round out of his shoulder and threw it to the ground.

Ben pulled out a small stapler out and looked at Craig who nodded as Ben pinched the skin around the hole and put two staples in his shoulder. Ben then turned his attention to Caveira who was still holding her neck as a little blood trickled down her neck, Ben took his water flask out and poured it onto some bandages. He wiped the blood from her neck as he slowly came up to the actual wound and pressed it there for a second. Ben looked at Caveira's neck noticing it was a graze rather than a hole and looked up to her face.

"hold this for a few minutes while I look at Monika's leg" he noticed her nod as he looked at the pools of green.

"so, am I going to die?" Caveira said somewhat sarcastic as a smile seemed to appear from nowhere.

"I doubt a graze is gonna do you in" Ben said with a smile on his face before he went to IQ. He looked at the wound on her leg as he went straight for the wound and carefully took the scissors and cut in a criss cross formation exposing the wound. It wasn't as bad as he first thought as it looked more like a graze than a full-on bullet wound but it would still need attention and possibly stitches or staples. He took a pair of tweezers and carefully opened the wound a little to make sure no fibers from the jeans got into it. Seeing it looked okay, Ben pulled out some more bandages an gauze and wrapped it around her leg and tightened it before finishing up with the bandages that Caveira needed than Blackbeard.

"were a little way away from the post office, can you walk, or do we need to carry you?" IQ got up only to sit down again as she tried to put weight on it.

"I might have to be carried. Ben nodded as he knelt and hoisted her over his shoulder and proceeded to military carry her with his pistol drawn.

Post office, 1 hour later.

They hurried into the post office as Ben watched as Kandel rushed out with a gurney taking Monika on it.

"Ben, did you check yourself out?" Ben shook his head as he took his Beanie and headset off exposing his sweat slicked hair to the air.

"I didn't get to hurt out there" Ben said as he seemed to forget about the shrapnel in his right shoulder.

"bullshit, your bleeding" Kandal said as she moved her head to the medical wing with the others "c'mon I'm not gonna say it again" Ben rolled his eyes as he reluctantly followed.

45 minutes later

Ben sat down at a table looking over a folder as he took a spoonful of soup when Craig sat down next to him.

"Not this again man" Ben looked up as Blackbeard took the folder and closed it scooting it over to the side and out of sight.

"Hey, I was reading that" Ben said as he reached for it but stopped as he saw Gwen walk out, look at him and shyly walk back into the hallway she came from.

"she's worried about you ya know"

"yeah, I know"

"you should go talk to her" Ben shook his head as he grabbed the foler on the table and opened it showing a plan to assault the LMB stronghold.

"I gotta get this down pat" Blackbeard looked it over as well looking at the plans Ben had in front of him.

"when is this being executed?"

"in a few days, Faye and Harris want you guys better before anything else" Blackbeard nodded as he again took the folder.

"than that means you have time to go talk to her" Ben tried to take the folder as Blackbeard held it behind his left shoulder.

"ill giv it back tomorrow, . " Ben sighed and took a deep breath before he slurped down the rest of his soup and walked off to the security wing.

Ben got closer to his little room as he noticed her in the wing reading over a file. He got closer as she seemed to tense up when he extended his arm and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"you got a minute?" Gwen nodded as she kept her eyes glued to the folder as ben leaned on the wall facing her. "I'm sorry, I- I shouldn't have said anything I said I was just… it took a lot out of me" Gwen looked up with concern on her face.

"I just- I wanted to help and he was my friend too" Ben nodded as she put her head on his chest, Ben placed a hand on her head right on her bun and gave her a small hug which she took. Ben smiled as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I feel like I've been awake for 4 days straight"

"you practically have, just with a 4 hour interval" Gwen said as she looked up, closing the file with he free hand.

"I was going to try and get some sleep, you wanna join me?" Gwen thought about it for a second before she shook her head.

"I'm gonna look this over for a little bit" Ben nodded as he pointed to the room.

"well I'm sure you know where to find me" Ben said as he walked off and to his room. He barley even managed to take off his boots when his eyes started to fail him, the weight of 4 days' worth of adrenaline and rage wore off leaving him exhausted and fumbling to get anything off, getting his boots off and his hoodie and shirt Ben laid down and without skipping a beat crashed, hard.

As always feel free to leave any comments you got and ill try to get the next one out soon.