Chapter 4: Hunting The Hunter.

Section 3: Tight Schedule.

"What on Earth are you doing here, Weston?"

- Craig "Blackbeard" Jenson

-X-

Current time, Iraq, 29km away from Hunter's temporary base, Craig Jenson.

The transport trucks run smoothly on the somewhat flat road, seated by soldiers armed to the teeth. Craig sits relaxingly on the truck seat while giving his full attention to Mike's briefings, along with eighteen other rangers.

"Alright listen up boys," Mike said to his squad, "not long ago, Hunter International Securities Co. sent out a distress signal reporting in a Taliban attack on one of their temporary bases." He continued as a satellite picture is being passed around, showing the position of the camp.

"And as an important PMC company that we've been working with for the past year, it is necessary that we send some help to defend," Mike explained. His words seem to have sparked a few questions.

"Wait wait wait, hold on a second Mike," Craig stopped his squad leader, "So we, twenty rangers and sixty more marines on the trucks behind us, are being sent to help a bunch of mercenaries?!" A few other rangers nodded with confusion appearing on their faces.

"Yes, I am just as confused as you are, but orders are orders," Mike shrugged his shoulders, "also it's not just us, twenty mercenaries are on one of the trucks, more are to be expected to arrive from their own HQ around here."

Craig laid back a bit on his seat, "Well, well, well. Isn't this the weirdest thing I've seen in a while?"

"Last time was when a marine fell over in the toilet and ate his own shit." He continued with a smirk.

"Hahahahaha!" The whole truck laughed, but it soon went quiet as they got closer and closer to the temporary base.

There is no way the base was attacked by Taliban forces, it wouldn't require this many support. And never in hell have they been sent to do a task like this.

Craig took a breather and looked around, seeing worried faces on his squad mates. He laid back a bit more to rest his entire body on the seat, looking as relaxed as possible, but his grip on the gun has only gotten tighter and tighter.

'Everything seems wrong about this mission', he thought, 'what on Earth is really happening here?!'.

…

Current time, Iraq, Hunter's temporary base, Siko Weston.

Using the battle as a distraction, Siko's squad swiftly made their way towards the big tent.

"Okay Scott, we are almost there," Siko said to his mic and halted his squad from moving any further, "Got some trouble though..." He suddenly stopped talking as a few red lines appeared in front of his eyes, through a few wooden crates next to him.

"Everybody get the fuck down!" He said as quickly as possible and dragged Elzbieta down with him onto the floor.

A second later, continuous gunshots can be heard from the other side of the crates, annihilating the wood and came directly for the squad. Despite being warned, an unfortunate soldier was unable to get down quick enough.

He got shot through his neck, leaving him lying on the floor with blood pouring out non-stop. He tried his best to hold it back with his hands, but it all became useless as he slowly drifts further from life.

Siko stared blankly as the soldier became lifeless, leaving a bleeding body cold on the ground.

With no time to waste, he quickly grabbed his rifle and fired back, with the rest of the squad doing the same. After hearing a few dropping sounds, they stood up and find three of those 'super-soldiers' dead from their gunshots, just a few metres behind the crates.

"Siko! Siko! Are you guys alright?" Scott shouted on the other side, "Come in, come in!"

"Yeah," Siko removed some dust from his BDU, and replied, "I'm fine, just a shame we lost one."

"J2 squad, report." One of the radios on their bodies started talking, stopping their conversation, "J2 squad, report!" A female voice came out of it.

"You don't need to waste more of your time trying, they are all dead," Siko picked it up and replied, "I have no idea who you are, but you will join them soon enough."

The other side went quiet for a few seconds, "Oh, who's this?" She asked sarcastically, "Giving me your final words, huh?"

Siko turned off the radio and gave it to Elzbieta, who nodded and stored it in her backpack. She looked at him and giggled, "You know, letting a lady carry your stuff isn't very polite."

"Sorry, Ela," Siko pointed at his back, "I would definitely carry it myself if I had a bag," Elzbieta simply shook her head, "It's alright, thanks for the save back there."

"Not a problem," Siko replied and signalled the squad to move further up.

As they sneak through another empty tent, Scott interrupted them from moving, "Uh Siko, I got really bad news," He sounds worried, "I don't know how, but I think we've got the U.S. army into this."

"They will be here very soon, ETA ten minutes," He continued, "I can only let the men stay for another three minutes, then I'll have to pull them out."

"Hmmph!" Siko punched the air, "Okay, I will make this quick. Winson's gotta die, it's time for him to pay his debt."

"We can't get in a conflict with the army, so if you can't do it, just leave. We will find some other time for him, but then it might be a bit harder..." Scott said with a worrying tone.

Siko looked towards his squad and ended up staring at Elzbieta, then he quickly turned off his radio, "Alright squad, you guys can pull out now, I can do this alone. Ela, you can leave as well." He said as he took off his helmet, revealing his face with a smile.

"No Siko, you can't go alone, it's suicide!" Elzbieta walked up to him, "Winson isn't worthy of your life!" She said as the rest of the squad nodded.

Siko shook his head as his smile turns into a sour one, "Ela, trust me, there is nothing else in the world that will be as important as this." Siko came forward and hugged her, leaving her eyes wide open and her face turning red. Good thing no one can see it through her visor.

"O… Ok… Okay…" She said as Siko lets go of her, "Actually… No, I will come with you instead. So, you don't have to go alone and..." She turned towards the other soldiers and hinted them to leave, but before all of them gets to go, Siko's hand hit her hard in the back of her neck- Now exposed as she tries to take off her helmet.

"Sorry Ela," Siko mumbled, "His life may be important to me, but it is certainly not the same for you. I hope you can forgive me for this."

Holding her with his arms to prevent her from falling to the floor, Siko signalled for a squad member to take her away. One of the soldiers hastily grabbed the now unconscious Elzbieta and left.

Siko waited for them to leave through the way they came from and out of his vision, then wore his helmet once again. He reloaded his gun and checked his equipment, then wasted no time running towards his objective once again.

He was confident, at least in his survivability. If his power works properly, then nothing should be able to hurt him.

The battlefield went quiet, as little amount of fire was being exchanged. 'I seem to be the last one now', Siko thought as he sprinted past a couple more tents, to a close distance to Hunter's tent.

However, just as he was about to get to the tent entrance, a couple of red lines appeared, emerged from his sides.

He did a dolphin dive and dodged a few bullets before replying with some of his own. Siko watched as his enemies drop to the floor, he could sense the confusion from their dying eyes.

Siko quickly got up and attempted to move in, but he was soon struck by a kick to his left torso, sending his body flying a bit to the right. The pain nearly made him scream.

He looked towards the left, seeing a female soldier aiming a pistol at his head. With an impressive amount of endurance and agility, Siko rolled to the left- dodging the first bullet, then kicked the back of her lower right leg, sending the soldier down on her back.

Quickly getting back on his feet, Siko disarmed her pistol but a kick from the soldier knocked it far away from both of them.

Siko jumped up and back, dodging a leg swing aimed for his feet. The soldier used this opportunity to roll back and stand up as well, getting back into her fighting position. She then pulled out a combat knife from her tactical belt.

The young man sighed and took his own knife out as well, "I don't usually fight women, but tonight is too important for me to be nice." He said with a serious tone.

The soldier laughed, "You think you are good huh, I will make you regret coming here." She then rushed straight at Siko, swinging her blade for the attack.

Siko is getting a bit confused on why he isn't seeing any red or white lines, but he quickly stopped thinking as the soldier gets closer and closer.

He tightened his grip on the knife and sprinted forward as well, leaving sand flying all over the place.

...