Chapter 37

"She's not going to make it!" Someone shouted.

"No she will, if she died she would've died right now!" Another said.

Alesia's consciousness would come and go, but the pain in her chest would still be present regardless. She breathed heavily to endure the pain yet she felt that her chest was getting half of what she took in. Yes she remembered, she was shot on stage and one of her lungs was at loss. She grunted and groan, wanting to see what was happening.

She slowly opened her eyes, never before it was this heavy. The two AE soldiers was surrounding her and pressuring her chest. AE2 realized her consciousness regained and was shocked seeing the woman. AE2 moved closer to her face and informed her to stay calm, she answered with a defiant shook of the head.

"They...can't kill me..." Alesia muttered. "They... can't kill me..."

Alesia rested her head on the limo seat, closing her eyes for just a moment. When she opened it again, she was already in another place. This time, she was in a hospital. Being carried with a stretcher and more people surrounded her. The soldiers that she remembered was still there accompanied with doctors and nurses. She listen their conversation.

"What happened?" A doctor asked.

"Lung shot, both hit the left. She loss a lot of blood and need medical attention now!" AE2 informed.

"Operation Room 28 is ready doctor." Said a nurse.

"I want a lot of blood packs to be sent as fast as possible."

"Yes doctor."

Alesia heard the loud sound, one of the people hitting the operation room door with his shoulder, the vibration caused made it more painful for her. She saw the nurses pushing away the two AE soldiers away and the doctors wearing their pale yellow gloves and blue masks. The nurses and doctors then lifted her body to another bed. A nurse wore her an oxygen mask and turned on the lights, blinding her eyes completely. She breathed in the gas and she felt the anesthetic entering her body.

Her weak body forced her to close her eyes, darkness was the only thing that she could see. But amidst the panic situation and the uncertainty of the outcome, Alesia stayed calm.

...

Alpha team advanced to their objective, it went smoothly with little resistance from Hyperion soldiers. Bravo did a good job providing cover fire and the only thing that would failed the mission was themselves.

Athena and Axton ducked and looked at the hospital that reported to have Alesia being operated. The Commando eyed left to right and just like the streets that they passed,there was no soldiers in the perimeter of the hospital. He did not want to assume that killing Alesia would be a simple matter, the two AE soldiers that escorted her to the stage was still with her.

No reports from Commander Reus and Doyle, he tried to contact Lynn but the only thing that he could hear was the sound of the gunshots. With no intel on where Alesia specifically in the hospital, he have a few plans in mind on how to approach the hospital. Then he could feel Athena hand on his shoulder, which he then looked and saw a worried Athena.

"Axton, your nose is bleeding." Athena said.

Axton touched his nose and saw the blood on his finger tips. The whispers started to appear again and his head was getting dizzy. He shook his head and wiped off the blood, dismissing the voice and the pain at the same time.

"Don't mind about it Athena. Focus on the woman in the hospital." Axton said seriously.

"Look Axton, if you can't continue with the mission, you can stay behind."

"Whatever Athena." Axton ignored and pointed at the hospital. "The hospital is right in front of us and I think we have to split up. One will go to the east wing while the oth-"

"Listen to me Axton." Athena interrupted and pulled Axton shoulder so he would looked at her in the eye. "You can't go on when you're like this. Killing Alesia is my key to bring Janey back and I'm not going to risk it by having a teammate that is in no condition of combat."

"You think you're the only one Athena? I got my friends back at Overlook having their life threatened by this psycho dictator. I will kill her Athena, that's the reason I left them in the first place."

"I know. But I don't want to lose a friend in the process." She put one hand on Axton shoulder.

He looked at her sincere eyes but dismiss it. Axton took his revolver and primed it. "You take the west and I take the east. Nuff said."

Axton left Athena behind and approached the hospital regardless of his condition. Athena could looked at the man as he walked, for some reason she felt that the man was not himself. Instead he was an entirely different person. And for a cooled tempered man like Axton, this man was desperate.

...

AE2 and AE4 waited at the front door of the operation room, anticipating good news but ready to face bad news too. AE2 listened to the radio and the battle was still ongoing on the center city. So much for back up.

Then a group of soldiers arrived to the scene, whom also affected with the current havoc happening in the city. Their armor were still in fine condition but the AE soldiers could see that some of it were grazed. Four soldiers halted and stood in front of them, they saluted and one of them approached forward.

"Ma'am. Sir. Hospital secured." The representative said. "They were some civilians inside the hospital but we moved to another place and cleared the whole place."

AE2 looked at her teammate then to the Hyperion soldier. "How about the vehicle to extract her out of here?"

"We've already planned ahead and another car is already set to arrive for extraction." The soldier hold his ear suddenly and listened to it for a moment. His face changed and looked at AE2 with a concerned face. "We got a breach, on the west and east wings of the hospital."

"Other squads?" AE4 asked.

"Squad Two at the east wing. Squad Three at the west wing. Both side reported having engagements."

"AE4 you take two men and group up with Squad Two, the rest will be with me and group with Squad Three. Once done, regroup here." AE2 ordered.

"Roger that. Let's go." AE4 left the place with two men by his side.

AE2 constructed a rifle and motioned her hands to go the west wing of the hospital. The Hyperion soldiers submissively followed behind with armed weapons as well. The group jogged to her destination, well paced yet fast at the same time. At the end of the corridor, they took the stairs and went a few floors down.

On their way, AE2 could hear the commotion. Men shouting and firearms shooting, she expected that the enemy that she would face would be a challenge. She set her weapon ready and looked through the sights as she arrived to ground level. And to her surprise, the commotion was caused by a single woman.

The woman stabbed a man torso and raised him up, killing him indefinitely. She slid out the blade from the dying soldier and threw him to the ground. Joining him with the other dead soldiers that AE2 suspected of her doing. The woman panned at AE2 and her comrades, posed ready and was about to engage.

"Engage to the target!" AE2 ordered.

The two Hyperion soldiers by her side followed the order and advanced with weapons ready. The soldiers shoots the target but the woman raised her shield. The bullets hit their mark but deflected back, AE2 was shocked yet calm at the same time. The hooded woman also advance towards her enemies, without any struggle or extra effort.

AE2 wanted to analyze her opponent and let the Hyperion soldiers attacked first. She stood back and observed, hoping that the soldiers would die in a painless death.

With every bullet deflected back, the attack was ineffective and not long did the weapons of the soldiers dried out of bullets. The hooded woman took the advantage given and threw her shield towards them. The shield hit one of them and ricochet to the other, stunning them effectively. The hooded woman caught her shield back and proceed slashing them both. Adding two soldiers to her kill tally.

Seeing the way that the hooded woman killed her only back up, AE2 sighed in disappointment and shook her head. By the looks of it, she knew that no average gun would shoot through that shield. Not matter how many bullets she's willing to waste. Despite it, she already had a plan in mind on how to defeat the hooded woman. Unorthodox yet will deliver as she expected it to be. It was time for her to engage CQC with the mysterious woman.

"What's your name?" She threw away her rifle away and walked to the woman with a knife at her hand.

"Athena." The hooded woman answered, also approaching to AE2 with the same manner yet with a longer blade and a shield. "Yours?

"Call me AE2 to make it simple." She said calmly. "I hope you don't have any guns to spare, cause I only have a knife."

"Don't worry, a knife is more than enough to kill." Athena said.

AE2 could see the red eyes under the hood, she was not intimidated by it. "Well, come here and let's make it quick."

Athena jumped high and lunged towards AE2, she raised her shield and bashed the AE soldier. AE2 could not reacted quicker and was hit by the shield. She was pushed back and slide away to a considerable distance. AE2 did not give up and rushed back to her enemy, full speed and no halt. Her opponent stood still and raised her shield again, wanting to repeat what happened before.

AE2 slide down under Athena legs and to The Gladiator surprised, she was behind her. AE2 then pulled Athena's leg and grounded her down to the floor. She quickly moved her body and sat on top of her back. The elite soldier then hit the head of her enemy with quick punches. Two blows connected and her enemy turned her body at the same time tried to kill AE2 with her blade.

AE2 jumped away and barely evaded the blade from her body. While recovering back to her feet, Athena threw her shield towards AE2 in an attempt to stagger her enemy. Before it reached it's target, AE2 caught the shield with her bare hands. She then smirked at Athena, telling her to step up her effort.

Athena cracked her neck and proceed to attack with her sword in hand. Seeing her enemy rushing towards her, AE2 threw away the shield and sprinted towards Athena. Both soldiers comitted to kill each other with their blade. AE2 slided to the ground like before but Athena had learned from her mistake. She lowered her blade and attempted to stab AE2 when close enough.

AE2 saw the blade about to stab her abdomen but she deflected with the knife in hand, refusing to lose in the battle. Athena was in no time to play games, she held the woman's neck and raised her up. Then she slammed AE2 to the floor, the victim grunted in pain. Seeing it was effective, Athena choked her again and proceed to slam her to the ground.

But in a split second, using her agile body, AE2 wrapped her body around Athena's hand. She stabbed her hand multiple times, to which the hooded woman screamed in pain. The grip on her neck loosen, AE2 kicked the face of her enemy, released from the choke. She gasped for air for one second and stood up again to her feet. Athena backed away a couple of steps and has her left arm hanging and useless.

Seeing her crippled enemy, AE2 wasted no time and went for the kill. Athena went on the defensive side and readied her sword to parry. The AE soldier threw her knife at Athena, which she deflected easily. Using it as a distraction, she attacked Athena's right arm and pulled the sword away from her grasp. With Athena unarmed, she continued her aggression, punching Athena's face time and time again.

Each blow connected, Athena's attempt on dodging it failed. AE2 had already won her battle and it was time to end it. AE2 punched Athena's abdomen and moved behind her back. Using both of her hands, she then locked Athena's neck and wrapped her legs around her torso. Athena tried to to balance herself but eventually she fell down to her back.

With a crippled hand, Athena could only do so much to counter her opponent. She striked AE2 ribs with her right hand but the force seemed too weak as the hold on her neck persist. AE2 stood her ground and secured her lock, it was only a matter of time till her opponent was dead by her grasp.

"Shh...Shh..." AE2 shushed her opponent. "This will take a moment..."

Athena felt her consciousness faded away. Her attempts on breaking the lock became weaker. Her lungs was cut from the oxygen supply. Her skin started to change colour and her body started to quiver, she was certainly dying. AE2 grunted in an effort to break her enemy neck but the sound of the radio could not be ignored.

"This is AE4..." The man said weakly, it seemed that he was out of breath by the tone of his voice. "Hostile inbound to you... sorry AE2... mission failed..."

But then AE2 saw a figure standing right in front of her, it shocked her to the bone seeing the man. With one hand holding a revolver and the other dragging her bleeding teammate AE4. The man that stood in front of her had a bleeding nose and stoic face.