Some things to be aware of: The story is rated K+. There's obviously going to be expletives and the like throughout. Also, expect violence, because the story is just conflict, gunfights, and some major in between developments. It will also be a perhaps slightly mature story, depending on how well I write it.
And Manx and Pyre are my own. They're going to be the main characters. There will also be historical mistakes, franchise mistakes, etc. So please just be patient and point them out to me. I've never published a story like this before. If you have any feedback that I could learn from, please email me here: stuffidontunderstand7
Note: Please note the story will take place in 2011. Manx and Pyre are my own, as mentioned above. If I'm right, this is roughly a year after the trip to Shanghai and Salem has major doubts about Rios. However, for convenience's sake, we're not going to let that happen. The partnership never ends because if Shanghai didn't happen, it wouldn't progress naturally. I'm going to also sprinkle in a few more of my characters, so we'll see if that works out.
This franchise went down because the developers of Devil's Cartel just couldn't stick with our original two heroes. They went for the wrong story, did so poorly, and making the Rios shoots Salem ending canon ruined the franchise. (Why even let us pick the ending if the developers already knew which one they were going with?) I think that anyone reading this knows this: Salem would never leave Rios. And he wouldn't blame Alice's death on Rios. Thank you for reading! If I make any franchise history mistakes or historical mistakes, please tell me. If you have any feedback or want to simply say hi (or if you know who freed Salem and why he was freed), please email me. I would REALLY appreciate it, I need all the criticism I can get. That's it. Sorry, that was so long. Enjoy!
The Kosovan Escapade
Chapter 1
A man, about 26 years old, walked into a firing range, ready to shoot anything that moved. Two men, curious onlookers, watched in apparent confusion as he stood there perfectly still. He walked forward, the weight of the HK 416 he was borrowing bearing down on his hands. Lights suddenly flickered to life as the two men sitting behind the one-way bulletproof glass continued watching.
"Alright. Pretty straightforward. Just shoot the targets. It could not be easier. Really. Just shout to give us some kind of signal when you're ready," One of the men said.
"HOT!" Max shouted at the top of his lungs and he raised the borrowed H&K 416 rifle. The first target popped up. A controlled burst of 3 bullets hurtled into the target at breakneck speed! A second target popped up, only to receive a bullet to the head and go down again. 2 more targets popped up, only to receive 3 shot bursts against each of them.
"I'm out!" Max said, reloading his weapon almost blindingly fast! He grabbed the borrowed pistol and got ready for the next portion of the assessment.
"Right. Now, we want to see how easily you can secure the objective. We've placed a dummy at the end of the room. Armed guards are everywhere and you must extract the hostage. Your job is to do it quickly and quietly. Am I understood?" The other of the two men asked. A camera watching over Max, he shouted: "YES, SIR!" loudly. He looked on the table at a paintball gun.
"You… Sirs, I'm sorry to ask, but you can't be serious a paintball gun? Really?" asked Max.
"We're serious. Now get it done and don't question it," The first man presiding man said. A shout of "Yes, sir!" and it was on. This time, real people were sent in to act as guards. Walls came up and made a confusing maze. He grabbed the paintball gun. He fixed a scope on it. He went in the first hallway.
A guard turned, only to be shot before he could say a thing.
A door to a big open room lay ahead. Max kicked it open. But, he did something cunning this time. He shouted that he gave up and put his hands up. The guards began to raise their paintball guns. A small, green metal object fell to the ground. Max watched as the guards were distracted by it. He ran behind cover, shooting the nearest men with quick bursts of bright blue paint to silence them. Man after man fell around them to the continuous paintball gunfire and the paint grenade had splattered three guards.
After about half an hour of navigating rooms and through trial and error, Max had sketched out a map of what he had gone through so far. A camera picked this up.
"See that, Salem? Strategy. Hah! Unlike you in Syria," One of the men said to the other.
"Shut up, Rios. This kid's smart, but please… Hasn't got the looks of yours truly," The other man said in response.
"Yeah. Sure..." The other man said with deep skepticism on his voice.
The man continued with the paintball gun until he reached a big, strange room. Odd, the lights were off. A large padlock secured the door. Even in his uniform and protective paintball gear, the sweat lines became visible around his armpits and chest. Using a fire extinguisher nearby, he broke the glass and opened the door inside. He turned the light switch on.
Right away, some 20 guards with airsoft rifles jumped out! Max looked up at the camera. An airsoft shot slammed into his leg!
"What is this!?" He asked. The speakers responded.
"New lesson, rookie. Expect the unexpected!" One of the voices, Salem's voice, shouted, in between laughs.
"Salem, when was this added?" Rios asked.
"The moment I made the executive decision training would be more fun," Salem said.
"Fun for who? You?" Rios asked.
"No… For you to watch real soldier skills?" Salem asked.
"Salem, that's an even weaker argument than what you picked this guy up with. I looked at his record this morning. I can't see anything especially magnificent about him," Rios said.
"I would just like to go on record as having said this: My reasoning was great," Salem said.
"Firstly, please don't tell me this part of the training was your idea. Secondly, don't pick up a recruit because of them having tastes you just happen to have. Please don't tell me that's what you did."
"It wasn't and I ...didn't?" Salem said, picking his words carefully as he blushed, wanting to avoid Rios's fury.
"Honestly, Elliot, honestly… You're gonna be the death of me," Rios said in an exhausted voice.
"I know I'm gonna be the death of you. You have no clue how often you tell me that," Salem said, chuckling a little bit.
"Also, accepting people for stupid reasons stops now, okay? I'll allow it this one time. But if you do it again, we drop the recruit without explanation, got it? Even if I find out later."
Salem nodded in understanding.
Another shot hit Max in the leg! He yelled in pain. So, he dove behind a large table that had been knocked over. He grabbed a paint grenade. It banged on the wall. He shot it with an airsoft rifle he picked up from a downed and well-armored guard! It exploded spectacularly! The paint was everywhere and guards began leaving the room.
The potential recruit moved forward again as 5 more guards stood in opposition. The first let loose a hail of fire. One man fell to this hail of gunfire! The three others were sneaking up as one man moved to relieve the current shooter.
A guard snuck up and put a fake but terrifyingly realistic knife to Max's throat. He kicked him as hard as he could, having barely escaped his grip! A roundhouse kick to the head and the guard was on the ground! The 3 others saw as the guard was shot where he lay! He picked up the knife. The sneaking guards didn't see where the man had gone. He snuck up to the one shooting. The officer.
Without skipping a beat, he put the officer in a chokehold.
"Drop 'em! Drop 'em now, or I'll give him an entire magazine!" Max shouted. The two men surrendered, slid their airsoft rifles over, and put their hands up. He released the officer as he moved to hold all three guards up. He soon led them on the long walk out of the maze.
A short time later, the three men were let go by the room where the two men, Rios and Salem, were sitting.
"How was that, sirs?" Manx asked.
"Alright soldier, at ease," Rios said. Max went into an at ease position almost instantly, his discipline and drilling dictating something like that to be second nature.
"Nice job, soldier. Now, if Rios will let me, which I think he won't…" Salem said, sad to be perhaps unable to accept someone for arbitrary reasons, "then I'd officially like to welcome you to T.W.O. Unless you have any objections, Rios?"
"I have none. Corporal, that was outstanding. A little rash, but it got done what we were looking for. Well done and welcome to T.W.O," Rios said. Max reached out and shook each of their hands.
"Well, soldier, now that you're in, we have to give you a new name. Like… Like… Blaze," Salem said, happy to get his new and creative idea out into the room.
"Uh… Maybe. Anything else, sirs?" Asked the Corporal.
"Yes. What about… Dynamo?" Asked Rios.
"And you said I was bad at names. Where you from, kid? Give us something to work with here."
"Uh… The Isle of Man, sir," The Corporal said.
"Rios! Where in the hell is that?"
"In between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. And don't shout inside."
"Oh… What's something we can do to give this Brit here a decent, non-Rios inspired name? Something like… I dunno…Manx!" Salem shouted.
"I like that, sir," The Corporal said, with a very non-British sounding accent of someone who lived in Grand Forks and Platteville for so long. (Platteville WI. However, not the funny Northwoods sounding kind. Just a normal, but slow midwestern drawl.)
Manx, you see, had lived in Grand Forks when he first moved to America with his family but came to spend the latter half of his childhood in Platteville, as there's some Manx influence there.
"You're welcome, Manx. See, Rios? See what happens when I get to pick names? Huh? Huh?"
Rios seemed like he was a little bit pouty, as he stayed silent and shook his head slowly at Salem, as though he wasn't getting away with that next time.
"We're a little low on manpower right now. T.W.O. just got off the ground. By next week, you should end up with a partner," Rios said. Manx nodded in understanding.
Manx reached out and shook each of their hands, then was directed to a secret door they opened, which lead into a large, wide room full of masks and tactical gear. He examined them thoroughly and hadn't the slightest idea of which one to pick.
The Corporal now began to walk out of the building after about an hour. But he had been accepted! This was great!