Chapter 11…

There was something almost… empowering... about working with a squad again.

Since landing on the ground Ashley and the other three pilots had taken to the rooftops of the facility, wanting to avoid contact with any hostiles for as long as possible; they had the element of surprise and they weren't going to squander it.

Ashley slowly inhaled and exhaled as she continued her sprint. She leapt up in the air to fly over a small ventilation unit, feeling the rumbling sensation of her jump kit firing to keep her in the air for longer.

Cozbi was a few feet ahead and leading the pack, her gloved finger was pressed against the side of her helmet to tune her radio.

"How much further?" The pilot Ashley only knew as "Smith" heaved from behind her. "Are we there yet?"

"A hundred more feet!" Cozbi yelled back, her voice muffled by her helmet and wind resistance.

"Fuck!" Smith yelled, his breathing becoming louder and louder. "We should've dropped closer!"

"Ah, stop complaining!" Templeton chuckled, increasing his speed so he was next to Ashley. "It's not our fault that you're still hungover!"

Ashley scoffed and continued her sprint. She turned her head away from Templeton and to the left to focus on the dark horizon. Far off in the distance explosions bloomed, followed by the ear-shattering noise of shells detonating; the facilities titan bays looked like an inferno. Ashley knew that Dirge and the other pilots were currently keeping the Militia busy with their titans, but they could only hold out for so long.

"We have a gap in the buildings coming up!" Cozbi warned. "Activate your jump kits! Five seconds till were there!"

Ashley grit her teeth and pressed herself lower to the ground so she could increase her speed. The dark haired woman activated her jump kit, feeling the afterburners begin to heat up and rumble.

A few steps ahead of Cozbi, the edge of the building loomed.

"Go!" Cozbi shouted, leaping up into the air and activating her jumpkit. The blue burners on the bottom of the jetpack shone brightly in the dim light as she was carried upwards and safely over the gap.

Ashley, Templeton and Smith followed Cozbi's lead. Ashley leapt high into the air and activated her kit, feeling herself gain altitude as she flew. She spared a quick glance downwards to view the corridor below her.

Down below, swathes of Militia hostiles were running around like frenzied ants. Ashley knew that they were most likely evacuating or gearing up for combat; Cozbi was smart to have them return to the rooftops.

"Problem!" Templeton yelled over the wind, Ashley contorted her body mid-air to face him. She followed the pilot's outstretched hand and twisted around so she was flying back-first.

She knew why Templeton was frightened… Smith was currently falling.

Either out of stupidity, ineptitude… or a dangerous combination of both… Smith had not activated his jump kit. If the man fell into the swathes of Militia riflemen below then their cover would be blown.

Ashley snarled and shot out her left arm, squeezing the palm-activated trigger of her grappling hook. The hook shot forwards and hit true, striking Smith on his breastplate and reeling him in.

Ashley landed back first on the roof of the building they were jumping to. She hissed in pain as she fell into a disorganized tumble and finally rolled to a stop.

"Ow…" Groaned another voice. Ashley gingerly turned her helmeted head to find Smith lying a few feet from her. The man whose life she had just saved reached up to snap off the tip of Ashley's grappling hook. Ashley squeezed her palm again, watching as the long cable retracted back into her armored gauntlet.

"Smith, you fucking idiot!" Templeton hissed, stomping over to the over man and roughly lifting him to his feet. "What the fuck was that!"

"It wasn't me!" Smith pleaded as he dusted off his dented breastplate. "It's my fucking kit! It didn't fire!"

Ashley grunted when hands that were not her own grabbed her by the shoulders and hoisted her up. She turned her helmeted head to find the visor of the other female pilot on the mission.

"Enough, both of you!" Cozbi warned, a dangerous finger pointed at the two male pilots. "The objective is down below… we can argue about Smith's idiocy later!"

The two male pilots wordlessly broke off from each other, brushing past Ashley and following Cozbi to the far side of the rooftop.

"You're welcome…" Ashley muttered to no one in particular. She took a second to check over her gear before joining her fellow pilots at the edge of the building.

Down below, the building that was their objective sat under heavy guard. Ashley understood that this building was the head research facility, which contained the computer database that they were tasked with hacking into. Well over two dozen Militia guards patrolled the entrance, sitting behind hastily erected cover and readying their weapons.

"What's the plan, Knife?" Templeton spoke under his breath, his head turned to address the leader of the team.

"Get your weapons ready," Cozbi held up her gloved hand to point at her feet. "We'll stay up here and clear the entrance, we have the height advantage."

"So… sniping?" Smith chuckled under his breath. The pilot reached over his shoulder to unclip a DMR from his back. "Alright."

"You got it, Knife," Templeton stood up with a huff. He reached towards his ammo belt and withdrew a small cylindrical object. Templeton smacked the top of the object before dropping it to the floor.

Ashley's jaw nearly dropped when a bright orange particle shield blinked into existence.

"Since we're sniping, we should all use the wall," Templeton suggested to his teammates. The man reached to his back to withdraw a G2A5 rifle. "Everyone ready?"

Ashley and the three other pilots squeezed together behind the wall, their weapons held aloft.

"On my mark," Cozbi spoke quietly. The woman turned her attention to a small datapad that sat on her wrist. "Wait for it…"

Ashley's jaw once again dropped when a holographic representation of Cozbi flared into existence. The simple hologram sprinted forwards and off the roof of the building, falling to the street below and running forwards much like a pilot would. The presence of the hologram had an immediate effect, twenty-four Militia guns turned to put down the perceived hostile.

Smart… it was a very clever use of deception...

"Go!" Cozbi yelled, immediately opening fire with her R-201. Templeton and Smith followed her lead, opening fire with their open weaponry to drop the mass of hostiles below.

Ashley lifted her Hemlock up and took aim, placing her sights on the head of a Militia rifleman.

She hadn't killed anyone in the last two years…

'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…'

Ashley drew in a sharp breath and held it. There was no more time for deliberation… she squeezed the trigger.

The three round burst hit true, striking the head of the rifleman below and leaving him sprawled on the ground. Ashley didn't wait to see if he got back up, she immediately snapped her aim to the next hostile, firing another burst…

… and another, then another, another one after that… men were dropping like flies.

Finally, after her seventh kill the fighting reached a lull and the firing stopped.

"Good work," Cozbi congratulated, lowering the barrel of her gun. "Smith, Templeton… stay up here and keep the entrance clear... Ish, you're with me."

"Aye aye," Templeton straightened his back. "We'll bugger out once you give us the signal."

"Good… let's go, Ish," Cozbi clenched her rifle tightly and leapt off the building, her jump kit flaring to slow her descent.

Ashley grit her teeth and slipped her Hemlock onto her back. She squeezed her palms into fists and she leapt off the building, feeling wind rush past her neck as her jump kit activated.

The dark haired woman hit the ground running, following behind Cozbi as they sprinted towards the entrance of the building. Ashley was careful to step around or leap over the many bodies that littered the ground.

Up ahead, Cozbi reached up towards her bandolier to retrieve a small throwing knife. She reared back her arm and threw the knife with practiced ease, watching as it sailed through the air in a perfect spin and embedded itself in the door of the building.

"Down!" Cozbi roared, suddenly breaking into a slide and slowing to a stop. Ashley confusedly followed her lead, gritting her teeth as she slid against the asphalt below and came to a grinding stop.

The doors to the facility slid open and a four man Militia team sprinted out. The first man to leave the door was immediately pegged by a sniper round, the other three were quickly killed by Ashley and Cozbi.

Ashley ejected the spent magazine of her RE-45 and inserted a new one. Cozbi quickly surged back to her feet and Ashley did the same.

"How did you know?" Ashley asked, holding her pistol up and checking the entrance for more hostiles.

"There's a pulse scanner built into the knives," Cozbi explained, holding her R-201 at the ready as she approached the door.

"Handy…"

Cozbi said nothing further, signaling with her hand for Ashley to follow her before sprinting into the building. Ashley wasted no time falling in behind her, pumping her left arm as she ran and keeping her right arm straight and low to hold her pistol.

"Coming up on a lobby!" Cozbi informed Ashley via their helmet radio. "I'm sending in a hologram! You break left and I'll break right!"

As soon as the words were spoken Cozbi slowed down and activated her hologram. The life-life representation continued to sprint forwards and through the doorway the two pilots were approaching. As soon as the hologram entered the adjacent room the roaring noise of guns firing could be heard.

"Go!" Cozbi shouted, sprinting into the room and breaking off to the right.

Ashley followed behind her and broke left, just as instructed.

The lobby, unlike the exterior of the building, was tastefully decorated. Panels of smooth brown wood lined the walls of the large room and in the center sat a large desk. The lobby was filled with perhaps a dozen Militia grunts, which meant that Ashley and Cozbi had some work cut out for them.

Ashley leapt up and pressed herself against a wall, feeling her jump kit carry her along. Her RE-45 was still clenched in her right hand and she squeezed the trigger to empty the magazine. The hail of bullets bit into the flesh of three Militia riflemen ahead of her, sending them sprawling to the floor as fresh corpses. Ashley didn't bother reloading the weapon, instead dropping it to the ground and leaping off the wall.

As she flew through the air Ashley fired her grappling hook, the barbed tip slamming into the armored vest of another Militia grunt. Ashley manipulated the palm mounted center and reeled herself in at high speeds. Her armored feet smashed into the grunt's face at high speeds, snapping his neck with a sickening crunch and killing him instantly.

Ashley landed roughly on her back, feeling her grappling hook begin to retract and fold up back into her gauntlet. She pivoted on her back to avoid some gunfire and snatched her P2016 from its holster, bringing it up to eye level. Ashley fired as soon as she could, instantly killing another man with a headshot.

As soon as the deed was done Ashley rushed back up into a standing position. A knife was jabbed in her direction but Ashley twisted her body to avoid it. She caught the man's arm in her left hand and held it high in the air; she pressed her pistol against his torso and fired multiple times before ducking low and kicking the dying man away from her.

"Ish! Get down!" Cozbi yelled from across the room.

Ashley ducked as a pulse knife sailed over her head and embedded itself in the throat of a grunt sneaking up on her. The man's eyes bulged in shock and he dropped his baton to clutch his bleeding neck.

Ashley shoved the man away and broke into a sprint when bullets bit at the ground around her. The dark haired woman turned her head as she ran, focusing on the central desk that dominated the lobby. Three Militia grunts had set up behind the desk, digging in and forming a firing line.

With a grunt Ashley ducked into a controlled slide, thrusting her left arm up on the process. Her grappling hook shot out from the gauntlet and hooked into the ceiling, quickly lifting Ashley up into the air.

Ashley was keen to capitalize on her vertical advantage. The woman retracted her hook and surged her hand down towards her belt, where several lumpy objects rested.

'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...'

Withdrawing one of the electric smoke grenades, Ashley pulled the pin and threw it at the cluster of Militia grunts below. The small device landed at their feet and the men were wreathed in smoke before they had a chance to flee.

By the time Ashley hit the floor the three grunts were dead…

Ashley let out a slow breath as she straightened her back and stood up. Her pistol was still clenched tightly in her right hand and she wasn't keen to loosen her grip on it just yet.

"You okay?" Cozbi asked, coming up on Ashley's right.

Ashley looked past Cozbi to spot the many bodies that littered the room.

"Yeah…" Ashley responded. "You?"

Cozbi nodded her helmeted head. "That was intense… good call with the grenade."

Ashley wordlessly cleared her throat and slipped her pistol back into its holster. "We should keep going…"

"Agreed."

The two women continued onwards to their objective, quickly navigating the sterile hallways that laid beyond the lobby. Their progress was briefly blocked by a staffed security checkpoint, but it took the two women little time to neutralize their opposition.

With the checkpoint clear of Militia hostiles, Ashley stepped over the body of a rifleman to enter the room she and Cozbi were searching for.

The room was relatively small, filled with wall-to-wall workstations and control boards for the facilities computer. At the far end of the room stood a large sliding door made from translucent ballistic glass.

"Watch your step," Cozbi warned, her pistol clenched in one hand and a pulse knife in the other. "I'm gonna throw a knife…"

Ashley wordlessly stepped back and lowered the barrel of her P2016. She allowed the other woman to step around her and throw her pulse blade. Cozbi tossed the blade low to embed it into the ground; the moment it struck the floor Cozbi held up her free hand to block Ashley.

"It's picking up movement… under the workstations…" Cozbi whispered.

"I'll follow your lead," Ashley replied in an equally low tone. "Count of three?"

Cozbi carefully slipped her pistol back into its holster and reached back to grab her R-201.

"One, two, three…!" Cozbi hissed, surging into the room and holding the barrel of her assault rifle high. Ashley filed in behind her, clenching her pistol tightly in both hands.

Cozbi surged towards the nearest workstation and Ashley followed her. The holo-pilot tilted the barrel of her rifle low so it was pointing underneath the workstation, where a suspicious tarp sat all bunched up.

"Come out… we know you are in there," Cozbi warned, poking the tarp with the barrel of her rifle. "Don't think about hiding… or I'll just open fire and be done with it."

Ashley watched with half-amusement as the tarp shuffled and two grown men slowly emerged. They were dressed in blue jumpsuits, denoting their occupations as technicians.

"Easy," Ashley mumbled, keeping her pistol trained on the two men as they stood upright. "Easy… were you two hiding?"

"No shit, Ish," Cozbi chuckled, her rifle still held aloft. "Probably tucked under there once the explosions went off…"

The two technicians said nothing, their eyes were wild with fear.

"Do either of you have the key to that room?" Ashley asked, jerking her helmeted head in the direction of the main database.

One of the men slowly nodded. "If I give it over… will you spare us?" The man squeaked, his friend looking just as sheepish.

"Sure," Ashley shrugged, removing one hand from her pistol and holding it out expectantly. "As long as you two don't try anything I don't see any reason to kill you…"

The first technician raised up a shaky hand to reach into the top pocket of his jumpsuit. He withdrew a small plastic keycard and fumbled it into Ashley's hand.

"Thank you," Ashley clicked her tongue. She turned her attention to her female companion. "Cozbi, I'll grab the stuff… can you watch these two?"

"Of course, Ish," Cozbi muttered back, her grip on her rifle still deathly tight. "Be quick…"

Ashley wordlessly broke off towards the far end of the room, finding the translucent sliding door that would grant her access to the database. She inserted her newly acquired card into the I.D scanner and watched in satisfaction as a green light chimed and the door slid open.

Ashley stepped into the secure room, hearing the sliding door close behind her with a hiss. The helmeted woman peered up at the massive database she would be exploiting.

The database was a massive wall of blinking lights and complicated looking cooling vents. Ashley's pilot training gave her a basic understanding of the inner workings of computers… but she couldn't make heads or tails of the massive artificial "brain" in front of her.

Thankfully, a small computer terminal was there to make life easy for her.

Ashley approached the computer terminal and quickly found the proper port. She drew her data knife and inserted the blade into the port. The only thing she had to do was wait, the concentric blue rings on the pommel of the knife would indicate whether or not the download was complete.

After a tense few seconds the pommel hummed and shone a bright blue, indicating that all files had been copied. Ashley withdrew her data knife from the computer port and slid it back into its sheath for safe-keeping.

With her business in the room complete, Ashley spun on her heel and retraced her steps to the sliding door, using the keycard to exit the room.

She found Cozbi and the technicians where she had left them, the other woman was still holding the two men at gunpoint.

"We done here, Ish?" Cozbi asked, her grip on her gun still tight.

"Were good to go," Ashley patted her knife sheath. "Let's get out of-"

Ashley choked out a breath when Cozbi wordlessly opened fire with her rifle. Two quick bursts of bullets found their way into the heads of the two cowering technicians; the men crumpled, they were dead before they hit the floor.

"What- what the fuck!" Ashley snarled, stumbling backwards from where she did. "Why the fuck did you do that?"

"They were loose ends," Cozbi shrugged her armored shoulders, finally lowering her rifle. "They would've talked…"

"To who!?" Ashley demanded.

"To their higher ups, Ish," Cozbi explained. "Do you think the IMC will be happy if the Militia figures out why we were here? If they figure out what we stole from them? Me killing them bought our bosses some time to plan…"

"I-" Ashley stumbled over her words, an uncomfortable pressure beginning to spread in her chest. "That was still fucked up, Cozbi…"

"You killed those men outside the room… why is this any different?"

"They had guns…" Ashley growled. She pointed down to the two fresh corpses on the floor. "They didn't…"

"I would love to stay here all morning and argue with you about this, but we have a mission to complete" Cozbi stepped forwards, an accusatory finger held high. "Are. you. ready. to. go?"

Ashley wrinkled her nose and drew her P2016. She roughly brushed past Cozbi's shoulder to the door that connected to the hallway. "Let's just get this over with…"