Alex's world slowed down as he took in the scene in front of him. Tom, his best friend, stood like a deer in the headlights as a gun pointed at his chest. Alex's eyes worked their way up the gun, over the hands, wrist, arm and shoulder until they landed on the face of the man. Yassen Gregorovich. Where was Ben? The agent was supposed to be watching their six, making sure that a situation like this couldn't happen!
He saw the assassin's wrist tense and knew that he was about to fire - he didn't have time to worry where Ben was now. Making a snap decision, he leapt out from his hiding place behind a bush, and dove in front of his friend. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben Daniels rush forward, seemingly out of nowhere. The agent brought his own gun up, aiming at Yassen, but Alex knew that he wouldn't be able to fire in time to stop the Russian from firing his own gun. Alex was wearing body armour, but he knew from experience that the bullet would still hurt as it impacted. And he was right. But he had a gun of his own, and had fired at the Russian even as he dove in front of Tom. Even if Alex missed, Ben would not and would take Yassen out.
But both the spy and the assassin had good aim. Neither of them missed. Alex saw his own bullet hit Yassen in the chest and the resulting spray of red that followed. Another splash of red burst out from the back of his shoulder a microsecond later - Ben's shot had hit him too. Alex saw a flash of betrayal behind Yassen's eyes before he thudded to the ground, his own chest aching where the bullet had hit. He groaned and sat up, the world around him now moving at a normal speed.
"Alex! What did you do that for? You're a much better shot than me and now you're out of the round!"
Alex shrugged and then, feeling mischievous, said "must be the spy in me - I couldn't stand by and watch a helpless civilian…" he broke off into laughter at the sight of Tom's face. "Nah it's just that Yassen is the best shot out of all of us and I had a chance to take him out. I might get 'Coolest Kill' too!" he said grinning up at his friend. Yassen sat up, looking at the paint splodge from Alex's shot, which was perfectly centred over his heart. He was proud, even if he said nothing out loud.
Alex knew that even K Unit would have to admit that Yassen's many years as an assassin made him the best shot of the whole group. "I got Snake on my way over too, and I saw Sabina and Eagle have both been hit too, so unless Ben has already got him, that leaves the two of you to get Wolf."
Tom grinned back and replied "oh yeah, I got Eagle a couple of minutes ago. You aren't the only one with good aim! Not bad for a 'civilian' hey?" before making his way into the undergrowth. Their altercation had not been quiet, so Tom was smart to slip away before Wolf could get him in his sights. Ben had already disappeared back into the shadows, leaving Alex and Yassen alone. He helped the ex-assassin up, and they both made their way towards the refuge shelter to wait until the round ended.
"You know, for the team with the assassin and the unit leader, you guys suck at paintball!"
"Or are we just allowing you to win so that your friends have fun?"
"You were literally about to shoot Tom in the chest and Sabina's already been taken out this round! And anyway, you don't know how to play something non-competitively!"
"I have a great deal of self-control, thank you very much."
"Oh yeah? I have just one word to say to you: 'Monopoly.'"
"That's not fair!"
"I thought you said you had self-control?" Alex teased. "Surely that applies to everything, even board games?"
Yassen gave an exasperated sigh, and Alex knew that he had won two points in the last five minutes. The first for shooting him with the paintball gun and the second for winning their little argument.
Sabina, Snake and Eagle were waiting in the refuge shelter. They were playing four vs four, but had the whole arena to themselves. In a normal (civilian) arena, smaller groups like theirs would usually be grouped together so that each team was larger, but this was an SAS training arena, so it was just the eight of them.
"Nice shooting, Cub," Snake remarked as they arrived at the shelter.
"Thanks," Alex replied, grinning.
"Although not cool that you shot me in the back! You got paint in my hair!"
"That's what's annoying you? Not that I shot you in the back, but that your hair got dirty?" he asked laughing.
"Well yeah it's paintball - I expected to get shot at today! Just not getting paint in my hair…" Snake trailed off as everyone laughed. "At least I didn't get taken out by an untrained teenager!"
"He might not be professionally trained, but Tom's played enough COD, Halo and other stealth games to be able to handle himself. I know it's different playing a game to being in something remotely real world like this, but still!"
The friendly banter continued while they waited for the round to end. It was Wolf versus Ben and Tom. It shouldn't take the two of them too long to take him out.
Soon enough, there was movement through the trees and Ben Daniels walked towards the refuge shelter. Tom and Wolf weren't with him, and he turned around, showing the bright purple paint splodge on his back.
"Wolf got me."
"That just leaves him and Tom then," Eagle said.
Everyone knew that Tom didn't stand much of a chance against the leader of K Unit, but they didn't say as much. Alex had taken Tom and Sabina paintballing a couple of weeks ago and had been over some strategies for stalking a target in the woods with the night before, so that they would be ever so slightly more prepared against the literal SAS unit who they were up against today, but it couldn't hope to compare to the amount of training and real world missions that the unit had been on.
They all just sat listening for the tell-tale sound of the paintball gun which would signal that both the hunt and the round were over. It came after a few minutes, and Alex could tell that the other members of K Unit were surprised that Tom had lasted so long. Soon enough, the two figures came out of the woods towards them. Wolf had a bright red splodge on his stomach, and Alex knew that Tom had done it! He had won their team the round, but Alex knew that even more important than that to Tom was that he had beaten the SAS!
The pair of them arrived at the shelter and the eight of them regrouped to receive their next scenario. But not before Tom had been thoroughly congratulated on his victory. As team bonding exercises went, Alex had to admit that this was a good one! Especially when Tom and Sabina were allowed to join in!