Just to refresh everyone's memories, "This denotes a silent conversation between the agents", this is enabled by the special microphones they use attached to their throats, so while they may be talking to each other, the people nearby won't be able to hear them unless they hack into the FTA communications.
Line breaks are a hard cut, changing scenes.
0=0=0=0=0 are a soft cut, changing perspectives.
The three Agents gathered around the table in the centre of the room as the Director stood on top of it. He activated the holographic projector built into the table, it expanded from the centre and grew to reveal a small rundown military compound. "We have a drone circling the area providing the live feed that I'm showing you, it will also be connected to your HUDs for up-to-date intel on hostile movements."
The old man looked around at his agents. "From what we can tell there are over 30 hostile personal at this base, this is only counting those we have seen patrolling, moving from building to building or doing jobs around the base itself. We are being pinged by Big Smoke's Tac-com from this concrete command centre here." He pointed to a three-story reinforced bunker-like command building. "Exact positioning is unknown so you will have to search and clear the building."
"Where is the staging area, Sir?" Erza asked as she examined the hologram.
"We will be dropping you three off, behind a nearby hill, here." He zoomed out the hologram and showed the trio the drop zone. "You will be HALO jumping in, we can't risk the helicopter being seen or heard for a traditional drop off so we have only a few options left. And since this is a night op, the sound would travel greater distances."
"Here." Natsu pointed to a clearing behind the hill. "That will be the Landing Zone. Have the drone fire an I.R. strobe to mark the area for us so we don't lose track of it."
"I'll let the drone operator know as soon as you three are on the way." Makarov said as he nodded in agreement. "Now I'll leave you all to work out a plan of attack, you have an Osprey fuelled up and waiting for you in the hanger."
"Roger that, Sir." Gray replied as he turned from the hologram and went back to picking out some weapons.
As the old man left the armoury, he bumped into Levy in the doorway and took a step back to allow her entrance.
"Thank you, Director." Levy gave the man a nod, a long weapon's bag slung over her shoulder.
"Agent." He gave her a nod back and left the room.
"How can we help you, Levy?" Erza asked the shorter woman, watching as she made her way over to the pinkette.
"I've been working on a prototype in my spare time, Natsu." She placed the bag on the table and looked up at the man. "This is for you to test out, when the information crossed my desk I knew that it was the perfect time for field testing."
The pink-haired agent looked at the blunette and pointed to the bag. "So what have you got for me?"
"This is my baby, Sayna, meaning 'one who is silent'." She opened the bag and revealed an unusual bullpup bolt-action sniper rifle. "It is a prototype man-portable railgun."
"Oh ho~." The man rubbed his hands together, eager to use the new weapon. "Give me the run down, Lev."
The other two agents watched the exchange, their interest gained as they listen to her explanation.
"So to make it work I have utilised a miniature fusion reactor, a bank of small but extremely powerful and efficient capacitors and an integrated pancake thyristor to prevent refeeding of the capacitors during firing, it has a pulse network set up to efficiently make use of the charge from the capacitors, so it doesn't weld the bullet to the rails." Levy said, rattling off scientific information without taking a breath. "The bullets complete the circuit with the help of a liquid metal sabot, but this sabot is held against the rails and not the actual bullet itself."
"Levy, as interesting as the tech talk is, can we speed this up?" Erza asked the scientist that was their Head of Information. "We're on a tight schedule."
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Anyway there are three enchantments placed on the railgun itself, two on the rails and one on the bolt itself." The blunette continued, not really caring about the bulk of information. "There is an enchantment that strengthens the rails, preventing warping of the highly conductive metal under firing, another that holds the liquid metal sabot against the rails, preventing it from leaving the gun when fired, and finally the one on the bolt, it interacts with the bullet, creating a small vacuum around the bullet while it is in the chamber and also while in flight to its target, this removes the massive force against it from wind resistance, meaning less bullet drop even at the high speeds it will travel at, it also has the added bonus of making the bullet silent, there is no crack from the bullet breaking the sound barrier, hence the name of the gun."
"Is that all the science out of the way Lev?" Natsu asked as he admired the rifle.
"Yes, there is the safety, it locks the trigger and is right here." She pointed to the grip, a little back from and above the trigger housing. "Both sides for ambidextrous shooting and it uses a straight-pull bolt, just have to unscrew the handle and put it on the other side."
Natsu picked up the rifle and aimed it down the length of the room. "Bullets?"
"Right here." She removed a pouch from her belt and placed it onto the table. "It is based on the .338 Lapua Magnum bullet, without the case of course, the overall size is 8.6x70mm." She took one out and hands it to the agent.
"Drop it in and slide the bolt shut?"
"Just like normal." She replies with a nod. "The bullet is made from a high-density ferric alloy, highly conductive but is still a viable projectile thanks to the density, soft targets like people will just explode like a watermelon, while hard targets will be penetrated with ease, just like Mira last night when you took her to bed."
Natsu smirked at the cheeky woman and gently cuffed her over the back of the head playfully. "Oi~, none of that. Nothing else I need to know?"
The blunette playfully smirked and pointed to the muzzle. "This end makes people vanish into thin air."
Natsu chuckled and placed the rifle on the table, the bipod deployed. "Noted, thanks Levy. I'll give her a good testing."
"Alright, I'll see you three when you get back, happy hunting." The Archivist turned and left the room, leaving the three in silence for a few moments until Erza spoke up.
"We need to finish getting our shit together."
"Noted." Natsu replied, he put the rifle down on the table and started getting into the armour. "What's the plan?"
"Well now that you have that rifle, I want you up on the hill, you will be taking out targets of opportunity for us, hopefully allowing us to reach the command building without being spotted." She picked up an e-pen and put a pink dot up on the hill, then drew a red and a blue line coming from the hill and to the fence of the base. "You are to stay there and provide cover, hit the people in the watchtowers before we arrive, but make sure the bodies won't be seen."
"Gotcha." The agent responded as he moved back to the table and attached the pouch with the railgun slugs onto his belt.
The scarlet-haired agent put pink Xs on the watchtowers. "Once they are down I want you to make sure no one goes up to the towers, last thing we need is to trip an alarm and alert them to the rescue op, they will possibly kill our agent if that happens."
"What is the route you two will be taking? I'll need to know so I can eliminate anyone who is about to detect you."
Gray took the e-pen from the woman and drew a blue line from the fence, around the backs of some buildings and to the rear entrance of the command building. "I think this is the best path, keeps us out of sight, and Natsu can pick off any hostiles without needing to change positions."
"Hmm…" Agent Knight muttered to herself as she examined the route, watching the patrols from the live feed. "I agree, this seems like a suitable plan, Gray grab an SMG, suppressed and subsonic, for infiltration, and something big, assault rifle or shotgun, for the exfiltration. Natsu I need you with either an assault rifle, DMR, or a shotgun, if we need backup in the building I want you to come in loud, draw attention away from us."
Gray grabbed down a Mossberg 590 Tactical shotgun. He loaded it up and filled a pouch with ammo for it before placing the weapon on his back and moving over to the SMG wall, grabbing down an H&K MP5SD3.
Natsu attached the railgun onto his back and grabbed himself an FN MK 17 CQC, he attached an ACOG sight on it with a cantered holo sight for when he is moving through buildings.
"Once we have our man secured, we are to move out to this open area here." Erza said as she put a green circle at the area in front of the Motor Pool. "That's out Evac zone, we call for the Osprey to come in and get us out of dodge, there is a high chance that it will be a hot zone so be ready for a firefight."
"All set here, just waiting on you Knight." Gray said as he made his way back to the table.
"Likewise." The pinkette added as he moved back to his spot on the opposite side of the table.
Erza quickly grabbed a Beowulf assault rifle and a Benelli M4, she planned on using her suppressed Beretta Px4 45ACP pistol during the infiltration. "Everyone understands the briefing?"
Both Natsu and Gray give the scarlet agent a nod and respond with an "Affirmative."
The trio made their way out of the armoury and headed down the hallways, making their way to the hanger bay and turning heads along the way, the only time these three agents were seen geared up to this degree, and working together on an operation, was when something big was happening and word began spreading like wildfire. The members of the Fairy Tail Agency, staff, operatives and agents, bade them good luck and saluted the trio as they passed.
As the trio entered the hanger bay where their ride is waiting for them, their Comms came to life with the familiar voice of Natsu's handler.
"Agents, Demon here, I'll be your handler tonight. I have your feeds up on my screens and will provide tech support."
"Good to hear, M." Agent Salamander replied as the Agents boarded the helicopter through the rear hatch.
A voice spoke through the Osprey's intercom. "Agents, I'm Keira Metz, the pilot of Echo Four. The Director briefed me on the plan so I have had your HALO gear stocked in the boxes near the front of the cabin back there, standard routine."
"Get the gear on and hooked up to O2 ASAP." Agent Knight ordered as she took out her gear and started putting it on, followed by the other two agents, in moments the Tilt-rotor helicopter was in the air and the agents were standing around in the back. "When we touch down I want both of you to requip the HALO equipment away instead of removing it manually, we don't have the time or luxury to come back for it otherwise."
"Gotcha." Salamander responded as Frosty gave a silent nod.
One Hour Later, Skies Above Fiore
"We're approaching the drop zone." Came Keira's voice over the intercom. "You are cleared to jump on the green light."
Agent Knight moved to stand in front of the rear hatch, her back to it as it lowers. "This is it you two, we know the plan, all that is left is to get our man out of there."
"We expect him to be in bad shape and have a medical team ready for your return." M informed the team. "I'm sending the live feed from the drone to your contacts, top right of your HUDs should have a map with the locations of known hostiles, on top of this all hostiles will be outlined in red, but only for the ones visible to the drone, the rest you'll have to mark manually."
"Ten seconds to drop." Came the pilot's voice.
The agents lined up at the open hatch, looking out at the dark sky and howling wind, Frosty spoke up. "See you on the ground."
"3… 2… 1… Light is green and you are clear to jump."
All three agents jumped out of the back of the Osprey in unison, they pivoted forward until they were in a nosedive, racing towards the ground at breakneck speeds.
"LZ ten degrees north, I have visual on the strobe." Agent Salamander called out, he adjusted his angle and led the way to the clearing.
"Wind is strong tonight, careful of the gusts, they'll throw you off course." Knight responded, her voice calm and her tone level, her mind in absolute focus.
True to her words, a strong gust of wind hit them, knocking them off course as it buffeted against them, Sal grumbled to himself before addressing the team. "Ya had to say it. Change direction, 15 degrees south-by-south-west, we are approaching chute height."
The three agents could see the I.R. strobe that marked the LZ, it blinked away on their night vision given by their contacts, after a few moments it was time to pull their parachutes.
In seconds and in near-perfect unison, three pitch-black parachutes erupted from their bags, snapping the agents upright and slowing them down considerably, letting them land safely in the clearing.
The trio collected up the chutes and put them back into their packs, they then all requipped them away and knelt down in a triangle, facing each other. Agent Salamander shut off the I.R. beacon and set the small self-destruction warhead to detonate in an hour. "Ok, the hill is to our north, the base is half a click to the northeast from the firing position on the hill, you two ready for a hike?"
"Born ready, let's get a move on." Frosty said as he started trudging up the hill.
"He was on a date when he got the call…" Knight said as she and Salamander watched their fellow agent. "Wasn't happy but when he heard what had happened, let's just say he was sufficiently motivated."
"We should hurry, the longer we take the time to talk, the worse Ignatius' condition could get." Salamander said to the scarlet-haired agent and jogged up the hill.
After a handful of minutes, the trio had reached the top of the hill, they now had a clear view of what they are up against.
"Looks like a small army of them, should I take out the stragglers?" Salamander asked as he glanced around for a nice vantage point.
"Yes, but make sure they aren't found as per usual. Frosty and I will make our way down to the fence, I'd suggest setting up on that rocky outcrop there." Knight said as she pointed to where she wants him.
"On my way. I'll keep an eye out." He replied as he quickly walked to the outcrop. Once he reached a suitable section, he took the railgun off of his back and got into a prone position with it.
"Let's go Knight, we have a job to do." The raven-haired agent said as he motioned her to follow as he started to walk down the hill, after about ten or so minutes the duo reaches the fence line and lie down in a ditch just before it so they don't get seen.
"Knight to Salamander, we are in position, you are cleared to fire." The redhead watched as the red outlines of the hostiles in the watchtowers fall to the floor and fade away, their sniper silently taking them out.
"You two are clear, move on, I'll warn you of any trouble if I can't take it out." Agent Salamander informed the duo as he shifted his aim, slowly sweeping it around the base so as to make sure the bodies aren't found.
Agent Knight gestured to her fellow agent, silently telling him to follow her as she eased her suppressed Px4 from the holster and took point. The two agents moved up to the fence and Frosty slipped a hand into a pouch on his belt, pulling out a pair of wire cutters. He began to cut an inverted T into the wire as quietly as he can, the quiet clicks of the wire being cut being amplified by the dense night air.
"We're through." He announced as he opened the gap in the wire, letting the scarlet agent in first before following her closely, he closed the gap behind him.
"Any sign of an MSF down there?" Agent Salamander asked as he moved the scope so his teammates were in view.
"I don't feel any different, so either it isn't active, or there isn't one to begin with." Knight replied to the pinkette.
Knight and Frost slipped behind the nearby building and slowly made their way along it, keeping their heads down below the windowsills just in case someone was looking out of one. Frosty put a hand on Knight's shoulder to stop her from going around the next corner as he saw a blip on his map coming their way.
The guard was whistling a tune as he patrolled, he was feeling lucky after winning a dozen rounds of poker with the other guards, he cleaned them out and scored some new trinkets, like a gold watch, some even bet some of their duties, so after the night is over he will have free time. He turned the corner and came face to face with a redheaded woman. "Huh, you're not meant to be here… oh fuck… ALA…!" The last thing that went through his mind was the woman getting further and further away as his vision faded to black rapidly.
"Tango down." Said Salamander, the shot that he had fired had hit the man in the centre of the chest, due to the impact of the round hitting him the guard's chest exploded in a shower of blood and gore, leaving nothing left but the lower abdomen and legs as they fell to the ground, his arms were knocked off to the side and his head flew over the fence.
"Aim for the head next time, less mess that way." Knight replied, wiping some of the blood off of her face.
"It was last second, as soon as I heard him I snapped across and took the shot, any longer and he would have alerted the compound."
"Thanks, just saved us the hassle. Proceeding with the mission." She stepped around the corner with the raven-haired male behind her. The two agents passed behind buildings and vehicles, making sure to keep out of cover as little as possible so they won't get seen.
0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0
Salamander's rifle slowly moved about, his sights set on anyone unfortunate enough to wander away from the eyes of others, the dragon spotted some prey move behind a building. He had unzipped his pants and started to take a leak into a bush.
The Agent's breaths were slow and steady, his sharp eyes on his target, with a gentle pull of the trigger, the man's head exploded, blood spurted from the dead man's neck as he fell back, coving himself in piss as his blood showers the wall of the building.
Moving slightly, the agent shifted his aim to another target, she was making her way up one of the watchtowers, a threat to the mission if she spots the body at the top, the agent quickly adjusted the small dial on the rifle, compensating for over penetration as he took aim, the woman entered the top of the tower just as her head vanished from her shoulders and she fell down out of sight.
"Salamander, we have two guards by the door to the command building, can you do anything about them?" Frosty asked as he and Knight were crouched behind a vehicle by the rear entrance.
"M, do you have any ideas, I can't see anything on this side that wouldn't set the alarms off." The cherry haired agent asked his handler as he scanned his eyes over the base.
Agent Demon looked over her screens, searching for a good distraction, she zoomed in the drone feed and found an external generator. "This must be the base's power supply…" She murmured and she highlighted it for the Agents. "Sal, move to the right a few hundred metres, you should get a view of the base generator, hit it with your railgun and it should kill all power in the base, that should give Knight and Frosty the chance to slip into the building."
"Copy that M, moving out." The agent replied as he got up from his position, he silently sprinted through the trees and knee-high grass until he reached the desired vantage point.
0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0
Frosty leaned towards Knight's ear and spoke softly, making sure they weren't overheard. "Where do you think he would be? Basement or upper levels?"
"We won't know for sure until we get in there and start searching." Knight replied to the agent with a glance over her shoulder.
"We could nab someone and interrogate them, find out where he is that way."
"Good idea."
"In position, it's time to say goodnight in 3… 2… 1…" The lights went out, bathing the entire base in darkness.
The guards by the door looked up at the light above them. "The fuck just happened?"
"I don't know." The second guard responded as she flicked the switch off and on again. "Generator probably fucked itself again, probably should either head inside or something, can't see shit now."
"Wanna game of billiards?"
"Hmm, sure, anything is better than this fucking shit."
The two guards headed inside, leaving their post and practically leaving the door wide open for the hidden agents to pass through.
"We're moving in, Salamander, it may pay for you to make your way into the compound and meet up with us in the building. We could use the help to find Ignatius." Said Knight as she and Frosty stalked over to the door and made their way through the rear entrance.
She swept the hallway with her pistol as she entered and moved to the left while staying low to let the raven-haired agent in behind her. He flicked his SMG up and stood tall as he checked the right side of the hallway.
"On me." Knight ordered as she rose up and made her way down the left of the hall, her eyes scanned the area in front of her for any hostiles as he held her Px4 ready to eliminate them.
0=0=0=0=0=0=0=0
Agent Salamander reached the fence and slipped through the hole that the other two agents had made. Drawing his Glock 20 and pulling out an all back combat knife from its sheath on his left thigh as he made his way along the same path his fellow agents took. As he neared the body of the guard he shot in the chest earlier, he heard a voice calling out behind him.
"Hey Mark, where did you go?" The guard called out, she was looking for the man named Mark who Salamander could only guess was the body at his feet. He quickly spun on his heels to face her.
The guard saw the cherry-haired agent and brought up her shotgun. "Who are yo…" There was a flash of black steel glinting in the torch attached to her shotgun, the knife was thrown by Salamander and became embedded into the woman's skull, landing between the eyes. The point was sticking out of the base of her skull at the back of her head, she had died instantly as she fell to the ground silently.
"Knight, Frosty, I think they are onto us, they are starting to search for their missing patrols. I just took one down by the building near the entrance point in the fence." He informed his fellow agents as he made his way to the new body, yanking out the knife and knelt by the body as he cleaned the blade on the clothing.
"We have to move up the timetable it seems, get here ASAP, when you get to the rear exit, turn left in the hall and head down about forty metres, we are in an office belonging to an 'Ai Sochi'." Knight replied.
The man sighed quietly, he turned away from the new body and broke out into a practically silent run. It didn't take him long to reach the command building, he rolled, vaulted and dived in and over cover, expertly navigating obstacles as he only just manages to avoid detection.
Unfortunately, once he reached the command centre and entered it, his luck ran dry, between him and his teammates were a pair of guards. "Ah fuck…"
"What the fuck! Open Fire!" One of the two guards shouted as they both raised their M416 assault rifles.
Salamander's eyesight sharpened as his enhanced body primed itself for a large burst of speed and thanks to his Reflex ability the time started to slow down as his mind went into overdrive, processing everything at an insane rate.
The guards opened fire with their full-auto rifles, aiming at where the man is… only he wasn't there anymore, the man became a black and pink blur and in a split second he had made up half the distance between them.
"OH FUCK IT'S AN AGENT!" One of the guards shouted in fear as he dropped his rifle and tried to turn and run away, only be stopped mid-turn by a blade sliding right through his neck, separating his head from his shoulders.
The other guard was slammed against the wall with the same knife pressed to their throat. "Wha… What do you want?!"
Sal's body quickly fell back into its normal operations as he stared the guard in the eyes, making them sweat nervously, the body of their fellow guard hitting the floor behind the agent. "You have a good friend of mine somewhere on this base and I want to know where he is."
A door opened nearby and outstepped a raven-haired man, it was his fellow agent, Frosty. "Gods Damn It Salamander. You probably just alerted the base."
The guard panicked as two more Agents made themselves known to him, he watched a redheaded woman come out after the man, but what made him panic most was the moniker Salamander.
"While I agree with Frost, we need to get Ignatius' location. So Sal, get us that info, we will stand guard." Said Knight, taking command of the situation as she took the Beowulf off of her back.
"How about you make it easy on us, tell us where our friend is being kept and you won't end up like your pal behind me." The pinkette ordered harshly, he pointed at the decapitated body with his combat knife.
The guard swallowed thickly, his eyes on the pooling blood then they move to the knife and finally on the dead-serious eyes of the agent. "B…b…basement l…level 2."
"That wasn't so hard now was it?" The man let the guard down who dropped to his knees then onto his side on the floor. "Time to go."
Agent Frost squatted down beside the man. "Now ordinarily we'd tranq you, but since we are kitted out for an assault, we'll have to leave you in good faith, I'd advise you to run for your life, get off base, or get out of our sight and hide somewhere, because if we catch you, and if we find out that you have warned the others… Well, standard orders are no loose ends…"
The man passed out, fainting from the amount of fear and panic that was burning through his body, leaving him out cold on the floor. Knight walked over to the icy agent. "I think you two overdid it, but at least it solves the problem of what to do with him."
The three agents started moving to the stairway to the basement, now united again. Salamander turned to the raven-haired man with an inquisitive look. "No loose ends?"
"Had to say something, what's better than a threat to make sure he doesn't tell the others."
"You just wanted to sound cool." Said the pinkette with a smirk.
"Bitch I am cool." Frosty replied.
"Ice cold." Knight chimed in with a tiny smirk of her stony business-like face and mirth lighting up her eyes.
"Can the chatter you three, we still have a job to do." Agent Demon's voice spoke in their ears, followed by a badly contained giggle breaking its way through her serious tone. "Don't give them the cold shoulder just yet, Frosty."
The agent grumbled softly to himself as they made their way down the stairs to the second level of the basement.
It was quiet… too quiet… The three agents broke out into a run with Salamander leading the way, his nose picking up the scent of Ignatius. "I don't like this, something smells off about this whole situation."
"What do you mean?" Knight asked the man, she had her shotgun out for close quarters as they ran down hallways.
"It reeks of Phantoms." Sal said as he came to a stop in front of a door, he lowered his voice and pointed to it. "Shotguns out, standard breach and clear."
Knight and Frosty held their shotguns at the ready, standing close to the wall beside the door, in position opposite the other.
The pinkette counted down from five on his hand, when his hand closed into a fist he reached down and drew both his Glock 20 and 29. The man brought his boot up and gave the door a heavy kick, busting it open.
Knight stepped into the room, coming from the left and sweeping from middle to the right, Agent Frost followed her in, taking middle to left with the pink-haired man bringing up the rear.
"M, this is Sal, we have eyes on Agent Ignatius, condition unknown."
"Clear the room, Sal, check the agent. Agent Frost, I want you to watch the door. Knight, you need to check the room for any surprises." Agent Demon responded.
They all went about their tasks, Salamander moved to the agent who was tied to a chair, arms to the armrests and legs to the front legs of the chair. He holstered his pistols and started checking his vital signs. "Pulse is weak but it is there. He is breathing too, shallow and laboured though."
He gently lifted Ignatius' eyelids and flashed a light into them. "Unresponsive, drugged most likely. If they wanted information then they wouldn't have used force to knock him out. That would have damaged the brain."
He checked the man's arms, putting as little pressure on them as possible. "Both bones in the left forearm are broken, probably a pipe or something similar, all of his fingernails have been ripped off. There are also shallow cuts along his arm, they look scarred already, probably done with a hot knife – cauterised. The right shoulder is dislocated." He spared a quick glance at the Agent's palms and fingers but saw no further damage beyond signs of a fight.
Salamander opened up Ignatius shirt, cutting it down the middle with his knife. "Heavy bruising of the ribs. Heavy discolouration in certain spots, broken and cracked ribs, there are fist-sized marks. More cauterised lacerations on his chest."
The pinkette moved behind the man, seeing that the back had been removed from the chair. "Shirt is shredded, torn as if by some kind of whip? Had to have sharp metal on the edges to cause this kind of damage. I see shallow cuts on his back, dried blood around them, shallow again, seems to be like they wanted to implement as much pain as possible…"
He gently pressed down on the man's thighs, he felt nothing out of place or move at all but he did see that Ignatius flinched slightly as if he was in pain. "No visible damage on the thighs, I don't feel a broken femur at all, most likely heavy bruising, there is a possible dislocation at the hip. They wouldn't have wanted to break the femur, to high of a chance to induce catastrophic internal bleeding."
He worked his way down the legs. "Knees are fine. Left tibia is broken, two places, make that three places. The fibula is fine on the left side, right tibia is undamaged, most likely bruised though, right fibula is broke, two places but a fair distance between breaks, must have been from individual strikes."
"Feet are swollen, shoes were removed at some point, heavy discolouration on the top of the right foot, I'd say it is broken. Left seems to be in better condition, definitely blunt force trauma, hammer maybe? There's more scarring on the undersides of the feet."
The man looked up at his fellow agents. "This wasn't just an integration, this was straight-up torture. He might make it back to HQ, I'm not sure… His body seems ready to check out at any moment. We're going to have to be careful with him."
Knight came over and requipped a stretcher next to Salamander. "Put him on that, we have to get him onto Echo Four as soon as possible and get the fuck out of here." She left him to sort out the heavily injured agent as she walked a little further away. "Agent Knight to Command, does that drone above us have any missiles?"
…
"Agent Knight to Command! Agent Demon can you hear me?"
"Yes, I hear you Knight, that drone is armed with missiles and guided bombs, what would you like done with it?"
"Rain Hell."
…
"Agent… Erza…"
"DO IT! We don't have time for a firefight Mira!"
"Affirmative… Providing fire support."
"Stretcher is set! We gotta move! NOW!" Salamander said as he took point, drawing his MK 17 CQC and exiting the room, Frosty followed him out with Knight behind them, she was using her psionic abilities to levitate the stretcher, allowing them all to be able to fight at full strength.
The three agents sprinted down the hall with their guns at the ready, no longer worrying about stealth as they all had loud weapons and were ready to open fire at the first sight of trouble.
BOOM
The building shook as one of the guided bombs landed on the motor pool, destroying the vehicles inside and setting off the fuel stores, causing successive blasts and setting off the base's alarms.
"Keep moving!" Salamander shouted as they ran up the stairs, not missing a single step.
BOOM
Another explosion rocked the building, this was accompanied by smaller blasts from missile strikes hitting precisely targeted groups of hostiles.
"Echo Four to ground team, we are deploying our gun turret and are coming in to assist."
"Appreciate the help, Echo Four." Frosty replied as the agents reached the ground floor, they turned to head to the rear entrance, hoping that it would be undefended.
Bombs and missiles continued to fall on the base quaking the ground and causing havoc and death as they blew apart buildings, vehicles and people.
A group of guards were running through the building, they were ordered to check on the prisoner, they turned the corner and spotted the agents, one of them shouts to direct the group. "There! Intruders! OPEN FIRE!"
The group all fired upon them, their aim was shaky from the explosions, the fear and adrenaline running through their veins, a few got some lucky hits on the agents but unfortunately for them, the agents' armour soaked up the damage, leaving them unscathed.
Salamander snapped up his rifle's holo-sight, quickly founding his targets and letting loose seven quick but precise shots, each bullet finding a home in the skulls of the seven guards who had open fired on them. "How's Ignatius?!"
"He wasn't hit!" The scarlet-haired agent responded, keeping the stretcher off the ground and mobile with her enhanced abilities.
Sal nodded his head as he burst out the back door, sweeping to the left as Frost checked the right. "Let's keep moving!"
"Coming in hot!" Echo Four announced as they flew by, they rotated the engine pods and spun around, a roar ripped through the dense night air as bullets flew out of the belly-mounted minigun.
Tracers lit up the night sky, along with explosions from the bombs and missiles dropped by the drone and the fires caused by them.
Salamander hugged the corner of the command building, his rifle raised as he took pot-shots at any heads that came into view of his scope. "Knight, cover our rear with that Beowulf, make sure no one comes out of that doorway!"
"Roger!" She switched weapons and turned, holding her .50 cal assault rifle as she took aim back down the building.
"We're moving to where we made that hole in the fence, Frost, you go first followed by Knight and the stretcher, I'll cover you then bring up the rear. On three got it!?" Salamander ordered as he reloaded his rifle, hearing confirmation from his teammates he levels his rifle with the enemies again. "Three… Two… One… GO!"
Both Agents made a break for the next building, the raven-haired man spotted a guard coming out of cover in front of them and he gave them a blast of his shotgun, taking off the top of their head. Frost swung his muzzle around and checked the cover, he puts two more blasts of buckshot into the two remaining hostiles as Knight continues ahead.
The pinkette turned and started running for the next set of cover as Frost beckons to him from the next building, the three agents met up and made their way around the building. The got into position behind the Osprey and out of the line of fire.
"Agent Frost to Echo Four, we are right behind you. Once it is safe, land and we'll board!"
"Zone is too hot to land and we need our belly turret. There is a transport truck to our right, we'll open the rear hatch and move in front of it, try and use it to get on board." The helicopter drifted to the right while the Minigun kept the hostiles pinned down, once in position they opened the rear hatch so the agents could board the Osprey.
"Let's move!" Sal ordered as he put his rifle on his back and climbed onto the back of the transport truck. "We need to get out of here ASAP, especially if they have an RPG somewhere!"
The other two agents mounted the truck and Knight sent the stretcher up into the back of the waiting helicopter. "Salamander, get up there and guide him to a bench!"
The pinkette climbed up onto the cab of the truck and leapt into the cabin of Echo Four, he took a hold of the stretcher and carefully moved it to one of the side benches and lowered it down onto them. "Ok, you are good to release him."
The man hurried back to the rear hatch and helped his fellow agents on board, catching their hand just in case they slip and fall. Knight ran up to the cockpit the second her feet landed in the helicopter. "We're all in, get us out of here."
"Don't need to tell us twice." Keira said as she took them up and away from the base.
Agent Salamander stood by the rear hatch, watching the tracers chase after them as the door slowly closed. "How does he look, Frost?"
The raven-haired man looked over at his friend, surprised at the use of his actual codename that he had changed it to as a compromise, instead of the nickname, he looked back down at Ignatius. "FUBAR, seriously, I am having serious doubts that he will make it home."
Alarms blared from the instruments, warning the pilots of danger, Keira instantly turned to the co-pilot. "Fucking Heat Seekers! Kai hit those flares!"
"MISSILE. MISSILE. MISSILE. EVADE. EVADE." The aircraft's alarm blared as she put the tilt-rotor helicopter into a hard bank and pulled back on the flight controls, performing evasive manoeuvres.
"Got it!" The co-pilot replied as he reached forward and hit a button to deploy the countermeasures, but the alarm didn't turn off, a quick look out the window and the pilots saw the missile turn and continue to chase them down. "Must be radar-guided, firing chaff." Kai said as he hit another button.
The missile lost its lock and flew past them, harmlessly exploding a few dozen metres in front of the Osprey.
"I think we are in the green now. Returning to HQ." Keira announced to the occupants of the helicopter as she input waypoints leading them back to Magnolia's airspace into the autopilot. "You Agents can sit down and relax, we'll be there in no time."
Well, that is another chapter done and dusted, I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to follow and/or favourite and review if you like, I appreciate everyone's feedback. That is all for today, I hope you liked the chapter and I'll see you all next time.