Author's note: I really tried to get this out on time, but unfortunately I've been really busy lately and I didn't have as much time to write. At least it's out now and I hope you guys like it. Enjoy.
What Will It Take?
Chapter 8
"Tango down."
"Good, keep moving."
"Clear, left."
"Clear, right."
"Check your corners."
The five-man team, consisting of Thatcher, Smoke, Sledge, Ela, and Pulse, moved swiftly through the building.
"Hallway, clear."
"Keep moving."
An enemy peeked around the corner, holding an assault rifle.
"Contact, left side!"
"Open fire!"
James emptied his SMG-11 into the enemy who dropped to the ground. "Another down."
"I think there's more in this room." Jack commented. He pulled out his sensor and held it up to the wall. "Yeah, I'm reading three."
"Seamus, you're up." Mike ordered.
"With pleasure." The Scotsman raised his hammer and swung with all his might at the plywood door, shattering it instantly.
"Beauties are in place." James shouted as he threw one of his canisters in the opening. A moment later, a hissing could be heard, followed by a lot of coughing, followed by silence. "That's three more down."
"Room clear, moving on." Mike advised.
The team approached another doorway and prepared to breach. James put his SMG away and pulled out his M590. "I like to keep this for close encounters."
Mike kicked in the door, the rest of the team stormed the room.
"Clear on the left." Seamus reported.
"Clear, right." Said Jack.
"CHECK THOSE CORNERS!" Mike yelled, for no apparent reason.
They moved to the next room.
"Contact! Seven tangos." James yelled
"Open fire!"
All five of them took cover and began firing their weapons at the enemy squad.
"Frag out!" Seamus yelled. The following explosion killing two of the seven opponents. The remaining five continued their volley of bullets.
"Damn, Seamus you got anymore frags?!" Mike asked.
"That was my last one lad!"
"James what about you, any more canisters?"
"Fresh out mate."
Mike thought for a moment. "I got an idea! Seamus, with me, the rest of you keep them busy." The two of them left the room.
"Where the hell are they going?!" Jack asked.
"I don't know, but we better do as he says." James answered.
The three remaining operators kept up their fire for another minute but were getting restless. "I think those guys bugged out." Jack barked.
"Just keep firing." James said. "Mike knows what he's doing."
Just then, the door behind the enemy combatants burst open, revealing Seamus and Mike. The two SAS operators unloaded their L85s into the enemy team. By the time their magazines were empty, only one combatant remained. Mike quickly drew his signature blade from his wrist and shoved it into the man's throat.
"Room clear." Seamus said.
"Sorry 'bout the delay, we ran into some roadblocks." Mike explained. "Ammo check."
"We're all running low man." Jack reported.
"There's still half this place we have to clear through." James said.
"We're wasting time, just make your shots count, let's move!"
"This is gonna bite us in the ass."
The team continued to the next room, once again Jack brought out his sensor.
"Only one, this will be easy."
"Seamus, James, you guys take 'em, the rest of us will cover you." Mike ordered as he set a charge on the door. "Get ready to breach." The two SAS operators took positions on each side of the door, while the other three guarded both sides of the hallway.
"GO!" There was an explosion and the two men rushed in.
It was difficult to see through the smoke and debris, but they could make out a lone figure standing in the room. Seamus fired a burst into the enemy soldier, while James fired his shotgun twice.
"Got em." Seamus cheered.
Instead of falling to the ground as expected, the figure merely turned around to face the men. Suddenly, blue and red lights began to flash, along with the sound of beeping. The assailant then began to charge at the operators.
"BOMBER!" was all James could yell before the explosion went off.
Outside the room, the remaining three operators felt the building shake from the deafening blow.
"What the fuck?!" Jack yelled. All of them then rushed in to check on their teammates.
"Bloody hell, my legs messed up." James yelled in pain. Ela and stopped to help him.
Mike walked over to check on Seamus, who wasn't moving, it didn't take long to make an assessment. "Sledge is gone."
"Look man, we can't keep going like this." Jack tried to reason. "Let's fall back a little bit and try to take a defensive position. Let them come to us instead."
Mike thought about the idea for a few seconds. "Alright, we'll take up a fighting spot a few rooms back. You pick up James, Ela and I will cover you."
Jack grabbed James and began slowly dragging him back in the direction from where they came. It slowed them down, but they had to take care of their wounded friend. After about a minute, they realized something was off.
"It's too quiet, where did they all go." Mike asked.
"Probably regrouping, getting ready to launch a counter attack." Jack guessed.
"Then we need to be ready, lets take hold in that room there." Mike pointed to one of the rooms at the end of the corridor. "Let's move." He began helping Jack drag James.
They managed to reach the room. "Ela, check it again, make sure there's no surprises." Mike ordered.
Ela stepped inside and looked around. There were a few chairs and a desk in the room, but no sign of anyone. "Clear."
"Wait, you guys hear that."
Everyone quieted down and stopped moving so they could listen. Foot steps were echoing through the building. The sounds were coming from the floor above them.
"I don't think they know we're here, keep moving." Mike said.
They began to move James again, when suddenly a volley of bullets started raining from the ceiling.
"Fuck, get inside now!" Mike shouted as he tried to return fire through the floor above them.
The team tried to move faster, as they about to move through the doorway, another volley of bullets came down. Without warning, one bullet struck Mike in the head, the man instantly dropped to the ground dead.
"Fuck!" James yelled, having seen his friend go down.
"We have to get in there!" Jack yelled as he dragged James through the doorway.
Just as they made it inside, an enemy popped out from under the desk bearing a shotgun. Ela hadn't done a thorough enough job checking and missed him. Before she could react, he put one bullet into her chest, her body armor absorbed some of the blast, but she still fell to the ground injured.
"What the fuck?!" Jack tried to raise his weapon to shoot the assailant, but it was to late. Another shot was fired, and the buckshot ripped through both men, killing them.
The gunman hopped over the desk and looked down at the still injured Ela. He pointed the gun at her and fired one final round into her chest, bringing the battle to an end. After all the chaos, everything had finally calmed down to an eerie quiet. Rainbow had failed.
"Alright, everyone get up." Six's voice came over an intercom as all the lights turned on.
"Well, that could have gone better." James said as he began wiping the red paint off himself.
"Yeah, if you didn't weigh so much, maybe I could have moved faster." Jack joked.
"Everyone clean yourselves up and make your way back to the briefing area." Six's voice came over the intercom once more.
"Great, now we get to hear about how much we sucked." Jack commented.
"We still had the best run so far, at least we have that." Mike reassured.
After getting cleaned up, the five operators made their way back to the briefing room where Six, Isaac and the other operators were waiting. As soon as they showed up, the comments started going.
"Hey, good job with that bomber." Sebastien commented.
"Hey Mike, you should try not getting shot in the head." Eliza joked.
"Thanks for the advice." Mike replied sarcastically.
"What? I manage to do it just fine."
"Eliza, shut up." Monika ordered.
"Alright, everyone settle down." Six ordered. Everyone quieted down and took their seats. "Let's begin the analysis, Captain Isaac."
"Yes ma'am." The man stepped forward, at the same time the main screen lit up, showing a few different statistics from the fight. "Theme Park Simulation Run number eighteen results are, as you all just witnessed, Mission failed status, with fifty-six confirmed kills out of one hundred and twenty total enemy targets. Although this has been the best run through so far, we have yet to even reach fifty percent on clearing this place. Now, let's review each operators performance."
Several video feeds of the practice run appeared on the screen. "Let's start with Thatcher, your leadership definitely stood out this run, however there were still some flaws. Although its good to be sparing with your gadgets during a mission, you seemed to be almost too sparing. You only used one by the time you went down and using one in the room with the bomber would have disabled the explosives, which would have prevented you from ending up in the situation of one man down and another injured. You also didn't use any of your drones and took off your laser sight prior to the mission starting."
"Fucking laser sights." Was all the man said in response.
The video feed switched from Mike to Seamus. "Sledge, one big problem we saw is that, when breaching rooms, you would break down the door when clearly there was an unreinforced wall available. Enemies will expect a breach to come from a doorway, but if a breach is from one of the walls, or even a window, it will add a small element of surprise and take a moment for them to adjust. This adds a big momentary advantage for you and the team."
James appeared next on the screen. "Smoke, during the run, every instance where you used your canisters, you did so without identifying your targets. I understand that this place is most likely filled with nothing but enemies, but you never know when they might be using an innocent civilian as a human shield."
Next was Jack's turn for scrutiny. "Pulse, you earned top marks on this run, for most kills and assisting an injured team mate. With that being said, one negative feedback we have is that you only used your heartbeat sensor on about sixty percent of the rooms you cleared. You have a very useful tool at your disposal, utilize it as much as possible."
Finally, it was Ela's turn. "Ela, unfortunately you earned last place, with the least amount of kills and assists. You failed to fully sweep the final room which ultimately lead to the last three of you 'dying'. And one last thing." He looked at her with a serious stare. "For God's sake communicate with your team."
Ela didn't know what to make of his final comment. Which team had he meant?
"So, since this is the eighteenth failure, anyone have any ideas on how to improve?" Six asked. Since the course was built, Rainbow had been running three practice runs per day, and this was day six of trying. They had tried various strategies with compositions, entry points and such, each time only brought failure and the team was getting frustrated.
For a moment there was silence, then someone spoke up. "Ma'am, I have idea."
"IQ, let's hear it."
"This whole time we've been using teams of five, its pretty much our signature." The blonde started to explain. "Now might be the time to change that."
Six seemed intrigued. "Elaborate."
"Well, we've made it a point that we can take on a large number of enemies with a small team. But, even with our record, we've never taken on an enemy force consisting of more than forty combatants. Now, we're facing a force estimated to be three times that size, so we should consider looking into making the team larger as well. It might be harder to coordinate, but if we can pull it off, it could make this mission much easier."
Small chatter began amongst the operators, many of them seeming to agree with Monika. Six took in every bit of information she was given. "Thank you, I'll consider our options tonight and give you an answer tomorrow. With that, I hope we've all learned something from the practice runs today. You're all dismissed, get some rest tonight, practice runs will continue tomorrow."
Everyone gathered their belongings and began to exit the room, Ela being the first to leave. Meghan, who had been watching the whole time, recognized the look on Ela's face as she left, it was the same look she had when she had left her at the coffee shop. Ela was scared and in pain, at least emotionally, and she needed help. Ever since Jack had began flirting with the Polish girl, Meghan had kept her distance. She enjoyed Ela's company, but part of taking care of the girl was making sure she integrated with the rest of the team, and although she didn't approve of Jack, if it helped Ela do so, she would let things be. With that being said, she was starting to miss spending time with her friend, maybe this was an opportunity that she could have with her.
Meghan picked up her things and followed the girl. She eventually saw her standing next to the entrance of the building, still looking distraught. She really wanted to be there for Ela and see what was bothering her this time. Meghan began to approach the her, however, a voice called out to the Polish girl.
"Hey Ela." It was Jack, who seemed to beat Meghan to her. "Good work out there today, best run out of everyone."
"Thanks, good job to you as well, top marks." Ela replied. Neither of them noticed that Meghan was behind them, watching.
"I couldn't have done it without you and the rest of the guys."
"I guess we do make a good team."
"We do." He didn't seem to notice Ela's current state of distress, or maybe Meghan was the only one who knew Ela well enough to pick up on it. "Anyways, I wanted to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Would you like to go out and have dinner with me tonight, my treat?"
Ela didn't know what to say, since she was young multiple men had asked her out on dates, and she had rejected all of them. But now things were different, she no longer wanted to be alone, and Jack had proven to be a good friend, but a date? Ela was changing a lot of things about her life, maybe this was another change she needed as well. "Sure, I'd love to."
Meghan felt like she had been punched in the stomach, all she could do was watch as the two of them walked back to the barracks together. She thought about going after them, but Tiana's words rang in her head, 'She's an adult, I'm sure she can make that decision for herself.' With that, she simply turned away and began walking back to the briefing room, and almost crashed right into her friend Jordan.
The former Marine stood there with his arms crossed. "Are you just going to let him take your girl like that?" He asked.
Meghan couldn't hide her surprise from almost colliding with the man. "What?!"
"Ela, with Jack? Come on, everyone knows she was yours from the beginning."
"She isn't mine, I'm not trying to make her mine, she's free to date whoever she wants."
"You saw the look on her face, she didn't even want to say yes."
"Well, she did."
"Seriously, you think she wants to date the bald kid from Codename Kids Next Door?"
"Who's dating Jack?" Tina asked as she came out of the briefing room.
"Oh great." Meghan thought to herself.
"Jack's taking Ela out on a date." Jordan clarified.
"Wait, I thought you were with her." Tina questioned Meghan.
"NO! Why does everyone think that?!"
"Well, Monika saw you hiding in her room last week, so we all just assumed…"
"Oh god." Meghan blushed, she should have realized that Monika was more than smart enough to pick up on her hiding behind Ela's bed. "Look, whatever you guys think that was, you're wrong. We're not together, nor are we trying to be."
"So, you're not bothered that Jack is taking her out tonight?" Tina asked.
Meghan opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. She didn't know what to say, so she simply tuned and walked away.
After making her way back to the barracks, Meghan went directly to her room. The conversation with Jordan and Tina had really bothered her. It seemed everyone had the idea that there was something going on between her and her GROM friend. Yes, it was true that they had spent a lot of time together, and she missed her, but there was nothing romantic going on between them. Almost every day since Ela had arrived, she had to clarify to someone that the two of them were just friends, and it was starting to get on her nerves.
Meghan sighed in frustration, she needed to get away from this. They were on the verge of taking down the most powerful and deadly terror organization in the world, she shouldn't have to be worrying about who's dating who, like some high school drama, she was supposed to be a badass for Pete's sake. Suddenly, her phone dinged, she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen, it was a message from Lena.
"You still working?"
Meghan typed out a response. "Just finished for the day. What about you?"
After a few seconds another message popped up. "Just finished as well. Coming to the shop?"
"Definitely. Taking a shower first, be there in a few."
"Great. Amelie's here too btw. I told her what you said, she thinks you're still mad. She's trying really hard to act like she's not scared XD"
Meghan smiled as she typed out another response. "We're gonna take advantage of this, tell her I'm on my way and can't wait to see her."
"Brilliant, see you soon ;)"
Meghan immediately felt better, she was looking for a distraction and hanging out with Lena and her girlfriend would definitely provide one. She stripped out of her tactical gear and stepped into her shower, looking forward to spending what little spare time she had with her friend.
Author's note: Again, I apologize for the delay. On top of my normal schedule, I'm dealing with something else. I currently live in Japan and I found out I will be moving back to the United States in about two months so I'm getting ready for that (I honestly can't wait). With that, I'm going to try my best to release new chapters on time but unfortunately I can't make any promises. On a lighter note, I've decided that I'm going to try to put an easter egg in each chapter, every FPS gamer probably caught this one. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and feel free to leave a review. Until next time.