Author's note: The wait is finally over! Here it is, Operation Blood Orchid, all 12,000 words of it. Really big shout out to RStyle, who not only beta-read, but co-wrote this chapter and helped me get through my writers block. Seriously, without you, not only would this chapter have taken longer, but it would not have been as good or as long as it is. You're awesome! As for you readers, i'm sorry I made you guys wait so long, I hope that this will have been worth it, enjoy!
What Will It Take?
Chapter 17
"Shoreline coming into view."
"Copy Delta three-eight."
The China sky roared with the engines of four Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, callsign: Delta Squadron, flying west from Victoria Harbor. The pilots kept in solid formation to ensure they would arrive at their drop points simultaneously. Their target located on the coast just past the beach, their passengers ready.
"Feet dry in ten seconds."
"Copy."
Suddenly the air came alive with rockets and machinegun fire.
"Taking fire here." One of the pilots calmly stated.
"Roger that, we've got RPG's down there."
All four helicopters managed to fly past the armada without any major damage.
"Shit that was close."
"Got a visual on the target."
All of the aircraft veered to the right as they converged onto the target building.
"Five seconds. Standby for greenlight."
All of them came to a stop and hovered in place above their designated areas. Two ropes were dropped from each chopper.
The omnipresent red light shut off to give way to a bright green one. The jumpmaster gestured with his hands to both doors that were opened moments prior on opposing directions, "Down the rope, GO GO GO!"
Alpha Team
One by one, the operators exited the helicopter and slid down the rope down to the ground below. Once they were all safely on the ground, the ropes were cut and the helicopter flew away before their enemies had a chance to rearrange themselves and attack them again. For a brief moment, they all took in the scenery, after weeks of looking at satellite images and training on a fake course, it was a moment of clarity to finally see the real thing, everything that they had been training for will finally be culminated in this hour.
"Everyone on me, move!" Mike ordered. Everyone followed the team leader, weaving their way through the broken down bumper cars. "Alpha team, take the right door way, stack up for breach."
The five of them gathered in a line right outside the barricaded door. Monika stepped up and placed a breaching charge on the wooden planks. "IQ, hit it."
The German pressed the detonator and resulting explosion instantly obliterated the barricade allowing the team to rush in. Mike was the first inside and immediately noticed two men who appeared to be dazed by the explosion and a third man already on the ground, apparently killed by the breaching charge. He quickly fired his weapon at the first man, killing him, James was right behind him and simultaneously fired a burst into the second man.
"That's three down." James said.
"Loading bay clear, moving to the gargoyle room." Mike reported.
Once again they all stacked on the door to the next room. "Flashbang out." Mike threw in the explosive and waited for it to go off before running in.
This time there were a several White Masks inside the room ready to defend it, those who managed to avoid the flashbang immediately began firing at the attackers. Mike and James took cover behind two of the statues inside the room and began firing back.
"Watch the room on the right!" James warned.
"We're on it." Monika said as she and Elena stormed into the adjacent room. There was a single man inside, ready to flank the team but Elena was to quick as she fired a quick burst into his chest.
The noise had attracted the attention of other White Masks as two more tried to come in from the next room to aid their allies. Unfortunately for them, Liu had been watching the entryway and managed to cut them down before they could do anything.
There were still several terrorists taking cover behind a larger statue near the back of the room, they were shooting at Mike who was pinned behind cover. Monika grabbed one of her grenades and pulled the pin. "Frag grenade out!" She screamed. Seconds later, an explosion went off followed by the noise of shrapnel filling the room, silencing the gun fire and one of the men was even sent flying across the room. Monika walked up to the bodies, confirming that they were dead.
"That's one for the highlight reel." James commented, tapping next to the camera on his vest.
"Moving to the haunted room." Mike directed. "Forget using the door, get a breacher on that wall."
Monika placed another charge on the unreinforced wall leading to the next room, they all got a safe distance away when she blew open a new entryway. Several enemy combatants were poised to ambush anyone who came in through the door but were caught off guard as their flank was exposed. The team made quick work of them as they rushed into the parks haunted dining room. There were two more taking cover behind the counter in the middle of the room, James tossed one of his signature canisters and set it off. All they had to do was wait for the coughing to stop and the gas to clear.
"Room clear, onto the next one." Mike once again taking charge. "Let's move we don't have much time."
"Alpha team, this is Doc, watch your fire to the west." Gustave's voice came over the radio. "Bravo team is moving through rooms adjacent to yours, we don't want anyone to get caught in the crossfire."
"Roger that Bravo team, we'll watch out for you." Mike responded before focusing back at the matter at hand. There were two barricaded doors to choose from, remembering the training course, he knew one lead to the "execution room", the other lead to a hallway. He decided to go with the hallway, Bravo team could have the execution room. "Take down that barricade."
"Wait." Monika interrupted. "I hear something."
Everyone quieted down to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, there was a faint beeping noise coming from the other side. Monika pulled out her electronics detector and swept the doorway. Instantly, the device began to ping several items on the other side, and they were moving. "Bomber."
"Well that makes things a little more interesting." Elena said sarcastically.
"Don't worry luv, I've got this." Mike reassured. "Smoke, would you like to do the honors?"
"Always my pleasure sir." James responded, already knowing the plan. He stepped up with a crowbar and loudly tore down the cheap wood catching the attention of the suicide bomber. "Oi! Would you like to buy some girl scout cookies you fuckin wanker!"
Like an agitated animal, the bomber rushed strait towards James and the rest of the team, detonator in hand. He stormed into the doorway, right in the middle of the five of them, ready to end everyone including himself. Just then a distinct bang went off right as the man was about to click the detonator, nothing happened accept all the lights shut off at once. Mike had set off one of his EMP grenades as the bomber ran in, he stood there with his arms crossed, impressed with his own timing.
The operators could see the sheer panic on the man's eyes through his white mask. James wasn't sure, but he probably even heard a faint whimper from the absolute unit before him.
"Better luck next time mate." James said as he raised his shotgun and pumped the man full of buckshot at point blank range.
"Nicely done." Liu commented.
"Thanks mate." Mike said. "Keep moving." He gestured forward with an open hand.
The five continued down the hallway towards the arcade.
"Lockers clear."
"Stairway clear."
"Left side clear."
"Bathroom clear."
"IQ, Lesion, Smoke, stay here" Mike ordered. "Get a breaching charge on that wall and wait for our signal. Mira, with me."
The two moved through the bathroom.
"Contact, behind the hockey table!" Elena shouted.
Two enemy combatants were taking cover behind an air hockey table along with packages filled with drugs.
"Nitro out." Elena threw one of her nitro cells across the room and immediately pulled out the old cellphone used as a detonator. The two men were blown up before they had a chance to fire at the duo.
"Room clear. Get behind the table." Mike ordered as he peered into the next room. "I think I see it. Flash out!" He threw another flashbang into the adjacent room. "IQ, go!"
On the other side of the room, Monika detonated her breaching charge. The three of them rushed in through the opening as Mike and Elena rushed in from the side door. The attack from two fronts combined with the flash and breaching charge caught the White Masks off guard, there was little they could do as they were cut down by the elite team of operators.
"Drug lab clear." Liu reported.
"Well what do we have here?" Mike questioned sarcastically. Sure enough, in the middle of the room was a large yellow device with blinking lights. Mike pulled out his radio. "HQ this is Alpha Team we've located a bomb."
"Copy that Alpha Team, bomb one located, go ahead and plant your defuser now." Came a response back.
"Alpha Team this is Jager, we have the White Masks on the run, unfortunately they seem to on the run towards your location, over."
"Roger that, thanks for the heads up." Mike responded. "Smoke, Mira, Lesion, set up defenses while I plant this thing." He pulled out his teams defuser and began typing in the activation code.
Meanwhile, the others started setting up, reinforcing the walls and setting up their gadgets in key positions.
"Dufuser planted, sixty seconds till bomb deactivation!"
"Just in time." Elena commented as she peered through one of her windows. A group was making their way towards the drug lab. She stood up and fired through the soft part of the wall, immediately dropping three of them, the last one biting the dust just as the last .45 ACP round available was expelled from her Vector.
Liu heard a shout of pain came from the bathroom, he peered through the doorway to find a man attempting to remove a poison needle from his ankle. Unfortunately for him, the distraction allowed Liu enough time to fire a burst into his chest.
"Thirty seconds!"
Another group attempted to rush the room through the larger doorway. Monika and James both held a solid angle on the entryway. They each all but emptied their weapons into the group, dropping all of them before they could even get close to the defuser.
"Another group incoming, I don't think I can take them all." Elena shouted as she tried to shoot through the wall only to receive a burst of fire in return.
"Let me give it a try." Monika said. By now a considerable sized hole had been broken into the wall. She pulled out her last frag grenade, pulled the pin and tossed it through. From Elena's window, they enjoyed the show as the grenade went off.
"Fifteen seconds!"
"Another large group incoming!" Elena reported.
"I got this, hold your breath." James said calmly. He clicked the switch on his detonator and several of his canisters went off at once, ingulfing the doors and hallways. Coughing and choking filled the area, followed by the sound of weapons and bodies dropping to the ground.
Shots and explosions could be faintly heard coming from other areas of the compound, but the immediate area fell into an eerie silence.
"Three…two…one. Bomb defused." Mike reported. "Good job everyone, area looks clear but hold positions, in case we get any stragglers." He pulled out his radio again to report the success to HQ.
"Nice call with those canisters." Liu commented. "I guess they are just as deadly as ever."
"If not more so." James added.
"Thanks for backing me up there." Elena said to Monika.
"No problem." Monika replied.
"I guess all those training runs paid off, this wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be."
"For us at least, Lets hope that everything is going smoothly for the others as well."
Bravo Team
"Bravo Team on the ground, moving to target building." Gustave reported. They moved alongside Alpha Team through the bumper cars to the main building. There were two doors leading in, both barricaded, Alpha team took the right door while Bravo took the left. "Stack up."
Jack pulled out his heartbeat sensor and took a moment to scan the walls. "Counting two."
"Buck, Blackbeard, get ready." Gustave ordered. "Sledge, hit it."
The Scotsman raised his hammer and swung with all his might, instantly turning the wooden barricade into splinters. The two terrorists inside were ready for a fight but Craig and Sebastien were quick on the draw. With precision, both men simultaneously fired two rounds from their DMRs, killing both targets at once.
"Moving in." Gustave and Jack lead the team inside, their MP5 and UMP better suited for close quarters.
"Clear on the right."
"Clear on the left."
The five of them moved toward the back on the room. Two more White Masks suddenly ran in, seemingly to check to see what was going on. They didn't even have time to react as Jack and Gustave both let out a burst of fire into each of them.
"Room clear, move up." Gustave ordered.
"Check your fire, remember we're looking for hostages as well." Craig reminded.
"Gallery clear." Jack reported.
The five of them moved through the room with various paintings of vampires and other monsters hung up on the walls. There was a commotion to the north as they moved and several bullets came through the walls, luckily going way above their heads, Seamus reacted and was about to fire back when Gustave intervened, pushing his gun down.
"Hold your fire, that sounded like Thachers doing." He pulled out his radio. ""Alpha team, this is Doc, watch your fire to the west. Bravo team is moving through rooms adjacent to yours, we don't want anyone to get caught in the crossfire."
"Roger that Bravo team," Came Mikes response. "we'll watch out for you."
"Moving to the coffin room." Jack stated as he approached the door. He peeked his head around the corner only to be greeted by a hail of bullets, he pulled away just in time. "Jeeze."
"I got you." Craig said as he threw in a flashbang. After hearing it go off he peeked around the doorway. A bullet quickly lodged itself into his rifle shield, fortunately this allowed his to spot the perpetrator and fire several rounds into his chest.
"Moving." Gustave and Seamus ran inside, to the left was a hallway used for storing props for the park. The two of them moved along there while Jack, Craig and Sebastien moved through the coffin room.
More enemies began pouring in through one of the service corridors. The operators took cover behind some of the props and furniture as they engaged with the combatants, quickly killing several of the lesser trained fighters. A few more tried to move though the prop hallway, hoping to get a flank on their opponents, they did not expect to see it already being covered by the other two operators on the team. Gustave and Seamus quickly cut them down before they had a chance to harm their allies.
"They keep coming from that corridor!" Gustave shouted.
"I'll take care of it." Seamus answered. He quickly got up and ran to the doorway, as he approached, another enemy came around the corner. Instead of using his weapon, Seamus quickly wielded his hammer and smashed the unfortunate man across the face. Once the man went down, Seamus pulled out one of his frag grenades and threw it inside.
"Grenade!" A man shouted right before an explosion was heard and several cries of pain. Seamus threw in one more for added measure. A body went flying out of the door, almost hitting Seamus after the second explosion shook the walls.
"Corridor is clear." Seamus reported.
"Show off." Gustave said as he walked up with his own wooden barricade and placed it on the doorway. "That should slow them down."
The other three operators were already stacked up on the remaining door. "Execution room is next." Craig stated.
"Lets do it." Gustave ordered.
Sebastien readied his skeleton key and fired three shots, breaking the barricade. All five men rushed in, instead of a room full of enemies, they saw just a single man lying on the ground.
"Hold your fire, is that…?" Gustave approached the man when suddenly another jumped around the corner, weapon sighted at Gustave's head.
Craig already had his Desert Eagle drawn and ready, he fired a single round into the mans chest, the 50AE round going through the man as if he wasn't even there, ending his life instantly. "Room clear."
"I owe you a drink when we get back." Gustave said as he focused back to the man on the floor. His hands were tied and had clearly been beaten badly. Gustave took a closer look at the mans face. "Norman?"
"I know this isn't the best time, but do you have anything for having the living shit beat out of you?"
"That's definitely Norman." Craig commented.
Gustave let out a small laugh. "How's this?" He pulled out his stim pistol and injected it into the Normans leg.
"Shit, what did you put into this thing?" Norman said as he felt some relief from the pain.
Gustave chuckled as he tucked his stim pistol away in a pouch, "It's a secret".
"That'll do."
Gustave and Sebastien picked up Norman and began to leave the building the way that they came. "Delta Squadron, this is Bravo team, we have one of the hostages, he is in need of immediate medical attention. We are coming out on the southeast side of the building, requesting MEDEVAC, over."
"Bravo Team, this is Delta zero-seven, we're coming in to get you."
"Roger, we're exiting the building now."
The five man team hobbled their way outside through the same door they came in, just in time to see one of the Blackhawks flying in and getting ready to land. Sebastien waved at the pilot to get their attention. Just as the helicopter was making its final approach, bullets began ricocheting off of its armored hull. A rocket flew overhead, missing the tail rotor by a few feet, white smoke began billowing out of one of the engines as red lights and alarms began going off inside the cockpit.
"Bravo Team, disregard. We are taking heavy fire and cannot provide exfil at this time."
"Roger zero-seven, wave off."
The aircraft took off again, getting hit with another volley of bullets and narrowly avoiding another rocket. Not wanting to take anymore damage, the pilot immediately flew east, leaving the hostile airspace.
"HQ, this is Delta zero-seven, we cannot risk taking anymore hits, we are returning to base for repairs, over."
Bravo Team watched in disappointment as the chopper left, knowing Norman was in serious need of medical treatment. Then another voice came over the radio.
"Bravo Team, this is Delta four-zero, there are multiple hostiles on the roof with machine guns and RPGs. We cannot land until they are taken out, over."
"Well how the hell to they expect us to do that?" Jack asked.
"This is Echo Team, I think we can provide assistance." Now it was Timur's voice coming through the radio.
Over in the far side of the park concealed in the brush of the jungle, three more operators lay in wait.
"Overwatch in position." Timur reported, he laid on the ground, looking through the scope of his rifle. Vicente and Alexandr waiting next to him, their LMGs ready to go. "Multiple targets spotted on the roof, open fire on my go."
The two machine gunners braced against their weapons, ready to unleash hell. Timur began lining up a shot through his scope, picking a target, a man carrying an RPG, waiting for one of the helicopters to fly within range. He lined up the reticle, being sure to compensate for range, wind and elevation. He took a deep breath in, gently blew the air out, waited for his heartbeat to steady and slowly pulled the trigger.
The crack of the sniper could be heard as the bullet whizzed to its target, instantly breaking the sound barrier at 2,700 feet per second. Hitting the man square in the face, the round was so powerful it shattered his mask into several pieces. He was dead before his body hit the ground.
The others on the roof saw what happened and immediately began searching the tree line for the sniper, only to be met with a hail of bullets from two machine guns. Some had time to take cover behind the vents and other structures on the roof, others were not so fortunate. Those out in the open were easy pickings for the two gunners, those behind cover were not. However, every now and then, one would foolishly peek his head around in an attempt to spot the attackers, only to be picked off by the more precise Russian sniper.
Eventually the gunners had to reload, this was when the White Masks took their chance. They began to fire back at the overwatch team, but they had a plan for this as well.
"I'm glad to see you finally decided to carry more of those." Timur commented.
"These things aren't cheap." Vicente responded. He raised his crossbow loaded with smoke rounds and fired several bolts across the way onto the roof. "Na mosca."
Within seconds, the top of the building was engulfed and the shooting stopped, the terrorists unable to see. This was not the case for Timur however, with the thermal detection capabilities of his scope, he could still see the enemy clear as day. One by one, they were picked off by the sniper, when one would refuse to even peak from cover, Vicente would lob a fire bolt on top of them. Soon, the roof was clear.
"Rooftop all clear." Timur reported. "You should be free to land."
"Roger that." One of the pilots responded. "Delta six-two coming in for exfil."
Less than a minute later, another Blackhawk came in to land in the same spot as the first, only this time it wasn't being shot at. Bravo Team quickly made their way to the chopper and opened the door. Norman was gently loaded in followed by Jack, Craig, Seamus and Sebastien, Gustave remained on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Craig asked.
"They might still need me in there." Gustave responded. He turned around to go back when someone grabbed his shoulder.
It was Norman. "Irvin is still in there, he's alive." Was all he said before he let go and the helicopter took off to get him to the hospital.
"This is Delta six-two, first package extracted, returning to base now."
Gustave watched as they flew off into the distance before turning around and making his way back inside.
Charlie Team
As soon as all the operators were on the ground they were moving to the building, not wasting any time.
"That way, up the ramp." Marius ordered.
The team made their way up a ramp on the side of the building that lead to the second floor. Upon reaching the top they saw they were provided with two options, a door on the left and a door on the right.
"Let's see, door number one or door number two?" Tina asked.
"Or, we could choose door number three." Siu mentioned as she pointed to the wall in between the two barricades.
"Good idea." Marius agreed. "Hit it with a candela first."
Siu then proceeded to place a breach charge on the wall followed by one of her signature gadgets. After a couple seconds the audible pops could be heard, to which she then blew the charge. The hole led to the inside of one of the train cars, with a few blinded combatants. The team quickly made quick work of the men while they couldn't see.
"Alright, lets head in." Marius commanded. "Riot shield at the front."
Everyone waited for Shuhrat to take point, only to realize the operator was nowhere to be found.
"Fuze! Where the hell are you?!" Marius yelled.
"What's that psychopath up to?" Siu questioned.
Suddenly the operator in question dropped from the awning above their heads, acting as if nothing had happened.
"What on earth were you doing?" Masaru asked.
"Backup plan." The Russian simply stated.
"What the hell are you talking about?! What backup plan?!" Siu was clearly frustrated given she already hated the man.
"Now, now, it's never a bad idea to have a backup plan." Masaru stated, clearly not realizing that the rest of the team wasn't annoyed by the backup plan but by the fact that Shuhrat had pretty much gone rogue.
"Enough!" Marius yelled. "Now take point!"
Shuhrat walked into the now cleared train car, exiting through the right door, upon which he and his shield started taking fire. "Contact, other end of the tracks." An enemy machine gun team had set up and had the entire walkway covered. They were currently trying to take out the shield user, to no avail.
"I've got this." Siu said as she threw out another candela, setting the timer to a delayed detonation. The device rolled over to the feet machine gun team before going off. The two of them immediately covered their eyes after being blinded. This gave the team an opening to return fire, Marius and Siu firing their rifles each killing one of the enemy.
"Move up."
The five of them moved deeper into the building to a doorway on the right. In front of them was the daycare room, to the left was the bunk room where the occupants slept. They decided to search the daycare first.
"Masaru, check it out." Marius said.
"On it." He threw out one of his yokai drones and steered it under the door way. He immediately saw five terrorists inside. He sent his drone up to the ceiling and hit them with a few ultrasonic blasts, disorienting all of them. He gave the hand signal to Tina, who used her crowbar to tear down the barricade. All five then rushed inside, within just a few seconds, each picked out a target and fired. In one quick moment, the room was clear.
"Ying, Frost, stay here, the rest of you with me."
The team then left through door opposite of the one they came in. "Check the ice-cream shop."
Shuhrat led the three of them in as they looked in the corners and behind the counter tops, finding nothing. "Room clear."
Now they had reached the side entrance to the bunk room. "Stack up." Marius said as he pulled out his radio. "Ying, get ready."
"Ready." She reported back.
"Fuze, the door." The Russian placed a breaching charge followed by one of his cluster charges. He immediately set off the cluster, they waited for all five explosions to go off. "GO!"
The three men set off the breaching charge on the door, simultaneously, the two women set off their own charge from inside the daycare. The cluster charge had done a good job off clearing the room, the remaining combatants inside were still disoriented from the explosions, they had no chance as they were rushed from two fronts.
"Room clear, and look what we found." Tina commented.
Sure enough, in the middle of the room, was the second bomb, ready to unleash hell.
"Perfect." Marius once again pulled out his radio. "HQ, this is Charlie Team, we found one of the bombs, starting the defuser now." He put the radio away and addressed the team. "Set up defenses and start the defuser."
The defensive operators to set up their gadgets in different strategical places while Siu worked on activating the defuser. Tina set up a trap at each entrance, including the one they had made with the breach charge. Marius set up an ADS on each wall, while Masaru positioned his yokai drones, one remaining in the day care and one in the main hallway overlooking the staircase. They also re-barricaded the doorways in order to slow down any potential attackers.
"I'm going to lie down for a bit, yokai can take care of them." It's important for an operator to stay relaxed in high intensity situations, but some of the other operators were concerned that maybe Masaru was too relaxed in combat. On more than one occasion, they had found him asleep in the middle of the mission.
"Defuser active." Sui reported.
"We've got company." Masaru brought up. "Entering the day care now."
The others looked through the opening in the wall to see a small group of White Masks had come into the room across from them. The two groups immediately began to take cover and exchange gun fire. Masaru hit several of them with an ultrasonic blast, this disoriented them enough for Tina to pick off a couple with her SMG.
"There's more of them behind that bookshelf." Masaru said.
"I got them." Siu replied as she raised her LMG and began shooting through the wooden cover, shredding all that foolishly hid behind it.
Bullets began coming through one of the wooden barricades, causing Marius to keep his head down. After several more bullets, the wood shattered. "They're coming from the hallway!" He shouted to Masaru.
"Roger." Masaru switched to the feed from his other yokai, sure enough there were several more enemies moving toward their position. He shot another blast at the men, causing them to stumble. Meanwhile, Shuhrat stepped into the now open doorway, using his shield to block the incoming bullets and return fire with his pistol. Marius used this opportunity to shoot back, using Shuhrat as a literal human shield. The disorientation meant that the terrorists weren't able to shoot strait, making them easy targets for the Russian and German operators. Somehow, one of them made it all the way to Shuhrat's shield, unfortunately for the man, the Russian was no push over, literally. The terrorist tried to slam into the operator in an attempt to knock him over, Shuhrat not only stayed in place, but instead knocked the attacker away causing him to fall on his back. The last thing he saw was the brunt end of the riot shield being slammed into his face. Shuhrat had crushed the man's head in a single hit with his shield, the mask he wore was broken in half and what was left underneath could only be described as a bloody pulp.
The sound of the other barricade breaking caught Tina's attention. She turned just in time to see another White Mask entering the room, and step right onto one of her welcome mats. He immediately dropped his weapon and went down screaming in pain as he tried in vain to pull himself free from the trap, which was meant for taking down bears. The scene was so pathetic that Tina didn't even bother shooting the man. Instead she walked up to him and hit him in the head with the broad side of her pistol, knocking him out instantly. "Maybe will get some information out of him." She thought.
Marius looked over at Siu. "How much longer on that defuser?" He asked.
"Just ten more seconds." She responded.
"Perfect."
"Fuck you!"
A voice caught Marius' attention. He looked over and out the door, at the other end of the hall stood another White Mask member. In his hands was not a rifle, but a Rocket Propelled Grenade, and it was pointed right at him.
"Burn in hell!" He shouted as he pulled the trigger, sending the rocket screaming down the hallway and strait into the room where the Rainbow operators were defending, on a perfect trajectory to hit Marius square in the face.
The rocket entered the room, ready to detonate. Just then, Marius' Active Defense System came to life and in an instant shot one of its projectiles into the moving rocket, breaking it in half, ergo deactivating the explosive. Marius was unfazed and just stood there, unimpressed as the remnants of the rocket flew past him and landed on the floor.
As for the shooter however, the man was clearly inexperienced in the knowledge and handling of rocket launchers. Otherwise he would have known that the concussion from firing one of those things indoors is comparable to being hit over the head with a baseball bat. All he could do was stumble around and gasp for air, unable to bare the suffering caused by his own mistake. Marius shook his head as he pulled out his pistol and shot him in the chest.
"Bomb defused." Siu reported.
"Excellent! I'll report it to HQ." Marius said as he pulled out the radio.
While everyone took the time to celebrate the success of their part of the mission, Siu took a moment to look around the room. It looked like it was originally an office of some sort, now it was littered with sleeping bags and other furnishings that made it clear that multiple people were now using this space as their living quarters. It honestly looked miserable, how badly would someone have to believe in the cause of this organization in order to be willing to live like this?
Near the back of the room, she noticed that someone had stacked an old desk and some file cabinets together, probably in order to create at least some form of privacy. Curious about the setup , she decided to have a closer look. As she walked around the makeshift wall, she was taken by surprise as a lone figure stood and delivered a punch to her face. The surprise blow disoriented her as her weapon was knocked from her hands and onto the floor, followed by an arm wrapped around her neck. She then felt a distinct piece of metal being pushed to her temple, clearly a pistol. She struggled as hard as she could to get out of the vice like grip, but it was no use.
Everyone turned around and saw their newest operator being held at gunpoint. The whole time they were fighting, one of the White Masks was in the room with them, hiding behind his makeshift barricade.
"Nobody move, or I'll kill her!" He shouted.
Everyone had their weapons raised, but the man was smart, he made sure to hide his head behind Siu's, no matter how good of a shot these operators were, there was no way they could hit him without the risk of hitting their teammate.
"Easy now. There's no need for this." Marius tried to calm the man. "Let her go."
"After what you just did to my brothers, give me one reason why I shouldn't paint the walls with her brains."
"Because unlike the others, you still have a chance." Tina spoke up. "You can still live, no one else has to get hurt. Just put the gun down."
"I don't think you realize the situation." The man sounded like he was crazy, possibly on some of the drugs they were hoarding down stairs. "You are not in control here."
"Don't be a fool, just stand down while you still can." Masaru tried to reason.
"Shut up! All of you put down your weapons!" He yelled. "And no sudden movements either."
Seeing as they had no choice, the four operators slowly placed their weapons on the floor, including their sidearms. They had to come up with a plan, and fast, but they also had to keep the man calm enough so he couldn't kill Siu.
"You, the shield as well!" He gestured to Shuhrat. "I saw what you did with that thing, you monster!"
Shuhrat complied, slowly letting his riot shield slip off of his arm as it clanked onto the floor.
"What's that in your hand?! Drop it!" Everyone looked and saw that the Spetsnaz did in fact have something clutched in his hand.
"It's not a weap-"
"I SAID FUCKING DROP IT!" The terrorist shouted as he pushed his gun harder into the side of Siu's head.
Shuhrat looked at the man, then at Siu, as much as she tried to hide it, she was scared, she knew that this could very well be the moment that she died.
"If you say so." He responded. He opened his hand and let the object fall to the floor. It was a detonator, and it hit the floor button first.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Suddenly, a large metal tube broke through the window behind the man, he turned to see what on earth was going on in time to see it begin spitting out what looked like hockey pucks, all landing at his feet. In an instant, Shuhrat managed to close the gap between him and the hostage taker. While he was distracted, the Russian swiped the gun away from Siu's head and delivered a punch to the terrorists face, freeing Siu from his grip. Once she was free, Shuhrat grabbed her by the flak jacket and pulled back over the makeshift wall. The other three operators instinctively dropped to the ground, well aware of what was coming next.
"WHAT THE FU-" was all they heard before five explosions went off, one at a time, all of them thankfully contained behind the barricade. As if to add emphasis that the man was in fact dead, the mask he wore came flying over and landed next to Shuhrat and Siu.
Shuhrat still held onto Siu tight, making sure that she was alright and safe. No one really wanted to see what was left of the guy behind the barricade.
"What the hell was that?" Siu asked.
"The backup plan." Was his simple response. He picked up the now charred and bloody mask and handed it to her. "Souvenir?"
Siu could only stare at the man, how he managed to calculate the need for that cluster charge was beyond her, maybe he wasn't as stupid as everyone thought. "How did you know the bomb would even be in here?"
"I didn't." He responded. "I thought this was the hostage room." Siu couldn't tell if the man was joking or not, but she figured that either way there was probably a huge grin underneath that helmet and mask.
"Are you alright?" Marius asked as Tina and Masaru helped the two of them to their feet.
"Yes, thankfully." Siu answered as she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness." Marius pulled out his radio again. "HQ this is Charlie Team, second bomb has been defused."
"Everyone okay here?" A new voice had entered the room.
"Doc!" Marius greeted. "We're fine."
Gustave looked over at the remains of the White Mask. "Oh la vache! What happened there?"
"Don't worry about it. How's Bravo Team?"
"They're good." He answered. "We got one of the hostages, they flew out with him."
"Excellent. We just defused one of the bombs, Alpha team got the other one."
"Great. Things are looking good so far."
Suddenly a frantic voice came over the radio. "Doc, this is Delta Team, we need you over here now!"
"That was Thermite." Gustave noticed. "Delta Team, this is Doc, I'm on my way to your position."
Delta Team
"Everyone set?" Meghan asked, more to herself than to anyone else. Yes she's been in dangerous operations before, she's almost got herself killed multiple times despite her perfectionist nature, and she always shrugged it off. But there was never so much in stake, at least not ever since she joined Team Rainbow. They had trained for days, but this time, the hostile forces weren't armed with guns loaded with rubber bullets.
This time, it was the real deal.
The mission's success was supposed to be her number one priority. Supposed to. There was, however, something else clouding her mind. She quietly turned to look at her green-haired girlfriend. The look in her face showed raw and cold determination, Meghan knew that Ela was in her badass mode. At that second she realized that the mission's success was, for the first time ever, anything but her first priority.
Ela…
It was at the moment when everyone gave her the thumbs up that Meghan finally snapped out of her thoughts. "Alright, let's move."
The team of five moved towards the front entrance of the theme park. At the moment in which they closed in, a volley of machine gun fire broke upon them, causing them to immediately scramble for cover. They tried to fire back, but the barrage of bullets was too much to even peak from cover.
"I don't think we're going through the main entrance." Eliza said shouted over the deafening sound of gunfire.
"Fuck it, go right." Meghan gestured. Everyone began moving east to the middle of the building. There, they saw a ramp leading to the second floor that wasn't in the simulation, or in any of the scout's reports. "We'll go up there."
Upon reaching the top of the ramp, they saw a single barricaded door. Ryad placed a breach charge while everyone stacked up for entry. Once everyone was ready, the charge was blown and they rushed in.
"Check that train car." Meghan ordered.
Jordan immediately broke off from the group to inspect the train car in order to prevent eventual surprises. He swept though the area, his mind focusing on what was behind the holographic sight of his weapon. He made sure that he didn't let anything escape his sight. "Clear." Jordan called out from inside the train car.
As if fate itself was mocking them, a group of White Masks emerged from the corner closest to them and engaged the operators in combat. One of them, blind due to adrenaline and maybe too much testosterone, rushed at the group of trained operators while wielding a Glock 17.
Eliza, Jordan and Ela all made quick work off the terrorist that ran in their direction and immediately scrambled to cover in the train car while Meghan and Ryad had no choice but to leave the building again and take cover by the door they had just walked through.
"They have an angle on us." Ryad stated, before peeking at the corner in which the terrorist forces were pouring out of, almost getting hit by a stray bullet.
"Throwing smoke." Eliza tossed out a smoke grenade, temporarily blocking the enemies vision of them.
"Eliza, the initiation room is across from us." Meghan pointed out. "Blow that wall and see if you can flank around."
"On it." The red head pulled out her CREM and shot a round at the wall across from them. The wall exploded, leaving a hole big enough to crouch through.
"I'm coming with you." Ela said as the two of them moved into the next room.
Meghan watched as the green-haired girl disappeared from her vision. Her heart tightened up when she heard the agonizing sound of the crossfire that broke out at the other side of the train tracks - a place out of her reach. She primarily heard the sound of Eliza's R4 and Ela's Scorpion, but also other sounds from where she couldn't pinpoint the source, and then, silence.
Deafening silence.
"Ela! Are you okay?!" Meghan completely lost her calm, falling into momentaneous despair, already assuming the worse. She didn't wait a second out before nonchalantly dropping the half-full magazine out of her MPX submachine gun and inserting a new one.
About to recklessly step out of cover, Ryad took hold of Meghan, saving from another volley of bullets that suddenly broke out. "Valkyrie, what are you doing?!" Meghan tried to break free from Ryad's strong arms, but the Spaniard was having none of it.
"I need to check if she's okay!"
"Valk! She's fine! She made it through!" Jordan shouted from the traincar. "You'll jeopardize the mission if you keep this shit up!"
Immediately after, they all heard what was the unmistakable sound of a GRZMOT mine going out, a burst of gunfire and shouting, all in some twisted form of melody. Out of nowhere, the White Masks that were shooting at the operators became silent, and the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground gave them the clue that they needed to realize what had just happened.
"Shit, my girl is still as deadly as ever." Jordan chuckled as he carelessly stepped out of the train car into what was assumed to be a hot zone not than five seconds ago.
After making sure that Meghan had calmed down enough, Ryad let go of the blonde. Allowing her to catch her breath, "Are you going to be okay, Valkyrie?"
The woman didn't want to do as much as look at the person who was talking to her. "Yes, Jackal. I'll be fine. I'm sorry."
After making sure that Meghan had recomposed herself, Ryad once again stepped through the once barricaded door. "You're lucky IQ didn't hear what you just said," Ryad tapped Jordan's shoulder, displaying a broad smile.
As Ela and Eliza stepped out of the hallway into the train tracks, they ran to regroup with the rest of Delta team. Meghan, still outside the building, watched as Ela approached them. She fought the will of running up to her and engulf the Polish girl in her arms. "What the hell is happening to me?" She thought.
After making sure she wouldn't do anything she'd regret later, she walked in and regrouped with her team.
They proceeded back into the hallway and noticed that the walls around them were all reinforced. At that moment, Jordan felt a pang of excitement.
"This is the main office room, now what could they be hiding in here?" Jordan asked.
"Let's find out." Meghan answered, surprised to see that her voice was working again. "Hit it."
Jordan unfolded one of his charges and stuck it onto the wall. "Stand back, a big fucking hole, coming right up!"
As the aluminum powder and metal oxide mixed, the thermite's powerful reaction began to cut through the reinforced wall. Once it finished the cut, the C4 went off, exploding the once impenetrable wall into shreds. They could just see White Masks being thrown across the room from the explosion. Several more were stunned and began firing blindly at the team, Meghan and Ryad were able to pick off a couple, but the rest were under formidable cover.
Ela and Eliza thought ahead and moved around to the side window. Eliza shot her second charge at the barricade, after a short delay, it was shattered. The two of them jumped in, Eliza turned to the right and took out a terrorist hiding behind a dresser. Ela, remembering her first run through on the practice course, looked behind the desk and took out two more White Masks. Two more tried to rush in from the bathroom, but were cut short by Jordan before they had a chance.
"We're clear." Ela reported.
"Well, I found what they were hiding." Jordan said as he gestured to the middle of the room.
Curled up on the floor, with his hands tied and mouth taped, was the second hostage.
"Irvin!" Meghan ran over to him and untied his hands and removed the tape from his mouth.
"Please tell me I'm finally getting the hell out of this place." He moaned.
"Don't worry buddy, we're getting you home." Jordan reassured him.
"Can you walk?" Meghan asked.
"Barely."
"We got you." Jordan and Ryad picked their friend up and began to walk him out.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, it time to get the hell out of here." Eliza declared.
"Delta Squadron this is Valkyrie, second package secured, requesting MEDIVAC."
"Roger that, Delta four-zero coming in now, we'll see you at the south east end of the park, over."
"Let's take him down the haunted stairs, it's the fastest way there." Meghan suggested as the six of them began to make their way out of the building. "You three get Irvin out of here, Ela and I will cover you."
Eliza, Ryad and Jordan began to help Irvin down the stairs and out of the building while Meghan and Ela stayed at the top, keeping an eye out for any more enemies.
"Ela check the cash room."
Ela nodded and went inside to have a look around, the room was quiet. Other than the millions of dollars' worth of varying currencies, everything seemed normal. In the quietness she took a moment to reflect on the rescue. Seeing Irvin again, after all these years, and in such a state. She hadn't said anything to him, she didn't know what she could say. She wondered if he even noticed she was among his rescuers since he seemed to be in a daze.
Lost in her thoughts, Ela wandered recklessly by one of the desks she hadn't checked for any threats. Suddenly she felt a force push her to the ground and she lost her grip on her weapon. One of the White Masks was on top of her, she tried to scream for Meghan but he immediately wrapped his hand around her throat. Not only was she unable scream, but now she couldn't breathe as the terrorist's strong arms around her neck squeezed, trying to suffocate the Polish operator. She tried to reach for her sidearm, but he used his free hand to grab her by the wrist and pin her arm down. She tried to use her remaining hand to punch and claw at him, but she just wasn't strong enough to hurt him or he simply didn't care. Lack of oxygen was beginning to affect her. Her voice barely came out as pitiful whimper as she tried once again to scream for help.
Only when her vision started to fade to black, Ela thought that this was it. Flashbacks of her earlier days, of her shaken relationship with her family, with her father, with her older sister, Zofia. The years of experience at GROM, of the operations she's succeeded and the countless men she killed. So this was how dying actually felt like.
It was only at the end that she got to relive the most precious time of her life: her few and short months at Team Rainbow. And most importantly, something that no one ever managed to give her, something that she never felt the need to feel before she finally got to experience it: love.
The force around her throat abruptly vanished, the heat dissipated, and the weight over her body was no longer there. She heard what could only be described as struggle. What was happening? She tried to regain her consciousness, but the lack of oxygen in her brain couldn't make sense of anything on her surroundings.
Grunts, shouting. Ela tried her best to turn around to see what was going on, but she couldn't even open her eyes. She was so weak, so so weak. It was only after a sudden bang that shook her to her very core and the distinct noise of something heavy hitting the wooden floor that the noise stopped.
"E-Ela! Ela, are you okay?" A familiar voice repeated her own name, desperately claiming for a response Ela herself didn't have the energy to give.
She could feel the proximity of someone close to her. At any situation, she'd be on alert and attempted to step away, but once arms snaked around her body, embracing her, she instantly relaxed. These strong, warm, comforting arms gave her an odd, but incredibly familiar feeling of security, compassion, love. Being engulfed by those arms made her melt to her very core, she wanted nothing but forget everything and relish that moment. She was still unnerved by the fact that she couldn't as much as mutter out a pathetic whisper, but she was feeling so much better now. The possibility of her oxygen-deprived brain be playing a sick prank with her, causing her to hallucinate wasn't erased immediately, but there was no dream, no hallucination that could ever felt this good.
"Oh God, please!" But after the first teardrop fell on her forehead, the Polish girl's heart was shattered into thousands of pieces. She didn't know why, but all she wanted was to reassure the person that held her in her arms that everything was okay, and it was all going to be okay. It had been so long before she ever caught herself crying, but that was something Ela wasn't able to control anymore. As she felt her own tears trailing down her cheeks alongside the ones who held her in her arms, Ela finally got to experience a different kind of pain she never expected to feel again. She hardened herself emotionally over the years to become the perfect killing machine, completely deprived of emotions.
But it was that blonde operator- no, it was her lover which she hated at first but got to finally love that finally made her open up again. She owed her everything, she owed Meghan everything she is today.
And if Valkyrie...if Meghan wants her to stand by her side.
Then that's exactly what Ela's going to do.
In an incredible display of willpower, Ela caught her breath with an audible gasp. The oxygen filling her lungs felt like she was tasting the God's elixir itself. With struggle, she managed to open her eyes; the light slightly blinding her for a second forcing her to squint her eyes immediately in response, but the little she could see was enough to soothe her heart. The figure standing before her was so breathtakingly stunning that it couldn't be no hallucination.
"Oh my God, Ela!" Meghan cried, her eyes so wide that it looked like they were going to pop out. The blonde buried her face into the Polish girl shoulder, crying what could only be described as tears of relief and happiness. She unconsciously squeezed the girl around her arms tighter, as if she let go just by the slightest, she would vanish into thin air.
"If you squeeze any tighter, I think you're going to kill me," Ela muttered with a smile.
Meghan's body jerked for a second after hearing the girl's whisper on her ear. She immediately backed off, giving Ela the much needed space. "I'm sorry!" the blonde uttered quickly, making it sound almost like one word.
Her arms were somewhat weak, but Ela managed to get herself sitting up. Meghan tried to help her, but the girl urged to let herself try first. And surely, Ela made it, it was a little more problematic than it should've been, but considering her state, she wouldn't be any surprised if someone else decided to stay on the ground.
With a gloved hand, Meghan inconsequentially touched the girl's face before her, both of them lingering the contact in their own way. "I'm so sorry, Ela," the blonde said, a tear dropping from her cheek to her vest, "I-I should've been there with- with you. I got so carele-"
"Just shut up," Ela interrupted by pressing her lips against Meghan's. The blonde's body immediately jerked up, surprised, but relaxed a second or two later, lingering the kiss as much as possible. Ela had sealed herself from every single feeling she could for the largest part of her life that she wasn't sure how to cope with the waves upon waves of emotions hitting her at the same time. It felt like every worry, everything that made them hold back previously were far away in their past. The kiss was of such intensity that they felt like they ceased from being two separate bodies to become one singular entity.
All both woman wanted was to enjoy that moment throughout eternity. Finally get all these years way into their past and rewrite that history from that moment on with that simple gesture of affection, but if not for a little something called Oxygen, they'd be able to linger on that feeling for a little longer. Ela was the first to break the kiss, gasping to caught her breath.
"T-that was something," Meghan commented somewhat embarrassed. They were alone, yes, but she struggled to forget that they were still on duty, and in enemy territory, nonetheless. For the first time in a while since she joined Team Rainbow back on Operation Dust Line, she finally was looking for the end of an operation.
"Y-yeah," Ela's chest heaved up and down, clearly disappointed that she wouldn't be able to enjoy Meghan's affections for any longer… for now.
A loud, continuous beeping broke their spell and caught the attention of the operators. They looked over and saw the figure of the impersonated devil sprinting towards them. What had been a special moment instantly turned into one of raw terror. The bomber was now upon the two of them, dressed in a thick biohazard suit with multiple explosives attached to his body. He already wielded the detonator, ready to blow the operators before him at the cost of his life.
Meghan went into overdrive. She looked around for her trusty Desert Eagle, but it was nowhere to be found - she had abandoned all of her gear a few feet back, it was too far. She knew it was already too late to attempt to go fetch it and repel the threat, so she did the only thing she could. Without hesitation, she grabbed Ela by the jacket and pushed her over the railing, sending her falling down to the floor below. Unfortunately, this didn't leave her enough time to get herself over the edge.
As Ela fell, all she could do was look up in horror as she saw the distance between her and her girlfriend grow. She felt the harsh impact of landing on her back. One second later, her life- no, their life turned to a tipping point. The distinctive noise of the detonator being triggered, the great flash that blinded her, the great noise that deafened her, the shockwave that shook her heart and probably killed any prospect of her having the life she never thought she deserved but was presented to her nevertheless. Her life with Meghan, dead.
For a second Ela couldn't move. She watched, horrified, as rags of clothing went up on the ceiling and fell on the floor below, on fire. Her mind could not believe what just happened, she didn't want to believe what just happened. She didn't think it was possible to have such a drastic turnaround of emotions washing over her simultaneously. "MEGHAN!" In an instant, she was back on her feet and rushing up the stairs. It couldn't have been more than fifteen steps, but each step felt like she climbed a different mountain. The fact that she was unable to breathe not a minute ago didn't help for a split second.
Finally, she made it back up to the top of the stairs. Burn marks and shrapnel were everywhere, the man had practically vaporized. And next to what remained, laying on the ground, was Meghan, unmoving and covered in blood. "No!" Ela's mind kicked into overdrive as she rushed towards and knelt by the SEAL and automatically began a triage. Burns and cuts were scattered throughout her body, and no doubt there would be a concussion, then she saw it. Meghan's left leg was entirely covered by blood, lots of it. One noteworthy spot featured a darker color than the rest of the leg. Ela dared to tap it, and it was absolutely soaked by blood - she needed to take a better look at it. Ela unsheathed her combat knife and immediately cut the blonde's camouflaged pants from the top of the thighs down. Sure enough, there was a gaping hole in her leg, and blood was seeping out, but not like a stream, it was pulsating. That could only mean one thing, a piece of shrapnel had sliced all the way into Meghan's femoral artery. If such a wound wasn't treated within minutes, it would be fatal.
Ela had to act fast. Luckily, Meghan always kept her first aid kit on her whenever she went on missions. She opened it and quickly found what she was looking for: bandages. She wrapped it around the injured leg and tightened it as much as she could, using the terrorist's severely damaged SIG 552 as an anchor to twist it in order to tighten the tourniquet. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to stop the bleeding, much to Ela's despair, more action was needed. The artery was going to have to be clamped shut. She went back to digging in the first aid kit, in which she found a clamp and more layers of bandages.
Now she was about to be going for the hard part, and by far the most gruesome task she's ever done. She was going to have to reach inside the wound and find the severed artery in order to clamp it shut. Perhaps it was better that Meghan was unconscious, such an ordeal while awake would be excruciating. Ela wasted no time as she dug her fingers into the open wound. Needless to say, she wasn't going to err on the side of caution with Meghan's life on the line.
She had to be quick, but she had to be steady, and that's where the problem lied. She was having trouble keeping her hands steady, the adrenaline from combat combined with the fact that this was her girlfriend cause Ela's hands to shake uncontrollably. She had to clamp the artery in a certain way so that it would be completely seal and prevent further blood loss. But that was easier said than done when she couldn't control her hands, every time she would get close, she would slip up and have to start over again.
This couldn't be happening, Meghan was on the verge of death and she couldn't save her. Tears began to stream down her face as Ela could feel that time was running out.
"Come on you idiot." She said to herself. "You're better than this."
Her hand slipped again. "Spierdolić"
She tried again. "She's finally counting on you, and you're letting her down." Another slip.
"She shouldn't have done that, she should have jumped instead." Once again, her hand slipped.
"Fuck!" She yelled in frustration. "Why can't I do this? This is Iraq all over again." Now she was full blown sobbing, Meghan's life was in her hands, and she was slipping.
"No, it's not." A familiar voice came into her head. "Here, let me help you out."
"Nelson?"
"Yeah, it's me again." She wasn't sure if she was going crazy or if he was actually talking to her from beyond, or both. "Now let's try this a gain shall we."
Suddenly, she could feel his hand on hers, she couldn't see it, but there was no doubt, as her hands immediately steadied. "There we go. Now, gently..."
She was able to keep her hand steady as she guided the tool into the wound, then she finally hit the mark. "There!" She quickly squeezed the clamp shut. The bleeding stopped.
"There you go." He was still speaking to her. "Consider this a thanks for keeping the boys safe."
"Thank you."
"Now Bosak, stop being so hard on yourself. Oh, and tell everyone I said hi."
With that, Ela felt the pressure holding her hands in place disappearing, and somehow, someway, she had a distinct feeling that that would be the last time she would be hearing from any of them.
Meghan's wound was sealed, but she was still in critical condition. Her skin was pale from all the blood she lost and she was still unconscious. She needed serious medical attention, and quick.
"Ela, Valkyrie what's the hold up?!" Came Jordan's voice. After a moment, he came walking up the stairs. "What going- Oh no." Upon glancing at the scene in front of him, he immediately saw the severity of the situation. "What happened?"
"It was a bomber, we didn't see him coming." Ela explained.
Jordan pulled out his radio. "Doc, this is Delta Team, we need you over here now!"
"Delta Team, this is Doc, I'm on my way to your position." Came a response.
"Ash, it's Thermite! Listen, tell the chopper not to take off, I say again, do not take off!"
"What? Why?"
"Just tell them!"
After a moment, Eliza came back with a response. "Alright, the chopper is standing by."
"Good, now is there an extra stretcher in there?"
"Yeah. There's one extra. Why, what's going on?"
"I need one of you to bring it back in here."
"What!?" The frustration was growing in Eliza's voice. "Thermite, what's going on?!"
"Just do it! Please."
"Alright, I'm coming in now."
"Thank you." Now that that was settled, Jordan began to help treat Meghan, bandaging the minor cuts and burns. He looked at Ela. "Are you alright?" He asked upon noticing that she seemed unscathed.
"She saved me." She answered. "She pushed me over the edge to safety and took the full force of the blast."
"That sounds exactly like something she would do." He responded.
"Alright, I'm here." Gustave had finally arrived and saw what was happening. "Oh my." He immediately sprang into action.
"Her leg." Ela pointed out. "It got hit the worst."
"Alright. Let's have a look." He began to examine the wound and noticed it had already been patched up. "Did you do this?"
"Yes."
"You may have saved her life." Gustave complimented the girl. He knew what Meghan meant to her, he judged that she deserved praise for probably saving her life.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"I won't lie to you, she's in bad shape." He pulled out his stim pistol and injected her with a shot. "This will help but we have to get her to a hospital now."
"I have Ash bringing in a stretcher." Jordan said.
"Good, that will make it safer to transport her."
"Alright, here it is now what's-" Eliza had come back and when she saw her friend on the ground, dropped the stretcher from her hands. "Meghan... no. Wha-what happened?"
"We'll explain later, now help us with this." Jordan began unfolding the stretcher.
"We'll load her onto the chopper with Irvin, but we need to hurry." The four of them began to pick up Meghan in order to place her on the stretcher. "Gently now."
They had just put her on when Gustave stopped moving, as if he noticed something. "What's wrong." Eliza asked.
"She's not breathing." He answered.
They all looked at their wounded operator, specifically her chest, she had in fact stopped breathing. Eliza grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse, there was none.
"NO!" Ela screamed. Gustave was about to perform CPR when she beat him to it. She started to do chest compressions on the SEAL followed by mouth to mouth. Gustave also grabbed Meghan's wrist and began feeling for a pulse.
"Damnit Meghan, you're not dying after all you and I just went through." Ela yelled at her unconscious girlfriend.
Jordan and Eliza could only look on as Ela tried to revive their friend. Eliza went from checking for a pulse to simply clutching her best friends hand. Tears were beginning to form under her sunglasses.
After Ela's fifth set of compressions, there was still no response from the SEAL. Everyone began to fear the worst but Ela kept trying.
"Ela…" Gustave said. She looked at him, tears now falling uncontrollably. "I'm sorry."
Ela looked down at Meghan's lifeless body. She shook her head. "NO!" In a fit of sadness and anger, she raised her fist and delivered one last punch into Meghan's chest.
To everyone's shock, Meghan let out a gasp.
"Did she…"
"I don't believe it."
Meghan started breathing normally again, she was still out cold, but breathing.
"She really is unstoppable." Eliza commented.
"Alright, let's not wait around for something else to happen, everyone grab a corner and move." Gustave ordered. They all grabbed a side of the stretcher and proceeded to carry Meghan out of the theme park.
"Ash, Thermite." Ryad's voice now came over the radio. "Where are you guys? The pilot is saying he can't wait any longer, we have to take off."
"Hold tight Jackal, we're coming out now." Jordan reassured him.
The four of them soon came out of the building and made their way to the helicopter that was waiting. They gently loaded Meghan in and made sure to strap her down for the flight. Then they all hopped on board as well, Ela never letting go of Meghan's hand. Jordan gave the signal to the pilot that they were ready for takeoff. Within moments, the bird was up in the air and making its way back to base.
"HQ this is Delta four-zero, we have the second package, returning to base now, we also have another wounded on board in critical condition, requesting to have medical team on standby for our arrival, over."
"Roger Delta four-zero, we'll be waiting, out."
Above the theme park, the only remaining helicopter was still circling around the building, waiting for the signal. Finally, he saw it, Mike had stepped outside waving a red flare, signaling the all clear, the battle was over.
"HQ this is Delta three-eight, mission successful and the area is secure, you are now clear to send in the cleanup crews and investigation teams."
"Roger that Delta three-eight, sending in all secondary units now, ETA twenty minutes."
Back at the hotel, Isaac and Six stood in the makeshift communications room. They had been listening anxiously to the radio traffic coming through. Combat was one thing, but staying behind wasn't exactly an easy experience either. There were no live feeds of the battle, so all they could do to judge how well things were going was use the radio traffic to paint a picture in their heads. When Ela hit the ground, her radio had turned on and was transmitting back to headquarters. Everyone in the room was forced to listen to the gut-wrenching sound of her frantic screams as she tried to save her fellow operator.
Isaac had almost asked Kowalski to kill the transmission from their end, until he heard Ela say a familiar name. Kowalski had turned to him, having heard it as well, assuring Isaac that he hadn't imagined it.
Now that the battle was over, an eerie silence had come over the room.
"Alright, the hard parts over." Six said, breaking the silence. "Good work everyone, now we can begin the next phase, figuring out what was going on here."
Everyone acknowledged her statement and began prepping for the investigation and cleanup that would have to be conducted.
"Kowalski."
The man was broken from his train of thought. "Yes ma'am?"
"Send a status report to the UN, their expecting an update."
"Right away ma'am." He opened his laptop that was securely connected to their top secret mainframe and began typing a report.
MISSION UPDATE:
TARGET FACILITY UNDER NATO CONTROL, ALL ACTIVITIES SUCCESSFULLY KEPT AWAY FROM PUBLIC VIEW.
OBJECTIVE STATUS:
TWO EXPLOSIVES DISARMED.
TWO FRIENDLY HOSTAGES EXTRACTED, STATUS: ALIVE
TOP SECRET COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT RECOVERED
STATUS OF HIGH VALUE TARGET: UNKNOWN (MAY BE AMONG THE DEAD)
CASUALTY REPORT:
ENEMY CASUALTIES: UNKNOWN
FRIENDLY CASUALTIES: 3 WOUNDED (INCLUDING TWO EXTRACTED HOSTAGES, ONE CRITICAL)
ADDITIONAL REMARKS:
MISSION SUCCESS YET TO BE DETERMINED, SENDING IN INVESTIGATION TEAMS FOR ANALYSIS, WILL SEND UPDATES AS RESULTS ARE FOUND.
OPERATION BLOOD ORCHID: CONCLUDED
Author's note: Well, there you have it. I can't even begin to explain the roller coaster it was writing this. Seriously, the amount of writing and re-writing, plus the frustration of sitting at my computer wanting to write but not being able to think of anything. Again, big thanks to RStyle. As for what happened to Meghan, I've had this event in my head since the beginning, and its a relief to finally see it written here. What's going to happen to her you ask? Well now you'll just have to wait and see. And I promise the next chapter wont take over a month and a half. I also can't even begin to thank all of my followers for your patience, I know you guys were looking forward to this one and have had to sit and wait for me to get my life together. I really appreciate you guys sticking with me though this, thank you. And speaking of followers, What Will It Take is now the most followed Rainbow Six story on this site! I never imagined that this story would be this popular and again, I can't thank you guys enough. On a side note, I sort of turned two easter eggs into one in this chapter, whoever guesses them both first gets a shout out in the next chapter. The first one might be really obvious but only old school gamers will get the second. As always I hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave a review. Until next time.