"Get those motherfuckers!" A White Mask shouted, pointing at the stairwell.
"We can't get up those stairs, asshat! A British fuckhead keeps dropping us!" Another yelled back.
"Well drop him!"
"You think it's that easy? Why don't you try to do it? Huh?"
"Fuck no, bruh! I ain't trying to look like Jenkins there!" He pointed at one of the dead bodies down the stairs.
"So you admit you sending everyone up there to their death because you know you gonna get yo cheeks clapped?"
"Oi! You fuckers gonna come up here or what!?" Thatcher yelled impatiently from up the stairs.
"Shut your biscuit ass up! I'm just chillin' down here!"
"Nah bro, he's right, let's get up there and fuck him up!"
"I'm gonna get domed bro! Let's wait until he runs out of ammo!"
"He aint gonna run out of ammo until more people run up those stairs!"
"Then run up those stairs!"
The other White Mask threw his hands up in the air in a total fuck this shit moment and sighed, "Why don't you just throw a grenade up there?"
"Cus I got a claymore equipped bruh!"
"WHY? WHO THE FUCK GONNA RUN OUT? THEY PINNED BRUH, THEY PINNED!"
"Never know man, one of our guys was smacked by a French dude with a P90 high on some fuckin juice that jumped out the window to kill one dude rappelling. If he had a claymore, that baguette fuck woulda been clapped."
"Well I don't see a fuckin' French dude on steroids with a P90, so let's get up there and fuck that guy up!"
Fuze rappelled in through a barricaded window across from them and fired hails of bullets.
"Jesus, it's fucking Rambo!"
"Over here!"
One of them kicked down an apartment door and both of them ran in for cover. They entered into the living room, looking around for a place to hide.
"Where the fuck we gonna hide? That motherfucker is still shooting! How much ammo he got, Jesus!"
"Shit, we don't got time to check the rooms or nothin', plus, he'll just break into them anyways. Shit, shit, shit, shit. Unless we..."
"Cyka blyat! Vovlecheniye vraga!" Fuze yelled as he entered into the empty living room of the apartment. He looked around behind the couches, in the closets, under the beds, but the terrorists were gone. All the rooms had been cleared and there was still no sign of them. Fuze shook his head and quickly left the apartment. There was nothing in there but a broken door and an open...
Window?
The two White Masks were standing outside the window on each of its sides on a thin ledge, frantically looking down at the ground and at each other.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" one of them mumbled.
"They got a Brit, Jesus they got a Brit, they got a Russian, who the fuck else do these bastards got?!" the other started hyperventilating.
They both stood out there for a solid minute until one of them noticed reinforcements coming in.
"Look! We finally got some backup!" he pointed and nearly lost balance forward.
The hyperventilating one calmed down and listened in to the sky.
"Phew! Looks like we got air support too!"
"Yeah, g-Wait, what the fuck did you say? Since when did we get jets?"
"Since now I gu-, hold up, actually..."
The jets flew past them and everyone heard the sonic boom go off and multiple whistles falling down from the sky.
"I think they missed the bui-"
BOOM
Both were in shock as the massive explosion rocked the earth and building, almost causing one of them to slip.
They stared at the fiery hell below with wide eyes and slowly turned to look at each other, then back at the fire. Everyone down there was dead, either blown to bits, or burnt to a crisp. How the hell did they manage to screw up a 100 V 5?
Without saying a word, one of them climbed back into the apartment and the other followed casually. They checked left and right in the living room and saw that the coast was clear and they both dropped onto the couch, still processing what happened. They both stared blankly into space.
"So..."
"Yeah, uh..."
"No reinforcements?"
"Not no more..."
"Oh."
"Yeah..."
"We should have picked guard duty instead."
"Yeah."
On one of their chests, radio static was heard, followed by a voice saying, "Does anyone read me?"
The White Mask jumped up, and replied, "Yeah, yeah! We're here!"
"Who's this?"
"Uh..."
"Oh goddamnit, don't tell me... Michael, really?"
"Yeah, and Isaac." Michael sighed.
"Don't tell him that!" Isaac whispered in the background.
"Were you in the building by the time of the airstrike?"
"Kinda?"
"Are those bastards still on the top floor?"
"Yes sir."
"Alright, we can spare one more man to help you out, but we can't send out anymore."
"What about you sir? Where are you?"
"Fuck you mean where am I? Bruh, I'm outta there, I'm better off alive than dead anyway, I'm actually useful unlike you fuckers."
"Seriously? Alright, fine, whatever, so who's coming to help us?"
"I dunno, but he must be pretty good if he was recommended straight from the tippity top. He's quick too, turns out he's already there."
"What's his name, dumbass?" Isaac yelled, getting impatient.
"The fuck? Who you think you're talking to? And why the fuck would they tell me? They just said some badass is gonna help us out here."
Isaac facepalmed his mask, "Oh god."
50 miles northwest of the battle
Twitch and everyone else checked their weapons for the millionth time, as there was nothing else to do during the long trip. Occasionally, someone would try to make small talk, but it didn't last long. Mozzie, who was sitting across from Twitch, had his signature sunglasses on, which, to the best of his ability, he tried not to use to stare at Twitch without her knowing. The whole situation he's in is complicated. It's not just that he has feelings for his archenemy, but he already has a wife at home. He didn't want to cheat on her at all, he still loved her. But ever since he started training with Twitch, he's been thinking about her a lot. Maybe it's because they're rivals in a way, so he's always trying to find ways to beat her. So maybe it isn't love. Maybe it's just an obsessive rivalry. Whatever the case may be, he's trying his best to ignore this strange but familiar feeling, but it's more difficult than he thought. To add to the already shitty situation, his wife's pregnant too, and so he has to be an example to his kids. All this emotional stress, combined with the stress of being a soldier, is getting to him. He's good at hiding it, but it's taking its toll.
Twitch decided to pull out a tablet and read a digital book she had. While reading, she remembered the folders she gave to Six, detailing the Bartlett attack and the hostage situation soon after. The more she thought about it, the less she read and the more she realized just how crazy it all was. Who saved those hostages? Whoever did it must be insanely skilled. To have caused all that destruction, and yet still not leave any evidence behind, that's what captivated Twitch.
Twitch looked up from her tablet and asked Mozzie, "Do you know anything about the hostage situation that happened soon after the Bartlett attack?"
Mozzie, who didn't expect Twitch to initiate a conversation with him so suddenly, just shook his head.
"It's a fascinating story to say the least. After the attack, the terrorists retreated and took some hostages with them to a warehouse miles away from the university. By the time we found it, it had been destroyed, and everyone in there had been killed. The hostages were fine, but there was no sign of their saviors. The hostages were questioned, but they all said they didn't see who saved them, though, I doubt they're telling the truth. Whoever it is that mopped the floor with those disgusting terrorists that night, we could sure use their help. I wouldn't mind having some capable people like that on our side."
"You think there was more than one?"
"Of course, no person on Earth could have done that by themselves."
"Well, there's got to be some badasses like that, hiding somewhere in the world."
"Then I want their autograph."
"Lucky you, got a pen?"
"Ha, nice try, Goose."
"Look alive, folks," the pilot interrupted, "We're here. Jesus, what happened?"
Everybody looked out the windows and saw complete destruction and blazing hell outside the building Thermite and the others were holed up in.
Glaz managed to find the last sniper earlier and domed him, and so he watched the chopper land in an area not covered in rubble.
"We've got one of ours landing outside, looks like our friends were late for the party, no?" Glaz reported in.
Thatcher was still watching the downstairs, making sure the two dopes who disappeared earlier didn't try to come back up, Thermite was near Thatcher and answered to Glaz, "Oh, guess who hasn't kicked the bucket yet? You take down those sharpshooters?"
"Yes, they got cocky."
"Of course they did. Now, let's get the fuck out of here, shall we?" he looked over at Tarret who was handcuffed by Dokkaebi.
Fuze was the first to make it outside, as he had swept the lower floors for enemy combatants. The rest came together, tired, but still ready and weary. The helicopter doors opened and Jager came out and greeted them.
"You guys look like scheisse."
Thatcher scoffed and ignored him, "I'll show him scheisse." he mumbled under his gas mask.
Dokkaebi saw Twitch sitting in the chopper and immediately went towards her.
"Roger that, I'll let them know." Twitch talked into the radio, "Everybody! A team is coming in to secure those containers, our orders are to stay here until they're done." She looked up into the distance, "And it looks like they're here already."
Dokkaebi sighed along with a few others, Mozzie included.
The helicopter was only a hundred feet away when a rocket zoomed across the sky and hit its bottom. The helicopter was spinning out of control, completely on fire, the pilot yelled, "This is Pequod, definitely NOT arriving at LZ."
Everybody raised their weapons and slid into cover, Thermite yelled to Glaz, "Do you have eyes on the rocket man?"
"No, I don't!"
Another rocket from a building nearby flew past and blew the helicopter already on the ground, eliminating their means of escape.
"Glaz!"
"I'm on it!"
Hidden behind a destroyed van, Isaac, as part of the plan, was going to fire the next rocket when Glaz saw him and shot his shoulder.
"Gah! Shit, I'm down!"
Michael from behind a window in one of the surrounding buildings saw him get downed, and radioed to the third, "Isaac's down! DO SOMETHING BRO!"
It was silent for the next few seconds until a loud pop in the sky was heard.
Everybody listened in until Fuze realized what it was.
"Mortar! Get down!"
Everybody braced for impact when an object lightly, in the middle of them all, with a soft clinking sound, hit the ground. Which was kind of anti-climactic.
Jager peeked out of cover after a few seconds, wondering what happened and saw a small cylinder on the floor.
Suddenly, the cylinder exploded, releasing large amounts of gas into the area.
"Shit! Masks on people!" Thatcher yelled.
Everybody quickly put on their gas masks and heard several more pops in the sky. More was coming.
"Move it, move it!" Thatcher yelled once more, "Back into the building everyone! Follow me!"
Michael pulled out a PKM LMG that he was given and started firing blindly into the smoke, "Die, c'mon! I literally don't get payed for this shit! So just die!"
Everybody rushed into the building, almost getting hit by hails of bullets coming from what seemed to be like every direction.
Mozzie was the first to get into the building. He stood by the door watching the others enter in one by one, but there was no sign of Twitch. He waited another few seconds before he decided to dash out into the open under fire to find her.
"Twitch! Twitch!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He looked left and right, but could see nothing but yellow gas surrounding him, he walked forward some more and noticed a dark figure laying on the floor. He rushed to the figure and saw Twitch gripping her thigh tightly while crawling on the floor. She was shot in her leg and was bleeding profusely.
"Ah, bugger! Twitch, let me help you up! We don't have time to sit around!" He lifted her up and put her arm around his head and started walking quickly back toward the building.
Glaz remained outside and tried his best to find the shooters, but the ground level was completely shrouded in gas.
While Mozzie and Twitch were still trying to catch up to everyone else, the rest of the team had already reached the building. Once that happened, a flare was shot up to the sky, originating where the mortar was firing from.
"Shit!" Michael yelled when his LMG ran out of ammo. He looked at the sky and saw the flare and screwed around with his pockets until he found what he was looking for. A detonator.
Isaac layed on the floor, wincing in pain, and watching the gas come closer and closer to him. Then he also saw the flare and pulled out his own detonator.
A second flare lit up the sky, and both White Masks activated their detonators. The building everyone ran inside in had explosives placed in several specific structural areas to trap them in and suffocate them with the deadly gas.
"C'mon, Twitch! We're almost there!" Mozzie yelled.
Without warning, an explosion in front of them blew them backwards several feet, slamming them into the hard-concrete ground. Twitch fell on the side of her gas mask, breaking it open. Mozzie had the wind knocked out of him but recovered as quickly as possible. He turned and saw Twitch coughing uncontrollably from the gas. He had to save her the only way he knew how.
Mozzie crawled to Twitch and ripped off her mask while taking off his at the same time. He placed the mask over her face, and she was able to breathe normally. When she became fully conscious, she realized what Mozzie had done.
"Mozzie, no!" she screamed under her mask.
Mozzie didn't respond but held his breath. He knew he couldn't hold it for long, but he had to get Twitch out of there regardless.
He had to save his rival.