Disclaimer: See chapter one.

A/N: A little shorter this time but hey, I'm trying!

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Chapter 3

Split 0925 hours.

Andrews had fallen asleep and 962 was resting as well. 909 and 241 were talking with low voices, crouched around their maps. 494 returned his gaze to the scenery outside the window. The city was in even worse shape then he had projected. From what he could see from his position, only about one third of the buildings looked to be relatively unharmed. Several others would be habitable too, but many buildings were reduced to heaps of rubble. If the situation was like this throughout the entire city, it would narrow down the scope of their search a little, which was a good thing. The ruins would provide them with good cover while they searched the streets for their target. However, it also left them more vulnerable to snipers and lookouts positioned in upper levels in any of the remaining buildings.

He could see several soldiers patrolling the streets in small units. Studying them carefully, he tried to estimate how much of a threat they would be. 494 let his eyes focus on one of the soldiers a few hundred meters away. A normal human would only have seen a figure walking on the street, but to 494 the soldier could have been standing only a few steps away. The man was clad in camouflage gear. Not urban camouflage though but the green standard camouflage designed for forests and fields. 494 made a mental note about that. They were obviously lacking equipment, which wasn't really a surprise. The soldier was carrying an old AK-47 automatic rifle. The 7.62mm calibre gun had been the standard weapon in the Eastern bloc for as long as anyone cared to remember. Russia had long since replaced it with the newer, small calibre AK-74 but many of the former communist countries still used the original model. The old construction was very loud and not very accurate after a few shots, but it was extremely reliable and could be roughly handled without breaking. It was a good weapon, built for the battlefield. They would have to be very careful to make sure no enemy soldier got off a shot at any of them. The sound would echo over the entire city and draw more attention to them than they could afford.

None of the enemies were wearing any kind of body armor, he noticed. They were carrying a few grenades in their belts, though. Letting his eyes zoom in on them, he classified them as heavy explosive grenades. Ordinary hand grenades without any special functions. No fragmentation grenades at least, that was a relief. 494 didn't like those little things; they were much too hard to dodge. All the soldiers were carrying a combat knife as well, but none of them had any pistols.

They were moving carelessly along the streets, chatting loudly with each other, their rifles on their shoulders. 494 could easily hear the words but he had no idea what they were saying. Another mental note; learn the language of the country you're going to. He smiled slightly. All the soldiers were smoking as they walked, bad discipline for a soldier. It would also destroy their night vision if they kept it up when darkness fell again. That was something that would give the X5's and Andrews an added advantage. 'As if you'll need that,' his mind automatically filled in. From the looks of it, this would be easy as soon as they found the enemy headquarters. 'Don't get too cocky now,' another part of his mind interjected. 494 drew a deep breath and forced the first thought from his mind. Caution was what kept you alive. Well, caution and training, but he knew his training was good enough.

*****

It was early afternoon when Andrews woke up. Stretching his stiff muscles, he took in the view of the room before he got up. 494 was standing by a window, just as he'd been when Andrews went to sleep. The girl was at another window, looking out at the streets and the two boys were resting. They weren't sleeping, but sat relaxed against one of the walls. One of the low tables had been moved to the middle of the room and a pile of bricks had replaced the broken table leg. On the table he could see several maps and various kinds of explosives and detonators. It was the rifle his gaze was drawn to though, a HK PSG-1 sniper rifle that had to be the girl's weapon. It was one of the most expensive rifles in the world and about the same size as the girl. Andrews held back a chuckle as a mental image of the girl flying backwards from the recoil of firing the gun appeared in his head. Somehow he doubted that would happen though. The girl had to be like 494 and the others, and if they could lift a boat with 3 people in it without effort, then shooting a rifle would probably not be a problem.

He made his way over to 494 and took a position at the other side of the window, just as he'd done earlier in the morning. The street was empty, no movement anywhere. Andrews took his time to study the buildings and assess the condition of the city. "Have you seen any movement?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

494 nodded and described what he'd seen. Where they had been and how many they were. How the enemy was armed, their equipment and how they had acted. Andrews listened carefully, making sure to remember the details. It was one of the most important things, to know the enemy. He turned around and let his eyes search the room for a pair of binoculars. When he couldn't find any he turned to 494 with a frown. "Don't you have any binoculars?"

494 turned his head slightly, keeping one eye on the street - still looking out for any kind of danger - and the other one on Andrews. "Binoculars?" he asked with faked surprise. "They were only a few hundred meters away."

*****

It was late afternoon before 494 saw any movement again. And this time it wasn't soldiers. He watched, puzzled as a group of kids were running around laughing and yelling, hitting something with oddly shaped sticks. He focused his eyes on the object of their attention and studied it. It looked like a round black rubber disc, about two inches thick and four inches in diameter. One of the kids gave it a hard hit with his stick and another one tried to catch it and failed. All the kids started to cheer.

494 turned his head slightly to look at Andrews, who was smiling. Smiling? He frowned and looked back at the kids.

"They're playing hockey," Andrews said with longing in his voice.

"Hockey?"

Andrews looked questioning at him. "Yeah, hockey." He could see the question in the boy's eyes and started to explain. "Hockey is a sport. It was quite popular in the US before the pulse and I used to watch the Capitals as often as I could. The Capitals were my team."

494 searched his mind to find any reference to 'hockey' but came up with nothing. It was obviously not something Manticore thought they would need to know about. At least not yet.

"It's usually played on ice and with skates on your feet," Andrews continued, caught up in his explanation. "The US was one of the best teams in the world," he smiled. "Only the damn Canadians beat us on a regular basis."

494 nodded, indicating that he understood. He didn't really, but he made a mental note to look into it when he got back. One of the kids hit the rubber object hard and it landed in the ruins of a destroyed house. 494 could see it clearly from his position but it soon became obvious that the kids had no idea exactly where it landed. After about half an hour the kids gave up their search and left.

It had been careless of them to be out in the open like that. They lived in the middle of a war zone, after all. 494 reflected on it for a while. They had looked like they were about ten years old at the most. Born and raised in this environment and grown up with the war around them. They probably didn't know anything other than war, and if they were used to war - real war - this calm day was probably one of the better in their lives. Satisfied with this explanation for their irrational behaviour, he focused on other things.

*****

Andrews saw the other two boys disappear behind a building a block south of them as he and 494 slowly moved through the dark city. The girl was still back at their temporary base with the radio and most of their explosives and other equipment. They were only out scouting now, trying to find the enemy HQ. 494 darted over to a ruin and picked something up. He studied it carefully as he made his way back to Andrews. It was the hockey puck the kids had been playing with, Andrews realized. It was scuffed, and looked like it had seen better days. 494 threw it up in the air and caught it a few times before he put it away in one of his pockets. Andrews smiled; maybe his young co-worker was a future hockey fan. He had to make sure to tell him more about the Capitals; he couldn't let the boy support the wrong team if the NHL ever started up again.

*****

The two groups of soldiers made their way through the city on empty streets. It looked like all the locals, including the soldiers, went to bed, or at least stayed inside, as soon as darkness fell. It sped up their search, and 494 and Andrews covered several blocks in the northeastern part of the city the first night. 909 and 962 had been moving as fast and covered about the same area but more to the south. The few patrols they saw were easily avoided. 494 and Andrews only saw one patrol the whole night, while the others had avoided a few more. That, 494 thought, was something else that indicated he was right and their intel was wrong. However, they had to search the target area before they could move on to other parts of the city.

*****

The weather held the next day, yielding a clear sky with lots of stars and a bright half-full moon. The night vision goggles Andrews had were barely needed, and he'd pulled them down to hang from his neck for now. The search yesterday had been fruitless, not a sign of the enemy HQ and hardly any signs of enemy activity at all. He hoped they would be luckier today. The longer they stayed in the area, the higher the chances of being discovered became.

Andrews moved slowly through the small park. Park Emanuela Vidovica, if he remembered correctly. They had passed the ruins of a church on their right before they got to the park, and he recognized that from the maps. 494 was moving like a shadow ten steps ahead of him. He had to admire the boy's ability to move silently, yet fast. The fact that he was small and light was an advantage of course, but he sensed something else about the boy. He hadn't been told everything and what he'd seen the past days just led to more questions. The other kids weren't even talking to him though, and 494 seemed to enjoy keeping him in the dark.

They reached the other side of the park and moved out on a street northwest of the park. The rusty street sign was still readable, he noticed as they moved out onto Lovretska.

*****

909 held up his fist as a signal to stop and 962 immediately stopped, taking a defensive position. {Hold position,} 909 signed before he continued forward on his own. They were on a rather small street called Siniska, which would lead them to Domoviniskograta, one of the largest streets in the city. He hastily made his way to the next street corner and peeked around it. There, just where he thought they would be, was a small group of soldiers. They didn't look like a patrol; more like a few friends standing and talking. He'd heard their voices long before he could see them, and no patrol would be that careless, would they?

909 motioned to 962 to join him and they quickly evaluated the situation. They could easily avoid the soldiers and continue their search, but at the same time they had no idea if the group had chosen that spot to gather by a coincidence, or if they were close to something important. 909 made the decision and moved carefully toward the soldiers. They could see a church a block away to their right as they moved on to Staviceva. The houses in front of the church had been destroyed and had left a large open area. The soldiers were still talking, oblivious to their company.

That's when the shout and the shot echoed through the streets.

The bullet hit the wall a meter behind 962. It was a badly aimed shot, and all it accomplished was to make the X5s notice the lookout in the church tower. Unfortunately, it also alerted the soldiers in front of them.

962 dove to the ground and rolled a few times to make himself harder to hit. He brought up his gun and aimed at the little window at the top of the tower, his eyes zeroing in on the man behind the rifle. A second later, three bullets hit the lookout in the head and he fell to the ground like a marionette with the strings cut.

909 threw himself into a nearby doorway as the soldiers opened fire. 962 was lying on the ground behind a part of a razed wall, and the soldiers focused their fire on him. With his gun up and set to single shot fire, 909 moved out from the doorway, staying low to the ground. The soldiers, he counted seven of them, were standing out in the middle of the street without any cover except for their own fire. The X5 quickly fired a few shots, hitting two of the green-clad men, and forcing the others to take cover. 962 took the opportunity and blurred over to 909's side.

The two X5s shared a look. They could easily take care of this themselves if they had to, but they could also use this situation to find out something that had been bothering them ever since this started. They moved into the house and took up defensive positions, making sure no one could come in without them noticing. 909 clicked on his radio, and in the second before he spoke the thoughts of the two transgenics were identical. Would 494 help if they needed him?

*****

494 instinctively dove for cover as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the street. He was on his feet an instant later as his mind caught up and told him the shot came from several blocks away. Andrews had crouched low as well, and was now scanning the street for any signs of danger. 494 spun and looked in the other direction, making sure that no one could sneak up on them from behind.

Several more shots were fired, and 494 could even hear the muffled thunks from a silenced MP10 returning the fire. He signalled to Andrews and they started to make their way toward the sounds of battle.

[Six to Three, position compromised. Requesting backup.]

909's voice was calm despite the situation he was in.

"Affirmative Six, Three and Four are on the way." 494 replied, increasing his speed to a light jog, making sure that Andrews could keep up.

They quickly covered the few blocks separating them and the other X5s. 494 slowed, then stopped as he reached a street corner. Ducking low, he peeked around it. He couldn't see 909 or 962, but several enemy soldiers were crouched behind whatever cover they could find. Two bodies were lying on the street, and the surviving soldiers were shooting sporadically at one of the houses a few hundred meters away. None of them were paying attention to their rear.

"We split," 494 said. "I take the other side of the street and you take this one." He didn't even wait for Andrews' nod before he darted across the road and took cover in a doorway. Quickly surveying the area, he found no immediate threats. The only things moving were the five soldiers in front of him, who kept shooting at his CO. He signed to Andrews and they began sweeping down the street, keeping close to the walls to minimize the risk of being discovered.

494 passed the body of a fallen soldier, lying slumped against the wall. Blood from a gunshot wound at the left side of the chest had coloured his camouflage jacket a bright, arterial red. The man wasn't moving and 494 ignored him. The shot hadn't hit the heart, but wasn't far from it, he noticed before moving on. A few more steps and they were within range. 494 glanced over at Andrews, who had stopped, and crouched low on one knee, his weapon up and ready. He took an identical position and aimed quickly at the soldier closest to him.

The MP10s were set to semi-automatic fire, three shots with each press of the trigger. 494 and Andrews fired at the same time, taking out one soldier each. He felt the light twitch of the gun as the short burst made it recoil, and he automatically compensated for the movement. The sight barely moved from the target. The body of the first soldiers hadn't hit the ground before the second pair were taken out, and a fraction of a second later three bullets from 494's gun hit the last soldier in the back of his head.

Andrews got up carefully, his gun still trained on the unmoving soldiers. Out of the corner of his eye he could see 494 mirror him and rise. A peripheral movement caught his eye and he whirled around, his eyes widening as he saw the bloody soldier they had passed charge at 494.

"Look out!" Andrews yelled as he brought up his gun.

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