Chapter 7: The storm approaches.

Grunting as I pulled myself up from the small metal hinges that were left there from the decaying lighthouse, I finally made it to the top. Panting heavily, I walked towards the broken section of wall in the lighthouse that overlooked the small area where the local chef was residing. From what I remember from the little dock area, the dude that needed to be killed was on the boat far to the left, which was out of sight due to the large office building. Still noticing that there was an ammo cache along with a few goodies made me somewhat confused as I thought this wouldn't be the case as in the game, the cache of ammo and weapons was a tool for the devs to help out the players who needed the extra boost to finish the mission. Oddly enough, I saw the logo of the Siberian wolves on the side of the green ammo box…I guess this world explains that too.

Still not questioning it, I would quickly begin setting up my rifle and using my M.A.S.K to start tagging anyone in the complex I could see. The place was a fortress if I really have to give my personal opinion, one area of the place just led to the open sea while the left side of the complex was a small iced-up docking area that was currently empty. While the area in I was looking towards had a massive wall that was equipped with five or so automated turrets and a few pairs of guards patrolling the upper section of the wall. Not to mention a small bridge that led to the place had a heavy unit along with a pair of regular troopers. In the complex itself were several buildings, two of them was important, the first was the building with a small dry dock that had two floors, and from what I could see, held a sniper, and the other was far across from it around 200 meters away was another building which was to my knowledge a warehouse that was just across the road from the "office" building worst part anything in between the building was wide open space made hiding kills more difficult.

In total, I could count 35 troopers, two snipers, 1 officer, and the rest grunts, and those were the ones I could see as I know there were two boats that held around 5 or so each, so that bumps the actual count to 45….thank god I brought extra ammo since I wouldn't be able to take them down without it. Still, with 8 mags, that would mean 80 rounds to spare, so I would remove the mags from the pouch and set them on the floor where I was going to lie down. As well I checked the ammo box, and it surprisingly had enough ammo for my weapon to replenish 2 mags, the rest were useless 7.62 rounds that didn't fit in my gun. Still, after preparing, I got comfortable in the cold concrete and began planning out my route and my execution of the people in the complex.

The people on the wall were the first to go as the bodies on top of the wall weren't easily spotted when compared to the others, but before I could even go after them, I aimed my rifle at the first bastard at the two-story dry dock roof. Right under him was the Siberian Officer, so I knew I needed to take him down quickly, taking a deep breath, I aimed down the scope, and the M.A.S.K had already made a line where I needed to adjust my positioning so I could land the shot on the poor sniper's skull. Getting my heartbeat to relax was a bit harder than usual as I knew that storm was rapidly approaching and so I didn't have much time as I wanted, still, I managed to get it down just enough to fire my first shot, watching it soar in the air for a second before slamming into the skill of the target made my stomach feel sick before it rapidly went away, cycling another round in I quickly changed targets and fired at the officer who just barely looked up and saw blood dripping down from the ceiling. Watching another round fly in the air before slamming into the base of his jaw, I saw him slam against the wall before sliding down it, convulsing before limping.

Cycling in another round, I turned my attention to the people on the wall, and I began picking them off, slowly and surely making sure anyone at the wall was taken, and from the angle, they were at no one else could see them. Feeling more relaxed from my success, I turned my attention to the warehouse building with housed the other sniper, lining up my shot, I fired at him, however, I missed, and it went over his head, watching him duck and immediately turn towards me, I rapidly cycle a round before firing at him again and hitting him directly between the eyes, watching him fall down dead. A spike of fear rose up inside of me as I quickly looked around, expecting to see the grunts start running around and manning the mortars in the complex, but they didn't. I let my body slowly relax I continued with my execution of the complex as I knew I was in the clear.

Cutting the numbers from 45 to a 20 or so members who were guarding the other side of the complex, I smiled as I went to the ammo box and quickly loaded in the mags I spent with the twenty rounds in the box. After doing so, I rapidly descended from the lighthouse and headed straight toward the main entrance, well not exactly, as the heavy and the pair of guards were making sure the bridge wasn't being messed with. Carefully sneaking down and using the bushes as cover as I descended the small hill where the lighthouse was, I got myself in a position where my sniper would penetrate the hamlet cover of the heavy trooper, still from this angle, it wasn't going to be easy, as I'll need to rapidly take out three people with three separate rounds, and from the time from cycling and firing, I could very well blow my cover and cause this entire operation to fail.

The stress of the situation wasn't lost on me as I aimed at the heavy unit's head, but a few moments as I lined up my shot I shifted my rifle towards the pair next to him, while the heavy unit was extremely dangerous as the rounds could very much kill me if they slam into me anywhere on my body, the regular grunts had something that made them more valuable, easily accessible radios. Taking a breath, I let a round loose as the round quickly slammed into the helmet of the soldier, which caused him to drop to the ground without much fanfare, the grunt next to him watched him fall before freezing as another round slammed into him and I heard the heavy yell out sniper, cringing that I didn't cycle fast enough I shot the final round which pinged against his helm and the man stumbled back before I fired again killing him.

Cycling a round I stand up and quickly push up towards the small entrance before stopping from the range of the automated turrets, taking my rife I aim towards the large camera under the large barrel of the MPK, which made the sensors on them worthless. Reloading my rifle, I knew I didn't have much time if anyone heard that yell, the cheif may run into cover and radio in for help which makes my life harder. Running through the entrance, I saw the open space was mostly clear, and the mortar was empty, but I didn't trust it, aiming through my scope, I looked around for anyone, and I spotted the soldiers at the opposite end of the complex walking normally, without much care in the world.

Blinking at this revelation, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in and began trying to plan my way to the other side without getting caught. The openness of the complex made it rather difficult to sneak to the next cluster of cover without getting caught. Still, this was only made worse by what Handler told me next.

"Seeker, you only have 10 minutes before the storm arrives at the area, proceed with caution, as the storm will increase in intensity as time goes on."

Fuck, this wasn't good, keeping close to the wall and taking down CCTV cams along the way, I made it to the office building/warehouse area. With a lack of a silenced CQC weapon, I knew I didn't have much if shit hit the fan beside a rapid shot from my rifle, which may not make it in time. The office building was around three stories, and the entrance was guarded by a single turret and a pair of guards, it seemed simple enough if one didn't count that in order to access that place I would have to take a detour where the two boats are without being detected. Luckily for me, the boat was the most likely spot where the staff member was, and so that was one of the contract objectives, yet it was on two cargo boats which heavily favored an upgrade I didn't have access for the M.A.S.K which was the foot tracking and active sonar ping.

I'll have to enter in there blind, so after some deliberation, I sneaked onto one of the cargo boats. The layout of the place was similar to the games, so I at least had that advantage, spotting one of those weird ammo cashes again inside one of the opened crates before I remembered that in the contract briefings that Igor was planning to cause havoc and blame it on the Siberian Wolves on the attacks. It was smart if only they didn't realize how dumb that is since the wolves don't have access to a nuclear-powered Ice breaker ship that I was asked to blow up…..maybe I should cause a meltdown on the reactor since that will cause any of the boats to not be touchable for decades.

Shaking those thoughts aside as I spotted a soldier making a turn towards me, I quickly dove into the open container and held my breath, pulling out my blade and waiting to strike, watching him walk by I quickly moved behind him and right as he was about to pass by one of the metallic doors I pulled him inside and stabbed him in the neck. Of course, I couldn't take credit for the takedown, as I let my body do the motions for me, yet I still felt rather proud before I noticed the guy was holding on to his neck in silent pain, quickly leaving that container, I would repeat the process of taking down the members of the boat until this section was clear, now I had to jump onto the other one after I hide the bodies since I do not remember which boat the Cheif was.

For my efforts, I think I pulled a muscle that hurt like hell, casually throwing and ethically looting the bodies, I managed to rack up around 500 rubles, which wasn't bad. Still, I had to now sneak onto the other boat, and the handler warned me that the snowstorm was about to land in 5 minutes. Which made me hastened my struggle to climb onto the boat, picking the bridge area to climb over, I slipped my first attempt before managing to catch the frozen-over metal opening, where I pulled myself over, flopping on the ground. Taking a moment to ensure I wasn't going to fall, I looked up and spotted a very familiar-looking man in a hard hat with a shocked look on his face. We both blinked at each other as the shock set in, however, I recovered faster as I scrambled to aim my rifle at him, I fired as he yelled, and his body dropped on the floor with a hard thud.

Getting up, I heard the sound of people yelling as I panicked slightly and moved over to the body, grabbing it and throwing it overboard before making a break for it for the cargo hold, knowing that the guards had heard the yell I hope to god they think he fell over and didn't radio it in before I take them all out, it didn't help that is shot him in the neck and some blood was where I fired. Hearing orders being yelled out to get off the boat and check on the body, I peaked my head around the corner with my rifle and saw around three or so people looking overboard and what looked to be an officer reaching to his radio, without thinking I cycle a round and fire at him which made him drop like a sack of potatoes, causing the other soldiers to turn at the body, cycling another round I aim at the men looking towards the body and I fired, killing one and injuring another who made a blood curling scream. The one who didn't get shot panicked and started to jump out of the boat, but a round to the head stopped him as I rushed out and tried my best to mercifully kill the wounded man. It wasn't pretty as I rapidly stabbed him in the upper chest, where his armor didn't protect him. And after a few stabs, he stopped, looking down at the mess I had made I felt sick and didn't pay attention to the notification that popped out in front of me, that sick feeling was lessened, but I got up and placed my blade back in its sheath.

I stood up and began breathing to try to calm myself, after taking a few moments to recover, I turned to the rifle, which I dropped in my panicked state to shut the man up I walked over to it and reached for it before freezing as I saw my hands were covered in blood. The pings of multiple notifications were ignored as I just looked at my hands, they were red, entirely red. Still, what snapped me out of it, was the handler.

"Seeker, the storm is here, from here on out, you'll have to manage unpredictable winds, the M.A.S.K will support you where it can, but any range greater than 200 meters will cause the mask to take more time to process the information so expect a 3 to 5-second delay."

Blinking and giving a weak thanks to the Handler, I picked up my rifle, staining its gray and black frame, I felt my body relax slightly as I thought the effects of the [Gamer's mind] helping me out, still after recovering, I was surprised I didn't hear any other yells or bullets flying my way. That scream should have attracted some attention, looking around, all I heard was the quiet winds blowing in my direction, and I got my answer as to why. The snow clouds were almost right on top of us, and most likely, the grunts were informed to go inside for shelter to not get blasted by the incoming snowstorm. The gray clouds were daunting to look at, but the snow that began to fall towards us looked rather beautiful, yet I shook my head, knowing I couldn't just stop now, I had a job to do.

My grip tightened on my rifle as I jumped down from the boat and onto the ice, taking a few steps until I was on the dock proper, I knew I had to clear everyone from the complex or risk being caught later on. And so I started to walk towards the office.

30 minutes later

Ripping my knife out from the neck of the last trooper in the complex, I felt odd as the snow did little to cover my tracks, then again, it was the first moments of the storm, and it wouldn't be as strong until an hour or half an hour later. Watching the man fall to the ground and the red crimson flowing out from the wound I caused, I turned away as I walked away from the place.

The first part of the contract was complete, and now I was heading toward the laptop, more specifically, the data on it, the log book of targets that the Cheif was about to take down in the arctic, American, Norway, Russian oil rigs which could cause an international squeeze on oil reserves and increase tensions as fuel becomes scarce. While the chief is dead, the handler wants his data, so who am I to deny this.

Walking out of the complex, I checked my ammo reserves, and I had 4 full mags and a quarter, so 42 rounds, while I did have extra mags in my inventory, it was rather useless if the handler spotted my ability and he would definitely ask questions on how I got extra ammo if I don't fake it somehow, maybe the ammo boxes could help since they had rounds that fit with my gun, walking back up that hill towards the tower, I turned left towards the structure built into a cave. Honestly, even with maxed equipment, this section of the level was a pain to deal with, the entrance from the lighthouse was annoying to go from since I needed to head to the other side.

To explain my pain, the area I am talking about is, in a simple sense, a tight man-made valley where guards had large sightlines of the entire valley where if you accidently leave a body out, you are screwed. Not to mention I heard static as I let out a loud sigh as I entered the range of the jammer of the area, which was in the clearing towards the lighthouse route, meaning my M.A.S.K markings were wiped until I took it down…..wait checking my feed with the Handler, I saw that it said it was shut down and the camera feed was disabled due to the jammer….smiling at this, I would stop in my tracks and take cover, removing my empty mags and replacing them with the filled ones in my inventory. Refilling my active ammo reserves was a boon since I didn't have to worry about running out of ammo and resorting to my knife, with that said, I had to take down that hammer before anything since I couldn't get any more alerts from the handler.

With that on my mind, I started moving towards the jammer, from the clearing and from the path from the lighthouse, I had to climb snow-covered rocks to see that big spinning jammer, aiming with my scope, I tried to spot the power box, and after finding it I look around the place as I didn't want anyone to notice the box being shot. The soft snowfall was a bit annoying as I couldn't easily see everyone in that area, but with the clear coast, I quickly fired off two shots to the box and watched as the bullets slammed into the power box and saw it short-circuit. I smiled as I saw the jammer slowly begin to stop, and strangely no one from the area bothered to check. Moving away from the rocks, I got on my feet and headed to the direction of the storm, the area of the storm was where I usually tackled this place, taking my time to get there, I wondered on how I wondered how I was going to find the bounty people due to the snow storm since I didn't want to miss out on the special reward. The two bounty targets were strange, the first one was directly right after here and was based on a hut and a boat where I typically blew him up with several AT mines which sent him flying, and the other was under the bridge which connected to where Igor and the ship were in. I was planning to snipe him with the cover of the snowstorm, yet I didn't know what I could do since they could have repositioned from the storm, which made my life harder.

Finally arriving at the place, I began my slow cleaning of the areas, taking my sweet time as I knew I had all the time in the world since I knew that Igor and his girlfriend won't leave the place due to the storm and was most likely going to stay and weather the storm since the office was connected to a small living quarters for Igor and after clearing the area where the jammer was in, I heard the Handler alert me about something.

"I have gotten a report that a helicopter is leaving the area, while no one from the contract or bounties are on the manifest, it was said to drop off extremely confidential files that could lead to the location of a high-value target, If possible secure this information and you will be rewarded handsomely."

My eyes widen, like the contract before this wasn't in the games, and even worse, I was given another notification by the [Game]

[Quest Updated!]

[Emergancy!]

[Find and collect the files!]

[Time limit: 40 minutes]
[Rewards: ?]

"Fuck"

Well, thanks, murphy you ass, now I have to rush through this zone and head to the final area, meaning I'll have to ignore the bounties and causing me to miss out on the bonus objectives. Still, I cleared out the most annoying part, and I could sneak through the actual building, which would lead me to the bridge area. Not to mention the Snowstorm was getting worse, and it was getting harder to see, but thanks to the M.A.S.K Sensory mode I could easily see, yet I couldn't use it for long since it would deactivate.

Moving around, and started to climb up the ladder and got up to the lege I was initially at kept my head down as I rapidly moved down the catwalk, where I knew there was at least a soldier there, so I had my rifle ready to fire at the poor man who gets into my sight. With that said, I entered the perimeter of the building and felt a rush of warmth as the heating of the place was rather good, but at this point, I couldn't care less as I ignored most of the troopers and passed by them until I reached where the laptop was. Seeing that it was being used by an officer, I just simply aimed at him and fired the bastard at the head, causing him to drop.

Climbing down the stairs after shooting at the guy, I reach the laptop and pull out a USB that I was given and plug it in, typing in a few commands, I activate the program, which downloads the data before pulling it out. Looking around, I spot the exit that leads me to the bridge, where the massive statue was. The area was open, but no one was posted around this area due to the snowstorm, I only took a step as I felt my body scream at me to drive down, which I followed, right after I heard a snap of a round pass me landing behind me. Running towards the stature, I dive towards it, hitting the side of my head for forgetting about the rival here, he was usually posted up across the shore around 700 meters out on a cargo boat, and my scope was only ranged for 500 meters at most, which were going to be a difficult shot even with the M.A.S.K's help will be very difficult.

Using my scope and quickly spotting the boat being so far away, I cursed at myself as I knew I had to find him since he had around 3 spawn areas, checking the spots, I was shot twice, and I only barely dodged the last one. Unable to find him, I hissed in frustration before ducking my head as I saw a round being sent my way, but now I got a beat on him he was on top of the containers, the M.A.S.K estimated around 782 meters away, and I was definitely out of range, shaking my head I aimed my scope and tried my best to get my scope on it, and I saw the M.A.S.K's countdown to process the data, seeing another orange round pass my head I finally got the drop line, and I arraigned my barrel aiming it upwards where it hit the 800-meter range. I was about to fire before another round slammed the stone next to me, causing some chunks of stone to hit the mask, ruining my shot, adjusting I fired off and saw the round fly off. Taking cover and not bothering to check, I cycle a round before moving towards the other side of the stature, resetting my positioning and firing off another round roughly the same area. I was greeted with another round, checking I was off only by a few centimeters and adjusting my aim, I fired and dived back into cover. Reloading as I ran out of ammo due to our dual, I went to the other side and looked at the boat and saw that the rival was on the ground, unmoving, with his rifle dropped on the side.

I was breathing heavily now as the rush of adrenaline was causing my heart to rapidly beat, that was too close, way too close to be comfortable. Hell, I took a breather as I leaned back against the stone of the statue and let myself relax. Looking at my bloody hands, I saw that I was shaking as I almost died. Closing my eyes, I know that I could have prepared for this if I was focused and remembered about the entire level, but I didn't.

Feeling [Gamer's mind] made my recovery time faster, I didn't say much about how that worked, all it said in the description was that it made me immune to minor effects, and nothing about helping me deal with the stress and emotional moments, but I wasn't going to question it. Even with the strong wings blowing around me and the snowfall getting heavier, I felt a bit less worried now, with luck, I could still make it to the emergency quest. Getting up and dusting myself off, I started my march towards the massive apartment block where beyond it was Igor and the massive ice breaker…and where that emergency quest lies.

POV Handler.

Watching the Seeker get up and walk towards the pathway that led straight to the final stretch of his objective, I couldn't help but feel as if I was intruding in some way, My mood soured somewhat as I watched him kill one of the rivals that were hired to kill the Seeker, Serbia didn't take lightly that Ivanoskey was assassinated by the Seeker and was planning to send mercenaries to take him down and look out for their "high" valued members. In reality, 598 was already hard at work decoding the bug that was placed inside Igor's phone and was already getting snippets of the conversation between Igor and his lover, and from the conversation, they already knew the pair was on the chopping block to be removed from power as the oil company was a means to the end as the prime minister was planning to nationalize the company and removing both Igor and his lover in a single swept, blaming the Siberian wolves for the attack which would throw some blame away from the Serbian government.

Leaning back against my chair, I was notified that the Seeker's hideout unit was upgraded with a shower and laundry unit, kitchen, workshop, Armory, and a M.A.S.K upgrade center where the engineers can remotely upgrade the M.A.S.K without hindering training for the Seeker. As well, 892 was already getting approved for her operation and just needs the Seeker to be ready, a few days of rest, and he'll be sent off to Alaska.

Everything was going according to the Director's plans.

A/N: I AM SORRY, FOR BEING A DAY LATE, HALLOWEEN WAS FUN AND I HAD TO DEAL WITH A PARTY!

Still, I hope you enjoy this fortnight's chapters, have a nice day!

Oh, and I hang out in TheDarkWolfShiro's Discord server, You can find me as the

Vඞiliඞnt the Sussy Bඞstඞrdඞ

if you want the link, here you go! / wd3tUYWVCd