Intuitions
Intuition... Funny thing; intuition, it's always there, yet you never listen... until it's too late.
He lay in the abandoned warehouse in the same position he had been in for the past 4 hours. Slowly he shifted his weight from his right arm to the left. He rubbed the trigger of his rifle gently with his index finger.
There was some movement in the window across the street. "Alpha strike team respond." There was a few seconds of crackling on the makeshift Com system. He slowly cursed himself for letting the last one be destroyed.
"Beta strike this is Alpha what's going on?" That was Beo. There are four of them on the team in all. Beo was his closest friend out of them all.
"I've got movement on the hostiles, two in the window, one by the door. One target is not mobile, switching to Thermal goggles." He pulled the goggles down over his eyes and turned them on, hoping no one could see the red-orange glow coming from under the thermal blanket.
"Copy that Beta we see them. No action just yet, remember in this part of town the cops actually care." Beo was right, they weren't in the slums anymore, they were in the upper part of the city.
"Roger Alpha, goin' cold" He laid his gun down slowly and looked back at his partner. He motioned for him to lay low by lifting his hand and extending his forefinger and middle finger and then balling his fist. There were only enough Com pieces to supply one for each team. So, each team leader had to keep the other well informed.
Rain nodded his head and laid his gun down, positioning himself more comfortably under the thermal blanket. He then pulled out a pair of thermal goggle and put them on so he could at least see what was going on.
"Hey Orka? You there?" He jumped slightly at the sound of Flash's voice. She wasn't supposed to have the Com.
"Yea flash I'm here what's going on?" He shifted impatiently and looked back at Rain and then back to the building across the street.
"I have a bad feeling about this one Orka. Something isn't right.." He heard the crackle of the makeshift Com system and then he sat there for a second.
"Flash you never have a good feeling, but we've came out ok before." He let go of the mic button and pulled the thermal blanket farther up on his shoulders. Flash began to say something but was cut short by gunfire in the other building "Flash, just save it for now. We've got work to do." He pulled his gun slowly up and before he could get his eye on the scope good a man was thrown through a window from the shock of a grenade. The explosions and fire completely clouded the infa-red and cause him to drop his goggles. "Alpha team. Run hot we've got action lets go!"
He saw flash run quickly out of an alleyway hugging the walls and staying out of the luminous glow of the street lights. The last the he saw was her pull out a pistol and make a run across the street to the other alleyway. He pulled the gun up snugly to his shoulder and heard a bullet whiz past his ear. Apparently Rain was already adding to his kill count.
He pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled into his shoulder as the bullet exploded from the barrel. The deafening crack, the fire from the gun's barrel, the instant thud of a body on the ground. This all felt so natural to him. It was all he had ever known, he had always lived in the shadows. Shadow-running was what he did. As far as anyone was concerned, he was Orka, and there was no PIN number to verify it, or to deny it.
He began to fire faster, there seemed to be an endless stream of the thugs. Finally when no more came he jumped quickly from under the thermal blanket grabbing his goggles and without looking back knew his partner was right behind him. He made a mad dash across the street and slammed his back against the wall of the other building right next to window. Rain pressed against the wall on the other side of the window. "Alpha team where are you guys?"
"Beta team this is Alpha we are on the roof. Repeat we are on the roof. Ready to make an entry?" Beo apparently had the mic again and was enjoying himself as always. He lives off of the adrenaline.
"Yea Alpha team we gotcha. We're ready to go in. On three... One, two, three! GO GO GO!" He heard a window crash and the instant repeating cracks of gunfire as both of them swung down from the roof into the top floor. Infiltration rule number one. Hit from all sides top and bottom and work to the middle. They'll never know what hit them. Once he was satisfied they were in he nodded to Rain.
Quickly and methodically they both turned to stand in front of the window but quickly snapped back. Rain looked to him as to see how many there were, by way of some very intricate hand motions he stated 5 on the left 4 on the right. Now they were ready. He broke out a small portion of the sectioned window pane and threw in a flash-bang grenade and leaned back against the wall closing his eyes. 10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1.. BANG! The grenade exploded in blinding white light leaving all the men in the room perpetually blind.
He quickly turned along with his partner and they began to spray bullets into the room, the only sounds you could hear were constant gunfire and the metallic clash of metal on concrete as the shells were discarded from the gun and hit the cold concrete.
He finished off all of the men in the room and motioned to Rain. "Go!" They both jumped through the window simultaneously. Orka shot the guy hiding behind the wall as if out of instinct. They ran to the stairs and began to work their way up, it was 10 story building so they should meet the others on the fifth floor. BANG! They heard a blast from a frag grenade and finished their run up the stairs. When they reached the top nothing prepared them for what they saw.
There were bodies piled on either side of the room. All of them were of the people they were sent here to capture. They saw a man run up the stairs ahead of them. There was apparently more to this mission than what was covered in the briefing.
"Rain, you go up the stairs, I'll meet you up there." Rain nodded and ran to the stairway looking around before he started up. Orka meanwhile ran to the window and looked up. Perfect, there was a window about ten feet up with a fire escape. He pulled out a pair of suction pads and began to climb up the wall. He reached the fire escape and pulled himelf up. Suddenly and loud crash above him made him jump and lose his footing and he fell grabbing on to the metal trellace. A body came hurtling out of a window on the 8th floor and dropped past him, barely missing the fire escape.
He pulled himself up with a grunt and jumped inside the building. Just as he did he saw his masked adversary standing in the stairway door to go up. He couldn't tell through the mask but it seemed as if the man smiled. A well timed smoke grenade allowed his enemy to escape once again. He ran headlong into the smoke, not caring about the danger. His mind was clouded with adrenaline. He surged forward seeing nothing but red. As he released a roaring battle cry he rushed up the stairs not once thinking of where Rain was, who just happened to be coming into the smokefilled room and stopped there waiting for more visibility.
He reached the next room just into to see his adversary clear the room with some very skilled sword work. Orka smiled and pulled the katana off his back laying his gun to the side. He took off the com systema and anything that would cause extra weight and laid it near his gun. He yelled to the masked man, "Swords? Fine let's fight!" The man never wavered but just nodded and rushed forward. Orka met the man at a full sprint and their swords met, for a brief second they looked one another in the eyes before spinning around each other looking for a better angle of attack.
The stranger was the first to strike. He took a swing at Orka's ankles, but this was easily dodged even by the slow moving orc. He smiled and swung directly for the chest of the elf, not putting much power into it. The elf simply met his sword and parried lunging for his chest. "HA! You'll have to better than that stranger!" Orka yelled as he dodged to the side and sliced cutting open the elf's suit spraying blood over the floor.
He stopped for a second and looked down at the blood. Suddenly he looked up and took his mask off revealing himself. "You are the first to hit me in years! I commend you orc, but the fight is not over yet! I am Eldon, and I swear that it will not happen again!" Eldon dove forward throwing his sword to the and knocked Orka's away. Just at that moment Rain, Beo, and Flash came in on opposite sides of the room and witnessed the orc and the elf in a power struggle. Orka clearly had the strength advantage, yet Eldon had much more speed.
Flash held Beo back as he tried to rush in, but there was noone to hold Rain back. He rushed in and was easily pushed over the side of the building bye the elf. Beo ran to the window to try and catch Rain but was too late and got there just in time to see his life long friend become mutilated by the concrete. Orka stopped fighting at that moment and hung his head low. Only because he was so cocky that he thought he could take on anyone his friend was dead now. Eldon gave him a swift kick to the face and Orka tumbled slowly backwards, he felt himself bump against something and heard Rain scream.
Orka grabbed Eldon's arm as he fell and all three of them tumbled out of the window. Orka felt himself falling. It seemed as if everything was in slow motion. He saw flash in the window and heard the crack of a gunshot as she pulled the trigger of the M-16 in her mouth. She dropped limply over the window sill. Orka felt himself hit the ground, and heard as well as felt every bone from his back down crunch. The last thing he felt was the agonizing pain of his skull making contact with the concrete.
So there lay the team, all in one large heap with nothing accomplished but a lot of pointless death, collateral damage, and pain. Had they only paid attention, to Flash's bad feeling.
Intuition... What a horribly funny thing.
Always, trust your intuition.
End.
Intuition... Funny thing; intuition, it's always there, yet you never listen... until it's too late.
He lay in the abandoned warehouse in the same position he had been in for the past 4 hours. Slowly he shifted his weight from his right arm to the left. He rubbed the trigger of his rifle gently with his index finger.
There was some movement in the window across the street. "Alpha strike team respond." There was a few seconds of crackling on the makeshift Com system. He slowly cursed himself for letting the last one be destroyed.
"Beta strike this is Alpha what's going on?" That was Beo. There are four of them on the team in all. Beo was his closest friend out of them all.
"I've got movement on the hostiles, two in the window, one by the door. One target is not mobile, switching to Thermal goggles." He pulled the goggles down over his eyes and turned them on, hoping no one could see the red-orange glow coming from under the thermal blanket.
"Copy that Beta we see them. No action just yet, remember in this part of town the cops actually care." Beo was right, they weren't in the slums anymore, they were in the upper part of the city.
"Roger Alpha, goin' cold" He laid his gun down slowly and looked back at his partner. He motioned for him to lay low by lifting his hand and extending his forefinger and middle finger and then balling his fist. There were only enough Com pieces to supply one for each team. So, each team leader had to keep the other well informed.
Rain nodded his head and laid his gun down, positioning himself more comfortably under the thermal blanket. He then pulled out a pair of thermal goggle and put them on so he could at least see what was going on.
"Hey Orka? You there?" He jumped slightly at the sound of Flash's voice. She wasn't supposed to have the Com.
"Yea flash I'm here what's going on?" He shifted impatiently and looked back at Rain and then back to the building across the street.
"I have a bad feeling about this one Orka. Something isn't right.." He heard the crackle of the makeshift Com system and then he sat there for a second.
"Flash you never have a good feeling, but we've came out ok before." He let go of the mic button and pulled the thermal blanket farther up on his shoulders. Flash began to say something but was cut short by gunfire in the other building "Flash, just save it for now. We've got work to do." He pulled his gun slowly up and before he could get his eye on the scope good a man was thrown through a window from the shock of a grenade. The explosions and fire completely clouded the infa-red and cause him to drop his goggles. "Alpha team. Run hot we've got action lets go!"
He saw flash run quickly out of an alleyway hugging the walls and staying out of the luminous glow of the street lights. The last the he saw was her pull out a pistol and make a run across the street to the other alleyway. He pulled the gun up snugly to his shoulder and heard a bullet whiz past his ear. Apparently Rain was already adding to his kill count.
He pulled the trigger. The gun recoiled into his shoulder as the bullet exploded from the barrel. The deafening crack, the fire from the gun's barrel, the instant thud of a body on the ground. This all felt so natural to him. It was all he had ever known, he had always lived in the shadows. Shadow-running was what he did. As far as anyone was concerned, he was Orka, and there was no PIN number to verify it, or to deny it.
He began to fire faster, there seemed to be an endless stream of the thugs. Finally when no more came he jumped quickly from under the thermal blanket grabbing his goggles and without looking back knew his partner was right behind him. He made a mad dash across the street and slammed his back against the wall of the other building right next to window. Rain pressed against the wall on the other side of the window. "Alpha team where are you guys?"
"Beta team this is Alpha we are on the roof. Repeat we are on the roof. Ready to make an entry?" Beo apparently had the mic again and was enjoying himself as always. He lives off of the adrenaline.
"Yea Alpha team we gotcha. We're ready to go in. On three... One, two, three! GO GO GO!" He heard a window crash and the instant repeating cracks of gunfire as both of them swung down from the roof into the top floor. Infiltration rule number one. Hit from all sides top and bottom and work to the middle. They'll never know what hit them. Once he was satisfied they were in he nodded to Rain.
Quickly and methodically they both turned to stand in front of the window but quickly snapped back. Rain looked to him as to see how many there were, by way of some very intricate hand motions he stated 5 on the left 4 on the right. Now they were ready. He broke out a small portion of the sectioned window pane and threw in a flash-bang grenade and leaned back against the wall closing his eyes. 10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1.. BANG! The grenade exploded in blinding white light leaving all the men in the room perpetually blind.
He quickly turned along with his partner and they began to spray bullets into the room, the only sounds you could hear were constant gunfire and the metallic clash of metal on concrete as the shells were discarded from the gun and hit the cold concrete.
He finished off all of the men in the room and motioned to Rain. "Go!" They both jumped through the window simultaneously. Orka shot the guy hiding behind the wall as if out of instinct. They ran to the stairs and began to work their way up, it was 10 story building so they should meet the others on the fifth floor. BANG! They heard a blast from a frag grenade and finished their run up the stairs. When they reached the top nothing prepared them for what they saw.
There were bodies piled on either side of the room. All of them were of the people they were sent here to capture. They saw a man run up the stairs ahead of them. There was apparently more to this mission than what was covered in the briefing.
"Rain, you go up the stairs, I'll meet you up there." Rain nodded and ran to the stairway looking around before he started up. Orka meanwhile ran to the window and looked up. Perfect, there was a window about ten feet up with a fire escape. He pulled out a pair of suction pads and began to climb up the wall. He reached the fire escape and pulled himelf up. Suddenly and loud crash above him made him jump and lose his footing and he fell grabbing on to the metal trellace. A body came hurtling out of a window on the 8th floor and dropped past him, barely missing the fire escape.
He pulled himself up with a grunt and jumped inside the building. Just as he did he saw his masked adversary standing in the stairway door to go up. He couldn't tell through the mask but it seemed as if the man smiled. A well timed smoke grenade allowed his enemy to escape once again. He ran headlong into the smoke, not caring about the danger. His mind was clouded with adrenaline. He surged forward seeing nothing but red. As he released a roaring battle cry he rushed up the stairs not once thinking of where Rain was, who just happened to be coming into the smokefilled room and stopped there waiting for more visibility.
He reached the next room just into to see his adversary clear the room with some very skilled sword work. Orka smiled and pulled the katana off his back laying his gun to the side. He took off the com systema and anything that would cause extra weight and laid it near his gun. He yelled to the masked man, "Swords? Fine let's fight!" The man never wavered but just nodded and rushed forward. Orka met the man at a full sprint and their swords met, for a brief second they looked one another in the eyes before spinning around each other looking for a better angle of attack.
The stranger was the first to strike. He took a swing at Orka's ankles, but this was easily dodged even by the slow moving orc. He smiled and swung directly for the chest of the elf, not putting much power into it. The elf simply met his sword and parried lunging for his chest. "HA! You'll have to better than that stranger!" Orka yelled as he dodged to the side and sliced cutting open the elf's suit spraying blood over the floor.
He stopped for a second and looked down at the blood. Suddenly he looked up and took his mask off revealing himself. "You are the first to hit me in years! I commend you orc, but the fight is not over yet! I am Eldon, and I swear that it will not happen again!" Eldon dove forward throwing his sword to the and knocked Orka's away. Just at that moment Rain, Beo, and Flash came in on opposite sides of the room and witnessed the orc and the elf in a power struggle. Orka clearly had the strength advantage, yet Eldon had much more speed.
Flash held Beo back as he tried to rush in, but there was noone to hold Rain back. He rushed in and was easily pushed over the side of the building bye the elf. Beo ran to the window to try and catch Rain but was too late and got there just in time to see his life long friend become mutilated by the concrete. Orka stopped fighting at that moment and hung his head low. Only because he was so cocky that he thought he could take on anyone his friend was dead now. Eldon gave him a swift kick to the face and Orka tumbled slowly backwards, he felt himself bump against something and heard Rain scream.
Orka grabbed Eldon's arm as he fell and all three of them tumbled out of the window. Orka felt himself falling. It seemed as if everything was in slow motion. He saw flash in the window and heard the crack of a gunshot as she pulled the trigger of the M-16 in her mouth. She dropped limply over the window sill. Orka felt himself hit the ground, and heard as well as felt every bone from his back down crunch. The last thing he felt was the agonizing pain of his skull making contact with the concrete.
So there lay the team, all in one large heap with nothing accomplished but a lot of pointless death, collateral damage, and pain. Had they only paid attention, to Flash's bad feeling.
Intuition... What a horribly funny thing.
Always, trust your intuition.
End.