As they walked to the arms office together they heard a loud commotion. The blonde turned and looked at her friend and rolled her eyes, having an idea about who was yelling. They continued down the corridor towards the sound of their comrades arguing about a random subject they couldn't place from their spot in the hallway. As they got closer they heard Jordan yell, "This is complete bullshit. I hate when the 5 of you are the defenders. Like Ela and Valk on the same team is already one thing, but adding Cav, Echo, and Doc is messed up. That's all I'm saying."
Ela decided to announce her presence, "I don't see why you're so mad Jordan. Meghan and I are no better than the rest of you." She stated as she walked to the counter to get her sim rounds, not caring that she was interrupting.
"No, Ela, he's got a point. You and Meghan on the same team is kind of messed up. You guys feed off of each other. It's insane how well you two work. Then add in Taina and someone to guard OBJ meghan on cams, it's stupid trying to get in the buildings, let alone the OBJ." Said Eliza from where she was putting her sim rounds into her R4-C.
"Well did any of you think that, that might be the point. Who's attacking against that team?" Meghan said, making everyone look at her.
"We only know that those are the defending ops, but considering who's here, it will probably be us two, Glaz, Nokk, and Montagne, maybe Jackle. I did see him pick up some sim rounds." Jordan responded, gesturing to himself and the redhead.
"Well if she sends Ryad then there goes our whole strategy. We're gonna have to get creative El." The blonde said, chuckling and winking at Ela. Just as Eliza had opened her mouth to speak again, Taina and Masaru walked into the now crowded space. Masaru waved and went to the counter to get his rounds and weapon.
Taina looked at Meghan and smirked, "Looks like we get to mess them up again," she said.
"Oh yea!" She gave the Brazilian woman a high five, "Just like old times." She said reminiscing the months after Taina joined team rainbow. No one was ever able to take their record for best sim score or win percentage, until Ela joined. Now, her and Ela had the highest success rate of the whole team as a pair.
"Hm I think you mean we, as in Meghan and I, right Taina?" The green haired woman said.
"Oh fuck off Bosak. I was here first." The younger woman stated.
"But we," she points to her friend, "already knew how to work together perfectly, and she's my closest friend. It's only fair that she work better with me."
"Haha," Taina said sarcastically, "we are all very aware that you guys are basically married. No need to remind us again."
At that Ela looked like she was actually going to get upset. "Why does everyone always say that!"
Sensing her friend's distress, she stepped between the two. "Ok guys, as much as we all love to listen to you fight over me," The blonde said quickly trying to lighten the mood a little, "we need to get going. The sim's up in two minutes." That seemed to calm the polish woman enough for her to join the others as they rushed to grab their things. Meghan shook her head at her crazy family and followed them out of the armory door and towards their destination.
\︎/
They all walked into the giant gymnasium part of the base that they like to refer to as the "Coliseum". They noticed that the terrain was set to the Chalet setting, and Ela's face split into a devilish grin as she looked at the "L" shaped building. The young polish woman would be at a huge advantage; having only ever lost twice here. She let her eyes wander to the group of operators that were standing "outside" the main entrance to the building.
She hummed to herself quietly, slightly surprised by who was in the group. They saw the attackers among them were; Zofia, Blackbeard, Dokkaebi, Lion, Thatcher, Finka, Twitch, and IQ. With them were a few more defenders as well; Doc, Frost, Jaeger, Lesion and Alibi. "Hey guys, what are we waiting for? Where's Six?" The younger GROM agent spoke.
"She just went to go get something from her office." the Russian woman responded, and as if on queue the doors to the gym opened to reveal Six with a tablet, piece of paper, and a pen.
"Good evening Operators." She spoke, "I hope you're all ready for this. It's going to be a long night."
"What is 'this' exactly?" Grace questioned.
"I'm glad you asked Dokkaebi. Today we are determining who will be going on the next operation. There are four of you that I know will be participating and the other five or six I have yet to decide on. We will discuss more on that later," Six then looked at the group with watchful eyes, all of their eyes collectively widened at the sheer number of operators that would be participating. "For now," she continued, "let us discuss the goal for today. We will be running four on three today and I'm going to let all of you pick your teams with the exception of the one group." She paused once more making sure everyone was paying attention. "Ela, Valkyrie, and Caveira will be the defending team throughout the entire training. The rest of you are going to have to attack them. Understood? Pick your teams of three wisely, you have two minutes to decide. Any questions?"
"Uhm, why teams of three, and who is the last guaranteed spot?" Frost asked. "And, why the hell this map," Thermite said under his breath.
"Zofia is the other confirmed operator, and this map has the highest success rate for my decided defenders." she continued briskly, "I want you all to feel like you're at an extreme disadvantage, this operation is going to be long and very difficult for everyone involved. You need to be ready. Zofia will also be going in each time with every different group. She will be the acting lead. I suggest you take that seriously."
"Why have you settled on us four already?" Zofia said curiously. Not minding at all that she would have to go in everytime.
"You all have a very unique skill that will be absolutely imperative to the operations success. Valkyrie will be the acting SO for all of you. I need operators who will follow her without question while also holding her accountable. You three will do that as well, yes?" She responded, not really leaving room for questions. The three operators nodded and looked at the blonde who's eyes were widened slightly at the role she would be playing.
"Why are their skills so important again?" Dokkaebi asked, not typically one to pick up hints.
"That, we will speak on later, with the ops that are going. But for now, pick your teams." She said shortly turning and walking up the stairs to the hawk's nest where she could observe the whole thing. The com system and timer controls were up there as well.
By the time she got to her seat all of the operators were in five groups of three and one group of four. The group of four consisted of the set participants, and the others were split into groups that suited them one way or another. Ash, IQ, and Lesion were all the way to the left. Thatcher, Echo, and Alibi next to them. Third was, Doc, Gridlock, and Lion.
"Alright, let's get started shall we." She said over the inter com. "Let's have a com check and we can start with Team Ash." An echo of coms checks could be heard and then all of the operators, excluding Ash, IQ, and Lesion moved to the other viewing deck below the hawk's nest. "Alright this is how it's going to work. Most everything will be a normal biohazard op. The defending team will be deciding where the objective is like always, but they aren't allowed to enter that room until after the attackers are starting to claim it. The attackers must start in different locations outside the building. Once inside the building you must attempt to take the objective room. If you manage to take the objective without getting wiped then you win the round. We are only doing best of three so make every move cautiously. If the attackers leave more than one person alive on the defending team and only have one left before they get to the OBJ, it's an automatic loss for that round. Everyone understand what's happening?" Six finished explaining the training and saw all the ops nod. "Then let's get started shall we?" She turned the intercom off and began the timer for one minute signaling the start of the deciding phase.
The polish woman looked at Valkyrie. "Where to boss?" She asked seriously.
"I want to put the objective in the kitchen. I know it's risky, but that's what we need." The seal responded looking at her two teammates. "Right now the only advantage is how well we know this place on the inside. We need to make sure that we 'kill' IQ first. I'm gonna set my came on the stairs for now. Six gave me one extra and didn't tell the ATK's. I'll put that one on the OBJ." She explained carefully making sure the other two were keeping up. After she was sure they understood she continued, "I want Cav on the top floor. I will be sitting in bar. I'm going to leave only one hole in the wall to escape from. El, you're going to be in basement to start, but as soon as you clear that floor make your way back to me and we will hold the first floor. Cav I don't want you coming downstairs unless you're the only one left or I specifically tell you to.You're our trump card since no one can hear you coming. We need you alive as long as possible." The timer fell to 15 seconds and they took off running towards the building to start the setup phase.
As soon as the timer went off the polish woman started to set her mines out, but as soon as she threw the first the seal called out to her. "El put your mines where my cams can see them. I wanna know which one's going off if you're down or pressured."
"Of course." She said shortly. They finished setting up their traps at 15 seconds left. The polish woman then ran to the basement garage to wait for orders or an attacker to come her way.
The timer hit zero letting all of the participants start the exercise. Ela listened to every noise that echoed throughout the building. She heard footsteps behind her on the other side of the garage door And immediately moved through the small room to the east of her and into the other open room. Again stopping a listening she heard someone set a breach charge on the door. She waited for it to go off and shot a small hole in the bottom corner of the wall. Peeking into the garage from where she was, she could see that IQ and Lesion were on the other side of the charge. "Valk, there are two breaching garage. Do you want me to engage or fall back? I have yet to be compromised." She whispered into her headset.
"Hold your position. Try to separate them and take out Lesion first. If they make it to the objective they will be at a huge disadvantage without him." The blonde responded. Knowing that the traps he set as they were making their way to the OBJ would be difficult for Cav to deal with. She's never had to watch for traps before, so she's probably not going to remember in the heat of battle.
"Copy." After the order she watched as they moved from the garage door to the stairs not noticing the tiny hole in the wall. She got up from the floor and walked as silently as possible around to the opposite direction to try and intercept them from behind.
As she was sneaking up behind them, the gizmot she had placed on that set of stairs went off making both of them dizzy. With IQ distracted she pushed in and fired three shots from her scorpion into Lesion's head. The rounds exploded against his helmet leaving a white powder covering his face mask. The man immediately dropped to the floor and the polish woman scrambled as fast as she could to the west side stairs. "Target down." She said as she ran. Stopping on the landing to make sure she wasn't being followed. As she turned to try and rendezvous with her blonde teammate a couple of rounds whizzed past her head. She immediately ducked behind the cover of the stairs and handrail only to be cornered by IQ. Knowing that beating one of them was the only option she rushed back up the stairs. When she reached a point that she could see over, she saw the redhead peek from around a doorway. She pulled the trigger, barely managing to hit her opponent in the side of her neck.
She tried to continue down the hallway, but as soon as she started to run her sister appeared from behind the "dead" body and shot her dead in the forehead. Tossing her backward from surprise.
"You can do better than that Ela." The older bosak woman screamed, trying to anger her sister slightly.
"Cav go after IQ. Zo is mine. Wait for one of them to go to the OBJ. I want them to think they won." The seal said over the coms. Knowing exactly what Zofia was trying to do, she knew she had to avenge Ela or she was going to be off for the rest of the day.
"Yes ma'am." Was all that Caveira said, always trying to speak as little as possible on the battlefield.
The blonde heard the whole thing from where she was sitting. She then went prone knowing that Zofia was close. She checked over the bar and the room was still completely barricaded. She then heard some footsteps to her left where her escape hole was. She quickly turned and saw IQ peeking her. She shot first and the german fell to the floor, having a chest full of white powder. Valkyrie looked down and noticed she had a small white patch on her head as well.
The alarm for the OBJ went off telling all of the operators that someone was capturing the space. "Shit!" She cursed trying to quickly adjust her position while calling into her mic, "Cav! Change of plans go get Zo. IQ got a couple shots on me. One more and I'm gone." She opened her cams and tried to spot the polish woman in the kitchen, but couldn't see her. "I can't see her from my black eye. She's gotta be prone, on the wall side of the island." She said quickly, cracking the barricade leading to the main foyer.
"Roger that. Moving in now." She responded. As the brazilian moved everything but the alarm was quiet. No one made a sound.
The seal peeked around the corner of the wall and saw Zofia laying on the floor right where she had called her out. "Target location confirmed. Prone west side of bar."
"Got it. Give me cover. I'm on the stairs." The tan woman said.
With that she fired blindly into the room to get the polish woman's attention. She stopped after she heard another round of bullets go off. "Cav?" She waited for an answer. Nothing. She moved from her position to the hallway outside of the kitchen. She opened her cam for a split second to check if the other girl was still there. Nothing. She put the screen away and drew her MPX once more. She shot through the wall behind her into the kitchen and the timer stopped. They won. She walked into the room to help the other woman to her feet. "You gotta do better than that Zo." She said smugly, almost copying what the polish woman had said to her sister.
She glared at the blonde then nodded, "I will." She said shaking the words off quickly.
The next round the attackers managed to reach the objective with all four still alive, and managing to kill Caveira on the way in. Having all breached from the top floor it was a four on one. After Zofia and Ash started capping, Lesion and IQ as they tried to push up on Ela's position on the west staircase. The Bosak tempest easily disposed of them after they split to try and corner her. "IQ and Lesion down I'm coming to you Val." She whispered trying not to draw attention to herself. "Roger, moving in, to intercept Ash she's in dinning watch kitchen door on that side." Valkyrie pushed into the dining area and managed to get Ash with a half clip to the body, and as she turned Zofia got her twice in the head. Too caught up in making sure she didn't get pushed by Valkyrie, the older polish woman didn't hear her sister sneaking up behind her. The round ended with Zofia taking one round of their shared RG15 to the back of the head, ending the first match.
All of the participants were breathing heavily. Ela offered her hand to her sister, "Good try Zo." She offered sincerely.
The brunette took the hand and stood up, "Don't worry we still have 4 matches. I will beat you." She declared with a small smile. To others it may look like they hate each other in training, but this is always where they bonded the most. Out here on the field they could push each other as hard as they want to and the other will always try to match. They are sisters, and they're love of competition runs in the family.
"All right everybody that will conclude match one." Six's voice sounded throughout the Coliseum. "Who would like to go next?"
As the two friends and Zofia waited for volunteers Cav came up behind them and slapped the SEAL on the shoulder, "Why is it that I feel like you two are carrying my weight for me?" She asked knowing that the blonde was most likely using her as bait. She hated being used like that.
"Sorry Cav," the blonde started, "at least it worked out and I didnt mean for you to be bait that first round. Zo genuinely out smarter me and I had to improvise." She looked to her friend and smirked.
"Yea whatever, just dont use me as bait anymore the other teams probably wont let you now." She whispered lowly, trying to keep the older Bosak from hearing.
Meghan looked at her friend and smiled widely, "That's what I'm hoping for. Don't worry I got it." Cav just nodded in reply.
Meanwhile in the the observation deck, Thatcher breathed in deeply, "Well, we might as well get this done." He stated, heading towards the door. "Shall we show them how it's done?" He spoke to his temporary team.
"I guess we will have to." Alibi said standing up from the bench she was perched on in the back of the room.
"Yes let's get to work." Echo stated as well.
They all walked to their starting positions passing the three ops that just went. "Be careful. It seems Six gave those three an advantage by not letting them go to the OBJ right off the bat." Ash said, patting the old englishman on the shoulder.
"It does seem that way doesn't it? We will do our best to avenge your loss." He smiled at her then pulled his face mask into place and walked towards his starting position.
"Good luck oldtimer!" Ash yelled after him, earning a slap to the arm from Monika and a chortle from the old man.
"I don't need your luck, youngster. I've got experience, but thank you." He laughed at his own joke.
He joined the other two and Zofia, "Alright, boss, what's the plan?" He said, looking at the older polish woman.
Zofia looked at this group and nodded, "Valkyrie likes to try and split us up picking us off one by one. Our best bet at winning is to not let that happen. Echo you're not going to come in with us you're going to be our Valk essentially. The three of us are going to breach Caveira's side after you identify where that is. Alibi, you're going to cover our six. Keep your Prismas so we have them for the OBJ. Once we get close enough we will have Echo find my sister. Valk is best at supporting fire, not direct, so if we can keep the majority of us alive until then we're set. After that its intuition and not letting us get split up or picked off."
The three of them nodded in agreement and waited for their queue to start. Zofia with a very determined expression on her face and her body stiff. She couldn't let her sister beat her. She needed to prevail. To teach Ela she was still worthy to be her older sister no matter what the odds.
A/N: Ok so sorry this is a bit late. Originally, this was going to be like 8k words, but I was talking too long to finish, so this is now broken in two so I could push this chapter out. Sorry if the editing is rough lol.
-Bosak-BCH