}!{

May 26, 2073
14:35 GMT
"Big Bird" Firefly Transporter
En route to Lagos, Nigeria

On the flight towards Lagos, Ember contacted Capt. Olane to request a sitrep on the Nigerian Prime Minister and the hostages. Strangely, the LVA still hadn't made any demands in exchange for the release of Abedoyo. It was expected of terrorists to boast to the country, if not the world, of their exploits like game hunters at a safari. The fact that Abedoyo had been taken without so much as leaked video surfacing somewhere in the net bothered the Firefly commander.

The Prime Minister was still in danger, but Ember couldn't help but wonder what the LVA was planning. Abedoyo, after all, wasn't the only hostage taken from the technology summit.

"Approaching LZ!" Fio announced, "Looks like they've started the party ahead of us!"

Ember grabbed onto one of the handlebars near the door and peered through the window. The Nigerian Armed Forces, commanded by the Fireflies' liaison Captain Olane, had been deployed to keep the LVA boxed inside one of the portside districts. The terrorists responded the only way they knew how and attacked the encroaching Nigerian soldiers. The exchange of fire lasted for half an hour prior to the arrival of the Fireflies, and many casualties had been reported on both sides.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Ember said, donning his balaclava and fastening his helmet straps over his chin. "That noise is all we need to cover our entrance. Fio, drop us at the rally point."

The pilot set the transporter down gently on the street, and the Firefly team disembarked to meet up with Capt. Olane. Their liaison was busying himself with relaying intel back to his superiors, while at the same time issuing orders to the men on standby. The situation was noticeably growing dire the longer the struggle lasted, as the NAF were hesitant to make any direct attempt at getting their leader back in one piece. When the Fireflies showed up, Olane was not a happy man.

"Captain Olane." Ember greeted as he entered the NAF mobile command center, "I'm Ember of the Firefly Initiative."

"You're late." He said crossly.

Ember didn't want to argue with the man as they had more pressing matters at hand, so he moved things along. "We're here now. What's the status on the PM?"

"Unknown. We've sent a drone to scout out the LVA compound covertly, then we heard shots from inside." Olane, having no desire to look incompetent before the foreigners, left out the fact that some of his men panicked and tried to rush in despite his explicit order not to engage. "We had to act, for the sake of the Prime Minister."

"Then we've got no time to waste." Ember declared, "Are there any routes into the LVA compound besides the main streets?"

The captain pulled out a map on his datapad, which Ember promptly snatched away to see for himself. "Only two, but what are you-"

Ember ignored the question, his experienced eyes scrutinizing the details on the map while the gears in his head grinded away to form a quick plan to save the Prime Minister. "Captain, I've got a plan and I need your help to put it into action."

"Well, by all means." Olane welcomed his suggestion, albeit reluctantly. "Let's hear it."

Left with little choice save to bottle up the terrorists at the risk of losing the Prime Minister, the captain was open to hear what the Firefly had to say. They both had a job to do, and his job as liaison was to give Ember enough leeway to aid in their mission to save Abedoyo.

"The portside house they're holed in is here, right?" Ember pointed to the large square-shaped building sitting close to the docks, surrounded by warehouses and parking lots. All the buildings were connected in some way or other, owing to the cramped architectural choice of the city's engineers. "There's plenty of houses here that can cover our infiltration, we can cut our way in while the rest of the LVA are busy fending off your men at the front gates. All we need is your men keeping them bottled up to give us some breathing room to work."

"You can't do that, they'll kill the Prime Minister!" Olane protested.

"They will kill him anyway, but we're going to get him out alive." Ember said firmly. "You're coming with us, take a squad with you. I'll need you to secure the compound once we exfiltrate."

The captain pursed his lips and slowly shook his head. He hated having to sound like an academic, who was wont to think that time itself would stop to let him come up with the perfect plan. Time waited for no man, and Olane knew they had to act now, while the LVA was distracted.

"I'll be taking point." He decided.

The Firefly commander nodded and motioned for his team to move out. Together with the NAF, they slipped past the killzone undetected and skirted around the perimeter of the LVA compound until they reached the door of one of the condemned houses surrounding the compound.

"Hazard, you mind?" Ember said to the MEC-Trooper.

Hazard balled up her suit's massive mechanical fist and punched a massive dent at the metal door. There was a solid crack as the lock gave way, effectively granting the Fireflies and the NAF soldiers access to the building stairway.

Ember, Chameleon and Tac-Bang were all equipped with standard Firefly gear, from the tactical vests that hugged tightly to their chests to the Sunburster rifles in their hands. Hazard was the only one in the team suited up in a Mechanized Exoskeletal Cybersuit, an armored mechanized harness designed to hold enough armor and weaponry to fit an APC. However, Hazard built her particular suit to ensure the survivability of her team rather than devote it solely on offensive purposes.

The harness was equipped with platform stabilizers so her suit could fire on the move, and she forewent a secondary weapon on the suit's right arm for an experimental biotic emitter. Even though nanobiotics was still a relatively unknown medical science in the modern world, the resourcefulness of the Initiative allowed its development crews to dig deeper into the best technologies their shadow council had to offer. One such technology was the biotic emitter. Although still awaiting field-testing, the emitter was said to be capable of healing any injury via its nanobiotic rays.

Even though these tools primarily classified Hazard under a support role, the MEC-Trooper was armed with an Arc-Thrower. And if the weapon's description made good on its promised destructive potential, she would live up to her callsign.

Capt. Olane, as promised, took point and led the team up the stairs and through the narrow corridors leading into the building interior. They picked up the pace when radio chatter of an unexpected surge in the LVA counteroffensive started blaring through the captain's radio. More gunfire erupted in the distance, followed by a loud and thunderous explosion that reverberated across the whole city.

"The hell was that?" Chameleon piped up as they moved through the buildings, drawing closer and closer to the LVA compound.

"Not our problem, focus on the objective." Ember said.

The NAF went in first through an unguarded lot in the compound and came up against a large walled off section of the building. Capt. Olane turned to Ember with a slightly confused look on his face, "Now what?"

"Now? Now we breach. Stack your men up and get ready to move in." The Firefly commander replied, motioning for Hazard to move up against the wall. "Hazard, you're up."

Again, the MEC-Trooper prepared bust her way through. The suit was more than capable of acting as a battering ram, and so Hazard had little difficulty working her way through six inches of solid concrete. Once she burst through the wall, she immediately swept the room she was in for any threats. Only when she'd made certain of it did she give the all-clear signal.

The rest of the team moved in, with Olane and the Nigerian soldiers in tow.

They had breached into the compound restrooms, which fortunately proved vacant at the time. But when they emerged into the hallway outside, they were met with an LVA patrol. A small group of ultranationalist fighters, dressed in body-armor and armed with modified Russian-made assault-rifles.

Over the years following the Omnic Crisis, Russia introduced a vast arsenal of new weapons and gear throughout the globe, their developments spurred on by the wars against the machine. It was unsurprising that these same weapons would fall into the hands of unscrupulous organizations such as the LVA.

The Fireflies fired first, nearly blinding the NAF soldiers with the flashes from their laser rifles. The terrorists went down without a fight, taken by surprise and left without a chance to even raise their weapons. Their wounds were still sizzling when the team moved through the hall, creeping deeper into the heart of the compound.

Only a skeleton team of patrols had been left to guard the building, as the majority were sent out to stem the growing NAF tide pressing at their front door. This worked well in the Fireflies' favor, although sneaking around gradually proved to be ineffective thanks to high silhouette Hazard's suit possessed as well as her noisome mechanical servo whirs.

A brief but fierce firefight broke out between the infiltration team and the LVA patrols, which ended with all the terrorists dead and Olane losing four of the eight man team he brought along with him.

There was one last room left to check, and the team left the dead where they lay to breach their way to the Prime Minister. They found Abedoyo in the center of the room, surrounded by six heavily armed LVA zealots. One of them operated a 20mm anti-personnel autocannon, which he turned on the team and let loose its deadly hail.

The shells punched right through the walls, maiming and killing anyone who stood in their path. Hazard moved quickly to shield Olane and his men, but was unable to protect all of them. Her armor deflected the shells, but some glanced by and hit another NAF soldier right through the visor of his helmet. His head was a ruptured melon of gore, and his corpse toppled back like a felled tree. Ember and the rest of the Fireflies hunkered down, feeling helpless as the gunner had them pinned.

Hazard advanced slowly, one mechanical hand to shield her MEC cockpit and the other to train the deadly Arc-Thrower at the LVA gunner. The weapon roared to life, sending a torrent of bright blue dancing arcs that fried the man to a crisp. The Prime Minister was already on the floor, screaming frantically as he covered his head with his restrained hands.

The MEC-Trooper didn't stop at the gunner, knowing that until the last terrorist was dead, his life was still on the line. She moved to the next target, then to the next, each time bathing the ultranationalists in a shower of sparks.

"Clear!" She announced once the thunder of her weapon died down. "All targets neutralized!"

"Olane, secure the PM." Ember said to the visibly shaken officer. He repeated his order, a little louder to snap him out of it. "Captain!"

"W-What?" Olane exclaimed, startled by the man's tone of voice.

"Secure the Prime Minister."

Abedoyo was hauled to his feet by the NAF soldiers, and upon being released from his restraints, immediately informed the rescue team about the LVA's plans. "They took all the hostages! The scientists from our summit! The LVA wanted them, not me!"

"Figured as much, but you're our priority not them." Ember replied bluntly, breaking radio silence by contacting their ride out of the compound. "Fio, we've got the asset and are heading for the roof of the compound for extraction."

"Copy. Big Bird en route."

"Yosef Chkheidze? Are you sure?" Capt. Olane said on the radio.

Upon hearing the name of the LVA leader, Ember turned to the captain to inquire about the new development. "What did you just say?"

Olane set the radio down and reported, "My men just spotted Chkheidze with the rest of the hostages, they're leaving in an armored truck."

Seizing the chance to save the rest of the hostages, Ember jumped at the opportunity and pressed for every detail. "Tell me, what color and what's their current position?"

After referring to the other guy on the radio, Olane gave his answer. "Green, and they're heading downtown. Our drones have a lock on them."

"Alright Fireflies, objective update." Ember said to his team, "We affect the extraction of the PM, then we head out to stop Chkheidze from fleeing the country. Move out!"

The team doubled back where they came and went upstairs to the roof. There, the Firefly heavy transporter descended slowly until it landed securely on the landing pad. Once the team and their prize were safely onboard, Fio flew them back to the rally point to drop off Olane with the Prime Minister. Ember didn't even wait for reinforcements, and just as soon as they dropped the asset back safely into Nigerian hands and piggybacked the drone feeds from the command center, the Fireflies flew to cut off Chkheidze's escape.

Their battlefield extended up until the Lagos highways, and the longer they pressed down against the LVA the more collateral damage became a concern. The terrorists manning the turret on top of the escort convoy tailing the armored truck were strafing both incoming and outgoing traffic, leaving a heavy civilian body-count in their wake.

"Merde, we have to stop that truck!" Ember said crossly.

"This isn't a gunship, boss." Chameleon reminded him.

"I know, it's a transporter. But we have guns." He replied, turning to yell at the pilot. "Fio, keep her steady once I open the doors! We're gonna try and disable the enemy vehicles!"

"Yes sir." The pilot replied, bringing the ship down a few hundred feet more.

"Hazard, gonna need your help again." Ember said to the MEC-Trooper, "Your weapon can fry electronics, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose it can." Hazard hefted her Arc-Thrower proudly.

"Time to test the range on that thing. If all else fails, I'll send you to drop on top of the armored truck." Ember pulled up his rifle and announced to the rest of the team, "Tac-Bang, Chameleon! Prepare to lay down some suppressive fire!"

The highway stretched for miles of open and exposed ground, with only the vehicles in between and the occasional towering building along the side. There were no tunnels in sight, which was an advantage that provided ample opportunity for the Fireflies. When the heavy transporter hovered low over the highway, the escort vehicles trained their guns on the ship and fired.

Tac-Bang and Chameleon did as instructed, and they answered shot for shot. Laserfire burned through reinforced composite, and soon the vehicles caught fire, later bursting apart when the Sunbursters ignited their fuel tanks. This left the armored truck for Hazard to disable, which she did by pouring on the Arc-Thrower for all it was worth.

The subsequent power surge shorted out the truck's electronic-based systems, and the heavy vehicle swerved out of control and into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, the truck proved to be a particularly tough machine to take down with just a controlled EMP blast, and it regained momentum as it flipped car after car aside.

"You want me to hit it again?" Hazard asked.

"No, we go to Plan B!" Ember decided, feeling that further shots would get them nowhere. The truck was still tearing up the highway, and it needed to be stopped then and there. "Fio, get us in range! Hazard's making the jump!"

The transporter picked up speed and steadied itself over the truck. The MEC-Trooper adjusted herself as she teetered over the edge, then allowed gravity to do the rest of the work for her. Hazard landed on top of the truck with the force of a falling star, smashing the engine compartment to scrap on impact and nearly flipping the entire vehicle over.

The asphalt beneath them cracked, and the truck emitted a horrid screech as it grounded to a halt. The MEC-Trooper recovered from her fall, reached for the slatted armored plating covering the truck's windshield and pried it free with a savage pull.

The LVA driver, still covered with fresh wounds, managed to pull out his sidearm and fired at the Firefly. His bullets scratched the paint off her rig, but did little damage to the pilot herself.

Hazard responded by hefting her cannon and firing a controlled burst from the Arc-Thrower, killing him in seconds.

The other Fireflies fast-roped their way down and approached the disabled truck. Tac-Bang took point, followed by Ember and Chameleon. All around them, cars started piling up and civilians scattered like ants during an earthquake.

When the team closed in on the rear compartment to free the hostages and subdue Chkheidze, a sharp crack in the distance reached their ears.

Tac-Bang uttered a loud gurgling noise and staggered back. Something hot and wet coated the outside of Ember's balaclava mask. He knew what it was, he felt it more times than he cared to count.

"Sniper!"

Amélie's lips curled into a smile when she heard the team commander shout at the top of his lungs.

Her bullet found its mark, and she watched with sinister glee as the unfortunate man collapsed into the street. His hands discarded his weapon and he grasped at the hole in his neck in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. The lumbering MEC operator abandoned her spot at the disabled truck and walked over to save her friend's life.

"Non non non." Amélie purred, preparing for another shot. "Tu ne peux pas. You cannot save him."

Her rifle slammed back against her shoulder, sending a round on its way. The MEC barely reacted to the shot, much to the Widowmaker's annoyance. The thing was in her way, and the remainder of the team had already gone for cover. Soon, the truck rear compartment doors opened. Out came Yosef Chkheidze, all dazed and bloodied from the crash.

"Widowmaker."

Amélie paused to touch her earpiece, "Widowmaker here."

"Change of plans. Our asset's proven to be a liability. Tie up that loose end, then return to homebase for debriefing."

Amélie opened her mouth to ask about the sudden shift in priorities, but felt as though an invisible gag fixed itself between her teeth. She couldn't grasp the words, no matter how hard she tried. The neural reconditioning had done its work on her rather well, all that her caged mind could process at that moment were the acknowledging words of 'understood' or 'yes sir'.

"Understood."

The Widowmaker's visor closed in over her face and she peered through her enhanced scope to zone in on the LVA leader's head. One squeeze of the trigger was all it took to blast half his face off. The corpse shuddered as it fell back slack against the wreck. A curious titillating feeling ran through the woman's spine as she admired her work, one of the few vestiges of emotion she had left following her augmentations.

"Magnifique." She sighed.

The sniper lingered at her perch for a while, daring the fire team to come out of their hiding places. Everyone, save for the MEC, that felt the sting of the Widow's Kiss lay dead on the ground. While Amélie was free to pick off the whole team where they stood, the neural reconditioning in her was so strong that her mind operated almost robotically. Her superiors previously gave her the order to protect Chkheidze, which allowed her to engage any threat to his life. Once they gave the order for her to terminate the asset, all other threats were deemed inconsequential.

Still, the temptation to finish off her targets was strong.

Her crosshairs zoned in on the tallest one among them, the fire team commander. Before she could slide her finger above the trigger, Amélie immediately got up to swing by her ride home. When she turned her heel to leave, she saw the team commander still standing from behind cover, obviously still looking for her.

He would never find her, not at that distance without the aid of a pair of binoculars or enhanced scope.

But for Amélie, she could see him just fine.

}!{