The sun was beginning to settle behind the horizon as the three men inside the office building stood out at the balcony on the entrance. Their eyes scanned the ground ahead, knowing that somewhere out there was the foe. They had their hands close to their weapons, but remained idle.
Without warning, the guard by the door was hit by three thumping sounds and was out cold. The other two got up in confusion, seeing their fellow coworker go down and were met with similar fates.
Like a group of ninjas, four figures in black combat fatigues emerged from the shadows. Each of them had the dark undersuit and a black combat vest with cargo pants. A tactical pad was on each of their left wrists and a small earpiece was on their right side. In addition, the vest had a small optical camera on the right shoulder.
The weapons they carried were Gastly M4s, compact parabellum submachine guns intended for close quarter gunfights. A small reflex sight was mounted on the upper rail and they were also equipped with sound suppressors to reduce the noise output.
"Tangos down." The one in the lead reported. "Moving to position."
Surveying the area, the four operatives moved up to the house, constantly shifting their aim for threats. They stacked up at the door, one just by the handle, another two ready to move in and the final one watching the six.
"Go!"
The man by the door reared back his foot and used all his strength to kick it in. A split second later, the other two entered with weapons ready.
Four tangos were inside, ready for an attack, but also unexpected that it happened so suddenly. The first two operatives drilled two hostiles each. They were down before the other two had entered the door behind them.
"Four tangos down."
"Move up." The second one ordered.
"Moving."
Splitting into two groups of two, they began to search the various rooms. One team went upstairs while the other cleared out the bottom.
"Top floor's clear."
On the bottom, the leader approached a room with his partner behind. He turned around, holding up a fist and cupped his chin with his pointing finger and thumb, a signal to indicate that a hostage was inside. The man behind him tapped his shoulder, a wordless gesture that his back was covered.
In a fluid motion, he rounded the corner, seeing a slim shape of a female huddled on the floor. She was bound and gagged.
The second man entered behind and surveyed the rest of the room, "Clear." He called out after a few moments.
Seth Johnston gently lifted the girl up and removed the gag and slit the bounds with his knife. "Are you okay?"
She nodded and he hauled her to her feet. "Stay behind us."
Just then Jewell's voice came from the comms, "We've got confirmed hostiles moving in from the north."
Johnston looked outside the window, although the enemy was approaching, he had no clear view. "I see nothing. You're just being paranoid. We're coming out the front."
He motioned towards Zack Arron, the second man behind him as they headed back.
With their hostage in tow, Jewell and their fourth man joined them at the bottom of the stairs.
"Alright, on me." Seth waved them on as he took the lead and stepped out the front door.
Before them a half dozen Volbeat and Illumise lights twinkled out of the darkness with an abrupt flash. For a second, Seth was a bit stunned at the display. Mostly because they were not the Firefly Pokemon.
"Incoming fire!" He shouted, just as a flurry of bullets started ripping through the air. He had made a dash back inside, but a shot had hit him right in the breast. Seth dropped limply to the ground before he could even issue another order.
"Shit, Seth's down!" Zack had to yell over the loud gunfire.
Jewell held their shaking hostage back as she leaned out at a rather wide angle from the door. Through the scope, she had her aim trained on one of the dark figures that suddenly made a quick dart to the house's entrance. She figured that whomever was with him had the open ground covered, so Zack wouldn't be able to fire back without any nasty repurcussions.
Pulling the trigger, she moved her arms and tightened her left fist on the Gastly's foregrip. It was a muted cough, but the discharged rounds caught the attacker in the chest, dropping him.
"They're coming from the back!" The other operative shouted before the sounds of gunshots from behind had silenced his next words.
Zack had heard it too and turned around to find himself being hit with two bullets, taking him out.
Jewell raised her weapon just as a hooded figure wielding an AKM rifle approached from behind. Her own weapon coughed out three rounds, dropping him before the bolt clacked open. The gun was out of ammo.
Not wasting a minute, she threw a quick glance at their hostage before taking out an extra magazine. Movement caught her eye as another armed hoodlum rounded the corner. It was a quick decisive choice of what to do, but one that both the Navy and Lieutenant Ketchum had drilled into her.
Pulling out her M9 millimeter, she trained the pistol on the thug and put two more rounds into him. She didn't even wait for the next foe as she moved from her position to survey for a way out.
Then a third figure emerged from cover and had already closed the distance between the two of them before she could shift her aim. A hand balled into a fist and it connected with her jaw, stunning her for a moment, but knocking her sidearm away from her. The submachine gun was out of ammo and she was defenseless against her assailant. In the corner, the hostage seemed to shrink even further in.
"Terrible effort," The man spat with disgust, drawing his pistol before turning around. The trigger was pulled and the hostage fell to the ground, unmoving. He then turned back to Jewell, "You're dead."
Brendan Decker pulled down the hood and holstered his sidearm. Underneath he wore a white knit cap that covered all but a small portion of his dark hair, but his gray eyes remained cold. "Abort!"
Upon recognizing the voice command, lights in the house snapped on and a few seconds later, men in maintenance uniforms began tending to the "dead"
Both Zack and Seth lay limply on the floor as they were sprayed with a fine mist. Just in the other hallway, their hostage and "hostiles" were being applied to in a similar manner.
Seth coughed a couple of times before he let out an exasperated gasp as he finally got his senses back. Moments later, they could hear Zack reacting similarly.
Instead of rubber rounds, the new experimental tactical training rounds dissolved into a fine mist that weakly paralyzed the body, thanks to research on Shrommish and Breloom to make a less powerful paralysis that was safe to be cured for military drill purposes. Any target that was hit in a "fatal" manner would go limp and be stunned until an antidote was applied on the body. The feeling was described as if liquid ice was poured over the body before dying and then waking up a second time.
The door opened as Ash Ketchum barged right in and had a pissed off look on his face. The recruits all weakly stood up and straightened themselves.
"You all know what I'm going to say so I'll keep it short and snappy," He pointed a finger straight at Seth. "You're supposed to be lying on the floor dead because you didn't heed Jewell's warning there! Never ever second guess a teammate's judgment even if they're paranoid. It could mean the difference between life and death!" He moved down the line, stopping at Zack and the other man named Gould, "The two of you should also be lying on the floor dead!"
He focused now on Jewell, who looked as if she was about to lash out at him too. "And you!"
His hand came out and aggressively shoved her back, "You should be dead as well. All of you would be dead because you didn't pay attention to the signs. You're lucky this is just a prototype wargame simulation! Do something like this here and all you dipshits get an F. You do something stupid like that out there are you get killed! When you get killed, your teammates lose confidence and Lieutenant Decker here loses confidence and so does the government officials that gave you the assignment! Everything is on your shoulders and Brendan's, because if it isn't, he's going to be writing a letter to your family telling them about your fate." Ash lowered his voice, "Nobody likes receiving one of those letters, so watch after one another out there, watch the signs of danger and don't let your guard down, even for a second."
"Yes sir." They all said in unison.
"At ease." He commanded, causing them to relax their posture, "We're going to run the sim again at twenty two hundred sharp. Lieutenant Decker here will be leading this time. Now we've had some mishaps and things that haven't gone as smoothly as I had initially planned. By the end of tomorrow, I will have made my decision in picking members of my team for this new urban warfare unit. Like I said when we started, not all of you are going to be accepted. Any questions?"
They all shook their heads.
"Good. Be back in the sim briefing room by twenty two hundred sharp with all your gear."
Ash stood up on the tall observation tower inside the simulator. It was a large canopied compound easily the size of a football field. The deck offered a clean view of the entire compound so that he could see everything going on.
At the touch of a button this entire environment sim was developed by a Petalburg software firm for military exercises and mock operations. The settings could go from everything from torrential rain to super intense sunlight.
An earpiece in his left side was linked to one in each of his candidates as they began the simulation. All the operatives participating on his team could be heard by a similar earpiece of their own and he could hear what they were saying to one another. He also had another radio to direct the enemy combatants and set them up in formations that proved challenging to his recruits.
Previously he had said nothing about any details in running the sim, except to locate and rescue the lone hostage inside. (Said person was a civilian volunteer)
Brendan took the lead as Ash began to watch. Leading Jewell, Hammond and Arron, he was the first to emerge and snuck slightly to the structure's left. The front entrance had a part of it obscuring the right, essentially creating a blind spot for him to go through without being spotted.
"In position."
"Ready to fire." Jewell affirmed.
"On your go." Arron added.
"Locked." Hammond said.
"Go!" At once, the other three operatives fired their weapons at the twin guards posted at the front.
"They're coming from the front." Ash said into a radio to the "hostiles", "Move out to the entrance and assume defensive maneuvers in a Bravo format, if they hold position go after them. Do not abandon the hostage under any circumstances. Have one man with her at all times."
"Roger." That was followed by a couple more affirmations from the team leader.
Most of the enemy team had opened the other windows of the building and had fired at where they believed Jewell, Hammond and Arron were hiding. By the chatter on their comms, it appeared that they had a bead on their position.
"I'm under fire!"
"Taking shots," Arron shouted, "Move position!"
"How much longer do you need Decker?" Hammond wondered aloud.
"Three seconds,"
A few suppressed gunshots came from the house. "Tangos down."
"Moving up," Hammond said, as he and Arron began their advance. Jewell trailed them behind, keeping a keen eye on the sides.
Decker was waiting for them inside when movement had caught his eye. The enemy combatant had blended so well into the night shadows that he was practically invisible. The little light and shifting of movement had almost startled him.
A metallic object was heard being unsheathed and Decker parried the forearm, almost feeling blindly as the assailant came at him with a serrated combat knife. He jabbed an elbow into the man's ribs before finishing him with a powerful knee.
"Bottom floor clear." He gestured to the others, who had just entered, "Sweep upstairs in twos. Jewell with me to the basement."
"Got it." Arron and Hammond moved out, putting a slight gap in between them and shifting only when the other had their back.
Taking point, Jewell was first into the staircase that led into the pitch blackness of the bottom. When she reached the end, a flick of her finger to the right indicated Decker to take that side.
Leaning around the corner, Decker could see a bar, pool table and another door that was behind the main counter area.
"Left's clear." Jewell reported.
"Top floor's clear." Arron added, "No sign of the hostage."
"They're probably in the basement." Decker said. "Keep watch for incoming hostiles if possible. Jewell and I will flush them out."
She regrouped with him at the end of the bar before they both barged it right open.
There was a light on inside the room and it showed three figures. One on its knees, another holding a rifle pointed at the door and the third had a pistol trained on the kneeling one's head.
Brendan was horribly exposed upon his entry to the rifleman aiming at the door, but his priority was the safety of the hostage. However if he didn't do something about the one aiming a gun squarely at him, he would have half his body become hamburger. He had to make a decision based on what would happen if this was the real world.
He quickly aimed at his first target and fired. Before the man could shoot him, he dropped after a stream of five rounds impacted him in the stomach, toppling him over.
Right behind him was Jewell and she lined the executioner up in her scope, blasting him to the ground.
"Two tangos down." Decker bent down to examine their hostage, "Are you all right?"
She weakly nodded as he removed the gag and helped her up. "Hostage secure."
"Nice work guys," Ash said over the radio, "Abort."
At his command, the lights inside the building snapped on and crewmembers bustled in to tend to the dead "enemies".
One hour later, Ash had all of his nine recruits line up directly in front of him as he paced about. They were all neatly in their service uniform and had all their medals, clothing and postures as if they were on an awards ceremony.
"First off, I want to thank each and every one of you for putting in time to help me out on this new spec ops team that I am putting together. I called for the best of each branch you all represent here and was not disappointed. Without a doubt, even some of you had some improvements and the varying levels had likely influenced your opinions of me." He got a chuckle from the group, "You all grew a lot just by listening to what I had to say and that alone makes you better soldiers than your peers."
He stopped to look down the line again, "Now if I could, I would accept all of you to be on this task force, however time constraints have forced me to select only three of you. I did say that not everyone would still be alongside me as we went on though. Know this; you have all earned my respect for you as a serviceman and a person."
Walking along the recruits, he handed them each a white envelope, "Inside three of these envelopes is a detailed analysis of you when we had worked together. I would like all of you to further learn from the report that I conducted and pass on to others. For the three that I have chosen, there are further instructions. Thank you again everyone for participating. Dismissed."
So next chapter, we get to find out who Ash and Brendan's coworkers are and they will have little time to spare as they'll be getting some work right away! Hope you all have enjoyed the triple updates this week, it probably will be going back to a Tuesday and Friday.
Thanks everyone for reading and thanks for reviewing. You give my writing purpose.