Mmkay! So, everything is going to go to absolute shit in this chapter because I've finally bit the bullet and decided to write in some action that doesn't take place in a bedroom. If it seems shitty or incorrect- look, I tried. Okay? I did as much research on guns, military equipment, and SWAT tactics as I could to get this as close to as realistic as possible. Much of what I've based this chapter on comes from FrickinRaft, but I'm not as hip to the tactics as they are so this won't be as good hehe~ Also, shout out to my dad for helping me identify gun parts and telling me how attachments work ^0^ Let's get reading!
"Emma! Emma wake up!" Lion's voice boomed throughout his apartment. Twitch sat up startled, looking around to gather her senses before wrapping herself in a bed sheet and walking out of Lion's room. He nodded towards his TV on which a woman reported of a hostage situation after a terrorist attack on Parliament. The picture cut to a live feed of the Palace of Westminister which had a large portion of it blown out and smoking on the upper floors. There was a crowd being held back by barricades the local law enforcement had set up. "She should be ringing any minute now," Lion said. As if on cue, his phone rang. "Ouais?" Lion said answering his phone. There was a short silence before Lion spoke again. "I understand. I have Specialist Pichon with me, will you need her as well?" Twitch walked back into Lion's bedroom to pull on her outfit from last night to get ready to leave. "We can be ready in an hour," she heard Lion say from the next room over. "Au revoir." Twitch walked back into the living room just as Lion was turning off his TV. "I'll call a car, it'll only take us twenty minutes to get back to base. You can have yourself together in forty minutes, right?" Twitch laughed to herself as she turned to retrieve her overnight bag from his closet. "I can be ready in ten in a total emergency. You just worry about keeping up with me, Monsieur Flament."
Twitch pulled her hair up into a neat bun before rolling up her mask.* She attached her two-way headset to her left ear and turned to walk back into her dorm. She retrieved her shock drones, and placed them in their respective cargo pouch that hung on her waist. She walked over to her closet and pushed aside the various clutter items that hid her gun safe. Twitch quickly entered her PIN and pulled out her 417 accompanied by her P9. She pulled out the drawer that rested at the top of her safe to retrieve her ACOG, muzzle brake, vertical grip, and a few spare clips in case she needed to use more bullets than estimated. She meant business today, and she wanted the Masks to know it. A knock at her door caught her attention as she was in the middle of attaching her muzzle brake. "Come in!" Twitch called. Lion opened the door and stepped in. He was ready to go, and had come to retrieve Twitch. "Monika, Seamus, and Jordan are downstairs already. I wanted to check in and see how you were doing." He eyed Twitch's 417 as she giggled telling him she was fine. Twitch jiggled the grip after screwing it to the handguard to make sure it was secure. She then attached the sling and hung her gun around her shoulders. "I never expected you to go loud," Lion said as she exited her room. Twitch laughed to herself as he closed the door following behind her. "I guessed today would be a good day for it. They did interrupt a good time after all." Lion sped up to walk beside her. He looked down at her with a suggestive face. "A good time?" he asked with an innuendo. Twitch rolled her eyes, "I meant being away from base. I know it wasn't time off, but it damn sure felt good like it was."
They had finally reached to first floor and continued on their way to the armored truck. Jordan was folding up his charges and stuffing them in their carrier as Monika was tinkering with her Spectre. "It's about time you fuckin' got down here!" Sledge yelled as they grew near. Twitch placed a hand on Lion's chest and shook her head as he started to say something back. "He has family in Parliament. He's just worried is all." Lion backed down as Twitch stepped into the back of the armored truck. Lion took his place inside beside her. "What do we know?" Lion asked leaning over to face Thermite. "Not a God damn thing," Thermite said with disappointment all over his face. "The attack wasn't expected until the campaigns next week. Why they chose to attack now, we have no idea." Monika twisted her arm to close her Spectre as she joined in to the conversation. "If the Masks attack now, they could get the government under their control with enough fear. They could sway the election to ensure the candidate they want on the cabinet get in that way." Thermite pondered the suggestion before nodding his head in agreement. "She's right along the lines of motive, but as for the details of the situation, we have no idea. There could be one hostage, there could be twenty. We obviously weren't going to take our time to gather intel if fatalities were a possibility due to the explosion. The most we have is a hunch that they came with a bomber or two."
There was a long and hard silence as the operators waited to reach their destination. "No one would have a layout of the building by some chance, would they?" Twitch asked as light-hearted as possible. Everyone shook their heads 'no'. Twitch sighed. They were pressed for time, but they couldn't just run into the building all willy nilly. Rappeling would be a time waster if the Masks hadn't set up themselves near the part of the building that they blew out. It would have been a perfect rouse to get Rainbow near a room full of nitro cells after all. "I do know some parts of the building. I can provide as much insight as possible," Sledge said as the truck came to a screeching halt just outside of the Palace. Jordan pushed the heavy doors to the back of the truck open, and everyone filed out. He pounded the side of the truck and it left the area. Sledge had took it upon himself to talk with one of the constables about the matters at hand. Lion took his bag off his back, and pulled out his drone. He turned it on via the control center, and began to lift it into the air to position it above the building. "Did you increase the scan radius?" Twitch asked as she watched it move into position. "Ouais. I also increased the depth since there was more area to be covered." Twitch nodded in approval as Sledge made his way back over to the team.
"The police guess they have about thirty people held hostage on the inside. The two sides of Parliament were here to discuss terms of the elections when the attack happened. They must have been going after the candidates for the cabinet as IQ said, but they were a day early. Since we don't know where they are- we're going to have to insert slowly and follow it with as quickly and thorough of a sweep as possible." Everyone nodded in agreement as they all took hold of their guns. "Let's go," Sledge said turning to lead the squad into the building. They entered through the Victoria Tower in the south-west corner of the Palace, and positioned themselves near the many entry points. Lion hit his drone's control center, and the timer began the countdown. The building shook as the EE-ONE-D pulsed through the walls of the Palace. Lion looked at the feed on his control pad and pointed north-east of the group. "It looks like they've gathered the hostages in the center, I'm seeing lots of movement coming from there. About ten hostiles just moved into their position. I saw five more south of them before they stopped moving, and you have two roamers- most likely bombers pacing on either side of where they're possibly keeping the hostages," he said just in time for the drone to fall silent.
Monika twisted her arm again to pull up her Spectre. "I'll monitor the bomber's movements in case they change course while we move in." Everyone filed in behind Sledge, and they moved forward with their guns drawn. The long stretch of hallway seemed to go on forever as they passed by the 19 rooms that lined the hallway one-by-one. "There," IQ said quietly with urgency as her Spectre pinged on a bomber's electrical output. "15 meters in front of us, behind that wall." Sledge pointed a hand towards a door that sat at an angle to the left of them. "When we go through that door, we'll walk down a side hallway that leads to St. Stephen's Hall, that's where he's guarding. Once we neutralize the threat, we'll be able to assess the room they're keeping the hostages." Everyone seemed ready to go, but Twitch recalled there were other Masks in other halls. "If we breach, they have the five others plus the extra bomber joining in the gunfight," she whispered in her com system. She could see his shoulders tense even though she was two people behind him. "We'll need to branch off then. Will you be able to handle it, Twitch?"
"Ouais," she said crouch-walking over to the hallway right-adjacent to them. "I'm going with her as back-up. If you need me to hit the switch, just give me the word," Lion said as he began to move in on Twitch. "Here," Thermite said reaching into his carrier. He pulled out one of his exothermic charges and tossed it to Lion. "In case we're dealing with a heavily fortified area, you'll need one of these for breaching." Lion took it and thanked him. "Alright, move in," Sledge said. Everyone had their guns at the ready as the squad of three moved in on the bomber. Twitch went down the other hallway with Lion. The gunfire that took out the bomber in the hall mentioned earlier became muffled through the thick walls as Lion and Twitch moved into the room connected to the hallway that held the five masks. "Deploying shock drone," Twitch said as she began to drone out the hallways. "There's one in the main hallway. There's a side hallway on the left that services three rooms all on the left of the hall. Two in the first, and one in the other two rooms." Lion mapped it out in his mind to devise a plan of action. "I'll take out the one in the hallway, we can tackle the rooms together," Twitch said shutting down her drone's feed. Lion agreed with her plan, and Twitch alerted the other's to their plan. "We hear you. The doors and walls are heavily fortified on our side, give us a status update on the other side when you take out the other bomber," Sledge replied.
Twitch looked through her ACOG as she peered around the corner to spot the White Mask in the hallway. She shot him in the head with a loud bang, and his body fell lifelessly to the floor. "They're here!" came the cries of another Mask from the hall off to the left. "They're moving," Twitch said as she kept her aim towards the hallway the White Mask had guarded. Another had come into view completely oblivious that he was caught in her sights. Twitch squeezed the trigger putting a bullet through his skull as well. "I'm checking my drone," she said starting the feed back up on her wrist gadget. She droned out the rooms again, the rest of the Masks held their positions. "Twitch? Lion? What's going on over there?" Thermite came in through their com systems. "We're moving in now," Lion replied as Twitch killed the feed from her drone. They crept their way down into the hallway on the left, and Twitch took her place towards the furthest end. She primed a claymore at the door of the last room. She the turned to face towards Lion beside the door to the middle room. Lion held up three fingers, and put one down as he counted to zero. Twitch and Lion hit their doors with the butt of their guns to make holes. They both received fire from inside of the rooms they tasked themselves with. They simultaneously looked down their scopes and leaned to peer through their makeshift windows. Twitch was the first to fire as her target moved into her line of sight. Lion's was more elusive, moving into the part of the room furthest from the door. He could hear the silent shuffling behind the wall as he turned his focus to the wall itself. He began to fire through the wall, and after unloading 15 rounds through the wood panels- there came the familiar sound of gargling followed by a soft thud.
Twitch and Lion locked eyes, smiling sincerely as they admired their teamwork. The explosion of her claymore behind her ruined the moment as they turned around to bits and pieces of wall, tissue, and fabric flew about the hallway. "Twitch!? Lion!?" IQ's panicked voice came in through their systems. "We're fine, just a Mask walking into my claymore. We're moving on to the bomber," Twitch replied as she brought her drone back to her. She hustled her way back to the beginning of the hallway, and the two of them went back into the room before. They turned left, and walked out into a very long hallway. They walked approximately 64 meters, before taking a position against the left wall. "Hit it," Twitch ordered to Lion. The countdown on his drone began, and the pulsing rocked the building again. "He's walking back towards the room with the hostages. He's stopped," Lion said as he watched his drone's feed intensely. "There's no more movement. The drone must have spooked him." Twitch cursed under her breath reaching for her drones again. "Deploying drone." Twitch maneuvered her drone through the hallway to the their left. The bomber came into view as he walked around what looked to be a bar area. Twitch followed him with her drone, and aimed at the oxygen machine at his back to fire one of her tazing rounds. The bomber stopped, and turned around. Twitch put her drone into stealth mode, killing the light on the front that gave away it's location. He turned to go about making his rounds again, and she fired two more into his back.
"His system is disabled," Twitch said cutting the feed to her drone and picking her gun back up to lead him down the long hallway. Upon reaching the end, Twitch looked right- the last direction the bomber had walked off. Lion took to the left in case of any unexpected visitors. "How is everything?" IQ came in over their com systems. "We're nearly there, mon amour~ Waiting to fire upon visual," Twitch whispered back into her mic. Footsteps echoing throughout the hall caused Twitch's body to go rigid. Just because the bomber's detonating system was down it didn't make him less dangerous. He still had a gun, and if anything that would make the situation more dangerous since he was now able to return fire. With the last resounding footstep, the bomber came around the corner of the bar area. He lifted his gun, and began to fire. Lion turned around with his gun drawn out of fear for Twitch, but the bomber wasn't ready for a gun fight. His aim was all over the place, and Twitch's trigger finger was quick enough to put two rounds in his head before he even began to fall forward. "Hostile's down," Twitch notified everyone. She turned to look at Lion who stared at her with an impressed smile. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do," Thermite began. "The area is heavily fortified, and the doors to this place are reinforced with steel inside of the wood paneling. We're going to hard breach on my command, but first- Lion, you're gonna take the charge I gave you, and place it against the door that leads into the room." Lion moved to place the charge on the door. "Alright, what's my next move?" he asked as Twitch moved in behind him. "Take the arm that's located on the left side of the panel box and extend it out. The red light will turn me know when that's done." Lion did as instructed, and communicated his response to Thermite.
"Alright, I'm going to tell you when I hit the switch. It takes three seconds for the charges to cut and breach, during this time, Lion, you'll activate your drone. We figured that we've run enough operations to balance ourselves with the pulsing of your drone, so we'll use it to our advantage to throw their aim off. Do you understand?" Lion agreed and stood back waiting for Thermite's signal. "Breaching," Thermite said hitting the switch for his charges. "Big brother's coming in," Lion said hitting the timer on his drone. Just as the charges exploded, the drone began to pulse. "Hostiles!" one of the Masks yelled as he stood up to fire. The other Masks in the room were obviously confused as they looked between both holes in the wall and struggled to gain their footing. The smell of smoke and flashes of fire as the squad and the Masks fired upon each other was overwhelming. Twitch swapped her mags before targeting a Mask that had hunkered down behind two of their shields. She and Lion were so occupied with securing the area that she barely had time to hear the beeping behind her. Twitch swiveled in time to see an unaccounted for bomber coming towards them. She gasped as soon as he detonated his charges, throwing her hard against the floor. "Emma!" Lion shouted over the gunfire. His ears were ringing from the explosion, but not enough that he couldn't hear. The rapid footsteps of a worried IQ resounded as Lion dropped his gun to retrieve his med kit. "Emmanuelle!" she cried as she made her way over. "No! You need to worry about the hostages, I've got her," Lion yelled waving her away. IQ looked between him and her best friend lying on the floor before reluctantly turning to aid Sledge and Thermite with the extraction.
Lion glanced over Twitch's body giving her a quick check. Luckily, the bomber overestimated the strength of his blast, and didn't cause any damage that was too serious. Twitch lay on the floor hyperventilating. Her mask was singed near her mouth from where she had gasped as soon as the explosion happened. Lion pulled her mask down, and took notice that her breathing was closer to wheezing. He opened his med kit, and pulled out the LED light to check the inside of her mouth. Her palate was raw, bleeding in some places and developing sores in others. It was just as he expected, she had breathed in the flames before being thrown down. He turned his attention to her eyes, shining the light in them to check her pupils. No contractions. Not even the slightest flinch. She was blind due to the trauma, which was evident from the way her eyes looked around rather than focusing on one subject. "Emma?" Lion called out to her. No response. He clapped his hands on one side of her head, and then the other. She didn't turn in either direction. Her body had shut down both of her most important senses in a response to stress. They needed to get out of there, but Lion didn't want to take the chance on moving her in case she tried to fight him out of fear. "Thermite? Sledge? IQ?" Lion called out over the com system. "Lion, we hear you, what's happening?" Thermite came back. "I'm going to need a stretcher, Emma is completely immobile as of right now." There was a short silence before Thermite came back in to inform him of the impending arrival of a medic team. "Can you get her out here?" Thermite asked. "Non, I'm not going to move her if she can't see or hear in case she tries to fight out of fear. If she comes back before the medics arrive, then I'll bring her out." Thermite gave him the roger and went silent.
Lion took the light and shone it back in Twitch's eyes. It was hard to catch, but Lion could see the small contraction as the light reached her receptors. He slowly waved it around, and her eyes followed to the best of their ability. Lion put the light down, and clapped his hands near her right ear. Her eyes flicked to the right as her head slightly turned in the same direction. "Emma?" Lion called out to her. Her eyes turned in his general direction, but she still wasn't able to focus. Lion shined the light near his head, and her eyes snapped to it. "Emma, can you see and hear me?" he asked bringing his left hand under her head for support. She tried to croak out a 'yes', but her attempt to speak put her in a coughing frenzy before she went back to panting. "Emma, we need to lower your breathing. It's going to be hard because you breathed in a lot of smoke and fire. I need you to try your best for me, okay?" Twitch nodded her head the best she could. "Alright, I need you to hold your breath. Ten seconds is all we need, okay? On my count. Un, deux, trois." Twitch held her breath, but could only hold it for four seconds before coughing and panting again. "That was still great, Emma. We're going to try one more time, okay? Un, deux, trois." Twitch held her breath again, this time making it to six. She coughed a few more times again, but her breathing was more reasonable. "Good, Emma, good. Try to slow it down from here. I'm going to pick you up so I can get you outside and get some air. I want you to squeeze me if anything hurts," he said placing one of her hands on his upper arm. He packed up his med kit, and slipped his arms under her to lift her up.
Twitch squeezed his arm hard as he lifted her. "I'm sorry, I know it hurts. I'll be as gentle as possible," he said holding her firmly in his arms. He made his way through the room the hostages were held, stepping around the debris and bodies of the Masks to avoid tripping. He retraced the route that they were originally supposed to take in his mind as he carried Twitch through the long halls. He could hear the rumbling of engines as he made his way to the Victoria tower. "We're almost outside, Emma," he told her as he hustled his way to the entrance. He kicked the door open and turned sideways to avoid bumping Twitch's legs or head as he walked out. "There!" IQ called out as she pointed towards them. "Everyone clear the way!" one of the local law enforcement called out as Lion made his way over. He bent to put on knee on the ground and lay Twitch down. "Emma!" IQ cried falling to her knees beside her friend. She caressed Twitch's face in her hands, pushing some stray strands of hair away from her face. Twitch's eyelashes fluttered as she tried to focus on IQ's face. "She can't speak right now. Her mouth is raw from the explosion, and her lungs are possibly scarred from the smoke." IQ kissed Twitch's forehead as tears streamed down her face. The medics had arrived just in time to deliver Twitch a stretcher and oxygen. "Come, Monika, we need to let them get to her," Lion said standing to pull IQ away.
Two medics placed the stretcher beside Twitch before taking her by her arms and her legs. Lion noticed her cringe as they moved her, he wanted to yell at them to be more careful- but having medical training himself, he knew they were doing their best for her. "Does anyone have a status on her condition?" another medic asked approaching the squad. Lion filled them in the best he could as he was the only one aware of her condition. "She has major pain, so I suggest giving her a morphine drip," Lion said as he watched them put her in the back of the truck. "Will do, anything else?" the medic asked getting ready to leave. "Yes, I want to go with her," Lion added in. The medic looked uncomfortable as his gaze shifted from Lion to the back of their truck. "We need a lot of room, and you're quite large. I don't know how-" Lion slamming a fist into his palm caused the medic to flinch as he vent his frustration. "You don't understand, I need to be with her." The medic's jaw tensed as he glared at Lion. He really didn't want to have to get into an argument, so he shrugged and gave Lion the go ahead. Lion turned to face his team and let them know he would be riding with Twitch. "I'll keep you up to date on her condition. I'll see you all later," he said turning to get into the back of the truck with Twitch. The medics had just began to place her on a morphine drip and examine her extremities. The doors closed behind Lion as he took a seat near the end of the table she lay on. He could only stare at her as she began to drift to sleep from the morphine. She'll be okay... She'll be okay...
*Twitch normally wears her ski mask thing (I can't spell balacalavala), so I tried my best to describe her Incognito headgear from the game. I was originally going to write that she wanted to look pretty for Lion, but I'm sure y'all could already guess that hehe~ c:
Also, to anyone from the UK who may have found anything incorrect that I wrote, please let me know. I tried my best to make it as accurate as possible from the research I've done on English politics. I also tried my best to write out the way they went while looking at a floor plan of the Palace of Westminister. It is a BIG building, hehe~
Thanks for reading you guys ^0^ I'll be sure to write/upload the next chapter real soon~!