GATE: In the Company of Shadows

by Krueger-X

The JSDF handled the opening of the gate well, but what they don't know is that another gate has opened within the Special Region. On the opposite side? A multinational tier one private military company. Will Japan be able to share this new resource rich fantasy world with a group of shady mercenaries or will rising political tensions cause them to reach their breaking point?

14. Contract Capital

Gate: In the Company of Shadows

Chapter 14

Contract Capital

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PHILLIP GRAVES - SHADOW CO.

HOTEL SANKAI FOREST, HAKONE HOT SPRINGS, JAPAN

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 - 00:06:00

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Commander Phillip Graves wasn't exactly pissed off per se. The man usually kept up an air of professionalism wherever he went, only removing the mask when things went sideways for his Shadow Company, which wasn't very often. He understood their capabilities - what they could and would do, but that understanding only pertained to his men. The Japanese on the other hand? He understood that their incompetence was the thing that was ticking him off tonight.

The mission he'd set out for his Shadows to accomplish was simple and straightforward. Secure the perimeter outside the resort and protect the VIPs inside from any threats, no questions asked. Then move on to the next phase: Pack up and leave by morning to cross through the gate and back into the Special Region. His Shadows knew the plan and were operating exactly as he'd expected them to. At peak one-hundred percent efficiency. He expected nothing less. His problems stemmed from the fact that their Japanese allies that they were working with had encountered some issues on their side. Issues that not only affected the Japanese, but also his company, which he was leading on a joint operation alongside them in the same area.

Three men were missing and unresponsive with drone support suddenly going down? He could see the signs that they were just a smidge unreliable. In hindsight, expecting a ranger from a country that hadn't raised a gun at another foreign soldier in years to be on the same level of experience as that of a U.S. ranger was a bit much. Sure the training and teaching curriculum was probably just as grueling, but the combat experience just wasn't there. Not that he could entirely blame them. It was the U.S. that really limited Japan's military might. Add the fact that many of its citizens were pro peace pacifists, and you had a military that knew what it was supposed to be doing but only really doing it for the first time.

It was like training someone how to swim for a few months, giving them a few years rest, and then kicking them off a boat into the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no lifejacket.

So here he was, commander and CEO, the most high profile figure in the company, trudging through a rainy, cold, and damp Japanese forest in the middle of November in another world. Call him cruel, but he secretly hoped that the missing Japanese soldiers were actually dead, otherwise, he was unsure if he'd be able to hold back from ripping into them the moment his group found them. This entire situation and his experience working with them had been subpar so far.

He did his best to keep a steady pace as he walked forward, trying to maintain his composure even with each raindrop hitting his helmet. If he let his annoyance and impatience overwhelm him, it would only make matters worse. He needed to be focused out in the field.

It didn't take him very long to realize something else was amiss. There were no birds overhead like normal. Normally at this time of night, birds would have been perched on the branches due to the rainfall. Not so much tonight though. Instead, there was silence. No birdsong, no rustling of bushes, and no sounds of animals. Not even a squirrel squeaking. Nothing. Even the sound of the rainfall seemed dulled, almost as if someone had covered up all sources of noise. Whatever made the wildlife quiet wasn't them, as they had only just traversed the area.

It was unnerving to say the least. So much so that Graves began scanning the surrounding trees and shrubbery, looking for anything out of place. After about five or so more minutes of walking, he finally saw the first telltale signs of human activity. He held up a gloved fist, signaling for the group to pull a security halt.

"Hold here," He whispered over their comms. He couldn't hear the rest of his Shadows behind him, but he knew that they instantly fanned out and took a knee, scanning the vegetation around them and surveying for any possible contacts, ready to engage at a moment's notice. He also took a knee himself, but his attention wasn't on the forest surrounding them. Rather, it was focused on the ground in front of him.

Boot prints, several of them, tracking through the mud. A less experienced or poorly equipped operator would have completely missed it. Not him though… The white phosphor of his quad tube night vision plus the combination of his previous tracking skills allowed him to easily make out the man-made anomaly on the ground.

He dipped a finger into the print, scooping up some of the wet soil as he narrowed his eyes at it through his night vision. Special Forces Group, Itami? Yeah fuckin' right. Either these Japs can't cover their tracks, or these prints belong to somebody else… He thought, before flicking the dirt away and returning his attention to the front. The tracks were still fresh - recent, meaning that their owners were definitely nearby. The real question was if their owners were friendly or not…

"Stay frosty, Carnival. We're not alone out here." He warned before standing back up. "Let's move out."

The rest of his Shadows wordlessly got back in formation, with Graves taking point. He quietly sighed to himself as he shook his head. He was thankful that it was dark out. It made blending in with the shadows just a bit more easier. How funny… With the way things were going so far, he wouldn't have to worry about losing the lighting concealment anytime soon. The night was, metaphorically speaking, still young - and he was in it for the long haul.

Whether he wanted to be or not.

-O-

After a few more minutes of walking, the sound of conversation could be heard up ahead. This was both good and bad. Good, because they could hear whoever was speaking and get the drop on them first - bad, because the voices were not at all speaking Japanese. They were speaking clear English… As far as Graves was aware, Hotel Sankai and the resort were reserved for the night. No one else but their little group should have been out there, much less in the forests.

Graves hunched down slightly, moving slower so as to not make noise. "Psst - Up ahead, y'all." He whispered, raising his Scar-L up. From the corner of his eyes he could see the figures of his Shadows as they spread out, surrounding one side of the clearing up ahead in a semicircle. Trusting them to be in position, Graves moved up, getting closer to see the source of the noise and to better make out the conversation. As he got close enough, the voices grew louder and more clear.

In a small clearing were four military aged men, all dressed in varying casual clothes. Jeans, cargo pants, hoodies, and T-shirts. It was all standard casual city wear, except the only thing that wasn't standard were the belts, plate carriers, and helmets equipped with night vision. Two of them stood over a Japanese soldier, while the third man was sitting with his back against a tree stump, the fourth man, hunched over and watching over him.

"So… what do we do with him?" Asked one of the men, who stood over a figure dressed in a very familiar flecktarn patterned uniform. A Japanese man lay weakly against the ground, coughing in pain. Bloody red holes contrasted against the greens and browns of his camouflage combat uniform, the rain washing it off as it seeped into the soil, pooling beneath him. His face was bruised purple, lips busted, and one of his eyes swollen shut. Graves winced as he noticed two other Japanese soldiers lay dead nearby, and several fingers were missing from the survivor's hands. He could only hope that the Japanese soldier was able to keep up the name, rank, and serial number interrogation shtick, because it looked like these guys weren't messing around. Especially since another unrecognizable and foreign body lay nearby, one which Graves could safely assume was one of their operators that they lost as they got into combat with the Japanese.

"We got what we needed. He's of no use to us anymore," The operator next to him gruffly responded, ignoring the soldier on the ground. In his right hand, he gripped a bloody combat knife as his rifle hung from his sling. He crouched down and wiped the blade clean against the sleeve of the Japanese soldier, basically mocking him with his inability to resist against the act and adding on to his sense of hopelessness - as evidenced by the tears trailing down his face that got lost in the rain. "He's too much of a risk, and he'll just cause problems for us in the future. Finish him."

"Wait, wait, no! No, please-!" The Japanese soldier's accented voice weakly pleaded before being cut off by a suppressed shot. It rang out, echoing against the forest before two more followed suit. He was begging no more…

The executioner lowered his rifle, a faint wisp of smoke rising from the barrel which was still warm as he quickly flicked the weapon's fire selector back to safe. He stared down at his handiwork for a few more seconds before spitting on the corpse and turning back to what Graves assumed to be the squad leader, who held a radio in his left hand. "So, we get anything from his comms?"

The leader held it up at eye level, turning it as he inspected the make and model. Suddenly a Japanese voice spoke up from the radio, one that Graves recalled hearing earlier back in the hotel. "All Fate elements, this is Akita-Actual, be advised - the holy grail is broken. I say again… The holy grail is broken. All operators, abort the mission and make your way to the extraction point!"

"But Colonel, what about the VIPs?" The voice of Fate 1-1 asked, being easily recognizable.

"Orders are straight from the top, it's out of our hands now. Shadow Company can take care of them. Now get your ass out of there, ASAP!"

"Copy. We're oscar-mike."

"Looks like things went well on the politician's end." The leader remarked with a look of satisfaction. The cynical smirk of his was as clear as day, even through the dead of night and rain. For some reason, the smile was very familiar to Graves, but he couldn't quite recall where exactly he'd seen it before… "Nothing a bit of blackmail can't solve, right?"

"Heh, yeah," The operator responded, giving a small mirthless laugh before glancing to the side. Graves watched as he looked down at the body of his teammate, before he turned his attention and looked worriedly at the other two operators nearby, his lips set in a thin line at the sight. "Just… it fuckin' sucks that we lost Pearson, and now West is fucked up over there too."

The leader turned and looked over his shoulder at the other two, giving an exasperated sigh before rolling his eyes. "Part of the job. If you're worried, don't be. Uncle Sam will cover our losses."

"Yeah, fuckin' right. What was it that they put on the document briefing? The U.S. will not be able to help you if you are taken? Capture will result in possible prosecution for conspiracy, war crimes, espionage, and aiding and abetting terrorism against Japanese interests or persons? Failure is not an option? They don't give a rat's ass about us."

The leader shrugged his shoulders. "What do you expect? That's not exactly anything new. Plausible deniability is a puppet show act, and our government is the one that pulls our strings behind the curtains."

The operator shook his head at him before refocusing back on the others nearby. "Yo, West!" He called out, gaining their attention. "Did you bring the right ammo type for your gun, or are we dropping your ass off back at the airport to miss out on another spicy contract?"

Contract…? Graves thought to himself. Was this another PMC operating against them? He didn't want to believe it, but the signs were starting to point in that direction. Political deals behind the scenes, the unmarked and unstandard uniforms, the plausible deniability… Graves watched from nearby as the rest of the enemy team stood guard, each of their hands holding differently built rifles and all equipped with their own night vision devices. It was safe to say that with the gear and kit that these guys were running, they weren't your average run of the mill operator. The only military profession that Graves could think of that would allow these guys to afford this type of gear out of their own pocket were indeed contractors.

"Seriously?" Asked the fourth man as he looked up, pocketing a lighter and a box of cigarettes. "You're talking to the guy who accidentally put .300 Blackout in a shiny brand new M4 once."

"Hey! That was one time, Ingram! And it was an accident…" The one sat against the tree stump grumbled. The man, who Graves identified to be West, looked somewhat out of it, like he wasn't completely certain of where he was or what he was doing out in the field. Graves deduced that the confusion might have been attributed to the massive amounts of blood leaking from his body. His chest rig, body armor, and backpack were unstrapped and discarded nearby as he held a hand over his abdomen, futilely trying his best to keep the red liquid of life inside of his body. Graves assumed that the easy conversation and cigarette in his mouth was meant to help put the bleeding man at ease or reduce his panic.

"Yeah, an expensive and dangerous one. You shot a rifle that blew up in your fucking hands."

"It chambered just fine!"

"Just cause it chambers doesn't mean it'll fire… safely anyway. This is why we label our ammunition now. Should we start slapping colored tape and safety locks on everything now too?" Ingram asked sarcastically.

"Ha, experienced operator my ass…"

West weakly smiled before coughing into his fist, specking it with blood and saliva. "Would you rather I cheap out on ammo that won't cycle properly?" He heaved out.

"I'd rather you not force me to attend another safety briefing."

"Heh…" The wounded man huffed, and Graves could see his eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second. A sign that he was nearing the end of his journey. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that anytime soon then. I think that morphine is finally kickin' in… and, I'll be… out of your hair… soon enough…"

"Hey, don't say shit like that man. You'll be just fine brother," Ingram said. He began gently shaking the man as his eyes closed. "Come on, keep talking to us. Don't fall asleep!"

It was pointless. The flame from the cigarette stopped burning as the wounded operator exhaled his last breath. A tiny puff of smoke came out, almost like it was his soul leaving his body, and the cigarette hanging out of his mouth simply fell into his lap. The rest of the foreign operators all stared at the unmoving body with a solemn gaze, allowing a brief moment of silence to grieve as they thought about how to further proceed.

The leader gave an annoyed huff, before turning away, "Call it in." He ordered.

"What's the move, sir?" He heard one of his Shadows whisper into his mic, getting his attention again. Right, he was there with his own people, surrounding a hostile force in the darkness. It was easy to forget those details when said hostile force was made up of fellow red, white, and blue blooded Americans - ones that just watched a brother in arms die slowly in front of them. It honestly reminded him of his special forces days, looong before his current contracting profession. But these people weren't his allies now, were they? His Shadows mattered much, much more. Always…

Just because these operators were fellow countrymen didn't mean that he'd hold back for them. They were still the enemy, actively seeking to bring harm to his people, both Shadow's and VIPs. He'd treat them no differently from some Somali pirate or Islamic Jihadist. "They're game, put 'em down." He said, giving the order without hesitation.

His Shadows raised their weapons, preparing themselves to engage. Within moments, five distinct clicks echoed throughout the clearing, followed by a cacophony of suppressed gunfire from weapons of varying calibers. As the bullets struck their intended targets, the bodies collapsed in twitching piles into the ferns below. It all happened so quickly and violently, that none of the enemy operators had any time to react before it was already too late - as evidenced by their faces, which held a mixture of shock, surprise, and fear written all over them. The forest was silent once more…

"We're clear, force up." As Graves gave the order, he spotted the rest of his Shadows moving alongside him, closing in on the clearing. The bodies of the enemy operators and Japanese Special Forces lay still and unmoving, some of them face first and likely drowning in the mud. "Dead checks. Don't leave anybody out. I don't want any surprises right now."

"Yes, Commander," Replied Carnival's squad leader as they moved in. "Careful boys, they might have grenades."

Several more suppressed shots rang out as Graves watched his men commence clean up like it was routine.

"Hey! We've got a live one over here!" He heard one of his men call out. He turned around, finding a Shadow flipping one of the bodies over with his boot. It was the enemy squad leader, who currently held a look of fury on his face as he went to raise a pistol up. The Shadow kicked it aside before slamming the stock of his rifle into his face. Another went to pick up the discarded pistol, before ejecting the mag and pulling the slide back to clear the chamber - effectively making it useless as the slide locked back - empty.

The man fell onto his back, hissing in pain as he clutched at his now broken and freshly bleeding nose. Blood flowed freely from between his fingers as he glared up at the Shadow who had been responsible for the inconvenience.

He spat up some more blood as he spoke up, "Ah, shit…" He muttered as he pulled his hand back, inspecting the newly reddened palm. "Now is that anyway to greet an old acquaintance, Commander?" The man said as he struggled to get back to his feet. His hand slipped on a patch of wet leaves as he attempted to push himself upright, wobbling unsteadily. His Shadow took advantage of the situation and kicked him hard in the stomach, causing him to keel over and wheeze as the air left his lungs.

Graves glared fiercely as he approached the injured man, not bothering to dignify him with the response he wanted as he knelt beside him, roughly grabbing his chin and forcing him to look up. The man couldn't see his eyes from his current angle, on account of the quad tube night vision in front of his face, but Graves wasn't going to show him any respect by speaking eye to eye. Besides, he imagined that the goggles helped to make him look as intimidating as possible right now, something he'd need if he wanted to get what he needed from this man. "I ain't in the mood for any fuckin' games right now, partner. I'm only gonna give you one chance to talk, so talk. Who the hell are you?"

"Who am I?" The man laughed out loud, shaking his head. He gave a wide smile, showing off what he probably expected to be his usually pristine white teeth… except now they were stained red with blood. Probably a result of the bullet wounds and nose bleed. "Don't tell me you don't recognize this smile, Commander Graves?"

Graves tightened his grip on the man's jaw before giving him a rough tug downwards. He let out a yelp as he hit the ground with a thud, his head smashing against the compact soil. The man groaned as Graves went about emptying all of his pockets, tossing aside miscellaneous gear like a lighter, a wallet, and keys. He found what he was looking for, as he pulled out a simple and modern touch screen phone. Graves nodded to himself in satisfaction, seeing his reflection against the screen before handing it off to one of his Shadows nearby. No doubt that it was locked via password or biometrics. That wouldn't stop him though, he'd have someone take a crack at it later.

As he looked back down at him, Graves found his eyes narrowing in recognition. He quickly yanked the collar of the man's shirt down to reveal…

A tattoo.

The very same tattoo from the lobbyist back at Ichigaya Hotel. The lobbyist that approached him with the offer for his company to grow, which he denied, causing the hotel to burn within minutes. The lobbyist that sent him and his Shadows on a wild game of cat and mouse. The lobbyist that just killed three Japanese special forces that he was operating with…

The lobbyist laughed softly below him, noticing the look of recognition that crossed Graves' face. "Ah, so you do recall who I am?"

"Unfortunately…"

"Yes, unfortunate… for you, maybe…" He chuckled, using the last of his strength to lift his body up a bit. "Fortunate for us, though. We've sent a strong message and got our point across."

"And what is that message?"

"You made a big mistake refusing my employer, and now…?" He trailed off, a smug look on his face despite his current predicament. "Now you've got no one to help back you up out here."

Graves scowled at his easy going attitude and cryptic responses. "What do you mean by that?"

"Isn't it obvious, Commander?" He asked. "It's a dog eat dog world out here. And Japan? They'll be the top dog so long as they're the only ones barking in the park."

Suddenly, Graves' head snapped up as a distant explosion could be heard nearby, followed by the sounds of heavy suppressive gunfire. His eyes widened as he recognized the direction shots were originating from, before reaching for his radio.

"Bishop 1-1, this is Shadow-Actual. Give me a sitrep, what's going on over there?!" After a good six seconds with no response, Graves shook his head before trying to reach them again. "Vale! Boxer! Any station this net, do you copy?! It's Graves, pick up the comms and speak to me!"

"Heh, there's no point, Commander," The lobbyist said with a shit eating grin. "Your call is never getting out of this forest."

"Yeah?" Graves asked, before yanking him forward by the collar of his shirt and slamming a fist directly into his face, wiping the victorious look off of it. He quickly leveled his rifle up before pulling the trigger, giving the man no time to register his imminent demise as a round of 5.56 found itself nesting inside of his brain. "And neither are you." He finished in a tone of finality and disinterest as the man's body flopped back lifelessly against the damp ground.

As he pulled the weapon away, he stood up straight, briefly dusting himself off with an exasperated sigh before turning to one of his Shadows. "1-1… were you able to establish contact with any of our Japanese support?"

"Negative sir, Fate 1-1 and Akita-Actual aren't responding on comms. None of them are. They've been radio silent ever since our guests arrived unannounced. Either the forest is messing with our comms… or they deliberately cut us off," Carnival's squad leader paused in thought as a deep frown appeared on his face. "I'm… thinkin' it's the latter."

"Those fuckin' two timin' rat bastards!" graves shouted angrily before punching a nearby tree. Three dead Japanese special forces on their home soil, communications and drone feed going down, and now his Shadows were taking contact from some unidentified hostile forces? Graves didn't care about the blatant anger he was showing. Anyone would have been furious in his shoes. "Ditchin' us the moment the plan goes tits up?! I shoulda known that they'd pull some shit like that!"

"Sir," Said one of his Shadows as he briskly approached the two. "We've got a large group of unknowns approaching from the North-East. We picked up at least fifteen heartbeats."

Shit… more were already on their way? Graves understood that they must have been sent to find out what happened to their missing men, but fifteen guys? Either the unresponsiveness on their enemy's comms was a major concern for them that took priority, or the enemy forces had the manpower to spare. If it was the latter, getting into a head on firefight wasn't going to work out well.

Definitely outnumbered, and possibly outgunned, they'd need to play it smart now going forward.

Graves looked around the clearing for anything they could use and how to position his Shadows. After hurriedly scouring his surroundings for a few seconds, blue eyes finally settled on a bag nearby. The wounded enemy operator who had just bled out earlier was slumped against a tree stump next to a bag. Graves quickly ran over to it before zipping it open and rummaging inside for a moment. After a few seconds, his face broke out into a wide smile.

Jackpot!

Inside the bag were the usual things for an outing such as this. Water, spare mags, elastic paracord, etc. But what really stood out was the bold and green text he was reading.

'FRONT TOWARD ENEMY'

The M18 Claymore mines inside the bag were anti-personnel, meaning that although they packed quite the punch, they were really only intended for use against soft bodies. Just like the ones that were currently approaching their position.

A look of satisfaction appeared on his face before it morphed into one of determination. He pulled out the claymores before handing them to his Shadows. "Alright Carnival, here's the plan. We're gonna rig these body's to blow. When the search team finds them, we give 'em all a warm welcome, yeah?"

"Wilco," Replied one of his Shadows as he took a Claymore.

After handing out almost all of them, Graves took the last one out of the bag with the detonator, before making his way back to the lobbyist that he had just executed. As he shifted the body slightly, his attention was drawn by something shiny that his night vision picked up on. Looking down at the corpse, Graves saw an expensive gold watch, gleaming under the moonlight and rain drops. He paused for a moment, before quickly unclasping it from his wrist, and pocketing it for himself.

Carnival's squad leader caught sight of this, raising a brow at him from the corner of his eye. "War trophies, Commander?"

Graves shrugged in response as he finished setting up the last mine. "It's not like he's alive to appreciate it anymore, is he?" He asked nonchalantly. "It's a souvenir, a memento, a keepsake - whatever you wanna call it. But it's mine now."

Carnival 1-1 chuckled at this statement as the two of them prepared themselves for the ambush. "Spoils of war, huh?"

Graves scoffed in agreement before gesturing towards the treeline. "I'll say. Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

As his subordinate nodded at his command, the rest of the squad ran back to conceal themselves a good distance away from the trapped clearing. Within seconds of Graves finding a good position behind a fern and tree, the sound of footsteps came from up ahead, as the rest of their Western guests slowly approached.

"Standby, standby…" Graves whispered into his radio, waiting until more of the search team were closer to the mines before he raised the detonator in his hand. The M57 firing device, or clacker for short, was rigged to the Claymores that booby trapped the bodies which were primed and ready to blow. A really nasty surprise for any poor fool on the receiving end of it.

One of the enemy operators paused as he emerged from the opposite treeline, caught off guard by the sight in front of him. "Ah shit…" He muttered. "Hey! Goldman and his team are down!"

Graves smirked to himself as he watched them spread out. Some provided security while the rest went to check on the bodies. It wouldn't matter in a few moments. The results of the ambush would be devastating. He just hoped that he could get it done and over with quickly. The rest of his Shadows still required his help, and having to deal with these guys was preventing him from giving that help.

"Stay frosty guys, their killers could still be around."

Graves watched as one of the operators knelt down beside his kill and checked for a pulse, before the man turned around and shook his head at the others. "Control," He said, speaking into his radio. "All of Hitman-3 is KIA."

As the operator made to stand, he paused as his eye caught sight of something the corpse hugged tightly. Tilting his head, he slowly moved a boot against the arm of the body, before kicking it aside. The arm fell limply, letting the Claymore reveal itself as it slumped against the ground.

"Fire in the hole." Graves warned, bracing himself for the inevitable boom as he repeatedly squeezed the trigger of the clacker.

"OH SH-"

Suddenly, the forest clearing was filled with a blinding orange light, as if a spark had been lit. Though calling it a spark would have been a bit of an understatement. The detonation of the blasting cap which ignited the composition C-4 inside and propelled hundreds of tiny steel spheres out was already deadly enough. Now multiply that by five in a densely compact forest clearing, and you had quite the ear deafening explosion.

Graves could feel the ground beneath him shake as the blast occurred, causing everyone in the vicinity to flinch. As the cloud of smoke and dirt began to subside, Graves could see that half of the enemy search team was no more. The trees and foliage around them were burnt black; If the force of the explosion was powerful enough to rattle his teeth, he imagined it was far worse for anyone unfortunate enough to be directly on the receiving end of it.

"Open fire!" Graves commanded. Immediately after issuing the order, his Shadows began squeezing their triggers, lighting up their enemies while they were still disorientated. Several of them were put down as the last few scrambled to cover.

"Ah, fuck!" One of the survivors coughed out before collapsing from a bullet.

"It's a fuckin' ambush!" One of the others shouted as he rushed behind a boulder nearby. "Control, it's Hitman-2! We've been decisively engaged! - enemy forces are gunning us down out here - did the deal fall through?!"

"Negative 2, all Japanese forces have been ordered to stand down and fall back. Whatever forces you're currently combating are unknowns."

"Fuck!" Graves heard him shout from behind the rock cover. Another teammate of his went to peek over and fire, allowing one of his Shadows to fire a few well placed shots into his skull. Knowing that he likely wasn't going to make it out of this situation, the operator attempted to send out one last warning call. "All stations - Hitman-2 is taking effective fire from unknown forces - we've taken heavy casualties!"

Graves opened up one of his pouches, pulling out a single M67 frag grenade, while his Shadows suppressed the lone survivor. "Hey, I'm tossin' one!" He warned. The rest of his Shadows nodded as they seeked out cover while still suppressing the enemy.

Once Graves saw that they were behind something sufficiently hardened, he pulled the safety pin, letting the spoon fly out of his palm before underhand tossing it. "Frag out!" He ducked down as he watched the grenade hit the top of the boulder, before slowly rolling down and over it. An explosion, followed by a puff of smoke, told him that the frag had detonated, most likely filling the poor soul behind it with shrapnel or rupturing his organs with the blast.

Graves peeked out, keeping his rifle pointed towards the rock as he gestured forward with a free hand. The rest of his Shadows wordlessly got up, slowly closing in as they advanced towards the rock. The man had nowhere to go, effectively surrounded. If he got up to run, he'd be gunned down from the back. If he attempted to fire back in some sort of last stand, he'd be gunned down from the front… if he was still alive and capable of any rational thought. Graves doubted that he was, but it wouldn't hurt to check and make sure though.

Graves watched as one of his Shadows rounded the corner, before he double tapped what he assumed to be the operator's body. Once he heard the telltale sounds of bullets impacting flesh, he knew that the man was done for now.

"Clear!" His Shadow announced as he lowered his rifle.

Graves let out a sigh of relief, craning his head up to the sky that was now cleared from the worst of the storm, and was now reduced to a light sprinkle. His moment of relaxation was interrupted as another distant explosion sounded out. Damnit, Bishop and Sentinel were still under fire! He reached for his radio again, trying once more to reach them. Hopefully the weather would allow for it.

"Bishop, this is Shadow-Actual, come in! How copy?"

"Shadow-Actual," Vale's panicked voice responded faintly over the comms. The static and stuttering that Graves was experiencing was probably much worse on their end. "This is Bishop 1-1, you're coming in weak and unreadable over the comms. Switch to backup frequency and try again!"

"Fuck!" Graves hissed out before fiddling with the radio. Faulty equipment acting out against him was the last thing he needed right now. "Bishop, Sentinel, it's Shadow-Actual, how do you read me now? Over."

"Bishop reads you loud and clear, Shadow-Actual! Graves, is it damn good to hear your voice!" Graves could hear the sense of relief that came through Vale's tone on the other end. One that quickly shifted to confusion and concern. "What happened to y'all?! Why aren't the Japanese communicating with us?! And who the fuck is shooting at us?!"

"No time to explain right now Vale, we need to link up and get back to the resort ASAP." He turned to one of his Shadows, spinning a single finger up at the sky, gesturing for him to mark their position. He nodded, getting the message before aiming his rifle up into the air and hitting the pressure switch of his PEQ box, sending out the IR laser. They'd have to be quick though. If they could see it, so could anybody else who had night vision. "Carnival's marking our position with a rope in the sky now, confirm you have a visual!"

After a few seconds of silence, which caused Graves to worry that they may have lost comms again, Vale's voice returned. "Shadow-Actual, we have a confirmed visual on your lasso mark, we're oscar-mike now!"

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[REDACTED] RONIN [REDACTED] - SHADOW CO.

HOTEL SANKAI FOREST, HAKONE HOT SPRINGS, JAPAN

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 - 00:28:23

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"Dragging your ass is gettin' fuckin' tiring, dude…" Complained one of Boxer's men.

"Oh I'm sorry, I'll try not to get shot the next time we're out in the field," Boxer snarked back, limping alongside him. He winced as he accidentally put some weight on his bad leg, which was now bandaged up to prevent the bleeding. Well, bandaged up as best as one could when they were actively being pursued. "Ah shit, we need to hurry. Those guys are gonna be hot on our trail." He grunted.

"Let's not be too hasty," Vale warned as he took point, constantly scanning the treeline for any movement. "Keep the speed down, we're too exposed out here."

"As if we can go any faster." Boxer grumbled under his breath. The wounded man raised a good point. The terrain of the forest was rugged and unforgiving, and there was little chance of finding any cover. Good hard cover anyways. Trees didn't usually last too long when shot at repeatedly. Ronin doubted that mother nature accounted for bullets with the creation of the tree. That said, he was grateful that mother nature was feeling at least a little merciful. The rain hadn't started up again because that meant that he'd had less visibility like before.

They had been walking for a few minutes now, having escaped the previous firefight relatively intact. All except for Sentinel 1-2 and 1-3, whose names he learned to be Quill and Serf respectively, after having briefly asked Boxer what happened to his two missing Shadows. Serf, took a round to the throat. He bled out in less than a minute, while Quill on the other hand, took the brunt of a grenade's shrapnel as they retreated back. He received an artery wound from it, one that the team was unable to treat if they wanted to get away alive. Not like they could if they wanted to anyway. Apparently a second frag had rolled by, and Boxer had to resort to using him as a body shield. Ronin didn't miss the sour look on his face, or the brief glance at the back of Vale's head when he mentioned that part. There were obviously a few details that the man clearly left out, but he held his tongue in favor of not arguing in the field.

No matter, they were gone now, and there wasn't anything the team could really do for them at this point in time. Right now, their main concern was regrouping with Graves and Carnival, so that they could head back to the resort their VIPs were currently holed up in and protect them. Most of the team had gotten out of that last situation alive, so that was something. The real question now was, would they make it out of this next one? There was no time to waste unfortunately, so they continued trudging through the mud.

It was another five minutes of walking until Vale caught sight of something near the front. "I've got movement, up ahead." He said in a low voice, holding a fist up as he looked on with a trained eye through his night vision.

The group came to a halt, kneeling down as Ronin tried to see where Vale was looking. Vale was right, there was definitely movement in the distance, just about ten meters away. Ronin squinted his eyes, before making out the glowing IR patch that was velcroed onto one of their helmets.

Vale must have noticed the same thing, as he said aloud, "Sun!"

"Shadow!" One of the figures responded with the countersign in a familiar voice, one with hints of a noticeable Southern accent. This person was unmistakably their Commander, Phillip Graves.

The group immediately got up, making their way to the rest of their company. Once within earshot of the others, Graves stepped forward with a serious look etched onto his face. "You boys okay?"

"Somewhat-" Vale began, before getting cut off by Boxer.

"Ah, speak for yourself Vale," Boxer grunted from nearby, getting all of their attention. He stepped forward slowly, still a bit unsteady from the recent bullet wound as he shrugged off his man. "I lost two of my guys and got shot in the fuckin' ankle. We're far from okay! What happened to the Japanese?! Didn't they promise us their support?!"

"Yeah, well their support was unreliable. We overheard comms from their missing soldiers," Graves informed them. "Some sort of deal happened up above with their suits. All Japanese special forces operating in this area were instructed to fall back and head to an extract."

"What happened to the missing team?" Ronin asked.

Graves shook his head, "Dead," He said in a tone of finality. "They were tortured and executed by American contractors by the time we got there."

Ronin frowned at the information as Viper stepped forward. "So it's just us out here now…?"

Graves smacked his lips in indifference. "Yeah, us and enemy forces," He said, shrugging his shoulders. "Not too surprising really. I warned y'all when I said not to rely on 'em."

"And you also said that they were bogus amateurs," Angel reminded, all too happy to smear the JSDF name.

"Mhm, that too." He agreed, before facing all of them. "Look, I'm sure that they all tried their best and fought valiantly to the end," The eyeroll and the way Graves said it clearly meant he didn't believe his own words. "But they're clearly not gonna finish this fight if they're gonna bail out on us so quickly. The only people we can truly depend on is each other! We're a pack, like wolves! So what say we get our fangs out and start hunting, huh? I'm sure you all want your fill of blood just like I do, am I right?"

Ronin couldn't help himself, joining in and parroting the chorus of, "Yep, yep!" All of the Shadows gave in response.

"Well alright then!" Graves exclaimed with a satisfied smirk, before hunching forward slightly as his face got serious. "So here's the plan..."

-O-

The sounds of continuous gunfire that echoed from up ahead did little to ease his worries. The only shots in the area that Ronin could recall being somewhat comfortable with were the ones directed at his group, because at least he knew that they were in deep shit as the bullets whizzed and cracked in the air right past them. These shots though? He wasn't comfortable with them at all.

Not that he was comfortable with any shots unless they originated from his or his teammates' guns…

From what he could hear though, it was pure chaos at the resort. Chaos that didn't make sense to him. No one inside the resort was heavily armed at all. So for a shoot out to last this long with so many weapons greatly concerned him.

"Damn, looks like they started the party without us," Viper said gravely from ahead of him. "We'd best hurry, before these guys fuck their shit up anymore."

Ronin merely glanced at his mentor as they got closer to the source of the shooting. The rest of the company, although reuniting briefly, decided to split up once more. Graves decided that the best course of action was to split the enemy's attention, so that they couldn't focus on one specific area. His plan basically rode on the enemy believing that they were outnumbered by Shadow Company, causing dissent amongst their ranks and dividing and conquering. Ronin didn't really understand it himself, but he wasn't the strategist or the commanding officer in charge here.

It was with this plan that he once again found himself in a duo pair with Viper. It was also why he found himself annoyed as he dropped to the ground again when Viper waved a hand down. The sounds of several footsteps once again reached his headset as he lay in wait, before a large group of masked men ran by in what Ronin recognized to be woodland DPM BDUs equipped with load bearing chest rigs.

"Oi, come on you lot, move your arses!" Shouted one of the enemy operators in a very distinct accent. He waved the rest of the group over as they quickly ran past Ronin and Viper's hiding spot. "The fellas over at the target building are in deep shite right about now! Let's get over there and back 'em up, yeah?"

"Bloody hell, I thought we were the only ones out here?" Responded another in a frustrated tone as he checked the ammo in his AK.

"Client must have given command bad intel! C'mon mate, hurry up!"

"What about the bags?"

"Don't worry about it, Trombley and Harrison will watch over 'em. Now let's go!" The leader urged on. The rest nodded their heads and took off in the direction that the operator had pointed in. Ronin watched silently as they hurried past them, their guns held high and ready for action. With nothing else to do and being unable to do much anyway, the pair waited until they were long gone.

Ronin let out a sigh of relief as their footsteps faded away and he began to rise from where he had lowered himself. "Viper, those guys were Brits!"

"Glad to see that the cavalry has finally arrived," He joked as he stood, not bothering to brush the grass and dirt from his clothing. There was no point. With the work they were doing, it'd only get dirty later anyway. "Don't jump to any conclusions yet. They could be with the guys we saw earlier," He pointed out. "Let's move."

"Right." Ronin grumbled to himself as he got to his feet and followed after him. There was plenty of doubt swimming around in his head regarding whether or not the operators they saw running off were related to those same ones that the two had come across earlier. But they'd need to actually confirm such things first before telling the others, lest they give inaccurate intel.

They moved swiftly through the woods, heading towards where they believed the majority of the fighting was taking place. After only a few minutes of walking, the gunfire noticeably increased in intensity, echoing throughout the woods.

"What's going on?" Ronin muttered. He could barely believe this number of enemy forces were getting hit so badly. Who were these guys up against to be engaged in combat for so long? "Do they really want the VIPs so badly?"

Viper just shrugged his shoulders as the two continued forward, each keeping a careful eye on their surroundings, while doing their best to stay hidden as well. Finally they stopped moving and crouched down behind a bush as they neared their planned destination. Peering past the bushes, Ronin could see the open clearing that contained the resort building, Hotel Sankai. They were currently at the North side of it, not able to get a good look at the action due to their position in the treeline. What they were able to spot was the familiar uniforms of the English operators that split off, covering multiple angles for each other as they disappeared behind the South side of the resort where most of the shots originated from.

"Who the hell could be out here other than us?" Asked an accented voice. Ronin paused, before glancing to the right a bit. He spotted one of the British operators stepping forward, a frown on his face as he lifted the night vision off. "Our lads are gettin' royally fucked over there, and we're sittin' 'ere on our arse, doing fuck all about it!"

"Quit whining Trombley,'' responded another, stepping forward from the left on Viper's side. "They tasked us with watchin' their shit cause they've got it handled over there."

"You sure about that?" Asked Trombley, "Cause it's soundin' like a fuckin' shitshow over there, Harrison."

The two men were clearly standing guard, not quite joining the fray, but just on the edge of the treeline in case the rest of their teammates did need their help. One was antsy, the other was cool. But both were easy targets. Two easy kills, standing around by the open with no one else to cover them. It was extremely enticing.

Ronin slowly turned his head, his eyes meeting Viper's through the night vision. "What's the move here?" He whispered, making sure they weren't heard by the two up ahead.

His mentor responded by pulling his karambit out from his knife sheath. "It's time we bloody our blades…"

"Oh, I love how you think," Ronin replied quietly, nodding in agreement before reaching into his own sheath and pulling out his combat knife as well. Unlike Viper, Ronin wasn't all too interested in his blades. He didn't want anything fancy or flashy. Just something simple enough to get the job done. It's why he had opted for a more basic survival and utility huntsman knife, which was dipped in a coating of matte black, and had a paracord wrapped around the grip. He'd just recently sharpened it too, so that even the serrated edge on the spine of the blade was just as razor sharp as the cutting side. Perfect for what they were about to do. "I'm guessin' that I'm leading?"

His words were met with a brief nod of approval from Viper, who gestured forward towards the two unaware Brits with his middle and index fingers. They quietly rose from their hiding spot, keeping low to the ground as they creeped up on their targets. Ronin could already feel his heartbeat starting to pick up as they got ever closer to the mercenaries. This could go horribly wrong at any moment if either of them hesitated. It's a good thing that the two mercenaries were distracted with a conversation of their own.

"Hey Trombley," Began the one on the left.

"Yeah?" The man in front of Ronin asked absentmindedly.

"You ever wonder why we're here…?"

It's just routine, Ronin… He quietly thought to himself. You've done this hundreds of times before…

Ronin took a quick glance around the clearing once they were close enough. He kept an ear peeled, listening for any indication of possible third parties that may have walked in on their act. Once he was sure it was clear, he glanced over at Viper, who nodded at him with his free hand up, ready to muffle the cries of his victim.

"-Some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a-" Ronin interrupted the man's ramblings with a tap on the shoulder, causing him to pause his ramblings and turn around. "Huh? What the - Hurghk!"

The man couldn't ponder philosophy or life's great mysteries anymore, as Ronin plunged the blade straight into his throat, cutting deeply into it. The British man met his eyes, staring at him in clear shock as he weakly clawed at the knife in his grip in an effort to clear the obstruction. It was all for naught though, as after a couple of seconds, Ronin watched the life slowly leave his eyes as the blood drained, before he yanked the blade out - watching as the man in front of him collapsed against the ground with a solid thud. Blood pooled beneath the fresh cadaver as he admired his handiwork for a few seconds, before glancing to the side.

Ronin watched as the man in Viper's arms slowly bled out from his neck wound, his mentor resisting the struggles which eventually ceased. Viper let go once he was still, allowing the body to roll lifelessly to the ground. Viper turned to look at him, before pointing to his kill. "C'mon, let's hide these bodies just in case anybody comes lookin' for 'em." He said, grabbing the corpse from under the arms and dragging it away.

Ronin nodded, before kicking aside his kill and rolling it into a nearby bush. It wasn't the greatest attempt at hiding a corpse, but he was too lazy right now to really put in more effort. He figured they wouldn't be missed for a while anyways. And besides, he doubted that any survivors would be coming back for these guys. The Japanese clean up crews could deal with it themselves later… probably… if they ever found them…

"Viper, Ronin, how's it going over on your end?" Graves' voice asked from his radio.

Ronin glanced behind him, seeing that Viper was just finishing hiding the body. "We're good over here, boss. Still undetected," Ronin replied. "We just gutted two hostiles, North of the resort, at the treeline. They were Brits."

"Understood. Be advised - me and some Carnival elements ran into Chinese forces on the West side over here, while the rest of Bishop reported running into some Russians on the East. Stay frosty out there."

Ronin had a deep frown on his face as more information was revealed to him, painting a pretty bad picture for them and their opposition. "American, British, Chinese, and Russian forces are all here for our VIPs?" Ronin asked. "Graves, this situation sounds completely fucked. We need to move in and do something now."

Graves must have understood the worry in his voice, as he didn't admonish him for the pointless chatter over the comms. "Negative. I understand how you probably feel right now. The shitshow currently happening in front of the resort is most likely the result of a Mexican standoff gone wrong. But I want all Shadows holding their sectors. My plan requires us all to be in position when the time comes. Until then, just worry about yourselves, at least for a little while longer. Then we can focus on our guests inside. How copy?"

Ronin sighed, not entirely happy with continuing to let the enemy fight for any longer than was necessary. "Solid copy, Shadow-Actual…" He responded.

"Good. Keep us posted if anything else happens. We'll be in contact again soon once we're all ready. Shadow-Actual, out."

Ronin let out another sigh, feeling his muscles tense in response to having to put up with the way things were going. All they needed to do was wait. Wait for every Shadow to be in position. The problem with waiting to attack was that they might have waited for too long, and something would go wrong. Ronin didn't want it to be too late for their VIPs. He wanted them to be safe, to actually do his job. It seemed that he was getting less and less certain that was the likely outcome as the minutes ticked by and the gunfire didn't stop.

"You better be holding out over there, Itami…"

---

[REDACTED] VALE [REDACTED] - SHADOW CO.

HOTEL SANKAI FOREST, HAKONE HOT SPRINGS, JAPAN

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 - 00:40:50

---

"Sleep tight, cabrón."

The words were whispered flatly by Angel, into the ears of a now dead Russian operator that lay at his feet. The Russian man was sprawled out with his back on the ground, gun sitting unused against his chest, and no sign of any movement coming from him whatsoever. The body already looked paler, the skin losing a tinge of color while the light in his eyes dimmed and faded behind the shooting glasses. Angel sighed tiredly and shook his head, standing up to look up at the sky that loomed above them.

"That was easier than I thought." Angel commented, before lightly nudging the corpse with his boot and stepping over it.

Vale cocked a brow up as he wiped the blood off from his knife using the sleeve of his victim, "What do you mean by that?" He asked, grunting as he postured himself upright.

"I don't do CQB man," Angel said. He stepped forward, scanning the treeline again in case any more showed up. He eyed the knife in his hand before putting it back in his sheath. "I'm not exactly the greatest at hand to hand combat or stealth."

Vale rolled his eyes before looking behind him. His eyes stopped, settling on Bristol as the man rummaged through the pockets of the dead Russian in front of him. "If mister loquacious over there can do it, so can you." He commented, jabbing a thumb towards the Brit.

"I heard that!" Bristol called out.

"You were supposed to!" Vale responded, giving the Brit a brief sideways glance before turning his attention back to Angel. "Anyways, you did fine. You fell back on your training pretty well. Now, normally these situations wouldn't call for us to be so close to the enemy that we'd have to resort to knives in the first place, but this situation is already pretty abnormal."

Angel snorted at his words, "Understatement of the century. We're still on an entirely different version of Earth." He reminded.

Right… Vale thought to himself. Almost forgot about that…

His radio sprang to life moments later, pulling him from his inner musings. "Bishop 1-1, it's Shadow-Actual, give me a sitrep, over."

"Shadow-Actual, 1-1 here, three hostiles down. We're in position and awaiting your signal, over."

"Copy. All Shadows, we are green! It's time to step into the light…"

The plan was to surprise whatever enemy forces remained and push them more South. The company would keep up the pressure from three sides - the North, East, and West side of the forest treeline surrounding the resort - doing their best to avoid crossfire as they overwhelmed their enemies that were already so distracted with each other. Four factions fighting each other was already chaotic enough. Adding a fifth into the mix would hopefully get them to realize that all of their efforts would be futile, and that pulling out would be the better option before they waste more men and resources on a mission that was doomed to fail from the start.

The only downside to the plan was that they'd be relying on the shock and awe of revealing themselves to close in and outnumber them, meaning the risk was high. Hopefully the enemy forces would be too disorganized to put up much of a fight.

At any rate, it was finally time for them to make their move. Vale checked the ammo in his current magazine one last time - making sure he was topped off - before reinserting it into his rifle and making sure it was loaded properly. He glanced to his left and right, seeing Angel and Bristol respectively, both with their rifles at the low ready, and prepared to move in at a moments notice. Seeing them ready to go, he took a deep breath, preparing himself before facing forwards again, a look of determination hidden behind his balaclava and goggles. "Alright, it's showtime, boys."

The two nodded beside him as they leveled their rifles, and the trio swiftly marched forward in unison through the vegetation. With each footfall forward, the grass crunching underneath their boots sent a spike of adrenaline and chills down Vale's spine as they got closer to the combat. Even the sound of his breathing seemed amplified as his heartbeat thumped against his chest. Earlier they were running away from the enemy. Now, they were running towards them…

He swallowed the lump in his throat, willing himself to remain focused as always.

The moment they came across the scene, Vale had to stop to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. It wasn't hard to spot their opponents; the area immediately surrounding the resort consisted of a big open field with Koi ponds and natural rock formations, only being split up by the stone path leading towards the building. The only difference that Vale could see from when he was here earlier was that the area was littered with bullet casings and many, many bloody bodies. That, and the self proclaimed demigoddess that was posing as a little girl in a kimono was running circles around the enemy forces, giggling maniacally to herself as she cut through them with ease. There was obviously no way that the enemy would come through unscathed given the level of havoc Vale recalled her wreaking against the bandit force back at Italica, but the sight was still unbelievable enough to briefly make him pause nonetheless.

He was immediately pulled from his thoughts as his teammates began opening fire, putting rounds into any uniformed merc that didn't belong to them.

"Fan out Shadows," Graves shouted from the other side of the clearing. "Don't bunch up!"

Vale watched as the rest of the Shadows emerged from the treeline, firing relentlessly and without mercy. The team would have begun throwing grenades into the mix, but Rory annoyingly got in the way of that plan, plus there was the risk of the shrapnel possibly harming any of their VIPs inside. For now, they'd have to rely on accurate shooting instead.

The Shadows took advantage of the chaos and confusion, pushing forward as the combined efforts of their ambush and Rory's slicing and dicing was quickly dwindling the numbers of the enemy forces. As they pushed further into the clearing, Vale spotted some of the remains of the mercenaries. Several corpses lay strewn about in various states around the clearing, scattered in what Vale would call nothing short of a massacre. American, British, Russian, Chinese, their nationality didn't matter. All of them were either filled with bullet holes or carved up like pumpkins. Some of the bodies were still twitching, but for the most part, they lay motionless. Not that Vale thought any of them would survive with their wounds.

This is going to be a nightmare for whoever has to clean this mess up… Vale thought grimly, continuing through the battlefield that had turned into a massacre as he and his teammates continued firing on the enemies. Vale watched as his teammates continued forward, unrelenting as they pushed the enemy back, with Viper and Ronin emerging from the back of the resort building to add on to their already substantial and effective fire superiority.

Suddenly, in his distraction, Vale fell to the ground as he was pulled down by some unseen force. "The fuck?!" He shouted in surprise.

He grunted as he lost his footing, and his back roughly hit the ground. He attempted to scramble backwards, but found that whatever had pulled him down was still holding on to his leg with overwhelming force. Once he wriggled his leg free, he crawled back, before looking at the source. In front of him was a body… Well, calling it a body would have been wrong. That body was still moving, and when Vale got a better look at it, he discovered it to be a very much, still alive, Russian operator. Though it didn't seem like he had much life left in him.

The monocular PVS-14 night vision that was flipped down from his helmet mount covered one eye in a hue of green light as the other pupil was dilated and bloodshot. Vale assumed that the man's eyes were wide in pain and shock from the missing bone and nerves as he stared into his soul, almost as if he was begging for help. Help which Vale wasn't able to give, even if he was willing to. Blood had dribbled like a faucet down his completely exposed and missing lower jaw, leaving a sickly dripping sound that Vale's headset picked up very clearly. Blood and remnants of teeth could be seen falling out from the 'clean' cut, no doubt caused by Rory, which stained the grass beneath him into some messy macabre mix of red and green.

Vale was currently speechless, having no words for the current situation as he gawked in surprise and disgust at the sight. Not exactly a position he expected to be in when he woke up today…

The Russian man let out a ghastly and haunting breath, before reaching for his knife holster and unsheathing a combat knife. In some futile last ditch effort, to complete his mission, help his comrades, or obtain some sort of revenge against the enemy, he swung the blade wildly at Vale.

"Ah, Jesus Christ!" Vale yelled out, startled by the sudden attack. "Get the fuck off of me, Ivan!"

The combined weight of another human being and all of his equipment made it extremely difficult to get out from underneath, leaving him to struggle alone as he avoided the sharp knife - his teammates being too busy themselves to help. Vale blocked several of the jabs with his rifle, before the wounded man somehow managed to cut through his sling, the blade barely missing him by less than an inch as it cut through his sleeve, which was already way too close for comfort. Vale grimaced as the sudden movement also caused blood to splatter onto him. Seeing that the weapon was no longer connected to him, the wounded Russian grabbed the rifle and tossed it aside before going in for the killing blow. Luckily, this gave Vale enough time to kick him back, causing the blade to scrape against his knee pad as he reached for the pistol in his holster.

"Fucking die already, you bitch!"

One shot grazed his attacker's eye, piercing it and causing the man to gurgle and flail helplessly as he dropped the blade, clutching at the now bleeding and empty hole. Immediately after, a second shot went through his face and was stopped by his helmet as a noticeable bump popped out the back of it, causing him to go completely limp. The third, fourth, fifth and even sixth shots were just security rounds at that point, insurance in case he somehow got back up. That's what Vale would tell others who asked about it later anyway. In reality, it was just because he was pissed beyond belief.

Once the man was dealt with, Vale growled angrily in irritation as he stood up, quickly reloading and holstering his handgun, before going to pick up his rifle that was tossed aside in the scuffle.

Hoss tanked that shit like a fucking bear. Guess that bastard was just built different… He mused to himself. "Fucking Russkies, man…"

Vale looked up at the sound of maniacal laughter to find Rory, still gleefully enjoying herself as she slaughtered countless more enemy operators.

"God damnit, Rory!" He yelled out furiously, still reeling from the previous encounter with the supposed dead man. "Confirm your fucking kills will you?!"

Rory either didn't hear him, or chose not to acknowledge him, as she was more focused on relishing the panic she instilled into the enemy with her slaughter. She giggled maniacally to herself, seeing the combat and violence against these hardened war veterans as nothing more than mere childsplay.

Vale shook his head at the sight. "Her hubris is gonna be her downfall…" He muttered to himself.

As he leveled his rifle up again, his attention was brought down to the sound of some sort of beep. He looked back at the corpse, seeing a radio strapped to the vest as it activated and voices spoke up in another language. A language that Vale recalled hearing quite often back in his world.

"Komandir, leytenant Vasiliy gruz 200! Vasiliy gruz 200! My nesem bol'shiye poteri! Nam nuzhno otstupit'!" (Commander, lieutenant Vasily is cargo 200! Vasily is cargo 200! We're taking heavy losses! We need to retreat!)

"Ni shagu nazad, malen'kiye suchki! Yesli ya uvizhu, chto kto-to iz vas kolebletsya, vam zavyazhut glaza pered liniyey ognya!" (Not a single step back, you little bitches! If I see any of you falter, you'll be blindfolded in front of the firing line!)

"Komandir, eti inostrannyye brodyachiye sobaki slishkom sil'ny dlya nashikh sil!" (Commander, these foreign stray dogs are too much for our forces!)

"Mne ne nuzhny tvoi opravdaniya, durak! Ya khochu rezul'tatov!" (I don't need your excuses, you fool! I need results!)

It appeared that their plan was working, as Vale could make out the dissent that could be heard from amongst their ranks. If this was how the Russians were reacting, then he could only imagine what it was like for the other countries.

Divide and conquer… Vale thought, before snatching up the radio and pocketing it. As his eyes glanced back up at Rory, he found himself pausing, as he looked on in confusion. The reason why? At first it wasn't too noticeable, but when he really focused on her, he could see her slowing down a bit. She was deflecting all of the bullets that came her way - which Vale believed to be physically impossible - and it didn't seem like she'd be stopping anytime soon. But the inhuman acrobatics became less and less frequent with each operator that she bisected, until eventually, she collapsed to her knees beside a freshly beheaded corpse. She weakly tried to lift herself up with her halberd, and that's when Vale noticed why she had dropped so suddenly.

Poking out from the back of her neck was a tranquilizer dart, the bright blue of the dart's fletching contrasting against the red and blacks of her aesthetic. Rory must have noticed something was wrong too, as she slowly reached around and plucked it out, staring at the dart with a look of disorientated bewilderment. Her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as she took a moment to comprehend the situation.

"What's… this… now…?" She asked with furrowed brows, before releasing a small yawn behind a hand as she let the dart fall to the ground. Then, her head drooped to the side and she crumbled down onto the ground, halberd landing beside her.

"Target Black has been successfully sedated!" Shouted one of the American operators. His rifle was trained on Rory's slumped over form, before he gestured for a team to move up and bag her. "Now's our chance, move in!"

Vale's eyes widened at the sight. "Shit! Shadow-Actual, Rory's immobile! They're gonna grab her!"

"Damnit! Bishop, Sentinel, back her up and cover us," Graves ordered from his comms. "Carnival, you're with me! We've gotta make sure our VIPs are okay in there!" He shouted, pointing towards the hotel.

"Right away, Commander!" He briefly caught sight of Graves and Carnival rushing towards the resort building. The same building that several of the foreign operators were now also entering. No matter, Graves and Carnival would have it handled. At least, he hoped so. His group, on the other hand, needed to focus on protecting Rory and making sure they didn't lose her, or else getting her back would be more of a hassle that the company didn't need.

Bishop and Sentinel squad did their best to gun down as many of the enemy operator's as possible while also covering themselves, but their numbers were numerous. Vale could barely peek out from his rock cover to assess the situation as more and more operators rushed to her fallen body.

"Fuck, those cunts have got her hemmed in!" Bristol yelled out in frustration, looking to his teammate and squad leader for some advice. "Can't we just go and get her ourselves!?"

Angel flinched as another bullet skipped off the rock in front of him, forcing him to duck down. "Ah, you're more than welcome to try yourself!" Shouted Angel in response. "Me? I'd rather not get shot in the fuckin' face trying!"

"Quit fuckin' complaining!" Vale ordered as he hit one of their enemy's in the back and watched as they fell to the ground. "Angel, put some smokes in their fuckin' faces and cover our movements!"

"Roger!" Angel nodded at him before reaching into one of his pouches, pulling out a 40 millimeter grenade and loading it into his M203. He leveled the rifle up before pulling the trigger, letting the thump sound out. "Smoke out!" He shouted, before opening it and letting the empty canister fall out.

"Bristol, Viper," Vale shouted, getting their attention. "You wanna do some stupid shit?! Let's go do some stupid shit!" He turned around, not waiting for an answer as he looked towards the rest of Bishop and Sentinel. "The rest of you, hold position here and cover us! Me, Bristol, and Viper are gonna see if we can get Rory back here in one piece!"

"That does sound pretty stupid, Vale!" Bristol agreed. "But stupid is my forte! I'm ready whenever you are!"

He smirked at Bristol as he heard Viper slide into the cover behind him. He gave him a brief glance, to which the man nodded with a hand on his shoulder. "Everybody ready?!" He asked aloud.

A chorus of "Yup, yup!" sounded out in response as Viper gave him a firm tap. Despite the cold weather and wet balaclava sticking to his face, Vale couldn't help but feel a bead of sweat trickle down his brow from behind the goggles. After all, here he was again, some idiot who was in way over his head rushing towards the danger, rather than running away from it. His eyes narrowed as he briefly contemplated how he ended up in this situation.

"Alright then, let's kick some ass!" He said with a newfound resolve, before darting out from his cover. The three of them ran across the open field towards the area where Rory was last seen. He held onto his helmet as rounds flew overhead, somewhat regretting the choice more and more with every bullet that cracked by. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Vale urged on. His voice echoed over the wind as he led the charge towards Rory's prone form.

He watched as several operators fell to the ground in front of them, unable to safely fire any shots back as the rest of the Shadows covered them. They reached another cluster of rocks, ducking behind them for safety.

Vale peered around the corner before spotting Rory sprawled out on the ground. She was clearly unconscious, but still alive. It was the good news that he was hoping for, although he couldn't help but worry about her condition. There was a tiny hint of concern that the enemy might have used too much sedative in the dart. He looked over to his companions and found that both men were also watching Rory worriedly. Vale gave them a quick nod, signaling for them to keep moving forward. They quickly made a mad dash across the field towards her location, easily closing the distance now that most of the operators were dead. Once they made it to her prone figure, Vale stepped over a beheaded corpse nearby, before grabbing her shoulder, doing his best to shake her awake.

"C'mon Rory, get the fuck up!" He begged her, glancing around to make sure they weren't in somebody's sights. "We need to go, now!"

She groaned slightly, before weakly pushing him away. "Five… more minutes…" She slurred in her sleep.

Vale would have laughed at the absurdity of the situation, had they not been in the middle of an active combat zone. It appeared that whatever sedative the enemy used, they guessed correctly on the proper amount. Rory was practically out like a light.

"It's no use, Vale!" Viper said sternly. "She's out cold! Pick her up and let's go!"

"I know!" He responded, already lifting her up into his arms. As he carried her bridal style back to the others, it suddenly dawned on him that her halberd was left behind on the ground behind him. Oh well, it was too risky to go back now and retrieve it. As he glanced down at the unconscious girl in his arms, he took notice of the blood that covered her body and soaked through the loose fitting kimono. Most of it belonged to the enemy, but some of it definitely belonged to her, as evidenced by the bullets that squeezed out of her skin and repaired itself like she was some sort of sponge. The whole demigoddess thing was really throwing Vale for a loop right now, and he began to question if maybe carrying her was a good idea or not.

As he ran, he suddenly felt her arms wrap around him tightly as she nuzzled into the crook of his neck. He immediately cringed for half a second before shrugging it off and doing his best to ignore it. He decided not to think too deeply into it and continued running along at a steady pace. He knew better than to complain or bring this up to her later. If Rory was awake, he imagined she'd be complaining that it wasn't Graves or Itami doing the carrying. That or she'd put him in her sights as well. The thought was enough to make him shiver.

Despite her current state, she was still quite the force to be reckoned with. So if he was being honest with himself, he felt quite thankful that she wasn't trying to fight back. At least, not yet…

---

PHILLIP GRAVES - SHADOW CO.

HOTEL SANKAI, HAKONE HOT SPRINGS, JAPAN

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 - 00:43:30

---

"Force up to the target building!" Graves commanded. He and Carnival squad briskly made their way to the resort, the sounds of gunfire still prevalent around them. Despite that, every Shadow in Carnival focused their rifles on the windows and doors around the resort, as they were very confident that the Shadows in Bishop and Sentinel could hold their own outside. That level of professionalism and trust that Graves liked to see is one of the main reasons they were hired on. It was also the reason why Graves personally vetted any files that made their way to his desk. Only the best of the best made it into his merry little company. Of course, it also helped that the company was comprised of many who had an undying loyalty to the man, - almost to a fault - accepting orders without question or complaint. "Open side door is our entry point. Carnival 1, take point. The rest of you, stack up and hold here!"

"Check. Carnival 1, taking point." Carnival's squad leader responded as he stood next to the door. The rest of Carnival squad all lined up behind him as he kept his rifle trained inside. Within seconds of giving the order, all of Carnival stood in perfect formation waiting for Graves to give the go ahead.

Graves stepped up near the front of the stack, standing behind the point man before glancing back at the Shadows behind him that were ready to go. "Friendly reminder, folks: Our VIPs are internal, but so are the enemy. Check your shots and don't fuck around in there." He warned them with a serious expression.

Graves turned back to the front, placing a hand on the point man's shoulder and giving a firm tap. Graves could see the man's shoulders rise and fall as he took a quick breath, steadying himself, before nodding and moving inside. "1-1, making entry." As soon as the man said the words, the rest of the squad followed suit and stepped inside.

Everyone moved in silently, guns drawn, and carefully watching where their muzzles were aimed. Graves briefly glanced around the room before focusing on what was ahead. The interior of the hallway was relatively empty, except for some furniture and decorations, but even then, it was still sparse. The lights were still off, most likely because no one inside was able to safely turn them on during all the commotion, as evidenced by the bullet holes. The thin walls of the classic Japanese architecture definitely worked against them, serving more as concealment rather than any decent cover, both from outside and inside.

"Spread out!" Graves barked quietly, keeping his volume low to avoid alerting anyone else inside with them. "Check everywhere!"

The team slowly made their way further down the hall, their steps light as possible against the polished wooden floorboards. With each step they took, their surroundings became more and more cluttered with various furniture that was either thrown about or knocked over in the chaos. They came across the door at the end of the hall, which led to the room where all of their equipment was stored. Voices could be heard inside, aimlessly having a discussion.

"They ain't inside here, mate," Said a muffled voice from inside. "Hurry your ass up so that we can get back to the others!"

"Just hold on," Responded another. "This'll only take a minute, yeah?"

"It's just the contractor's gear. Nothing valuable in there."

"Really? Well then what about this weird cat statue thing?"

"Holding long." Graves glanced back at the whisper, noticing one of his Shadows stood at the opposite end of the corridor. The Shadow provided security, watching over the entirety of the hallway, and allowing for Graves and the point man to conduct a two man clear. The other Shadows disappeared from sight, going off to clear another room in the hall. Graves put a hand on the slide door, watching as the point man nodded from the corner of his eye. Once Graves saw that his man was ready, he swiftly pulled the door open, following after his Shadow as they entered the Washitsu.

As they entered, Graves saw two operators rummaging through their bags as a third stood nearby. They quickly glanced at them in surprise, before dropping whatever they had in their hands and attempting to raise their rifles up. "Contact!-"

Suppressed shots echoed loudly inside the room, cutting them off as three bodies collapsed to the floor in a bloody heap, followed by the muted thuds of bullet casings bouncing against the tatami mats below. Several more shots rang out as they ensured they were dead. Something similar could be heard from the other room that the rest of his Shadows were currently sweeping.

"Shadow-Actual," He heard one of his Shadows say from his comms. "Room clear, three KIA. Coming out now."

"Rog, same here."

Graves was the first to exit the room, with Carnival 1-1 following closely behind him as their positions swapped. Now he was now the point man, as evidenced by the hand resting on his shoulder. He watched as the rest of Carnival emerged from their room, before their heads snapped forward as several shots rang out ahead.

"Fuck!" Graves hissed to himself. "Carnival, we need to speed things up! I want eyes on our VIPs now!"

"Yes, Commander!"

The squad immediately moved forward, taking a left turn and heading towards the sound of gunfire coming from what looked to be another Washitsu room at the end of another hallway. Three bodies lay in front of the open door, arrows sticking out from their skulls as if they were some messed up unicorns. It looked as if their VIPs weren't being taken without a fight, something that Graves could respect. The team divided equally as they neared the room, with three Shadows on the left side of the hall, while the other three took the right.

"Shadow-Actual, Rory is secure." Vale reported from his comms. "How copy?"

Graves reached for the push to talk on his vest with his free hand, never once taking his eyes off the doorway at the end of the hall. "Solid copy, Bishop 1-1. Hold position and maintain security."

"Roger that, holding position. Bishop 1-1, out."

The team had finally arrived outside of the door, the sounds of a commotion and struggle clearly evident inside. "Ah bloody fuckin' hell!" Shouted an accented voice angrily from inside the room. "Fuck this shit! This situation has been goat roped and the operation is deadlocked! All units, disengage! Escape and evade immediately!"

"Why? They're all stuck on the porch in front of us. They've got nowhere to go."

"Yeah? And how do you propose we get 'em out of here in one piece, huh? Last I checked, we're surrounded from all sides by hostile forces!"

From the corner of Graves' eye, he saw a gloved hand coming from the Shadow behind him, flashbang in hand. Clearly getting the message, Graves nodded, before hearing the pin being pulled from behind him. He watched as the flashbang was hurled past him and into the room, forcing him and the rest of the Shadows to hug closer to the walls to make sure they weren't hit by its effects.

The spoon clinking against the floor must have alerted whoever was inside, as they immediately gasped before trying to warn the others. "Look out!"

A loud bang, followed by a bright flash occurred inside the room as various cries rang out. "Go!" Graves ordered, before being the first to rush in.

Behind him, he heard the rest of the Shadows following his example as he jumped into the fray. Inside the room, he found several disorientated operators, most of them rubbing their eyes or covering their ears, still confused as to what was really happening. One of them however, attempted to fire blindly at the doorway. Unfortunately, though most of the rounds did indeed miss their mark, Graves could still hear one of his Shadows grunting in pain behind him as they dropped to the floor. The rest of the Shadows stepped in, flooding into the room and dropping the attackers with precise shots to the head. Within seconds, the room was clear with several bodies crumpled on the floor, and the only ones left standing were the Shadows.

"Argh, fuck!" Graves glanced behind him, seeing that the Shadow that was hit, was now sitting up and gasping for air. The man groaned as Carnival's squad lead crouched by him, pulling the quick release tab of his armor and feeling his chest for any injuries.

"You alright, brother?"

"I'm good…" The Shadow breathed out in response. "Bastard hit the damn plate."

Carnival's squad lead turned around, giving Graves a nod of confirmation. "He'll be fine, just sore and bruised for a little while."

Graves nodded slightly, satisfied that the man would recover well. It certainly didn't look like he was suffering from anything alarmingly serious. No internal or external wounds, judging from the fact that the bullet hadn't found itself lodged in anything vital. But getting hit with a bullet still hurt like hell, penetration or no. That much was obvious from the way his Shadow panted slightly.

"Shadow-Actual, Bishop 1-1 here." Vale's voice spoke up from his comms again. "How copy? Over."

"Bishop 1-1, I'm reading you loud and clear. Send traffic."

"Shadow-Actual, area sanitized - all targets have been decisively engaged. We're clear here."

"Copy that. Good work fellas!" Graves complimented as he lifted his night vision goggles up. "Lockdown your sectors, cordon the area, and watch for any further movement. We'll be out in a minute."

"Understood. Bishop 1-1, out."

Graves turned his attention back to the closed sliding doors that led to the porch view. From what he heard from the enemy, everyone that he was tasked with protecting was behind it. And clearly armed, as evidenced by the arrow filled corpses nearby and the cocking of a handgun on the other side. He cleared his throat before knocking, hoping to announce their presence without confusion.

"You lookin' to die, asshole?!" He heard Sergeant Kuribayashi's muffled voice shouting from inside. "Cause we're ready and waitin' for ya!"

He briefly rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the small Japanese woman's threat. "It's Graves! We're clear here, open up!"

There was a long pause of silence, followed by hushed whispers, and then the sound of chairs being pushed away. Graves stared at the doors in wry amusement, only glancing to the side as Carnival's squad lead looked to him for answers. Graves could only offer a shrug of his shoulders in response, much to the man's chagrin. Finally, after about ten more seconds, a click could be heard as the door slid open, and Kuribayashi peeked out with her pistol still at the ready. Glaring brown eyes looked up and met blue as Graves cocked a brow up at her, causing the Sergeant to realize her mistake and look a little embarrassed as she lowered the sidearm.

"Ah…." She coughed nervously, suddenly unable to meet his eyes. "Sorry, about that…"

"It's fine," Graves reassured her. "Lord knows I would have done the same in your position."

"Thank God for that," Kuribayashi murmured, before turning her attention back to the others bunkering down with her. "Alright, everybody out! We're clear here!" She yelled.

At her words the others quickly complied and hurriedly scurried beside her, being sure to stick close so as to not risk separating from their guide. They all looked a little shaken up and slightly worse for wear. Most likely a result of their peaceful slumber being interrupted by explosions and gunfire. That and the slight hangover they were nursing if the slightly reddened cheeks and room filled with emptied alcohol wasn't telling enough.

Itami stepped forward, a look of worry clearly written on his face. "Graves, what the heck happened out there?"

"Well, the long and short of it is that we got attacked."

Itami returned a deadpanned stare, clearly unamused. "I could deduce that…"

Graves chuckled before shaking his head. "Alright, alright. It was a four way out there, and not the good kind either. We had American, British, Russian, and Chinese forces out there, all with the same objective. Capturin' these lucky ladies." He said, pointing towards the Special Region inhabitants.

Itami's eyes widened in shock, "Four different countries sent their black ops after us?"

"Well, they're all operating under the guise of foreign contractors, but yeah, I suspect some of them do have a black ops background with some sort of government ties."

Itami continued to gawk incredulously for a couple of seconds longer, before finally breaking free. He shook his head vigorously, - seemingly still reeling at the information - as he focused his thoughts on other matters. "Wait, if they were all after the Special Region guests, does that mean they were after Rory too?" He asked before panicking. "Where is she?! Is she safe?! They didn't capture her, did they?!"

"Woah, woah, woah," Graves interjected calmly, placing a gentle hand on Itami's shoulder and pushing him back slightly. "Calm down there partner, she's safe and sound. A bit out of it, sure, but she's safely in the hands of my other Shadows."

Itami exhaled deeply, relieved at the bit of good news. "Thanks for that Graves," Itami said in genuine appreciation.

"Sure, sure," Graves said, waving off his thanks. "But uh… if you don't mind me askin', what the hell was she doin' out there all by her lonesome?"

At the question, Itami rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked away. "We were up at night, having a discussion before she said something about satisfying her urges? I didn't really get the chance to ask her to elaborate. She kinda just grabbed her ax and jumped out without saying another word. That's when all the chaos started happening, and I couldn't really get a good look outside."

Itami received a weird look from Graves as the man let out a sigh. "Nine hundred year old psycho demigoddess shit…" Graves muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything," Graves answered, waving him off. He looked past Itami's shoulder and out the damaged window, seeing that the moon was now lowering and would be past the horizon soon. Due to all the commotion, if they stayed there any longer, there'd be no telling who'd they be dealing with later. It was better to get out now, while they still could. "Come on, I suggest all of you get changed and gather your belongings. We're leaving before sunrise."

Once again, there were nods of agreement throughout. Everyone quickly left the room, heading to grab their things for a hasty departure. Graves left the room immediately after, having no real reason to stick around inside. The rest of Carnival followed behind, before splitting off to go gather their gear from the room. Once he stepped outside, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cold November air surrounding him as he grabbed onto the shoulder straps of his vest. It was natural… in a sense, but definitely not clean. The distinct smell of death lingered thickly in the air, overpowering the scent of hot springs sulfur and wet grass with the metallic scent of blood, making his nose scrunch up uncomfortably.

The cold seeped into his bones, chilling every inch of his body despite the uniform he wore. However, he found himself enjoying it nonetheless. The feeling of the cool breeze was relaxing now that he wasn't so tense.

His eyes snapped open upon hearing shots, and he flicked the safety of his rifle off before turning to the source. He immediately relaxed once he realized what was actually happening. Vale was roaming around the bloody battlefield, rolling bodies over and putting an extra bullet in every one of them.

"Security rounds, people!" Vale barked out. "Double tap 'em. All of 'em!"

Graves' attention was caught by Itami, who hurriedly rushed out, pistol at the ready. "Graves, what's going on?!" He asked in worry. "Did they come back?!"

Graves nonchalantly shook his head. "Negative, we're clear here, Lieutenant. Just cleaning up any possible stragglers."

Itami sighed in relief, relaxing for a moment before he turned back to the field. Graves watched as the Japanese man openly gaped at the sight before him. He could understand the reaction. Body after body lay still in the open clearing in front of the resort, some in more pieces than others, while all their faces were frozen in fleeting agony as they succumbed to grievous wounds. Whether it was from their hands or… Rory's. Graves was fairly certain that he saw the demigoddess fling a torso off into the treeline earlier, concealing the upper half inside of some shrubbery. It was disturbing, especially considering the sheer amount of blood that painted most of the area. But Graves was used to such sights.

Itami on the other hand?

Well, there was nothing quite like witnessing the brutal reality of war first hand. He could see the shock and horror etched across Itami's features, as though he hadn't seen anything like this before in all his time shooting at and blowing up medieval Romans. Though he couldn't really blame the younger man. It was hard to forget the expression of pure terror that was permanently left on the face of another human being. Moments like those tended to burn themselves into one's memory and haunt them till their own demise.

Heaving a weary sigh, Graves clamped a hand down onto Itami's shoulder, snapping him out of his stupor. Seeing that he had the young man's attention, Graves jabbed a thumb behind him. "Should probably finish packing if we wanna get outta here." He reminded.

"R-right…" Itami mumbled, giving one last look at the scene in front of him before turning back to the resort. "Yeah, good call."

Graves patted the man on the back as he slowly made his way inside. He watched Itami disappear behind a corner as he entered a hallway, most likely heading to one of the rooms to gather his belongings. Graves looked over the scene in front of him once more, searching for two very specific people. His eyes finally settled on his persons of interest, Rory and Boxer, the latter sitting next to the former who was currently snuggled up against him.

Graves ran a hand down his face, not at all excited for this next part of the job as he made his way over to the wounded man.

"Getting cozy, I see?" Graves said, causing the wounded man to look up at him.

"Sure…" Boxer sneered. He was clearly uncomfortable with the situation, and would much rather be anywhere else, doing anything else. Graves was here to give him that out, one that he probably wouldn't like.

"Well, I can take her off your hands if you'd like. But…" He paused, cringing as he figured out how to word his next order, before giving up. "Your group was the one that was attacked earlier. You know where your two casualties are, so I'm gonna need you to take Bishop squad with you and retrieve their gear."

"What about their bodies?"

Graves shook his head at him, "I'm sorry, but we don't have the time or resources to get 'em out right now. The sensitive equipment they've got on them is more important for the time being."

Boxer looked up at him in disbelief, before grunting in acknowledgement as he stood back up. "Yes, Commander," He relented sullenly. Graves shared his feelings. Not once did he think that he'd be losing any of the Shadows he came to Japan with before crossing the gate. The death of two Shadows definitely wasn't a major blow to the company's manpower, but it was quite a blow to their morale…

And all of it was thanks to the incompetence of military higher ups with close political ties. It'd be hypocritical for Graves to curse them for it, but that didn't mean he couldn't.

"Thank you. Me and Carnival will hold the area down for the time being. Make it quick, alright?" He asked, before glancing down at Rory. The girl was currently curled in on herself, shivering slightly from the cold air and wet grass. It was unclear when she'd wake up, especially considering that they had no idea how strong the sedative the enemy used on her was. Hopefully, it would only be a few hours at most. Unfortunately, that meant having to lug her unconscious body around for the time being… a task that Graves was definitely going to delegate to somebody else. Getting near her was out of the question.

But… she'd probably be more than ticked off if she woke up in this condition. Covered in a bloody and ruined loose fitting kimono in the Autumn season weather. She already looked pretty pitiful in front of him, not that he'd ever say such a thing out loud or directly to her face.

Plus, walking around with her like this is gonna make us look mighty suspicious… Graves mused to himself. The experienced contractor groaned as he finally made his decision. "You better be grateful for this," He muttered, grunting as he lifted her up in a bridal carry, making his way to the resort building. Thankfully, Rory wouldn't be able to recall any of this, on account of her being out cold. "Itami! Come get this girl off my hands and clean her up for me, will ya?"

If he was lucky, maybe splashing her with water would help wake her up.

---

Very Lengthy Author's Notes:

And there we go, the Hakone incident. Possibly the most controversial part of Gate. In manga, in anime, and in fanfiction (If any authors dare to touch it in the first place). A lot of you were hoping for it, a lot of you probably weren't, and a lot of you were interested in seeing how I approached it. My response?

Gratuitous violence and meaningless action.

What does that mean? I'll explain with some context…

Shadow Company, as professional as we may think of them, aren't invincible. We've seen them struggle against other PMCs of a similar caliber i.e. Konni PMC in Al-Mazrah during Hindsight in MWII (Ignoring the fact that the company had very little security, were massively outnumbered, and were ambushed in what was to be a supposedly cleared route). The Hakone incident seemed like a good excuse to pit them up against other enemy forces which had similar equipment to them. Rather than having the enemy be under equipped black ops I decided to introduce them as foreign contractors. It just made more sense that way. I also felt that it made it more impactful while also introducing a sense of suspense.

How do you write encaptivating suspense through mindless and gorey violence?

Messy massacres and contractor chaos…

When the enemies have gear on a similar level to that of Shadow Company, they actually stand a fighting chance. Of course, PMCs only hire the best of the best. A fact not exclusive to Shadow Company. This means that anyone capable of performing top level PMC work usually has the skills to perform similar top level work for their respective governments (Hence why most PMCs would want to hire from special operations / special forces backgrounds and pay for quality over quantity in the first place.)

Instead of having three factions in Hakone, I've decided to up it to four (Not including Shadow Company). The reason being is for plot purposes. These PMCs won't just be one offs for Hakone. I'm thinking of having them possibly show up in the future. By secret decree from their respective governments, operators from CIA special operations, SVR Zaslon, MSS special operations, and MI6 vowed to become state sponsored mercenaries.

Even if all the bodies were investigated and were all found to lead to a government position, this would still allow for plausible deniability on their governments part. There's no way these governments would send top level agents without a cover for such a thing. There would simply be too much risk, even using black ops.

Professional state sponsored mercenaries and Shadow Company PMCs thrown into an intense contract war, and condensed into the middle of a forest with a blood thirsty murder loli? A clash of hired killers trapped within their own bloody forest of roses and thorns? No matter which way you cut it, there was bound to be lots of bloodshed on every side…

How does this relate back to gratuitous violence and meaningless action…?

That's basically what the Hakone Incident was in Gate, wasn't it? The encounter was clearly only written to make the JSDF appear as this tier one fighting force, despite JSOG being clearly outnumbered on their home turf. I never realized how unsensible the whole thing was until I rewatched and reread that part, over and over again. The meta factor really restricts this moment too. Faceless mooks hastily named vs already established characters meant that the outcome was already kind of set in stone, and it'd be kind of hard to subvert that unless I kill off a couple of named cast, which would bring more angst to the table. Storytelling baggage…

How do you fight an immortal demigoddess?

Easy! You don't! Well, maybe you try shooting at her before realizing that your bullets do fuck all, and then you realize you brought something specifically to put them to sleep so that you could easily kidnap them! One of the contractors eventually wised up to this idea, and used the sleeping darts that they were saving for their targets, getting lucky with a well placed shot to the back of the neck. Now I know what you're wondering. Would a sedative injection really take her down? Of course! Rory's shown that she's not immune to substances in the show, clearly getting drunk like anybody else. Though, even with her successful sedation the casualties for the enemy forces were still quite high.

The whole Hakone situation was all around just a bad call on everyone's part, and to be honest, was just an excuse for me to try writing more action. I felt, eh, about my Battle of Italica, and wanted to write an action sequence that would've been more engaging than that. I suppose Hakone was my way of making up for that. None of the foreign groups involved managed to complete their objective like before, but this time, Japan lost some of their soldiers, and while the visitors were unharmed, some of the Shadows in the company were lost.

Thus, gratuitous violence and meaningless action…

Also, kudos to the Guest who caught the Tarkov reference in the Reviews. Escape from Tarkov, being a game about PMCs was obviously gonna be one of my main inspirations for a story such as this. There's even more moments repurposed from other media packed into this chapter. Specifically the jawless Russian, Claymore ambush, and the smoking operator that bled out, were all moments based off of, "Castle of Thorns" an animation by Reticulon, on Youtube. (If you liked what you read here, I highly recommend that you check his channel out.)

Holy hell, this was a long AN. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed another lengthy chapter yet again. 18,260 words… Clearly I'm doing something right, as at the time of me proofreading this chapter, this story has surpassed 200 favorites. Something I never expected to achieve with my first ever Fanfiction crossover story. Thanks for the support by the way. It means a lot to know that there are like minded individuals who enjoy, not just similar things as me, but also the things I'm putting out. Gonna start working on the next chapter now…

---

Bonus Mini Non-Canon Omake:

---

"All of Hitman-3 is KIA."

As the operator made to stand, he paused as his eye caught sight of something the corpse hugged tightly. Tilting his head, he slowly moved a boot against the arm of the body, before kicking it aside. The arm fell limply, letting the Claymore reveal itself as it slumped against the ground.

"Fire in the hole." Graves warned, bracing himself for the inevitable boom as he repeatedly squeezed the trigger of the clacker.

"OH SHIT!"

.

.

.

He repeatedly squeezed the trigger of the clacker, expecting an explosion. He paused as, much to his frustration, nothing happened. Graves growled quietly to himself, harshly smacking the firing device in his hands a few times in an effort to make it work.

"Uh boss," Carnival's squad lead began with worry. "Where the hell's the big boom?"

"That's what the fuck I'm wondering!"

"Oh!" He heard the enemy operator exclaim from afar. "False alarm guys! They're not rigged up!"

Graves paused, before turning the clacker in his hand and inspecting it closer.

There was no wire…

In his haste, he forgot to properly run a wire from the clacker to the Claymores. And now they were outnumbered without the advantage of an effective ambush.

Graves threw the clacker in frustration, hurling it far as it got lost within the depths of the forest night. "God fuckin' damnit!"

"Yo, I think I heard someone screaming in anger over here!" The operator said dumbly.

"You think?" Asked another incredulously. "It was pretty fuckin' obvious from where I was standing! Chuck a frag over there and light 'em up!"

"ah hell…"

---

"Stay down!" Itami ordered. For soldiers like him, the order was pretty straightforward, having the responsive action drilled into their brains from all of the training. For the Special Region inhabitants and the single civilian who had never been around a gun, it was an order that he had to yell out for their sakes.

"Damnit, where the hell is Graves?!" Kuribayashi asked beside him. "I thought he was supposed to be covering our asses?!"

"Either he must be busy, or something happened to him!"

"I'm thinking it's the latter, Itami!" She shouted out in response. "This is like, way too many guys for his company!"

"Don't say that, I'm sure he's on his way over here with all of his contractors as we speak!"

Commander Graves or his Shadow Company never made it back to the resort…