[Drake's POV]
I slowly opened my eyes, being woken up by the feeling that it was daytime already.
Struggling a little to sit up, I did some stretches while also letting out a big ol' yawn, I also heard Nary and Otome talking somewhere down the hall.
I put on the same clothes I used yesterday and headed to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth.
But while I was doing that, the memories of last night fell on me like a bucket of ice-cold water, making me sprint out of the bathroom in panic.
I carelessly put on the translator patch on my forehead as I ran to my room's door, not even caring if it was loose or misplaced, and opening the door with a bang, I saw the two cephalopods talking in the hallway.
I got to where they stood in no more than a second while they looked at me in surprise.
"NARY!" I yelled, surprising the squid girl even more as I grabbed her by the shoulders.
"What happened last night!? Tell me that didn't happen!" I exclaimed as I shook her, not without mentioning that the octoling gave us a confused look.
"W-whAT do YOu MEea-AaaN!?" Nary said while I was still shaking her.
I then stopped after another flashback from last night came to my head.
"Your belly! Let me look at it!" I exclaimed still shaken up, then I grabbed her T-shirt and lifted it up, exposing her cute belly.
But I was surprised to see that there was no bulge or anything I expected, the only thing I could see was the inkling's flushed face. Even Otome was slightly flushed with embarrassment.
"H-hey! What the shell is wrong with you!?" Nary asked as she pulled her T-shirt back down and looked at me with a frown.
Upon seeing how confused the squid girl was I realized that she had no idea what I was talking about, so I rubbed my eyes trying to calm myself down.
"I'm Sorry, it's just... I had a really crazy dream last night..." I apologized to them.
"And what kind of dream was it for you to come at us like a maniac and lift the inkling's clothes like that?" asked Otome, crossing her arms.
"It's... too uncomfortable to explain" I replied while scratching the back of my head.
Was it really all a dream? If so, that was the most realistic dream I've had in my entire life, as well as the weirdest...
Anyways, today was finally the day we were leaving the vault... Who knows what awaited me after that door opened.
After making up for the 'misunderstanding' I had with Nary, we were making our way to the vault's enormous door, that was until I forgot to bring something with me.
"Girls... You two go up ahead, I forgot something back there" I told them before running back towards the lab, not even giving them the opportunity to ask what it was.
[Otome's POV]
I was very confused to see Drake running back so suddenly, he said that he forgot something but... Just now?
In any case, I didn't pay much mind to it since I heard the inkling next to me chuckling.
"What's so funny?" I asked without looking at her, who was walking with her hands behind her head.
"Call me weird, but... It feels like it was just yesterday when we got locked up in here... we went through lots of crazy stuff during those two weeks" she said with a smile on her face.
"You're right... You're weird..." I added, followed by looking straight ahead and closing my eyes, also letting out a little smirk.
And I didn't even need to look at her to know that she was giving me a defiant smile.
But just then my smirk vanished upon remembering that I forgot to tell Drake about that favor I asked him. All this time and I completely forgot about it.
"I got too distracted..." I commented with a sigh, making Nary look at me with curiosity.
[Nary's POV]
I found Otome's change of mood a bit odd. One moment she was smirking and the other she looked disappointed.
But I couldn't ask her what the problem was since we were finally arriving to the giant door that led out of this place, now with a flashing red light on it.
I was already eager to tell everyone all the crazy things that happened while I was here.
Yeah, yeah, I know I already told them everything through my SquidPhone, but I wanted to do it in person, and I also wanted to properly introduce them to Drake without causing a second great turf war in Inkopolis.
And maybe... Just maybe... Get to know Drake a little better... What? Don't look at me like that!
[Drake's POV]
I was now at the lab, checking every drawer and locker trying to find my mask, but unfortunately for me I couldn't find it, the only thing in them were some old files and other meaningless stuff.
I kept searching until I found an X-ray that Bruce had taken of Nary and Otome. Heh, I still remember how confused I was when I first saw it...
[About one week ago]
It's now been four days since I got to communicate with the girls properly, and in the course of that time, I had begun to study their races and features.
I sometimes called them to take a sample, whether it be saliva, or blood... If you could call that blood...
Another thing they told me was that the paint they shoot with their weapons isn't actually paint, but ink. Something that seemed odd to me, but to some degree, I was already expecting it.
And yet another thing I discovered thanks to them was that their tentacles were really sensitive. And you may ask 'how do you know this?', well...
"Ugh... What is it now? I was about to finally beat Rugal" Nary said with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression.
"Sorry about that, haha... It's nothing too complicated, really... I just wanted to study your... Tentacles" I told her, now catching her attention.
"My... Tentacles?" She asked me while she looked at them.
"Yeah, they make me quite curious and I also wanted to ask you some questions about them" I replied to her.
"Okay, what do you want to know?" the orange tentacled girl told me, now looking a bit livelier.
After about half an hour, I got to know more about Nary's race, explaining me that those tentacles were like another pair of arms to them. And although I was going to call Otome later to make the same studies on her, I had the feeling that some of her answers would be the same.
"Thank you for your time, Nary" I told her while writing down everything she said in a little notebook.
"No problem, so... Are we done here?" she asked me while kicking her legs in the air.
"Yeah, just one last thing... Can I touch them?" I asked as I saw the inkling suddenly stop moving around and lower her head a little, and I swear I saw some embarrassment on her face.
"T-touch them?" Nary mumbled.
Upon noticing how uncomfortable the inkling was I realized that maybe I walked into a sensitive topic.
"Umm... Not like I'm forcing you to do it or anything... We can leave it here if you'd-..." I tried to say before being interrupted by the inkling.
"No, no... It's alright..." she said while putting her right tentacle in front of me.
Seeing as she accepted my little request, I set aside my notebook and reached my hand towards it.
And the moment I touched it, it recoiled a little, maybe as an instinctive reaction.
And just as I expected, the orange part felt a bit oily, but I saw that it left no residue on my hand like goop or anything like that, which I found rather curious.
"Wow... It's incredible" I commented, still running my fingers along the tentacle, which had a gum-like feeling to it, it also wasn't as heavy as I expected, but it wasn't too light either.
I looked at Nary for a moment and she seemed to be holding tight onto the chair, her breath had become heavy as well.
"Hey... You okay?" I asked with a bit of concern.
"Y-yeah..." she replied without lifting her face up.
"Are you sure?" I insisted while trying to get a good look at her face.
Nary noticed this and quickly looked away to keep her face hidden.
"I-I'm alright... J-just keep going..." she said, still looking away from me.
"Okay...?" I replied now a little unsure, now going to see the white part of the tentacle.
To be honest, I was a little surprised to see that said part it was really soft to the touch instead of being sticky or oily.
As I kept going the inkling's tentacle twitched every once in a while, to which I asked Nary if she was alright and she once again told me that she was, so I just continued until I reached the area around the sucker.
I curiously ran my finger around the sucker's ring, the tentacle twitching once again in response.
I looked back at the squid girl and saw that she was now covering her mouth using both hands and slightly shivering.
But already knowing what her answer would be, I decided to not ask anything and keep going.
And so, I decided to put my hand over the sucker, and just as I expected, it latched onto it, so I quickly removed it, making a little 'pop' sound.
I'll be honest I would've kept on going if I hadn't noticed that Nary's breath was increasingly getting heavier, so I decided to stop there out of concern.
"Well... I think that should be everything for today" I told her, now a little uncomfortable as well.
She didn't reply, she just nodded while panting a little.
"By the way... Could you call Otome here? I need to make some studies on her as well" I asked the inkling, her response being just another nod. And for some reason she was avoiding eye contact with me as well as her face being completely flushed.
Next up was Otome's turn, who was a little skeptical at first but eventually gave in, so I asked her the same questions I asked Nary and of course, her answers were very similar, with a few exceptions.
Until we reached the part where I asked her if I could touch her tentacles, to which seemed to be visibly surprised.
And just like I did with Nary, I gave her the option to just skip over the topic but she refused, that meant I had her permission to proceed.
But in exchange she asked me if she could touch my hair, I didn't have any problem with that so I took the deal.
The octopus girl sat down and tensed her body, seemingly nervous about something.
"Calm down girl... Not like I'm gonna do surgery on you or anything" I joked while putting myself in front of her and kneeling down to be at her height.
When I tried to make eye contact with her she instantly looked away, while also blushing a bit.
"A-are you just gonna stare or what!?" she asked me still looking away, though she looked more relaxed now.
"Alright then..." I said before reaching for one of Otome's tentacles.
And the moment I touched it, she let out a surprised gasp, making me look at her with concern.
"Everything alright?" I asked her, to which the octoling just tensed her body once again, and a blush showed up across her face.
"I'm fine! I just... Wasn't ready..." she replied to me while trying to keep calm.
"But I told you-..." I tried to say before she interrupted me.
"I said I wasn't ready! You... Can keep going now" she repeated herself, so despite being a little confused I just kept going like she told me.
The red part felt very similar to Nary's orange part, a little oily but didn't feel gross to the touch, as well as not leaving any residue on my hand, it also had the same gum-like feeling to it.
The white part was pretty much the same, very, very soft, I'd say it's softer than a marshmallow.
I then put my eyes on Otome's face, only to see that she was trying to control her breath, as well as having one eye closed.
Another thing I could see was that she was constantly rubbing her legs together while holding tight onto the chair.
I decided to just ignore it and move onto her suckers.
One difference I noticed in the octoling was that the suckers were on the outer side of the tentacle, as well as having more of them.
I put my hand on each one of them, and just like Nary's, they latched onto it the moment my palm covered them.
But I also noticed how Otome twitched when I took it off from them.
And going back to her tentacles, I don't know why I had the bright idea of pinching the tip of one of them, more specifically, the one that looked like her fringe.
And the moment I did that, I was surprised to hear the octoling let out an 'EEP!', which left me staring at her with my eyes wide open, while she covered her mouth with both hands and looked at me the same way.
"I... Think we're done for today" I told her pretending to now have heard that cute little squeak she made.
"S-sure..." she replied, but without moving from her place.
"What's wrong...? You can go now..." I reminded her while scratching the back of my head.
"Did you forget? I-it's my turn now..." she said, reminding me that I was supposed to let her touch my hair in exchange of letting me touch her tentacles.
I didn't argue back, I just kneeled down in front of her to be at her height once again.
"Oh, right... Go ahead" I said now being close to her, maybe too close...
I saw how Otome reached for my hair, and for some reason her hands were shaky.
But I didn't think much of it once I felt her hands moving across my scalp.
Taking a close look at her, I could say that Otome's breasts were pretty big, maybe big enough to comfortably fit on my hands.
But as I stared, I felt someone's glare drilling into me.
I slowly lifted my face up to look at her face, and clearly saw that she was giving me a cold stare, probably because of what I was doing.
"Turn around..." She said, her voice sounding as cold as her stare.
"Haha... Alright then" I said following her command, turning my back to her before feeling her hands on my head once again.
"Hey... Does it hurt?" the octoling soldier asked me as she stopped moving her hands.
"Not at all" I answered, now feeling her hands on the back of my head.
And being honest, it really didn't hurt at all since she wasn't being rough with it or anything like that. I could even say that it felt relaxing.
"You know... I've always felt a bit curious about your... Umm..." Otome left her sentence half-finished.
"Hair?" I asked, trying to complete her sentence with the word that perhaps she was looking for.
"Yeah... Hair... I've always felt curious about it... It's like tons and tons of tiny tentacles" she told me while running a finger across it.
"Haha... Is that so?" I asked her with a little smile.
"Well... That's just how I see it" she said as she stopped moving her hands, followed by resting her arms on my head, maybe out of boredom.
We both remained there in a bit of an awkward silence, until I noticed that her arms weren't the only thing on my head, I also felt her breasts pushing against the back of it, I probably had a dumb look on my face on that moment due to how soft they felt.
But unfortunately, nothing lasts forever.
"Drake, sir, I require your presence here..." I heard Bruce say behind us, while feeling how Otome pulled away from me.
"Alright, Bruce... I'll be there in a moment" I told it a little annoyed as I stood up.
"Well, thank you for your time, Otome, it really means a lot" I continued, giving the octoling a warm smile.
"Don't mention it... And thank you as well" she replied before standing up and looking away with her arms behind her back.
For a moment I thought she wanted to tell me something else, but was interrupted by the robot calling for me once again, so she just left after telling me that she didn't want to distract me any longer.
And so, I headed to where Bruce was, who was placing what appeared to be some X-rays on a table.
"Bruce... What is this?" I asked it while taking both plastic films, which appeared to be Otome and Nary's outlines but nothing more.
"These are some X-rays I took of your two guests" it answered.
"But... There's nothing here..." I argued, now looking at it.
"Exactly, sir... For a moment I though that perhaps it was an error with my lens, my software or even the film printer, but after a quick checkup I found my systems to be working at 98% efficiency, as well as the film printer working without any major issues... This means that maybe both girls' races lack a bone structure, aside from their teeth, which I hypothesize to be made out of chitin, due to their cephalopodic nature" the robot theorized, leaving me very intrigued.
"But then... How do they even stay upright?" I asked while holding my chin.
"I too would like to know that, sir..." Bruce replied.
And just then, I remembered the time I fought those two inklings, and how the green one turned into a squid... Maybe that's the reason they can shapeshift like that.
In any case, after tidying up a bit, I went back to the room where I had studied the girls, noticing that the chair where they sat was still in the same place.
Not seeing any use for it right now, I decided to put it somewhere where it wouldn't be a nuisance, but just before I picked it up, I noticed a transparent stain on its seat.
"Huh...? is that water?" I asked to myself while running two fingers across the stain, only to notice that it didn't feel like water at all, it felt sticky and slippery instead.
"What the...?" I asked once again as I rubbed my fingers on said substance.
And like an anvil to the head, the memories of both girls' reactions when I was touching their tentacles fell on me.
Blushing, heavy breathing, twitching and squirming, and constantly rubbing their legs together.
All of that made me come to a conclusion of what that stain was, making only two words come into my mind.
"Oh shit..."
[End of flashback]
Heh, I'm not gonna lie when I say that I spent like four days thinking I had abused of the girls in some way, but after apologizing over and over to them they told me to not worry about it, that I didn't know in the first place, and that they would've let me do it for my research anyways, so that brought some peace of mind.
I kept going through the drawers until I finally found my mask, but I also found a really old photo where you could see me in my spec ops uniform and wearing my mask.
And next to me there was someone else with a different type of uniform, as well as having a Russian flag patch on one of their shoulders.
And as soon as I focused on them, I instantly recognized who that person was. He used to be a really good friend of mine from Russia.
His name was Carlos, Carlos Kuznetsov, member of a Russian spec ops team called 'Hell's angels', which was specialized in all types of missions, but those lunatics were mostly known for diving head first into danger without any sign of fear.
(T/N: Changed last name to be more fitting to Russian origin)
But they were also pretty stealthy when they needed to, sometimes they would come back from without even being seen once.
And regarding Carlos... He was a good man, mostly calm but could also get very sarcastic and rebellious at times, but he made up for that with his charisma... I should also mention that he was a bit of a sadist as well.
But one thing was for sure, make him mad and even the devil himself would start trembling.
I couldn't help but smile at the memory, but that didn't last long, since another memory came into my head.
[12.000 years ago]
[POV: Third person]
The entire world was in a state of emergency. The water levels and oceans were rising at an alarming rate, and some countries slowly started to disappear below the water.
In response to that, some superpowers had started to invade other countries, threatening them to give them their land or else they would be taking it by force.
The USA, which had lost a quarter of its territory to the water, opted for declaring war on Mexico and Russia, trying to take over them to make up for their lost territory.
England also saw part of its domains lost to the seas, so it shamelessly proclaimed Argentina as theirs, and if they opposed it, they would be taking over by force.
Of course, the threatened countries would not tolerate that, and would fight tooth and nail whoever tried to take over it, no matter how powerful they are.
And it wasn't just those countries that went to war against each other, most other countries were in the same predicament for the same motives.
And so, another world war was unleashed, but this one wouldn't be a fight for domination, or the leader's ambitions. This was a war for survival.
From between the waves, a group of three Zodiac Hurricane assault boats could be seen, sailing through them with ease.
And these boats were occupied by about 5 spetsnaz units each, and along the fourteen Russian soldiers, there was one of them with a different uniform, as well as having an Argentinian army patch on his shoulder, not to mention that this person was the only one wearing a mask with a skull pattern on it.
Member of an elite commando force named 'Specters', one of the most lethal and efficient teams in the entire planet, this soldier was none other than Drake.
The commando found himself being part of a rescue mission, he had to find a member of 'hell's angels' that had been off the radar for weeks, until one day they got a report that said that he was being kept prisoner in an island to the east of the USA.
And since Drake knew who they were, it was going to be easy for him to recognize them, so he was assigned to go along the spetsnaz team.
It was rainy and the entire sky was covered by grey clouds, but the weather was the least of Drake's concerns, who had spotted the silhouette of the island from afar, slowly getting more visible as they approached.
Drake then turned to the rest of the soldiers, and announced their imminent arrival to the island in their language, although with a heavy accent.
"Thirty minutes until we reach the shore! Get your gear and weapons ready, this is not your average sabotage mission, we take the hostage and get the hell out of there!" Drake exclaimed with an assertive voice, making the spetsnaz run a checkup on their arsenal and gear.
Drake didn't say anything else and turned around, watching the island get closer and closer.
"I'm getting tired of saving your Russian ass..." he whispered to himself.
The boats had turned off their motors to avoid being heard by the enemy, letting themselves get carried by the waves until they reached the shore.
After disembarking and hiding the boats where the enemy couldn't see them, Drake ordered three of the soldiers to stay and watch for the enemy, and with a swift movement of his hand, ordered the rest to carry on with the mission, stealthily moving through trees and bushes with their weapons at the ready.
As they kept going, they all could see the prison not too far away from where they currently were, letting them know that everything was going according to their plan.
But then, Drake suddenly stopped and got down on one knee while raising his fist, ordering the rest of the team to stop as well.
There was a watchtower in front of them with a sniper in it, as well as seven American soldiers patrolling the area below it.
With another set of signs, Drake ordered three of his soldiers to move to their left flank, and another three to move to their right flank, surrounding the area.
"I want everyone to aim for the head or any of their vital points, and wait for my signal" Drake ordered through radio while aiming at the sniper.
"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Fire..." The Specter finally gave them the signal, and with an incredible coordination, everyone opened fire on the American soldiers using their silenced weapons, finishing them all in a flash with their silenced weapons.
"Eight confirmed kills, all clear" said one of the spetsnaz.
"Keep going and make sure there's no survivors" Drake ordered, followed by him and the team coming out of hiding and moving into the outpost.
After thirty minutes combing the area, they had found a map of the prison they were supposed to enter.
"This will come in handy" Drake commented, looking at every corner of the prison.
After securing the area, they carried on with their mission, getting closer and closer to the enormous building while making sure there were no enemies nearby.
Now at one of the prison's outer walls, they activated a scanning device that allowed them to see scan for enemies at the other side.
They could see that there was quite the amount of guards that would surely retaliate once they attacked, but it was nothing they couldn't handle.
"Alright, gentlemen... I want two snipers at the top, keep enemy reinforcements at bay for as long as you can, and as for the rest, I want a group of four breaking in through the windows on the second floor, and eliminate everyone from above" ordered the specter, the spetsnaz diligently following his orders in response.
The snipers along the other four soldiers used their grappling hooks and slowly climbed up the wall, except that the assault group stopped next to the windows they were about to break, letting the snipers keep climbing up.
Drake stayed behind with the assault group and placed a remote explosive to make a hole in the wall, followed by the soldiers moving away from the device and get ready for the assault.
"Okay, get ready and remember that we're going loud, so the whole place is gonna be on maximum alert... Shoot accurately and move as quick as you can" he said while adjusting his mask.
"Snipers in place" Drake heard over the radio, and as if that was his cue, he activated the detonator, making a big hole in the wall as debris flew everywhere.
Drake and the spetsnaz entered through the hole, firing at the enemy soldiers before they could fire back. Meanwhile, the assault team above them broke in through the windows and took the guards on the upper floor by surprise.
Taking cover behind a pillar, Drake saw how the guards were starting to return the fire back at them, forcing them to take cover.
The whole prison had turned into a warzone, bullets were flying everywhere and an alarm resonated through the entire place.
Drake quickly tossed a grenade to where the guards had taken cover, forcing them to move to avoid the explosion, bus as they did that, he took advantage of that to rush towards them and jump over their cover.
And with extreme accuracy, he shot three out of four guards in the head, only to run out of bullets before the fourth, despite this, before the enemy could counterattack, Drake pushed the guard's weapon away using his, followed by using the stock of it to hit him in the face and kicking him in the chest, sending him against a wall.
Meanwhile, one last guard aimed at him, but seeing him out of the corner of his eye, Drake quickly reacted and made a roll towards one of the recently fallen enemies, who he used as a shield while the guard dumped his entire magazine on him.
And the moment he heard the guard's gun make a dry click, Drake showed himself once again with a pistol in hand and shot the guard, hitting a clean headshot on him.
Now relatively safe, he removed the mangled body from him, then reloaded his P90 SMG, but not before finishing off the guard he had knocked out earlier.
"Keep moving! We don't have any time to waste!" ordered the specter, while the rest of his squad followed him.
And just then, Drake received a message from the assault group.
"We've spotted the hostage, but it looks like they're starting to execute the prisoners! Should we open fire on them?" Drake heard through radio.
"Keep your positions, we're almost there!" he replied while moving towards the assault group's location.
Five minutes later, the group of 6 had reached their meeting point, hiding along the other group to avoid being seen, and just in time to see how they executed one of the prisoners.
There were around six of them without counting the one whose brains just got blown out, with each one having an executioner behind their backs.
And among them, the team identified Carlos, kneeling down with his hands on his head in the same way as the rest.
However, he didn't look afraid or nervous, in fact, the bastard was smiling.
And in front of the prisoners there was an officer with blonde hair and pretty short in height, almost looked like a kid at first glance, but her 'assets' would quickly make anyone think otherwise.
"I will ask you one last time... Where is your president hiding?" she asked to one of the prisoners, seemingly of Japanese origin.
"I won't tell you anything!" he replied with a defiant tone.
"You won't say anything...?" the officer returned the question with her arms crossed.
"I... Won't... Tell... You... ANYTHING!" the prisoner repeated himself, spitting each word onto the officer's face.
"Alright then..." she calmly replied before making an execution gesture, moments later said prisoner was executed in the same way as the first.
The officer then moved on to the next prisoner, who seemed to be the youngest of the bunch, as well as being visibly freaked out.
"Please... I already told you I'm just a recruit, I don't know anything!" he pleaded with a Spanish accent while the officer looked at him with a grin.
"Listen here sweetheart, we don't have much time, and I'd be lying if I told you I don't think you're cute... But your pleas are just spoiling my appetite, so I'll just give you one last chance to tell me what you know, or else... I'm afraid you won't be useful to me anymore" the officer threatened him.
"I... The only thing I know is about an ambush against American soldiers in Barcelona" said the young man.
"See...? That wasn't so hard, was it...? But unfortunately, we already knew that" the officer replied with an arrogant smile.
"W-what...!? No... That's all I know!" the young man tried to make an excuse, removing his hands from his head in panic.
"It doesn't count if it's already known information so... Goodbye" she said before making the same execution gesture.
"N-NO, WAIT...!" those were the prisoner's last words before being shot in the back of the head.
"Fucking beasts..." whispered one of the spetsnaz next to Drake, but he was focused on the scene in front of him.
"You realize he was just a kid, right?" Carlos said calmly, sighing at the sight of the young man's corpse.
The officer didn't say anything and just stood in front of him, with her eyes closed and a cold stare.
And on that moment Drake gave the team a sign to get ready, while he aimed at the executioner behind Carlos.
"Heh... What's wrong sweetie? Want another chat?" the Russian asked mockingly, only to get slapped by the woman and grabbed by the hair, forcibly pulling him towards her.
"Oh, I'd love to, but this time I would like you to spit out words instead" she replied, staring directly into Carlos' eyes.
"Ha... Well, with those tits of yours things are gonna be quite difficult" he said, looking down at the officer's cleavage and making one of the guards chuckle a bit, but he was quickly silenced by the woman glaring at him.
"I see I won't get anything out of you... And I thought the Russians would be useful" she said, letting go of him.
"Suck my dick..." said Carlos, still keeping that stupid smile on his face.
"I don't suck off dead people..." the officer finished, making an execution gesture once again, to which he just kept smiling.
A gunshot was heard in the room, but instead of Carlos falling dead, it was the executioner behind him who did, with a bullet hole right in his forehead, surprising the guards as well as the officer.
"Heh... What took you so long?" Carlos commented while everyone turned to look where the sound came from.
And as if the angel of death himself had come for them, they saw Drake with his desert eagle in hand, with its barrel still smoking.
And one by one the rest of the spetsnaz showed up as well, aiming their weapons at the Americans and vice versa.
"Damn... I knew about the alarm but I didn't think you would get here so fast" the officer said, putting a hand on her hip.
"I will only say this once... Release the prisoners and maybe we'll consider not killing you all..." said Drake as he stared at the woman.
"Ohh, how scary... What if we do this instead...? You put your weapons away, give yourselves in, and maybe WE will consider not killing you..." she countered.
"Are those your last words?" Drake asked with a mocking tone.
"I don't know... Maybe this will answer your question!" the officer said before taking a pistol out of her cleavage and shooting at the specter.
And with a swift move, Drake avoided the shot and aimed at the woman's weapon, shooting it out of her hand.
In view of this, one of the American soldiers exclaimed "Open fire!" and began to shoot at the rescue team.
And so, the spetsnaz and the specter returned the fire, starting yet another battle inside the prison.
The prisoners, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, ran in random directions, and hid behind the nearest cover.
Peeking from his cover, Drake fired several rounds from his P90 to the officer, who crawled on the ground towards her gun, picking it up and shooting back at him, hitting two of the spetsnaz that were near drake in the head, rendering them out of combat.
"Execute all prisoners!" she ordered while taking cover behind a pillar.
Following her orders, some of the soldiers started shooting where the prisoners were taking cover, making a few of them fall dead and injuring others.
"Secure and cover our objective!" Drake exclaimed, shooting down a handful of enemies, jumping over the railing and down to the lower floor.
On the other hand, an enemy soldier was seen approaching where Carlos was hiding with clear intentions, but the moment he aimed at Carlos, he grabbed the soldier's weapon, throwing off his aim and making him shoot upwards, followed by receiving a knee to the gut by the Russian.
Struggling to get a hold of the gun, Carlos took advantage of this to headbutt the enemy soldier and finally take the gun away from him, followed by pushing him away with a kick.
The enemy quickly tried to draw his sidearm, only to get riddled with bullets.
"And don't get up" the Russian scoffed, before joining the battle.
Drake advanced relentlessly while taking down every enemy that peeked out of their cover to stop him, slowly making his way to the blonde officer.
Until said woman came out of hiding with an MP5 SMG in hand, probably taken from a fallen soldier, and began shooting at Drake, forcing him to take cover behind some wooden crates.
But the American officer quickly reacted by taking a grenade from a dead body and pulling off the pin before tossing it towards Drake, while pointing her submachine gun at the crates, that way he would be completely exposed if he wanted to avoid the explosion.
But instead of seeing him come out, she just saw an explosion destroying the crates and leaving a dust cloud behind.
She ran to where the explosion had taken effect, going into the dust cloud with her weapon ready to finish off the specter.
But instead of a body or a dying Drake, there was nothing there, as if he just vanished into thin air.
She just couldn't believe her eyes. She clearly saw the specter taking cover behind those crates and would've seen him if he moved out to avoid the grenade... But there was nothing there.
"Where could he be?" The officer asked to herself, wondering where Drake went.
And just then, Drake appeared from behind a nearby pillar with his desert eagle in hand.
Feeling a shiver on her left side, the woman turned around and saw in shock how Drake pointed his weapon at her, staring down the barrel of it.
But just as Drake pulled the trigger, a nearby explosion made him move his hand up a little, hitting nothing but the officer's cap.
Coming back to her senses, she quickly ran to the nearest cover while Drake shot at her, but she was quick enough to hide behind another set of crates.
The specter was tempted to finish her off, but he was stopped when he heard one of his squad mates calling to him.
"Objective secured, sir!" exclaimed one of the spetsnaz, who along with Carlos, was shooting at the remaining enemies while fleeing through another hole they made on the prison.
The officer peeked above her cover and saw Drake placing a pair of fingers on his ear.
"We're running out of ammo and the enemy is getting closer!" Drake received another transmission from the sniper team he had sent out.
"You can come back... Mission accomplished..." he said as he cut off the transmission, threw a smoke grenade and looked back at the officer while the smoke slowly covered him.
Seeing that they were fleeing, the woman moved out of cover and shot at the smoke cloud.
But when the smoke dissipated, Drake was no longer there.
"Damnit! Everyone, chase them down!" the officer said while seething with rage.
The three spetsnaz who stayed to look after the boats were attentively watching for the enemy, there was even a little pile of four scouts who were unlucky enough to run into them.
But then, one of them saw a group of possible enemies approaching them, so he alerted his other two teammates. They quickly took position and got ready to open fire in case they got too close.
But they instantly lowered their weapons when they realized it was their people, who were running as quick as they could towards them, in view of that, the three spetsnaz headed towards the boats to get them ready to depart.
"To the boats! Go, go, go! Drake exclaimed while shooting at the enemy soldiers behind him.
Once everyone got in, they turned on the motors and fled from the enemy, who was still attacking in a vane attempt to stop them.
And now at a considerable distance, Carlos let out a laugh while putting his hands on the shoulders of two of the spetsnaz.
"Good to see you again, boys" he commented in his native language, followed by putting his focus on Drake, who was looking in front of the boat without saying anything.
"Hey... You sure took your sweet time, fought with another one of your teammates again?" Carlos asked with a lightly mocking tone, but Drake just stood there completely silent.
"Hey I'm talking to you... Aren't you happy to see me after such a long time?" Carlos continued with a smile and opening his arms, as if waiting for a hug.
But once again, Drake didn't show any reaction.
"Ohh... I see how it is... Thank you for saving me again, Drake. I really owe you one... There, happy?" the Russian said as he put a hand on the Argentinian's shoulder.
And the moment he touched him, Drake turned around and punched him in the face, making him fall on his back and leaving the spetsnaz with their eyes wide open, Drake then proceeded to take off his mask.
"I FUCKING WARNED YOU! I TOLD YOU I WOULD BREAK YOUR NOSE IF I HAD TO SAVE YOUR RUSSIAN ASS AGAIN, CARLOS!" Drake yelled at him with visible anger.
"Heh... You still hit like a girl" Carlos replied, still smiling while holding his bloody nose.
Drake didn't reply and just turned back, letting out a weary sigh.
[End of flashback]
[Drake's POV]
My smile had vanished for a moment upon remembering those times, but it returned once I saw the photo.
"So it ended up being a draw... We couldn't see who the best was... But I hope you found what you've lost... Until we meet again, bro..." I finished before putting the photo back in its place.
"Sir, we are waiting for you" I heard Bruce say behind me, making me turn to it.
"Oh, sorry, I'll be there in a second" I told it before it left the room, leaving me alone once again.
I then opened a cabinet behind some switches and found my all-black Desert Eagle, and three magazines besides it.
Taking the big pistol, I inspect it while also getting a feel of it.
"Heh... You're heavier than I remember" I said before taking the three magazines, loading one into the gun and putting another one in my pocket, the third one... I decided to just leave it there since I felt like it was more than enough.
"Please, God... Don't make me use it..." I pleaded while looking back at the Desert Eagle, soon after taking it to my back and hiding it beneath my clothes, I then took my mask and headed out of the room after closing the cabinet.
Returning with the two girls, I saw Nary talking to Bruce while Otome just paced back and forth until they both saw me and put their attention on me.
"You took ages back there, what were you even doing?" Nary asked me while crossing her arms.
"Haha... Sorry about that, I forgot to bring my mask" I told her while showing it to her, skipping the fact that I also had a gun on me.
"Your mask?" Otome asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's... Really special to me" I replied while putting it on my right pocket.
And then, to everyone's surprise, the vault door slowly started to open, making the place rumble a bit.
I put my eyes on the octoling, who didn't look too enthusiastic about going out, I think there was something bothering her.
Until I suddenly remembered something, something that was probably the reason she looked like that.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that favor you asked me" I told Otome crouching down to her level, and making her turn to me.
I just gave her a smile, to which she replied with another smile before putting her goggles back on.
The three of us stood there and watched as the door finished opening, making me thing of everything that awaited me outside this vault, both good and bad.
And although I've already seen a few of those things, I hope I can see them in a better way this time around.
I gave the girls one last look before crossing my arms and putting on a smirk.
"So... Shall we?" I told them, now feeling the wind coming in from outside.