"Uzi?!"
"N?!"
"Farah?! Alex?!" V called out into the darkness, frantically looking around.
Several people coughing was the only confirmation V received that they were alive.
"Reaper 3-8 to Bravo 0-6. Tunnel what's your status?" Uzi coughed out, as Farah lit a glowstick.
Static.
"Shit, I thought you all were dead." V said.
"I thought so too." N said, pressing two fingers to thew left side of his visor, trying to access comms, as V and Uzi do the same.
Nothing. Just static.
"We're cut off from comms, we're alone." V uttered.
"Just like old times." Alex said, taking out his pistol.
"Yes, but we are not alone. We are in the Wolf's den now." Farah said, as the unit advances into the darkness.
"Tripwires here, stay low." Uzi said, as she ducked under the tripwire, as Alex disarms it.
"Disarmed." Alex said, as the others walked past the now disarmed tripwire, as they make their way through the tunnels.
Taking a left towards the more lighted part of the tunnel labyrinth, N quickly disarmed the tripwire, and the power cut out.
"[Someone's out there!]"
"[Run, warn the others!]"
"Was that you, Farah?" V said, almost bumping into N by accident.
"No, but they know we're here." Farah replied.
"Ah, shit." Uzi cursed, as they crawl under the lines of tripwires that zigzagged across the tunnel.
"[THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE IN THE TU-]"
N quickly silenced the screaming terrorist with a clean shot to the head. Painless, like most of his kills. Two other Al-Qatala followed shortly after, as the unit crawled out of the tripwire area, prompting Alex to disarm it for good measure.
"I'll take the left alcove." Uzi said, moving left, barely avoiding getting shot in the collarbone by an Al-Qatala positioned above the alcove she was right next to.
Returning fire, Uzi hit the man in the leg twice, causing him to fall onto a tripwire, causing the trap to activate, pulling the pin on the grenade. In an instant, the only thing left of the man was bloodied clothes, bone, and entrails.
Uzi slightly retched at the sight, quickly averting her eyes.
"Left side's clear." Uzi said, holding in her recently digested MRE lunch.
"Going right." N said, heading up right, as Uzi met up with Farah.
"[NATO DOGS! I'LL CUT YOUR DAMN HEARTS OUT!"]
"Bite me!" Uzi shouted, shooting down the Al-Qatala soldier charging at her, tainting the cavern walls red with the man's blood.
"Right side, clear." Uzi said, making her way into a corridor-like cavern.
V sliced one of the Al-Qatala footsoldier's arm off, kicking him down, then shooting him twice in the head.
"We're clear." V said, moving on left of the cavern.
"Wait, I smell fuel.... OH SHIT, RUN!" N shouts, as fire blazes through the cavern.
Full on sprinting to cover, N yanks Uzi away by the arm as the fire narrowly misses her, as the tunnel collapses, only a small hole being the only way out.
"We can crawl through." Alex says, getting out of cover, and crawling into the hole, followed by N. Shortly after, the rest of them.
"Alex, why did you bring her here?!" Hadir shouted through the tunnels, his voice echoing through the empty halls of the cavern.
"I came here by choice!" Farah spat.
"Leave, sister! NOW! I can't protect you here, they'll kill you!" Hadir pleaded.
"Look, Hadir. Just come with us." N reasoned.
"No, N! It's too late for that now." Hadir sorrowfully said.
"Show your face, I fucking dare you!" Uzi screamed.
"Uzi, please! These people... They're willing to help us!" Hadir said, as the unit made their way through the tunnel.
"You are a liar and a traitor!" Farah yelled.
"YOU ARE WRONG! You will see." Hadir said, clearly angry. He just wanted to help.
The team got out of the tunnel, advancing into the underground teahouse.
"[YOU ARE TRESPASSERS HERE!]" One of the Al-Qatala yell, shooting the fuel barrels, prompting the team to run out of the room just before the barrels exploded.
"Fuck, ambush!" Alex yells, shooting down one of the Al-Qatala that took point near the drywall.
Advancing through the unfinished site, N nearly misses becoming swiss cheese by an MG nest.
"MG NEST!" N screamed, throwing a smoke bomb all the way to the rear where the MG was positioned, sliding under a hole in the wall, making his way behind the MG nest, decapitating the MG gunner in one fell swoop.
"MG is taken care of!" N shouted, as V made her way to a drop.
"There's a drop here, N. Be careful." V said, dropping down safely onto the now-weakened wooden boards, moving to the solid stone ground.
N also drops down, but the boards give in, prompting the drone to try to scramble over to the solid ground, both hands changing into claws, but to no avail.
N screams in both terror and surprise as he tumbles down, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
"I'm good, V!" N said, getting up despite the pain.
"I'm coming down to you-"
"No, stay after Hadir with the others, I'll find a way up." N said, running into a lighted mineshaft, crawling through the low tunnel.
"All stations, this is Delta 2-3, transmitting in the blind. Target's still in the tunnels, currently tracking." N radioed, pushing a minecart away as he advanced right, passing under a railroad with a red light.
"In the western world, they think we are for sale. This is not true, of course. The super-power is not for sale." Sulaman said.
"[LIGHT THE FIRE! WE DIE TODAY!]"
The blaze almost made N fully overheat.
"Fire's spreading, I gotta go." N said, rushing left, and going forward, using his wings to fly up to the stairs.
"We are merely the buyers. We take the weapons, and we keep them. Forever." Sulaman continued.
N quickly fired on the 2 Al-Qatala trying to climb the ladder, killing them both, their bodies falling into the blaze below.
"It is easy to die for what you believe. To fight without sorrow, to wage war without sympathy. That is the only way to live, to DIE. A true soldier." Sulaman said, as N quickly climbed the bloody ladder, rushing past the flames.
OVERHEATING ALERT: 80% TO OVERHEATING
N began to feel the burn not only on the outside, but on the inside too. Ignoring the pain, N climbed another ladder, dodging a petrol can as it fell, as a full-blown uncontrollable blaze engulfed the wooden structure.
90% TO OVERHEAT, APPROACHING IMMINENT OVERHEATING.
N climbed yet another ladder, quickly dispatching the few Al-Qatala that weren't burning to death for their cause.
The ladder leaned, and fell.
With N on it.
"OH BISCUITS!" N screamed, but he was caught.
By Uzi.
"Uzi?!" N questioned, as the ladder fell into the blaze.
"I got you, N. Come on." She said, pulling the drone up, as they walked away from the blaze, stepping off of the wood plank and onto the stone of the tunnel. Something non-flammable, for a change.
"Your handiwork?" N questioned.
"Nah, it was Farah." Uzi said.
"Wolf's dead ahead." Uzi continued, as the others rushed over after N heard gunfire.
"What'd we miss?" Alex asked.
"Arson. A whole lot of it." Was N's answer.
"Alright, let's bag that motherfucker." V said, as the unit approached the door.
"3.... 2... 1... GO!" V shouted, bashing open the door to find Sulaman alone, with a bomb vest strapped to him. The whole room was filled with C4, as the whole team entered the room.
"Timer, he's got a vest." Farah said.
"He has the remote!" Uzi shouted.
"Your brother, he needed help. He has big plans. Killing me will not stop them. Even I cannot stop him now. It is too late, commander." The Wolf said, taunting Farah.
N grit his teeth in anger, and raised up his hand changing it to a rifle, and fired one shot. Sulaman was killed instantly.
"I've been wanting to do that." N said.
The timer still went down.
"It's still counting!" V said, her voice raising an octave as she got in close to check the timer. It was blurry, but the timer said 20 seconds.
"Can anyone disarm this?!" V shouted.
"I can." Alex said, rushing up to the dead terrorist.
"Green in 3... 2... 1..." V said.
"Cut!"
Alex cut the green wire the moment the female Disassembly drone uttered the word.
"Yellow, 2.... 1... NOW!" V shouted, as Alex cut the wire almost the moment she said it.
5....
"Red, top one, in 2..."
4....
3....
"1... CUT IT!" V screamed.
2....
Alex cut the top wire. The timer stopped. The bomb was disarmed.
"All stations, this is Echelon 3-6, in the blind. Jackpot, primary target is KIA." V radioed.