Jason watched as his team gathered around him on the tarmac of the base, waiting for their orders. His eyes were still on the satellite feed in front of him, which showed a mass gathering of men in the middle of nowhere, as far as his eyes could see. His mind was going over the plan with his team, he knew it wasn't the most foolproof but it was the best that he had in his arsenal.
"So here's the play..." He said turning to face the men. "We are heading into enemy territory and are outnumbered, we are heading there to get their boss in exchange for our own. I know that we all hate this but I don't know about you but I am not leaving without bringing this asshole in. Now let's get to it."
He could hear his team muttering to themselves as they turned and began walking away. As they reached the helicopters that would take them to their destination, he heard a shout from behind him.
"Commander Hayes!"
He turned to see a soldier running towards him, "What is it?" He asked impatiently.
"It's Lieutenant Commander Eric Blackburn sir..."
"I know who my boss is. Now what is it? I have a mission to go on."
"He wants you back in headquarters immediately." The soldier said nervously.
Jason looked at his watch, "Tell him we have a mission going on."
"I already did sir. He said he will wait for you." The soldier replied.
Jason sighed, "Alright, send Ayush to me."
The soldier ran off as fast as he came.
He heard a shout behind him, "Commander?" Jason turned and saw Ayush running towards him with his rifle held in his hands. His long legs covered the distance between them in no time as he came to stand in front of Jason.
"Take the team on." He said giving Ayush the map of their plan.
"What about you sir?" Ayush asked. Jason noticed that he didn't even stop to catch his breath after running here.
"I have been called to HQ." He said handing Ayush the comms unit.
"I understand sir, but-" Ayush began but Jason cut him off.
"Go." He ordered pointing at the helicopter. "You're in charge."
"Yes sir." Ayush nodded before running to board the helicopter with his team.
Jason watched for a moment before turning and walking into HQ.
Lieutenant Commander Eric Blackburn turned to face him as soon as he heard the door close. "Jason, what the hell were you thinking?" He yelled at Jason.
Jason looked back at him calmly. "Sir, we have a situation here and we-"
"Jason, are you kidding me? Did you actually send an 18-year-old to lead a mission for us?" Eric asked. His face red with anger.
"With all due respect sir, but Ayush is an 18-year-old who knows his shit better than some men here." Jason said crossing his arms.
Eric took in a deep breath and shook his head, "Jason, I am trying to save your career here and you are sending an 18 year old to lead one of your missions, that's bullshit."
"He's good sir..." Jason tried.
"I know he is. But he is not experienced enough to lead a team." Eric said simply.
"Sir, with all due respect but Ayush is different from other people. He has skills which many men here can only dream of." Jason replied. "He has skills that even I haven't seen before."
"I know that Jason, I know what kind of a man he is." Eric sighed. "But I can't let him lead a mission on my watch."
Jason stared back at his boss, his eyes locked on him. "Sir, if there's anyone who can get us through this then it's him."
Eric shook his head. "I am sorry Jason. But it's not gonna happen."
Jason clenched his fists at his sides and tried not to yell out at his boss. He knew that it wasn't gonna work and it would only make things worse for both him and Ayush. "I understand sir." He said quietly. "Is that all?"
Eric nodded and watched as Jason stormed out of the room. He sighed deeply and sat down in his chair behind his desk.
"Screw you Jason..." He whispered to himself.
Ayush jumped off the helicopter as it landed and looked at the satellite feed again, looking for any signs of change in the plan or numbers. He saw that all seemed good as planned and ran towards his team who stood waiting for him.
They were surrounded by mountains on every side and only a single entrance and exit point. They had all decided to use that as an entry point so they can get out with minimal casualties. Ayush scanned the area in front of them, looking at every single thing around them. He spotted 2 guards at a distance and made a hand signal for his team to hide.
They all fell to the ground, hiding behind rocks. Ayush held up his hand, counting down from three. When he got to zero, he pulled out his knife and began to walk towards the guards who were only a few feet away from them.
One of them noticed him and shouted loudly before Ayush jumped forward and slit his throat. Ayush threw his knife at the other man who had just turned around. He fell to the ground as well, dead in an instant.
Ayush's team all ran towards the entrance where they all held their positions and watched as Ayush walked out to stand at the center of the entrance. The door slowly creaked open to reveal a corridor full of men. Ayush quickly ran towards them before any of them could raise their guns and killed all 6 men in a matter of seconds. He kept moving forward as he fought through the corridors, killing anyone who got in his path.
His teammates were only following in his trail, taking care of the occasional guy that got through Ayush's defense.
They reached the boss's room quickly. They were met with a room full of men but Ayush didn't slow down even for an instant. He jumped and kicked a man in his face with enough force to send him flying into the wall behind him. The rest of the men were too shocked to raise their weapons at him, so he took full advantage of the momentary shock and killed them all.
There was a sound of footsteps from behind them and they all turned to see another set of men come out of the next corridor.
"Fuck." Sonny muttered.
"Dav, Ray, take cover." Ayush ordered as he jumped forward.
The corridor was empty of any furniture and had a single line of men standing in front of them. All armed with M-4A1 carbine rifles. But that wasn't enough to stop him, he jumped forward and kicked the first man in the chest with enough force that his rib cage cracked and sent him flying back to hit the wall behind him with a loud thud. His body fell to the floor as he went limp.
The man next to him raised his gun at Ayush but he wasn't fast enough, Ayush grabbed him by his wrist and twisted it until it broke. The man's eyes widened in pain before Ayush slit his neck. He killed off the next 5 men in an instant and reached the last man who was now trembling in fear. He dropped his gun and fell to his knees.
Ayush looked at him with disgust, "Why should I let you live?" He asked him.
The man shook his head, unable to speak.
"Fine." Ayush said pulling out his gun. He aimed for the man's head and pressed the trigger.
They quickly checked the remaining corridors to make sure there was no one else left.
"Well that was a waste of time..." Sonny said. "The fuckers killed themselves."
Ayush stared at him, confused. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"The fuckers took poison rather than go with us." He said.
"That's the most idiotic thing that I've ever heard." Ayush said.
Sonny shrugged. "Works for me. We don't have to take them back anyway."
Ayush sighed and nodded. "Right, let's go then."
The men nodded and began walking back to the helicopters.
Ayush waited for a few minutes to pass before he called the HQ on his comms unit.
"Yes, this is Ayush." He said into the mic.
"Ayush, this is Commander Blackburn. How was the mission?" Eric asked from the other end of the call.
"All good sir, we have completed the mission." Ayush replied.
"Good, now get your ass back here." Eric ordered.
"Yes sir." Ayush replied before hanging up the call.
"Boss wants us back." He told his team.
"What? What the hell was that?" Jason yelled into the phone at the sound of the crash coming from the other side. "Ayush? Ayush?" He yelled into the mic again before he hung up the call.
"Ayush?" Eric asked walking into the room.
"He's dead." Jason whispered. "They all are." He fell back in his chair and let go of the mic. He felt his mind and body numb. All because of him.
Eric sat down next to him. "Jason..."
Jason looked up at him, "They're dead Eric. I sent him to lead the mission and now they're all dead."
"We don't know that yet." Eric said quietly.
"He said he heard a crash from the other end. He's dead." Jason said again. "I killed him. All of them."
Eric didn't know what to say, "He's good Jason. He will come back."
Jason stared at his phone, "You don't know him like I do Eric." He whispered.
Jason stood up and walked out of the room with Eric following closely behind him.
"He said they had finished the mission." Jason said as they walked down the stairs to their cars.
"Okay, well we need to go to where they crashed." Eric said walking towards his car.
Jason nodded and walked to his car, "Let's go."
Ayush slowly stood up, his ears ringing from the crash. He looked around and saw that they were all lying on the ground, injured. "Sonny?" He called out.
There was no response so he stood up completely and walked towards the team. He reached Sonny first who had been thrown out of the helicopter, he was bleeding heavily from his head.
"Sonny?" Ayush called out again.
This time there was a small groan, "Yeah man, fuck." He muttered before slowly sitting up. "Man, my head is killing me."
Ayush looked around, "Where are the others?"
Sonny followed his line of sight before muttering a curse under his breath. "Dav? Ray? Clay?" He shouted out.
They slowly began to stand up as well, "Fuck man, I lost my gun..." Ray muttered.
"I got it." Sonny said picking it up from the ground and handing it to him.
"Thanks man." Ray said before looking at Ayush, "We're in for it this time..."
Ayush nodded, "We need to go back to the LZ."
"Yeah, yeah we do." Sonny muttered before standing up slowly. "Fuck, I think I broke my ankle."
"Fucking shit man..." Ray cursed.
Dav walked over to him, "Let me see." He said before kneeling down next to him.
There were a few shots in the distance and Ayush quickly pulled out his gun to see what was going on.
"Shit." He whispered as he saw a battalion of men walking towards them.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned back to see Clay. "We need to get out of here." He said simply.
Ayush nodded, "Yeah."
"Dav?" He called out as he looked at Sonny who was still being attended to.
"I'm doing as good as I can here, Clay. You'll have to move without us." Dav called back.
"We can't." Ray replied, "They'll kill you guys."
"Not if you get out of here before them." Dav shouted back.
"There's too many of them." Clay replied.
"We know, but we still have to get out of here without getting killed." Dav said simply.
Clay looked at Ayush who nodded as well. "You're right Dav. We need to go."
Clay nodded and they all stood up, Clay holding Sonny's arms while Ray walked beside them. Ayush and Dav walked behind them all. Ayush looked back and saw the men just a few feet away from him. "How much farther?"
"Not much now." Dav replied.
Ayush quickly looked at his teammates before he nodded. "I will go and get them. You get everyone else out of here."
"What?" Dav asked confused, "Are you crazy? No, I won't let you go alone."
"I will be fine Dav." Ayush said simply. "I can survive that."
Dav stared at him and then slowly nodded.
Ayush turned around and began to run towards the men who were all armed. Ayush pulled out his own gun and shot the closest men to him who fell to the ground. The others raised their guns at him but he was too fast for them, dodging every bullet. He had killed them all in a matter of minutes and was now walking back towards his teammates. He found Dav holding his gun on a man on his knees and Ray holding a knife against another man's throat.
He saw that Sonny was sitting on the ground, still injured. "He's not healing." Dav muttered.
Ayush knelt down next to Sonny, "I will carry you back."
Sonny nodded and Ayush stood up, picking him up in his arms.
"Fuck, you're strong." Sonny muttered into his ear.
Ayush didn't reply as he began to walk back towards the LZ. Dav and Ray walked in front of him, holding the two men in front of them.
They were almost there when there was another shot. This time much louder than anything else that they had heard so far.
"Fuck!" Ray yelled out in pain. He fell to the ground next to them as Ayush stared at his brother, now lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. "FUCK!" He yelled out again before he pulled out a gun and aimed it at the man who had shot him.
Dav quickly dropped the man he was holding and rushed to Ray's side, "Ray? Ray, stay with me!" He yelled out.
Ayush saw the man who had been shot earlier trying to get up. He quickly dropped Sonny and walked towards him. He picked him up by his hair and pulled out a knife and slit his neck before throwing him down again. He turned around to see that the other man was trying to run away so Ayush quickly ran after him, caught him and slit his throat as well.
He walked back to his teammates to find that Dav was still trying to save Ray's life. "How is he?" Ayush asked as he knelt down next to them.
"He won't make it." Dav muttered, tears in his eyes.
Ayush grabbed hold of Ray's face and stared at him, "No, he will make it."
Ray looked back at him before whispering, "Ayush..."
"It's okay Ray, you will make it." Ayush said softly.
"I won't let anything happen to you." He muttered softly before he looked back at Dav who nodded and they both stood up. Dav grabbed hold of his body while Ayush carried Sonny.
"Wait!" Dav yelled as they walked towards the helicopter. "Clay!"
Ayush looked back at Clay who was holding a gun towards him.
"I'm not going back without all of my team." Clay said softly.
Dav sighed and ran towards him, "Clay, please."
"No!" He yelled back before he ran back towards them and took hold of Dav's gun before he handed it back to him. "Alright, let's go." He said quietly as they boarded the helicopter together.
The moment they landed back at the base, they were all rushed to the hospital. Ayush stood by Ray's side as he was being operated on and stayed there until he woke up.
He then went and checked on Sonny who had finally healed and was being discharged. "How are you feeling?" Ayush asked him as he walked into the hospital room.
"Fine man, I'm fine. Just got a few broken bones." Sonny replied.
Ayush nodded, happy that his teammates were safe. "Alright." He said before turning around and walking out of the hospital.
He saw Eric standing outside the hospital, staring at his phone.
"Sir." Ayush walked towards him.
Eric looked up and stared at Ayush for a moment, "Ayush?" He whispered.
"Yes sir." He replied before he noticed the tears in his eyes. "Sir?"
Eric quickly wiped away his tears before he stared at him again, "Ayush, we thought you were dead."
"I'm sorry sir." Ayush said quietly, "I didn't mean to worry you."
"We were worried about you." Eric said again before he quickly pulled Ayush into a hug. "We were so worried about you."
Ayush hugged him back before Eric pulled back and smiled at him. "Are they alright?"
Ayush nodded, "Yes sir, Ray is still in hospital but he will be fine. Sonny was discharged a few hours ago."
"Good. I'm glad they're alright." Eric said smiling again.
"Sir?" Ayush asked confused. "Why are you so happy? I thought you would be angry."
Eric shook his head and laughed. "Angry?" He asked. "You just brought my entire team back alive from a mission in which they crashed behind enemy lines and were surrounded by the enemy. You're a fucking miracle worker."
Ayush stared at him unsure of what to say.
"What did you do?" Eric asked then.
"What?" Ayush asked.
"What did you do out there? There were reports that you were all alone and yet you brought the entire team back home." Eric asked again.
"Ray was shot so I carried him and Dav carried Sonny." Ayush said.
"But what about the others? The others who shot at you?"
"Oh, I killed them." Ayush replied.
Eric stared at him for a second before he sighed. "I don't know what you are man but you're a fucking hero to all of us."
Ayush smiled and nodded. He then turned around and walked out of the building and towards his car. He got in and drove back home.