"Well look who it is. Nice to finally meet you."
Not looking up from the knife and sharpening stone, Layla sees a pair of boots in front of her. "Name's Sledge."
She stands up, holstering the knife in an arm guard. She looks up at a tall Brit, seeing a gas mask over his face, muffling his words.
She stands up, shaking his hand before looking at the building in front of them.
"Thirty seconds before action phase."
Checking the mags in their holsters, Layla makes sure there were only fake rounds. She tosses a drone, letting it roll across the ground while grabbing her phone.
Making a mental map in her head, Layla takes count of the people inside.
'Caveira, Tachanka, Clash, Capitāo, and a recruit. Then there's me, Sledge, Thermite, Finka, and Gridlock.'
"So, leader. Plan?"
Layla cocks the slide of her gun back, chambering a round into the gun. "Three go in loud, create distraction. Two go in at the entry point at furthest dormer window. Defuser goes dormer along with guard."
Everyone nods, Finka and Gridlock taking the defuser.
"Five seconds remaining."
They all nod, preparing for the fight.
4
3
2
1
"Attackers are released."
Finka immediately surges, Layla's heart pumping as her legs carried her faster than before. Thermite puts a charge on the garage door, Layla hiding behind the brick wall alongside Sledge. Thermite steps back, clicking the trigger.
"One really big fucking hole, coming right up."
A loud explosion goes off, Layla tensing. She grabs two flashbangs, throwing them in just as bullets started to fly. The gunfire stops, Layla leading the way into the garage.
She sees two people, the recruit and Capitão. She fires at Capitão, landing a few hits in his chest. Recruit was next, falling at Thermite's hands. The trio moves forward. Getting to the living room, they immediately hunker down as the loud sounds of gunfire continued.
The wall shreds above Layla, the woman being showered in plaster and wood. She winces, hands flying to her ears. She was nudged, her helmet angling towards Sledge.
There was a moment of silence as her hearing fades, seeing white powder explode over his mask and across his chest.
He flops back, Layla scurrying back and into an untouched corner as the powder bullets tore through the seemingly thin materials. She peeks through her hands as the visor blocked out the flying debris, hands falling at her sides.
'Colonel?'
An older man was laying where Sledge was, blood and dirt caking his still form as the background shifted to the hot desert.
People were scattered around, bullet holes riddled them, blood seeping into the sand. Slowly raising a hand, Layla sees her hand covered in blood. She wipes it on her pants, panicking as people crossed the ridge.
She scurries back, leaning against the turned-over Jeep. The sounds of gunfire continued, Layla sucking in a breath as she checked the magazine of the M4.
"Come on!"
She screams, peaking around the corner of the Jeep and firing.
Miss
She continues to fire, aiming for the people rapidly approaching.
"Ace!"
She lets out another scream, landing hits among the group. They all fall, the bullets stopping and a moment of silence passes.
"Ace!"
It was then Layla realized that she was still at the house.
Looking at the holes covering the room in front of her, she sees Tachanka laying on the floor with powder rounds embedded into his armor.
Walking over, she holds a hand out.
Hoisting the armor-clad man to his feet, she hesitates as her hand hovers over his arm. "Good job."
He nods. "You too."
"Two friendlies remaining."
Layla looks to Thermite who was checking a hall, looking at the turret Tachanka had used. "Watch out."
Thermite looks at Layla as she grabs the handles, sucking in a deep breath. The walls were quickly shredded, Layla staying tense even after the mag was empty.
Looking at the shredded walls, Layla sees movement on the other side. She grabs her M4, firing into the wall.
"One operator remaining."
Clash spits out curses as she exits, Thermite and Layla slowly moving through the house, a wild destroyed from the amont of rounds used
Layla sees the defuser in the middle of a bedroom, Thermite ready to get it only for her to hold a hand out.
Tossing a beam into the room, gunshots go off.
Pointing to the closet, Layla takes a flashbang and tosses it. Once it goes off, she peaks inside and fires at the woman who was blind firing as she covered her eyes.
Two rounds hit her leg, but Layla fired into Caveira's chest.
"Blue team wins."
Layla winces as she looks at her leg, seeing the powder covering her pants.
She holds a hand out to Caveira who begrudgingly takes it, the three walking out.
"That was amazing!"
Layla shrugs. "You all did great. I just blind-fired most of the time."
"Well, it worked."
"Everyone, meeting. It's an emergency."
Some people whine, but everyone heads for the meeting room. Layla sees Six pacing nervously, a projector already on, and Ash next to the board.
"What's going on?"
Once everyone has taken a seat, Six looks at them. His usual jovial grin was gone, instead replaced by a grim look. Spinning a pen in her hand, Layla keeps her head propped on the other.
"The white mask has started a new attack."
The pen drops, a long silence following as the operators look at Six. He continues, showing a layout of what the attack involved.
"A bomb has been planted in Paris. Right beneath the Eiffel tower. If it goes off, the tower will fall and hundreds if not thousands will be hurt. There will be two teams. One will draw the attention of the white mask away while the other will go in and defuse the bomb."
The next slide shows the lineups. "Team one will get the attention of the White masks. Team two will be defusal."
Team 1:
Ash
Glaz
Doc
Lion
Ace
Tachanka
Yäger
Team 2:
Kapkan
Dokkaebi
Twitch
Echo
Monty
Thatcher
Clash
Thermite
Mute
"Once given the all clear, team one will head towards the rendezvous point. You leave in an hour."
Clapping his hands together, Six concludes the meeting. "And remember, try not to blow too much up."
Leaving the room, Layla practically sprints towards her room before slamming the door shut. Throwing together a bag, Layla grabs an M249 from a rack of guns next to her as well as many boxes of ammo and drum mags as she could fit in the duffel, grabbing a Desert Eagle and setting it in her hip holster.
She walks back out, heading to team one. Ash and Glaz were already standing there, Lion walking up with his large backpack already on, and Doc, as well as Tachanka, were nowhere to be seen. Setting the duffel on the floor of the helicopter, Layla sits in one of the empty seats.
"Any ideas?"
A long silence fills the group, Tachanka walking over with his turret on one shoulder. Ash leans against the side of the helicopter, sighing.
"Civilians clear from city?"
They look at Layla who was gripping her hand, leg bouncing against the metal floor. "Yes."
"Go loud as Six said. Create distraction, hide in buildings, trap streets, then wait."
"Then there's the cost of fixing everything we destroyed."
"Take to back alleys and rooftops. Catacombs are good hiding places. Split them up and thin herd."
"Good idea, but we have to be aware of possible civilians still in the city."
"Cross bridge when we get there."
Ash sighs. "Right. Let's split into two teams. One will keep an eye out for civilians and the other will watch for the masks."
Doc finally shows up, the team all loading in and getting ready to take off. Layla rests her head against the wall behind her, her leg still bouncing against the floor of the helicopter. She kicks the duffel stuffed under her chair, securing her seatbelt as the helicopter takes off. "We'll be in Paris by tomorrow morning, so get comfy."
Layla flips the visor of her helmet up, her green eyes squinting as she looked at Doc. He was staring at the ground, seemingly lost in his thought as his feet tapped against the floor. Layla tosses a paper she found on the floor, hitting his helmet. He jerks his head up, Layla giving him a simple nod.
A few seconds later, he does the same, the raven turning away with her arms folded over her plate carrier.
Her first mission as a Rainbow operator, a bomb in Paris.
What could go wrong?