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Shadow stood at the edge of a 3 story building, the wind blowing hard at his face, the sand ripping through his cheeks and stinging his eyes. But he kept on watching the towering business building where the government commanders were planning their next move. He wondered if they were suspecting anything. Linda was right next to him, sniper rifle slung over her shoulder. He looked past her towering figure and viewed black team on a roof of an adjacent building. That team was to infiltrate through the roof, but only after the snipers proved the diversion. Then the Dark Wolves, known as black team in this op, would get to the security room that right below the roof entrance. Kind of a stupid place to put their only way of blocking infiltration. But he guessed that the original building's security room was there, and the government hadn't bothered to move it. Stupid. Black Team would shut down the security measures, allowing the Spartans, known as red team, to infiltrate through the ground level while the snipers were still providing cover. Red team would make their way into the heart of the building, finding the commanders and assassinating them. Meanwhile, Black Team would make their way down past the security room and meet up with Red Team to make sure the mission parameter was accomplished. After that, both teams would make their way to the roof, and a dropship would be there waiting for them. It was quite the risky mission, and the reckless plan made it even worse, but honestly, he couldn't think of a better one. He just hoped that the dropship would be there when it was supposed to be.

***This is Black Leader. Blue Team, you're go for diversion.***

Kelly responded in the normal military lingo.

***Roger.***

Shadow, on the other hand...

***Is that you Geb? Tell everyone that I'm still winning!***
***Shut up, we'll meet plenty of baddies inside the building that you'll never be able to touch.***
***We'll see.***

The transmission was killed, and he raised his rifle. In his peripheral vision, he could see Linda aiming her rifle too, ready to strike.

"EVA, I want you to hack into my scope and get it to highlight all enemies in bright green boxes"
"Done."

He nodded and began firing, as did Linda.

*FTEW* *BLAM* *FTEW* *FTEW* *BLAM* *BLAM* *FTEW* *BLAM* *BLAM* *FTEW* *FTEW* *FTEW* *FTEW* *BLAM* *FTEW* *FTEW* *BLAM* *BLAM* *FTEW* *BLAM* *BLAM* *FTEW* *FTEW* *FTEW*

The blasts left multiple blue and white vapor trails each time they fired. Shadow targeted most of the hardened targets, like the scorpion tank, hover warthogs and parked hornets. He'd have to make sure those things stayed out of commission. Linda, with the weaker weapon, focused on the softer targets, like soldiers...and...more soldiers. He blasted, and a scorpion tank blew up, taking out two hover warthogs with it. He fired at another tank, and another. They both blew up in nice hot fire. But the smoke was covering the entire area. Linda yelled over the fire.

"Reload, cover me."
"Hurry."

The smoke was getting to irritating. He had to do something about it.

"Damnit. EVA, smoke reduction."
"Done."

The smoke immediately became somewhat semi-transparent in the scope, and he could see a few of the gun emplacements. He fired at those. The first blast landed right at the base of the gun, toppling it over and sending the operator flying out. He fired again, and the sliding soldier lost his head. He swiveled and blasted another gun emplacement, causing it to explode in a fury of red and orange heat. He turned, and blasted the last gun emplacement, sending the slug right through the soldier, as he toppled over to the ground without an abdomen. He could hear Linda's voice yelling to him from the middle of the roof where she was reloading.

"Get BACK! GET BACK!"

He didn't bother to contest her exclamation. He jumped back, sliding on his back as machine gun fire slammed into the edge, blowing off hunks of concrete and rock.

"Thanks Linda."
"Anything for an ally."

He nodded and watched as the machine gun fire continued towards the edge. The fire soon began to dwindle, and eventually stopped. They looked to each other, although it was more or less a one-way thing. He couldn't see her through the shiny helmet she had on, but he was as clear as water to her. They looked back to the edge, and ran towards it, sniper rifles drawn.

***Black Team, you have go for infiltration of roof. Go now.***
***Roger.***

Geb nodded to the others, and took out a grappling hook pistol. He fired it towards the roof of the business building, but he missed. The slacked wire came tumbling down towards the ground. He sighed and pulled the trigger again. The wired immediately began snapping back towards the pistol, slithering in the air like a snake. As the wire snapped back into position, he aimed, and fired again. This time, the wire stayed tight. He jerked it a few times, and nodded. He took out a device from a bag he had brought from the garage. He had borrowed one of the rocket propelled zip lines from the resistance. He placed the large device under the wire, and clipped it on. He pulled at it a few times to make sure it was secure, and then attached the rocket. He heard Az ask a question.

"You think they're going to notice us with this loud thing?"

Geb looked to the two snipers on the adjacent building, sending hell from above.

"Nope."

He smiled as he said it.

"Cal, you're first."

Cal nodded, and strapped in his shotgun. He grabbed the handle on the zip line, and released the lock. The rocket activated and sent Cal flying through the air. Meanwhile, Geb struggled to keep hold of the pistol and anchor it while Cal was flying.

*FFFFFFFFFFFFFSSSHHHHHHHSHHH*
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

After a few seconds, the lines came zipping back. Geb nodded to Jan. She did the same, only without the yelling. Then it was Az's turn. When the zip line came back for him, he detached it from the wire, and tossed it to the ground. He held the pistol up, and pressed the trigger, sending him up to the building. As he went, gravity and inertia had taken affect, and he was about to slam into the business building wall. He held out his feet, and winced as they collided with the wall. He wasn't that heavy of a guy, but still, it was painful. He pushed off the wall again before the line could drag him along the edge of the building. The wind blew along his face, pulling his cheeks back. In fact, if there were a vid of him doing this, it'd probably be quite funny. Finally, he reached the roof, gasping for air.

Cal smiled.

"What took you?"

Geb wasn't in the mood for sarcastic Cal.

"Shut the hell up."

Jan intervened.

"Well, while you were taking your good old time getting to the roof, we found the spot on the roof that is directly over the security room. The bad news is that they have two soldiers stationed there."
"We'll still blow the roof, but first I want you take out the AA's."
"Alright."

Jan took out a small, boxy device from her pouch. She eyed it a bit; making sure it had survived the trip, and placed it on the AA gun. Meanwhile, the others ran to take cover behind a block of steel a few hundred feet away. It was a mismatched explosive, with stick dynamite taped to certain spots, and two grenade strapped on at other parts of the box. She dialed a few buttons, and then took out another one of those strange devices and ran to the next AA gun and did the same. She ran to the third and fourth, and when she was finished, all four guns were wired with explosives. She dashed from the last AA gun to the block where the others were hiding. She held a one-button detonator in her hand.

"This should work."

*KABOOOM* *KABOOOM* *KABOOOM* *KABOOOM*

Shrapnel and explosive heat slammed into their faces as the explosion made its way closer to them. It was TOO close. The fire was right in front of them. But it ceased just in time. The AA guns were nothing but craters now.

"Woops. Looks like I used too much TNT on those."
"You think? You could have barbecued us!!"
"Relax, we're not dead, now ARE we?"

Geb jumped into Cal and Jan's "discussion."

"Jan, place another one of those buggers, right where the security room is."
"Right."

She did so, and they all hid behind the steel block again. The explosion sounded, and they ran at full speed to the gaping hole that was created. Az was the first to make it there, and she crouched, scanning through the hole, seeing if she can nail the enemies from there. There was one.

*GE**GE**GE**GE*

The blast tore through the soldier. He grasped at his blown chest as he fell to the ground.
She jumped down, and assessed the situation. There was a second enemy soldier. She wouldn't have time to lift her gun. She dove right at his feet before he could fire. She tripped him, and then lifted her gun while he was discombobulated.

*GE**GE**GE*

The others jumped down as she finished off the last guy in the forehead. The room was actually quite cramped. It was full of vid sets and computer screens linked up. There was food everywhere. Those slobs. A single bulb at the roof of the building dimly lit the room.

"So, lets blow this place."
"NO! Jan's going to hack through and disable it all. We can't take chances by just blowing everything sky-high Cal. Jan, get on it."
"Roger."

She sat down at one of the two chairs and began to fiddle around at the main computer screen.

"Hmmm, this will take me a little while. If only EVA was here to help me hack."

Geb kicked open the door to the hallway, and poked his head through. Nothing. A few security cameras, but they had the security room now. He pulled back into the room just as Jan was finishing.

"I needed to use one of their own remote protocol systems to hack through their server, and I needed a connection that routed faster than the old 0C6's that they had, so I needed to rerout-"
"Did you get the system offline Jan? That's all I want to know."
"Yes, it's finished. Tell the Spartans that they're clear to go."

John was picking up a weak signal. Barely audible, but it was still there. Static was all over, but he was just able to pick up what they were saying.

***Tea- *shssssssss* you *shssssssssss* to go!!***

John couldn't make it all out, but he got the drift.

"Red team, lets move in!"
"Roger!"

John shot his assault rifle a few times through the lock and immediately kicked it in.

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *WHAM!* *CRUNCH*

The door fell open, giving way to the Spartan's massive strength. Even made of titanium, it was dented in the shape of the John's boot. After kicking down the door, he kneeled down, assault rifle aimed. Sure enough, there was a frightened guard at the door, his gun slung over his shoulder. He fired a few rounds into the soldier's gut and he fell to the ground, head first. A pool of blood quickly flooded out of the holes that were torn through his skin. John jumped over the dead body and ran to a T-intersection at the end of the hall, his teammates right behind him.

"Hallsey maneuver. Go!"

John jumped to the left, his gun pointed at the left hallway leading out of the T-intersection and quickly kneeled down. James jumped to the right and kneeled down as well. Kelly stood behind John, her gun aimed at the hallway, right over John's head. Fred did the same with James.

"Clear!"

4 reticules blinked as he announced a declaration. The blinking told him that they had acknowledged his exclamation. He thought of a minimap in his mind, and immediately his helmet HUD brought up a transparent blueprint of the entire building. He ran forwards, Kelly right on his tail. James and Fred backed out from their positions for a few seconds, and then swiftly turned to catch up with the others. The hallway cut a quick left, and John slammed his back against the right wall, slowly peeking over to see what was on the other side. Nothing. He slid out from the wall and re-commenced his run towards the elevator. The others followed in quick suit. At the end of the hall was the elevator. The radar indicator on his HUD indicated that the distance was 1000 feet...900...700....400...

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE*

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE*

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE*

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE*

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE*

He dove backwards as all the doors in front of him in the hallway swung open, soldiers bawling out. He could hear the doors behind him swing open as well. He turned behind him, and then back to his front. He and the Spartans immediately began to fire in the general direction of the enemy, trying to brave the impact of the bullets as they tore through the shields and make their way through his enforced armor. Each time his shields took a hit, his back strained to handle the recoil of the hits.

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *click* *click* *click*

He was out. He kneeled down and unhooked his clip. The image on the rifle blipped out and reappeared as he snapped in a new clip. He was about to begin fire again when he could hear the screams of Fred. The Spartan fell to the ground, bullet holes through his gut. John screamed out and began firing in a great rage. Another Spartan fell but the rest kept on firing. He kept on pounding the bullets into the enemies, calming down with each of his reloads.

After 2 whole minutes of intense fire, the battle was over. John was still breathing very heavily, slowly relaxing and cooling down. Bodies of enemies were strewn all over the ground. Puddles of blood and stains of the crimson liquid were splotched all over the hallway, staining the doors and everything. In total, two of the Spartans were seriously injured. Fred had a major wound in his stomach. The blood was slowly pouring out of through his armor staining it with its dark red color. But he was Spartan; he could handle it. James got hit in the shoulder. He wound his arm a few times as if he was throwing a ball, but seemed to be all right. As for John and Kelly, their shields held out long enough for them to eliminate the enemy before sustaining any wounds.

"Everyone still with me?"
"Yea, we're here boss."
"Good. The elevator is right ahead of us, lets get going."
"Roger."

He got up from his kneeling position and quickly kicked open the elevator door, smashing it into the back wall. They all got in, and the elevator ascended.

"They'll know we're coming. We should have taken the stairs."
"They'll know either way. It's better than taking the stairs."

The elevator finally came to the commanders' floor and john and the others kneeled down, ready to take fire. But there was no one to meet them. He thought again of the minimap, and it was brought up right in front of him on his HUD. He located the room where the commanders were located and rushed towards it. There were no windows in the room, so they had no idea what would be waiting for them inside. He motioned for James and Kelly to take the other side of the door while he and Fred stayed on the left. He looked up the radar on his HUD, and it detected quite a few more heat signatures than there were commanders. He motioned to Kelly, and she took out a charge from her metal backpack. She adjusted it with a few dials and snapped it on the door.

"On 3."
"1, 2........3!"

Kelly clicked the detonator and the door went flying backwards, pulling out of its hinges.

*BLAM*
"shi.."
*SLAM* *CRUNCH*

The door had slammed into one of the enemies inside, crunching his bones. John kneeled down and peeked to through the blackened doorway. He immediately began fire upon the enemy. He took a few hits from enemy fire, but his shields were holding up.

"Take Cover!"

Kelly had detached a frag II grenade and was in the process of throwing it in. The rest of the Spartans dove out of the way of the doorway. As he dove out of the way, John watched a few of the enemy commanders dive out of the way into another part of the room. It was useless. The explosion would be too big.

*clink* *clink* *KABOOOOOOOOOM*

The explosion blew out the entire room, the flames blazing out through even the doorway. If the Spartans weren't wearing their armor, they too would probably have been burnt to a crisp. As it was, he could feel the amazing heat through even the thick hide of his armor.

The Spartans charged in the room and checked for any survivors, being especially careful with the commanders by checking their pulse. John wondered how the Commanders be as stupid as to all be in the same room at the same time. A sense of doubt lingered in his head as the others checked the pulses. Perhaps there were more in the building at other locations. It didn't matter. He completed the mission parameter of destroying all Commanders in the designated room. They had done what they were told. There weren't too many snags to the mission, although the saving of the resistance fighters was a pretty big one.

"Clear!"
"Good, main mission parameter complete. Lets get to the roof."

As John turned around, he heard a large explosion from outside the room. He dashed out to see what it was, and he smiled behind his helmet when he saw Geb slide down a rope from the hole in the roof.

"Well, looks like you guys cleaned up quick enough."
"We need to get to the roof."
"That's already taken care of."

Geb pointed to the hole right above him.

"Jan had a few tricks up her sleeve. This thing goes all the way to the roof."
"Lets go then."

Geb nodded and his line pulled him up through the hole and slid out of sight. A second later, 4 more lines came rolling down from above. John and the others ran to the hole in the roof, ready to grab the lines. But before he could get there, he heard the swooshing sound of an automatic door. He swung around, and immediately began fire on the troops that were flooding in.

"Incoming!"
"Roger."

The Spartans zoomed up through the hole, firing their rifles as they went. He could hear the enemy troops getting closer to the hole. He re-positioned his rifle towards the hole beneath him and began firing on the troops that were investigating their route of escape. Rogue bullets bounced off his shields, doing nothing. He finally reached the top and hopped up to the roof. The AA guns were gone, and Shadow and Linda were waiting there with the rest of the Dark Wolves.

"So where's our fuckin' ride?"
"It's coming Dark Wolf, don't be impatient."

Az looked up and spoke out.

"Won't the external defenses shoot down the Pelican?"

Shadow nodded and replied.

"The AA guns are gone, and Linda and I killed all the ground troops. And I believe that puts me ahead of all of you."

He smiled and turned. Geb thought a bit before realizing that he was talking about the amount of kills he had.

Cal suddenly heard a footsteps coming in from the floor below.

"Hold it. They're coming!"

Everyone each positioned himself or herself as they wished. Shadow and Linda fell back to the other side of the roof, holding their sniper rifles up. Cal and Jan ran to the side of the protruding doorway, ready to pound incoming enemies with their shotgun. The rest of the team strategically placed themselves around the middle of the roof with their rifle up. The door swung open, and Jan got the first hit. The blast sent the enemy flying into one of the sidewalls and collapsing on the stairs. The next enemies began to come in through the door, flooding out into the roof.

*GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE* *GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE**GE*

*BLAM* *cicket* *BLAM* *cicket* *BLAM* *cicket* *BLAM* *cicket* *BLAM* *cicket* *BLAM* *cicket* *BLAM* *cicket*

*FTEW* *FTEW*

*BLAM* *BLAM*

The fight raged on. Shadow zoomed in and began taking random enemy targets. They each fell to the ground, either headless or without a chest in their body. Suddenly, and enemy soldier tossed a grenade towards Shadow. He blasted the guy all the way through the doorway, but the grenade was already thrown. Linda dove out of the way, but Shadow didn't have the time. The grenade clinked a few times across the steel ground stopping about 10 feet in front of him. The foolish soldier had under-thrown it. Of course that was worse than the soldier having thrown it over the roof but better than landed right in front of him. The grenade cracked, and fire came out, blowing right into his face. The loud explosion deafened him, hopefully temporarily. The fire wasn't that bad, for the grenade was too far away to do much. But the explosion had send him stepping back, tripping over the roof edge. Fear hit him as he realized that he was going to fall thousands of feet to the ground before he snapped his head. Fortunately, his hand caught grab of the roof edge before that fate hit him. His other hand still grasped desperately onto his sniper rifle. His fingers were slipping, and he was going to fall. All of a sudden, an enemy soldier's head popped out from the edge of the roof. Shadow used the last of his strength to pull his sniper rifle up and blow the soldier's head to kingdom come. Wet, soppy, blood splattered all over his face as the head of the enemy popped off his neck socket. He was slipping, and all the sounds and everything drowned out of his head. All he could see was the black night looming over him, and his thoughts on death. He could still hear the music slamming into his mind.

(Sorry! It's over!!! Sorry! It's over!!! Sorry! It's over!!!)

He continued to hold on, the sand tearing into his struggling fingers. Fear was in his mind, but it stayed in the back of his head. Fear was not a problem, it was all a blast to him. It he was going to die, then it what a better time then when fighting. His life wasn't a hell of a lot of greatness anyway. He listened for gunfire, but he couldn't hear any. Sounded like the firefight was over. He could also hear the sounds of dropship engines, but his ears were too damaged to hear where the engines were coming from. He had almost made it out of the fight, but he didn't last long enough. His fingers began slipping some more, and he held out for the last second before it slipped out. A crappy feeling in his stomach came to him as he began to fall. The kind one gets in roller coasters or bungee jumping. But there was also a feeling of shock as he began to fall. Those two didn't mix well. He didn't scream, he didn't yell, he didn't cry. He didn't do anything. He just let himself fall.

*slip* *CLANG!*

He had fallen on something metal only a few feet below him. He rose up from his laying position and looked below him. It was a miracle or something. He smiled as he realized he had landed right on top of the dropship. He didn't know when the dropship had picked everyone else up, but it was there.

***We save your ass!***

He was too surprised to say much.

***Holy...***
Rifle fire slammed into the dropship as the enemies tried to attack the ship. He quickly regained his bearings and raised his rifle. He blew off the last few enemies on the roof as the dropship sped away.

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