FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

So, back at the simulations again!

This chapter will be longer than Siege was just because I didn't intend to make this a simulation chapter when I began writing, but that just means more content :)

I have my first batch of "plot BS" in that Tai is so dumb he doesn't fully grasp what the message on the gold-red ticket means.

Even though he's going to Harper's flight.

I wanted to redeem Riddick a bit this chapter and give him more character. I have been aiming entire chapters at menial things and side characters recently though so I decided this one would be a return to the roots.

He's the only other character besides Tai and Lynx I considered writing from 1st person. As of now I'm not planning on writing from anyone but Tai this chapter.

Not sure either how many chapters until they leave to protect Harper either.

Been playing Injustice 2 all day so I had practically nothing to fuel my Alcatraz writing mood lol

I have a Discord now if you want to talk to me on that. May just be more convenient as well, text only

Like I mentioned last chapter Vervous is the capital of the Scandinavian Union and when I expect readers to keep up with things it's generally in the sense "oh I'll just randomly mention it" and not

"let me thoroughly and picturesquely describe it"

///

CHAPTER 8-ASH TO ASHES

I woke up in immense pain, hardly able to move.

My entire being was drowning in sweat and fire, and I gritted my teeth.

It came to me that if this feeling didn't subside soon, I would be screaming-

No. It was gone.

I found my chest rising and falling quickly, I could hear my breaths.

Cautiously rolling over, it was ceased.

The product of Reyna's brutality. I decided not to subject myself to it today.

Looking at myself in the mirror, sitting up in bed, I practically had to stop.

Remembering the events of yesterday, I was surprised to see my bruises were all but... gone?

They'd stopped hurting soon after I'd passed out in the hallway, and Riddick tripped on me.

I wagered it hadn't been but ten minutes I'd been out, someone was bound to find me in the most heavily trafficked area in the house.

Staring at myself, turning around to see the bigger ones on my back, it was somewhat unnerving that whatever happened was now gone completely.

No trace.

Pulling on my shirt it had come routine. Wake up, look in the mirror, get some sort of odd feeling about yesterday or the day before...

And then go get my ass kicked in the weight room.

Walking out, I still hate myself for this even for today, but...

The gold-red ticket still on my bedside table, I never did realize "see you at the airfield" could have been referring to Harper's flight.

///

This time I'd come with a water bottle and towel. I'd seen Riddick do it and at first didn't understand the usage but it came to me later.

There was still a lot I didn't know. In Gibraltar your workout was running from the people that wanted to kill and maybe eat you.

I wished I had a handbook or something. Yesterday when I was meeting Kyle, Jake taught me how to properly handshake, but that was about the furthest I'd gotten in this new world's relations.

Kyle was a mystery to me. He showed no reaction, not even a bit of hostility towards Riddick.

Speaking of the hyena, I had no clue what set him off. I meant to ask him, but he left before anyone, not acknowledging Kyle.

Kyle seemed to fit in well with Jake and Alvin, though he was distant. We cooked hotdogs again later and he sat where Riddick usually did, next to me.

His eyes were the most striking thing, like Reyna's but intense in a different way. You wouldn't lose yourself but rather recoil. Less of a deep ocean and more of a frozen over one.

I hadn't a clue what Riddick was talking about with assassinations either, or Black Ops. I didn't even know what the latter meant...

There were no assassinations in GRA, were they...?

I'd not heard it from their mouths but I knew what everyone else was thinking. Nothing should harrow me. I should be a hardass from Gibraltar that could kill just by staring.

No, I was just Tai.

I cautiously walked downstairs; Reyna would be waiting inside the weight room, doing that weird meditation thing, but it was like entering the den of a wolf.

"Tai!"

I heard a voice as I was walking in, and turned around to see Riddick on the stairs.

"Yeah?"

"Skip out on today. Do what I told you."

We stared at each other for a few seconds.

"You're fucked up enough already"-

He noticed my bruises were gone, and an odd shock rippled through his face.

"I'm alright now."

"...How?"

"I just... feel better."

His eye twitched again and he met me at the entrance to the weight room.

"Well, at least train with me and not her today. It's hard to watch, you know, you two, trying to murder each other"-

Reyna turned around preemptively before Riddick got out his last word, silencing him with a stare.

"What I do to Tai is healthy, and the Trojan way. I know his limits."

"Do you?" Riddick came to my defense even as I didn't want him to. "I found him passed out in the kitchen hallway yesterday. He was battered as all hell and could barely walk."

The last was only a half truth, I managed to regain composure after I took Marshall's pills.

They didn't do much for my bruises, there was no real explanation for that, but they subsided my headache and set me right.

"Then where are his bruises?"

Reyna wasn't surprised but adopted a dominant tone, as if she knew she could work around Riddick.

Penumbra to umbra.

"Whatever," Riddick summoned the word to be used when all was lost, "me and Tai are training together today. Do whatever you want yourself."

In contrast with Reyna's light accent, Riddick's was lighter as well, almost like Rochelle's British, but the cultivated western form set it just apart.

"I'll have you know, we are on a strict regimen. Now that Marshall has announced our first mission, it is even more dire."

"I don't care, Reyna. Get it through your head. You're beating the shit out of this kid every day. Give him a break."

I gave an apologetic look to Reyna. I was with Riddick on this one, the now phantom pain ringing through my bones.

"Well, how will you train him?"

"We're doing guns."

"Tai can already make good usage of firearms; it takes little skill."

Riddick brought his arms up in a "what do you want me to do" gesture and then slapped them down on his legs.

"Everyone needs practice."

"Then go to the simulations."

"Moving targets come afterwards."

"Either way I'm sure Tai has had enough of firing at fake men in Gibraltar. I am the best option. I am more skillful than you all. It would take nothing to lay you out."

In my eyes, Reyna couldn't be narcissistic, just truthful.

They both looked for my input.

I shook my head. "Maybe it's best I just take a day..."

Riddick grinned for a moment. "Tai's input is final. Now piss off."

Reyna raised one eyebrow and it was almost comical, but I warranted from that she was going to take some sort of action.

"Typical of ANZU trainees. Not only do they kill Jinn, they loot them. If their families are here, you take their women and"-

"No the fuck we don't!" Riddick was reinstated into the argument just like that.

"Typical of Trojans, manipulating, brutalizing, no regard for civilian life"-

"And just how will you train Tai in gunplay if he is already proficient?"

Seeing she'd hooked him in once more, Riddick bit his lip.

His towel fell from his arm and I was shocked when I realized strapped to his forearm was a sheath for some sort of blade.

Pulling it out, I reached out my hand to stop him from doing whatever he was going to do to Reyna.

He shook me off, and staring her right in the eyes, threw the blade to his right, into the firing range.

It stuck blade first in the throat of one of the 3D targets, fake blood pouring out.

All was silent, and my stomach had never been lower.

I realized; what if everyone was proficient as Reyna?

I hadn't gotten one on one with anyone but the jackal, and had no clue what anyone else was capable of.

"I too can throw a sharp stick, Roland. Are you as skilled with your hands, I wonder?"

The room seemed to get darker.

"Let's find out, shall we?"

Before I could do anything the gap between the two had been closed, and the inferno had started.

Riddick and Reyna were going at each other, blows and kicks landing and missing, and I was surprised to see Riddick wasn't getting totally annihilated.

He was on the offensive, in fact, and this time Reyna wasn't able to dodge everything he was doing.

She began swiping his hands out of the way and to my surprise he grabbed both shoulders, kneeing her.

Reyna gave an acknowledgement of the pain, wincing, and it was the first I'd seen from the opaque jackal.

Riddick went for another knee while he was still in the hold, and Reyna employed the countertechnique, sweeping him.

Her hands didn't restrain his, instead battered his face, every blow reverberating throughout the room.

Riddick once more surprised me, moving his feet to her stomach and pushing her off, then springing up.

The two stared each other down, circling.

My heart was pounding.

What were Riddick's loss conditions? Would I have to train with Reyna?

And who was I to pull for?

Before Riddick could get in, Reyna's foot met with his face and continued until she'd done a full 360 in about a second, turning back to her original position as she unleashed her fury, jabs being swatted until she savagely hooked Riddick in the face.

Riddick took the punishment, and pushed her away, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

"You better come strong, because if you think that's all it's going to take..."

With a roar I hadn't expected, Reyna launched herself at him, jumping in the air, kicks meeting him twice before she landed.

I questioned possibility.

Riddick was now less offensive and more defensive, and just as Reyna told me, the two worked up the chain.

Everything was preemptively swiped away or blocked.

It was a dance, truly, and on occasion one would feint and stagger or do an off move but it was swept away in the howling storm.

Riddick was slowing down.

It was clear he couldn't keep up, as much as he tried...

With a final cry before he gave out, he hooked Reyna, making me wince, then grabbed her and threw her over his hip.

Everything seemed to slow down.

Reyna broke free mid-throw, now aerial.

Riddick didn't register but when I did I saw it on his face.

The jackal landing in a catlike stance, Riddick careened towards her...

Ducking under his swipe, she grabbed him by the sides, lifted him up...

And savagely slammed Riddick down.

The hyena's gasp was audible across the room.

Reyna fell to one knee, scowling, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of her lip.

She'd won.

She gave me a look as if to say "this could have been you".

Riddick had paid my price in his own blood today.

Reyna was too worn out to train.

She stood up, shakily, and a sudden laughter pierced the silence of the room.

It was Riddick.

I didn't know what was funny, neither did Reyna. We stared at him as he rolled around on the floor, dying practically.

A few coughs in between laughs.

"You didn't expect that, did you? Rey?"

Getting up, he likewise got the red from his mouth.

"You thought you could waltz in there and kick my ass. Admit it."

Reyna said nothing.

"Not that easy beating up someone who can fight back, is it?"

"You insult me for the last time."

"Look a little tired to be fighting again."

Riddick's shoulders heaved. He was winning a battle on a grander scale, I realized.

"If you believe I am incompetent because I did not shatter you, then you only belittle yourself."

"Fair enough. But that just goes to show you aren't all you think you are."

Riddick's streak of pissing people off was getting longer.

"You know, I used to think you'd be a better leader than Jake, back in Hellsberg? Now I don't. Because you won't admit your mistakes."

"Jake"-

"Jake realized he'd fucked up. But one way or another, Alvin would have croaked had you have been there or not."

"So his didn't matter, but mine"-

"When we go live you're going to get you and Tai shot. You aren't invincible."

At the sound of my name I tensed up.

I had run over scenarios at the airport in my head where Reyna was my main squadmate, but...

I'd thought Reyna nearly invincible until now. Even after watching her get shot.

Reyna said nothing as we left and I felt our roles switch, fists clenching, the odd guilt running through me.

///

"Like, what's her problem anyway? She's Trojan but that doesn't make her better than any of us."

I had my hands in my pockets, the same hoodie I had on yesterday. Riddick kept giving me weird looks about it but I didn't know what that was all about.

We were outside on the back doorstep. It was snowing earlier but it had stopped now, leaving the crystals on the ground.

I really had expected more in terms of snow, but I mean...

It was cold water, pretty much. Nothing I hadn't seen before.

Not that I'd seen snow before, but...

It just made you cold and crunched. Might as well have been sand from the sky.

Riddick had a cigarette in his mouth, nonchalantly puffing out smoke. It was the reason we'd come outside.

I knew a few people back in Gibraltar that did that.

The same that would do drugs that would kill you.

It was bad for you but they always said you could just go and get all the bad things fixed at one of the hospitals.

It was hard to get out of Gibraltar, though. I'd never tried after I'd seen someone shot on the main road out.

"She told me her parents got gunned publicly... I think she was really young or something."

"If it's trauma, deal with it. My brother got capped right in front of me."

I was appalled for a moment, not because of the dialogue but the context, the way he said it so casually, folding his arms behind him.

"How?" Remembering Reyna's reaction, however concealed it was, I hoped I hadn't cut too deep into Riddick by asking.

"He was in a gang. I almost was, but he didn't want me in any of that. Naturally gangs have other gangs they gotta watch for... And, well..."

Once more he brought his hands up and let them fall to his sides. He'd changed out of his gym clothes since there was little reason to keep them on in such a cold area, and his jeans now reverberated.

"...What was his name?"

"Roger. All my family's name starts with R's. Ralph's my dad, Reagan's my mom, and I got a baby sister named Roxanne."

"That's cool."

"It's annoying. Reason my dad did it was because he was in this weird gang, and it started with an R, so everything was about R and whatnot."

"Did he marry your mom because her name started with an R?"

Riddick shrugged. "I don't think he'd have the patience or dedication to take it that far. Coincidence."

Most of my conversations with my teammates had been learning about them and what they did.

I got about as deep as "so I ran from these guys that were trying to mug me one time".

"Your real name's Roland, right?"

He gave a pfft noise. "Yeah, but I hate it. Too... old, you know?" He took another puff of his cigarette. "My brother came up with Riddick."

He gave a sigh, not sarcastic at all. "He was killed by Russian mercenaries that you could call a gang, if you must know. Came to town and staked claim. That doesn't warrant me going off on Kyle, but... Can never get over that."

It sounded sickening, burying your own grief inside of you.

I'd scraped the surface of Riddick and I knew it. He gave no more indication than if some dust got on his shoe, but it was quite obvious.

Reaching into his pocket, he offered me a smoke, apologizing for being rude, but I pushed it away.

Shaking it for a moment, he tossed his into the snow.

I wasn't about to say anything. My time in Gibraltar taught me there was no littering, because pretty much everything was a bin.

"I heard a lot about GSS before we came here. Mostly rumors, but... They say they all devolve into Black Ops units and then get swept under the rug pretty quickly."

The sun was just getting high up and any warmth that would have come was negated by the cold.

///

The familiar sensation of losing conciseness and that which made reality itself wrapped its cold, dark, yet welcoming and loving arms around me.

Everything came back, and I was standing in the same arsenal, blue lights casting a new shade on my white fur.

Everyone else was already equipped, save Kyle, which was the reason I assumed we hadn't gone straight to the simulation.

I swiped a small handgun from off one of the tables as I joined everyone by the door, last time having come dangerously close to running out of bullets.

God knows Reyna wasn't getting me anywhere with her training.

Looking at her, she didn't meet my eyes and didn't meet me at all as Riddick stepped beside me.

Once again, I wondered just what she wanted to see me become. What she was doing to me was horrendous and sadistic, and I was gaining nothing.

I had found it variably easier to press myself through the lessons each day, and at least now I was grazing hands.

I wondered how she felt about me right now.

Back then I had no idea what half of the emotional spectrum felt like, and I'd never been attracted to anyone.

In fact, I had no clue I felt that way about Reyna.

It was an odd person to be attracted to for sure. The one you were somewhat afraid of.

And had infinite faith in.

All eyes were on Kyle as he selected his weaponry, though it didn't seem to faze him.

He had an RPK-16, something I did recognize from Gibraltar.

The recoil nearly killed me.

He also had an odd sheath of some sort on his shoulder, black leather. I saw metal tips poking out from the ends.

Besides a knife, that was it.

It came to me I hadn't ever taken any equipment, whilst everyone else had breaches, stun grenades, EMP's, those bracers.

It was too late, Jake opened the door and it hit me after I'd stepped out, but I'd have to ask someone how to get back into the arsenal instead of skipping next time.

I took in my surroundings. We'd been only through Hellsberg so far, and it had taken us some time to complete with no casualties, as Jake wanted.

I realized there was no point in extracting a hostage or anything. As long as one of us died, Jake was going to make us do it all over again.

I myself hadn't ever died first, but whoever did got grumbles for the rest of the training period.

Around me was a modern city, light snow falling.

"Vervous?"

Yes, the bright lights had been put out.

I hadn't seen anything of Vervous except the subway station and the route we'd taken from it, but it put a new emotion I couldn't describe into me...

Unnerving to see there was only one building lit in this simulation's reality.

"Yup. This one's heavily augmented, it's actually one of the harder sims, but I figured you need a feel for the domestic things."

I hadn't heard Riley's voice in a few days and it was somewhat comforting to have another friend in an unknown place.

"If we go far enough can we walk back to our place?" Alvin asked jokingly.

"Nah, you'd fall through the ground. Oh, shit, forgot. They got roof snipers."

We all ducked into an alleyway behind us, and I assumed the objective building was the one with the little black dots moving about on top.

It had to be a hotel or something, in the middle of some sort of square. Empty cars, empty buildings.

"There is a route through this alley we can take to get closer to the back entrance of the building. Assuming you would rather go there than guns blazing." Kyle spoke up, looking at some sort of tablet I hadn't caught earlier.

"Riley, you might want to do your job so Kyle doesn't have to." Rochelle spoke up, looking at the overcast night sky as if Riley was up there.

"Look, I've gotten, like, one day's worth of sleep over the past week, kid. Keep thinking that one chick's going to blow my brains out or something..."

"Who?"

"..Nothing. Kyle's right, that's the best route. Keep out of sniper fire and get around to the back."

It came... registered to me Riley was an actual person and did things we didn't know about and didn't have tabs on us at all times.

I'd never had access to the internet or a phone, and had no idea what true anonymity was. I didn't even know what she looked like.

It gave me a new sense to the world, a new experience.

Maybe what I was looking for in the snow.

Speaking of which, the simulation was surprisingly accurate with how cold it was.

We had long sleeved entirely black gear, last time having a short sleeved polymer tee.

I'd been wondering about covering myself up (my white fur made an easy target) and was somewhat grateful for the extra layering.

We moved throughout the alleyway, looking more behind us than forwards, Riley still distant.

Another exit.

"This way's closer but equally as defended by snipers... We can run to the building quicker, though."

We'd circled all the way around through a grid system of back streets and buildings. They were once more incredibly detailed, and compared to Hellsberg, I got to see a lot more than rubble and distant mountains.

Very few lights were on, as expected. We moved in the darkness.

"Damn," Alvin said, "I'd definitely get up there, but... Swapped out my grappler for a few smoke bombs."

"I can scale this building and take a few of them out."

We all looked at Kyle, first thankful for his volunteering, then realized he didn't have a grappling hook either.

"All I require is your rifle."

With a odd look back at Jake, a shrug from the wolf, Alvin reluctantly handed his rifle over, his thick retriever fur requiring less coverage than the rest of us, mainly for covertness than anything.

"You sure you can go without...?"

"Da. Watch."

Kyle walked back about a step, then ran up the side of a building, catching a windowsill, and moving up a drainage pipe like a rope.

It was snowing again, and I knew this because a flake landed in my open mouth.

He pulled himself up, thanking Alvin for his sniper, then leveled it and began firing.

Without warning, it seemed as if the suppressive covering fire was cue to go and my teammates did instantly.

Sprinting to catch up, being at the back of the group firstly, and then getting to the back entrance, one of the snipers finally caught on, and I almost caught a bullet in my leg, the snow exploding next to my right foot.

Yelping and going faster, I slammed into the wall beside Alvin, who was clutching a carbine similar to mine now.

Everyone moved to their left, towards the back entrance. I assumed it was to the hotel's kitchen because there were no decorations, just some windows up above and the 50 feet of snow I'd put behind me.

Kyle's gunfire was fainter, and the snipers were louder. The hotel was 7 stories tall, so that was space between us and them.

I could faintly see Kyle's upper half at my angle and distance, and it appeared he was moving around quite a lot, dashing from one side to another before rescoping and firing. Evasive maneuvers.

Remembering how quick Alvin dropped, I hoped Kyle would fare better with them.

"Alright, this time breach and bang. No cover around for us."

Everyone stacked up, and Jake ordered me to the back of the group.

It was relieving but somewhat belittling, and I supposed I should be more grateful.

Jake stepped in front of the door as formation finished, raised his foot an inch off the ground as if in hesitation, shook his head, and then kicked in the door, moving quickly to the side as two flashbangs were thrown in.

Moving in just after the second detonation, I heard gunfire and was just quick enough to see the last man drop to the ground.

We were, as I predicted, in the kitchen, pots and pans clanging about, one of them falling to the ground and scaring everyone, making even those who watched it fall thinking it was gunfire.

"This is Kyle. I have finished off the last of the men."

"Are you hit?" Jake asked, chest rising and falling from the sprinting and the sudden bang still echoing throughout the room.

"Nyet. Takes more than that to kill me. I will move in behind you."

"Negative, Kyle. If you would check the roofs for another entrance in case this one gets too hot, Riley quit doing her job, I think."

Now with the moment of quiet, I began to hear snores over my headset and pressed the mute button.

"My tablet doesn't show me anything Riley hadn't already marked; these things aren't as useful in crafted reality. I will have to manually search."

"Copy. Jake out."

The wolf licked his lips, back and forth between two doorways.

"I'm assuming we're after a hostage here. No intel, either... If anyone has ideas..."

No one spoke.

He gave a heavy sigh. Another mistake, this time not as leader but our support.

"We're proceeding left. On me."

Weapons level, looking at the exit to our right and behind us where we came in, we slowly went into the conjoined left room.

As we proceeded I got a feeling I hadn't at Hellsberg; that danger was waiting around every corner.

Back then there was just four big walls to run around inside of, thirteen baddies at the most.

Now, we had no expectations and no simple and repetitive layout.

To our left was a short foyer-esque hallway, white and black tile as was the rest of the kitchen.

Through two porthole windows I observed a red carpeted dining room, several tables, and a stage. This was the hotel's ballroom.

"Swanky."

Jake held Rochelle back before she pushed open the door, his other arm's pointer over his lip, gun hanging against his chest with the strap. He motioned slowly for us to look.

Everyone turned, too enclosed to crowd around the windows and too noisy as well.

Squinting, I made out two... three... four... and that might not have been the end of the Jinn soldiers, either.

"Easier with a view..." Alvin said, leveling his gun and giving a nod to Jake.

"Upsilon formation. Prepare for hot breach."

His words were Greek to me.

Everyone aimed, stacking up to where we had a clear line of sight in a V pattern, with the broad end around the door and the point at the throat of the hallway.

Riddick put a hand on my shoulder and lightly pulled me back beside him, taking the vertex for himself.

Reyna was just across from me. We didn't meet eyes again, and even here that odd feeling was still clawing at me.

I looked down my irons, not having fired a single round yet. The rail was bare, with only the ring and bar up.

Jake counted down from five and every second was one my heart stood still.

He and Alvin kicked in the doors, diving to either side as the hellfire of Global Squadron 201 rained over their heads, both standing against the doors and firing from a crouched position.

Everyone began to disperse as we realized more Jinn were streaming in, and gritting my teeth, I found myself at the back again.

Sprinting out, aiming for the closest table, my legs-

A white-hot pain erupted in my throat and I dropped my gun, screaming from the pain but only a gargling sound coming out.

Wrapping both hands around, I fell to my knees, my gloved hands stained crimson, my teammates looking back in horror.

It went to black again...

No?

"Upsilon formation. Prepare for hot breach."

I fervently looked around as Riddick's hand gently pulled me into position, absently following him.

"Didn't we just..."

"What, Tai?"

"Nothing..."

Reyna's green drills bored into my own opals, and I quickly looked away.

"...Riddick?"

Jake was giving his countdown from five.

"What? Make it quick."

"I just"-

"Now!"

As the scene played out once more, everyone pushed past me, weapons discharging, and I lagged behind until I cut a clear path to a table.

What was that?

My back against the table, carbine cradled in my arms, the firefight was the least thing on my mind.

Alvin began to discharge shots to my left and I realized there were some with an angle on us, mounted on the stage.

Quickly firing at them, I dropped one myself, the other two falling to my team.

"Push up!"

Reyna shouted the command, out of habit probably more than anything else, and everyone followed, including Jake.

Finally something simple I could understand, we moved up a few tables and I quickly flipped mine over, bullets whizzing by.

Getting back down so quick I almost banged my head on the carpeted floor, a shivering hand went to my throat, the horrifying experience of being shot still lingering in my mind.

No, I decided, peeking out on one side and firing, that would have to wait for later, whatever it was.

My headset beeped just loud enough for me to hear in the gunfire and I unmuted.

"Kyle. I've found the hostage, coming down to you."

"Make it quick, if you will..." Rochelle shouted over the carnage.

The gunfire quieted down as Jake shot the last Jinn agent, and I watched the kill take place.

Again, I was appalled at the realism.

They'd taken up tables on the other side of the room, the white tablecloths stained with blood.

Looking around ours, a table behind me was stained heavily with crimson and I reckoned Riley hadn't loaded in a spilled wineglass...

I gulped hard as I saw the brown furred hand with the tan palm sticking out.

Reyna's bracer came into view and I saw Riddick's line go flat, now orange instead of green.

Everyone looked at Jake, not noticing Kyle walk in behind us.

"Might as well start right over now, then..." Alvin muttered.

"One day you'll all be thankful for this, you know."

The two began to argue as Kyle walked up beside me.

I hadn't been this close to him yet, and though I was considered slightly above average in height, now Jake, Alvin, and Kyle towered over me.

We watched, and he nudged me. "What are they arguing over?"

"Jake says if we take casualties we have to restart."

Kyle gave a nonchalant "hmmh" sound, and I dared to take a look up at him. He wasn't like Marshall, our overseer had darker gray, but Kyle's fur was somewhat longer and ruffled, filling out over his collar whereas Jake and Marshall's were short.

I wondered how he got here so quick, but realized that combat felt fast but was was slow. It must have been five or six minutes.

From the display we'd seen in the alleyway, it wouldn't take him too long to scale up...

But then I considered he had to go in and find the room, then come back down...

"What do you think?" Jake and Alvin looked over and it took me a fleeting moment to realize they weren't talking to me.

The wolf beside me hesitated.

"...Memento Mori."

I assumed it was Russian, but Jake seemed to understand, biting his lip and looking away.

"As team leader"-

"You have to uphold the team. As well as their wishes." Reyna interrupted him.

I felt the tension, dim lighting in the ballroom making Reyna's face nothing but braids and green.

Were we going to have a repeat of Hellsberg?

"...I'll ask Marshall about this." He said to us, turning to Reyna afterwards. "As for you, I heard you and Riddick in the weight room this morning."

Brief eye contact between me and the jackal.

"You seem to have a habit for getting into arguments."

Reyna said nothing for a moment.

"I seem to have a habit for making necessary corrections, team leader Martin."

She spat the last three words, and continued back out the way we came.

Jake passively stared at Riddick, having walked back to Alvin to argue with him.

Riddick's table was behind us, so I assumed he was killed before the first time we pushed up.

I felt selfish for thinking this, but I wished it hadn't been him...

Walking past him, my mind gave into my curious eyes.

His chest was riddled with crimson stains, the dim lighting with his black gear making it less visible.

His eyes were closed in a wince, head facing towards my right, exposing the dark brown on the underside of his muzzle and neck.

I winced as well, continuing and wishing I hadn't looked against my better judgement.

It wasn't real, I reminded myself.

///

Breathing heavily, Reyna dropped the last one.

We took a moment, the most intense battle yet having just passed.

"Alvin?"

"I'm good!"

"Rey?"

"Present."

"Tai?"

"I'm alright."

"Rochelle?"

No response, and looking back she was at the foot of the stairs where we'd been ambushed.

Jake opened his mouth to say something and then shut it.

"Just ahead, right Kyle?"

The timber wolf's breaths were barely audible in comparison to our heaving, my teeth gritted and my trigger hand still shaking.

"Through that door. Must not be many inside if there were so many surrounding it."

We'd worked our way up the second floor, which surprisingly didn't contain anyone.

As soon as we got to the third Rochelle took a bullet in the lower back, but managed to turn and shoot the guy.

Like a trooper, she continued through the smaller firefights in 4 before we discovered a secluded staircase to get through 5 and 6.

On 7 Rochelle had lagged behind and gotten shot as we exited the stairs.

We'd been forced into an awkward firefight, firing down at the guys who shot Rochelle, up at those above, caught in the middle of the staircase.

Eventually we'd taken out those below and pushed onto the 7th floor, taking no casualties by some miracle of luck.

Staring at the door, the familiar rebellious twinge resounded from Reyna silently, and I knew she wanted to say something about how pointless breaching the room was if we were just going to turn around and do this again tomorrow.

"...Memento Mori." She echoed Kyle's words as Jake wordlessly placed the suction charge on the door, everyone stacking up.

Even if we did repeat this mission, we knew where the room was and wouldn't waste our time with a push from the furthest area from.

Looking behind us, freedom gracing the remaining five, the yellow carpeted hallway had adjoining ones and we all moved into those.

Jake hit the detonator as soon as everyone was ready, and the door was blasted.

Licking my lips in anticipation...

Nothing was there.

As the smoke settled, nothing was...

No?

I saw a figure, cloaked in gray... As he got closer I could differentiate the shades better and realized...

There was someone in front of him.

Emerging from the room at the end of the hallway, he had a gun to the hostage's head, the hostage herself in a one armed headlock.

"Negotiation time?" Alvin whispered to Jake, but the wolf shook his head in disbelief.

"If this is what we have to do... I've never seen a simulation so advanced"-

"Save the formalities. Name your price." Reyna stepped out of cover.

We kept our guns on him and I knew I shouldn't be the one to fire lest I make a mistake...

"I want all of you to step out. Now."

The voice wasn't prerecorded but like a program. None of the tones were awkward but you could tell by the sure way he said it, no human error.

Looking at Jake for guidance, he nodded, and the four of us stepped out.

"Now I want you all to put down your weapons."

We hesitated.

"Or she gets it."

A memory from one of our attempts at Hellsberg.

We'd been in this same situation, this six of us minus Kyle, of course.

Gun to the hostage.

We'd put our weapons down...

And promptly had the gun turned on us and all been shot.

I noticed no one set down their sidearm if their holster set it behind their back, including me.

Just me and Jake, for that matter.

He looked towards his left, out several windows. The lawn's lamplight cast in front of him; out there was a courtyard.

"Call off any snipers."

"We have none."

Reluctantly stepping in front of the window, I felt the tension rise as he moved sideways down another adjacent hallway.

Sharing a quick look with Alvin, the retriever started forward-

The gun was turned on us-

A sound of the wind propelling, jumping out of the way of an object hurtling through the air.

I watched a metal object smash- no, stick into the Jinn soldier's head, the discharge of the gun into the roof as he fell, slamming into the wall and sinking down against it.

We looked around to see Kyle's arm lower.

"Was that a fucking throwing knife?"

I saw his tongue run over his teeth slightly, noticed one of the metal spikes was missing from his shoulder's sheath. They were all rectangular where he drew but had no defined hilt, like a stave I reckoned.

"...Da."

Eyeing the corpse, we retrieved the hostage and exfilled.

Vervous was done.

Passing Rochelle's body on the stairwell I wondered what Marshall's verdict would be...

And if we'd realistically completed this mission.

According to Riley, she'd edited Hellsberg to make it easier as well. What about this one?

Sure, we were just looking after Harper before his flight and that was nothing big, but...

I was going to leave with more questions than I had answers, as usual.

///

Figured I'd try and describe what everyone's using since I went into detail with Kyle's

I don't mention everyone's but I'll detail them as I go, I guess

Disclaimer: I don't know much about guns, I have a lot of friends and family (growing up in the south part of the USA lmao) that do so what I do is between what they and the internet tell me.

Tried to look for things that fit with the descriptions. Obviously in Alcatraz which takes place around the 22nd century we would have better arms but I'll just say the nuclear war halted progress and leave it at that, save for the Trojans and Jinn who would have access to the better goodies since they're the most scientifically and technologically based subfaction and faction

Tai uses a Heckler & Koch HK416 carbine, which I figured would be appropriate since his sponsor is based in Germany. His sidearm is a Smith & Wesson 9MM. This has nothing to do with his sponsor it's just a low-recoil sidearm.

Reyna uses an unnamed Trojan gun akin to an auto pistol, with the three green Trojan triangles on it. Besides that she uses the pulse monitor bracer and on her back is a nightstick (more like a stave) that has an extendable knife blade on one end.

Alvin uses a AWC G2 being the sniper of the team, with a low powered scope since he is still mobile. Apart from that he uses an M4 (outfitted) and an FN Barracuda (was looking for a stubnose since he has so much already, being the gun nut)

Riddick uses the F88 Austeyr AUG, which isn't a wordplay but the Steyr AUG used for the Australian (in this story the Aus-NZ Union)'s military. He also uses a flying drone (stolen from siege :P though I didn't showcase here) and an M1911 sidearm.

*These are all subject to change. Kyle's gear was all mentioned and showcased, the RPK and throwing knives being what I was given in the OC form and his tablet a personal addon. I didn't showcase the last piece properly but it's to give live satellite feed over the target building (which naturally wouldn't be too helpful in a simulation where all of that's meant to be preprogrammed) but will come in more later. *

And whenever Jake or Rochelle's weapons are described I'll take a look at theirs