JUST ANOTHER DAY FOR THE SPECIAL FORCES

(1 week later) 

The alarm clock went off. Sean groggily slapped it off. It's now 6am in the morning Asia time, the time he is used to waking up at. 

He left his room, washing up and changing. 

They have already made the plans for the operation at the Arundel Castle. They will be setting off for the UK today at noon, heading off to an airport in the Philippines and then flying non-stop over to the UK. 

After Liu Zhong gave the description of the unidentified personnel with Richard, Louis identified one of them to be Chris Adler, putting Spades International's affiliations into question, hence deciding not to ask Charlotte and Team Bravo for help. 

"I don't blame them," said Louis then. "They are PMCs, they work for whoever that pays, and UNSSD is one of their best customers." 

In the present time, Sean is walking by the artificial garden in the underwater safe house, seeing Liu Zhong already awoke, practising his martial art moves, channeling wind magic into the wooden stills around him, finishing them off in a smooth Ba Ji fist finish. 

He breathed, wiping off his sweat with a towel. He turned to Sean, his black dragon horns glistening in the artificial lighting. 

"Coming for a morning training, Sean?" he asked. 

Sean stepped forward. "Just wandering around, gonna go to the dining table for breakfast." 

"You are gonna have to wait a while," said Liu Zhong. "Big Sis is cooking." 

Sean's blood ran dry, he looked at Liu Zhong with wide opened eyes, Liu Zhong nodded slowly, giving him a sigh. "I hope you skipped dinner last night." 

Sean nodded slowly, resigned to his fate. 

Just then, Aya entered the garden, dressed in an apron. She smells of spices and dishes. "Oh there you 2 are, come, its time for breakfast!" 

Sean and Liu Zhong followed after her to the dining table, staring at the mountains of food piled up on the table. The rest of the operator are looking nervously at the piles of food she made. 

Phineas nudged Ariel, "what the hell?" he whispered. 

Ariel shrugged. "Initially I helped her cook, then once I realised she is cooking more and more I realised that she is cooking WAY too many food. I tried to stop her, but I could not." 

Aya is enthusiastically using chopsticks grab food for Albert, piling up his plate. 

"Albert, is this carrot cake to your liking? How about the prawn dumplings?" she asked affectionately like a caring mother. "Why aren't you moving your chopsticks? Do you not like the food? You want to try the roasted vegetables instead?" 

Albert looked sheepishly at her. The truth is, he simply do not think that he can finish all of the food in front of him, hence hesitant to start eating. 

"Umm, Aya, don't you think that this is too much food for us to stomach?" asked Xiao Tian awkwardly. 

Aya pouted. "We all have a long day ahead, you all need to eat up!" she exclaimed. "Especially you all newbies," she said, waving at Ariel, Phineas, Louis, Clara, Albert and Vera. "I don't want you all to be hungry on the battlefield." 

Nanami tried to slip her food back into the dishes, only to be caught by Aya. 

"What's wrong?" asked Aya worriedly. 

"Uh..." Nanami stammered, not wanting to tell her that she was snacking away last night, knowing that it will only a trigger a scolding from their Big Sis. 

True to her moniker of "Mommy", Aya will go out of her way to nag and take care of her siblings, and anyone under her command in general, to the point that it may come across as suffocating. 

Nonetheless, Sean and company knows that she means well, hence more often choosing to just go along with her. 

Sean had no idea how he left the dining table that day. 

(The next day, UK, early morning) 

"Ok, they took the bait," said Xu Qing, listening into the British army and police channels. "Still cannot believe that they have not fixed the security loophole that Walter exploited the last time we were in the UK," he chuckled. 

Before they set off, Xiao Tian had anonymously leaked a fake intel on the cyber black market to trick UK authorities, UNSSD, Archangel and Vanguard faking that they are planning to do something to the Archangel headquarters in London. 

It also ensures that Sir Howard will return to his castle for security, falling right into the operators' trap. 

Soon, a motorcade pulled up to the entrance, and a few well-dressed people stepped out, flanked by the staff of the Castle that flocked to welcome them in. 

"We got a confirmation, Xiao Tian" radioed. Albert, looking down into the sniper scope of his AXMC. "Got ID on Sir Howard, he is with 15-20 armed personnel, over." 

"Also got an ID on his daughter, Margaret Howard." 

Sean looked at the castle underneath them, looking into his monocular attachment of his Exo-suit helmet. The 2 sniper teams have set up a sniper overwatch, covering their teammates sneaking towards the castle. His eyes widened upon seeing who else are present. 

"All stations attention, I have a visual on Lord Kronos of the Vanguard movement, he is with that Inari guy as well," he said. "And the head of Sir Howard's security detail is Ori Yashar." 

"Oh great..." muttered Nanami in the radio. "All old friends!"

"We have both stationary and mobile sentries at the front gate," observed Vera. 

Frederica traced Sir Howard with her sniper rifle, watching as he entered the Castle, leaving only a couple of guards at the entrance. She then alerted the rest. 

"All stations attention, ready for action," radioed Xiao Tian. 

"Fire support team ready," radioed Liu Zhong. He and James crouched down at another ridge over looking the Castle, readying their machine guns to provide suppressive fire. 

Clara, who is with them, looked at the feed from her drone, looking at the heat signature topography of the castle, and the IR signals of their teammates that are only visible through their drones. 

"Snipers, 2 guards have appeared on the watchtower," she radioed. 

"Copy that," said Albert as he locked the reticle of his scope on the head of a guard. 

"You take the right one, I take the left one," said Albert. Frederica gave a thumbs up. 

"3...2...1... fire." 

2 suppressed sniper shots are fired, and the 2 guards fell. 

"Tango down," said Vera, confirming the kills.

"You are clear to move," radioed Sean. 

On the ground, Xiao Tian tapped Aya's shoulder, and she advanced, the remaining operators following after her. 

"Patrol sentry ahead," said Sean. 

"I got this," replied Aya, readying ice daggers in the air. 

The second the guard appeared she threw her daggers, quickly slitting his throat. Nanami then summoned a tentacle, quickly pulling him back around the wall. 

The operators moved, strategically keeping themselves hidden in the empty pockets of darkness not illuminated by the lights around, using their night vision in their Exo-suit helmets to see their path. 

"Attack!" ordered Aya. 

The operators moved up, spreading themselves along the walls on the 2 sides of the gate. Aya, Xiao Tian, Xu Qing and Nanami moved along the right wall, pointing their weapons in the direction of the gate entrance, ready to reach out and shoot once they enter. 

As they moved, Jay, Phineas, Ariel and Santos moved along to the left wall, walking in an arc, moving across the gate entrance as fast as they can while staying alert. They soon got ready to breach. 

"Breach! Breach!" ordered Aya. 

They moved in, Aya and Jay entered first, checking the left and right corners. Xiao Tian and Ariel moved in next, guns aimed forward, with the rest of the breaching operators moving in after them, guns too aimed forward. 

Santos and Nanami guarded their rear, with Nanami wiring in explosives to aid them in their escape. Once Nanami is done, she tapped Santos, moving in to follow up with their teammates, and Santos followed. 

They stormed into the Castle's interior, finding Sir Howard and company in the dining room, opening fire, gunning down the guards around them. 

Alarmed, Sir Howard reached for a pistol. Xiao Tian quickly trained his QBZ-97 custom on him, firing, shooting him in the shoulder. Sir Howard cried in pain, dropping the gun. Seizing the chance, Nanami jumped quickly, tackling down Sir Howard, kneeling on his back, using her 120 kg body mass to pin him firmly on the floor. She summoned tentacles, restraining his arms and legs. 

"GET OFF ME, MMPH!" Sir Howard is gagged by one of Nanami's tentacles. 

"STOP!" yelled Margaret Howard, rushing in with more guards, having heard the commotion. 

Nanami quickly grabbed Sir Howard up, grabbing her FN 5-7 and pointing it against his right temple. The rest of the operators flanked her, guns raised. 

"LET HIM GO!" yelled Ori Yashar. 

Santos grabbed his 1911 custom, shooting Sir Howard in the foot. 

Margaret, Ori and the guards backed off. 

"Target in the bag, we are moving!" radioed Xiao Tian as they quickly left. 

(Other side of the Castle) 

"SH*T! We have company," cursed Kronos as he and "Spectre" moved with the Vanguard terrorists.

"Why did you bring us to the other side of the Castle? We can't make it in time!" he groaned. 

"Well, I thought the Pegasus contractors can handle it," replied "Spectre". 

(Front door) 

Liu Zhong and James opened fire on enemy reinforcements trying to enter the front door to box in their comrades, locking them away with suppressive fire. 

Phineas turned around, gunning down the hostiles chasing after them swiftly, covering Nanami running off with Sir Howard detained. He then ran back, tapping Louis on the shoulder who kept firing. 

Nanami detonated the explosives, the C4s and Cosmic Energy ores blew a segment of the walls into the air, stalling the enemies. 

Ariel yelled, throwing a huge fireball, blasting off their pursuers with an inferno wall. They shrieked in pain as they burned, having received what is essentially a mini-napalm bombing. 

Frederica and Albert fired, picking off priority targets. 

"AHH!" screamed Ori in pain as he is shot through the knee by Sean, flooring. Margaret quickly pulled him back. 

The whirring sound of small drones are heard. 

"Alright," said Xu Qing, reloading. "Time for part 2 of the plan". 

Xiao Tian grinned, looking up at the press drones flying over them, and Lord Kronos and "Spectre" appearing at the front gate, just in time.