CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE part 1

"Standby!" ordered Sean, acting as squad leader of this temporary 4 men squad consisting of him, Ariel, Louis and Eddie. The new task given to them is to practice room clearing in an exercise. They are gathered at the right of a locked room. This is the last room they have to clear before passing this segment.

Sean then squeezed Ariel's shoulder, signalling her to begin. Ariel angled her hips out, walking out in an arc to the left side, careful to ensure that she does not stay in front of the door for too long, changing her rifle from left arm back to right to minimise her exposed area once the door is opened. Sean then immediately advanced to where she formerly was, covering her blind spot, while Eddie moved to behind Ariel, aiming down the holographic sight of his FN P90, the fire control AI in his optic swiftly sending ballistics information into his HUD in a visual manner, greatly helping his aim.

Louis placed a wall penetrating radar on to the wall, and soon images appeared on the HUD of their Exo-suits.

"3 targets," signalled Louis. Sean nodded, turning his rifle to high-ready, signalling Ariel to breach and charge in. Eddie and Louis then readied themselves, preparing to head in after Ariel and Sean.

Ariel switched to the shotgun attachment on a gauntlet of her Exo-suit, blasting the lock open with a slug round, pushing open the door. Just as she is going to step in, a hidden bomb set off.

"BOOM!" a loud explosion went off, sending Ariel flying out of the room and onto the wall opposite, the shockwave also floored her teammates outside. Sean grunted, standing up, disoriented from the explosion. Had it not been for their Exo-suits and the use of training explosives, the 4 of them would have gotten a one-way express ticket to the martyr graves. True enough, puffs of yellow smoke rose from their Exo-suits, signalling that they are "KIA".

"Numbers 9, 31, 92 and 74 fail!" announced Herbert. Sean and his group stepped out of the course, bringing a trail of yellow smoke behind them.

(3 hours later)

All of the cadets all sat at the benches, with yellow smoke coming out of their Exo-suits. A fuming Herbert roared at them.

"ALL OF YOU FAILED THIS SEGMENT!"

"DOWN, 1000 PUSH-UPS EACH! You have from now, 7pm to lights out at 11pm to prepare and train! We will retest tomorrow morning! Last place is eliminated!"

The cadets got on all fours and started their push-ups. Once they are done, they stored their guns back at the armoury and then went to wash up.

"Ok gentlemen…how will you rate today's training?" asked Albert, as they exited the men's shower stalls.

"100 ways to die, special forces edition…" remarked Sean.

All 4 of them nodded, recounting the myriad of ways they "died", from hidden bombs, traps, ambushes by the instructors and more.

"I suspect that I am not here for training, but rather playing Jigsaw's games…" muttered Louis.

"How's Ariel by the way?" asked Eddie.

"She's fine," replied Sean. "The instructors sent her to the med bay; some wound dressing is all she needs, should be in time for our room clearing practice."

(Med bay)

"Ow, ow, ow…" Ariel grimaced as the medic cleaned her wounds with antiseptic soaked cotton balls. Despite her physical pain, she is screaming in joy internally, sneaking peeks at her doctor from time to time.

"Sorry, please bear with it, almost done," muttered Phineas, carefully cleaning her wound. "3…2…1…" he finished cleaning and started bandaging them.

"No worries...take your time," said Ariel, half of her wants Phineas to take his time so that they can be together longer.

"Ariel Wagner I am giving you a warning," said Phineas, gently pulling her horns. "Don't make me so worried!" Phineas is crossed that the first person he has to treat when sent by Xiao Tian to the selection course as part of the medical team under a new rotation is Ariel.

"Sorry…" Ariel muttered sheepishly, looking at Phineas in his eyes. Both paused, then awkwardly looking away.

"How are you doing?" asked Phineas. "Fine," replied Ariel.

"You used to tell me that on the phone everyday…" Phineas muttered, rolling her sleeves down. "Evidently not…"

Ariel pouted at Phineas, vexed. "You didn't even tell me that you got stabbed through your arm by a metal bar when you were in a hostage rescue mission in Hong Kong, if your team leader hasn't informed me during your surgery, I think I will still be in the dark! Same goes for your petrol bomb accident in Hokkaido!"

Phineas smiled, sighing. "Then I guess both of us needs to look after ourselves more…for each other's sake."

"Yeah…" said Ariel, looking away, try not to let Phineas see her blush.

"Well, that will be all," said Phineas, finishing his work. "I heard from Nanami that you guys crashed the CQB course big time and need to retrain," he chuckled.

Ariel did not process what Phineas said after she heard "Nanami". Speaking a Japanese name directly suggests a high degree of closeness from what she learned in her time spent in the Yokosuka naval base. Little did she know that being members of Squad Artemis, Nanami simply does not have a surname.

"What's your impression of instructor Nanami-San?" she asked.

Puzzled, Phineas frowned, pushing up his spectacles. "Quite nice of a person, she oriented me into UNSSD," he said. "Though a bit too much at times…" he recounted her slightly flirtatious behaviour that made him feel uncomfortable, though he gradually got used to it upon learning that she does it to EVERYONE.

Ariel nodded slowly, "I see…I see…" she kept her fond smile, though internally she is on the verge of exploding in jealousy. She quickly excused herself to the simulation rooms.

And just like that, Nanami, who has not done anything concrete, unknowingly became perceived as a rival by one of her cadets.

Ariel entered the simulation range, finding Sean, Louis and Eddie already in augmented reality (AR) gear to simulate their equipment and the environment. She then changed into AR gear, taking her position.

Sean gave the order to proceed, and the 4 arrived at a door. After Louis readied his wall-penetrating radar and did a scan of the targets, Sean then inserted a small camera through the door gap, careful to ensure that there are no traps. Once he is sure, he placed his rile in high-ready. Ariel blasted the door open with a shotgun slug, then launching in a flashbang grenade, opening fire on the target in front while quickly moving rightwards to create space for the rest of them. Sean opened fire on a target in Ariel's blind spot and moved in quickly, with Eddie and Louis following in the format of "left-right-left-right". Soon, they have successfully cleared the room, with ammo holes peppering all over the 4 randomly generated targets.

"Mission success!" exclaimed Louis happily.

"We still have time, let's continue," suggested Eddie.

"Alright," said Ariel.

"Try 2, standby…" ordered Sean.

(The next day)

"Motherf*****" cursed Albert in both standard Chinese and Cantonese upon hearing the new rules set by the instructors. They now have to strike a 4-storied tall building and clear it of "hostiles" played by the instructors to guide an airstrike in a mock combat scenario.

Looking at this new squad of 9 consisting of himself, Louis, Ariel, Vera, Albert, Eddie, Clara, Erika and Karl, Sean let out a sigh, aware that the differences among them is already going to be a headache before the mission even begins.

"My plan is," began Sean, only for Karl to interrupt him.

"I don't exactly trust a supposed ex-Tier 1 veteran who can't even hit targets properly," said Karl, Clara and Erika seconded him.

Louis rose up, trying to defend Sean, only for Sean to stop him. "Very well then, you lead," replied Sean.

Karl then started laying his plan.

(30 minutes later)

Albert and Vera took a sniper position, hiding themselves in the thick foliage in ghillie suits, Albert aimed down the 5-25x56mm sniper scope of his AXMC sniper rifle. Vera looked scanned the area with the built-in binoculars and rangefinder combo in her Exo-suit, keeping her AK-12M1 in her weapon bay.

"All clear, go," she reported.

Karl led a segment forward, rushing to the left side of the building, careful to stay out of sight and to avoid booby traps. Sean led his segment, approaching the right side.

"2 targets in front," said Sean, extending his rifle outwards slightly, the camera of the integrated fire control in his optics feeding images into his HUD, careful to ensure that the "hostiles" does not see his muzzle. "1 target on the 2nd floor."

Karl gave the order to engage, raising his suppressed HK USP pistol. Albert also pulled open the bolt of his AXMC, loading it a .338 Lapua Magnum simunation round into the chamber.

Karl, Albert and Sean timed their strikes to happen at the same time. 2 suppressed shots later, the "hostile" above and the "hostile" near Karl had yellow smoke coming out of their Exo-suits. Sean then pulled the third "hostile", who is in his arm's reach down, restraining him and pulling the yellow smoke dispenser.

"You're dead," said Sean curtly.

"Now!" ordered Karl. Eddie, Louis, Clara and Erika activated the grenade launching modules in their Exo-suits, launching rifle grenades into the air and over the building, exploding on the opposite side of where they are, "killing" a few "hostiles", creating a diversionary attack and drawing their attention over. Seizing the opportunity, they charged into the building, while Albert and Vera picked off "hostiles" prioritising machine gunners. Erika finished off the last one on the 1st floor with a grenade that she threw into a storeroom.

Karl, Sean and Ariel took the lead, heading up the stairs quickly in CQB formation. Suddenly, a "hostile" opened fire on them with a machine gun and more stepped out from the rooms, catching them in a cross fire.