DANGER CLOSE

The 5 of them slowly crawled backwards on the ice-hill, not wanting to be picked up by snipers. They then started moving quickly once they hit the open ground.

"Halt! Show yourselves!" asked Clara, alertly raising her HK-416 rifle in the direction of some rocks above them, seeing movement.

"Friendly," said a cadet, as he and another one came out from the rocks, hands raised, yelling at Sean's group below. Clara lowered her gun.

"We got separated from our team, our leader is a cadet numbered 200, ranked Captain," he said.

"Ah..." recounted Sean, realising that their team leader is the Captain from before. "Unfortunately, your comrades had been eliminated."

"How about you 2 join us?" asked Karl. With no other choice, the 2 cadets agreed.

The 5 of them climbed up. Just as Sean was about to get close to them, the ice he is stepping on suddenly broke, and he fell.

That fell saved him, for in the instant he fell, 3 shots ran out, eliminating the 2 cadets, while the 3rd bullet whizzed past his head.

"SNIPER!" Karl yelled, crouching down, while Clara immediately pulled Sean back down to where they are.

"Blast it..." cursed Artemis 4 "Meari", looking at the cadet that disappeared in the night vision enabled scope of her SR-25 rifle just as she pulled the trigger.

Artemis 5 "Cameron" cycled the bolt of her Barrett MRAD sniper rifle, chuckling at her observer. "Missed?" she teased. "Me and Freddie got ours!"

"Lucky bast*rd," remarked Meari. "But you won't be lucky twice."

Frederica took another bite of chewing gum, chewing slowly to even her breathing and improve her stability, aiming down the 8x32mm scope of her CS/LR35 sniper rifle. From where they are, they cannot see and hit the areas below the rocks.

"Ok, 3 snipers," muttered Sean, still panting from his close call.

"Did you guys manage to see where were the shot fired?" asked Erika.

"Negative," said Sean. "It was too fast."

"Can we go by another route?" asked Eddie. Karl shook his head.

Sean slowly raised his rifle over his head, letting the smart optic feed images into his and his comrades' HUDs.

They noticed that the area above them has a lot of rocks which form covers.

A plan came to their minds. Sean, Karl and Clara pulled off their Exo-suits and other gear, wearing only their snow camouflage uniform and basic body armour, removing the ballistic plates inside as well. They dropped their rifles, only taking a pistol, a grenade and a radio each.

Eddie and Erika readied their grenade launchers, while Eddie set up his Ultimax 100 light machine gun, and Erika readied her individual radar, designed to detect the enemy gunfire.

Their plan is that Sean, Clara and Karl, the 3 most physically strong cadets of their cadet group, to run towards the rocks, running quickly among them to take cover from the snipers. In this way the snipers will be forced to make multiple shots, allowing their position to be detected by Erika's individual radar, after which she and Eddie will blast the area with all of the heavy weapons they have: machine guns, rifle grenades, and a single use thermobaric bomb rocket launcher carried by Karl.

"Go!" yelled Karl. Eddie and Erika launched smoke grenades, forming a smoke wall. Sean, Clara and Karl immediately jumped onto the surface, dashing with all of their might to the rocks.

Cameron sneered, switching on the thermal aiming module of her scope, only to be confused when she is not able to detect a heat signature in the smoke.

It turns out that the 3 had covered themselves in sheets of ice they generated, risking hypothermia in the sub-zero temperatures of Antarctica.

Sean shivered, gritting his teeth in the cold.

The 3 charged out of the smoke, jumping for the rocks in front of them.

Cameron fired her shot at Karl, only to realise that Karl had upped his usage of Cosmic Energy, literally freezing the air around him and causing the round to be deflected away from him, reaching a rock unscathed.

Meari's shot nicked Clara in her shoulder, not eliminating her, leaving behind just a pale blue mark on her uniform.

Frederica locked on to her target. She adjusted her breath, moving her finger to the trigger.

Suddenly, she recognised the person she is aiming at to be Sean. Her finger froze. After some deliberation, she slightly adjusted her aim.

"Bang!" a bullet flew through the gap between Sean's armpit and torso as he dived for the rock, missing him by milimetres.

Sean hid behind the rock, surprised.

"That sniper was extremely accurate, he or she deliberately missed..." he realised. A name popped into his mind, shocking him.

"Frederica?!" He then quickly dismissed that thought, "no way in hell will someone as reticent and professional like her deliberately miss."

Erika looked at the 3 dots on her radar, determining how close the snipers are firing from. She peeked out, locking a ridge to be the most likely area. She sent the area's coordinates to Eddie using her data chain. Both readied their grenade launchers, selecting programmable smart rifle grenades. It is designed to explode right in the air at around the height of a person's face, making it an ideal anti-personnel weapon.

They launched 10 such munitions. Eddie them immediately grabbed his machine gun, opening fire at the ridge.

"SH*T!" cursed Meari, her individual radar detecting rifle grenades moving towards them. Bullets also landed around their sniper positions.

They quickly withdrew from their sniper position, just in time as the rifle grenades exploded on top of them. Fortunately, their Exo-suits managed to bear the damage.

They avoided the machine gun fire, retreating.

"They are getting away! DO IT!" yelled Karl, the 3 of them had managed to sneak up when the snipers were distracted by the machine gun fire and rifle grenades. Sean and Karl threw grenades and used telekinesis to guide their trajectory, also firing their pistols, delaying the snipers from withdrawing.

Seizing the chance, Erika locked the ridge in the sights of the rocket launcher, firing it.

A thermobaric warhead is launched out. Such explosives use oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. It landed at the ridge and blew up, consuming the entire area with a giant fireball. Sean, Clara and Karl, quickly formed ice shields to shield themselves from the radiant heat. In that instant the 3 of them no longer felt cold.

The 3 snipers are blown senseless, groggily standing up.

"These motherf***ers are crazy..." muttered Meari. "They used themselves as bait and fired a thermobaric weapon danger close..."

"No sacrifices, no victory," remarked Karl in response. Alarmed, Meari reached for her FN 5-7pistol, though not in time as Karl fired his HK USP pistol at her point-blank, "executing" her.

Cameron drew her QBZ-192 rifle at Karl, only for a Glock 19 pistol that had locked empty to hit her in the face, startling her. She turned, and is violently pushed down by Clara. Clara grunted, holding onto her tightly while she tried to shake her off.

Frederica aimed her SIG MCX at Clara, only for Sean to also tackle her down.

"GET OFF!" roared Cameron, generating a huge blast of magic that finally threw Clara off, also flooring Karl, Meari, Frederica and Sean in the process.

Clara landed on a rock. She groaned, painfully raising her right hand which has a grenade safety pin on her index finger, grinning at Cameron.

"YOU B*TCH!" roared a horrified Cameron upon realising that Clara had dropped a live grenade into one of her magazine pouches. Karl then generated a giant block of ice, smashing her in the head, disorientating her. He and Clara then jumped and manpiled her, forcibly pointing the grenade at her chest.

After an explosion, a trail of yellow smoke puffed from Cameron, her body shielding the explosion from Karl and Clara.

Sean yanked the emergency dismantle chord on Frederica's Exo-suit, removing her armour advantage. Frederica drew her FN 5-7 pistol, only for Sean to grab her hand and twist it, firing it in another direction, then dislodging the magazine, disarming Frederica. Clara and Karl tried to help Sean, but they are unable to shoot their guns for fear of accidentally friendly-firing.

Sean then followed up with an elbow blow, generating flames as he did so, which Frederica countered with an ice coated punch.

By then, Eddie and Erika had arrived at what remained of the ridge, bringing the 3's equipment with them.

Sean then flipped Frederica over his shoulder, smashing her 120kg heavy body onto the snow, forming a shallow crater.

It was only then did Sean realise that it was Frederica he was fighting, and then recognised Meari and Cameron. Meari and Cameron had also recognised Sean, throwing daggers with their eyes, no doubt due to what happened with Freyja.

Sean then looked down at the poker-faced beauty beneath him. A sheepish, apologetic smile came to his face as he pulled her yellow smoke dispenser.

After eliminating the 3 snipers of Squad Artemis, the cadets managed to decrypt the data logs in their Exo-suits, which the 3 had not managed to delete in time, finding the location of the command base of the 38th Group Army.

"It will be hell for you if we see you at the evacuation zone," glared Meari through gritted teeth. The cadets laughed, ridiculing her.

"Got too cocky huh?" sneered Eddie. "Why the hell are you guys so far away from your forces? No wonder you 3 are eliminated!"

Sean did not laugh, for he knows that her anger, and by extension the anger of the majority of Squad Artemis, is directed at him.

He looked at Frederica, who had fallen asleep beside him.

"Guess you all also have it tough chasing us," thought Sean, discreetly pouring some of the warm water from his flask onto his towel, wrapping it around Frederica's gills on her neck. He knows that she enjoys the feeling of having her gills soaked in warm water.

Little did he know that Frederica had felt Sean, pretending to be asleep to enjoy her old partner's care for her.

The cadets then searched the snipers for other useful things. Eddie is visibly disappointed when the only food related items he found are energy bar wrappers and empty MREs.

The cadets then plotted their trip on their maps, quickly moving off.

During their trek, Eddie suddenly felt a wave of discomfort, breaking out in sweat. The feelings of disgust he had been fighting down ever since eating the penguin came to bite him, attacking him with greater intensity. He slowed down.

"You ok?" asked a worried Sean. "I am ok," said Eddie, forcibly putting up a front.

They continued their trip, with Sean half-helping Eddie.

Suddenly, shots ran out from their left, and the 5 immediately took cover, crouching down.

"AMBUSH! LEFT SIDE!" roared Clara, firing her HK-416, aiming down her holographic sight.

Sean aimed through his LPVO optic of his SCAR-H, seeing multiple hostile Tier 1 operators firing on them. "We are outgunned!" he yelled. "FALL BACK!"

Erika and Karl popped their last smoke grenades, shielding the cadets as they retreated. Just as he was about to move, Eddie got dizzy, collapsing, barely straightening his body with his machine gun. The others did not notice that Eddie had fallen behind in their haste.

Eddie weakly looked at his comrades' backs, then he looked back at the Tier 1 operators ready to give chase. He sighed, knowing that he can no longer keep up with his comrades.

He breathed, reloading his machine gun with one last 100 round drum, deciding to cover his comrades one last time.

He turned around, launching all of his rifle grenades, disrupting the enemy's actions.

He noticed a light all terrain vehicle manned by 4 operators charging in the direction of his comrades. Grunting, he summoned all of his energy, pushing his body and the fuel cells of his Exo-suit to the max, running over to the vehicle.

Once in range, he fired his machine gun, screaming as he fired, taking out the 4 operators before a volley of bullets from one of them hit his Exo-suit.

A yellow smoke rose from his Exo-suit as he collapsed in resignation.

A Latino-American human Tier 1 operator stepped off from the vehicle, helping him up.

"You got skills kid," he commended. "What's your name?"

"Eddie Tan..." muttered Eddie weakly.

The operator nodded. "Santos Flynn," he smiled. "You sure about this?" he asked, knowing that Eddie had sacrificed himself.

"Worth it..."

"EDDIE TAN!" shouted Sean in a pit after they realised that Eddie went missing. His heart sank when the distant shooting stopped, knowing that this can only mean one thing.

Eddie is eliminated.

He immediately ran out of the pit, wanting to find Eddie in an irrational outburst, only for Clara and Erika who already have tears streaking down their faces to pin him down.

"SEAN! USE YOUR BLOODY HEAD!" roared Clara.

"He gave up willingly! He can't bear with his sickness!" yelled Karl.

"BULLSH*T!" retorted Sean emotionally, trying to break free. Clara and Erika tightened their grips.

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING?!" roared Clara.

"I am going to find him!" yelled Sean. "Let me go!"

"Do you really not know why he did it?" asked Clara.

Sean knows, of course, but he refused to believe it. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU ALL THINK IT IS!' he retorted weakly.

"What other reason is there?!" rebutted Karl.

"He knows he can't carry on!" cried Erika.

"Yes, we don't leave our comrades behind, but he doesn't want to drag us down either!" cried Clara. "If you charge out now, his sacrifice will be in vain!"

Sean's tears rained down his face, he angrily threw his water flask at the snow beneath him. "THIS BLOODY MORON!" he yelled, crying.

The 4 of them bowed their heads, "mourning" the loss of a comrade.