CLOSE QUARTERS BATTLE part 2

"Head back!" yelled Sean, pulling Karl and Ariel back, barely escaping from the simunation rounds raining down on them.

Sean nudged Eddie to come forward, he is holding an Ultimax 100 light machine gun. Readying himself behind him, Sean activated a small robot he took out from his gun compartment, activating it and threw it at the stairs, it charging up at full speed, stopping at where the "hostiles" are and detonating, "killing" them.

"Go!" yelled Sean, nudging Eddie to charge, firing from his Ultimax 100, suppressing down the "hostiles" with his 100 round drum magazine while Erika and Clara followed behind him, picking off stragglers with their rifles. Soon rows of yellow smoke from the Exo-suits of the "hostiles" are seen.

The 3 stopped at an opened door. Eddie aimed down the 3x optic of his machine gun, moving to his right in an arc to ensure that he and his muzzle is not visible to anyone that may be hiding in the corner of the rooms. Clara then raised her HK-416 rifle at his blind spot, checking to ensure that it is clear. Erika lowered her SG-552 rifle, setting up a wall-penetrating radar.

After a radar check by Erika showing that there is only one "hostile" in the room hiding in a corner, the 3 breached in, gunning down the last "hostile".

"Smart move," observed Herbert at the security cameras in the building, understanding Karl's plan. His goal is to quickly clear the 1st and 2nd floors, then advancing to the 3rd floor, while Albert and Vera pick use sniper fire to pick off those on the 4th floor and to force them down to the 3rd floor. Being 400m away from the building and equipped with suppressors, it will be extremely hard to find them, especially with the heavy fighting in the building.

Karl, Sean, Louis and Ariel advanced to the 3rd floor. Just as they all stepped onto the 3rd floor, a "hostile" abseiled down from above, opening fire on them as other "hostiles" popped out. This sudden development split the team up.

The "hostile" who abseiled down chased Karl into a room, separating him from the rest. Another "hostile" fired down from the 4th floor, prompting Ariel to return fire. The "hostile" broke contact and ran, Ariel gave chase.

Karl's HK-416 is knocked out of his hands by the "hostile". Karl then disarmed him, the 2 fought, going for each other's arms to ensure that they cannot use their sidearms.

Louis deployed the extendable heavy bulletproof shield on his Exo-suit, returning fire with his pistol. Sean immediately took cover behind Louis, though a bit too slow and a simunation bullet nicked him in the leg, leaving a blue paint mark on his uniform. Eddie's group has also arrived at the 3rd floor now, with Clara breaking off to the 4th floor to assist Ariel, who had been clearing the area with assistance from Albert and Vera outside, though not anymore as their sniper position was found and they were forced to abandon it after taking a few rounds of suppressive machine gun fire, which barely missed them.

Sean squeezed Louis on the shoulder and the 4 of them advanced forward in CQB formation, pushing all the way to a locked room while gunning down all "hostiles" that they faced. They gathered at the right side.

Eddie planted the wall penetrating radar, finding 3 "hostiles" waiting inside, while Sean's camera found a bomb hidden behind the door. He signalled to Erika, who moved out behind the shield, planting a breaching charge on the door.

"BOOM!" the door is blown open, disabling the bomb trap at the same time. Erika quickly threw in a flashbang, disorienting the "hostiles" inside. They charged in, gunning them down before they can retaliate.

Meanwhile, Karl continued his brawl, generating a giant block of ice and smashed it in the face of the "hostile", taking advantage of his disoriented state, Karl grabbed a set of large handcuffs from his utility belt, handcuffing the "hostile" in an extremely uncomfortable position by using a variation of the butterfly cuff and pinned him against a pillar, smashing his head against the pillar too.

"Bro…chill…this is just an exercise…" groaned the "hostile". "This cuff is so uncomfortable…"

Karl released his grip, freezing the "hostile" 's feet to the ground as a precaution.

He smiled, taking out the handcuff key. "How about you tell me how many guys you are left with and where are they? You can see them in your HUD. I will release you."

"Number 23," retorted the "hostile". "I can't tell you that."

Karl laughed, dropping the key into the "hostile" 's pant pocket. "Open it yourself then," he joked, recovering his guns and leaving.

In the meantime, Ariel and Clara chased a "hostile" to an opened room. The 2 quickly moved out of the door. Ariel looked at a mirror at the end of the walkway and true enough, the "hostile" played by Nanami is waiting to ambush them in a corner. Ariel smirked, signalling to Clara to ready flashbangs.

Nanami aimed her AK-19 rifle at the entrance, readying herself. Suddenly, 2 flashbangs rolled in and exploded on impact, blinding her instantly. Seizing the opportunity, Ariel charged in, grabbing Nanami's rifle, firing off the round in chamber and removing the magazine to render it useless, then emptying her pistol at her torso point blank, stopping once her pistol locked empty. Clara aimed her HK-416 at Nanami as a precaution.

Nanami groaned, clutching her torso in pain as she slid onto the floor, yellow smoke emitting from her Exo-suit.

"WHAT THE HELL NUMBER 31? THAT FREAKING HURT!" roared Nanami, whimpering in pain. Despite wearing armour as advanced as Exo-suits, one will still feel pain when hit with simunation rounds, especially at point blank.

"Sorry…" apologised Ariel. "I forgot to consider the distance."

"Why do I feel that was personal?" muttered Nanami.

Karl and the rest of the team minus the snipers entered into the room, surprised to find Nanami there. Karl, Sean and Ariel stayed inside, while the rest continued out, setting up a search perimeter.

"Didn't expect our big boss to be shot up like this," joked Sean.

Karl chuckled. "Ma'am, how about you tell us where the rest of you are?" His words startled Sean and Ariel, who turned to him incredulously, not believing he is stooping so low.

Nanami smiled, "I am a dead body now, I can't talk."

Karl crossed his arms. "Pretty sure I saw you coming out the canteen at post-dinner time with a croissant in your hands last night, I guess I will file a lack of discipline report to the King of Bast*rds," threatened Karl, preparing to leave.

"Wait number 23!" yelled Nanami, faking compliance and panic, intending to lie to teach Karl a lesson. "They are—"

"STOP!" interrupted Sean before Nanami can say another word. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Interrogation?" asked Karl.

"She's dead! You are cheating here!" reprimanded Sean.

Karl rolled his eyes. "Stubborn," he chided, leaving the room to find the rest, Sean followed after him.

"Wait! I— OW!!" Nanami's feigned compliance is abruptly cut off when Ariel fired a shot from her rifle at her point blank. "What was that for?!"

"To make sure you "stay dead"," winked Ariel, leaving.

The trio found the rest; finding to their surprise that they are in a standoff. It turns out that the last "hostile" has a hostage. To make things worse, he had barricaded himself and the hostage behind a wall in a room filled with furniture, leaving only a small shooting hole.

"C'mon punks, make it quick! If you have balls come and get me, if not surrender!" gloated the "hostile".

Karl gulped, knowing that the shot is extremely difficult to make. He radioed Albert and Vera, asking if they can do it.

"Negative," reported Albert, looking into his scope at the back-up sniper position, his vision obstructed. "There is a door at the furthest right of the wall, try to breach from there."

Karl turned around, noticing that Sean is out of sight of the "hostile", ordering him to get down and crawl to the door to open it without detection. He then ordered Louis to walk forward, feigning a negotiation to buy Sean time.

"Dude, look at that rat hole of yours', how are you going to get out?" asked Louis jokingly. Sean accidentally knocked into a furniture, prompting Louis to also knock into something to cover up the noise.

"Doesn't matter," retorted the "hostile".

Sean managed to crawl to the door, carefully standing up to not make a sound. He gently pushed the door. Finding it not barricaded, he deployed his battering ram and readied his pistol. One swift swing later the door is forcefully opened, he charged in, firing 2 shots with his pistol, and a yellow smoke rose from the "hostile" 's Exo-suit.

"YOU LITTLE—" he cursed, pushing away the hostage and aiming his gun at Sean, only for a huge amount of simunation rounds to hit him from outside, shooting him into a hornets' nest.

"Stay dead! No room for sore losers!" yelled Louis.

Contrasting with the celebratory moods of his teammates outside, Sean is not happy at all. Recounting where his shaky right hand was aiming at, he was dangerously close to accidentally shooting the hostage.

Had it not been for his pure, dumb luck, the entire team would have been pulled down due to his mishap. This understanding clawed away at his conscience, grilling him.