“Be advised. They have pushed us back and the trucks have started moving again.” Horn reported through the radio.

Marcus acknowledged the report, then turned to meet Ylenka’s gaze. “Your OP,” She said, nodding.

Marcus nodded back, clicking the send on the radio. “Roger that. Taking over. Horn, relocate and set up facing the south side of the building to provide overwatch. Be advised, we have contacts up ahead. Count is at least five.” Just like they say, ‘No plan survives contact with the enemy.’ Everything is moving too fast for Marcus’ liking. What should have been a quick smash and grab was easily turned on its head by a single player squad blocking their retreat. With every second ticking by, the QRF, with their armored vehicles and heavy weaponry, were creeping closer to their location, and every second they stayed in the building was another second the noose around their necks tightened.

Marcus raised his scope and could see glimpses of the enemy squad up ahead. He opted not to bring his thermals for the risky op and so he had to rely on nothing but his sight. The squad hunkered down inside one of the buildings overlooking their route. So far they hadn’t shot at them yet, probably expecting to catch them off guard.

“Okay. Fuck.” Marcus muttered and addressed the group. There were seven of them in all, the TAS representative, Razer, Ylenka, two of her team, and Marcus himself and his two goblins. All were laden with gear taken from the players and their stash in the building. “We don’t have any other choice but to punch through. We move through that building ahead, hunker down. There, we’ll use the smokes on the road to cover our crossing. We’ll have to move fast since I bet those guys will start moving themselves around as soon as they realize what we’re doing.”

“You can use me as a distraction.” Razer declared. “I don’t mind drawing fire. It wouldn’t hurt if they get me since they're already well acquainted with me and it won’t hurt much if they identify me.”

“If they’re as organized as they showed themselves to be, it wouldn’t matter. They’ll know who hit them soon enough.” Ylenka answered.

“In position. I got a good angle overlooking the street. We see no movement at the moment.” Horn reported through the radio. “Made contact with the rest of the group and have set up a base of fire.”

“Roger that. We’re moving out. Hold fire at the moment and only engage when you have a positive ID.” Marcus replied and turned towards the rest.

Gabs and Fleex looked to be well out of their element. The two clutched their rifles with white knuckled grip but didn’t look to be on the verge of breaking. Good. He might not be there in their first scuffle, and it wouldn’t do well if the two would start crumbling in the first bit of trouble, as it would easily destroy Marcus’ plan of recruiting more of the goblins to work under him. If future recruits would turn out to be just as reliable, then his plan of establishing a solid squad of goblins would start to hold water.

“You guys ready?” Marcus asked, and everyone nodded back.

Marcus led the way down the levels and made his way to the door facing south. Marcus paused by the door. He was first in the stack. Behind him was Razer, armed with his bare bones M4, Ylenka and Heckler with their G36C, Gabs and Fleex with their semiautomatic AKs and finally, Seidel covering their rear with his HK MP5.

Opening it, light from the outside seeped into the building’s dark interior. Outside, past the door, is a small walled alley that covered their approach towards the neighboring building. With a pat on his back, Marcus led the way out, and all filed into the alley, making their way south and taking careful note to keep away from the enemy’s angle of fire.

Bullets snapped overhead and Marcus ducked into cover behind the wall nearby. Moving to the side a few feet, Marcus popped out of the safety of the wall and fired at the window he suspected the fire came from and saw a dark figure dart within. He continued sending a few more shots to make sure the figure was effectively suppressed and covered for the rest to move to his position.

Razer passed by him, continuing to use the protection provided by the alley wall, and headed straight for the neighboring building. He took over the lead position in the stack, followed by Ylenka and Heckler, and the rest. Seidel patted Marcus on the shoulder as he passed him by, and Marcus took his position in the rear. Facing the way they came, Marcus reloaded his rifle and backpedaled the rest of the way while keeping his sector in the rear covered.

Razer breached the metal door and into the small building. Everyone piled in, and Marcus found himself in the middle of a dark, empty office. Through the interior windowed door, Marcus could see the rest of the building and found empty shelves leading to a pair of roll up garage doors. One was open, leading to a wide two lane road where the squad of SRTs were certainly covering.

“We see movement. Engaging.” Horn reported, followed by gunfire. Marcus took the opportunity and ran towards the open garage doors, making sure to keep to the shadows inside the building, and started throwing smoke grenades on the street to cover their advance. Ylenka and Razer followed suit, chucking their own smokes while the rest covered.

“Confirm one KIA. The rest have taken cover.” Horn reported.

Marcus replied with a quick acknowledgement and waited a few more seconds to let the smoke propagate. Under the thick cover of smoke, Marcus led the way across the wide street and headed towards the nearest building. Seeing movement in one of the buildings ahead and to the left, about twenty meters away, Marcus raised his rifle in the direction and sent some pot shots towards the second-story window. Seeing this, the others followed suit and kept whoever was inside suppressed while everyone crossed the street.

Fire came their way, but with the thick cover of smoke, only a few rounds found their mark. Shields flared as the protective fields protected their wearers long enough for them to make it to the other side. Inside, they looked to be in another small warehouse. In between gunfire, Marcus could hear the faint roar of diesel engines mixed with a heavy amount of gunfire. It was creeping closer and was then confirmed by the radio report from Horn.

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“Be advised, the trucks are two blocks north of you. We could see at least eight, I repeat, at least eight dismounts heading for you with vehicle support. We are effectively suppressed and cannot provide support. We’ll try relocating. It looks like they are gunning hard for you. Good luck.” He said, hearing bullets impact through the radio along with the snaps as bullets passed by. From the commotion he could hear from the other side, it seems like Horn was downplaying his situation and Marcus couldn’t help but be impressed by Horn’s cool and measured voice.

“Roger that. Keep safe, don’t risk your lives. Provide support only in relative safety. Good luck.” Marcus replied, glancing towards the rest and felt a measure of relief to find them all still intact. They looked at him with grim determination, except for Razer, who looked to be having the time of his life.

“We really pissed them off this time.” Razer shouted through the din.

“We only need to get to the station two blocks south of us. Once we get there, they won't be able to follow us.” Marcus yelled back, moving towards the back of the warehouse and kicked the interior door in, leading into another back office. Everyone followed him, but it still felt like they were going too slow. Speed and keeping on the move was their salvation, as Marcus could almost feel an imaginary noose constricting around his neck. ‘Is this what soldiers, rebels, or even insurgents felt knowing that they’re slowly being surrounded?’ Marcus asked himself.

He opened the back door to the building and peeked out. Bullets snapped by his head and he pulled his head back into cover, but not before seeing the location of the shooter. “He’s at the end of the back alley 30 meters away behind a metal dumpster.” Marcus reported.

“I’ll draw fire.” Razer volunteered. Marcus nodded. It was not ideal to send their liaison, but with Razer volunteering, it saved Marcus from having to make that decision.

Razer took a breath and sprinted out of the room. Bullets followed him. Marcus could see rounds impacting by his feet and behind him, along with direct hits absorbed by his shields. closing his eyes for a second and seeing the shooter in his mind’s eye, Marcus peeked out of cover and lined up a shot. The figure was laying behind a dumpster by the alley. His weapon’s muzzle flash made him much easier to spot and Marcus hovered his sight’s circle-dot reticle on his target. He had just paused firing and was reaching for a magazine when Marcus fired.

Already in semi-auto, Marcus squeezed a couple measure shots and saw his shots connect, shields flared and the impacts caused his target to flinch. Marcus kept the reticle around the same area and peppered him, expending half a magazine before feeling a tap on his shoulder, indicating that he was, again, the last man.

Marcus glanced to his side and followed Seidel. The team medic had already pulled out bandages and was busy tending to Razer, who caught a few more rounds than what his shields could handle. He looked over at Marcus and grinned. “Nice shot.” He said.

“Can you still move?” Marcus asked.

“Not as well as I should’ve.” He replied. “Look, just leave me. I’ll try to slow them down instead, rather than you. Better one life than all of us.”

“He’s right.” Ylenka chimed in. “I’ll stay with him. Help him slow them down.”

‘Fuck.’ Marcus muttered as he stared ahead. One more building and they’ll have broken through the encirclement. It should be smooth sailing from then on, given that they move fast. Marcus grit his teeth and hauled Razer up to his feet, despite the protestations of their team medic telling him that he was not finished. “Get to the next building and we’ll give you your final stand.” Marcus replied. “Seidel, take his arms. Gabs and Fleex, take his legs and carry him.” He ordered, moving through the building and peeking out the front door.

Across the street, Marcus could see the underground station’s roof peeking over the two story building ahead. Positioned in a street corner, it looked to be a showroom of some sort with its open second story bay windows. All the glass windows were shattered, but the building still allowed excellent vision to their rear and was the perfect place to leave Razer for his last stand.

He looked at both sides of the street and saw nothing, but that could mean anything. “Heckler, on me. Ylenka, take the rear.” He ordered and ran through the street. No sounds of gunfire chased him and no bullets snapped nearby. Marcus reached the other side of the street and found cover on the corner of the building.

Heckler ran across the street to join him, followed by Seidel, Gabs and Fleex carrying the wounded Razer. Ylenka ran across last, and Marcus breached the building and led the rest to the second floor. They dragged Razer to face north, where the QRF was coming from, and left him with enough ammo along with the single-use RPG they looted off their target building.

“Good luck.” Marcus said, patting Razer on the shoulder.

“You too. Expect a call from the brothers. They’ll want to talk to you after this.” He replied, pulling out a stim from his pocket and jabbing it on his arm. “This will keep me alive long enough to deal some damage.”

“Give them hell and tell your brothers not to take too long.” Marcus nodded and ran down to the ground floor. There, he met the rest of the squad, posted up on the windows, looking up. They all looked at him and, without any orders given, stacked up behind him. Marcus led the way south, and they came upon view of the station, only for the sounds of diesel to come up behind them.

Everyone took cover at the sound coming from two blocks away, followed by the rounds ripping overhead. Concrete churned and splattered as bullets impacted and ricocheted. Marcus looked over the direction of the fire, just as a rocket streaked from Razer’s position, and scored a direct hit on the leading JLTV, enveloping it in an explosion. Dust from the explosion covered the vehicle and its shields flared as it took the brunt of the hit. It hadn’t been destroyed.

In response, gunfire erupted from the vehicles and from their dismounts, showering Razers’ position in a storm of lead. “Go. Go. Go.” Marcus yelled and everyone ran towards the station and its access to the safety of the underground.

Marcus took the rear, running down the escalators leading to the underground. Daylight soon faded into darkness and they used their weapon lights to illuminate their path ahead.

Everyone took defensive positions. Marcus took his spot behind a pylon and aimed at the entrance, hoping that the SRT would be stupid enough to follow. They waited, and Marcus checked what’s left of their team and found them all wounded to some extent. They were lucky. The heavy caliber brought upon by the SRT quick reaction force could have easily taken them out with only a single shot, but somehow hadn’t managed to land a solid hit. They were eaten up but somehow they lived through it all and Marcus thanked his lucky stars for getting out of there alive.

Minutes passed. They kept within their defensive position and Marcus checked his time only to find that only around ten minutes passed from the moment he took out Demented. For Marcus, it felt like an hour.

“Gabs, Fleex. This is your turf. Find us a way out, preferably someplace hidden away from here.” Marcus ordered.