I decided to select the Firefight/Unit Tactics tutorial.
My vision goes black before I find myself in an alley. There’s a dumpster ahead of us, off to one side.
Griffin’s voice chimes in on an earbud that’s suddenly in my ear. “Hello, rookie. Hope you’re ready for a field promotion, because now you get to get other people killed in addition to yourself.”
“What?” I look behind me and I see two men wielding AK-47s behind me, in civilian clothing adorned with LBVs like my own, as well as scarves and tactical ballcaps. In a way, their getup reminds me of some of the dudes I saw at an airsoft field once.
“Don’t worry, we call these guys Grunts. They’re loyal to a fault and they’ll never break and flee, unlike Operatives. That being said, their skill leaves plenty to be desired, as does their… intelligence.”
“Oh, I see. So they’re just substitutes until I get my first Operative?”
“That’s one way of putting it, yes.”
“Alright. So, what’s the situation?”
“Left pocket.”
I reach into my left pocket and pull out a phone, which happens to have a map of the local streets. “Amazing, I didn’t have to explain to you what I meant. Nice and obedient, like a puppy.”
“Are you proud of me yet, mom?”
“Tch.” I could almost feel Griffin rolling her eyes at me. “Anyway, I’m patching mission details through to your phone as we speak. This one’s pretty simple: Kill all enemies in the area. The survival of your underlings is not required.”
An area, across the street, is highlighted in red, reaching along a strip of sidewalk and stretching into an alley. It read ‘4-6 Enemies’ within the area. I also couldn’t help but notice that the street itself was empty and that we had a concerning lack of cover compared to on their side of the street. There was another barricade of note, down the road in the opposite direction of them, but it was also on the other side of the street. I slip the phone back into my pocket and turn to face the grunts. “Alright, we’re gonna fan out as we fire and try to overwhelm them at all angles.”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
“I hope I make it through so I can see my family again...” The second soldier adjusts his scarf.
“I’ll take the right, you take the center and left respectively.” I about-face to the alley’s entrance. “Three, two, one, BREAK!” We advance out the alley, as I turn to see five criminals, mostly with pistols, spot us and go for cover at a combination of a fire hydrant, trashcans, and a concrete barricade as bullets start flying in our direction. I strafe right and settle my sights on one. As I pull the trigger a bullet clips my arm, making me flinch and miss completely, the recoil adding on top to make the muzzle jerk like a dog on a chain. I reset my aim and see my grunts to the left, as one fell before the other.
I register that we got two, maybe three of them before I’m finally taken by another burst of rounds, crumpling to the floor before it all fades to black.
Guess nobody’s going home to see their family tonight.
We’re back in the alley.
“You know, as far as stupid decisions go, that was a relatively clever way to go about it, but you and your grunts just don’t have the skill to get away with that.” Griffin scoffs over the comms. “This isn’t Halo, nerd. Learn to take some cover.”
I exhale loudly, before shaking my head sharply. “Well, honestly… You have a point. Alright, boys, we’re headed for the concrete barriers across the street.”
“Affirmative.”
“Go!” We run out of the alley, our paths curving towards the concrete barrier across the street. They open fire on us immediately. A stray bullet finds my leg as I’m sent crashing to the floor painfully, barely saving my face from the concrete by letting it ram into my forearm instead. I get up on one knee, hobbling towards the concrete barrier the others had reached, fighting the pain in my leg as I move towards them. Assholes couldn’t have lifted me up along the way, huh?
To be honest, the experience was actually pretty cool, almost like I was playing the first Gears of War. Too bad my immersion’s cut off by another volley of stray rounds hitting my vitals. All that’s left is another outburst of pain in my chest before it fades to black again.
We’re back in the alley.
“I’m glad you’re actually listening to me, rook, but you need to get better at listening and thinking at the same time.”
I snort. “Well, fuck me for trusting you, right? We didn’t kill ANYONE with your plan!”
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“Maybe I overestimated your combat intelligence.” A pause, as I refuse to dignify her comment with a response. “Well, that and I admit you got kinda unlucky there. Still, I’ll give you this much: Why don’t you hedge your bets by suppressing them to cover your movements?”
Suppressing fire… Hey, isn’t that the thing that soldiers are always screaming to each other in movies about? “Suppressing them?”
“The reason they even had a chance of hitting you was that you just moved like a bunch of silhouette targets. It’s not that hard to drill the exact same spot on a paper target… At least, until the target starts shooting back. Get what I mean?”
“Ooooh. Yeah, that makes sense, why didn’t I think of that earlier?”
“Because you’re a rook. A stupid rook.”
“Oh, fuck off.”
Griffin snickers over the comms.
“Okay, boys, here’s the new plan: You two run to that barricade and I’ll see about keeping their heads down, and then you two do the same while I follow you.”
“Makes sense. Ready!”
“Let’s go!”
We move out of the alleyway, but I stay to open fire on the enemies, quickly sweeping my muzzle between them. It’s almost miraculous how I don’t get hit; some of the enemies even started blind-firing around the barricades, their rounds going wide by entire feet.
“We’re here, get moving!” My grunts start firing, nailing two of the enemies before they can shift cover to avoid being flanked. I run over to the barricade, ducking behind it. I peer around it, taking a shot before my gun stopped recoiling. I snap back behind cover, slapping the magazine release as the mag clatters to the concrete. I grab another mag from my LBV, pressing it into the magwell. There was one problem: It didn’t fit. I compare my new mag to the one on the floor, and they’re definitely the same fit, but the magazine just wouldn’t go into the magwell as I tried to get it to fit in.
“Shit, this is embarrassing, but… how do you reload this thing?”
The man to my right glanced at me almost confusingly, before ejecting his magazine, fumbling with his LBV’s pouch before awkwardly extracting it. He then flips his mag so that the bullets face up, before taking the front rim and hooking it against the magwell, and swinging it backwards so that it went in with an authoritative click. My jaw dropped.
Quite frankly, I would’ve found the sheer clumsiness and slow pace of his reload astounding, if I wasn’t absolutely disgusted by how fucked that magazine insertion system is. My hand shaking, I repeat the grunt’s movement and confirm for myself that that’s how it worked.
Shuddering, I rack the bolt and turn my attention back to the firefight. I pop out of cover and fire a burst, then duck away when an enemy pops out in turn. We collectively continue this peek-a-boo game for a little while before I get an idea. Flicking the selector switch to semi-auto, I lean around cover and settle my sights. It only takes a few shots before I take out one of them peeking out, and then I focus on the others, taking one in the head and blasting another’s hand as they blindfire around the barricade, having seen their friend’s fate. He screams, and somehow we can hear him even all the way on our side of the barricade.
“He’s open. CHARGE!”
We storm around our barricade, and I let the grunts take point. He goes for the pistol on the ground with his other hand, but the grunt up front rams his muzzle into the suspect’s head, sending him to the floor immediately.
“My, my. You managed to follow simple instructions. Such a triumph for you!”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m new to this shit.”
“And I have to say, that little charge at the end? Quite bold, and arguably foolish, but I like your spirit, recruit.”
“Hah. Thank you, I guess. Are we done here?”
“Actually, yes. All that’s left for you now is to get accustomed to your new base.”
“Wait, I get a BASE!?”
The mission completion scene opens.
Firefight/Unit Tactics Tutorial: Mission Complete! Reward acquired: 1x Assorted Backup Pistol Ordnance Box Next Missions Available: [Headquarters Tutorial] [Continue Wandering] [Exit Level]