Jessica

They moved quickly through the streets, between houses, and down alleyways heading towards the center of the city. Jessica kept her pistol ready in one hand, and her casting rod in the other. It had been the piece of magical gear she had been given for this mission, and it gave her the ability to cast spells with a 50% decrease in cool down.

Of course the rod only would attune to one spell at a time, and it took a good fifteen minutes or more to change it.

Her role here was straightforward. Watch for magical attacks, and be the mobile artillery unit if they run into anything too heavy for rifles, grenades, and a few pounds of C-4 to handle. If she had to use her side arm, someone else would have screwed up. Badly.

They came to a large double door that led into the central part of a rather large apartment complex. Max and the point men opened them quietly, and made their way through.

A few civilians, mainly women and children were sent scattering back into their apartments as they moved through the building.

Shit Max, why did you choose this way? She thought angrily. We’re just putting more people in the line of fire.

Of course she knew the reason. This was the quickest way to the objective, that offered the least opportunity for them to run head first into an enemy patrol or armored column. It increased the risk of civilian casualties should a fire fight break out, but it also decreased the potential for one even starting.

It was a trade off, one they had all been trained to make and Jessica found herself growing more accustomed too as time went on. I wonder what that says about me?

She shook off the doubt, now was not the time for it. If a fire fight broke out, she’d just have to do her best to keep minimize the danger to the people around them.

Don’t worry mom, I’ll help. Jessica fought a smile as the voice of her dragon-parrot familiar sang clearly in her mind.

Thank you Peep. It felt good to her to know that the little dragon guy had her back. He made a little happy sound, almost like the purring of a cat that only she could hear, as he squeezed her shoulder a little. Just enough for her to know he returned the sentiment.

She moved through the complex quickly, and when she reached the far side she felt a tension in her gut disappear. They made it through without triggering an ambush, or firefight. That alone was a victory of a kind.

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Like when we fought those chimera around all those civilians. Do you remember that mom?

She most certainly did. Her team had been . . .

Something moved in one of the windows along the street. She raised her rod and sidearm towards it as she would if the rod were a flashlight. Bracing her weapon against her other wrist. “Movement. Left side, second story window three buildings down.”

Two rifleman trained on the location as soon as she spoke. A moment later someone leaned out the window with an RPG pointed directly at them. The rifles barked, but she conserved her amo. Focusing instead on the rod, and the spell she was ready to cast at a moments notice. The militia man didn’t pull the trigger, but several other enemies appeared from different locations down the alley weapons ready.

“Shield!” Max ordered, but she was already casting. Half a heartbeat later a blue and purple shield erupted along side their squad. It wouldn’t be strong enough to withstand repeated RPG hits, not without the staff of shielding she had used the night before against the artillery barrage. But it should be enough to deflect the attacks away from their squad. At least, she hoped it would be.

Two RPG’s launched, as half a dozen attackers fell dead to their return fire. One went wild, rocketing into the sky and disappearing further into the city. The second impacted her shield.

Jessica’s vision swam, as she pushed nearly all of her personal, un-augmented mana pool into the shield to reinforce it just before impact. And she was glad she did.

Shield Points Remaining: 13 / 250

The explosion created a riot of colors along her shield, as the barrier deflected the molten metal of the RPG’s cone away from them, and the internal explosives consumed the area on the other side of the shield. A moment later the attack was over, the enemies were dead, and her shield still held.

Barely.

“Anyone injured?” Max asked, and everyone checked in. No one was injured.

“Nearly out of mana. Downing a restorative.” Her squad back in the states would have used the term potion, but here among the other soldiers, the term sounded odd. Restorative sounded more military, somehow. When she was done she gave Max a thumbs up and they were ready to go.

They continued on, turning and twisting through side streets until they came to a wide open park, at the heart of which was a squat, yet sprawling complex.

“This is where the target was last spotted. He frequents this complex daily at about this time. We breach, and start clearing. Room by room until we find this jackass. We tag and bag, then get the hell out of there.”

“What about our people?” Jessica couldn’t stop herself from saying it. But her friend had been captured, and she’d be damned if she'd just leave Isaka at the hands of whatever brutes and monsters followed the General.

“That’s the Rangers job. They’re scheduled to come in just as we’re exfilling. They’ll take the compound, find our people and get them out. Our job is to cut the head off the snake.”

She didn’t like it, but everyone had their part to play.