Max

Max’s shoulder twitched where the spearman had stabbed him. It wasn’t painful, but ever since the dual the other night he kept having random spasms in the muscle there. He didn’t know if it was something in his head, or if the System had put him back together wrong.

He ignored the feeling refocusing on the task at hand. The building sprawled north and south along the city's main park. It was low built, and he suspected at least part of it was built down into the ground.

“There. We enter there.” Max pointed out the small set of doors near their position. It looked like a service entrance, the doors were metal, but largely unguarded. According to intel from the helos overhead, patrols ran by the position every few half hour. The last one had just happened, giving Max and his people a golden opportunity.

The NCO, the grizzled sergeant he had spared with earlier, agreed with his assessment and a few moments later the squad was ready to go. The NCO took point, placing Max near the rear of the squad. Which gave him the excuse and opportunity to check on Jessica.

His niece was strong, but she was also young. At her age, he had just joined the corp and was finishing up basic training. But she had over a year of experience in the field back in the US. Fighting rouge spell casters, protecting humanitarian efforts, and taking down monsters both human and magical. She was experienced, far more so then he had been a year into signing up.

I suppose societal collapse and damn near civil war will do that too you, he thought bitterly. “You alright? You look pale.”

Jessica smiled wanly. “I’m alright. Just low on mana. Nearly spent it all on that barrier. Still don’t know why I wasn’t allowed to bring the staff.”

“That staff is a strategic weapon. We’re playing on the tactical level now. Besides, you're not the only spell caster here.”

“No?” Jessica’s eyebrows rose. “Who?”

“The medic. His file says he’s got some healing stuff up his sleeve. Then there's me.” he winked at her, but before she could respond the group was on the move.

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One fire team stayed back, covering the movement of the first. Watching for snipers, or enemy militia looking to ambush them while they were out in the open. Thankfully, nothing happened. The first fire team turned and returned the favor.

Max ran following behind several others, Jessica behind him. He kept his rifle tight to his shoulder as she scanned his corners, but he never stopped moving. There was some movement in the north, near the far end of the compound. Some militia were assembling there. But no one spotted them, or if they did recognize them as the people causing the havoc in seemingly random parts of town.

The door was unlocked, allowing them entrance. But what they found made Max hesitate. The place wasn’t just partially buried under the ground. It was built to inhuman proportions. And the smell of wet dog permeated the place.

“Clear forward” he ordered using hand signals universal to all service branches. The first fireteam moved forward, and turned a corner. After a moment frozen at the turn, the corporal in charge of fire team one returned.

“Bogies. Big ones. They look like werewolves or something sir.” The corporal whispered directly into his ear.

“Crap. Okay, pull your men back. We need to do some recon.” Max looked around and found a room off to the side that didn’t have a door. He motioned for his team to follow him, and he entered clearing the room.

It was a small apartment, built to odd sizes. A stack of three stained mattresses were piled in a corner, and a crock pot was left to cool over a dead fire pit. It didn’t take long to secure the room, and get his people inside. They barred the entrance with some discarded and broken furniture, trying to make it look like the place was a dump.

Once they had guards watching the hallway Max, the Sergeant, and Jessica huddled up with the two corporals.

“Jenkins, you take your team to recon the next hallway. Intel suggested the general was in the basement of this building, so look for a cellar.”

“Roger that.” Jenkins left, taking his fireteam with him.

“Jessica, can you see about mapping this place using Peep? If Jenkins and his people hit any kind of resistance they’ll need to fall back here, and we’ll all need to get out of here in a hurry. But we can’t lose this opportunity. If Peep can get us eyes on the target, we can level the part of the complex he’s in with the helos.”

“Yes sir.” She looked uncomfortable with the idea. And truth be told Max didn’t like it either. The chance at collateral damage, or civilian casualties was higher with that kind of strike. But the US military had learned the hard way that if you let a bad guy go because you’re afraid of what might happen, they’d just keep doing terrible shit. And the entire time they’d be out there causing all that damage, you’d be sitting home knowing you could have, should have stopped them.

Better to kill hitler before he finishes taking over France, Max thought, as he and the sergeant left Jessica to her work. They needed to guard the perimeter, and hope that they didn’t need to fall back on that last resort.