(The Alps, Austria, March 2134)
Sean looked down at the night sky illuminated by stars, He and the cadets are suspended upside down on a 3-storied building, careful to ensure they are above the windows. They had hooked on to the rooftop with the ascension cables on their Exo-suits. This is the last exercise of the day
Now the 12 cadets are in an anti-terrorism simulation in Austria, preparing to breach in.
Sean is suspended in the air, standing on the walls, hand gripped tightly on his FN 5-7 pistol, turning on the under-barrel Surefire X400U weapon light, looking at the images in his HUD from the wall-penetrating radar
(2 hours ago)
Nanami briefed the cadets in a mission room.
"Scenario is 25 hostages being taken captive by 12 terrorists. UNSSD forces laid siege for a week, today's the 7th day. Negotiations have broken down, and the terrorists executed a hostage, hence, we are given the green light to breach in."
She then showed them the layout of the building, as well as the faces of 10 of the "terrorists", and the cadets memorised their faces as they had been trained in. The other 2 do not need to be memorised specifically, for they will be played by Nanami and Santos.
This is to ensure that they can immediately differentiate a "hostage" from a "terrorist". While the HUDs of their Exo-suits have automated facial recognition functions, such a skill is still a fundamental skill for all Special Forces operators, be it Tier 1 or Tier 2.
The cadets voted Carl and Sean respectively to be the commander and second in command.
(Present time)
The plan he and Carl came up with is to attack simultaneously. The team led by him and Carl respectively will abseil down from the roof top, breaching into the 2nd and 3rd floors.
The last group led by Clara is left in charge of the 1st floor, plan is to blow up and then ram the wall open using an armoured vehicle. They avoided entering from the door to prevent traps.
Erika, part of Clara's team, planted a breaching explosive onto the wall, then quickly retreating back to the blindspot she was hiding behind in. She gave a signal to Vera who is also suspended above, part of her, who then selected a flashbang grenade.
"Ready," said Carl through the radio.
Inside the armoured vehicle, Eddie grabbed the top hatch, ready to come out and shoot.
Albert, part of Sean's team, is suspended on the other side of the wall. He readied his MP5A5 submachine gun, looking down the Aimpoint T-2 red dot sight. Behind him is Vera, also readying herself, Sean is flanked by Louis behind him.
"Action!" ordered Carl.
His team and Sean's team activated the breaching spikes on the bottom of their boot armour, swooping down quickly, breaking their respective windows and stormed in.
Sean deployed his collapsible bulletproof shield, pointing his pistol forward, shielding himself and the rest of his section behind him. Louis aimed out his HK-416A5 rifle from behind Sean, advancing forward.
(1st floor)
An unfortunate "terrorist" standing behind the wall is blown into the air by the blast, he would have been killed if this was a real operation.
Before the remaining 4 at the 1st floor can react, an armoured vehicle charged inside through the big hole on the wall. Eddie opened the top hatch, aiming his Ultimax 100 MK9 machine gun.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" he yelled.
The "terrorists" still grabbed their guns anyway, prompting Eddie to shoot, eliminating one. Once the armoured vehicle is fully inside, Erika and Clara stepped out, using the vehicle's body as cover and shooting at the other 3 "terrorists". The "terrorists"' weapons are useless against the heavy armour of the vehicle, and are soon eliminated.
Clara deployed her bulletproof shield, leading her team to clear the first floor of hostiles. They advance forward, finding an armed man whom they recognised to be a "terrorist".
Clara directed her shield's lights onto him, blinding him with the bright flash of light.
"HANDS UP, ON THE FLOOR!" she warned, keeping her CZ P-07 pistol raised.
The "terrorist" complied, dropping his gun, Eddie then immediately kicked the gun away, while another cadet tackled him against the wall and searched him, before handcuffing and throwing him into the armoured car, while the others continued their advance.
(2nd floor)
Ariel and Carl's flashbangs exploded and they stormed in, clearing the floor.
"East wing, entered!" yelled Carl.
A "terrorist" appeared in his Aimpoint Micro T-2 red dot sight.
"CONTACT!" he yelled, firing his rifle.
"West wing, entered!" yelled Ariel.
A "terrorist" grabbed a "hostage", using her as a meat shield.
"STAY BACK!" yelled the "terrorist".
Ariel enveloped the head of the "terrorist" in the reticle of the 1.5x scope of her AUG A3 SF, pulling the trigger decisively, taking out the "terrorist". Another cadet then secured the "hostage".
(3rd floor)
Sean's team breached in, moving in CQB formation, both of the 2 sections attacking from the East and West are alert, keeping their eyes out for any ambushes.
And true enough, when Albert opened a door, he stared directly at 2 men.
Recognising one of them to be a "terrorist" while the other is a "hostage", Albert yelled at the other person to get down, then immediately pulling the trigger, shooting the other one before she grabbed her gun.
Sean's team then reached a big meeting room that is locked shut.
Louis deployed his battering ram, smashing the door open, immediately moving out of the way.
The cadets charged in, just in time so see 2 "terrorists" about to push hostages up to the door as meat shields. Sean forced one "terrorist" down onto a chair using his shield. He fired 2-point blank shots from his pistol. Louis opened fire and eliminated the last one.
"Many hostages are here," reported Louis, checking the rest of the people in the room.
He listened to the rest of the team's reports, he quickly counted how many hostages they have in the 3rd floor.
"Rats, there are 3 terrorists and 1 hostage unaccounted for," said Louis.
"Then they must be on level 2!" said Vera as she started evacuating the hostages
(2nd floor)
Carl's HK-416 is knocked out of his hands by the "terrorist". Carll then disarmed him, the 2 fought, going for each other's arms to ensure that they cannot use their sidearms. The "terrorist", however, managed to pull a flashbang, Carl knocked it out, the blast setting the carpeted floor on fire.
Carl continued his brawl, generating a giant block of ice and smashed it in the face of the "terrorist", taking advantage of his disoriented state, Karl grabbed a set of large handcuffs from his utility belt, handcuffing the "terrorist" 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…"
Carl released his grip, freezing the "hostile" 's feet to the ground as a precaution, he then yanked the mask off, revealing Santos.
He smiled, taking out the handcuff key. "How about you tell me where are you other 2 friends and where is the last hostage? I will release you."
"Number 23," retorted the Santos. "I can't tell you that."
Carl laughed, dropping the key into the Santos' pant pocket. "Open it yourself then," he joked, recovering his guns, then firing a shot that eliminated Santos.
This is when he noticed the fire. The entire building is starting to be filled with smoke. While the built-in gas masks of the cadets are filtering out the smoke and the other harmful substances, the "hostages" moving down from the 3rd floor all started coughing.
"F***," cursed Carl. He waved at Sean's team and told them of the situation.
"We still need to find the other 2 "terrorists" and "hostage"," said Sean
But they need to evacuate the "hostages" quickly before the fire spreads. The "hostages" have become extremely chaotic and panicky, adding oil to the fire. As a theatre enthusiast, Sean is genuinely impressed at the acting skills of the instructors role-playing as "hostages".
Nonetheless, it's now a race against time.
They quickly adjusted, Louis, Carl, Sean and Ariel to look for the remaining "terrorists" and "hostage" in the remainder of the 2nd floor, while the rest of them quickly evacuate the other "hostages". The 4 of them moved.
The 8 remaining cadets formed a human chain from the 2nd floor down the stairs, shouting to gain the attention of the "hostages", grabbing and passing them down the cadets as if they are parcels, almost literally throwing the "hostages". It is the fastest way.
In the meantime, Ariel and Sean chased a "terrorist" 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 "terrorist is waiting to ambush them in a corner. Ariel smirked, signalling to Sean to ready flashbangs.
Nanami aimed her AK-102 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. Sean aimed his SCAR-H rifle 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.
Carl and Louis entered into the room, surprised to find Nanami there.
"Didn't expect our big boss to be shot up like this," joked Sean.
Carl 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."
Carl 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 Carl a lesson. "They are—"
"STOP!" interrupted Louis before Nanami can say another word. "What do you think you are doing?"
"Interrogation?" asked Carl.
"She's dead! You are cheating here!" reprimanded Louis.
Carl rolled his eyes. "Stubborn," he chided, leaving the room to find them. 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 with Louis.