Operation: healing arrow

Running the course

Apollo's pov
        I followed Eliza through the halls as Collinn and Erik talked, I listened to their current argument "you're gonna tell me I'm wrong?!" As Erik replied "I'm not telling you you're wrong, I'm telling you you're an idiot" Collinn countered "Yeah? Tell me this then, why do I always see you staring at my caprisun's when I get a new shipment" I listened as Erik yelled "You're a grown man and you get protective over fucking Capri sun!" I couldn't help myself and chuckled at the argument before Eliza said "why don't you just get 2 shipments of Capri sun and then you don't have to worry about it?" Collinn replied indignantly "because they're my damn Capri suns!" I replied with a question "Why are you getting this worked up over it?" He looked at me and said "you know exactly why!" I rolled my eyes before Eliza asked "so have you and collinn worked together before?" I nodded and said "we were on the protection detail together." Collinn voiced his joining of the conversation "yeah disciple was always the serious one, I think the only time I've seen him not serious is when we got him out on a weekend"
      Erik asked "why are you calling him disciple? We aren't on duty" I answered simply "I just prefer being called Disciple" he nodded and I heard Eliza "Disciple it is" as we continued our walk. A few minutes later, She asked "So how'd you get the nickname Disciple?" I started "well when I was on the president's pro-" I got cut off by collinn "he was so straight laced and serious all the time we started joking he was like one of God's disciples. The uh, the joke stuck and we started calling him The Disciple and our team leader decided that would be his callsign." I added on "plus I do like the nickname, got a nice weight to it" Eliza nodded as Collinn asked "wait, Erik you called him Staff Sergeant so does that mean he worked with you?" Erik nodded and said "he had reached Staff Sergeant by the time I first met him, I think the Unit was planning on making him an Officer before he retired." Eliza perked up at the information before asking "What was his callsign in Delta?" I replied curtly "Gunslinger" Erik nodded as Collinn commented "yeah Disciple sounds better"
      I chuckled as we reached the quarter master, I asked "do I need my rifle for this?" Eliza replied "that would be useful" I nodded and said "I'll be back" as I turned and jogged through the halls. I sighed and mentally marked that I'll need to iron my suit tonight. I stopped infront of my door and pulled out my keys to my door and unlocking it, I walked in and found the room the same as I left it. I walked over and grabbed my sr-16 and an extra magazine before sliding my sling over my head and across my chest. I walked out and began jogging back to where I had left the trio, I heard a voice to my right and glanced over seeing Taina 'Caveira' Pereira "Why do you have your gun?" I shrugged and replied "Eliza told me to grab it" she nodded before walking away, I watched her walking away before I shrugged and continued on my way back to the group. I walked in and saw the group standing around waiting for me to return. I pulled off my rifle and heard Eliza "ready?" I shrugged and said "of course"
I heard Collinn "ah this'll be good" as Erik nodded and Eliza explained the course for me "There's 4 different areas, phase one is standing, phase two is crouched, phase three is on the ground and phase four is through 4 murder holes all are laying on your back" I nodded before Collinn said "the current record is 15.72 seconds" I looked at him before I saw Eliza pull up a timer. I smirked and double checked my Sr16 and got into a ready position, Eliza asked "You ready?" I nodded with a smirk as I switched my rifle to semi and I heard the loud beep of the timer as I rushed forward hitting the first barricade, I leaned to my right and saw 3 targets. I reacted quickly firing 3 rounds center mass on each target before switching my hand placement and leaning to my left, I smirked as I fired a couple rounds into either of the targets before stepping around the barricade and rushing to the next one I slid against the wall and leaned around firing into the group of four targets before I rested my barrel against the murder hole in the middle.
       I pulled the trigger 4 times hitting the target in the head before I leaned to my left switching hands seeing the left was clear as I ran to the next barricade and dropped to prone rolling right firing into the single target I saw before I rolled back and checked through the two kill holes seeing nothing as I rolled to the left and aimed seeing 2 targets but only one had a weapon i shot the cardboard cut out before pushing to my feet and running to the next barricade while reloading as I laid down and rolled over onto my back before aiming and firing. The large group of enemies got massacred as I spotted the cut out without a rifle, I kicked my aim to the left making sure I missed before I rolled to my left making sure to stop on my back as I saw the barrel of a rifle on the target and I fired, I cleared my rifle to safe before I stood and quickly patted off my suit, I was less than pleased at the amount of dust on it.
I heard Eliza "15.73 seconds" I heard Collinn "I thought you were gonna beat the record" I waved him off as Erik said "Second place isn't bad for your first run of it" I replied "I'll get first eventually" Eliza asked "is your gear ready to go?" I nodded and asked "why?" She sighed and started to say something before stopping, Erik said "Liza, he needs to be filled in" she nodded as Collinn joked "oh boy, prepare for your world to change" and Eliza said "follow me" I looked at Collinn and got a nod before I turned and followed Eliza through the halls until we hit the Tactical Operations Center. Eliza lifted a key card which the guard took and checked before saying "Cleared" and we walked in. I saw a couple of the analysts and officers talking as my eyes traversed the sea of computer screens until I saw Eliza, Erik and Collinn stop at a lit up table. I walked forward and saw Eliza tapping on the table, I thought she was just being weird until a ton of pictures came up. I heard collinn "Disciple, I want you to meet the creatures of The Outbreak"
I looked over different pictures as I said "they look like people" Erik asked "Are you familiar with Cordyceps Militaris?" I asked in return "it's the zombie ant parasite right?" He nodded as said "The reason they look like people is because they are, The Outbreak was caused by a parasite from a Soviet Satellite returning from space." I nodded and said "as I suspected" Eliza stated "I bet you're wondering why I asked if your gears ready to go" I nodded and I heard Collinn "This'll be good" as she said while tapping on the table "We've been getting updates from NASA about another object they're tracking on its approach to earth, we sent one of our operators, Iana, to their headquarters so her gadget could be put to use. With her assistance we were able to identify it as a US probe, we're on alert for another potential Outbreak situation. All of us, we need to try to contain and exterminate this infection before the White Mask can weaponize it" I commented simply "that would be bad" I looked over as Collinn doubled over laughing, I heard Erik ask "what's so funny?"
      Collinn replied "Disciple is always so serious, and then he just says some shit like 'that would be bad' and it completely goes against his personality" I rolled my eyes as Eliza chuckled. I asked "So when is this probe gonna touch down?" Erik replied "The estimate is 2 days, we've been running trainings almost constantly trying to prepare for it. You being new is gonna throw a wrench in the system" I replied confidently "Don't worry about me slowing you down, you should know that" he nodded as Eliza said "Well we've got a training set for after chow tonight, we'll see just how much weight your words carry." I nodded at the challenge as I heard Harry on the intercom "All operators to the briefing center, all operators to the briefing center. Code black, Code Black" I heard Collinn "That's a problem" I asked "Code black?" Erik replied as we started jogging to the briefing center "A mission that requires all of us, something very bad just happened" I replied trying to get a fix on the situation "It couldn't be the probe.... Could it?" Collinn said being serious for once "it could be, it might also be the Masks. They've been doing more attacks"