Operation: Crimson Space

First strikes

Arkady's pov
       I crouched next to the small bush looking at the decrepit building, I heard my second in command Sergeant Volkov, "so who goes to knock?" I glanced over my shoulder and saw the rest of our small team  and Team Rainbow staring at me, I replied "I think it would be rude if us Ukrainians didn't welcome our guests to our country, don't you agree?" I saw my team smile before I looked at the Team Rainbow leader "Thermite, you guys follow us in" he nodded "Wilco Kasper, we're on you" I stood up and started quickly across the street, I stopped 15 meters down the wall from the door, I looked behind me "Javelin, bring up Yelena." She nodded and brought the dog up past our stack bringing her to the door having her check for IEDs. I heard Maverick "what's she doin'?" I replied quietly "the masks have learned our strategies, we've lost teams because they put IEDs in the doorway and detonate them when we enter" he shivered before I heard Javelin on comms "we're clear, yelena isn't hitting off anything" I nodded and gave the move up signal as Javelin moved away from the door as both of our teams took up positions on either side of the door.
I pressed a charge of c2 against the door handle and heard footsteps on the far side of the door, I got the good to go squeeze and hit the clacker feeling the force of the detonation, I lifted my 416 and sidestepped into the doorway seeing a mask on the floor holding his head I fired a short burst into his chest before pushing deeper into the room, I saw stairs heading to the next floor as I radioed "thermite bring your team and clear the second deck, we'll tidy this up" he replied quickly "rog'" as I leaned around the corner seeing a mask aiming at me, I fell to the ground as round ripped past my ear. I responded by firing a long burst hitting her in the throat and upper chest, my ears ringed slightly as Volkov pulled me to my feet he asked "you alright?" I nodded blinking away the pain before I asked "this floor secure?" My team nodded as Volkov said "looks like they're all holed up on higher floors" I answered "let's go meet the neighbors" before starting up the stair I radioed "Rainbow, be advised we're proceeding to the second deck"
      Zofia replied "check, we're clear. Rally up, moving to third deck" I chuckled softly mumbling "you poles, always picking fights" I heard Volkov "they move fast" then I heard Javelin "we'll have to pick up our pace then, won't we?" I ordered "Sabre team, let's show our friends what SSO does" we started up the staircase I gripped the dial on my blackout jammer and said "cutting the noise" as I turned it on and blocked all out going signals. When we reached Rainbow's team I heard Maverick "are your radios fucked too?" I replied "that's my doing, can't have them calling for help" as I walked past pulling up my 416. I heard Iana "last floor" I looked back as the last of my squad formed up, I heard Buck "let's hurry home yeah? I hear the coffee's still warm." I chuckled softly before pushing up the stairs leaning to my right seeing a mask's L86 aimed at me I fired before he had the chance as a PKM opened up causing my team to run to the tables in the room hunkering down trying to figure out how to deal with the heavy MG.
My team laughed as the heavy thumps and snaps of the high caliber rounds flew over our heads, I heard Iana "Kasper! Are you guys still up?!" I yelled back still laughing "These motherfuckers can't aim worth a shit!" The rainbow team laughed as the mask on the gun yelled "Fuck you! Fuck you Capitalist shills! Your governments don't care about you!" I heard Javelin "You'll make beautiful flowers when this is over!" We laughed some more before I yelled "Sabre Team! Line backer!" Volkov laughed viciously as Maverick asked "Linebacker? The fuck is linebacker!" I shook my head as Volkov pulled a flashbang from his plate carrier, javelin pulled her stuns as yelena got her orders to prepare for a bite. I flexed my hands on my pistol grip in anticipation before Volkov yelled "Now!" And both he and Javelin threw their non lethal while Yelena and I charged the gun as soon as they went off. I heard the mask go "what the fuck!?" before yelena latched onto his arm ripping him to the ground and I vaulted over the sandbags I pressed my foot on the masks fore arm as javelin and Volkov caught up to me.
I ordered "javelin, get yelena off of him. Volkov go bring Rainbow up" she grabbed yelena's vest and pulled her off the guy as she lunged for the mask again as I felt him jerk under my foot. I crouched and said "listen to me very carefully" I saw his eyes locked on yelena as she barked and lunged, I tapped him on the cheek "listen to me, you tell me why you lot chose this building. You tell me what your plan by dragging us out here, and you tell me where your boss is. You do all this, and I won't feed you to her" as I pointed to yelena. Javelin knowing what to do in this routine let yelena get an inch closer. The mask started shouting "we chose this place because it's easy to demo! They told us to take a small group and bring you guys here so the rest of the squad can wipe you out. I don't know! we get our orders by video! He's never around the outpost!" I nodded as Volkov and Rainbow reached us, Thermite asked "what're you doing with him?"
I glanced back and said "you guys want him? We got what we wanted out of him" Iana suggested "Maybe Caveira could get stuff out of him" thermite nodded and maverick said "well he'd definitely slow us down if we had to move" he seemed frightened as rainbow deliberated I ordered "Sabre team, pull security." My two moved to take up positions overlooking the darkness outside, it had started raining lowering our visibility with Night vision. I pulled the radio off the masks chest before crouching by the window that overlooked the street we had crossed, I reached down and turned off my blackout jammer and said "hear the noise" listening to the masks confer in confusion over the radio trying to figure out why the radios had stopped and started working so randomly. I chuckled softly before I heard "I haven't heard from the bait team since just after Rainbow attacked" followed closely by "I think it's time." I voiced the information "sounds like your friends are worried about you, they're coming to check in. Be a shame if they didn't make it up here yeah?" He looked frightened as Maverick and Iana took up positions near me, Zofia took up a position near Javelin and thermite zip tied the masks hands before taking up a position near Volkov.
We sat quickly listening to the rain pelt the through the broken windows and cracked concrete just for Iana to say "stepping into Gemini" before I turned and saw another.... Her. I looked on in curiosity for a second before returning my eyes to the street and saying "don't know what the fuck that was" just for Iana to appear in the street. The masks opened fire certain they were hitting Iana herself, I watched the tracers rip through the hologram before it disappeared. I watched in amazement, the tech Rainbow had developed were miles ahead of anything I've seen. The masks were heard on the radio talking in confusion, they couldn't believe their eyes. "How did someone we shoot just disappear like that?" I chuckled softly before a round snapped through the window infront of my face. My laughs fell silent as I held my fire, I heard Maverick "are we shooting back?" I replied quickly "no, they don't know where we are. they're trying to draw us out" we sat quietly for a couple minutes before I heard on the radio "Team 1, move in."
I looked at maverick "show time" he smiled as I stood slowly and watched the first group of 6 start their move across the road, I heard Iana "clear?" I replied by pulling the trigger causing the mask in the front to fall and the rest of the fire team to open fire on the mask team. They tried running back to concealment but they had reached the halfway point, too far to run back to the mask positions. I reloaded, slapping the magazine lock before I turned the jammer back on, I said "hard to attack when you can't talk?" the masks must've realized they wouldn't be able to make it across the street without taking at least a couple of us out before making their move. Muzzle flashed ripped from the darkness as the masks fired at us, all we could do was shoot at the muzzle flashes and the shadows moving in the hazy darkness. I was ripping through ammo, trying my hardest to expel this plague from my country. I saw what looked like a bright star coming from the forest only for me to realize it was a rocket, I quickly grabbed Iana and Maverick and threw the back into the room as I yelled "RPG!" causing the rest of the team to fall back away from the wall.
I fell as the blast took out the wall and shook the old building, silently I feared the building would come down but it held as I coughed "Everyone up?" Thermite yelled "we're good over here, no casualties" Maverick replied "We're good here" I looked behind me and saw the huge hole where Iana and I had just been, I shiver slightly at the thought about what would've happened if we were still there when it hit. Zofia suggested "we should move down a level, we have no cover" I nodded agreeing as we slowly worked our way down the stair case only for rounds to rip through the window going between Volkov and myself causing all of us to find some semblance of cover before I returned fire just trying to keep heads down as I yelled "Keep going! We need to get the fuck out of this staircase!" I felt the team move past before Javelin tapped my shoulder and I spun running down the staircase.
When we got to the second flow I heard "Rainbow down!" I sighed someone on Rainbow's team had been hit, had they died? Had they just been grazed? Was it a sucking chest wound? I didn't know but I did know the Zofia would handle it and I needed to figure out a way to get this gunfight moving. I sighed as I tried to work out Mask positions, they had taken up hiding places on destroyed buildings and rubble from past wars we never got to rebuilding. This used to be a bustling economic center, now it was a city of rubble with people scavenging to survive, I couldn't help but wonder how long it would take before Ukraine could build back. We fired back and forth working our way through the building trying to get to the back door so we could slip out and fade into the rubble. I eventually found out Iana had taken a round to her leg, she could walk on it but it would be slow. I came up with the solution "thermite" he replied without looking over as he fired "yea?" I said "my team will hold them, pull your team back to the extraction." He looked at me shocked saying "that's a damn good chance of not making it out alive."
I yelled "Sabre! We hold them here! Thermite, you guys need to leave! now!" He sighed before looping Iana's arm around his neck supporting her as they moved past me I heard Iana "Thank you Kasper, you're a brave man" I smiled to myself saying "go! This is the hosts problem" as I saw the rest of rainbow slip out the back door. I heard Volkov "so is this how it ends?" I laughed as Javelin said "no, never. We kill them all, just like in always" I chuckled as we tore through ammo stacking Masks as they pushed through the choke point of the door frame. We had set this up perfectly, the masks had no choice but to try to force their way through the doorway or give up, and the masks never gave up when it came to us. I heard one mask, I almost recognized his voice as he yelled "Kasper! That jammer of yours is giving us a headache, do us a favor and turn it off yea?" I yelled back "god no, you're gonna have to work for this. Can't make it too easy." The gunfight ensued for another hour before I heard thermite "Kasper, we're at the vehicles. Just waiting for you" I looked at the team and said "time to go" as I pulled a frag grenade from my belt pulled the pin and threw it at the doorway before we turned and started running.