Viper 1-1, on standby.

39: Takedown

The sound of the 'copter was the only thing keeping the ride from complete silence. My brother sat adjacent to me, and I watched as he examined the landscape from the helicopter door. I looked at Mozzie and Gridlock, seeing Mozzie resting and Gridlock just sitting. The silence was almost more suffocating than calming for me, and I decided to put on my helmet and play 'The Search' By NF, which acted as a calming pill for me. My leg was jittering up and down, and I wondered whether or not it was being a nuisance to the others in the helicopter, and stopped. We sat in silence for a few minutes until I heard the pilot speak. Mozzie and Gridlock were dropped off a few klicks behind before anyone spoke. Me, my brother, and the pilot were the only ones in the helicopter.

RAAF: "Mates, we're five klicks out." He got no response, after all, one wasn't needed. We continued to sit in silence until we reached the AO, and we began roping down.

Rattlesnake: "Hey, John." I nodded, letting him know he had my attention. "Put on that song- The one with NF, Remember This."

"Gotcha," I responded as he checked his magazine. As the song came on over the speakers, me and Charlie both fist-bumped.

Mozzie: (Radio) "Alright, you guys see that bulge to your left? You might need to use binoculars."

"I see it Mozz, big 'ol factory, yea?"

Mozzie: "That's it. Brynes, go attack the right side, me and Gridlock will come in from the left. Keep it quiet."

"Gotcha Mozzie." I turned my attention to Charlie. "Hey, let's kill this bastard. For Mum."

Rattlesnake: "Let's fuck him up."

We moved toward the base and took out all the Masks that were standing guard.

"Stack up." Once we were stacked, I provided a count with my fingers and opened the door, spotting two Masks that were chatting. They both took a bullet before they could even get a word out. The room had a door to the left, which I and my brother continued into. The five hostiles inside the room were all standing guard on the stairs, defending the double door. We took out three of them and then used our cloaks to neutralize the other two. We got ready to breach the double door.

"Alright, one, two, th-" The double door opened away from us, and in front of us was a terrorist dressed unlike the Masks we had seen; His gear consisted of a large mask that sported an anarchy symbol and a large bulky armored suit which was colored with a black-yellow pattern. I tried shooting him in the head until the bullet ricocheted off his helmet, instead hitting the door next to him. He jumped at me, then he pulled out a knife and tried stabbing me in the neck. I grabbed his wrist and redirected the knife toward his neck, slitting it and watching as the blood spurt out. My brother took out the two Masks standing over the table, but as he moved in, was met by an armored suicide bomber.

"No!" I yelled as the bomber ran towards my brother. As I reached for my sidearm, I braced for the explosion, waiting to hear a large boom, but instead heard an empty click. The bomber gear had jammed. I quickly shot him in the head, baffled at the technological failure. I got back up, knowing the ruckus must've alerted at least one person.

"Check the bodies," I told my brother. I still had chills going up my spine from the close call and began searching for the HVT.

Rattlesnake: "No good."

"He wasn't here," I said as an alarm started blaring throughout the building. "Oh, crap. On me!" We began searching through the building for the roof and dashed up the stairs until being met with heavy resistance. I chucked a grenade up there, which sent the Masks and Radioactive agents flying over the stairs. We moved up and saw a helicopter picking up a man in a black mask, it had to be our HVT. I began shooting at him until my gun just went up in the air, only hitting the body of the helicopter. I felt a punch in my gut, and flipped on my thermal vision, revealing an invisible man. The man was assisted by two Masks, who were holding my brother back. Charlie managed to get out of their grip as the invisible man was on top of me, trying to drive a knife into my chest. The knife grazed my body as the invisible man was sent flying by my brother, who had slammed into his body. I began getting up and got ready to shoot at the HVT until I heard a groan from my left-hand side.

Rattlesnake: "Fuck!" He wheezed out as I saw a knife be driven into his chest. I took my gun off of the HVT and shot the invisible man, watching as blood began spurting out of the air. I climbed atop the man and shot him in the head before looking back at the helicopter, which had a large separation from me. I took a shot anyway, hoping to hit the HVT, the pilot, or someone, but missed. I got taken down by another invisible man, who then took a knife to the head from my brother. The sound of footsteps running up the stairs took my attention as I got up and had my gun meet the head of a short Australian who had just made it up the steps. Realizing Mozzie, I put my gun barrel towards the bottom of the stairs, ready for Masks to flood the stairwell.

Mozzie: "Viper, your brother!" I acknowledged his remark and looked at my brother, seeing him lying on the ground, bleeding profusely. He had a bullet wound in his chest as well as a knife wound that had been driven deep. I instantly ran to my brother's aide and tried to help him up. His groans led me to let him back down, and we just looked at each other. I took off his helmet and looked at his face. I took mine off as well, and we stared at each other, accepting the situation.

"Shit..." I muttered. My brother grabbed onto my shoulder, his shaky hand finding a balance point on it.

Charlie: "You know that Canadian chick you're dating?" He strained out the last word.

"Yeah... What about it?"

Charlie: "When you have a child, name him after me, yeah?" My mouth opened to tell him I probably wouldn't have children, but he was about to die, so I bit my tongue.

"I will. Definitely." I lied while biting my tongue. I was lying to my brother while he died in my arms. I seethed my teeth as I watched my brother's teeth grit. We hugged as he breathed his final breath, and I kept hugging his corpse.

Mozzie: "Fuck..." Mozzie said as he watched me and Charlie. I let Charlie's corpse fall out of my hands and began walking downstairs, my invisibility flickering due to my code where if my heartbeat hit more than one hundred beats per minute, it would flicker. I didn't bother to turn the code off as I walked into a room holding multiple white Masks, and I felt the grip on my knife get tighter. I stabbed the first mask I saw, driving my knife deep into his chest, then pulled it out, jumping onto a mask that was nearby, repeatedly stabbing him in the chest. I grabbed my pistol and released my knife, leaving it wobbly resting on the Mask's bloody clothes. I walked up to a Mask and shot him in the head, and then grabbed his handgun and shot the last mask. I let the Mask's body fall from my grip as I looked towards the stairs. Both Mozzie and Gridlock stood there. Judging by their reaction, they watched the whole endeavor.

We all silently agreed not to speak of what had happened and began clearing out rooms one by one. I took points for every room, but unfortunately, there were no masks remaining. I couldn't bear to see my brother's corpse again, so Mozzie and Gridlock had to get my brother's corpse. Mozzie called for evac when we were finished, and when we got to the LZ, we all silently sat. The silence felt suffocating, but I wasn't in the mood to start a conversation. It was only when I tried putting some music on that I noticed my hand shaking. I clenched my fists to keep them still.

Eventually, the helicopter got to the LZ, and we all got on, Mozzie telling the pilot to be silent. My brother's corpse lay in the middle of the 'copter, and I wouldn't open my eyes for a second. The entire ride was as silent, if not more silent than the initial trip. Only one thing was on my mind as we flew to the airbase; Revenge.

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