War of Elysium

Chapter Five: The Soldier

        His armour had grown tight. He needed to spend less time lifting weights or he would start to slow down. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and adjusted his gloves for the third time. Daphi would be ready to drop him soon, he had to be ready. He checked his shoe laces, they were fine. His rifle was fine. Little-man, his heirloom pistol, was loaded. He needed a haircut. It could get in the way if it grew any longer.
"You've got this, Reese." Lara whispered. She was sat across from him as always. He nodded. He knew he would make it, that never alleviated the nerves though. He had been on much riskier missions than this during the Queen's Rebellion and came out unharmed. "Well, mostly unharmed." He thought as he glanced at his right arm nestled within its glove. He knew the plan. He trusted his squad. He was ready. 

Drop would be soon. They had waited till dark, not that it mattered. It was a full moon. They would see him from a mile out; it was almost as bad as attacking in broad daylight. They couldn't wait, however. Lazlow was here and that meant something. He could be inspecting the device or he could be preparing to transport it to Hypatia, well out of reach. It had to be now. "Check me." He told Lara. She did. She tried to pull his armour down but it didn't budge, good. She routed through his pack. "No carabiners." She said, handing him a small pack of three clips from her belt and he slotted it into his pack. "Ready?" She asked. 
"Ready. Wish me luck, kid." He responded.
"Shouldn't need it."
"Couldn't hurt to have it though." 

The door slid open and the smell of pine and grass flooded in. It reminded him of home. The little cabin in the woods that he, Serah and Lara used to live in. The inch of paradise on Earth. "Just a day from paradise, hey kid?" He said as he stepped out. She laughed. The phrase was a common one for Raptor, almost a prayer but the time for praying was over. 

        The snow crunched underfoot. He would need to tread lighter. He ran forth. Stage one of the plan, Lara would take out the elite guard from the cliff. Reese would destroy the anti-air defences so that Archi could launch an assault. All he needed to wait on was the distraction.

Ten, thirty, ninety round flew into the base. The guards ran together to the main entrance to see where the shots came from. Reese wished he could see their faces, the horror and confusion upon realising there was a colossal German man holding an oversized machine gun launching a one man assault on the base. 
They left the far wall unmanned, ametures. He slipped through the fence and hid beneath a tank. He didn't have much time, Garrison would be overwhelmed without air support. He planted a small sticky sack within the tanks treads, just behind the armour panelling, and moved on. The first problem of the day, three guards on the turret. He could take two easily but the third would see and alert the others before he could get to him. Reese thought to himself and searched for an opportunity until he realised - a laser was being pointed at him.
It came from the cliff. Lara. She was signaling him. She would take the third. He pointed at the furthest guard and the laser disappeared. 
A blade was drawn and a corpse created. His friend didn't even see. Reese moved on to the second man just as a shot rang out and got the third. The guard panicked and span around before being met with the same blade to his throat. Reese had used the man's own momentum against him. 

The bomb was planted and he moved on. 

Three more guards and a dog. The guards were dispersed, easy. The dog could be distracted, hopefully. He ran as quick as he could at them. They didn't hear him coming. He jumped and landed a knee to the back of the first guard's head. She fell flat. He fired two silenced rounds and killed the second guard. A final shot finished the third but the dog managed to dive Reese and he was knocked onto his back. The dog grew fierce. It clawed and gnashed away. It was well trained and jumped straight for his jugular. Reese managed to get his right arm in the way and the dog clamped down, hard. The first guard rose up and readied her rifle but was swiftly stopped by a shot from afar. Lara was still watching over him. He pulled his blade and thrust it into the hound's neck. It was a quick death. The next bomb was placed to destroy both remaining anti-air guns. He prepared to detonate.