Operation Hades

Ghost in the Wind

Acheron huddled down in the shadows of an alleyway, out of sight and out of mind. On his heads-up display, he opened the TacMap application. Upon access, a hard blue three dimensional figure developed, with green figures representing what he assumed to be Zephyr and the members of shield team scattered about the nearby clusters of buildings. Zephyr and Lyle were both alone, but Anika and Kerrigan were searching together.

A cold gust nipped the end of his nose, and he snapped back to the normal display. Instinctively he rubbed the cold area, watching as snow was kicked up from the breeze. Upon closer thought, he realized that the wind was constantly picking up. He figured a storm was brewing, which was good for at least him. He cordially informed the other members through the TacCom, "Storm's picking up. I can use it as good cover for some forward recon."

The other members of the party quickly acknowledged him, while Zephyr added, "If any of you've got thermal optics, I'd switch to 'em."

Acheron's assumption was correct. In a simple matter of minutes, the winds were howling and the air was blanketed by a thick layer of snow. If anyone were to see him, he'd have to be in extremely close proximity. On his Tacmap, he brought up an overview of the town. There were several larger patches where the outlines were purple rather than a solid blue; these were areas that held an unorthodox amount of active radio waves. If the enemy was anywhere, it'd be in these areas. Acheron quickly plotted a route through the maze of buildings, and by the end he realized he'd end up in a mixed residential area.

At an heightened pace, he stalked through the blizzard like a ghost. Not a single trace was left of his advancement. In a matter of minutes he was upon the high-frequency zone. Upon coming to a larger, open road, he dropped to a prone position on the side. Although the darker color of his armor did little to camouflage him, the storm was doing a fine job of it. He lit up his thermal display, and struck gold. The figures of three men appeared as the function progressively lit up, and they were all holding assault rifles. Acheron focused upon the rifles, and a line of subtext generated nearby, confirming his suspicion of it being an AVD, along with the caliber and status of the weapon. He blinked, and the text left his view. He sought out behind the figures, and only caught momentary blurs and bare traces of heat signatures. He wasn't able to pinpoint where the other enemies were, but there was definitely a lot more than just these guys. A snap judgement in his head told him that he was going to have to take out an enemy and download the data from his TacMap, so they could pinpoint the enemy and their objective.

Once more Acheron checked his own TacMap, marking the enemy positions and tracking back to his old position. He was merely half a kilometer from the team, who were still actively searching for survivors. After a momentary pause, Zephyr and Lyle's acknowledgment lights lit up on learning his current status, to which Acheron only muttered, "Going to retrieve some intel. Give me a few."

"Happy hunting, Lieutenant," Kerrigan jokingly responded. Acheron simply shrugged it off, rather than admonishing him about the old title. To steel his nerves, he took one last deep, drawn out breath. With another blink, he switched his display to mixed-thermal. With this, he could see most things actual colors unless they put out definite heat signatures. He stood, and making sure the keep out of their field of vision, which his HUD also predicted, made his way far around them. A few of the new targets came and went on his sides, but they were well out of his way. His TacMap continued to automatically mark these enemy signatures. The amount of opposition they were facing surprised even him. He'd just entered the enemy's supposed perimeter and he'd already passed a dozen men. He could only guess how many more there were, considering the size of the mixed-frequency zone.

After he'd passed into the next block, the road was cluttered with men idly standing by. Even though there was considerably more enemies, it'd be easier to slip by since they were probably more relaxed. They were talking amongst each other and most seemed to have their focus elsewhere, so Acheron took the opportunity to slip right through plain sight. He had to find a way to dispatch one of them in secret and then slip back out once he'd gotten the info he needed. Once he saw there was no one else in his path, he made a break directly towards a home that'd come up on his TacMap. By now he was plastered in snow and his face was freezing, so a short breather wouldn't be so bad. With ease, he silently went through the doorway, closing it behind him with a barely audible click.