Cloud Invictus

Victus
Eisenhower High School

I gunned the throttle on the Ducati, Luna hanging on, left arm around my waist, right arm holding an AR-15. Felix led the pack on his Harley, I always liked his bike more than the one he was making for me. But it was a gift so I couldn't complain.

He reached behind his main hip holster and pulled out a single barrelled grenade launcher. He fired once at the closed gate, knocking it wide open. The fifty-cal on the Jeep that Felix had brought took out the sentries along the wall, with ease. We saw a flare shoot towards the night sky, showing us exactly where our friendlies were positioned. Not only that, but the eruption of gunfire gave us a good indication as to where they were. Luna slapped my shoulder and pointed, revealing hostiles filing out of a classroom-like building.

I cranked the throttle, gunning it towards the flare. Felix broke off towards the classrooms, half of his unit following him. I hit a hard left bringing the bike to a grinding halt. "Push in!" I yelled. A group of students from Reagan, along with Luna, Ryan, Jai, Ribbons and Sprig had joined us. We spotted movement towards the fence, and several opened fire.

"Keep overwatch!" Sprig yelled, running towards the two we had spotted. They did not return fire, so he reached their position unscathed. I drew the handgun Felix had given me, a Colt 1911 that he had painted himself, a step up from the Glock, which I now carried as a backup. I approached Sprig, surprised at what I saw.

"We've got friendlies!" I yelled, hugging Stephanie. "How did you make it out?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the man accompanying her. "I helped her, and her friend," he extended his hand, "I am Doctor Hal Bannon."

I nodded to him, "Jai, get him to safety," I motioned towards Steph, "let's go."

She held a handgun, smiling, "I was worried you'd leave me out of this." She pulled the slide back, ready. "Let's get these assholes."

We got in formation and proceeded towards the gunfire. A squad of Rangers walked out of the closest door, not seeing us. I slammed myself against the closest possible wall, shots snapping from the soldiers' rifles. Once they were all present we popped out, gunning them all down. We were coming up on the west side of the main building, the building that the flare was shot from. "Luna, take overwatch, I'm rendezvousing with the infiltration team." Luna propped her rifle up on a bench and provided covering fire for the rest of the unit.

I reached the roof, yelling "Friendlies on your nine!" As I ran. I was met with guns raised, but quickly lowered. "Where's Cloud?!" I yelled to one survivor.

"They got him and Major Dawes pinned!" The man pointed to their position, barely avoiding the line of fire, before returning to his post, firing away.

"Shit!" I yelled. I fired upon the group of soldiers firing on Cloud's position. I sprinted towards their position, priming the grenade in my hand. I arced it upward towards the upper floor, and dove into cover. I primed the flashbang grenade I hid in my vest and tossed it into the doorway. "Move!" I yelled to Cloud and the man he was hiding with. We all ran into the hallway, firing on the countless personnel lining it and quickly turning back to make sure there were none left. When we saw that it was clear, I quickly pulled Cloud into a hug-handshake combo.

"You whole?" Cloud asked. "Must not have been easy getting here."

I nodded, "yeah, you?"

He nodded, "Let's move, I need to detonate these charges."

I smirked, "You wired this school," I pulled a detonator from my pocket, "We wired ours."

Cloud smiled, pulling the detonator out of his pocket, seeing that it was smashed beyond use. Felix and Ribbons entered the room, weapons raised. "We need to go!" He yelled, firing into the night.