All of You

Old Friend

Piers' attitude was one of the things that were starting to bug me. I didn't know not becoming Lieutenant for this mission was causing him to be irritable. I just didn't want him to lose focus on the mission and endanger himself. I really liked Piers, but if his attitude was going to continue, I might just snap at him. The other thing that was bugging me was that the other two groups were using the different routes that I had circled on the map during our ride to Edonia. I had updates on the radio of course, but there was nothing else that could tell me how they were doing. In my group, there were Chris, Piers, Finn, Ben, Carl, and Andy. If the traitor wasn't one of us, I had no way to keep an eye on him. I was sure that there were going to be deaths, so that would eliminate the chances of several people. I didn't want it to come to that, but as of now, I had no other choice. I quickly pushed the thought aside.

After Finn appeared with the APC, Chris, Piers and I had re-grouped with the other members. We were heading towards the bridge but were ambushed and the APC got busted by a landmine. We fought our way through and used another route to get to the bridge, but it was blocked by a wrecked train car. Lucky for us, Finn started on his explosives right away. Suddenly, more J'avos came and we had to stand our ground to give Finn cover. Piers had gone up to high ground to snipe while I was on the front lines. I wanted to provide cover from above, but the J'avos kept coming in from all directions and it seemed like they weren't stopping. When the J'avos got too close, I took out my knife and slashed them. I heard a body drop right behind me. Piers had shot at a J'avo which came too close at me. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to dodge that attack. I looked at Piers, but he remained focused on sniping. Then, Finn yelled for us to get to the train car. The brief opening allowed us to rush through before the J'avos could.

Just when we thought we could take a breather, we received a message from HQ saying that there was a man down on the lower part of the bridge. Snipers were told to provide assistance from a vantage point. Piers went on ahead. I was right behind him when the bridge suddenly collapsed. The rest of Alpha team had made it across, but Chris hadn't. Running towards the bridge, I was about to do something risky again.

I jumped. I prayed I would land on my feet and not cause the bridge to collapse faster. Chris was struggling to climb up. He had narrowly avoided an oncoming vehicle which almost crashed on top of him. I skilfully weaved my way up and offered Chris a hand. Finn looked at me in utter horror before heaving a sigh of relief. He immediately went to retrieve the injured soldier.

"Thanks," Chris panted, regaining his composure.

"I've got your back, Captain."

He nodded. We looked back at the collapsed bridge. There was no way for me to get back to the vantage point. Chris patted my shoulder and we moved on ahead. While Finn was rescuing the soldier, a tank emerged from the other end of the bridge. Both Chris and I didn't have the guns to take out the tank, but I spotted a fuel truck right next to the tank. However, we couldn't aim at the fuel truck without the tank and J'avos shooting at us. Chris ordered Piers to hit it, but from where Piers was, he couldn't get a clear shot unless we drew the tank out of its position.

"Cover me, Captain. I've got this."

I ran straight ahead. Chris helped to kill the J'avos on my trail. I shot a few rounds at the tank to get its attention. The tank moved forward and instantly, it was blown up. I was quick enough to avoid getting caught in the blast. Chris caught up with me.

"You okay?"

I nodded. Chris then told Piers and the others to regroup at the top of the bridge. We had to wait for Finn and the soldier to make their way towards us, but in the meantime, we had company. The J'avos were coming in from the air using parachutes. I made sure they couldn't land and shot them in the air.

"Enemy reinforcements are moving in! Finn, I need you here!" Piers yelled through the radio.

"I've got a Delta here that can't walk!" Finn responded immediately.

"I don't care if you have to drag him, just get your butts up here!"

Finn took a long time to come towards us, but we managed to hold back the wave of J'avos. Finn set another explosive and triggered it when a train car was heading our way. Once we were clear, we walked right into City Square.

"Sherry Birkin, National Security!"

A woman with light blonde hair held up her pass as she walked towards us. Chris had a brief and friendly chat with her before Piers cut in to say that the man Sherry was with was a wanted insurgent. Sherry backed up with saying that he was under the protection of the U.S. government even though he was a mercenary. That sounded all too familiar. I finally locked eyes with that man and I couldn't believe who I just met.

"Hey there, beautiful. It's been a while. I didn't know you were working with the military," Jake spoke, grinning at me.

I could tell from Jake's eyes that he was wary of the situation. Before I could respond, Piers stepped up beside me.

"You know this guy?"

"We were partners for a long time," Jake cut in, speaking rather suggestively.

Piers glared at him, prompting Jake to do the same and it looked like they were going to have a brawl right there. "So you were a mercenary too?" Piers directed his question at me, but he didn't look in my direction at all.

"Yeah, I was. Since young," I replied plainly.

That wasn't the truth, but that was stated in the file. Well, it wasn't the full truth anyway. I was a mercenary, but for a while and that was when I met Jake. It had been two years since I last saw him, but his attitude was still the same. When I joined the BSAA, my file was reviewed by the higher-ups and Chris. The rest of Alpha Team didn't know, but Piers just had to ask. Piers seemed to have a grudge against mercenaries too so I knew I wasn't going to get back on Piers' good side anymore.

"HQ to Alpha Team. Reinforcements are unable to land due to anti-aircraft artillery. Take 'em out!"

"Chris here. Alpha Team, copy."

"What the- We're picking up a large bogey on radar. It's heading right for you!"

Right on cue, the large BOW appeared from behind one of the buildings. Looked like both our reunions were cut short.

"We'll talk later," Chris began, readying his rifle. "We need you to find cover."

"Chris, we'll help you," Sherry offered.

"Not an option. I need you two to be safe."

"Don't worry about us. We'll cover you!"

Chris looked at his team and nodded. We headed towards the building to defend ourselves against the BOW and provide cover while Finn was tasked to take out the anti-aircraft artillery. Jake and I were at the back when he pulled me aside.

"Amara-"

"It's Riley," I corrected him quickly.

"Okay, Riley. What the hell is going on?"

"What are you talking about? I'm on a mission with the BSAA."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Yeah I see that, but the BSAA? Another undercover-"

The BOW was closing in and I had no time to explain to Jake. "Come on, get your ass in the building!" I yelled, grabbing him by the arm and up the stairs just in time before the BOW could land an attack on us.