All of You

Take Out The Guns

Finn started working on his bomb at the first anti-aircraft artillery. In addition to the huge BOW, J'avos kept on coming. Sherry and Jake were focused on getting rid of the J'avos while Chris, Piers and I were targeting the back of the BOW. Piers' shots hit the BOW and it was briefly stunned. I looked at Chris who nodded at me to go. I jumped on the BOW's back again and pulled out the plug, just like what I did to the earlier one. As soon as I got it out, it threw me off, but I managed to land on the ground with ease. I hurriedly climbed the stairs back up, shooting off the J'avos that were persistent on my trail.

By the time I reached up, the BOW had already begun attacking again. This time, it was Chris' turn. He took out one of the spikes on the BOW's back and stabbed the exposed flesh. It seemed to weaken the BOW, but not killed it yet. I did what Chris had done, but it was tougher for me to take out the spikes. I almost lost my balance if it wasn't for Jake who continued to shoot at its face. The BOW collapsed on the floor and started to melt away, like acid dissolving. I had to back away from it immediately, because of its pungent smell.

As soon as it was dead, I heard a loud explosion followed by Finn's voice over the radio. Since I was already on the ground, I headed first towards the next building. Everyone else came right behind. Finn placed C4 explosives on the door and it busted open. There were already J'avos inside aiming at us. I threw in a flash grenade, allowing the rest of Alpha Team, Sherry and Jake to enter. Chris and Piers shot the J'avos before we made our way up to the upper floor. I immediately shot the J'avo using the anti-aircraft artillery. Finn started working on the bombs, but as usual, the J'avos kept coming in. HQ radioed us, saying that there was another huge BOW coming right at us.

"That's the one we lost at The Two of Hearts!" I exclaimed, aiming my gun at the BOW which had just climbed over a building.

"Well, isn't it just great!" I heard Piers complain, shooting at the J'avos coming from the other building.

I tried to fend off against the BOW that was nearing Finn but failed to notice that there were snipers on my back.

"Get down!" Jake shouted, pushing me down on my back as the bullets flew past Jake's head.

Jake, who was still on top of me, had a tinge of worry on his face. He soon smirked when he saw that I was fine. I pushed him off and turned my attention to the snipers.

"What? No 'thank you'?" Jake laughed, assisting me with killing the snipers.

I didn't respond to him because the BOW had almost reached us and Finn was desperately asking for cover. I distracted the BOW, but this one was stronger, and it didn't give me the chance to attack its exposed flesh. Finn was quicker on this anti-aircraft gun and yelled at us to stand back as the bomb went off. We went back down, killing a few J'avos that wanted to ambush us.

"Come on! Everyone into the underground passage!" Finn yelled, waiting for us to run down the stairs before he jumped down.

Going through the tunnels, we felt tremors from above. The huge BOW was still out there, and it was definitely stalking us. Its hand managed to reach down to us, and Sherry almost got caught. I shot several rounds at its hand, allowing just enough time for us to pass through underneath it. Once we got into the third building, Finn jumped down to the other side and started his work immediately. Chris and the other Alpha members went down to provide cover for Finn while Piers, Jake, Sherry and I remained on top. The BOW had picked up a vehicle on the street and hurled it at us, separating us on two sides. Sherry was with Piers on the other side of the building. Piers had managed to stun the BOW, and I quickly went up on it to remove one of its spikes. After I injured it, I landed on the ground but realised there was no way of going back up to the building or joining Chris and the rest.

"Riles! Up here!"

I climbed up the ladder that Jake had kicked down for me. He held out a hand for me and I took it.

"Oh, so now you're giving me nicknames?" I laughed.

He gave me a wink in response. We continued to fight the BOW, but we were soon under heavy fire. J'avos had appeared on the other side of the building, all armed with sniper rifles. There were just too many to avoid and kill while focusing on the huge BOW. I made the mistake of accidentally being in one of the J'avos' lines of vision as I avoided the BOW's attack. I got shot and my rifle got tossed out of my hand, dropping right at the feet of the BOW.

"Riley!" I heard Piers shout as I clutched onto my left hand.

It hurt like hell. My left hand wouldn't stop bleeding even though Jake had rushed to me and wrapped a cloth over it. Piers came soon after, his angry expression still the same as earlier when I first jumped onto the BOW's back. However, when he saw my hand, his expression softened, as if in worry.

"Let's just focus on the BOW," I said, trying to push past Jake and Piers.

I took out my handgun and started to shoot at the BOW using only my right hand. Of course, my aim wasn't as good, but I had no choice. Piers was telling me to step back, but I wasn't going to. As long as the BOW was still alive, it meant that our mission wasn't over yet.

"Don't push yourself!" Piers yelled at me, pulling me back.

Sherry had stunned the BOW. Piers looked at me before running up on its back and plunging the spike into its flesh. The BOW collapsed onto the ground and disintegrated. There goes my assault rifle.

"Good job, Alpha. But you're not out of the woods yet. Take down the last anti-aircraft artillery. Echo Team will be landing shortly," HQ notified us.

The four of us made our way down to where the rest were. I had little handgun ammo, so I wasn't going to waste on the J'avos. Their numbers were getting lesser, and I figured that the rest were able to handle it on their own. Soon, Finn was done and the last machinery was blown up. Echo Team landed and took out the rest of the J'avos while we headed to another area. Sherry helped to tend to my wounds while Chris talked to the pilot.

"Thank you, Sherry. You didn't have to," I said, examining her neat bandage.

"It's no problem, really. It must've hurt, but you're so strong," Sherry said with a hint of admiration in her voice. "You'll be fine as long as you don't overwork your left hand."

"I'll try," I laughed, a little unsure of how I would continue on this mission. "Thanks again. Can I ask you for a favour?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Take care of that idiot for me."

Sherry and I giggled as we looked at Jake. Soon, Chris came up to Sherry and told her that he had already given the pilot the coordinates. Sherry thanked him for helping.

"So, we'll meet again, won't we Riles?" Jake asked, smiling as he came up to me.

"The next time I see you, hopefully, we're out of this hellhole."

He chuckled. "Damn straight. Bored of this place anyway. Ain't no fun without you."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

He gave me a tight hug and a chaste peck on the cheek. Just before Jake and Sherry boarded the helicopter, Chris called out to Jake and asked if they had previously met.

Jake, in his cocky attitude, replied, "You jarheads all look the same to me, pal. Sorry."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Piers yelled, jumping forward but was held back by Chris.

"My mistake!" he exclaimed to Jake before turning his attention to Sherry. "Have a safe flight."

Sherry waved goodbye and Jake winked at me. Piers was still angry at Jake and called us crazy for letting them go. He emphasised the word 'mercenary' as he rambled on about how our men were killed by them. Technically, they were all J'avos, but I didn't say that out loud. Chris then told us to focus on the mission as we headed to City Hall.