GOLD [Book 2 in the JESSE series] | Completed

Chapter Two: Falling

The wind rushes by you, as your heart begins to race. "Don't panic, (Y/N)," Ginger's voice comes clean in your ear. "Your helmet will tell you when to pull. Remember, stick by me, and you'll be fine." You look over, and see her give you a thumbs up as Athena's voice says, "Pull." And everyone pulls their chutes in sync. You can't help but laugh excitedly as the golden-lit dark cityscape below you.

"Alright." Madison's voice comes in through the earpiece you're wearing, "Team two, hit the ground, cover the perimeter. Police team has been notified so they'll stay out of your way. Don't let a single member get away. Team one, follow me. We'll set up here." As she says this, a building lights up green in your helmet. You shift your weight the way Ginger had taught you, and you head towards the building.

You all land simultaneously on the building, and you look at Ginger, who's smiling wide, and nods towards Madison.

"Ginger, pocket. Stay behind, (L/N), stick to her, and try not to get shot. The rest of you, standard protocol. Let's go." Her voice is low, and echoes in your ears. Everyone but Ginger runs and in quick succession, hooks something from their belts on the roof and slide down the large building. Ginger's voice comes in your ear.

"Just touch your hip and say clip. The AI will do the rest. You don't even have to aim. I'll be right behind, don't be worried."
You swallow, before running, touching your hip, and say, "clip." Immediately, a long black cord melds itself to the building, and you slide down, a controlled fall, the cord buzzing on your thigh. You notice as you ease down, there's a almost completely unnoticeable pocket where the cord is held.

You ease to the ground in a few seconds, meeting with the others. Madison waves you ahead, a hand signal that Ginger has taught you. You all head down a darkened alleyway just as you hear a mechanical whirr coming from down the street.

"That's our target. Stay sharp, Gold One." Madison presses her back to the wall and presses a button on her body suit and blue hexagons spread across her body. All of team ones' body suits do the same. Everyone draws their weapons, and Ginger's arms light up gold, and she nods at Madison.

Masked figures step from the now-landed aircraft, and pull weapons from their holsters, ones' mask lights up violet, and he nods as the rest of the thirty-something soldiers rush into the darkened city scape.

Madison's voice comes clean in your ear, "Sniper, get a roost."
"Aye."
A boy you haven't been introduced to nods and begins to scale a nearby building with surprising speed.

Madison gives the go signal, and Gold One lights up the streets with silenced bullets, before Clawe's less-quiet rifles fire at you all. Madison whistles and everyone forms a v. You try to follow suit, and fire, you hit a guy in the shoulder and watch as he flies backwards. There's an aim assist in your helmet, outlining the Clawe members in green.

The next few minutes pass in the same manner, shooting, ducking, before Madison gives the order to fan out.

You run across the street and duck into an alleyway, where your gun is suddenly kicked from your hand. You spin on your heels to see a Clawe soldier, gun pointed to your head. "Hands above your head, lady." Your head spins, and you rack your brain, trying to think of something... then you notice his mistake. His stance is anything but ready for hand to hand combat.

You move quickly and knock his gun out of his hand, before going to punch him. He ducks out of the way, and you notice his surprise. "Are you a newbie?" You ask, before he attempts to kick you. You push aside his leg, and your punch lands with a resounding crack against his jaw, and he goes flying back.

But before you can grab your pistol, he runs right at you, tackling you with his full body weight. You struggle for a moment, before you hear the faint sound of a gun being cocked. Ginger stands in the alleyway, pistol in hand. "Stand up." She says.

He starts to do so, hands in the air, but soon Ginger is engaged in hand to hand combat, a woman without a gun goes to punch her in the stomach. This gives you enough time to jump up into a standing position and engage again. You trade blows for about a minute before you land a consecutive string of hits: a punch in the gut, then in the face, then a kick to shove him onto the ground.

You pick up your pistol, and aim it at him. His brown eyes hold fear, but resolve. He looks saddened. You can't. You lower your aim, and Ginger rushes over, the woman she was fighting, gone. "Do it, (Y/N). It's not pretty but it's an order."

You shake your head, and turn to Ginger. "No. I don't care what happens." You turn to the man on the ground and say, "Just don't get in my way."

You run out of the alleyway to see Madison skid to a stop to kneel down beside another member of Gold One, the boy who was supposed to be covering you from the roof. "Ginger!" Her voice is raw, a quality it doesn't normally have.

Ginger runs over, and places her hands on the boy's bleeding body. His face is pale. The energy from her hands runs out and over his body, and you watch as skin melds together again, almost like magic.

"Cover us, (L/N). Hunter, hey, look at me, Ginger's right here. I gotcha." Her voice is quiet. Your vision lights up green as a you see a man approach from a few yards away.

"So this is who Overwatch sends. Ragtag group of idiots. You all have got the gold band, huh? I've met silvers better than you." The leader of Clawe, Nano approaches you all. You draw your weapon.

"Pistols are child's play, babygirl. You're too late anyway. The charges have been set. There's no way-" he stops. You look up to see Madison standing after him. Suit lit up blue, large, curved blade in hand, a blade that had ran through Nano. His eyes go wide before he collapses.

"You disabled the charges, yeah?" Madison says.
"Way ahead of you Mads. Nano dealt with?" The quiet boy from before says, echoing in your ear.
"Any Clawe left?"
"One." Ginger's voice adds to the mix.
"Do you know who?"
"He was in that alleyway..." she goes to say something, then doesn't. Madison's gaze turns to you.

"Fix this, (L/N), or you bet Morrison will be hearing about this insubordination" she turns back to Hunter and Ginger. You hear them talking but the words won't register.

You've done it before, it can't be that hard. Shoot to kill, or be done with Overwatch forever. He's killed before, he was prepared to. You don't want him out on the street, right?

The quiet boy's voice breaks the silence, "There's no one left. The one you all were talking about is dead."
"Oh, and how so?" Madison asks curtly.
"Head trauma, looks like. Hit his head on the concrete, split his skull open. There's a lot of blood."

Madison turns, and gives you a half cocked smile, "Looks like you do clean up, (L/N). Let's head out."

Small cheers come in through your earpiece, and you can't help but feel happy... but a small knot forms in your stomach.

You guess you're gonna have to get used to that.

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A/N:
Hi! Aahhh I'm so sorry this took so long, this summer was so busy, and this was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to say thank you for your patience, JESSE keeps gaining views even while I'm not working on updating GOLD, so thanks! And thank you all for the nice comments, I can't always get to all of them, but know I appreciate every one of them. In all sincerity, I will not have a lot of time this semester at all. I got a supporting role in a musical, and the classes I'm taking right now are really hard haha, but thanks for understanding, and I'll try really hard to update more often. I plan on finishing this book, no matter how long it takes, I have it all planned out, and can't wait to share it with all of you. Thanks so much again!!!