Special Agent Loki Laufeyson

Chapter 72

Agent Sniper wasted no time. She fired a bullet at ETCD, which Drift deflected into a nearby building before it came within twenty feet of them. It exploded, crumbling the side of the building.

"Just like we practiced," Drift said. "Ranger, Cook, on my three and eight. Neutralize the aliens."

"Comrade," the two acknowledged. Neither of them made any smart-aleck comments; they had been too well trained for that.

Kendra stepped to the right, her M16A2 assault rifle in her hands. Zied moved to the left, his fatigue-clothed form flickering, assuming transparency. It would make him very difficult for the Chitauri to track.

Sniper was watching Drift, her eyes cold and calculating. She was assessing the threat level of the Navy SEAL. Her eyes quickly flicked to left and then to right, taking in Zied's vanishing form and Kendra's assault rifle. Then her eyes reverted back to studying Drift.

"Enough of this," Drift muttered, striding forward. She brought her bazooka up to her shoulder quickly, settled its targeting reticule right on Sniper's chest, and fired.

The missile shot at the assassin and Drift felt her eyes widen as the woman leaped up and rolled over the missile. It exploded against the drop ship, catching a stray Chitauri in the explosion.

Sniper landed in a crouch, rifle in one hand, the other touching the ground, her eyes still on Drift.

"Then we'll do this the old fashioned way," Drift said, pushing the bazooka onto her back and slinging down her Colt M4 carbine. Lifting it to her shoulder, she fired a round of bullets at the agent as she rose.

The sniper rifle flashed out and blocked the bullets into the ground before her feet as the assassin moved towards Drift.

Zied and Kendra had each reached the Chitauri soldiers on their respective sides. Kendra approached with her assault rifle blazing, moving towards the aliens steadily until she was within range of their shock weapons. Then she thrust her hand out and the air shimmered above the aliens as the oxygen liquidized and fell on the creatures.

The aliens screeched in protest as Kendra primed the flame launcher strapped to the top of her rifle and aimed it at the soldiers. "Clear!" she yelled as she pulled the trigger and sprayed the Chitauri with the fire.

The liquid oxygen that had drenched the soldiers ignited, turning the aliens into torches. With nary a smirk to betray her satisfaction, Kendra pushed her hand forward and sent the creatures flying backwards into their companions.

Zied, on the other hand, was using his Mk 14 EBR on the Chitauri as he approached after flinging a fragmentation grenade at the creatures in the back ranks. The aliens couldn't get a lock on him due to his shifting appearance, giving him a huge advantage.

When he reached the aliens, his rifle took its place on his back and his Ka-Bar combat knives were unsheathed. He launched himself at the Chitauri, the daggers barely visible in his almost invisible hand as he slashed at the aliens, aiming for the weak points in their armor that Colonel Rhodes had told them about in their training simulations. Between his near invisibility and his phasing in and out, it was impossible for the aliens to land a solid blow on him.

Drift knew it was going to come down to hand to hand combat between her and Agent Sniper. So her carbine joined her bazooka on her back and she drew her Gerber Mark II knife.

"For Samson," she whispered. "You're gonna regret siding against the ETCD."

Drift broke into a run.

The SEAL propelled herself into the air, flying the last ten feet towards Sniper. The agent raised her rifle to parry the dagger attack as Drift came down. As soon as her feet hit the ground, the soldier launched a kick at the woman, catching her in the thigh and forcing her off balance.

But instead of stumbling, Sniper used the momentum to spin back and reposition herself a couple feet away as Drift charged again. But instead of waiting for the SEAL to launch an attack, the agent whipped the butt of her rifle out, striking the soldier in the base of her neck.

Drift bared her teeth at the flash of pain and dropped into a crouch to recover herself. Drawing her HK Mk 23 pistol, she shot at Sniper to gain a few more precious moments to process the shock rippling up and down her spine. The bullet struck the women in her abdomen and although her armor prevented the bullet from penetrating into her body, the pointblank percussive force sent her stumbling backwards.

Rising to her feet, Drift holstered her pistol and launched herself off the ground into a kick that caught Sniper in the chest and shoved her to the ground. Drift landed, crossed the ground to her opponent, dropped to one knee, and raised her dagger, preparing to kill the woman.

But Sniper wasn't ready to die just yet. She propelled herself into a roll as the dagger came slashing down, shoving herself out of the way and spinning up into a crouching position. Drift whipped her dagger arm back and shifted her position so she was facing the direction of the threat.

Blasts sounded overhead and Drift risked a glance upwards to see an alien behemoth flying down towards their battlefield, McCallan filling its sides with fire from his guns. As the beast swooped down overhead, roaring in pain, it was so close, Drift could feel its downdraft. Using the distraction to her benefit, Sniper catapulted herself skyward and grasped onto a handhold by the creature's mouth.

Drift rose to her feet, drawing her pistol and unloading the clip on the assassin as the behemoth started to gain altitude in a fruitless effort to escape McCallan's guns. But only one bullet seemed to cause the assassin any harm, penetrating the armor on her left forearm.

Kendra and Zied came to Drift's side, the Chitauri lying in scattered clumps about their destroyed landing craft.

Slowly, Drift tapped her earpiece. "Agent Sniper has escaped us. She's heading in your direction, Agent Gibbs."

/**/

So that was a look at ETCD's talent. What did you guys think? Was it a pretty good debut? Or what? Did you guys like them? If you've got some constructive feedback for them, I'd appreciate it.

How are you liking the battle chapters so far?

Thank you for reading; please comment and vote!

Skylar Wittenborn