Operation: thieving Thunder

The first mission pt. 2

Kye's POV
I carefully pulled apart the bomb vest on the closest child before pulling out my wire cutters and carefully cutting the necessary wires before finally getting to the phone and pulling it apart, I started my program and tapped on the screen as I isolated the phone's signal and deactivated it. I heard Zofia "why don't you just remove the SIM card? It would deactivate the phone" I paused before looking back over my shoulder "Because.... I didn't think of that" she chuckled as I scooted over to the next bomb vest and started moving wires until I arrived to the phone and started disassembling it.
       This went on for a couple minutes until I froze at the sound of many foot falls grew louder with each passing second, I turned to a wide eyed Zofia as I lifted my M4 and huddled next to her, my voice barely a whisper "did Jackal call they were moving to us?" She shook her head no as we shouldered our rifles and prepared to fire on any enemy that turn the corner. With each passing moment, the pounding of my heart only grew in volume until it was deafening, I saw a hand come around the corner and heard Julien "Zofia? Raven?" I sighed in relief as Zofia called back "tak(yes), we're here" Julien and his squad walking in and recoiled at the amount of explosives on the children before setting up defensive points I asked as I worked "Typhon slip away?" Ryad replied tiredly "No, I don't think he was here at all. We didn't find any tracks that matched his shoe tread, and we never saw him while clearing these floors" I shook my head as I removed another SIM card.
       I listened as Zofia asked "Any reason none of you used your radio?" Monika sounded surprised "You were radioing us? We didn't get.... any thing...." I glanced back and saw her checking her radio before returning to the task at hand as she spoke "My radio isn't working, maybe it's jammed? Could they have a jammer?" I sighed before replying "I don't think so" and then Zofia took a step over to Monika before gripping her radio and opening the back panel "that's why, your batteries are dead. When was the last time you three changed your radio batteries?" Ryad replied "A month maybe 2 months ago?" Julien and Monika nodded confirming the time frame as she spoke "you're supposed to change them after every 5 missions, this is why" I piped up "welcome to the most advanced military on the planet, where in order to get a radio to work you have to sacrifice a goat, wait for the planets to aline and then pray to the old gods"
I started working on the final bomb vest when a phone started ringing, I paused and looked around before speaking "IQ, you're up" she nodded and flicked up her RED "Scanning!" I kept working on the bombvest as IQ searched until she spoke "Found it, it's in the... wall" I nodded "Jackal, Rook, get it open." They moved wordlessly and started kicking in the drywall. I got the final SIM card out of the phone and started to cut the locks off the vests until julien pulled the phone out of its hole and hit answer before putting it on speaker, "Hello?" Typhon was heard "Well since you picked it up, I know you disarmed the bombs in time. Lucky, lucky" I sighed in relief as I rested my head on Zofia's shoulder until I heard Typhon "Raven, I look forward to our competition in the future. Just remember at the end of this path, I'm the one walking away alive" I snapped back as the stress started to lift "Too bad Angelica will never walk again!"
The anger was present in his voice again as he replied through gritted teeth "You walk on thin ice" I asked inquisitively "You were never here, were you?" He laughed maniacally "so you figured it out, indeed I wasn't there. I wouldn't want to end our little play dates so quickly by killing you the first time you're back" I laughed like he told the funniest joke I'd ever heard "You couldn't kill me if you had a nuke, anyway I've gotta ask... you're watching us right?" He choked on his spit as I stood and walked to the windows peaking out as the phone line went dead and watching as he ran along the top of a hill before disappearing. I sighed "And there he goes, tutsihusi(he will die)" before I walked back and restarted cutting off the padlocks, 10 minutes later I finally got them all off before crouching infront of the group of younger kids "Stay close to us, we'll get you out of here safely okay?" They all nodded clearly frightened as Zofia asked "I need you to be brave for me, can you do that?" They all stiffened their expressions before nodding, I stood and turned "Rook, IQ, you've got rear guard. Jackal, me and you are on the flanks, Zofia lead us out" she smiled faintly as she shouldered her 762 and we started our journey out, still treating the building like it's live.
My eyes scanned every part of the wall as we moved searching for any sign of a hidden explosive or a cubby hole someone could hide in until my eyes noticed a small hairline gap in the shape of a large rectangle. I called it out "I've got something here" the group froze at the words a collective sense of dread setting upon us like the world upon Atlas's shoulders, I carefully walked towards the potential threat before feeling the edges for anything that would tip me off to a trap before I pulled out my knife and used it to pop the drywall out before placing it on the ground leaning against the wall.
As I stared at the object infront of me I could only get out one word "woah..." Zofia walked next to me and looked at it too "Can you defuse it?" I looked over "Can I defuse it? What kinda silly ass question is that, of course I can. The proper question, my dear, is can I defuse it in time? The answer I don't know" she sighed before looking at it "you've got this" I glanced at her "Get the kids out, of this things goes up I want them safe" she gave me a pointed look "you better walk out of this building or so help me god" I nodded as I started tracing wires "I know, I know, you'll storm the gates of Hades and kick my ass. Now go, get outta here" she nodded before steeling her nerves and turning to the group "Let's move, we're clearing out!"
I pulled my gloves off as well as my sunglasses before pulling out my wire clippers and continuing to trace wires until I found the one that went to the firing pin. I was about to clip the wire when I noticed another wire running off the charge, I sighed "Are you fucking kidding me?" As I started tracing that wire only to find it ran through the wall, I groaned as I stood and started kicking in the drywall checking the wire as i traveled. I sighed and ran into the next room before kicking in the wall and searching for the wire. When I didn't find it, I groaned before yelling "Now where does it fucking go?!" I turned when I heard some of the tile on the floor get kicked and saw Monika I sighed in relief "Alrigh Monika I need you right now" she joked "Oh Kye, I thought you were with Zofia" I shook my head in annoyance "Not the time, we've got a minute and 23 no 22 seconds before we die" she nodded and turned on her RED scanner.
I saw her wildly flailing her arm until she spoke "I got it, it's headed to the first floor the kitchen" I nodded as I started running into the hallway before vaulting over the railing rolling when my feet impacted the floor below. I ran into the kitchen and activated my wrist mount "Do you have me?" I heard her a second later "Ja, Ja I have you. 3 meters forwards, 4 meters left" I followed her directions before asking "is there any other wires other then the one you traced?" She took a couple of precious seconds to reply "Nien, just these two" I traced the wire to the trigger and double check the color combination before clipping the blue wire that crossed the yellow and green watching as the timer turn dim.
My time to release a sigh was killed as quickly as it was born as Monika came over the radio "Hey Raven... the timer up here has sped up" my eyes widened as I stood and turned running into the stairwell before I started running up the wall before turning as I jumped and grabbed the railing and hoisting myself up and over before I ran into the room. I called "Clear our! Go! Get the fuck out of here!" As I slid to the wall and started tracing wires, every so often my eyes would jump to the timer "52 seconds...." I felt the wires in my hands as I scrambled to get the bomb disarmed until I remembered my friends mantra for EOD "It's not a stressful job, either you defuse the bomb or it's suddenly not your fuckin' problem." I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breaths before opening them and checking the clock "46 seconds... ok I've got this" my fingers carefully moved each wire until I found my checkmate wire, the red and blue entwined  wires.
     I tightened my grip on my wire cutters since I had to cut both of the wires simultaneously, I took a deep breath and positioned the wires between the cutters as I check the clock "22 seconds" as I squeezed with all my might and watched the timer go dim while displaying a 21. I sat back on my haunches as the weight on my shoulders relaxed as I radioed "bombs are defused, building's cold", until I heard the phone ring again. I picked it up "Typhon, to what do I owe the pleasure of a second chat?" He replied sounding annoyed "So you found the bombs" I looked at the wall and multiple holes "Asehi, I did. They're all done for" he asked sounding genuinely curious "Haven't you ever hated the government? Haven't you ever felt slighted by them?" I looked out the window and watched Zofia walking towards the building before replying "Everyone has" he asked another question "Then why fight for them? Why do their bidding?" I asked a question in response "why kill innocent civilians? Why not target the thing you hate so much?" He sighed "We do it to show the people just how expendable their government thinks they are" I nodded as I heard the door open downstairs "We shall see how effective that is, until next time Typhon." I could hear the smile in his voice "Cherish the time you have with her, it will be over soon" I rolled my eyes as I hung up and looked at the phone.
     Zofia walked in and saw the destroyed wall, my dust covered uniform and all the sweat on my forehead as she asked "you okay?" I nodded as I looked at her and smiled a bit "Just tired, relieved" she walked forward and whacked my arm "had me scared for a bit there" I cocked an eyebrow "Why? I didn't think it was going that bad" she gave a blank stare as she deadpanned "You sent Monika running out of the building that holds a bomb and I don't see you. Hell, I heard her walking you to the second charge on the radio." I nodded as I wiped my forehead with my sleeve "Let's go home, I need a hibernation" she laughed as we turned and walked out finally getting to go back home after an extremely stressful day.