Rebellious Connection (Ela x Reader)

Not so Quiet

For the most part - the week ended without a problem. You continued to use the bare minimum amount of ammo to keep an edge on your marksmanship. Elżbieta was undoubtedly the sharpest among the unit. You, yourself, were starting to take the contract more seriously too, but it was a little late...

...As the day started to dwindle to the night, just before you could turn in for the night, your radio started to buzz with questions as you started to turn in some of your equipment. It was one of the Germans. He spoke with a slight accent, which did not at all hinder your ability to understand him.

"Do we have expecting guests tonight?"

There's a moment of silence over the walkie then a reply comes through. "Come again?"

"There's a crowd in front of the gates, sir. It's, uh, growing."

There's a pause and flicker of the lights in the room. The radio buzzes with white noise for a second. Some place outside theres a pop and a fizz as if a light bulb had burst somewhere. Oddly enough, you see that the light on your own walkie dims too. For a second, you expect the lights to die all together. But they don't. There was some more chatter over the radio when it drew to a silent conclusion.

You swallow - waiting for the call to assemble up at the gates. You haven't really expected to deal with a possible riot. An angry mob is far more dangerous than an actual terrorist group, since you weren't technically allowed to mow down random unarmed people. There's a roll call, your name is requested, along with Elżbieta's to re-equip any turns in gear and to enforce the front.

An itch anxiety began for the first time in months. You grab what you can and rush towards the gates. Sure enough, as soon as you are there, you notice a massive crowd is outside the gates protesting. You aren't sure what about, but it definitely isn't a celebration of your presents there. The Germans are there too, despite not being called. Just beyond the gates are also police and other forms of local authorities. You fall in and look at the angry faces beyond the fence: "What the hell happened?"

The German, who you assume called you here, just shrugs. He's staring out as if expecting the crowd to become violent - you don't blame him. You sit on the edge and wait for the others to arrive too. Soon, all but three of you are there.

Two of the regulars and Elżbieta still weren't here.

"Damnit! Where are the rest?! [Y/N]! When was the last time you saw the others?" Your leader shouts, clearly stressed.

You shake your head. "Inside when I was turning in. They could be anywhere."

He tries the radio a few times more before finally snapping. "They need to be here! [Y/N] double back and search, the rest of us will maintain our point of entry."

You split off from the main group, doubling back as told to look for the others. Despite your yelling and radio checks, your search left you empty handed. You ran through halls, knocked on every door and checked the bathrooms to no avail.

Eventually, as your search stretched on longer than you thought it would have, you began to hear thumps and bursts. They went off every so often but they weren't consistent, so you figured it was tear gas and flashbangs being deployed to disperse the crowd. The further back you made it to the building, the more distant the crowd control sounded, but it was being replaced by something else...a sound that was constant and rapid. It was a small arms fire for sure. Another itch...

You approached the back exit and poked out before exposing your body to the darkness. You were greeted with a loud burst of gunfire going off slugs over the rear wall. Your reaction was to recoil slightly back for concealment, but it dawned on you that was directed for someone else entirely.

You inch out and peer behind the door. A few bodies lay motionless on the ground, some in a pool of crimson, others not. A curse was swallowed, you stood behind the door and reached for your communication device. "Possible perimeter breach in the rear. Requesting back up."

It's silent for a moment. "Sending two. Find our guys?"

Another burst fires out. "Negative. Shots have been fired though."

Again, you poke out and see more bodies, all motionless. A flash and a trail of bright tracers ink the dark. The figure behind the trigger is small and ducked behind a fixed position. You know it is Elżbieta. You rush up and crouch beside her.

"What happened back here?!"

Elżbieta grunts as she swaps her magazine from her M4. "What's it look like?! No one's answered our distress calls, we were nearly overran back here"

Apparently, despite your warnings. It looks like there wasn't any effort to make any kind of fortifications, but the more regular patrols back here did something, no doubt. Your radio buzzes some chatter, before you can reach for it, Elżbieta snatches it.

"We need more bodies back here, damnit!"

You aim down the dark field and see that the entire earth is crawling just beyond the river bank. There's something burning over the water - a makeshift bridge? At the edge of the fire's light, there are two figures lying down, shooting into the shifting earth on the other side. It's the other two missing persons. They must've set fire to the bridge, and were injured in the process of finishing the task. You started letting out a few bursts too, though you're not sure how effective you are since how dark it is.

Reinforcements arrive quicker than it took you to get here. Unsurprising since they didn't have to search. They set up an M249 and began fanning out long bursts. The rip and tear the machine gun gives starts fighting off the unseen attackers back into the city. As the fighting shows clear signs of stopping, Elżbieta hatefully jumps over and makes way for the wounded. The others tell you they'll cover you the best can, so you jump over too...

You both jump over a few bodies - whether or not they were dead or alive always ran through your mind. Danger felt like it was no more than a foot away the closer you got the burning bridge. You call out a few times before reaching the other contractors — alive, but not quite well. They're been hit a few times, so they require some assistance standing up on their two feet. When you bring them back, you're immediately told to return to the front gates.

After setting the wounded aside, they begin to tend to their own wounds — they've been hit, but nothing major was struck. They'll recover, and mostly importantly: won't die. The others that joined you are told to stay in the back with the machine gun, they should be enough to counteract any renewed attack offensive in the rear alone. However, you're going to have to bring more ammo.

Elżbieta joins you in the armory. "So, are we still expecting NATO to come in screaming?"

You chuckle, realizing that maybe they won't be. "I'm sure they'll be here any moment..."