Operation: Stunning sting

The storm never ends

Viktor's POV
      I saw masks peaking around corners before firing again, I grew progressively more annoyed as I sent rounds down range "Face me you fucks!" As I sent a long burst into the corner a mask had just popped out from, Maverick was on the .50 firing over the wall his deep monstrous staccato gun fire was always heard while I listened to the comms and fired, I heard one of the officers in the TOC whisper hauntingly "oh jesus, look at what they're up against" as I asked "Baseplate, ETA on those fast movers?!" Before firing another burst at the enemies bounding forward while firing, I heard the chatter in my ear but the gunfight drowned it out forcing me to yell "repeat! I couldn't hear!" Harry's voice came through clearly this time "35 mikes" I yelled to the team "Air support in 35!" As I saw a squad of masks thinking they were being sneaky coming up a side street towards the front door, in reply I turned my gun and held the trigger until the squad dropped. Maverick yelled "I'm out! Moving to forward position!" The team replied our confirmation as tracers crisscrossed mid air.
      I thought 'looks like fuckin star wars' before my gun cleared empty causing me to yell "reloading!" As I crouched behind the barricade and started the reloading process, 20 seconds later I popped up from behind cover holding my left arm in line with my shoulder gripping the bipod having the ammo belt rest on my elbow as I unloaded into the masks who slowly were winning fire superiority before I saw Mozzie grip his shoulder in pain, even the low recoil of a 9mm was proving to be too much causing me to yell "Mozzie!" He looked at me still gripping his shoulder as I pulled off my rucksack and threw it down at him "Here's your new job!" As I fired another long burst, I saw him open the bag out of the corner of my eye before he recoiled at the sheer number of grenades I was carrying. He started chucking them while Ela, The team and I all continued to trade fire with the enemies, the explosions were small but they did great with getting the masks to let up on the assault for a second. I heard Ela "Reloading!" Followed closely by Buck and Maverick "Us too!" I sighed, 60% of my active gunners just dropped to reload, great fucking timing.
     Harry spoke in my ear one more time "F-16 is on station in 25" I asked confused "it's been 10 minutes already?" As I saw a mask come forward getting ready to through a nitro cell causing me to send a burst into his chest watching the nitro cell hit the ground before detonating causing half the building to collapse blocking off that avenue of advance. I mused "a dead man's switch interesting" I could still hear the TOC workers murmuring in horror of the gunfight were in. I heard Buck and Maverick "Were up!" I smiled to myself most of my firepower returned as more grenades rained down from Mozzie. I ordered "Mozzie, relax for a bit" he nodded as we continued to trade fire until all of a sudden it stopped, I checked my belt and found I had 3 rounds left. I quickly swiped the rounds of the feed plate before replacing it and slamming the cover shut pulling the priming handle and staying crouched, i sighed catching my breath until a round popped off again and I stood yelling "what the fuck!?" As I let a burst ring.
Ela sighed and started firing as the vicious gunfight continued, A dangerous game to decide who survives, Harry gave me an update "1-0, Baseplate" I replied "Baseplate, 1-0, send traffic" Harry replied "Judge is on station in 13" I sighed and called to the team "13 mikes to air support!" As 3 heavily armored Masks started walking down the street firing aiming for Ela and I, I yelled "get down!" As Ela dropped and tracers streamed over her. I heard Harry "can you get a clear shot of the Masks?" I yelled back annoyed with the request "I'm a little fucking busy!" As Harry sighed before adding "if possible" I shouldered my 240 and fired a long burst at the 3 new masks, the rounds hit them but looked to have no effect. I asked Harry as I ducked back into cover "Good enough?!" He replied "try getting some more footage" I sighed but stood and aimed at the glass mask firing more rounds, the rounds ricocheted until I shifted targets to the unarmored masks and yelled to Mozzie "Mozzie you're up! Get some nades on those mother fuckers!" He quickly resumed throwing grenades as I guided him in.
Glaz yelled "I need fire at 2 o'clock! A mask team is advancing" I shifted my body and started firing as Maverick yelled "We have masks to our 12!" I sighed as I gunned down the mask squad before crouching and yelling "reloading!" I scrambled to get the belt fed through the gun, 20 seconds later I was back in the fight and shocked to see the Armored masks didn't have much past dust on their gear. I groaned as I continued to fire at the masks at 12, I shifted my fire at the armored masks until a car started flying down the road towards us, buck called out "Car at 12! I see something in the backseat!" I ordered "clarify!" To which he sounded horrified "VBIED!" And Ela and I shifted our fire to the car. Our tracers streamed through the windshield killing the driver before enough of our rounds hit the explosive causing it to detonate taking out a building, everyone watched in shocked silence as the building came crashing down in a wave of dust and rubble, the cease fire didn't last as we quickly reengaged just as a new voice filled my comms "1-0, judge" I replied hopefully "judge, 1-0, send traffic"
He replied calmly "anyone in particular or just kill em all?" I replied with malevolent intent "kill em all" I saw the 20mm tracers carve up the pavement before hitting the armored masks, I watched as they were cut in half by the rounds. I grew a smile at the sight 'that's for injuring Max' before Judge came over the radio "all I can do is gun runs unless you accept personal responsibility for any casualties that may happen if I fire heavy ordinance" I yelled to the team "1-1 through 1-5 fall back into the compound!" Watching as they rushed back and I spoke to Judge "heavy weapons are confirmed, aim for the IR strobe, over" as I turned on the Strobe and chucked it onto the street next to where the Masks were firing from. I heard Judge "Visual confirmation, rolling in AGM armed" I radioed the team "Get your fucking head in the dirt!" As the missile streaked into the alley 30 meters away. I ducked as the overpressure ripped past me sucking the air out of my lungs while knocking me on my ass, I stood and watched the building reduce to rubble, I yelled "fuck yeah! Get some!"
I saw the masks retreating before talking to judge "walk the missile 20 meters north, fire for effect" judge repeated "20 meters north, firing for effect" as I watched the missile strike the retreating mask group before I radioed "good effect on target, I think we're done for the night" Judge spoke "good luck" I replied with a smile clearly audible "don't be a stranger judge" he replied matching my tone "never by choice" I radioed Harry "Baseplate, 1-0" Harry replied "go 1-0" I asked hopefully "is there any way we can be extracted tonight?" Harry asked "abandoning the mission?" I denied "negative, I want this AO to cool off. We've been on the ground for 2 hours and we've been in combat for an hour and 50 minutes. We need to rethink our strategy" Harry sighed and replied "we can't do anything tonight but first thing tomorrow morning we'll have a black hawk there" I spoke to Harry "once we get back to Hereford, give me 2 days to think of a new insertion method and we'll be back and we'll get it done this time" Harry explained "I'm not mad you're pulling out, I'm mad we almost lost your team before any progress was made" I turned off the helmet cam and replied "me too sir, me too. I'm gonna go check on my team, hopefully the combat footage will give you some leads. I'll see you tomorrow"
      I walked down to the first floor and saw a fire getting started by Erik, I took off my helmet and sat on an ammo crate "well we're getting pulled back to Hereford tomorrow morning" Max looked at me and asked "are we giving up on this mission?" I shook my head "no, just replanning. This was a shit show since we touched down" Ela leaned against me sighing tiredly as Timur raised an eyebrow "comrade?" I replied tiredly "we'll talk about it tomorrow, get some chow. Relax. I've got first watch" Sebastien sounded shook "there was so many of them, how did we survive?" I looked down as Erik patted his shoulder "don't worry about it, just accept we did." I sighed as Ela spoke "Downtime's the worst" I nodded as Max replied "you know, during this entire fight. I haven't thought about my family once, I'm thinking about them now" I spoke "Max, you sure you want to keep doing these missions? You can always back out"
      He looked conflicted before sighing "I don't know" I patted his back as I maneuvered out from under Ela's head and moved over towards the door sitting down watching and listening for any mask activity that could further endanger my team. 10 minutes later Ela walked over and handed me an MRE "I brought you some food and water, can I get you anything else?" I chuckled before replying "thank you, I don't have any other requests" she nodded before ruffling my hair and walking back to the fire. I sat in place staring at the door listening to the laughs my team shared in hopes to cover the worry that clawed at the back of their mind like a ravenous cougar until Buck walked over and kicked the outer side of my knee "I'm up for guard duty, go relax boss. You need it, you were juggling a lot during that gunfight" I stood slowly and patted his shoulder "you did good, all of you" he plopped down before muttering "doesn't feel like it" I walked over to the file and plopped down next to Ela who reacted quickly to the new pillow she had and shifted using my leg for a pillow.
     I heard Erik next to me intrigued "how do you do it?" I looked over and asked "do what?" He asked simply "how do you keep on top of everything? You looked so calm and collected while orchestrating air strikes, our movements, firing in a gunfight, talking to command and keeping track of enemies." I replied thinking out loud "I don't know, whenever the rounds start flying I always feel protected. Like if I'm doing the right thing, god'll watch out for me. I guess it makes me more comfortable in gunfights, I can focus on my jobs and make sure my guys get taken care of" I subconsciously started running my fingers through Ela's knotted green hair while Erik asked "are you two together?" I shrugged and replied "I don't know what we are, I confessed she did too. We didn't have time to clarify what we are" he nodded as Ela piped up "if he wants to be, we'll be together" I laughed heartily "go to sleep" she didn't reply as Erik asked "so what do you want?" I felt my face grow into a relaxing smile as I replied "I want to be with her" as Ela spoke "then together we shall be" I spoke once more "go to sleep" as my head lulled back and my eyelid grew heavy, I drifted off to sleep as the reality of our situation, Ela's and I's situation and the fact we've just been shot off a target.