Operation: Pointed Spear

Time to leave

Monika's POV
        I looked over at Achilles and smiled as he rolled over in his sleep and hugged my leg, just as Thatcher spoke "he loves you a lot" as I nodded and replied "I know" before he replied "gotta get everyone up we're leaving soon" as his radio sounded to life and we listened as Harry spoke "thatcher, the helicopter is en route, you've got 2 hours to reach the LZ" as I patted Achilles' on his cheek hearing him groan as his eyes fluttered open. I spoke "we're leaving soon, get up" he sat up and stretched as he shoved Pulse causing pulse to wake up and soon enough we were all awake and getting our gear together as Thatcher handed me the different parts of the binoculars before packing them away. I grabbed my G8 and looked at the team as they finished packing, I looked at the mask compound one more time before I heard Achilles "Come on, up and at em" as he pulled me up and started pushing me up the side of the mountain. It didn't take long for the team to catch up to us since I could only help so much.
Once we got to the plateau Achilles put me in a fireman's carry and we started making some real progress now that I wasn't slowing us down. Until a mask patrol popped out infront of us, Thatcher and Pulse quickly dropped them but the echo of gunfire alerted every other enemy in the area of our presence. We started moving quickly until we reached the base of where the plateau meets the mountain, I looked up it and heard Achilles release a breath before saying "Maximum effort" and starting up the side of the mountain. The other three on the team were pulling security making sure we had guns pointed in the direction of the masks incase they caught up to us while Achilles slowly made his way up the mountain. Eventually it got too steep and he set me down before gripping my vests shoulder straps and dragging me up the mountain while he used his free hand and legs to pull me up. He was breathing heavily before radioing "I need someone up here to help me get IQ up this mountain, it's too steep and im not strong enough to do it alone" a couple seconds later Pulse appeared and grabbed my other shoulder strap while I felt the familiar surge of energy Finka's nanobots bring.
      We started making pretty good progress while I used my one good leg to try to help them, until I faltered as Finka's LMG fired a long burst and screams of pain were heard. Achilles yelled "IQ, I need you to work with me!" I nodded and started pushing again as we made quick progress while Thatcher and Finka continued to trade fire with the masks. I was growing uncomfortable with the situation as my G8 laid across my body before I heard Achilles in comms "Watcher, we've been compromised. This will be a hot zone" Harry replied "We hear you, I've informed the pilot. Just keep moving" I heard thatcher "any chance we can get some air support?" Harry replied "I'm mobilizing some F-15s to drop some ordinance but it's going to have to be minimal" I sighed "of fucking course" Achilles laughed as we got to the halfway point and the nanobots wore off. I felt them pull me past them before Achilles radioed "Finka, Thatcher switch out with us. Well handle the gunfight you guys are fresher than us"
     I watched the two go rushing down the mountainside to where Thatcher and Finka were as they started up the mountain to me. The familiar bark of Achilles MCX and Pulse's UMP as Finka and Thatcher grabbed my shoulder straps and I started pushing with my leg. I felt Finka's nanobots flood my system as I asked "how many were coming after us?" Thatcher replied grunting as he tugged me up the mountain "more than we can handle" I heard feral with a megaphone as the gunfight stopped "Hello Achilles, it's so nice to see you again. How's Zara and Anna? Doing well I hope. Anyway I came here to tell you, you better be prepared for a fight when you come back" as the sound of Achilles' MCX echoed through the mountain range and Feral replied with his megaphone before he fired his signature revolver "that's just rude" as the masks yelled "attack!" As Pulse and Achilles continued to fire throwing flashbangs and I heard the detonation of a nitro cell and I saw the two coming up the mountain firing behind them. I heard Pulse "we need to get out of here, the entire fort is coming after us"
      They grabbed my shoulder straps from Thatcher and finka and started hauling ass up the mountain before I heard "Reaper 4-1 is on station, looking for identification of targets" as thatcher pulled a red smoke grenade off his vest and tossed it down the mountain watching it land just infront of the masks pushing up the mountain. Thatcher radioed "Red smoke is marking targets, how copy?" As Reaper replied "Got it, moving in to engage. Hydras in 10" as we quickly advanced before Achilles pulled me infront of him and crouched over me putting one foot on either side using himself to protect me from any debris the rockets kicked up. We heard the rockets slam into the mask lines as they screamed in pain and the overpressure tore through us, I looked up and saw we were almost at the top of the mountain. Achilles followed my gaze as Pulse spoke "Almost home free" they grabbed me and pulled me up the mountain until we reached the top when Harry came over comes "ISR has you, you've got 50-80 hostiles pushing your position" pulse radioed "yeah I put that out over comms about 2 minutes ago, tell the ISR guys they're pretty much worthless" as Thatcher radioed "where's our evac?"
Finka started double checking my ankle while Pulse and Achilles aimed down the slope incase the masks were pushing us. I asked "Are they coming?" As Harry replied "4 minutes out, hold strong we'll get you out of there" as Achilles sounded surprised "n-no, they just.... disappeared. I'm not seeing any trace of them" as Pulse spoke "some fucked up shit goin on here" as we sat and waited, what felt like an eternity later I heard the chopping of a helicopters blades and saw a medevac basket getting lowered down as Finka spoke "this will be fun ride" I looked at her as my eyes shown my nervousness as she strapped me in just for rounds to start flying as Achilles, Pulse and Thatcher all started firing while the door gunner began to open up with his .50 cal, I felt myself start raising into the air slowly as the amount of gunfire my team sent down range increased tenfold in their desperate attempt to keep the mask's heads down while finka threw a couple frags grenades down the mountain before tearing into her ammo box as more straps were sent down past me as the crew chief pulled my basket into the helicopter.
I saw the rest of the team strapping themselves in before I heard Thatcher on comms "go! Get us out of here!" The helicopter started to rise and my team continued to fire before it fell silent and I got handed a headset to talk with the crew and I asked "how are they getting in the chopper?" The chief replied "ma'am, they're gonna have to sit in those harnesses for a while until we can find a spot to put down the helicopter and get them in" I sighed before laying back.
Alik's pov
I looked at Pulse below me and radioed "well this is a crock of freezing shit" Thatcher replied "I'm too old for this shite, if I knew we were doing this I would've let the masks fucking shoot me" Finka spoke "oh stop complaining. We're done for a bit, we don't have a replacement for IQ so our operational time is over" I replied sassily "speak for yourself, I've got another 6 months to go" as Pulse spoke "I can't wait for my break, this is retarded. I'M SO FUCKING COLD!"
       I laughed before tightening my grip on my Wolf pelt starting to feel the familiar sting of a deep cold before I heard Finka "you don't think they're going to make us sit here for the entire 4 hours flight right?" Thatcher replied tiredly "I fookin hope not" as I looked up and saw the crew chief looking out at us as he gave a thumbs up, thatcher replied with his own thumbs up while I flipped him the bird making sure he knew of my displeasure of the current situation.
Monika's POV
       The crew chief looked at me and asked "Does the one in gray always flip people off?" As I nodded and laughed "that's Achilles, he's probably cold and pissed about the situation" he nodded and sat in his seat "so what's your problem?" As I motioned to my ankle "I twisted my ankle when I slid" the crew chief got the medic and they started looking at it before the crew chief asked "when we get back wanna go and get some coffee?" I chuckled before replying "I'm actually dating Achilles" the crew chief sighed and replied "worth a shot" as the Pilot spoke "we're gonna set her down on this mountain top infront of us.
    I waited until I felt the jolt and saw the other 4 members of the team climb in, Achilles sat next to me as I grabbed his hand and put on my headset "so I heard you were grumpy" he replied simply "I'm fucking cold, stupid fucking snow, the worst substance in history" I chuckled as Thatcher spoke to the crew chief before he spoke "get some rest, we'll be at Hereford in 3 hours" I looked around before laying back and falling asleep. I started dreaming and heard Alik yelling "Monika!" In the distance as I started running again, I looked around finding myself in a dimly lit hallway as I saw several cells with mutilated corpses in them as I continued making my way towards where I heard Alik. I turned the corner and saw Alik being mauled by a bear as his lifeless corpse looked at me before he spoke "you were too slow, I needed you" as Alik shifted to my father. My fear grew before I bolted upright smacking my head off the hook point of the basket before Achilles asked "you okay?"
     I replied "I had a nightmare" he suggested "we're almost back at base, why don't we talk about it in our room?" I nodded and replied "ja, ja, let's do that" as I tried to slow my breathing while he rubbed circles on my hand with his thumb. We started waking up the rest of the team when we got 6 minutes out but my bad feeling from the nightmare refused to leave my body until I got pallid to the edge of the helicopter and I felt the familiar soft jolt of the helicopters wheels touching the ground. Achilles jumped out and hooked his arms under my back and knees carrying me to the room before he sat me on the bed and asked "what's wrong? I can see you got psyched out" I answered "I had a nightmare and I think if we don't go to rescue my father soon he won't survive" I listened as Alik asked "what detail can you give me?" I replied "it was in a dimly lit prison wing of a mask held building" he thought about it before replying like he just cracked an unbreakable code "that mask fort, it has a dungeon under it. It's an old castle, that's why they have so many masks on the target. Your father is held there" I thought about it before asking "how are you going to convince Harry to allow an assault" he answered easily "I'll tell him Feral is on target and we have a chance to bag him, we need the information he's got anyway so we might be able to get it approved" I sighed before replying "I'll be in the TOC watching the assault" he smiled kissing my forehead before saying "I'm gonna go talk to Harry, I'll bring food back" I smiled as I watched him walk out.