Chương 36: HIGHWAY TO HELL
(Mexico City, Mexico, March 2134)
Sean looked down at the night sky illuminated by stars and the lights of the distant skyscrapers. He and the cadets are suspended upside down on a 4-storied building, careful to ensure they are above the windows, They had hooked on to the rooftop with the ascension cables on their Exo-suits. This is the last exercise of the day.
Entering the 4th week of "Hell Month", only 90 out of 1000 plus cadets are left.
Now the cadets are in an anti-terrorism simulation in Mexico, preparing to breach in.
Sean is suspended in the air, standing on the walls, hand gripped tightly on his FN 5-7 pistol, turning on the under-barrel weapon light, looking at the images in his HUD from the wall-penetrating radar
(2 hours ago)
Nanami briefed the cadets in a mission room.
"Scenario is 25 hostages being taken captive by 13 terrorists. UNSSD forces laid siege for a week, today's the 7th day. Negotiations have broken down, and the terrorists executed a hostage, hence, we are given the green light to breach in."
She then showed them the layout of the building, as well as the faces of the 6 "terrorists", and the cadets memorised their faces as they had been trained in. This is to ensure that they can immediately differentiate a "hostage" from a "terrorist". While the HUDs of their Exo-suits have automated facial recognition functions, such a skill is still a fundamental skill for all Special Forces operators, be it Tier 1 or Tier 2.
The cadets were then split to groups of 30. Sean's group voted Karl and him respectively to be the commander and second in command.
(Present time)
Sean's group is the second to go. The first group before them finished the course in 18 minutes, suffering 2 casualties and 1 "hostage" killed.
The plan he and Karl came up with is to attack simultaneously. 2 teams led by him and Karl respectively will abseil down from the roof top, breaching into the 3rd and 4th floors.
Ariel will lead another team to breach into the 2nd floor after they climbed up.
The last group led by Clara is left in charge of the 1st floor, plan is to blow up and then ram the wall open using an armoured vehicle. They avoided entering from the door to prevent traps.
Erika, part of Ariel's team, planted a breaching explosive onto the wall, then quickly retreating back to the balcony she was hiding behind in. She gave a signal to Ariel behind her, who then selected a flashbang grenade.
"Ready," said Vera, hiding on a balcony across Ariel.
Inside the armoured vehicle, Eddie grabbed the top hatch, ready to come out and shoot.
Clara and another cadet sneaked to the wall, planting the breaching explosive.
Albert, part of Sean's team, is suspended on the other end of the wall. He readied his MP5A5 submachine gun.
"Action!" ordered Karl.
His team and Sean's team activated the breaching spikes on the bottom of their boot armour, swooping down quickly, breaking the window and stormed in.
Sean deployed his collapsible bulletproof shield, pointing his pistol forward, shielding himself and the rest of his section behind him. Louis aimed out his Noveske N4 rifle from behind Sean, advancing forward.
Erika and Clara also detonated their charges at the same time. Ariel and Vera threw in flashbangs.
(1st floor)
An unfortunate "terrorist" standing behind the wall is blown into the air by the blast, he would have been killed if this was a real operation.
Before the remaining 4 at the 1st floor can react, an armoured vehicle charged inside through the big hole on the wall. Eddie opened the top hatch, aiming his FN P90 submachine gun at them.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" he yelled.
The "terrorists" still grabbed their guns anyway, prompting Eddie to shoot, eliminating one. Once the armoured vehicle is fully inside, the rest of the team stepped out, using the vehicle's body as cover and shooting at the other 3 "terrorists". The "terrorists"' weapons are useless against the heavy armour of the vehicle, and are soon eliminated.
Clara deployed her bulletproof shield, leading her team to clear the first floor of hostiles. They advance forward, finding an armed man whom they recognised to be a "terrorist".
Clara directed her shield's lights onto him, blinding him with the bright flash of light.
"HANDS UP, ON THE FLOOR!" she warned, keeping her Glock 19 pistol raised.
The "terrorist" complied, dropping his gun, Eddie then immediately kicked the gun away, while 2 others tackled him against the wall and searched him, before handcuffing and escorting him out, while the others continued their advance.
(2nd floor)
Ariel and Vera's flashbangs exploded and they stormed in, clearing the floor. Ariel and Vera each led a section attacking from the East and West sides respectively.
"East wing, entered!" yelled Vera.
A "terrorist" appeared in her sights.
"CONTACT!" she yelled, firing her AK-12M1 rifle.
"West wing, entered!" yelled Ariel.
A "terrorist" grabbed a "hostage", using her as a meat shield.
"STAY BACK!" yelled the "terrorist".
Ariel enveloped the head of the "terrorist" in the reticle of the 1.5x scope of her AUG A3 SF, pulling the trigger decisively, taking out the "terrorist". Erika then secured the "hostage".
(3rd floor)
Sean's team breached in, moving in CQB formation, both of the 2 sections attacking from the East and West are alert, keeping their eyes out for any ambushes.
And true enough, when Albert opened a door, he stared directly at 2 men.
Recognising one of them to be a "terrorist" while the other is a "hostage", Albert yelled at the other person to get down, then immediately pulling shooting the other one before she grabbed her gun.
Sean's team then reached a big meeting room that is locked shut. The cadets moved to the sides of the door.
Albert deployed his battering ram, smashing the door open, immediately moving out of the way.
The cadets charged in, just in time so see 2 "terrorists" about to push hostages up to the door as meat shields. Sean forced one "terrorist" down onto a chair using his shield. He fired 2 point blank shots from his pistol. The other cadets opened fire and eliminated the last one.
"Majority of the 24 hostages are here," reported Louis.
(4th floor).
Karl opened fire on a "terrorist" twice in the torso and once in the head with his HK-416. A pistol shot from the cadet opposite him then took eliminated another. The "terrorist", however, managed to drop a fire bomb, setting the floor on fire. Soon the entire building is filled with smoke. While the built-in gas masks of the cadets are filtering out the smoke and the other harmful substances, the "hostages" all started coughing.
"F****," cursed Karl in German.
After quickly clearing the floor, Karl's team then moved down to rendezvous with Sean's team. Upon checking the numbers, the cadets realised that there is still one more "terrorist" left.
But they have no time to look for the last one as they need to evacuate the "hostages" quickly before the fire spreads.
The "hostages" have become extremely chaotic and panicky, adding oil to the fire. As a theatre enthusiast, Sean is genuinely impressed at the acting skills of the instructors role-playing as "hostages".
The cadets formed a human chain from the 3rd floor down the stairs, shouting to gain the attention of the "hostages", grabbing and passing them down the cadets as if they are parcels, almost literally throwing the "hostages". It is the fastest way.
Then in the confusion, in among the hostages, Louis saw a face which alarmed him, not passing her down to his comrades. The cadet's HUDs immediately gave warnings once the cadets turned to see her.
"HOSTILE!" yelled Louis, recognising her to be the last "terrorist". She broke free of Louis' grasp, grabbing a grenade, pulling the safety pin, holding onto the safety lever. Ariel immediately stopped the "hostages" above from coming down.
The cadets did not shoot. Shooting at such a close proximity is almost guaranteed to cause a friendly fire incident or hit a "hostage", not to mention the consequences of the live grenade going off.
Clara gave Sean, who is near her, a wink. Sean got her cue and readied himself.
Clara grabbed her HK-416 rifle, hitting the "terrorist" firmly on the back of her head using the gun stock, sending the "terrorist" rolling down the stairs, dropping the grenade.
Sean immediately grabbed it, pressing the safety lever tightly. He threw it out of the window behind him, landing on an empty field. A "boom" is heard outside.
The "terrorist" rolled to the ground floor. Erika and the other cadets close to her opened fire, clearing their magazines.
Erika reloaded her SG-552. "All clear!"
The cadets evacuated out the remaining hostages and checked their identities, finishing the operation in 17 minutes with no casualties to themselves nor the hostages.
"Impressive," commended Nanami, taking down their scores.
The next group of 30 readied themselves…
(Girl's dorm)
"Finally…bedtime…" muttered Ariel as she and her roommates stepped into their dormitory like zombies. Their adrenaline worn off immediately after ending the course, and fatigue charged at them like hypersonic missile. 2 cadets had quit today, and 1 is eliminated.
The 4 flopped onto bed, too tired to even change.
(Boy's dorm)
Albert, Eddie and Louis are all out cold, sleeping.
Sean, while tired, is still awake. His brain refusing to rest as he pondered over the question that has been bugging him ever since the torture training ended:
"Why is it shifted forward? It's usually the final segment. This only means that they have another endgame for us, a worse one…"
He recounted Herbert's words on Day 1:
"8 camps all over the world and in space."
"South Africa, Indonesia, Lunar Alpha, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Mexico…" he counted.
"That's 7. There is one more camp left. Where?"
Not able to think of an answer, he decided to not fret about it, sleeping.
(6 days later)
The emergency gathering whistle is blown. Sean, Louis, Albert and Eddie groggily woke up, sitting up mechanically.
The 74 cadets ran out, falling in.
"Hurry up!" yelled Nanami.
Herbert looked at the half-asleep cadets, all trying to stay awake with adrenaline.
"Snipers, plus your observers, and machine gunners step out!" he ordered. "Rest of you follow Nanami!"
Albert, Vera and Eddie, and some others stepped out, while remaining 60 cadets followed Herbert, jogging forward.
"Bloody hell," cursed Sean upon seeing what is the course that awaited them.
It is a long obstacle course, with holes at the sides that Sean recognised to be pits for training explosives which will blow up to simulate the environment of the battlefield, not to mention the firing fighting robots with high-pressured hoses and the instructors behind heavy machine gun nests.
The course ended in a magic use test and shooting range.
Franz, who is sitting on a small observation tower, grabbed a loud speaker and yelled into it.
"We think that you plebs had a VERY good sleep! Thus, we planned a relaxing wake up exercise for you all with tender affection!"
Almost all of the cadets rolled their eyes at his remarks.
"We call it, the Gateway to Heaven!" laughed Franz.
"More like Highway to Hell," muttered Sean under his breath. "Kinda fitting to describe the state we are in since January." Ironically, the ACDC song of the same name is played.
Sean, Louis, Clara, Ariel, Karl and Erika are at the front row of this group of 60 cadet. They dashed forward when the whistle is blown.
Sean jumped, grabbing onto the wall in front of him, climbing up painfully. He ran forward, jumping over a few obstacles as bombs exploded around him.
The cadets then reached a monkey bar. Sean jumped up, grabbing a pole and pulling himself forward.
Louis struggled to hoist himself up, moving forward extremely slowly.
"HURRY UP!" roared Herbert.
"YOU MOTHERF***ERS DARE TO GO SLOWER?" shouted Franz into the loudspeaker, taking a bite from an ice-cream bar.
Sean is currently leading the 6, tied with Karl, followed by Clara, Ariel, Erika and the lastly Louis.
The fire fighting robots activated their hoses, spraying the cadets with high pressured water.
"AH!" Ariel screamed, losing her grip and falling onto the ground below, injuring herself. Limping, she staggered back to the start of the monkey bar and restarted.
Clara sped up her pace, now tied with Sean and Karl.
Karl's competitive nature kicked in, and he pushed his body to the max to prevent being overtaken by Clara and to try to overtake Sean. Clara noticed what he is doing and her own competitive mood stirred up, pulling herself forward.
Neither of them is able to overtake Sean, the 3 maintained their tie.
Squad Artemis members simply have better physique.
Reaching a final length of barbed wire, the 6 cadets crawled down, lying on their left side, holding their guns in their right hands and rapidly crawled forward under the barbed wire. The instructors fired their heavy machine guns, firing above them.
After clearing the barbed wires, the cadets ran to the next section.
Water balloons filled with paint are thrown at them. The cadets ran forward, using magic to shield themselves as required of the course.
Sean yelled, throwing fireballs to incinerate the balloons.
Erika generated ice daggers and threw it at the balloons, popping them.
Ariel's body turned red hot. She generated explosive bursts of flames in the air simultaneously, instantly incinerating the balloons around them.
The heatwave generated melted Franz's ice cream instantly, shocking him at this raw magical power never seen before. He knew that Ariel is overpowered magically, but he never expected her to be SO overpowered.
The stunned instructors on the ground opened the box meant for the second group of 6, launching more balloons at them. Louis dashed forward, conjuring water into a raincoat like substance that wrapped around him, shielding him from the colourful munitions.
Karl on the other hand used telekinesis, stopping the balloons near him in mid-air, then violently crushing them with his mind.
Clara generated wind blades, slicing apart a row of balloons before it hit her, forming a colourful smoke.
Nanami shouted at them from the shooting range. "FASTER!"
The cadets grabbed their guns, running behind Nanami and the other range safety officers.
The cadets ran behind covers, firing at the targets that popped up, switching between hands when peeking out from different covers, keeping their exposed body areas as little as possible when they shoot at their targets.
Ariel slightly raised her AUG A3 SF rifle further when she fired with her left hand, this is to prevent the spent casing from ejecting into her face, a drawback of her preferred rifle's bullpup design.
Sean captured a target swiftly in the reticle of his LPVO optic, firing and landing on the bullseye. He crouched down to reload, Louis immediately stopped behind him, opening fire to cover Sean. Upon finishing his magazine, he tapped Sean, and the 2 swapped positions.
The 6 advanced forward, covering each other alternatively.
Reaching the last pistol range, the 6 cadets moved out from behind the covers of each other, standing in one straight row and advanced forward, firing their pistols at the targets.
"Clear!" they yelled when they finished their magazines, checking their guns again to make sure they are empty.
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