Do Not Pray for Easy Lives...
[Kincaid Street | 1200 Central Time, Day 2]
The sun shone brightly over Mendez and Sui's heads as the pair trot on the residential area that spanned the length of Kincaid Street. During this time, the city of San Laureola has gone past its rush hour with roads getting less congested with both traffic and commuters alike. It does not, however, stop the downtown area from bustling with activity, which is where Kincaid Street is located.
This is why Mendez found it weird that a good portion of Kincaid Street felt so desolate and lifeless. While the bungalow-lined avenue shows signs of life with the presence of cars parked on driveways and by the curb along with garden accessories decorating the houses' front yards, both Mendez and Sui didn't feel like these houses have human beings living in them.
"Feels like a nuketown, you know? All this stuff to make it looked like people live down here when you don't have to... you just know it when you see people, you know?" pondered Sui.
Mendez nodded. "The place expecting any shipment today?"
"Nada. Not in, not out."
And just like that, they have arrived at 127 Kincaid Street.
The address is a two-story house right at the end of the street in form of a small cul-de-sac, flanked by two other two-story houses on each side. Nothing too fancy about the house in particular, only that it came with a roller door-equipped garage on the main building's left side.
As the pair got closer to the cul-de-sac, Mendez assessed not only the 'armory' house but also the houses that flank its sides. He then noticed there is no way he can look into the houses' interior from where he's standing. All the curtains on the windows are closed tight and the blinds are dropped down.
But then, another squint revealed another detail--that each of the window curtains/blinds facing the street has a small hole pegged against them. They are easy to miss at first but are quite visible when one takes a more careful look into the windows instead of a dismissive glance.
Holes that can fit a rifle through them. And as it turns out, the holes are filled.
Mendez jumped to his left. Something whizzed through the air and grazed his right cheek.
And with that, the entire cul-de-sac exploded with gunfire.
The three houses are not just houses, they are ambush positions.
"Ah shit, here we go again!" quipped Mendez as he and Sui crawled to a sedan parked in a driveway to their left, drizzles of bullets chipping away the concrete they were standing on.
"Fucking hell!" screamed Sui as the car got hailed with bullets, its tire deflating and windows exploding, sending shards down his head.
Amidst the rain, Mendez shimmied to the edge of his vehicular cover to observe the closest house to the duo, the house on the left. There, he spotted two BP mercenaries jogging at their direction, presumably to rush them down.
Anticipating the mercs, Mendez reeled back, pulled out La Mutilar, and counted to three.
1...2...3.
The mercs came into Mendez' sight--and he aimed.
BANG!
One down, but if Mendez recalled correctly, there is another one--
--right behind him, just as Mendez gained control of his revolver's recoil.
BANG! No more rushers.
Looting the now-dead rushers, Mendez armed Sui--and himself--with new guns. Sui gets a G36C assault rifle, Mendez a UMP45 submachine gun.
"I'm going to the left house over there," indicated Mendez as he gestured towards the house closest to the pair. "Just stay here and give me cover," to which Sui nodded.
Before long, Mendez was already at the back door, with the bullets more interested in going for the stationary Sui.
Kicking the door open, Mendez immediately spotted a bogey directly in front of him: a BP merc with an M14 battle rifle nested against the window overlooking the cul-de-sac in front of the house.
But surely he can't be alone in this house, and so Mendez glanced left to see a set of stairwell leading upwards to his left and a kitchen further down his sightline, just beyond the stairwell.
Naturally, the two aforementioned locations are occupied by BP mercenaries.
Mendez twisted and fired at the merc on the stairwell, who fired at the same time--
--and hit him!
The impact of the bullet blew him against the wall. But there is no time to recuperate.
Mendez immediately took aim at the BP goon in the kitchen, noticing the stairwell goon tumbling down at the corner of his eyes.
Mendez squeezed the trigger. It was a good hit.
From his sitting position on the floor against the wall, Mendez lunged sideways and aimed at the merc with the marksman rifle.
The gun clicked. Mendez' gun is out!
Without even tossing his dry UMP45 aside, Mendez grabbed the stairwell goon's pistol--a Glock 17-- with his left hand and spammed the trigger at the merc's direction!
9mm bullets rattle the entire living room--the plaster walls, the glass windows, the cushioned armchairs--all without hitting their intended target!
BANG!
Until it did, at the mercenary's leg!
The merc fell on one knee, stunned. No better time for Mendez to finish him off.
Another click. The Glock 17 has gone dry.
With an exasperated grunt, Mendez hurled the pistol at the mercenary and hit him square on the head. The BP personnel collapsed, even more stunned.
The merc may have been out for the count, but there is always a chance of him coming to his senses later and messing things up for Mendez and Sui.
So Mendez pulled out La Mutilar and finished him off.
BANG!
***
Sui has been keeping his head low, wondering if the car can take any more of the bullet rain when he noticed that the left house has started producing gunfire sounds of its own.
And it sounded like the left house is not joining on gunning him down, but rather it is shooting at the other houses, reducing the intensity of gunfire raining down on him.
Mendez. He must have captured the left house. That easy, huh? he thought.
With that in mind, Sui scampered for the left house, going directly through the back door.
Sui was already inside the house when he saw Mendez kneeling at the window, firing his rifle at the other houses. Mendez then spun out of his firing position and fumbled with the rifle, seemingly trying to reload it.
Mendez looked up, saw Sui, and stopped reloading his gun.
Instead, he pulled out his signature revolver at Sui.
Sui thought Mendez was about to commit friendly fire before realizing what was really going on.
He dove to his left against the stairs.
BANG!
Blood spouted at the floor beside him. A thud can be heard from the back door.
Mendez had just shot a BP goon behind Sui at the head.
***
After hitting the rifle's bolt release, Mendez handed the M14 battle rifle to Sui.
"Keep them busy."
"You asking me to kill these guys?!"
"Not unless you want to," he said, keeping his head low. "'Least keep on making them dodge your bullets, alright?"
Switching positions with Sui at the window, Mendez went upstairs.
Entering one of the upper floor rooms, Mendez went for the window overlooking the cul-de-sac and lo and behold, a scoped Winchester Model 70 rifle. Good for long-range engagements due to its high accuracy, less so for close-range due to its slow bolt-action firing mode. The gun must have belonged to the stairwell goon he gunned down earlier.
Peeking through the rifle's scope, Mendez took aim at the house across the cul-de-sac. Specifically, at the second-floor window.
There, he spotted a BP personnel behind the window, also with a rifle. He does not seem to notice him, though.
BANG!
A stationary target makes for an easy one. Hit.
He cycled the rifle's bolt and shifted his aim to the lower floor windows. There, he saw another shooter, although he was shrouded behind the window's blind, leaving only his rifle's barrel, muzzle, and scope glint to be seen.
Mendez has to make a calculated shot here. Judging from the position of the barrel--
--BANG!
Mendez stumbled backwards as the glass window in front of him exploded. The BP sniper has already clocked in on him!
Mendez scoffed. He's not much of a sniper himself anyway.
He went downstairs, spotting Sui leaning under the window, seemingly scared to peek outside.
"I-I'm out!" Sui stammered.
"Don't stress, I'm just here to settle a small score," replied Mendez.
With that said, Mendez nestled his rifle on the hole in the window blind, took aim at the opposite hole, and fired.
Mendez can see the rifle on the other end going limp. The shooter on the other side is down.
Mendez then turned to Sui, who has ceased to return fire almost completely. Of course. Like Foy, Sui is not much of a killer like Mendez and Becks are. Best not to push him from this point forward.
Suddenly, a pickup truck with a mounted machine gun on its flatbed pulled out from 127's garage.
"That truck's not here to sell ice creams," quipped Mendez as the pickup pulled up in front of the house they are in. "Down!"
And with that remark, the house is torn to shreds with heavy-caliber rounds.
Wood splinters flew everywhere as both Mendez and Sui lied prone on the floor, further deforming the house from its already flimsy, bullet-ridden state. Anything that is not glued to the ground is blown away by the machine gun and those that are glued are shredded by the high-power machine gun rounds. If a human being had been standing where the bullets went, there won't be anything left of them but a fine red mist.
Mendez' plan is to wait until the machine gun overheat or run out of bullets somehow, but when is that going to happen?
That is when he heard the tire screeches.
The machine gunner has clearly shifted his attention from them as the house decimating process stopped. It may have gone for whatever made the tire screeching sounds instead.
Mendez saw Sui peeking out the window. He popped his head at the window as well.
It was Becks and Foy in Becks' stolen white Pajero.
Mendez also saw the machine gun rotating in Becks' direction.
Without much delay, Mendez lifted Sui's M14 and steadied his aim.
BANG!
Mendez saw blood spray out of the mounted gunner. He is not going to walk away from that one.
But, another problem; the driver of the pickup went out of his seat.
He then climbed up to the flatbed, trying to mount the machine gun himself.
Another stationary target for Mendez.
BANG!
No more machine guns.
As if on cue, a call from Becks came on Mendez' phone.
"What's the next move? Also, having to call you like this is hella impractical."
"Well, here's hoping they have some earpieces at the dream house," answered Mendez. "Here's the plan: you with me to the house in the middle right there, Foy and Sui provide cover from where they're standing. Relay that to Foy."
After Becks hung up, Mendez told Sui the plan, to which Sui gave a thumbs up.
"Also, that was a good shot back there," said Sui.
Mendez replied with a thumbs up of his own.
Mendez then grabbed an MP5A2 from the dead BP henchman in the kitchen and headed out via the back door.
With the four-way shootout going on in the background, Mendez reached the middle house's backyard without much problem.
That is, until a goon suddenly exited the back door.
Mendez took aim, but the goon looked to his right and convulsed uncontrollably, as if...
... he was being riddled with bullets.
Instinctively, Mendez threw himself to the ground, allowing the bullets that pierced through the goon to whiz over his head.
The goon went down beside him, revealing Becks with an M4A1.
"The fuck you doing taking a nap out here?"
"In case your finger got a little too trigger happy," retaliated Mendez as he pulled himself up.
Mendez peeked at the middle house before the pair go in. The kitchen is directly located in front of the back door with a large countertop in the middle, followed by the dining area to the kitchen's left separated by a thin wall. The house's living room lies beyond the dining room, and stairwell directly to the left of the back door.
"You take the high road, I'll take the low road, alright?" proposed Mendez as the pair stacked by the back door.
"Stairs, right? A'ight."
With that note, Mendez went straight for the kitchen while Becks winged it to his left. There he saw a BP mercenary pulling the pin of a hand grenade.
A burst from Becks and down he goes.
The grenade obediently rolled to Mendez' foot, still unprimed with the fuse still attached. He picked it up, flicked the fuse with his thumb, and lobbed it at the living room full of BP mercenaries.
An explosion shook the entire room as Mendez took cover behind the thin wall between the kitchen and the dining area.
Turning to his right, Mendez noticed a BP merc had just escaped the blast by diving behind the countertop.
Readying his submachine gun, Mendez aimed at the countertop, silently daring the mercenary to appear like whack-a-mole.
All of a sudden in blinding speed, the merc swung a frying pan at Mendez' arm, knocking the gun off his hand!
Momentarily distracted his gun's displacement, Mendez reflexively ducked as the merc flung the pan like a frisbee, barely missing his head!
Mendez dove to his left, pulling out La Mutilar as the merc vaulted over the countertop--
--BANG!
Only to be blown away by the his .44 magnum rounds!
His kerfuffle over, Mendez noticed another action going on--a merc tumbling down the stairs. Becks' handiwork, he'd bet.
Standing up, Mendez shot the merc on the head.
BANG!
He then went up the stairs to check on Becks' progress on the high road.
The upper floor was made of two rooms to the stairwell's right separated by a small corridor. Mendez heard struggling noises coming from the right room, to which he went to investigate.
Turns out, Becks had just wriggled free from a mercenary.
Seeing the window of opportunity, Mendez charged at the mercenary--
--and punched him at the same time as Becks, sending him flying through the large window behind him!
127 Kincaid Street, clear.
Looking ahead from the now-shattered window, Mendez saw Sui standing at the left house's doorway. He signaled the bespectacled man 'all clear'.
He then turned to Becks. "Get the car, we're loading the hardware."
***
Becks reversed the white Pajero into the now-empty garage. He had successfully dodged the heavy machine gun fire earlier by throwing the steering wheel to the side, causing the SUV to lodge harmlessly against a hedge fence.
As Becks exited the car to help out with the loot, he noticed dark figures approaching the house from the distance.
The dark figures grew closer, and that's when he noticed the dark figures being a convoy of black Chevrolet Suburban SUVs. They don't look friendly.
"Yo Mendez," he said as he went into the house while the rest of the crew were busy loading guns, gadgets, and ammunition into duffel bags. "We got some company."
Mendez handed Becks an earpiece before looking out the window.
"Not our usual company," announced Mendez as he turned towards the gang. "Looks like we're gonna have our own meet and greet with Rafael Cezaro himself."