Whitehat's Razor
[Floor 8, Hotel Elisa | 1720 Central Time, Day 2]
The elevator doors open to reveal a single BP mercenary standing right in front of Mendez.
So he was right after all.
The mercenary turned his head at the elevator almost instantly, startled by the elevator sound.
But Mendez is faster.
BANG!
Before the merc's head hit the floor, Mendez analyzed the situation at hand. There was only one BP merc situated in front of the elevator, and his incaution of Mendez' arrival means that he was not supposed to guard the elevator; he was about to take position with the other mercenaries. And if he was still in front of the elevator while taking position, that would mean his mates are not too far ahead... as in a few meters off the elevator on both sides.
Luckily, one of the dead BP soldiers in the elevator was kind enough to leave Mendez a grenade, which he threw against the wall with a slight angle to his right.
But before the grenade landed on the floor, Mendez has already made another move; leaning out of the elevator, he preemptively aimed at the hallway to the elevator's left with the stolen G36V rifle.
He predicted there was going to be another set of BP mercs at the left side of the hallway, and he was right. There were three of them.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
One down, two to go.
And as if on cue, the grenade exploded.
If the blast did not kill any BP mercs, it should at least force them to cover. At least that's what Mendez thought as he advanced to the left hallway wing.
BANG!
Not him. Not from him, anyway. But it did hit him. Or at least, his rainjacket.
Mendez fell to the floor. But he didn't go down face-first.
Instead, he spun before he hit the ground, perfectly setting himself up to face his shooter--and let out a burst from his rifle.
BANG-BANG-BANG!
The shooter went down before he had the chance to find cover.
Still on the floor, Mendez turned around instinctively--and found another target.
BANG!
That got him on the head, complete with a picturesque blood splatter on the wall behind him.
Mendez got on his feet, scrambling to find the nearest cover--one of the hotel suites. All guns on the floor went off as Mendez dove into the hotel suite to his right.
Keeping himself behind cover as much as possible, Mendez tried to return fire with his rifle.
BANG-BANG-BANG-click!
Of course the thing had to run out of ammo.
Tossing the rifle away, Mendez switched to his revolver yet again, peeking out of the room as he did so.
The BP mercs are still firing at him. Yet why does it feel like the bullets are only coming from one side of the hallway? As far as Mendez is concerned, he is sandwiched; there is one mercenary from his side of the hallway and several others from the other side. In other words, the suppressing fire should have come from two directions.
Is the lone mercenary trying to sneak up on him and catch him off guard while the others keep Mendez pinned down?
Mendez got the answer to that question soon enough. A lone BP personnel suddenly lunged at Mendez from the hallway with a knife.
Mendez saw it coming, but not fully--he managed to stop the knife from going through his head with his left arm, but the mercenary managed to pin him against the wall and isolate his gun, putting him at a disadvantage.
Mendez can see the tip of the knife blade just centimeters away from his eye. He can even almost feel its blade caressing his iris.
All of a sudden, he let go of the mercenary's knife-wielding arm, letting the knife plunge down on him.
Only that the knife stabbed the wall behind him instead, as Mendez managed to dodge the knife's trajectory at the last possible moment!
With his free left arm, Mendez delivered a quick jab to the mercenary's throat, momentarily knocking his wind out and freeing himself in the process.
As soon as he is free to move, Mendez grabbed the stunned mercenary and dragged him out to the hallway as a human shield, taking aim at the other side of the hallway with La Mutilar.
Two gunshots rang the hallway as soon as Mendez got into position.
The mercs at the other side collapsed to the floor, but Mendez has not pulled the trigger.
His backup has arrived. Bishop and Isaacs appeared at the other side of the hallway.
Mendez bashed his pistol against the merc's head to knock him out before addressing the two police officers. "Heh, you made it."
"You're one to talk, I saw you fall down that elevator shaft! How?!" replied Bishop, flabbergasted.
Mendez drew a long breath before answering. "Cables," he replied briefly. "So this is it? The others didn't make it, huh?"
Both of Mendez' squadmates shook their head.
"Well, one more floor to go. Let's just get this over with."
[Floor 7, Hotel Elisa | 1730 Central Time, Day 2]
Mendez is the one taking point as the trio descend into the seventh floor. Having depleted the ammunition of his other weapons, Mendez came down armed only with his trustworthy revolver, while Bishop and Isaacs both still wield their police-issued MP5SD.
The door creaked open slowly as the trio pushed on cautiously, on account of them being outnumbered...
...only for Mendez to jump back into the fire escape as the doorway got ripped to shreds with a hailstorm of bullets!
Not just any bullet, Mendez thought to himself. ".50 caliber rounds, they got a mounted gun on the other side!"
"Shit!" cursed Isaacs. "Bishop, see if you can go to other side of the hallway and flank 'em!"
With a nod, Bishop disappeared into the upper levels of the emergency stairway.
"Yeah that's good and all, but chances are they thought about someone trying 'ta flank them and put another mounted gun facing the other side," explained Mendez.
"Sounds plausible, but what makes you so sure about tha--"
Isaacs was interrupted by a BP soldier storming through the emergency doorway!
BANG!
"One man's junk, I guess," quipped Mendez as he picked up the dead merc's AKS-74U. "Would've been nice if the other side's clear, but with how things have been going today, I won't be shocked if they got another one posted in the other side. You got a flashbang or two?"
Isaacs produced the item Mendez asked for from one of his utility pockets.
"Ammo count?" asked Mendez again.
Isaacs pulled out his submachine gun magazine. "Three-quarters of this and another three. And a couple of more for the pistol, I think."
"Right, I'm gonna move up on these guys," instructed Mendez as he ammo-checked his own compact carbine. "You stay here and stay on comms, provide cover fire and do as I say."
"Do as you say, whaddya mean--"
Mendez gestured towards Isaacs' flashbang. "Think that might come in handy."
As if on cue, the pair's earpiece came alive--it was Bishop. "They got another machine gun pointed this way, I'm pinned down!"
And with that remark, Mendez took his stance by the near-shredded doorway. "How's that for timing?" He then turned towards Isaacs, who stood beside him in front of the doorway. "Okay, throw it off that wall, watch the angle!"
Isaacs took a few steps back and hurled the device at the wall across the emergency doorway, hitting it at a right-angle degree and sending it into the bullet-ridden hallway.
Moments later, the flashbang exploded.
The deafening ring momentarily silenced the gunfire cacophony, which was enough for Mendez to spring into action.
Once he entered the hallway, he was able to properly assess BP's defense setup: the machine gun was setup at a makeshift barricade made up of an assortment of hotel furniture such as oaken cupboards, wardrobes, and nightstands. The large-caliber mounted gun was nestled in the middle of the barricade with a fitted gaping hole for the gun that was big enough for the gunner to get a good view of the hallway, but small enough to shield them from incoming threats.
Mendez made it past two rows of suites before he encountered another threat: clusters of BP operatives hiding in the suites, who managed to dodge the flashbang's blast. Mendez saw one to his right closer to him, but there was another down the hall to his left whom he did not have time to deal with.
Suddenly, bullets whizzed by his left side.
It was cover fire from Isaacs, which managed to bring the BP operative down in time...
...for Mendez to take out the threat to his right side!
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
Not a moment after the threat was neutralized, Mendez saw some movement from the makeshift barricade; the mounted gunner was just recovering from the stun, almost ready to fire the heavy machine gun again.
"Isaacs, put some lead down the mounted gun! Don't let'im reach the trigger!"
"Shit, got it!"
Mendez ducked into one of the suites as a hail of subsonic rounds went down on the barricade!
"Reloading!"
Isaacs used up his turn, now it's mine, thought Mendez as he spun out of cover to take aim at the barricade--
--before another BP personnel popped out of the suites across him!
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
With a flick of his arms, Mendez managed to pivot his aim causing his burst fire to shape an arc, hitting the ambushing mercenary in the process!
Without a moment's rest, Mendez returned his focus to the barricade--
--when the door behind him burst open with another merc rushing against him with a pistol!
BANG-BANG-BANG-click!
The gun might have run dry, but the mercs have not--there was another one storming through the door right behind the first merc--
--who got hit square on the face from Mendez throwing his empty AKS-74U at him!
Stunned, Mendez dashed towards the merc while pulling La Mutilar from its holster yet again--not to finish the merc off, but to relocate to the connecting room using the merc as a human shield.
As soon as he dragged the merc to the room next door, he was met with quite a welcoming committee.
Another merc was waiting in the room by the door, submachine gun on hand!
The other merc fired away, squarely hitting his colleague as Mendez rolled to the side--
BANG! BANG!
--and put two into the merc in the suite!
As soon as the merc in front of Mendez fell to the floor, the door to the suite across him bust open revealing another mercenary taking aim at him...
only for him to collapse to a burst of shots, with Isaacs appearing at the doorway and subsequently taking cover at the suite across Mendez!
"Bishop got to our rear guard, did she?" deduced Mendez.
"Yeah, she's got our six," answered Isaacs via Mendez' earpiece.
"How much you got?" asked Mendez again.
There was a moment of ammo checking on Isaacs' side, which led to his answer. "Last mag on this one."
"We're gonna need to hit that MG nest with everything we got," suggested Mendez amidst the bulletstorm outside the suite as he picked up another weapon from another dead merc--an honest-to-goodness AK-47.
Isaacs blindfired his MP5SD all the while Mendez aimed for the little mounted gun opening with his AK rifle!
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
The flying bullets from the two men started to chip away at the barricade's mostly wooden infrastructure, which allowed Mendez to have a clear shot at the gunner with every passing bullet.
"I'm out!" shouted Isaacs.
That's when Mendez saw it: a clear shot at the gunner's head!
BANG!
Mendez did not waste his shot. However, Mendez recalled there was another gunner at the MG nest manning the gun facing the other side of the hallway. With that in mind, Mendez continued firing, this time at the weakest points of the barricade's wooden structure.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
And with another hail of bullets, one of the wardrobes stacked on the top of the barricade toppled to the hallway floor--exposing the second gunner to the pair.
click!
It's downright comedic at this point, thought Mendez as he tried to switch to his revolver, discarding his now-empty rifle.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Isaacs fired first, this time with his sidearm M1911--
BANG!
--with Mendez firing the final shot!
The gunners are down. Afterwards, silence.
"I guess we're clear on this floor," announced Mendez as he walked past Isaacs towards Bishop. "Bishop, there's no more of them on the other side, right?"
"Yeah, just the gunner."
"Well, then--"
BANG! BANG!
Mendez felt it. Bishop saw it.
He had just been shot on the back. Twice. Definitely not one of the BP mercs, he made sure to take all of them out for good, especially the second gunner who got filled with lead.
Unless of course, there is a traitor among the three of them.
Isaacs.