Hachijo Island Battle - 2

18: 58 (62 minutes till the next explosion)

The team used the smoke's cover to get inside the building undetected. Once inside, they tried to quickly leave the open area to not get detected by the soldiers outside, but they failed miserably, as it didn't even take a second for the Phoenix Company soldiers to spot them as they ran towards the building.

Sohel yelled, "Everyone, get inside. It's easy to defend close corridors."

Everyone ran inside as hundreds of Pheonix Company soldiers followed behind. Sohel said as he was running, "ARIA, start scanning the building. Locate the main room."

ARIA replied, "Engaging infrared radars. Time to generate a map, 135 seconds."

Sohel replied, "Make it fast, please."

Jacob was farthest in the back. He said as he glanced back and saw the Phoenix Company soldiers closing in, "Boss, where are we running to? They right up my ass."

Naomi said, "Just keep running."

They ran through the corridors and stumbled upon a set of stairs. Sohel saw that even though they were on the ground floor, there were stairs going more down. Sohel asked, "ARIA, is the map ready?"

ARIA replied, "Still receiving the output, captain. I need a little more time."

Sohel looked back and realised they didn't have time to think as the Pheonix Compny soldiers had entered the same corridor and were about to fire. He yelled, "Everybody, underground."

Everyone went down the stairs. As they reached the end of the staircase, they didn't have any other choice but to stop as they found themselves in another corridor with the way out blocked by another bunch of Pheonix Company soldiers. All of them, without any thinking, tried to look for cover, only to fail as it was just an empty corridor. Sohel yelled, "Everyone without a Kevlar suit, get to the corners. Everyone else, get to fighting. Use your weapon in single fire; don't waste ammo."

They followed his instructions. But just before anyone could fire, Jacob yelled, "GET DOWN."

Everyone jumped down, and just as they did, the deafening noise of Jacob's M240 filled the room. In a few seconds, the corridor in front of them was clear. Jacob took out his only frag grenade and threw it up the staircase to make the phoenix forces soldiers behind them back off.

Jacob said, "Captain, let's do undead formation. I can hold them off here for quite some time."

Everyone was stunned by Jacob's behaviour. Sohel got out of it first and said, "Got it. Come on."

Jacob smiled, and they headed to the dead Pheonix forces soldiers. Jacob then laid down and mounted the LMG to the ground. Sohel then hid Jacob with three dead bodies. He said, "Just give us a few minutes."

Jacob nodded. ARIA said, "Captain, I have the location. Head down the corridor. At the very end, you should end up in a big room; I'm detecting high electromagnetic waves originating from that room."

Sohel said, "That might be the control room. Let's go everyone."

They ran through the corridor, but with each turn they took, they stumbled upon Pheonix forces soldiers. They kept taking out the soldiers and went forward. As they reached the end of the corridor, they stood in front of a metallic door. Sohel let out a breath and said, "Everyone, check your weapons. How much ammo you have left?"

Naoki said, "Five bullets. Not enough." Everyone else checked their weapons and answered similarly. Sohel said, "Hmm. We're pinched. Either way, get ready to breach. I'll take the left, Naoki; take the right, Mitali; take the middle. Everyone else, follow behind us."

They took their positions. Once they were ready, Sohel punched the doorknob with his left hand, breaking the lock. Naoki followed and kicked open the door. Everyone went in at once. Naoki found four soldiers in his line of sight and created four third eyes in their forehead. Same for Sohel. Mitali went in to the middle and saw Ito sitting in a chair. Naomi was right behind Mitali. She noticed Ito reaching out for something under the table in front of him. She quickly ran to Ito and swiftly slid over the table, ending up behind him. She then put her knife against Ito's throat while holding on to Ito's shoulder with her left hand, preventing him from standing up.

Sohel was inspecting the dead soldiers. He stood back up and threw a handcuff towards Naomi. She cought the handcuffs and put them on Ito.

Sohel went and stood in front of Ito. Naoki came and stood beside Sohel with everyone else behind him. Ito laughed at the scene in front of him. The laugh seemed to irritate Naoki. He went ahead and punched Ito in the face and asked, "What's so funny, you maniac?"

Ito was still laughing uncontrollably after getting punched. He controlled his laughter and said, "How could I not laugh? For you to make me realise even after all my years of extending his research, my results were nothing in front of Dr. Kuroshima's results. I failed miserably. Ever after everything I did, I was still nothing."

Sohel took a step forward and said, his voice filled with anger, "Stop spewing bullshit. Where is Kuroshima?"

Ito replied, "Boss? You aren't qualified enough to meet him. He will come meet you when he deems you fit for his presence."

Sohel felt annoyed at the answer, but he tried to stay calm. Just then Sohel's comms buzzed. Annabelle said, "Captain, I'm going down. There are too many RPGs. Artemis has suffered serious losses; she can't fly anymore. The VToL engine is totally freaked. Back thrusters have taken damage too."

Sohel clicked his tongue and said, "Princess, try to land Artemis in front of the building. Medusa, Mitali, head upstairs. Princess needs backup."

Naomi and Mitali nodded and ran out of the room.

Sohel was thinking about what he should do at the moment when his eyes stumbled upon a board on the wall. Sohel went close to the wall and said, "Naoki, is this what I think it is?"

Naoki looked at the board and said, "If we're thinking the same thing, then yes."