Dark Flames Burn the Claw

Twelve hours passed in taut silence.

Inside Ash's tent, there were only whispers, the soft clink of metal, and the rustle of paper.

Anvil's fingers moved across the map, working through routes;

Wraith stayed hidden in the shadows, checking every buckle on his gear to ensure it made no sound;

Det carefully counted the explosives in his backpack. He was only responsible for laying traps around the perimeter; combat at this level did not require much participation from him;

Bulwark was also responsible for the perimeter. He had to make sure no one escaped through it.

Peregrine repeatedly checked his DMR, calculated trajectories, and secured the monocular night vision device Lynn had specially authorized to his helmet.

Old Joey and Wrench delivered the supplies: climbing ropes, quiet tools, explosive fuses, and six of the twenty Molotov cocktails.

Night fell completely.

Six figures slipped out through the concealed door at the base's southwest corner, blending into the outlines of the abandoned city.

There was no sound, only hand signals and exchanged looks.

Wraith led the way. Even where he had no night vision, he accurately avoided rubble, broken glass, and scattered, sluggish walking corpses. He was like a moving shadow.

Det and Bulwark reached their assigned positions and made ready.

Wraith handled the infiltration.

He stopped two hundred meters outside the warehouse and signaled.

Peregrine immediately found a position. He chose a half-collapsed two-story building with a view covering the main entrance, part of the flank, and the shelving area where the M2 was mounted.

Everything was clear in the green glow of his night vision.

He set up his DMR, steadied his breathing, and trained the muzzle on the target area.

Once Peregrine was ready, Anvil and Wraith continued their approach.

The outer patrol sentries walked fixed routes in pairs, their movements lax.

Wraith crept low to the ground, using the shadows of broken walls and wrecked vehicles.

The instant one sentry turned to light a cigarette, Wraith moved.

A garrote flew from the darkness, looped around the rear sentry's neck, and jerked him backward.

At the same time, Wraith lunged behind the other man, clamped one hand over his mouth and nose, and drove the military blade in his other hand up beneath his jaw, killing him instantly.

There were only two dull thuds as they hit the ground, and the bodies were dragged into a deep pit.

Anvil kept watch and cleared away the traces.

With the sentries dealt with, Wraith climbed the cracks and rusty pipes on the warehouse's outer wall like a gecko, heading for the vent above the maintenance tunnel entrance.

He slipped inside. It was dim, lit only by the central fire, where the bandits had gathered in a noisy crowd.

Through his night vision, Wraith made out two men leaning beside the M2 deep among the shelves. One was dozing.

Anvil slipped in through the other end of the maintenance tunnel.

The tunnel smelled strongly of machine oil and rust.

He carefully avoided oil slicks and tools, heading straight for the load-bearing points of the shelving supporting the heavy machine gun.

Wraith moved through the ventilation duct.

He picked out a bandit dozing against a cargo crate not far from the machine gun.

A blow dart silently struck the man's neck.

The target stiffened, then slumped.

The movement alerted a guard beside the machine gun, who rose to investigate.

At that very moment!

Anvil placed plastic explosives on the critical load-bearing points and set the remote detonator.

He tapped out the prearranged "ready" signal over his communicator-low-power, short-range.

Wraith saw the guard rise and saw the signal.

He lunged down from the vent, landing behind the guard.

The same method-cover the mouth, slit the throat.

A gurgle escaped the guard's throat, and he collapsed.

The sound went unnoticed amid the noise, but it startled the other dozing machine gunner awake.

"Ene-!"

The machine gunner had barely shouted when Peregrine's bullet arrived.

A 7.62mm round passed through a gap in the broken window and struck him between the brows.

The DMR's suppressor muffled the shot to a dull thud amid the warehouse noise.

Anvil pressed the detonator.

Boom-!

A muffled blast came from beneath the shelving. The directional explosion precisely destroyed the structure.

The heavy M2 and reinforced shelving collapsed inward with the screech of twisting metal.

The gun slammed into the ground, sending parts flying, completely wrecked.

The explosion and shock wave drowned out the clamor. The warehouse fell dead silent for an instant, then erupted in terrified shouts.

Chaos.

Scar reacted quickly, drawing his gun and roaring, "Enemy attack! Grab your weapons! By the tunnel!"

But the deadly strike came from the other side.

The instant the explosion hit, Wraith hurled two Molotov cocktails beside the fire, where the bandits were most densely gathered.

Glass shattered, fuel splashed, and the fire ignited it.

Whoom! Whoom!

Fireballs rose, and screams and curses replaced the shouting.

Burning men ran wildly, setting more objects and people alight. The flames spread, and chaos reigned.

Anvil charged out of the tunnel's shadows, firing short bursts from his suppressed assault rifle.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Bandits attempting to resist or fire wildly fell one after another.

Using the chaos and firelight as cover, he moved quickly, eliminating targets.

"Damn it!"

Scar spotted the short man running deeper into the warehouse amid the chaos and shouted sharply, "Lead the way! Out the back!"

Probe was terrified, thinking Scar had discovered that he was the one who had leaked the secret. He hurriedly pointed toward a rear corner piled with junk.

At that moment, Peregrine locked onto Scar through his night vision. He saw the two men trying to escape through the back.

He aimed calmly.

Bang!

Another shot.

The bullet passed through a gap in the crowd and struck Probe's knee.

Probe screamed and fell.

Scar paused and looked back in shock and fury, exposing his position.

Anvil seized the chance and hurled the last Molotov cocktail toward Scar and Probe, cutting off their retreat.

Wraith rapidly approached through the shadows on the flank, firing bursts from his suppressed submachine gun to eliminate the guards around Scar.

Knowing he could no longer escape, Scar's eyes turned vicious, and he raised his gun at Anvil.

Bang!

Peregrine's third bullet punched through Scar's gun wrist, sending his pistol flying.

Scar clutched his hand and screamed.

At that instant, Wraith appeared behind him and pressed his muzzle against the back of his head.

Anvil strode forward and smashed his rifle butt hard into Scar's temple, knocking him unconscious.

Resistance inside the warehouse had largely ceased.

Firelight illuminated the corpses, the wounded, and the wreckage of the collapsed heavy machine gun.

Several outer-perimeter thugs had already been killed by Peregrine or scared off when the chaos began.

Withdrawal.

Ash did not linger.

Wraith quickly bound the unconscious Scar and the screaming Probe, then gagged them.

Anvil quickly searched several key bodies, confirmed that no leaders had been missed, and took a notebook and several sketches from Scar.

Peregrine remained on watch, scanning inside and outside the warehouse through his night vision to make sure there were no new threats and no large horde of corpses had been drawn in.

Most of the explosions and gunshots had been muffled by the warehouse and suppressors. Along with the noise of the fire, they had not drawn any major trouble for the moment.

"Cleanup complete. Objective achieved. Withdraw." Anvil's voice came over the communicator.

Wraith hoisted Scar onto his shoulder, and Anvil picked up Probe with his broken leg.

The three went outside and joined the two keeping watch, then swiftly vanished into the darkness beyond the warehouse, leaving burning ruins behind.

As the first pale gray light of dawn appeared, the Ash squad came back into sight of the base.

They brought back the unconscious Scar and the half-dead Probe.

Det and Bulwark had not participated in the fighting, so only three of them carried the smell of gun smoke, blood, and ash, but their eyes were calm and their movements crisp.

Lynn watched them return from atop the wall, his taut jaw relaxing slightly.

He saw the twisted part dismantled from the M2 in Anvil's hand, and he saw the two prisoners.

The operation had been clean, the core threat removed, intelligence possibly obtained, and the base's location had not been widely exposed-the escape of a few peripheral members was no major issue.

[Side mission: Eliminate the Vulture's Claw completed]

[Mission objectives achieved: Core combat power destroyed/disabled (M2 heavy machine gun destroyed, Scar captured, Probe captured). Base location information not widely leaked (a small number of peripheral members escaped; threat level manageable)]

[Mission rewards issued: Survival Points x 800, 7.62mm NATO rifle ammunition x 400 rounds, Molotov cocktails (incendiary bottles) x 20 (6 consumed), basic night vision device (monocular) x 1 (equipped)]

The system notifications appeared in Lynn's vision.

The resources were in hand.

Ash had efficiently wiped out the Vulture's Claw, more easily and simply than Lynn had expected.

But Lynn did not relax. The real test had only just begun.