A Duet

Al went down the hall as Ayden went toward the stairs. Al stayed in the shadows, turning off lights when he needed to to keep things dark. Al approached a room. He made sure no one was in it and went inside. It was an office with a computer on a desk. Al pushed a button on the computer's keyboard and waited as his NAV connected to it. Once connected, he tried accessing the recent emails, but it was blocked by a firewall. Al selected the hacking option. Rows of numbers started flowing down the screen. The software was searching for the correct numbers to bypass this firewall. Al had to select a number for each row that would hack into the computer. The correct number would be highlighted and would stop midway through the screen. Al got all six numbers and the computer went to the email folder. Al noticed one email that looked interesting and opened it. It was from one security personal to another. It read that there was a new change to the locks in the building. The new pass code was 6143. Al saved this file and sent it to Kaitlyn. She then sent it to Ayden's NAV.

"Ok Al so far so good, keep it up." Kaitlyn spoke to Al. Al then turned the computer off. He went back to the door to peek outside of it. He heard nothing, so he slipped back into the hallway. Al looked at his NAV for the layout of the building. He needed to go down the hall to a office that had a high probability it would have the intel he was looking for. Al kept to the walls, creeping slowly down that hall. After a few steps Al heard two men speaking about the up coming deal. Al couldn't make out most of it, due to the fact it was mostly whispers. From what Al could tell, both of them didn't like this deal. They called the faction unstable citing that they didn't know what they were getting into. Al moved closer to the two men. Both of them were at the corner of the hall. Al needed to get past them, but now this seemed difficult unless they moved. That they did, but toward Al. Thinking quickly Al did a split jump on the hall walls. He elevated himself 7 feet off the ground. The two men walked underneath Al and into another room.

The men's rifles looked a bit different as they weren't a standard issue assault rifle. Al dropped down to the floor making minimal sound. Al then put his back to the wall to peek over the corner to see. There was a camera scanning a door down the hall. Al moved closer melting into the shadows. He got his Five n Seven, aimed, and fired the EMP. The camera stopped as the electrical wires were temporary fried. Al went to the door, punched in the code he found on the email. A sound chirped as the door unlocked. Al looked through the small area of safety glass. No one was on the other side so Al confidently opened the door and got back into the shadows. Al continued down the hall and occasionally used his EMP to knock out lights so he had the advantage of darkness.

Ayden came to a door with a touch pad on it. The door had a light shining on it so Ayden took out his Five N Seven. He aimed at it and shot off a concentrated beam of EMP energy at the light. The light flickered once then turned off. The sound of the electricity in the bulb struggled to make a connection. Ayden went to the touch pad and pushed in the appropriate code that Al was subjected to. The door hissed open. Ayden pushed further in. He stuck to the walls, and stopped occasionally and listened. Ayden came up to a common area. Two guards were at the vending machines, sharing their present work shift with each other. Ayden looked at his NAV and knew he would have to get to the hallway the two guards were near. He weighed his options carefully; Ayden thought at first to make a distraction with a coke can in a near by garbage bin. Then he looked at the ceiling and Ayden noticed a large pole that traveled horizontal on the ceiling. It started 10 feet in front of him and went into the desired hallway.

The only problem was that the common area was subject to light. Ayden was still in the dark, near the entrance of the common area. Ayden decided to risk it and quickly went inside the common room toward the hanging pole connecting to the ceiling. Ayden reached it and climbed on a table to jump to reach the pipe. He clamped his hands around it, then pulled his legs up and crossed them over it. Ayden then started shimming down the pole head first toward the guards and hall. The lights in the room hung three feet below the pipe. He was in enough darkness the guards wouldn't notice him. When he got close, Ayden accidentally banged his boot on the pipe with made a small ding sound. One guard stopped talking and looked at the ceiling, raising his rifle.

Ayden immediately dropped his torso down so he was only hanging by his legs. Ayden's head was towards the floor and was looking at the guard upside down. Ayden took out his Five N Seven and aimed it at the curious guards' head. The guard was 17 ft away and moving closer. Ayden looked at the rifle the man was holding and made a mental note for later. Ayden made a fist and covered it over his mouth to muffle the breathing sound. The other guard mentioned that it was nothing. Both guards then walked over to a table and began eating their packaged food. Ayden holstered his gun. Ayden used his core muscles to lift himself slowly and silently back to the pipe. Ayden grabbed it with his hands, and continued to move toward the hall. Once he was in the hall Ayden dropped his legs and held on to the pipes. He then let go, falling on the floor and barely made a sound. He got to the shadows and radioed Al.

"Al I got something here. The guards aren't carrying normal rifles. They're non lethal weapons. They shoot a variation of sticky shockers we use. I came across two guards earlier. The rifles seem different so I took a closer look. Now the thing that bothers me is they're using a non lethal weapon for a reason. They don't wanna kill whoever it is they're shooting at. And for what reason is all I can decide is they know we are here."

"You know I saw a couple men with odd looking rifles. I wish I looked into it more. The men didn't seem too cautious though but let's get our objectives done and get out of here." Al spoke back to Ayden.

Al got to the office door revelatory soon. He used the cable to spot anyone in the room. With no one in it Al tried the door, but was temporary slowed down after getting a locked door. He got out his lock picks and went to work. Thirty seconds later Al had the door open and got inside. He looked around the well furnished office. He moved to the computer, hit the keyboard and connected his NAV. The same routine was applied for the firewall on that computer and Al got working on the computer. Al looked at some emails. One looking quite peculiar as it had the same numbers as the incomplete IP address. Al saved it and opened it. It was a sentence long. The words made no sense as it must have been some sort of code. Al looked deep into the computer's files and found what he was looking for. A confirmation that there was a mole inside the NSA. His name was Joe Mar. He was a chemical coordinator in the NSA. It looked like he was a scientist that created and handled violent chemicals that are man made. No wonder the unknown faction needed him. The arms dealer supplies the material and a person who knows how to handle it. Al gave this intel to Kaitlyn.

"Here you go. You know you have been kinda quiet today?" Al said as he sends the intel via NAV.

"I know, you seem to be in the zone and there hasn't been much for me to do. O, just letting you know there is some strange activity outside. It looks like some men are coming from the south. Jeeps of some sort. They're heading to the base."

"Hmmm, I haven't set off an alarm and I don't think Ayden has either. I think it is just a run they're doing. Perhaps grabbing guns for a sale. Let me know." Al responded back to Kaitlyn. As soon as Al finished with Kaitlyn, Ayden radioed.

"Al I got info on the material. Also I've completed the secondary. There was a file cabinet full of the arms dealers history. I took pictures and uploaded them to Kaitlyn. I'm all set. How did you do?" Ayden sounded excited for completing his part in the mission. Before Al could answer Ayden cut in again telling him that there was someone outside the room door.

"I made no sound. How do they know I'm here?" Ayden said to himself. "Stand by." Al waited and listened and heard someone unlock a door as Ayden tried to hide himself.

Ayden took out his SCE rifle. Ready to fire off at the intruding men. He thought to himself that he should have expressed to Al his "funny feelings" about the mission. The door opened with three men; their rifles out. Ayden started firing when a guard pointed and shouted.

Al heard the door slam open. Al's heart beat faster as he heard Ayden fire a couple rounds and shouted.

"Theres no way..."Al heard more shouts and a few more rounds fired off.

"Ayden? Ayden!" Al switched frequencies to Gladden. "Gladden we have a serious situation here." Al said this to Gladden with real urgency.

"I understand Al. I'm giving orders to evac now; we have what we need."

"What about Ayden?"

"It's too dangerous for you to try to reach him. We need you out safe. Rather one Asset than two. Get out Al." Kaitlyn got on the frequency with Al.

"Al, Gladden wants you to get Ayden out of there now. He is limited right now since Williams came down. Turn off your radio communications as I will also. No one will be to blame. Get Ayden out of there. Contact us in thirty minutes. Kaitlyn out."

Al turned off his radio on his NAV. Williams was another director of Third Converge like Gladden. Only he had a different job. He was in charge of a small program of hackers who break code for intel. Everyone in the NSA knew that Williams wanted the Shadow Assets program. He had been giving Gladden a hard time ever since. Williams was more of a political savvy person than a warrior. He had been kissing ass, trying to make all of his superiors like him from the get go. He could care less of Third Converge or the people used in the program to protect The United States. All he cared about was his salary and job title. A sickly proud person who wanted envy with all his riches and luxuries. Basically a real asshole. Al now understood why Gladden was telling Al to leave without Ayden. Gladden was being monitored by a egotistic, arrogant, dick head, who cared about the numbers more than lives.

Al checked his NAV for the location beacon inside Ayden's suit. The beacon was being moved down a hall. Either Ayden was being dragged somewhere or he was stripped down and his suit was being taken to another location. Al figured the former considering that the guards had no reason to expect another Asset. Too bad for them, Al thought. Al had to move quickly to the beacon. He had to get himself and Ayden out of there ASAP. Al started heading toward the location of the beacon which now seemed to be in a room adjacent to a smaller room. Al stayed in the shadows and disappeared in the darkness. Al got to the hall in which Ayden was being held in; the room two doors down and to the right.

After a cursory look around Al began to descend down crouched with his side against the wall. Al heard a man, looked behind him down the hall and saw a man headed towards the room. This man was carrying a machete in his right hand. Al stayed still in the dark hallway as the man walked by. The man walked by and Al got behind him. Al put his hand on his knife and got ready to pull it out as he stalked behind the man who crept in front of him, two feet away. Staying low Al minimized sound by staying crouched and creeping up. Once Al wass close enough to his back, Al took out his knife and while holding it,he hit the man by jerking the mans head to the right. His left hand went to grab the man's right forearm. Al got a hold on the man's forearm and the machete dropped. Al used his left hand and brought the guards' right arm up to his left shoulder to keep pressure while at the same time he placed the knife against the right side of the man's neck.

"Now I wonder why you have that machete?" Al spoke in a low dark tone. The man seemed scared as he shook. Al felt the sweat accumulate around the man's neck. The man's only response was:

"No, speaku american." Al dissatisfied with the answer pressed the knife harder against the neck while he brought the right arm closer to the left, putting pressure on the bone.

"I'm willing to bet your neck you do." Al spoke with a dead coldness that even scared himself. Al didn't have time for this and needed to know a few things.

"Ok, I know few words." Said the scared shitless guard.

"How did you know we would be here tonight?"

"Boss say to take new guns, use on intruders, ask them, then torture them. That's it. He say that there would be a man coming to take secrets." The man's English was poorly spoken, but Al understood. This meant that the arms dealer knew that an Asset would be there tonight. Some one leaked out information. Al was starting to get mad knowing he'd been betrayed.

"You know I don't like torture much." Al spoke the last words to the man as he used his left knee and shoved it into the man's lower back. Breaking the necessary nerves for all the important actions men need to do to live. At the same time Al used his blade on the man's neck cutting the jugular vein. He would bleed a pint of blood in the next thirty seconds and wouldn't be able to move anyway to get help. Al went to the door and used his optic cable underneath the door. Only one man holding the cable. Electricity was shooting out of them and Al figured those were being used on Ayden. Al got his SCE rifle out, kicked open the door, and put a three round burst into the man's chest. Ayden wasn't in there so Al figured the smaller room. Al still holding his rifle, went to the door as it opened. Al shot down another guard who came out holding a firearm looking for the disturbance. Al went into the room to see Ayden completely nude in a corner. He was in the fetal position shaking furiously. Al put his rifle down and rushed to him.

Al got out a med kit from his belt as he heard men running into the room next door. Al realizing he didn't have time to get his rifle instinctively pulled out his blade with his right hand. Three men stood at the door way. Al got himself in a Krav Maga battle stance, ready for the next move. Thankfully these men weren't armed. One man rushed to Al throwing a right punch. Al ducked underneath it a cut across the man's front thighs with a lateral motion from left to right. The man put too much weight into his punch as he couldn't stop. His legs gave away as he tried to remain his balance. He fell onto his knees now slightly behind Al. Al and the man were facing back to back with Al slightly to the right. Once the man fell, Al turned around clockwise extending his arm slashing into the back to the man's neck. The man then just fell forward as his torso crashed into the floor. Al turned around to face the two men still standing at the door.

There faces went from confident manner, with a ration of 3:1 to shock as one of their comrades went down without much of a fight. Now they seemed worried. Al's body was now in a natural fight or flight mode. Right now it was all fight. Al watched the men decide their next plan of action. One of the men darted at Al trying to grab at him. Toe to toe. Al gave the man a violent head butt. The man double backed trying to land a punch on Al. Al ducked under one swing and stabbed his blade into the right foot of the attacking man. The man let out a painful scream. Before he could hit him, Al brought up the blade along the man's leg, up the torso and across his neck in a diagonal slash. Al kicked down the man onto the floor. One more lone guard. Al looked at the last guard giving him a motion of "come on". The guard started toward Al being cautious with his movements. Al threw his knife at the man right into his chest. The guard took the hit at first taking the knife out, but all seven inches went right into him cutting vital organs. The guard took one more step after removing the knife from his chest and fell to the ground.

Al got the knife and cleaned it off with the guard's shirt. He went back to Ayden with the med kit. Al took out the proper tools required to stop the bleeding for the few spots on Ayden. After Al cleaned up the blood and grabbed the syringe for Ayden that will help him.

"Ayden, I'm going to inject you now." Ayden looked weakly at Al asking if it was going to hurt. Remembering the feeling himself Al nodded that it will. Al got close to Ayden and restrained his arms, by hugging Ayden side ways. Al took the needle and shoved it into Ayden's chest. Ayden immediately closed his eyes from the sharp pain. His muscles tightened hard in his entire body. Ayden opened his eyes wide as they teared up. He took a deep breath as he felt his body wake up. The liquid found its way to the heart, then pumped it throughout his entire body. When the adrenaline stimulator liquid reached his brain, Ayden's mind got a huge kick. He let out all the air in his lungs hard and shook his head. Al let go of Ayden to stand giving him his gear.

"You got two minutes, gear up. We gotta get out of here now." Al commanded Ayden, knowing that he should be ready now. The injection he gave Ayden was pure adrenaline. An artificial mix that wakes up the body and mind to put it in an over stimulated flight or fight mode. After being beaten and tortured Ayden didn't have any energy to get himself out. That injection gave him thirty minutes to an hour of extreme awareness. Just what Al would need to get him and Ayden out of here. Ayden got his suit on and geared up quickly. He looked at Ayden and told him the plan. They would exit from the west door to head north into the mountain where evac was.

Both of them left the room running down the hall. Al kept his hearing focused, listening to wary guards looking around. The two of them made a left at a corner to go north down a hall. Right as they did, they ran into two guards. Before the men could react Ayden cocked his right leg and kicked the pressure point of one of the mans' knee. It broke with a loud snap. The man reached down to his broken leg as Ayden got him in a reversed head lock. Ayden pulled up hard on the man's head while putting pressure on the guy's back. The neck broke easily and Ayden threw the lifeless body to the ground. Al took a different approach. Taking out his knife and jamming it into the other mans side. Al removed the blade and pushed the man to the ground. Both of them got done killing the two men reverently at the same time. The kept running until they got to the correct door.

Al got out his SCE and switched from his launcher attachment to his sniper attachment. He then got out one clip that worked for the sniper attachment and fed in into the gun. He brought back the action loading the first bullet into the gun. Al checked his OPSAT and Ayden did the same. Just like Al expected there were at least thirty men running from the armory building to the building the two of them currently occupied. Al looked at Ayden.

"I want you to run to the fence and cut a hole at the bottom for one person to get through at a time. Once you cut the fence start getting on the other side and call me over. I'm going to cover you with this." Al motioned to the rifle he was holding. Ayden nodded back. Al changed his suits; Kevlar up to the max. He wouldn't be able to run as fast, but he knew he would be getting hit with bullets. The suit would reflect most calibers and a shot from 10 ft away. Although the bullets wouldn't enter Al's skin, it was going to hurt. Al got his goggles on and switched them to night vision. It was still dark outside and snowing pretty heavily. Al kicked open the door and saw in his peripheral vision that Ayden had started booking it to the fence. Al ran 10 feet and got to one knee. Al took a deep breath as he extended his left arm and flattened his hand, palm facing the sky. His fingertips on his left hand faced the guards running towards him. He place the rifle on his left hand, right hand on the trigger.