Suddenly, a thudding boom could be heard from the ZLF Forward Operating Base and a distinct whizzing noise came towards the ruins.
Rourke acted fast.
"GET DOWN!"
Instantly, the teams in the ruins took cover, avoiding the first wave of gunfire and artillery.
"You relied on one guy?!" Dmitry took cover behind a medium sized rock formation, peeking over every so often, being missed by mere centimetres by intensive gunfire.
An artillery rocket struck the ruins, instantly killing three members of the Militia while also removing cover that the task force had.
Creed dove to cover, quickly losing any of the comedic edge he brought to the situation. He regained his composure, picked up his MP5 submachine gun, and panted heavily, "Where...Dmitry! Where the shots coming from?!"
"I can't fucking see! They're blowing chunks into my eyes!" Dmitry was also removing chunks of rock from his face which had been blown off cause of the hailstorm peppering the ruins.
Rourke dove into a pillar which had toppled over and looked around at his men, half of whom were in a compromised position. He looked at one of Mullah's dead men and saw 3 smoke canisters strung across his bandolier.
"Captain! Where are they shooting from?!" Dmitry peeked over once more, getting a decent 2 second view of the enemy, before being promptly grazed by a bullet, skimming the top of his helmet, but with major impact, sending the man backwards, collapsing onto the hard, rocky terrain.
In the chaos, Mullah found himself trapped underneath a concrete pillar, forcing his men to come over to his aid.
"DMITRY!" Rourke dove to Dmitry and dragged the burly man into cover, nearly getting shot in the process. He then tuned the frequency of his radio to the entire task force, "I need suppressing fire on the watch towers! NOW!"
"ON IT, SIR!" Creed provided covering fire for the two men, firing at the watch tower effectively. Meanwhile, Akers, Mercer, Walker and Pierce did the same on the other side.
While the rest of the task force tried to hold the ZLF insurgents back, Rourke went for the smoke canisters at the back of the ruins and on the body of the militiaman. "Creed, throw these in each direction. Afterwards, get the men to assault the FOB."
"Roger that!" Creed caught both smoke cannisters and nodded. He threw both in the general direction of the FOB, utilizing a large smoke screen to partially and temporarily conceal the JSOC's offensive. He then took to Dmitry's aid. "I'll stay back here with Mullah and Dmitry. Regroup with Akers, Walker and the rest of the team!"
The FOB itself was a fortified village, with several narrow 3 story tall buildings, tight alleys and open roads.
Between the ruins and the base were several destroyed vehicles, and trees, as well as some small rock formations which would turn the gunfight into a tighter engagement if it were brought there.
Mercer had dropped his M4A1 and got it buried under a pile of rubble during the blast, forcing him to use one of the militiamen's AK47s to provide suppressing fire, right before he received news from Baseplate.
Merrick came in on the radio, "Nomad, this is Baseplate, we're sending an attack helicopter to your position, designation Big Bird 3-7."
"Roger that, sir! Lieutenant, they're sending an attack chopper to our position!" Mercer relayed the news to Akers, who was preparing to take the fight into the FOB. Pierce went off to help the wounded by the ruins while Walker planned to find his own way in, leaving Mercer, Akers, Rourke, and several militiamen to assault from the front gates, using smoke grenades to conceal their entry.
Mercer, Akers, and Rourke pushed forward. Mercer took cover and turned to Rourke, "Where's that sorry ass of a soldier, Mullah? I thought he was gonna join us!"
"There's no time to think about that now, Sergeant. Continue with the offensive."
Soon the ZLF would begin visibly getting pushed back by JSOC and the militiamen, allowing them to finally push into the FOB.
Akers planted a breaching charge on the main gates, spun back to the nearby wall, and yelled "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
After the breaching charge exploded, Akers used the smoke and flying debris as cover to push into the FOB, taking cover at the next wall he could once ZLF insurgents began to recollect their bearings.
After breaching through the main gates, the Task force had now entered the village. Numerous bullets came from all directions, from every building which had a window. Mercer went into one of the two story buildings near the entrance and began a sweep & clear.
Rourke followed closely behind Mercer, with his Colt Delta Elite 1911 in hand. "Akers, we'll provide fire support while you push towards the informant's last known location, the hold at the center of the base.
"Roger that, Captain!" Akers moved through the street with a few Militiamen and JSOC's, reaching the compound-center. He pulled out another breaching charge and planted it on the door.
"3...2...1...Execute," Kaboom. The door flew off the hinges. Akers and co. moved into the building to find Baptiste.
While Mercer and Rourke dealt with ZLF in the streets, the power was shut off by the insurgents to leave both Lieutenant Akers and the militiamen blind in the compound.
After turning on flashlights and pushing into the center compound, Akers and the militia were caught by an insurgent holed up in the main hall with a M2 Browning machine gun. The man gunned down one of the Militiamen, allowing Akers and the rest to get to cover.
"All units this is Lieutenant Akers, Im pinned in the front hall of the main compound. Lots of hostile activitiy, Baptiste has got to be here. Over."
Akers loaded his weapon and fired blindly into the hall ahead of him, hoping to nail any unsuspecting ZLF insurgent.
However, the shots from the M2 browning echoed and reverberated in the ears of the militiamen, as well as anyone else in the room, causing them to lose their sense of hearing momentarily as it boomed through the entire compound.
Akers clutched his ear and groaned in pain. He swiftly slipped into the next room over, took his knife and plunged it into the throat of an unsuspecting ZLF patrol.
From the outside, Rourke stopped his own suppressing fire momentarily and heard the M2 Browning unloading on the Militia in the hallway. He quickly gave an order to Mercer, "Head into the compound, now!"
"Got it!" Mercer ran down the stairs of the second building with his pistol drawn, before switching to his AK-47 again as he went out, heading into the compound as Rourke gave him cover.
As soon as they caught sight of Mercer, the machine gunner began shooting frantically at his direction, causing him to be occupied and giving an opportunity for Akers to take him out.
Akers grabbed the man from behind and threw him against the wall. As the ZLF insurgent reached for his pistol, Akers kicked it out of his hand: "You think you can just mow men down and get away with it...?"
He stabbed the man repeatedly, but made it quick enough because they had to rescue their informant.
He regrouped with Mercer: "Good to see you. Where the hell is Baptiste? Where's the captain?"
Sergeant Mercer heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he met up with Lieutenant Akers, "The Captain is covering us from the outside, we'll have to take it from here. The informant has to be somewhere up these stairs."
"Roger..." As the duo went up the stairs onto the next floor, there were pictures of ZLF soldiers lined up together, children toys, and scattered documents/papers in the halls.
Akers was disgusted at the implications, "Jesus...they must've had civvies here. Can't believe the major wants us to repurpose this."
Mercer watched as he slowly walked down the hallway with his pistol drawn, peeking with the side of his eyes at the pictures on the walls. He nearly opened his mouth to say something but he hesitated and kept it shut.
He looked forward and set his eyes on a room at the end of the hallway, which had a trail of blood coming out of it.
"This must be it, Lieutenant."
"Alright...We'll do this nice and fast," Akers nodded to Mercer and readied himself, before kicking the door open. Inside were two ZLF Insurgents and a tied up Baptiste.
Akers shot them both in cold blood in the head, killing both. He then transmitted his radio "All stations this is Lieutenant Akers, we found our man. Baptiste is back in our hands."
Mercer entered the room behind Akers, scanning the room with his pistol and knife before taking a look at Baptiste.
A pool of blood surrounded his chair and a brilliant white light shone above his face, blinding him as his head slumped back. There were numerous visible deep cuts.
At the sight, Mercer lowered his weapon.
Baptiste spoke shakily, struggling with the binds that kept him tied to the chair, "I tried to help you! Somehow, they found out I was a double agent...I'm sorry I let you down."
Mercer knelt down to pick up Baptiste, who had a fractured shin. His blood smeared across Mercer's uniform as he slung him across his shoulder. With his other hand, Mercer drew his pistol and stuck behind the Lieutenant.
"Are we sure this will be a suitable FOB? All I can tell is that the ZLF are everywhere..." Akers caught an opposing ZLF who was still in the building by surprise and dispatched him quickly, "All clear, lets keep it pushing." He began descending the stairs back to the entrance.
"Its one of the ZLF's crutches in the region, I'm just not sure how much of it will be left when we're done with it." Mercer quickly descended the stairs down to the entrance and was immediately halted by a flurry of bullets passing through the street.
On the outside, Rourke was positioned across the street and sustaining heavy gunfire on his position, "MERCER, AKERS! They have several mortars at the end of the base! Take them out now!"
Akers and Mercer bursted out the door and began advancing onto the mortar positions, getting about 18 feet away before being forced to take cover behind a parked jeep.
Akers provided covering-fire on the mortar positions before chatting into the radio, "We're on it sir! We're pushing up on them!"
One by one, the mortars slowly stopped firing, the gunfire was instead attended to inside the building, all of the soldiers outside kept firing upon the task force, but the others rushed inside. It turns out Walker had begun to distract some of the insurgents, forcing them to defend multiple fronts.
"They're peelin' off from the mortars! Lets take our chance to push up!" Akers nodded to Mercer and pushed forward to the remaining men by the mortars, shooting and killing multiple while the rest were distracted by Walker inside.
Around 10 of the insurgents took positions in front of the mortar sites, which was bordered by sandbags. An insurgent ran to one of the mortar sites, carrying an entire M2 Browning with his bare hands as adrenaline ran through his veins. He mounted it on the sandbag and began loading it while his hands shook.
Within moments, all remaining from Mullah's militia squad began falling, several of whom had accumulated the confidence to charge directly towards the backed-up insurgents.
Akers turned to Mercer.
"There's about 10 of them. They got a MG! This is their last stand - We clear these guys, we take the base! You hear me?!"
---
Meanwhile, Creed was delivering medical aid to Dmitry back at the ruins while Mullah mourned the loss of his nearby comrades.
He delivered pressure to the slight wound through gauze, before wrapping a bandage around the mans head.
Creed was no expert in the medical department but knew basic procedures, so this atleast kept Dmitry afloat.
Through what felt like magic really, Dmitry stirred, sitting right back up, mumbling a thank you to Creed, rushing into cover, scurrying for his rifle, taking careful, calculated shots towards the guards around the MG.
Creed also maintained gunfire, taking out two but the MG did not stop. It soon redirected fire on the elevated position of Creed and Dmitry, allowing Akers and Mercer to advance. Creed turned to Dmitry, "You okay man? You took a hell of a hit earlier!" He passed a mag over while reloading his own rifle.
"I'll be fine. What's our next move?" Dmitry definitely took some kind of bump, speaking to Creed with a thankful yet stern tone.
Creed panted, seemingly out of breath from this unnessarily-long gunfight. He turned to Dmitry, deep in thought.
"I think...our best shot...We provide covering fire til the rest of the team covers fire. You took a hell of a hit, we don't need you getting down there and getting shot again. Okay old man?"
"Hey, it's only by a decade, champ." Dmitry patted Creed on the back, finding himself a better position and cover, preparing for the cover fire attack.
On the ground, Akers and Mercer began pushing forward and took advantage of the redirected MG fire, now turning their guns on the man who focused on Creed and Dmitry.
Once they opened fire, he redirected, forcing them to cover again. This was their chance.
Walker saw a way in, sneaking past the crazy gunfire, taking out some more guards around the bottom, meeting with Akers and Mercer, addressing Akers. "Sir! There is very little of them left."
Walker indeed held a correct analysis about the situation. Aside from the MG were two ZLF insurgents who attempted to crawl away. Akers shot the MG gunner in the throat when he turned his attention to the sudden appearance of Walker, before shooting both runaway insurgents in the back.
He then spoke into his radio, giving thumbs up to Creed and Dmitry who were still in the ruins, "All clear. None left."