August 15, 1996 (Flashback to setup another faction)
Waterlogged asphalt paved the way for the Rainbow Six Team - Consisting of 7 operatives - With one goal in mind. To take the base and prevent a catastrophic event. Sebastien Côté, also known as Buck, was second-in-command to none other than Frost, who knew what the stakes were.
Outside of the crest roadway which held the ZLF Terrorists, was a small outpost with guards who were smoking and teaching their teenage sons how to shoot in the yard.
Buck took point and fired into the doorway with his skeleton key as the team methodically forced their way in to clear the building fast before alerts could be relayed to the ZLF forces on the dam.
"Check your fire - there are minors in the premises, only fire upon those who fire first." Frost followed close behind Sebastien, forcing the teenage sons to surrender, zip-tying their hands and putting them into the same room as their dead fathers.
The route was clear enough, the damn held a large ZLF outpost and presence, featuring multiple shipping container sized rooms, flipped over cars used as barriers, multiple guards patrolling the outer walls and interior, which was visible thanks to the openness of the base. "Monika, you're up."
"-Terrorists haven't finished planting their bombs… there's roughly 2 remaining inside the base, if we act quick enough we'll be able to save the dam and our own base."
Monika Weiss, "IQ", flipped her wrist pad down, equipping her primary rifle and taking close cover between the guards eyeline and the team.
"Alright, we need to split up into three teams, Mute, Sledge, breach the right side on my command. Dokkaebi, IQ and Valkyrie, take the right when you are given the command. Finally, Buck and I will begin from the front. Get into position."
"Roger that, mate." Sledge unhooked his sledgehammer and moved to the right side, using hand signals to redirect his team to him, leading them to the nearby entrance.
Frost took her own cover as the teams split up and headed out, scouting out the front of the base. "Bastien', what do you see?"
Buck scouted with his binoculars, making note of a bonfire between two ZLF insurgents, several medium-sized patrols combing the base, and a few specialized insurgents attempting to plant bombs, "Oui, I see them. Four are planting explosives along the exterior edges. One on the catwalk and another closer to the center of the base."
"Additionally ...theres multiple patrols along the right side of the base, a couple smaller groups in the middle."
"We will have to act with haste then, how quick are you on your feet? There's no telling how fast we'll have to be to pull this off." Frost looked to Buck, then to the base wall. Her plan was unclear, but it was probably going to be the best shot they had, she led for this long without so much as a death count over 10 in her squads.
"Tres rapide...We have enough fire power, Tina. We can do this...We have no time left to waste...they'll blow those charges any minute and -- We'll both know what happens...lets go." He gave her a reassuring pat on the back before cautiously moving forward - He trained his C8-SFW, and pushed on forward. He wasn't just doing this to stop terror, it was much more. He knew how important this was to Frost.
"This is the most unpredictable mission we've had yet… i'm sorry for the hesitation." Frost held her rifle in one hand now, slowly advancing toward the base with Buck, taking cover behind some broken down cars and extra rubble, grabbing at her radio and speaking directly and clearly into it. "Breach." With that, she immediately got up, taking aim at the men on the catwalk, gunning down the first… leaving Buck for the other.
Buck quickly dispatched the other, shooting them square in the chest, resulting in their body flailing backwards and falling over the edge. Their screams attracted some other ZLF insurgents over to check it out on the catwalk, making them the equivalent to fish in a barrel for the R6 Team.
Tina took another two that checked out the noise, sending them hurling over the catwalk as they died, reloading her rifle carefully and rushing to the doorway to the base, posting up on the side, preparing a breach charge.
"Buck… mon ami, check your fire, it'll mostly be friendlies inside when this goes off."
Buck then stood by the door, and prepped a flashbang. Once breached, he hurled the flashbang into the first room to clear. "Go, go!"
Frost entered first, stepping over the remains of the door, peering into the room and taking fire from the other side, rolling into cover behind a counter top and peeking over briefly to take down a ZLF insurgent, whilst the others were distracted by the squadrons pushing in.
After Buck cleared his half of the room, Frost stood up, scouring around the room, throwing various things off the desks and tables, in search of something, a very desperate search at that. "No… where are they?"
As the R6 operators began their frantic search of the ZLF base, numerous indistinct footsteps could be heard echoing across the halls, with middle-aged men shouting in native dialect.
The loading of rifles reverberated across the hallway.
"Buck! Frost! We've got an issue... we're pinned down by multiple ZLF forces and the insurgents have moved the bombs to the final stage!" IQ yelledi nto the radio and attempted to take shots at the enemy, having only her pistol now as she was fresh out of rifle mags.
"-No… already? - Buck, we have to move." Frost equipped her primary rifle again, checking the mag and posting up at the start of the hallway.
Muzzle flash illuminated the entirety of the hallways as the rebels shot frantically in the dark towards the direction of the operators. A rebel mounted his RPK to one of the walls and shot into the doorway in which Frost and Buck were located.
"Alright, lets pick up the pace! COME ON!" Buck noticed the RPK firing into the doorway, so he manuevered to the nearby wall, blasted a hole open with his skeleton key, and then fired at the insurgent, dropping him cleanly.
"Not now.. no…" Frost pushed up with Buck, rushing through the hallways like a kid rushing to its parents, checking her corners, hyperventilating every step of the way.. a strange departure from her usual composed self. Sledge soon came with a distress call from his radio.
After a moment of pondering, she spoke into the radio. "All teams, we're going to rendezvous in the main entrance. Sledge, we're coming." Frost decided against breaching for now, looking to Buck with a deep concern, pushing down the hallway closer to Sledge…
Upon reaching the room where Sledge was, there was no sign of him, Frost and Buck were greeted with a ZLF insurgent who aimed his rifle. Before he could open fire however, Sledge came from behind him and cracked his skull open with the sledgehammer. "We gotta move, lads!"
Mute came from behind Sledge, clutching his wound. "I'm hurt, but I can fight."
The ZLF rebels continued to run deeper within the dam. One of the rebels stayed back as the indistinct footsteps of the R6 operatives approached closer, prompting him to spray his AK-47 down the hallway, without any sense of direction.
Sledge quickly hugged the wall to avoid the gunfire, before slamming his sledgehammer into the man's stomach, mortally wounding him.
Buck followed behind Sledge, finished off the insurgent he injured, and pushed forward down the hallway, reaching the next door. He skeleton-keyed it, and saw three more ZLF insurgents inside. He took down two but the other one shot him in the shoulder, forcing him backwards with a wail of pain "Agh! Im hit!"
The rebel advanced forward in the heat of the moment to finish off Buck, not knowing there were other operatives just behind him. He ran towards the man he shot with his pistol, shaking with adrenaline and sweat.
Tina aimed her rifle forward immediately reacting to the shot, waiting for the perfect moment… the zlf rebel staggering into her sight, then BAM, a bullet was sent right through his brain. She immediately checked the corners, motioning to Sledge to cover her as she checked Bucks wound. "How bad is it? Think you can go without packing?"
"Lets get our team out of trouble! Then we assess my wound! Merci beacoup!" Buck soon kicked the door open to the outside, noticing the R6 operatives stuck behind a wall as multiple ZLF troops closed in on them. Buck instantly opened fire from the elevated position, being joined by Frost, just as Mute and Sledge dropped to the ground floor.
Mute and Sledge worked to push a garbage dumpster into the open, using it as cover and firing on the ZLF.
"We don't have much time! Clear a path for Dokkabei so she can work on disabling the bomb!" Buck yelled through the radio just as he shot another ZLF in the throat.
"Rebels! Take your empty rifles and go home! We're not here for you!" Frost stood up, having endured a decent chunk of the fire whizzing above her head and at her teammates, attempting to goad the zlf into surrendering, then nodding to Dokkabei, whom immediately rushed off to the middle of the dam with IQ to defuse.
"Dokkabei - Status Report, NOW!" Buck commanded through the radio, just as the ZLF began firing again. He took cover, reloaded, and fired back blindly.
"The bombs are coming along smoothly, Côté! I'm working as fast as i can!" Dokkaebi fell silent after that, presumably continuing to work on the bombs.
"There's still 5 bombs left to go.. they planted a lot more than we found. I'll start on this one-" Before IQ could finish her sentence, a loud BANG rung out across the base, immediately a huge smoke cloud and huge ball of fire erupted from the dam wall.
Massive quakes began in the top of the dam, setting everyone off their balance, and any operative near the wall, Valkyrie included, plummeting immediately.
"PUTAIN DE MERDEEEEEEEE!!!" Buck began to run, followed behind closely by Mute and Sledge.
He watched one ZLF rebel try and pull another one up from the cracking pavement, only to watch both of them fall down.
He shot them both to put them out of their misery. Alas, Buck barely made it to cover, and watched as four smaller ruptures collapsed the front spilway of the dam.
"Sebastien!!!! GRAB MY HAND!"
The water had finally breached the dam, sending concrete hurling off its structure, tonnes upon tonnes of water flowed through, sending anyone and anything in its path far away.
The base soon came after, which sent Buck hurling right out of into the ocean, as well as all remaining ZLF rebels and Frost right after, falling directly into the water and flying through the air, narrowly avoiding slabs of concrete and pieces of the base, tucking herself in on the way, way down.
Within a minute of falling, the team came crash landing down to the hard pavement, their fall being broken by the layer of water underneath, which quickly washed away, and took their base + many other things incriminating the US government along with it.
Frost however, was completely knocked out, lying belly up on the concrete floor, her right leg being broken, a chunk of the bases metal stuck in her left eye, on top of this, her left arm was fractured, as well.
"Chandler....where is.....Chandler..." Sledge was back up on the ground, struggling to move, noticing his sledgehammer a dcent distance away he began crawling to it, while also looking for Mute. Mute crashed down elsewhere from their specific 4-man team. He was stuck with rebar in his knee, and could not move under any circumstance unless it was removed.
Buck sustained multiple injuries upon crashing into the water. He just managed to climb out onto concrete, but panting and heaving, strugggling to move his lower body. Both legs fractured in the process, and likely broken arm as well.
Valkyrie stirred, not being able to move any of her body, about 99% of it felt broken and weighed a metric tonne. But she opened her eyes to the supernova-esque sun above herself, attempting to raise her arm to cover it, but it fell to her side very quickly as she loudly grunted in pain.
"Pray the lord my soul to take… if i die before i wake… pray the lord my soul to take…"
With that, she continued muttering, laying there helpless, still.
Upon reuniting with Frost, Buck dropped to the ground next to her. She spoke worriedly, "I cant see.. there's something in my eye.. i can feel it poking my nerves, i cant blink, i cant breathe… i think my ribs punctured my lung."
As she spoke, her words became less clear, more slurred, dragging on as she did so, yet she still looked to Buck. "My radios broke… is yours any good?"
"Mine works!" Sledge hobbled over, dropping to his knees as he fumbled with the radio. "Wait, I can see Chandler over there! He got rebar in his knee but he's alive!"
"Keep your voice down...there could be enemies still frère...okay...Hand me the radio.." When Sledge did, Buck began to speak into it "This is Buck to Rainbow HQ...the dam is blown. We have multiple wounded, multiple presumed KIA and need immediete medevac ,Over."
HQ replied, "Roger that, Medevac and QRF inbound. ETA 10 minutes."
"Hey...Tina...Stay concious...we're almost there...Almost done with the mission...Remember that..." Buck spoke soothingly to the wounded operator as Sledge watched Mute in the distance, who struggling with the rebar in his knee, screaming in pain and agony.
"Oh wait, look at that! medevac!"
A helicopter arrived - 8 minutes before its expected arrival. It was not detailed and completely black, no logos, no nothing. It flew in - It was way too good to be true.
The helicopter touched down near Mute's body. Four operators came out first.
"Clear the area. See what happened."
Out came Anslo Garrick and his second-in-command, Spectre.
Anslo slowly walked over to Mute, who was wounded.
"Mate...what happened to you? Don't worry. We'll get ya outta here and get you all fixed up."
"Agh...it hurts....Thank you..." Mute relaxed and stopped trying to pull the rebar out of his knee, but was filled with a lot of pain and agony from his other wounds sustained from the fall.
"What are you doing? Leave this man - he is useless." Amos trudged closer, his veil flapping in the wind of the helicopter, his calculated and precise footsteps a showcase of his personality and ability as he stood across Mutes body from Anslo, about to raise his pistol at the wounded man.
Anslo calmly stopped Spectre from raising his pistol with his hand, before kneeling down to start on the rebar, "HEY! Spectre, dont! We have to help him! We don't kill those who need our help..."
Anslo grunted as Spectre held the leg down, and Anslo pulled the rebar cleanly out of Mute's knee, resulting in a fury of agonizing screams from the man.
"There ya go, all better."
Interrupting Mute's screams, Anslo proceeded to shoot him in the head with his pistol. "Find any other survivors! You know what to do..."
"Prick… i'll get you back for that." Spectre aimed his pistol right back up, dropping another shot into the direct face of Mute, then turning away, holstering it immediately after.
Searching the area for any stragglers, Spectre spotted a wounded Valkyrie and grabbed her by the legs, dragging her over on top of Mute and aiming his pistol at her head, at a low angle.
"These operators aren't nothing to take lightly… they're a trophy to kill, you should know that."
"You're right...Rainbow Six....Hm. First we have Covert US Military. Then we have Counter Terrorism. They just keep bringing people in...trying to make Zaire their own..."
Anslo watched casually as Amos shot Valk in the head, and CSA operators returned to the heli, not finding anything - As Frost, Buck, Sledge were a decent distance away.
"Alright, lets move. Leave the bodies for their comrades to find."
"We sent a strong message with this attack Garrick." Spectre returned to the helicopter soon after, climbing in first and helping Anslo inside, taking his own seat, observing something in his hands, then putting it away quickly as he noticed it had caught Anslo's eye.
"Certainly. I see great opportunity in this region...With Zaire Liberation Force...Western folk and their allies won't stop to bring more people here and gather casualties. The ZLF could be a great ally." Anslo spoke calmly as the helicopter departed.
---
"He shot Chandler! We have to get him!" Sledge tried to hobble to the departing helicopter that was now flying away, but now dropped to his knees tearfully.
"Take a rest, none of us are in any condition to move around…" Frost dragged herself up to speak, sounding very raspy and deathly in the process before dropping her head back.
Soon, a rescue helicopter arrived - A CH-135 Twin Huey - and touched down near the survivors. Among them, 10 UN Peacekeeping operatives, Pulse, and Warden. Upon landing on safe ground, they had three operatives check on the corpses of Mute and Valk a decent distance away while the other 7 came over. Among them, were two R6 operators - Jack Estrada and Colin McKinley.
The team leader spoke first, "Alright, lets get some medevac in here! 2 KIA and 3 wounded, probably more."
"Scope out the area and eliminate any threats! Command wants to know who perpetuated this."
"Barely...good to see you both...You both know ZLF was here...but someone else came...I think he's behind all this...he stepped out of the helicopter, shot Chandler...another guy...was helping him, he shot Meghan..." Buck struggled with his injuries, but just managed to sputter out what went down after the dam collapsed.
More to come