-

“So much for having the element of surprise,” Gum commented just after the gate closed, the sound echoing through the compound.

River reached for his weapon, “Well if we haven’t got that then we’ll have to move fast,” he said as they advanced forward. “I reckon the large building straight ahead is our best bet. Any objections?”

Neamhni was about to reply as he pulled the cigarette from between his lips, but he was shocked when he heard the sound of a gunshot, coinciding with the cigarette being forcefully pulled from his fingers.

Somebody had just shot the smoke right from his hand with perfect precision. He didn’t even have time to wonder if it had been a warning shot or if it had missed its real target, because River was then shouting at them.

“Take cover!”

It was just as they all dived behind a shipping container that a wave of bullets swept over the area around them. There was no way this was just Nihil, there had to be several people firing at them. What was going on?

“How many of them are there?” Tarragon asked over the sound of bullets ricocheting off of the container.

River closed his eyes for a moment, “I can’t tell, anywhere between five and ten probably.”

“How much ammo do you reckon they have?” Gray asked, wondering if they could wait it out until they needed to reload.

“Enough to keep us where they want before striking,” Neamhni said. “We can’t afford to sit and wait.” He held Umbra tight in his grasp, and in a daring move, quickly looked out from the side of the container when he heard a break in one line of fire. Before he’d been able to shoot anything though, he’d had to dive back, a bullet skimming his arm. 

Neamhni grunted and looked down where his shirt had been torn, and saw a small speck of blood. He was losing his patience pretty quickly. “There’s too many of them,” he ground out through his teeth.

“God, and you call me reckless,” Gray commented, narrowing his eyes at the graze.

“What do we do?” Tarragon asked while River was deep in thought. “We can’t stay here.”

Gum looked over at her team mate, “Neamhni, how do you reckon Spectre would go out here?”

The man looked up, “Pretty useless, the sun is right above us. I don’t have enough of a shadow.”

Gray’s eyes then looked up to the line of trees that surrounded the compound, even though he couldn’t see what he was looking for. “Nige,” he said through his communicator. “We’re under fire, can you see any of the shooters?”

Nigel was sprawled across a tree branch, feeling very much in his element as he looked down the scope of his rifle. “I’ve been trying to figure out where they’re hiding. Best bet would probably be that red brick building to the west of your position. Could you hit em’ with a shockwave?”

Gray couldn’t see it now, but he remembered spotting the building when they walked in. It had some high windows at the top where they could likely be hiding, but it would only be a guess. “I need to know for sure that they’re there, I’m not using it for nothing.”

“I’m too far away to tell. We need someone to take a closer look,” Nigel suggested through the ear piece.

“I’ll do it!” Jasper’s voice chirped through the comms, but Nigel quickly shut him down.

“No Jas, your red hair will stand out ridiculously in the trees, stay where you are.” He was stationed by the road to notify them if anyone were headed towards the compound, but it was obvious he wanted in on the action.

“Where are the boys?” Gray asked.

“We’re on the eastern side,” Unum said, “But it looks like there’s movement from back here, too. You’re about to have more company.”

Just as Nigel and Gray both cursed simultaneously, Jenna’s breathy voice sounded through the communicator, as if she had just been running. “I see them.” She’d been positioned on the western side of the compound, but she hadn’t been anywhere near them-

“Top floor of the brick building. Nige, aim for the last two windows, I guarantee you’ll hit at least one of them.”

Not even taking a moment to scold Jenna for possibly getting herself caught by the shooters, Nige lined up the shot to one of the windows. “I’m taking it.”

“Go for it!” Was River’s response through the comms, and so Nigel grinned, and pulled the trigger.

As soon as a shot from the sniper rifle sounded in their ears, they knew Nigel had gotten one of them. Neamhni and River shared a quick glance before they jumped up and loaded dust rounds into their weapons, as another shot was heard.

“Damn it! The others moved, I only got two of them,” Nigel said, sounding apologetic.

“That’s all we needed!” River replied, because now their enemy were two shooters down, and they’d been caught by surprise, which gave him and Neamhni the perfect opening.

The two men jumped out from either side of the container and fired their dust rounds, causing several of the windows to shatter as they exploded.  

“Guys you’ve got half a dozen coming from the eastern side!” Duos announced through the comms.

Neamhni and River quickly looked back to the rest of their team for a moment, but Gum waved them off. “You two close in on the remaining shooters, I have an idea for these guys.”

River nodded, “Meet you inside?”

“Deal!” Tarragon said, before the team split up. River and Neamhni took off towards the brick building, where the remaining shooters had taken cover, while Gum, Gray and Tarragon headed the other way.

It was as they were running that Gum glanced to Gray, “How loud do you yell when you use your shockwave?”

Gray looked a little confused, but responded none the less as they stopped behind another shipping container. “However loud I want to.”

Gum was grinning, then. “Excellent, this’ll be easy.”