FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Prologue

The running paw steps outside his motel room were the first thing that told Nyx that he probably be heading to bed anytime soon. Seconds later, banging on the door and frantic Spanish on the other side confirmed his suspicions.

"Who the hell is that?" a voice piped up from the second bed in the room. Nathan "Nyx" Spencer, a handsome dragon and DEA special agent, glanced over to the now alert fox, the vulpine's paperback suddenly forgotten.

Nyx approached the door and slowly opened it, revealing a frantic looking Labrador.

"Officer Jimenez? What's wrong?" It was one of the local police officers who the team had been using in the area, and from the sound of it, the other two were banging on doors of the rest of the team.

"Señor, we must go now. El Bruto has figured out who you are. He's coming." Immediately, Nyx and the fox, agent Carlos "Inferno" Perez, grabbed what things they could and ran out the door after Jimenez. From the corner of his eye, he saw similar movement from the other rooms.

"How did he find us?" Inferno asked as they hurried down the outside stairs of the motel towards a large van idling nearby.

"Jimmy and Louis were caught. Jimmy got away and warned us." Nyx thought to the two young informants, knowing that by now the one who hadn't escaped would've talked, willingly or not. Jimenez climbed into the passenger seat of the van beside officer Davis as Nyx and Inferno got in the back, already inhabited by a badly bruised young ocelot, Jimmy. The rest of the team, Monk, Kickstart, Fathom, and Shotput, as well as officers Campos and Sanz, climbed in right behind them, as Davis hit the gas.

"We have no choice but to run," Jimenez panted, "He's sending an army to get you. La Sombra is with them." Nyx heard a few of the team inhale nervously as the name was mentioned, knowing it was bad. But luck seemed to be with them, as their local contacts had arrived first.

Unfortunately, that was all their luck for the evening it seemed, as Davis rounded a turn a few miles out of town. Ahead of them, multiple headlights formed a blockade across the road as Davis slammed the brakes hard.

"Oh shit, they went around and cu-" was all he was able to say before a muzzle flash came from near the roadblock. The windshield spiderwebbed as the bullet immediately took out the driver, the now unpiloted van careening into a tree at the side of the road.

Stunned, Nyx looked around, seeing double as a small trickle of blood above his eye made focusing even harder. As he looked around he saw Davis, obviously dead. Jimenez was wheezing in the front seat and grabbing his skewed leg in pain. He saw Inferno and Fathom out cold as Monk clutched his arm. He saw officer Sanz open the side door of the van and start shooting, only getting off a couple of shots before Nyx watched him get slammed back against the van by a barrage of gunfire.

Before he could do anything, suddenly he felt multiple paws grab him and haul him out of the broken vehicle. As he watched, the rest of his team, the remaining officers, and Jimmy, were all dragged into the middle of the road, facing a few dozen cartel sicarios, all heavily armed and aiming at them. He watched as one of them, a jaguar, stepped in front of them.

La Sombra, cartel lieutenant.

"Well, what do we have here? Some American DEA agents trying to flee Columbia? Guess they must have realized they overstayed their welcome." She grinned viciously as she leaned closer to them. "But you're actually very welcome to stay a big longer. El Bruto wants to know just how much you know before we kill you.

She grinned as she walked over to the ocelot, "And Jimmy. Selling us out to the Americans. We'll have to have a long, very painful discussion about that once we get back. But as for the dead weight...," she looked at the remaining two officers kneeling on the ground and chuckled. She drew a sidearm in a flash and Nyx watched as Jimenez was blown away. In a split second, another shot dropped Campos as well.

Stunned from what he'd just witnessed, he didn't hear the steps come up behind him. The next thing he felt was the hard impact of the butt of a rifle on the back of his head, then darkness.

Chapter 1

The black furred wolf was panting heavily as he fled the shots behind him. Zephyr "Zeus" D'Kur watched a shot impact a tree near him as he ran. He ducked left, just dodging another shot as he sprinted through the trees as he heard his foe give chase.

His small team had been advancing on the enemy position when they attacked from behind. With the wind in the other group's favor, it had been a clever ambush. Zephyr hadn't smelled or seen it coming. No warning until he saw Frostbite pelted with shots, the red staining his white fur where it wasn't covered by his vest. He had watched most of his team go down within seconds.

Now he dove over a fallen log in the forest, growling slightly as he waited for the sound of his pursuers boots on the dirt. He heard them slow as they couldn't see him anymore, becoming more cautious.

Zephyr listened closely, for any indicator of the enemy's current position. Then, he heard the slight snap of a twig as it was stepped on, and he had it. He gave a deep breath, and then spun and rose from behind the log as he fired twice, both times hitting his target center mass. Before he could savor the lucky shot, there was another twig snap. A snap from behind him. He spun around just in time to see a pair of eyes looking at him from behind goggles as the shooter fired, and three red spots appeared on Zephyr's chest.

Then, as he looked down at his chest and back at the shooter, suddenly those eyes were covered by a spatter of blue.

The shooter recoiled and shook his head as he yanked off the goggles. He looked around, just to see a smirking coyote emerging from some nearby bushes. Richard "Killswitch" Jones, Zephyr's combat engineer. "Bad time to stop and gloat, huh Ghost?"

Zephyr began to laugh as Jackson "Ghost" Duris, his panther teammate shook his head with a grin and pointed his weapon, a paintball gun, at Killswitch.

"How in the hell did you make it out of that kill box, bro?"

Killswitch just chuckled and shrugged as he walked up to them. Zephyr spotted the rest of his team on their way down from the ambush point, most of them covered in paint. The first to rejoin them was Zephyr's pursuer through the forest, a young clouded leopard named Charlotte Teague, callsign Whiplash.

"Well that almost worked," she said with a laugh. "Didn't I tell you guys this would be fun?"

Zephyr nodded, as the rest of his twelve-fur unit, split into two six-person squads for this game, regrouped. "That you did, Whip. And you were right."

"Yo, Whiplash! Catch!" Zephyr watched her spin and casually catch the object in her left hand. The object coincidentally that had made his team fall into the ambush in the first place, Whiplash's right hand.

She quickly reattached the metallic prosthetic to the rest of her forearm, also metallic. Her original forearm lost in a previous mission and the new metallic replacement added in its stead once they had returned home. And then apparently placed in a way as such to make it just barely visible to his squad a few minutes ago. And they fell for the bait.

Zephyr grinned and looked around at his team as they all started heading back up the hill he had run down during the chase, back in the direction of all their vehicles. Beside him he saw the large mare who was his team's medic, Janet Melville. "Maybe next time we should switch it up. Make some of you canines and felines be on the same team instead of sticking all together," she said with a laugh.

"Good idea Roadblock. I'll happily take Ghost on my team after that."

Sandstorm, his cheetah pilot, came up on his other side. "You're just jealous of how stealthy we felines can be. Speaking of which, you should invite your mate next time we play."

Zephyr just chuckled as they walked, "I would've if he wasn't on a job somewhere."

Zephyr loved outings like this with his team. It was a great teambuilding exercise, as well as a good way to try out various tactics. As well as a good way to blow off steam and relax. Although it would've been even better if Sylum, his black panther husband, had been able to join in.

He looked around at his team, all chatting with each other as they hiked back through the woods. Killswitch, Ghost, Whiplash, Sandstorm, and Roadblock we're only half of his trusted special operations team, self-dubbed the Stormwalkers after an ill-fated mission in the arctic. They had been sent to a newly rediscovered Nazi ice base called The Storm to secure any data and intelligence that may have been there. Unfortunately, they weren't the only team sent there, and several of their team had been killed in the battle between three opposing forces, including their former commanding officer.

He glanced over towards Josh "Frostbite" Caraway, his arctic fox CQC specialist and good friend, as he griped about how he was going to get all the red paint out of his fur. Beside him, Ashley "Apollo" Danforth, the snowy owl tech specialist on the team, sympathized. Beside Whiplash walked the final team member who had been part of their group when they entered the Storm. Lorella "Mother" Miller, a large intimidating wolf who was the team's heavy weapons expert. Like Whiplash, she too hasn't escaped the Storm unscathed. She walked on a metallic lower right leg, her original leg lost in a large explosion. Both had later been equipped with the most advanced prosthetics available, resulting in no negative impact on their fighting ability at all.

The others who had joined their team since then had also been at the Storm that day. Killswitch and Roadblock had been two of them. Navy lieutenants who had survived the onslaught, and in Zephyr's eyes, proven themselves worthy of invitation to join the team. The last three members of the team were like that as well. The lion, Franklin Westford, now known as Rogue and as the team's communications officer, had been one of the seamen rescued from the base, as well as their new snow leopard demolitions officer, Natasha "Breaker" Ward.

The final member of the team was a bit different. Doctor Axel "Darwin" King; the team's science officer. Darwin, unlike the rest, hadn't been a navy seaman or on the spec ops team before the Storm. The red panda had been a member of the civilian research team that had discovered the base during their arctic expedition. He'd had no formal combat training before then, but during the battle within the base, had proven himself to be quite capable in a fight, even managing to dispatch a couple of enemies before that day was done, as well as a great scientist. And as the previous science officer was killed by a sniper down in that base, Zephyr had an opening for a new scientist. Darwin had proven to be a natural at combat training a quickly became part of the team.

As they crested the hill towards the nearby parking lot, a noise caught Zephyr's attention. He searched the sky as the noise got closer, finally spotting the source as it passed overhead; a CH-53E Super Stallion. A military transport helicopter. As they emerged from the tree line of the woods to where they were all parked, they watched as the chopper began to descend towards the field next to the parking lot. As they watched, Rogue said what everyone else was thinking.

"Why do I feel like that's probably here for us?"

Their suspicions were confirmed when the Super Stallion touched down and the rear door opened to reveal a bobcat in military uniform, a colonel based on the insignia on his uniform. Zephyr and the rest of the Stormwalkers watched as he approached them.

"Are you commander Zephyr D'Kur?"

Zephyr nodded, "Yes sir."

"And is this your team? All of them?"

"Yes sir."

"I need you all to come with me. We have an urgent mission for you in South America. You'll be briefed on the way." The bobcat turned and headed back into the chopper, with Zephyr and the rest of the team following. Zephyr had one final chuckle as he boarded as he heard Frostbite.

"Guess I'm not getting that shower then."

Half an hour later, they had landed at a nearby military base and taken off again in a private military plane headed south. Colonel O'Brien, as it turned out the bobcat was called, had set up a makeshift projector in the passenger area of the aircraft and summoned the Stormwalkers for briefing as the plane reached its cruising altitude.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, here's the deal. Approximately 48 hours ago, a team of DEA agents on a mission in Columbia were taken prisoner by the cartel they were gathering information on; the Crimson Fangs. From what we gather, they were snatched up as they tried to escape from the cartel in the night. Investigators found a crashed van outside of the town they were in, as well as the bodies of four local police officers who were aiding them."

"And we know they were taken from that van?"

"Some of their personal belongings were found inside the van. We're sending you in to extract that team. That will be one of your objectives. Unfortunately, judging from satellite images of the stronghold we believe they were taken to, insertion by air isn't possible. The road leading to the base is a kill zone as well. This stronghold is some ways into the Amazon rainforest as well, making things more difficult. So, we'll be dropping out outside of the forest near a river, which you'll boat down until you get near the base, then proceed on foot and sneak in."

"Any local support?" Zephyr inquired.

"Yes. We'll be working with a Columbian Army general named Martinez. He's sending three of his people in with you as well." O'Brien began showing a few faces on the projector. "Here we have sergeant Diego Cruz, and lieutenants Sofia Alverez and Andres Martin." Zephyr saw the faces of a hawk, iguana, and capybara on the screen, all dressed in the uniform of the Columbian army."

"As I already indicated, one of your objectives will be to rescue and extract the DEA team. These are the members of that team." Zephyr watched as six faces appeared on the screen, along with their names. He studies all six closely. The lead agent of the team was a jackal by the name of Alec "Monk" Daxio. Beside his picture was a photo of a kangaroo with the label Juliet "Kickstart" Ford. There was a blue dragon named Nathan "Nyx" Spencer and a fox Carlos "Inferno" Perez. The final two DEA agents were an otter, Katherine "Fathom" Tucker, and an antelope called Drake "Shotput" Faraday.

"Your second objective is to eliminate the leadership of the cartel within the stronghold. The brass figures that as long as we're sending you in, we might as well do what we can to cripple their organization. We've identified five major targets that are likely to be within the stronghold. First, we have Luis Moreno." A grainy picture of a macaw appeared on the screen as the colonel spoke. "Moreno is believed to oversee the cartel's smuggling operation. He's the one that makes sure their product gets where they want it to go. If he's eliminated, as well as any vehicles he may be using to transport drugs destroyed, that'll be a hit to their infrastructure."

"Next, we have Diana Rojas. A maned wolf, and she runs the production. Somewhere within this complex she has a sweatshop operation where they produce the drugs that the cartel sells. Very clever and very dangerous."

"Target number three is Miguel Garcia." A picture of a large, tough gryphon appeared on the screen. "Garcia is the head of security, meaning he's the one who orders hits and other physical jobs. In addition, he's in charge of security for complex. He has also hand picked the boss's personal security detail; they're his most elite fighters. So, expect heavy resistance around the primary HVT."

"Now this, this is Maria Hernandez. Also known as La Sombra." The image of a female jaguar replaced the gryphon on the screen. "She is the boss's right hand; his chief lieutenant. She is ruthless, intelligent, and very dangerous. She is believed to have personally led the troops that captured the DEA team and executed the officers." Zephyr then watched as the jaguar was replaced by a large, vicious looking crocodile.

"And this is the man of the hour. The boss of the Crimson Fangs. Julian Rodriguez, referred to by many as El Bruto. The Brute. The name is very accurate, as our intel shows that he is a brutal son of a bitch. From what we've gathered, he once personally beat a captured informant to death with a crowbar. Suspected in dozens of homicides, but no convictions because no witnesses ever make it to trial."

Zephyr and his team watched and studied the HVTs silently as O'Brien switched the image from El Bruto to an overhead satellite image of what Zephyr presumed to be the stronghold in question. Moments later, O'Brien confirmed that suspicion.

"This is the compound where we've tracked the DEA team to. It is, unfortunately, very well guarded. Odds are your presence won't be secret for long once you enter. You'll have to enter from the north, the main entrance to the camp. Any approach from the east or west will be detected quickly, and the south edge of the camp is a sheer cliff face down into a large body of water a few hundred feet below. Approach from that way, and you'll simply be shot off the side of the cliff. Now, coming from the north won't be easy. The reason we can't use choppers or trucks to approach the stronghold is because of a couple AA guns that El Bruto somehow got his hands on. They're able to take down any choppers we send and are in a position that would allow them to be used against any vehicles that come via the road as well. From what we've seen with the satellites, there's no time where the activity in the camp decreases. They've got enough nocturnal species there that they just rotate who's active and who's asleep. So even though you'll be going in under cover of night, there will still be just as much activity as during the day. I'll leave this image up so you can all study the camp. Once we touch down, we'll be met by general Martinez."

A couple hours later, the Stormwalkers were geared up and exiting the plane into a hanger next to an airstrip on a Columbian military base. Zephyr and O'Brien approached the five figures waiting for them across the hanger, the rest of the team trailing behind. One of the five, a large black horse, stepped forward.

"Welcome colonel O'Brien. And this must be commander D'Kur?"

"Thank you general. Yes, this is the commander and his team."

The horse smiled and turned to Zephyr, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am general Santiago Martinez. And this," he waved forward the wolf who was standing behind him, "is captain Camila Reyes. She's been organizing and planning how to get you to the compound. Captain Reyes?"

"Thank you, sir. We've been analyzing the local area and have determine that the best way to get close to the compound will be to take the water. There's a river that goes by the camp that has several smaller tributaries. Once you get close however, you'll have to advance through the forest. Three of our soldiers will accompany you, I believe you've already been briefed on that. Then, once you've made your way in and taken control of the camp, radio us and we will send in reinforcements via the road and air."

Zephyr nodded, "Sounds like a good plan to me. I take it these three are the ones who'll be joining my team?"

"Yes. Cruz, Alvarez, and Martin. They're some of our most capable fighters."

"Should we expect any resistance along the river?"

"Not at first, but we believe as you get closer there may be a few watchtowers or guard shacks. Shouldn't be more than a few hostiles at each of those. A team such as yours should be able to eliminate them before they realize you're there."

"Thank you, captain." The general spoke again. "Now our mess hall on base is right over there," he said, pointing, "and a rec area attached to it. You've got about an hour and a half before we have to leave if you want to get there at the time I was told. Eat up now, because tonight is going to get intense."

Chapter 2

Two hours later, Zephyr had just watched the sun set from his seat in the small boat heading down river. He habitually checked his weapons again, now with suppressors attached. If the team was to approach quietly, they'd all need to use suppressors for as long as possible. He glanced to either side at the other boats. They had grouped into three small boats to head closer to the target.

In Zephyr's boat he was seated beside Darwin, Whiplash, Frostbite, and Alvarez. Off to the left he saw Mother, Rogue, Apollo, Ghost, and Martin. The boat to his right had the remaining team members; Sandstorm, Roadblock, Killswitch, Breaker, and Cruz.

Zephyr heard a voice in his ear as Cruz spoke over the team's short-range communications frequency. "We should be approaching the first of a few small checkpoints in the next few minutes."

"Copy that. Rogue, be ready to take out any watchers as we get close." Zephyr raised his sniper rifle, watching the lion in the other boat do the same with his DMR. A couple minutes of floating later, they rounded a small bend in the river and spotted a small shack and watchtower near a small dock, far enough away that there would be a minute or so before they were noticed.

"Boss, I've got three contacts on the dock."

Zephyr nodded, "Copy that. Another two in the tower. Apollo, thermal on the shack."

"Another two inside. Walls don't look to thick."

"Alright, first the two in the tower, then the ones on the dock, then in the building."

"Yes sir"

"Fire"

Zephyr centered his scope on one of the guards in the tower and saw Rogue doing the same. They fired at the same time, the shots barely more than whispers as both guards dropped. "Tower clear."

He began readjusting to target the heat signature inside the building, Rogue doing the same, as Darwin, Apollo, and Sandstorm all fired careful shots at the dock. Darwin's target fell from a single round to the head as Apollo's took a burst to the chest and went down hard. Sandstorm's target, ironically also a cheetah, was quick and spun, attempting to run and alert the others. But as quick as he was, Zephyr's cheetah was quicker, and the hostile went down before he could do anything, falling off the dock and into the water with a splash. Zephyr saw the heat signature in the house's head turn at the sound, but before it could react anymore, another round from his rifle caused the shape to topple out of it's chair, the other doing the same a moment later.

"Outpost is clear."

"Alright people, we've got one more potential outpost along the river before we continue on land. Probably about 10 minutes before we reach it, then another 10 to the landing point." Zephyr sat back in the boat as they continued silently along the river. As they sat, quietly chatting as they advanced, Whiplash turned to their local addition.

"So, what's your story Alvarez?"

"My story? Well, I've been with the army since I was old enough to join. But our conflict with the Crimson Fangs has been going on since well before that. Constant skirmishes with sicarios. I volunteered for this mission because one of my cousins was assassinated by the cartel last year. They love attacking soldiers and families. That's why we all volunteered." She looked over to the right boat, "Sargent Cruz's nephew was killed when the cartel did a drive by at a local business who refused to pay protection money. And Andres lost his brother and sister to the cartel too. So, when we heard about a mission to go in and take them out, we asked if we could assist."

"Well we're glad to have you along."

Apollo spoke over the comms, "should be approaching the next outpost soon. Sat feeds show a larger pier and an elevated footbridge across the river. Looks like half a dozen on each, plus another two in a watchtower."

"Alright people, be ready to acquire targets." Within a minute they rounded another bend and saw the outpost before them, closer this time.

"Eliminate hostiles."

Zephyr aimed towards the dock, aiming towards two targets standing one behind the other. He fired as the rest of the team did too. Zephyr watched his shot go through the first guard, dropping him, and into the second as well, knocking him off the pier and into the boat beside him. He saw through his scope as three of the others on the pier were cut down by Breaker, Killswitch, and Cruz. As the sixth spun around to fire, Zephyr fired again, catching the guard in the throat, dropping him silently. Off to the left, Rogue, Ghost, and Martin fired on the tower, quickly dispatching those guards. Then Zephyr watched as the guards on the bridge turned to fire, and Mother lifter her LMG. It was odd to see such a large gun firing with so little noise, but the silencer did its job as she opened fire on the bridge.

The first guard was nearly cut in half by the barrage as it hit him square in the chest. The next two also weren't quick enough to dodge the bullets as they were thrown back over the far side of the narrow bridge, dead before they hit the water. The other three on the right side of the bridge managed to hit the deck quick enough to stay out of the line of fire.

Unfortunately for them, at that point the right boat was passing under the wooden bridge, and Zephyr watched as all the soldiers in that boat fired up through the bottom of the bridge. Two of the soldiers who had taken cover were shredded by the wave of fire.

Then, as Zephyr's boat passed under the bridge, Frostbite fired a silent shotgun blast up through the wood at the final sentry above them. The shot missed, but the shattered splinters of wood were enough to knock the guard back into the railing behind him. The railing that would have helped had it not been for mother's barrage of bullets shredding the bridge. The guard toppled through the railing and fell about fifteen feet, landing in their very boat. Before he could even react, Whiplash grabbed him by the neck and finished him off. As she rolled the body into the water, Zephyr heard Alvarez speak up from behind him.

"Wow. That was impressive. You guys are good."

"Thanks. Alright people we'll reach the landing area in 10."

A little over 10 minutes later, Roadblock and Sandstorm were pulling the last boat onto the shore of the river, where the rest of the team was waiting and watching into the forest. As they hauled it up, Apollo spoke up.

"We're about a kilometer and a half from the stronghold."

"Alright. We go on paw from here. Intel shows that if we take the river any closer to the base we'll run into water patrols."

The team nodded as they began moving to the southeast in a group. They advanced silently, Whiplash and Ghost practically vanishing into the jungle, both felines naturals at navigating in this type of environment. It didn't take too long before they spotted the large metallic wall that marked the edge of the compound.

"Everyone hold position. Contacts?"

Ghost spoke first, "Looks like there's an external patrol currently near the corner of the wall closest to us; northwest corner. Looks like four there."

Breaker pointed towards the gate as she spoke. "Looks like maybe two in the guard shack by the entrance. Another two watching from the tower behind it."

"Alright, we're going to split into three groups. Breaker, Killswitch, Sandstorm, Darwin, and Cruz, see if you can take out that patrol and get yourselves quietly over the wall. We have to get in before they're alerted, or they'll enter lockdown and pick off anyone who tries to get in." Zephyr turned to the other teammates beside him, "Ghost, Frostbite, Whiplash, Mother, and Alvarez, move east through the tree line and get eyes on that truck depot on the far corner of the wall. Take out any hostiles there and try to get one of those loading dock doors open. Roadblock, Apollo, Rogue, and Martin, you're with me. We'll head to that shack and take out the guards there and in the tower. Then once the others are in, we'll open the gate and enter. That'll probably alert them, but it'll give us a good position to fire on the AA guns. Once we open the gate, it will be getting loud, so get in a good position once you're inside."

All the soldiers with him nodded purposefully as group two headed towards the north of the warehouse they saw. Zephyr watched as they moved, quickly leaving his line of sight as they made their way. A few seconds later, they all heard Frostbite's voice over their comms.

"We have eyes on three guards posted by the trucks."

"Copy that. Engage."

Chapter 3

Frostbite waited a moment until none of the three guards were paying attention to his direction and darted towards the trucks, Whiplash and Ghost on either side of him and Mother and the Columbian soldier Alvarez followed behind. He watched Whiplash pull ahead and dart between two of the trucks, right at one of the guards. He spun and opened his mouth to yell, but was cut off before he could, letting out only a gurgle instead. Whiplash had taken her wakizashi and stuck the blade into the guard's mouth and through his head.

As that guard dropped with a thud, Frostbite saw the other two, a border collie and a lynx, turn towards the sound. He saw Ghost whip his hand forward and suddenly the canine fell, clutching his throat, a blade now protruding from it.

The quick fox pulled out his own weapon, and as the lynx spun to engage them, threw it. It flew true, the tomahawk sinking into the chest of the lynx, knocking him on his back, not moving.

He continued forward, past the fallen guards, picking the tomahawk back up as he did. As Ghost went to work on the easternmost door, Frostbite radioed back

"Zeus, hostiles over here are down and we're working on the door now."

The four-fur looked to be led by a calico cat, followed by a husky, a donkey, and a bull. They had reached the water on the northwestern edge of the wall and were about to turn around when the first group hit them. The bull went down first, hit in the back by half a dozen rounds from Killswitch. He fell face first onto the ground as the rest spun around. Cruz caught the husky in the forehead before he had finished turning around, dropping him immediately. Sandstorm and Darwin both aimed for the donkey, blowing out his chest before he could do anything.

The calico was able to get off, "In-" before she met her fate. Last thing she saw was what looked like a large sledgehammer flying towards her face as Breaker smashed her head.

Darwin grinned at Breaker as she put the large Ding Dong Breaching Tool on her back as Sandstorm moved to boost Killswitch over the wall, "That weapon is the most 'you' weapon I can imagine." Then he spoke into the radio, "Patrol is down and we're making our way over the fence."

They boosted Darwin next, followed by Breaker and Sandstorm. Finally, Cruz simply spread his wings and flew over the edge, making sure to just barely crest it before dropping to the ground.

"Commander D'Kur, we're inside."

"Boss I've got one of the dock doors unlocked and we're ready to open and clear on your signal."

"Copy that Ghost. Hold and wait for my signal."

Zephyr and his group moved forward, silently approaching the small guard shack from an angle. As they walked, he and Rogue again targeted the tower and fired, both guards collapsing at the top of the watchtower. As they neared the glass guard post, Roadblock and Martin both fired. Zephyr watched the glass spiderweb as red splattered on the wall behind the two occupants.

"We're clear here. Apollo, get that gate open."

She darted into the booth and began studying the control panel.

"Boss, as soon as I open the gate, they're going to realize it's open. This is going to go loud really quick."

"Is everyone ready?

Ghost responded first, "we're ready."

Then Breaker, "we're ready too, just setting a couple of charges."

"Copy. Apollo, open it up."

She nodded as she pressed a button, and the large gate began to slide open. Then the alarm went off and everything went to hell

As soon as the alarm sounded, Whiplash saw Ghost fling the dock door up and immediately start firing into the warehouse. The two guards who had been nearest to the door were instantly cut down as he jumped up into the building, knocking over a large heavy table beside the door for cover as he did. Whiplash and Alvarez followed Ghost in and began firing as they we're shot at from both ends of the building. The last two joined them as bullets chased them.

Whiplash took a moment to try to listen and heard what sounded like two hostiles on the eastern end of the warehouse. To the west she could tell there were at least four based on the varying gunfire. She watched as Mother sent a spray of gunfire over towards the west, "We need to take out those bastards to the east or we'll be pinned between them."

She watched as Frostbite tossed a grenade behind the crates that the two enemies were firing from. Suddenly there was a loud bang and a flash of light as the two were blinded.

"Cover me!" Frostbite darted to the east as the rest of them laid down covering fire. The white fox rounded the corner and seconds later Whiplash heard, "All clear over here."

Whiplash ran over to join him, spotting the two guards on the ground as she rounded the crate, both clearly blasted in the chest with Frostbite's shotgun. She turned and saw Mother heading to join them as one of the enemies on the far side of the room stepped out from behind a crate.

Stepped out wearing heavy armor and wielding a light machine gun.

"Get to cover!"

Mother, not yet halfway, spun and saw the gunner. She abruptly changed course and dove back behind the table as the onslaught of lead began.

Darwin and the others with him were crouched behind the small stone wall that separated the motor pool from the water when the alarm began to sound. They had spotted about a dozen sicarios across the water at the firing range before the alert went out. As soon as the shooting began to the east, all five of them rose up and opened fire on the dozen.

Two went down immediately as the rest dove for cover. They quickly began returning fire, but as they did, a third sicarios went down hard, part of his head missing. Darwin knew that the shot must've come from Zeus, whose group was still covering from the main entrance.

Then, two of the cartel soldiers broke from cover and ran east. Darwin's eyes widened as he saw their goal

"They're going for the guns!" He spun and fired, the others with him and at the gate firing as well. He saw the lead fighter get hit by his bullet, clutching his neck as he collapsed. The second was far less lucky; he was practically shot in half as barrages from two different directions battered him, throwing him to the dirt.

Then, he watched a few objects be thrown from where the remaining gunmen were taking cover. He watched as the objects, smoke grenades, went off, creating a cloud between them. Darwin fired into the smoke, but unfortunately a few seconds later, heard a sound he'd been hoping not to hear.

"Take cover!" He dove to the ground and watched the others do the same. A split second later, the massive guns opened fire.

Zephyr had pulled his group back towards the truck warehouse as soon as he spotted the smoke, knowing what would come next. Moments later, one of the guns began firing out the front gate.

"Front gate is compromised. We're coming towards the warehouse."

Then he heard Mother over the comms, "Hold off on that Zeus. We're under heavy fire in here. Machine gunner has us all pinned."

"Where is he?"

"In the building with us. Near the west end of the building."

As they reached the warehouse, Roadblock stopped him. "Hold up Zeus, I've got an idea." She waved the rest of them off to the side and went up to the westernmost dock door. "Mother, be ready to take him down."

Zephyr watched as she grabbed the door with one hand, and then fired her handgun into the metal before rattling the door loudly. She ducked as the gunner inside spun, believing the door flanking him was being opened, and sent bullets tearing through the door. The threat of being flanked had distracted him just enough.

Seconds after the fire through the door, an explosion rocking the inside of the building's west end, and the gunfire within stopped. They ran to the still open east door and climbed in to see a grinning Mother holding her M32 grenade launcher. The far end of the room was covered in the scattered remains of the gunner and seeming a few other shooters.

The two units had regrouped, but there was still an extremely pressing issue.

"We need to take out those guns before they kill the others! Mother, need your grenade launcher again."

She grinned as she readied another explosive. "You got it boss." Zephyr heard more blasts and shots outside as he watched the grinning she wolf, tail wagging slightly in excitement, walk over to the far end of the building and take aim through the blown out west door to the inner courtyard beyond.

Pinned down and with massive shells tearing through the air above them, Darwin was grateful that Breaker had taken some precautions before the alarm had sounded, because it had just saved their lives. The AA gun had stopped firing a moment ago, just long enough to allow the other five gunmen from the range to cross its line of fire, before resuming the onslaught. They would have been able to cross the bridge to the motor pool and fire on their pinned down group.

However, before the main gate had opened, the crafty snow leopard had snuck forward to the bridge and planted a landmine next to it. The first sicario that had crossed the bridge, a large bear, had been looking towards them, not down at where he was putting his paws. Darwin saw as he ran off the bridge, turned towards them, and, suddenly, detonated. The bear was reduced to gore, and the dog that had been right behind him was shredded by shrapnel. The next two had been on the bridge when the explosion went off. Unfortunately for them, the wooden bridge was destroyed by the blast, sending them toppling into the tributary below. A frag lobbed over the wall beside them and into the water by Killswitch quickly finished them off, leaving one remaining soldier on foot.

Then, there was a larger explosion, and suddenly the guns became silent. What was not silent, however, was Mother laughing over the comms.

"Ha! Take that you sons of bitches!"

Darwin and the others glanced over the wall to see the smoking remains of the guns, as well as the bewildered remaining gunman, looking around for what had just destroyed all his remaining support. By the time he recovered from the distraction and turned back towards them to fire, it was too late. The last thing he saw was the yellow and black blur that was the cheetah that had just launched himself across the gap, blade in hand. The sicario was cut down before he could raise his weapon.

"Thanks Mother. You're a lifesaver."

"My pleasure," she chuckled.

Zephyr glanced out towards the group as they ran across the firing range. "Get yourselves to that building across the range and get inside. We'll work our way down the east end of the camp."

"Copy that Z"

"Alright as for us, Ghost, you're coming with my group. Rogue, you go with Mother in case they need long range capability. Mother, take your group across the courtyard to that building to the south. We'll head through the buildings to the south of us now. Let's move."

Chapter 4

Mother led the way out of the southwest warehouse door. She turned right and headed for the bridge in front of the now inoperative antiaircraft guns. Whiplash and Alvarez followed behind her, with Frostbite and Rogue taking up the rear. As they began advancing across the bridge and into the courtyard, a group of guards burst out of the door to the south of them.

The first out the door only made it a few steps before Whiplash's P90 dropped him. The second was hit in the chest by a shot from Rogue. The third one was still in the doorway when a burst from Mother's M60A2 threw him back through the doorway. A few other gunmen tried to storm the courtyard from the south, as well as from around the corners of the building, but their group was alert and had guns up. The cartel members who tried to enter the courtyard were put down almost immediately.

Alvarez's peripheral vision was what saved her.

"Mother, duck!" Mother dropped as a round passed where her head had been a moment before, so close that she felt the air disturbed around her ears. She turned and saw Alvarez firing up to their southeast. Mother looked that way just in time to see a sharpshooter on the third floor of the barracks go down. Although as he went down, more gunmen appeared at other windows and looked down at them, readying weapons.

"Run for the door!"

Mother yelled as she strafed the barracks with bullets, not hitting any of the shooters, but forcing many to duck down, buying them a few seconds. Alvarez and Frostbite made it to the wall of the building, but they were the only ones. Mother felt a round hit her in the shoulder and saw that she wouldn't make it to the wall. Instead, she went for the well that was sitting in the courtyard. She dove behind the high stone sides of it as bullets impacted around her. She glanced around and saw Whiplash ducked behind a boulder nearby. To the north, Rogue had darted back behind the large heap of metal that had been the AA battery.

"Z, we're pinned! You guys need to clear that barracks!"

As Mother's group had exited the southwest door of the warehouse, Zephyr had led his team out the southeast door. In front of him there was another bridge, this one leading to a dark alley on the side of the building in front of them. A short way to the right was another bridge, this one leading directly to a door into the building.

"Ghost, sneak down that alley around the building. Everyone else, we go in the front."

Ghost nodded and stepped towards the alley, the black furred feline quickly vanishing entirely into the darkness. Then Zephyr headed towards the other bridge, Roadblock beside him as Martin and Apollo followed behind. As Zephyr holstered his rifle and pulled out his handguns, ready for close quarters fighting, he heard a noise above him. A quick glance up gave him barely enough time to step back as an assassin leapt onto the bridge from the roof, his machete barely missing the wolf's face.

However, before he could recover from the missed swing, the attacker was face to face, or more accurately face to chest, with the large imposing form of Roadblock. She took a step forward and lifted one of her hooves, delivering a devastating kick to the coyote's chest. The sound of the attacker's ribs breaking was quickly drowned out by the sound of the door behind him breaking, as the kick sent him slamming through it.

She followed through with the kick and let the momentum carry her into the building, Zephyr and the rest right behind her as the momentarily stunned occupants lifted their weapons and fired. All four of them dove behind tables and began returning fire as they heard a shout from across the room.

"Kill them! Kill them now before they destroy everything!"

Zephyr glanced around the edge of his cover. Just behind the rows of armed hostiles, he saw one figure standing holding a shotgun and giving orders. A tall female maned wolf.

"This is Zeus, I have eyes on Rojas! One of the targets is in sight!" He ducked back as a blast from Rojas took out the corner of his table. "Looks like there are ten hostiles with her."

A burst of rifle fire came from Apollo, "Make that nine, boss."

Zephyr leaned around his cover and fired one of his handguns four times into one of the far tables and heard the grunt as the figure behind it collapsed.

Darwin's group had encountered hardly any resistance in the armory they ducked into after crossing the firing range. There had been only four people in the building when they entered, and those people apparently hadn't expected anyone to get that far. Within a few seconds and about a dozen shots between them, they had dropped all four.

They decided to quickly use this opportunity to grab some extra ammunition before heading through the building towards the south door. They finished restocking and quickly stacked up on the door, ready to head further into the stronghold. As they did, Darwin glanced to his side and gaped at what he saw.

"What in the hell?"

"What?" Breaker said.

"You're taking that with you?"

She hefted the large weapon she had found and strapped it to her back. "Good to be prepared. And in my case, I'm going to call this prepared." She grinned as she patted the large weapon, a newly appropriated rocket launcher. "Grabbed a couple extra rockets for it too."

Darwin just shook his head and smiled as Sandstorm pushed through the door, weapon up. He quickly followed, with Cruz, Killswitch, Breaker, and her new toy, behind them. They quickly discovered that the door had opened into a small alley, with the door to another building a bit further down the lane. As they stacked on this door, they heard muffled voices on the other side.

Sandstorm turned to them. "Be ready to breach on my mark. Ready?"

"Ready"

"Go!" Darwin kicked open the door and immediately stood to the side as Sandstorm threw a small object into the room. A couple seconds later, the flashbang went off and they rushed into the room. Darwin saw that they were in some sort of communications building. He also saw about eight technicians in the room, holding weapons and blinded.

The closest one, who had been lurking near the door waiting for them, was quickly dispatched as Killswitch unholstered his double barrel sawed-off shotgun. He fired both slugs into the guard. They quickly began dispatching the guards as the guards began blindly firing, desperately trying to hit something. One guard actually managed to shoot one of his allies in the back of the head. As they mopped up the techs, one who had hidden behind a desk and could still see rushed Darwin, swinging a large blade. The red panda managed to block the blow with his M-14, but the force knocked the weapon from his hands. But as the tech took another swing, Darwin ducked under the blow and drew his sidearm, a Glock G17. As another swing came towards him, two shots from the Glock took out the tech's knees. Then, as he fell to his knees, a third shot caught him right in the forehead, and the room became quiet.

Darwin reclaimed his rifle as they looked around. There were computer monitors everywhere, some of which had been destroyed by the haphazard gunfire. There also appeared to be a room with a large bank of power transformers to the west.

As they heard the gunfire echoing from across the compound, as well as the comms transmissions from the other groups, Darwin looked to the transformers contemplatively.

"Breaker, think you can do your thing on those generators?"

"I sure can. Back up. Everyone, it's going to go dark in under a minute." She immediately went to work setting up charges on the west end of the room. Soon she joined the rest of them on the far side of the room and took cover behind a desk.

"Going dark in 3...2...1" She hit the button.

Ghost heard the explosion across the compound and used the sound to cover the sound of breaking glass.

As the rest of the team had been engaging various threats, including his small squad in the building beside him, Ghost had advanced silently down the dark alley between the building and the outer complex wall. As he had moved forward, darker than a shadow, he had noticed the watchtower just past the end of the building. Apparently, the occupants were focused on the building, because they hadn't noticed Ghost's approach.

He had climbed the side of the tower, silently ascending as the guards were distracted. He had reached the edge of the platform and saw the two occupants not even looking his direction. Two silent shots from his M9 later, and both guards had been thoroughly dispatched, neither having any idea that they'd been bested.

He had been planning on laying in wait in the tower in case any hostiles in the nearby building retreated, but at Mother's shouting about snipers in the dormitory, had decided to deal with that. Now that the power was down, he leapt from the watchtower to the now broken third floor window of the dorm. The dorm, which was now completely dark.

Ghost saw a doorway near him on the north end of the area he was in and peeking through saw a hallway and another sleeping area across the way. He spotted three hostiles in the hallway; one at the north end, firing through a window, and two others facing away from the shooter, guarding his back down the hallway. Without a sound, Ghost slunk into the hall, a blade in each hand. The two watching the hallway never stood a chance. They both were stabbed in the back of the neck, severing their spines, before they knew what happened. He lowered them silently to the floor as he turned to the shooter. Two shots in the back of the head and the gunman, a large bull, tumbled forward out the window.

As he glanced into the next room to see where the firing upon the courtyard was coming from, he saw seven shooters. Six shooters were stationed as windows on the western wall, with one more on the shorter northern section of wall. He silently moved in, spotting a good position to strike from. From his position, he could tell that among the shooters there were two felines and an owl and determined that since they were the ones who'd be best able to see him in the dark, they needed to be taken out first.

He let loose a burst of fire at the three with his MP5, swiftly cutting them down and even knocking the jaguar out of his window. The other four, spun around searching for the shooter behind them only to find nothing.

"What the hell?"

"Who did that?"

"They killed Ricardo!"

The four, now ignoring the courtyard and focusing on the bigger threat, slowly searched the room around them. Ghost saw a deer, a Rottweiler, a sparrow, and a lizard still moving around in the room. Then, he saw the deer, the dog, and the bird react as the lizard collapsed, one of Ghost's throwing knives through his eye.

"Shit!"

As the silent panther saw the deer looking over the fallen lizard by the north window, with the Rottweiler behind him and the sparrow behind her, he moved again. The canine and deer both spun as they heard the crack of the sparrow's neck, turning in time to see him collapse, but no sign of the assailant.

"He's picking us off! Where is he?"

They both realized the answer too late. As they both looked up to fire into the rafters, Ghost was swinging down off a large beam. He swung directly into the deer, his savage kick launching the startled cervine out the window behind him. Then he spun, knife and pistol in hand, and used his blade to parry the large knife the Rottweiler had just swung at him. She swung again and again, clearly adept at knife fighting. Ghost swung a low swipe towards her midsection, which she avoided and went for a swipe to his head. He used the momentum from his low strike to carry him into a roll under her blade and past her, slashing out and hamstringing her right leg. As she fell to a knee and he continued through the roll back to his paws, he spun quickly and fired, his shot catching her square in the head.

"Mother, north third floor dorm is clear. You're good to move."

Thanks to the warning from Breaker, Zephyr had been prepared for the lights to go out. The sudden darkness caught their opponents by surprise. The four of them all rose as one and took the opportunity to use the confusion to their advantage. They let loose a barrage of fire into the darkness. A few moments later, the facility's backup emergency lights came on, somewhat illuminating the room at about half its regular brightness.

Rojas had been smart and had taken cover as soon as the lights went out. Half of her remaining guard hadn't been so fortunate. They had been decimated by the wave of gunfire. One of the remaining guards fell back through the door behind him, presumably to make sure it was clear for Rojas, when Zephyr witnessed the oddest thing.

Unbeknownst to anybody inside the building, Ghost had just cleared the third-floor hallway of the building that was right across the alley from that door. Zephyr watched as the opossum who had darted into the alley was suddenly crushed by a large falling corpse.

The remaining three, suddenly hearing the crash behind them, were too distracted to see Martin dart forward, firing half a dozen shots into one of them. Apollo also used the distraction to move up the west side of the building and pick off another, leaving only Rojas and one other shooter. Zephyr watched as the desperate final shooter made a move he wasn't expecting. Zephyr, seeing it all in slow motion, rose from cover as the gunman, a crow, pulled the pin on a grenade and went to throw it. Zephyr fired his handguns, catching the crow in the chest multiple times mid throw, causing the grenade to simply tumble to the ground by his talons. Rojas dove for the corner of the room as Zephyr took cover, watching the others do the same.

The crow, still collapsing to his knees from the shots, was obliterated by the blast. Tables were knocked over by the blast. Zephyr heard rapid impacts as he jumped back over the table he was behind and ran towards where Rojas was last seen, Roadblock already on her way there as Martin and Apollo trailed him.

Rojas, dazed and wounded from the shrapnel, rose to her knees and turned her weapon to fire, but before she could shoot, Roadblock was there. Zephyr watched as Roadblock delivered another powerful kick, this time aiming for the face. Rojas' was smashed into the wall behind her, her muzzle caved in as her hear remained imbedded in the wall. Zephyr gave the mare a respectful nod of approval as she turned around.

"One target down. Rojas is KIA."

Chapter 5

Frostbite was glad he had glanced through the small window in the door before they breached it. Within, he saw the ambush that was waiting for them on the other side. Moments ago, Ghost had radioed that they were clear to move, so the white fox had tried to look ahead at what they'd be up against next.

"We've got a large room through here. Looks like a mess hall. I counted around two dozen guards waiting for this door to open."

"So, we won't be able to just go in."

"Exactly."

"Anybody have any ideas?"

Whiplash spoke up. "Grenades? Not frags though. If we bombard them with gas and flashbangs, that should give us an opening to get in and take them down."

"Sounds like as good a plan as any. Everybody, grab your ordinance of choice and be ready to throw." Frostbite pulled a tear gas grenade from his gear as he watched Mother and Whiplash do the same. Rogue withdrew a flashbang, as did Alvarez. They opened the doors and threw, standing off to the sides as a bombardment of bullets flew through the doorway. Moments later there were several bangs and the gunfire cut off as coughing echoed from the hall.

They stormed into the room, spotting their foes across the building. All of them seemed to be coughing, blind, or both. As they ran in, Whiplash chucked something else to the side of the main group of shooters, followed a few seconds later by Mother tossing another object at the group.

What Whiplash had thrown was a noisemaker. The noisemaker was programmed to make a few possible sounds, this time the sound of pawsteps. Frostbite watched as several the shooters, unable to see, simply turned and fired in the direction of the closest sounding enemy. Regrettably for them, that happened to be the same direction where most of their allies were. Half a dozen hostiles were cut down by friendly fire before one of the enemies yelled authoritatively, "No you idiots! Shoot the way you were facing before!"

Then, the object that Mother threw went off. Her object was pretty much the opposite of the noisemaker. The noisemaker, while it could be used to trick enemies, didn't actually harm them itself. What Mother threw caused great harm. Some of the shooters, who were quickly recovering, were practically standing on the incendiary grenade when it went off. Five of the sicarios went up in flames immediately. They flailed and screamed and stumbled a bit but collapsed and continued to burn within seconds. As the team charged at the still confused gunmen, they opened fire. Alvarez managed to shred two of the cartel members, while Whiplash sprayed another two.

At that point, the speaker from before, a brightly colored avian, broke from the group with three of the eight other fighters, heading for a door to the southeast. As the other five attempted to return fire, one managed to hit Mother's metallic leg. Mother and Rogue had switched to their sidearms as they closed in, with the wolf wielding a Desert Eagle and the lion firing a powerful revolver. The five were practically blasted apart by the high caliber bullets.

Frostbite ran after the fleeing group, who were heading for what appeared to be a kitchen of sorts. As he ran, he recognized the leader of the group.

"Eyes on Moreno!" He pulled out one of his tomahawks mid run and whipped it through the air, but only managed to hit one of the guards, who went down hard with the blade imbedded in his spine. Moreno and the remaining two shooters yanked open the kitchen door and leapt into the room.

Frostbite was about to follow them in, ready to shotgun them all, when he felt Whiplash's powerful arm grab his armor and yank him back. She pointed, and he saw the object he had almost stepped on, the object Moreno and his men had stepped over. A small tripwire. As he glanced past the doorway, he could just barely see the edge of a waiting claymore.

"Sat feed didn't show another way out of this building besides the north and south doors."

Mother just grinned as she walked up to them. "All teams, be aware that Moreno is KIA." With a smile, she pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it into the room, turning and walking away before it even landed. The rest of them follower her towards the south door as yelling erupted from behind them.

"OH SHI-" The word remained unfinished as the grenade, and the claymore, detonated, shredding everyone inside the kitchen.

"This is Mother, we're moving to the building to our southeast and will set up a rendezvous point there once it's clear."

Zeus came over the comms. "Copy that Mother. Secure the building and we'll regroup on you."

Zephyr stepped over the smashed body in the alley as he stepped out of the drug lab. "Ghost, what's your location?"

"Third floor of the dormitory. North side. Cleared it out, but I hear movement to the south and below me. Want me to join you down there to clear?"

"Negative. Apollo, join him up there. We'll start on the ground floor while you two clear the third, then we'll meet in the middle."

"Copy that." Apollo quickly spread her wings and flew up through the broken third floor window to join Ghost.

"Ok. Roadblock, hold here, and Martin, move around the corner to an eastern window. I'll move to the west. On my mark, we breach and hit them from three sides."

They nodded, and Zephyr saw Martin slink around the corner as he did the same, moving low under the windows until he was about 20 feet from the corner. He lifted his handguns as he took a deep breath. "Now"

At once, he heard the door to the north smash open as Roadblock began firing, and the breaking of glass as Martin opened fire into the building. As Zephyr rose, he spotted eight sicarios in the room, all their backs to him as they looked towards the gunfire. He raised Wrath and Ruin, his custom M1911s, and opened fire.

The first sicario's chest blew out from the two simultaneous shots into his back. Then, he moved both arms away from his center, firing outward at the next hostiles. The next two had barely started to turn as they were blown away. The next two didn't fare much better, although one managed to dodge the first bullet aimed at him. The second and third both found his neck, however, and he dropped hard. The three remaining in the room dove for cover, managing to avoid most bullets, one getting hit in the shoulder, barely more than a graze.

He ducked down as the three opened fire. Bullets peppered the window frame. Then two of the shooters stopped shooting. Zephyr heard close pawsteps and spun around as the other two assassins appeared in the windows on either side of him. Zephyr raised his guns but too slowly as he heard someone else shoot.

Fortunately, they hadn't fired either. Roadblock's shotgun blast threw the shooter on the left through the glass and onto the ground, his back a smoking ruin. The other, caught between both of them, fired at the horse threatening him. Zephyr darted forward and grabbed the shooter's ankles and yanked, ripping their legs out from under them. As the shooter slammed muzzle first into the window sill, Zephyr grabbed his head in one hand, with his knife in the other. With one swift slash, the shooter's throat opened, and he dropped. Zephyr climbed over him and into the window, rejoining the other two.

Gunfire echoed from above as the three of them regrouped and headed towards the opposite door. As they neared it, Zephyr lifted his right arm and fired through the door. The door pushed open towards them as a shape collapsed into the room. "Let's go to work."

Darwin's group had left the communications station after the power went down and the emergency lights came up. Darwin and Sandstorm took the lead, pushing through the southern door. As they emerged, they saw a small open area with another building in front of them, as well as another watchtower to their right. The tower's occupants hadn't fared the explosion well, as the tower was right on the other side of one of the building walls from where the explosion was. One of the two occupants had tumbled over the edge of the tower, apparently landing head first on the ground. The second was only just now regaining his footing. Darwin fired a quick shot and watched as the guard fell backwards and toppled over the outer wall of the compound, landing with a splash in the water beyond.

As they turned to the building, Sandstorm moved first.

"Look. The sign says that's the interrogation area. Our agents are probably in there." He darted forward silently and waited to the left of the door. Darwin stood behind him as Breaker, Killswitch, and Cruz took the right.

A second later, Breaker flung open the door as Sandstorm tossed a flashbang inside the room. They heard the shouting as the occupants of the room sought cover from the grenade. It went off, and a second later both felines had entered the room, Darwin and Killswitch following behind with Cruz.

As the five of them entered, they saw another five of their enemies standing across the room from them, with a hallway to the left and two large rooms to the right. The five sicarios, who had apparently been at a monitoring area, had been blinded by the flashbang. As such, they were dispatched quickly by a bombardment of fire

Then, another assassin burst through the door immediately to their right, swinging an axe towards Breaker. The snow leopard was knocked to the ground, although not by the attacker. Quicker than anyone had been able to process in the moment, Sandstorm had knocked Breaker out of the path of the axe. Then, in a blur of movement that even the sicario couldn't process fast enough, Sandstorm swiped at the attacker's body and then threw the hostile back into the empty room he had come from, shutting the door.

"Away from the door!" Sandstorm darted away, dropping something as he ran. Darwin saw the object and followed. As they all got away from the room, suddenly the room detonated, the door being thrown off its hinges. The objects that the cheetah had dropped were two grenade pins. Pins from the grenades that the attacker had had strapped to his waist.

As they looked around now, in the large chamber across from the interrogation area, were cells.

Sandstorm stepped forward and raised his voice. "We're looking for the captured DEA agents. Where are you?"

"Over here!"

"Here too!"

A few voices chimed out as the cell keys were taken from the fallen guards and the cells were opened. As the cells unlocked, a kangaroo stepped out of one of them and up to Sandstorm. "I'm the lead agent of the team that was captured. Callsign is Kickstart. Thanks for the rescue. Thought there'd be more of you, what with all the shooting we heard outside."

"This is a third of us. Other two groups are clearing other buildings."

"Well, we're glad you're here." The rest of the DEA agents joined Kickstart as she spoke. "Now, are you folks going to be making your way to the mansion over there?"

"That's the plan. There are a few more HVTs that are probably holed up there."

"Well, in that case we should gear up. You're gonna need all the help you can get to make it to that house. Place is a fortress. Also, you might find some more help in the rest of these cells."

"Oh really? Who else is locked up?"

"From what I've gathered, there are a group of about five police officers who've been...less than cooperative, with the cartel. Plus a few cartel members who for one reason or another tried to leave or slighted the boss."

Sandstorm nodded to Breaker and Killswitch, who started opening the rest of the cells.

"Well, you say the house is a fortress. Looks like we now have a small army. Let's stop at the armory quick, and then head to the rendezvous point."

"After you."

Chapter 6

Five minutes later, Zephyr and his group had reunited with Mother's in what appeared to be a rec area. The bodies of the sicarios that had been here had been moved to the side. In the room now stood their much larger force than before.

First, there were Zephyr's teammates. Twelve

Then, their Columbian military allies made three more. Fifteen in total.

The six DEA agents brought them up to twenty-one

Five local cops; officers Cortes, Morillo, Romero, Sainz, and Valerio, brought their total to twenty-six.

Finally, four ex-cartel members from the prison had agreed to join them in exchange for safe passage out. Jesús, Raúl, Emilia, and Hugo.

"Well, there are thirty of us here. Have to say, I didn't see that coming. Now, through this door there are a decent sized plaza and a pond. Helipad also to the west. Past that, we have another bridge to cross, and into the house. Inside is where we'll face the strongest sicarios the cartel has. So be prepared to face heavy opposition."

Zephyr watched as all the faces in front of him nodded, and he turned and pushed through the door. As he exited towards the plaza, he was surprised to find no enemies waiting. Their large group slowly advanced towards the pond, the dirt pathway being replaced by beautiful marble tiles. There were trees around the plaza and a wall around it too. A smaller wall surrounded the pool of water in the center of the plaza. Off to their right sat a large helipad, with around half a dozen helicopters sitting on it. Then, the fur stood up on Zephyr's neck, as he sensed what was about to come.

The floodlights were blinding as they suddenly flashed on, illuminating the entire area in front of the mansion. At the same time, he heard a sound he recognized.

"GET DOWN!" Zephyr shouted as he dove down behind the wall. He saw as most of the group behind him did the same, in tandem with him. The unfortunate soul who hadn't reacted fast enough turned out to be officer Ernesto Cortes. Instead of hitting the deck, the jaguar had looked around confused.

A second later, the chainguns that Zephyr had heard spinning up opened fire. Cortes, who had just rounded the pond, was practically cut to pieces by the hail of lead. His body was flung into the water as gunfire ricocheted all around them.

As Zephyr tried to poke his head up to get a bead on the gunner, he ducked just in time to feel a round almost graze his ear. He'd been lucky to notice the snipers on the center balcony of the second floor just in time to avoid a shot from one of them.

"We need to take out that gunner! Mother, can you get a grenade on him?"

"Not from this angle."

"Does anybody have an angle?"

"Negative."

"Can't see him!"

"I've got a plan!" Zephyr glanced behind him to where Apollo was taking cover as she spoke. "I need smoke! A lot of it!"

Zephyr nodded, trusting his teammate. "You heard her. Smoke out!" He watched as smoke grenades deployed from the places where Ghost, Frostbite, Whiplash, and Roadblock were hiding. Smoke began to fill the courtyard as the gun kept firing.

"It's just firing into the smoke, Apollo! That didn't help."

"Yes, it did!"

As the smoke deployed, the gunner kept firing wildly. But the gunner wasn't what she had requested the smoke for. The snipers were the ones who'd ruin her plan if they detected it.

Still prone on the ground, she looked down at the object in her hands. All she could see right now was the smoke. Then suddenly, she saw an image of the house. She glanced from the tablet in her hands upwards. A few seconds ago, she had used the smokescreen to deploy her trust drone. It was just a small piece of equipment, but extremely useful. While small enough to make it through the gunner's barrage, the snipers surely wouldn't have allowed it to move.

But now, the drone emerged upwards from the smoke, already above where the snipers were looking. She saw five snipers on the balcony as she moved the drone forward. Her small mechanical ally flew silently above their enemies, before stopping above the east balcony, where the gunner was currently firing from.

She grinned as the drone began to descend. She saw that, while there were probably a lot more hostiles inside, the gunner was the only one on the balcony currently. As the smoke began to clear, she saw on her screen as the drone dropped and hovered right behind the gunner, the back of his neck bristling as his tail twitched happily. She shook her head as she aimed the drone's taser at the back of his furry neck and fired.

Zephyr hear the yell of pain from the balcony as the chaingun fell silent. The apparent takedown of the gunner also managed to startle the snipers, as they looked to where the gunner had been.

"MOVE NOW!" Zephyr stood and aimed for the distracted sharpshooters. However, before he could fire on them, someone else did. He watched as, suddenly, a rocket flew into his field of vision and detonated against the balcony door behind the shooters, killing them all and flinging them off the balcony. He glanced over and saw Breaker lowering a smoking rocket launcher as their large group ran.

They all ran quickly across the bridge

"Alight, I want everyone surrounding this building. We breach through all the doors and windows at the same time." All the people with him split up into groups and moved around the building, preparing to breach.

"NOW!"

All at once, two doors and over half a dozen windows were smashed in as gunfire filled the first floor of the mansion. Zephyr had breached the front door, along with a small group of allies. They entered into a foyer where a dozen guards were waiting for them. Fortunately, the entire level being hit at once had disoriented them a bit, not knowing which direction the attack would come from.

Zephyr raised Wrath and Ruin, and opened fire, taking out the ones who were looking their direction first. Beside him he could see Jesús, Frostbite, and Nyx, the dragon from the DEA team. Between them, the remaining guards fell quickly. Gunshots echoed from the east and west of them, so they advanced to the door across the foyer, head further into the floor.

They smashed through the door and into a large lounge area; bookshelves, couches, a piano. Also, more guards. Zephyr darted behind a couch as Frostbite went for a bookshelf. Nyx made it behind the piano. Jesús was behind Nyx and almost made it to the piano. He was hit multiple times and fell to the ground, still.

Fortunately, at that moment, two of the other five doors to the room burst open as well. From the southwest came Rogue, officer Sainz, and Alvarez. From the east came Killswitch, officer Morillo, and Emilia. The room became chaos as the group of hostiles in the center was fired on from multiple angles.

As they fired, four of the shooters broke away from the rest and ran for the south door leading outside; a shark, an eagle, a crow, and a familiar gryphon.

"I see Garcia! He's making a break for it!"

The three flighted enemies slammed through the door and leapt off the cliff that was right behind the mansion. The shark, who was clearly trying to dive over the edge to the water below, almost made it to the cliff. A few rounds in the back were enough to take him down, him momentum carrying him over the edge.

Zephyr holstered his handguns and pulled out his rifle as the three fleeing sicarios took to the sky. He saw Rogue join him by the cliff as the winged baddies were weaving through the sky. Peering through the scope of his rifle, Zephyr lined up a shot and fired. The eagle, who hadn't realized they were about to be sniped, had flown in the path between Zephyr and Garcia. The bird spasmed as his chest was blown out and he fell. There was a loud report from beside him and Zephyr saw the crow begin to plummet.

Zephyr lined up another shot as Garcia was getting close to being out of range. He took a deep breath, aimed, and fired. The shot was true, and Garcia's head turned to paste. Zephyr watched him spiral down into the water in the distance with a splash.

"Another HVT is down."

Chapter 7

The gunfire had died down on the first floor as the group regrouped in the foyer and headed up the stairs. The second floor consisted of doors to each cardinal direction. The north door appeared to lead to the balcony where the snipers had been, which left three directions.

Whiplash headed to the east, followed by Killswitch, Roadblock, Darwin, Monk, Kickstart, Alvarez, officer Romero, officer Sainz, and Emilia. As they breached the door, they came into a lavish bedroom. The master bedroom was, most surprisingly, empty. They all slowly started to clear the room, opening the doors to the master bath and the walk-in closet, still with no enemies. The balcony was clear too.

Mother, Ghost, Apollo, Breaker, Martin, Fathom, Shotput, and Raúl entered the south room, which turned out to be a guest bedroom. There was lovely décor and a balcony overlooking the cliff, but no people.

Zephyr moved to the western door, along with Sandstorm, Frostbite, Rogue, Cruz, Nyx, Inferno, Hugo, officer Morillo, and officer Valerio. As they reached the door, Hugo, the cartel tiger, opened the door. Instantly, bullets shredded his torso as a hail of gunfire erupted, and Hugo tumbled over the bannister to the foyer floor below.

"Contact! West door!" Zephyr pressed against the wall as he fired blindly around the corner. More gunfire echoed back. "These must be his personal bodyguards!"

"There's no way we're getting through this door!"

"We need another way in. Breaker, is there anyway to get to the west wing from the south?"

"Not yet."

Frostbite shook his head and grinned at Zephyr. "That'll work too."

Breaker smiled as she placed the C4 charge on the wall of the guest bedroom. She used just enough to blast through the wall, and then retreated across the room with the others. They readied their weapons as Breaker hit the detonator and a new doorway appeared in the wall. They rushed through, only to find themselves in a large storage room, with a door to their right. Breaker grinned again as she looked at the door and pulled out another charge.

When Breaker breached into the room, the effect on the occupants was immediate. Some of the shooters must have been positioned near where she had come through. Two of the soldiers inside the room were practically torn apart by the blast. The rest were so shocked by the sudden breach that they couldn't figure out who to shoot at first.

Mother quickly followed up Breaker's devastation with some of her own as she opened up on the room. Eleven figures remained in the room. Three of them were put down hard by Mother's burst of fire.

As the new assailants fired on them, the guards turned their attention to the south. As they did, Zephyr and his group moved in. Officer Valerio got a headshot on one of the shooters, and Inferno got another in the throat. Nyx managed to take down another as Frostbite imbedded a tomahawk in another. Only four assailants remained; a wolf, a horse, a boar, and one of the two remaining HVTs.

Maria Hernandez, aka La Sombra

The boar and the horse, seeing what was happening and that they wouldn't make it, suddenly spun and ran through the door behind them, closely followed by Shotput, Emilia, and officer Romero. The wolf was quickly torn asunder by lead, as La Sombra looked around, alone now. From outside on the balcony came the sound of a chain gun firing for a few seconds, and then silence. A few seconds later the people outside returned.

"Got those two."

Zephyr nodded. "Which just leaves her and the boss. And I think I know where he is." Finally in the room, Zephyr was finally able to analyze his surroundings. They appeared to be in a control room or command center, but that wasn't what caught his attention. Along the entire north end of the room stood a massive panic room.

La Sombra grinned and flicked her tail as she was restrained. "You'll never make it through there. It's impenetrable."

Zephyr growled at the defiant feline. "My team includes the best tech specialist and demolitions expert I've seen. They'll find a way in. Breaker and Apollo, find a way in. While they're doing that, I want some people to search the rest of this place. Start on this floor first"

"Yes sir!"

"Copy that!"

Zephyr watched as Breaker began examining the panic room and Apollo began searching through the remaining computer to find a way to open the door. A few of the others began wandering around the floor, returning to the bedrooms and balconies. Shotput and officer Romero kept La Sombra restrained as they searched.

"Hey boss."

"Yeah Breaker?"

"Bad news is that there's no way I'd be able to blast into the panic room."

"Told you" the cartel jaguar sneered.

Breaker growled at her and continued. "However, if Apollo can't find a way in either, what we could do is blast around the room. Then have Sandstorm use one of those choppers to pick it up and take it back. Or drop it over that cliff. Either works."

Zephyr chuckled, "Well it's something. Apollo, anything on your end?"

"Possibly. Let me just check one more thing..."

She hit a few more keys on the keyboard before looking up with a grin. "Found our way in."

"What've you got?"

"What I've got is a list of who's coded into the retinal scanner on the door and is therefore able to access the panic room. Fortunately, El Bruto isn't the only one. His right hand has access too." She grinned and glanced at La Sombra.

"Good job. Go and find Rogue and send him over here. I want to radio General Martinez as soon as we have this bastard in hand." She nodded and headed out to the south balcony to send in their lion radioman.

Zephyr watched as Romero and Shotput pushed the jaguar towards the retinal scanner, as Rogue, Mother, Whiplash, Ghost, Roadblock, Cruz, Alvarez, Nyx, and Fathom watched too. They pushed her head down towards the scanner as she resisted, but it was futile. They held open her eyelids and a moment later, the little red light on the scanner turned green, and the door unlocked loudly. Zephyr stepped forward and swung it open.

And there stood El Bruto, hands raised. The large intimidating croc clearly knew when the game was up.

"You got me. Fuckin narcs."

Zephyr grinned as Whiplash and Mother grabbed El Bruto and brought him out of the panic room. "Cruz, I think it's time we called in your boss."

"Couldn't agree more Zeus." Cruz walked over to Rogue as Rogue turned and knelt down to let their Columbian ally radio the general.

"General Martinez? Come in general."

"Cruz? Good to hear from you. Is the operation a success?"

"Yes, it is sir. Three of the HVTs have been eliminated, and the top two are in custody. How far away are you."

"Not far. About 20 minutes out. We've got trucks, choppers, and a couple hundred men on their way there to help secure the area now that it's clear. To comb over the compound and make sure we find everything that's there." The whole group smiled at the news of the cavalry on the way.

"Sounds good sir. And our orders?"

"Move onto the next phase of the mission as we discussed, soldier. Good luck and we'll be there soon. Over and out."

Cruz nodded as he hung up the radio. Rogue nodded and spoke. "Sounds like it's all good. But what does he mean by next phase o-"

Rogue never saw the bullets that killed him.

Chapter 8

Zephyr however, saw clearly what happened. He watched as, out of nowhere, Cruz raised his rifle and fired over half a dozen rounds into Rogue and the radio on his back. Before anyone could process what happened, he aimed at El Bruto and peppered him with shots. Zephyr ran for cover as the loud gunshots echoed. He spotted other running for cover as Alvarez turned towards La Sombra and strafed her with lead, taking down her and both of her captors.

"Traitors!"

"Engage!"

"Man down!"

As Alvarez spun towards the rest of them, still spraying bullets, a bullet from Nyx hit her in the head, killing her instantly. Meanwhile Cruz spun towards him and fired again. Zephyr felt a bullet slam into his left shoulder and knock him to the ground. A split second later, Cruz fell forward onto his face, his beak hitting the ground hard, as one of Ghost's dagger protruded from his back.

"What the fuck!?"

Frostbite had been on the south balcony overlooking the cliff, along with Martin, Breaker, Apollo, officer Morillo, Kickstart, and Raúl when suddenly gunfire and yells erupted from the control room. They all spun from the railing towards the door inside. All except for Martin, who had been further back, and was now holding a handgun.

As they spun around, he began firing rapidly. The first shot, before anyone could even realize what was happening, hit Apollo in the chest, sending her toppling over the balcony and cliff with a screech. Kickstart was hit in the shoulder and knocked over, screaming. Frostbite was already charging Martin as the traitor fired again and again, his powerful handgun pushing Raúl over the edge too, and blowing out the side of Morillo's throat.

Martin was aiming to shoot Frostbite when the fox tackled him through the door, raining punches down on him. Then Martin screamed as Breaker brought her large sledgehammer down on his hand, shattering it.

The shooting in the other room went quiet as Breaker aimed her weapon in that directions. "Who's alive over there!?"

"Breaker it's us!" She lowered her weapon as she heard Zeus' voice. Suddenly there was a groan behind them and they turned to see a gasping Apollo, wings flapping, hauling Kickstart back onto the balcony.

"I wasn't able to catch Raúl. What the fuck happened."

Frostbite grabbed Martin by the throat and hauled him to his paws. "That's what we're about to find out."

They gathered back in the command center to assess the damage and figure out what to do now.

Both remaining cartel HVTs had been killed. El Bruto had a hole through his head and La Sombra was hit half a dozen times.

Shotput and officer Romero, who had been restraining La Sombra, had also been killed.

Raúl had been killed and his body was currently lying on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff outside.

Officer Morillo's throat wound caused her to bleed out in seconds.

And Rogue. Rogue had never stood a chance, shot in the back by what was supposed to be an ally. Zephyr growled angrily as he glanced at the body of the soldier that had made it through the Storm with them, only to be killed now. He walked over to Martin, who was being held firmly by Mother and Whiplash.

"Tell me why you did this, or I swear I'll kill you here and now."

Martin sneered and chuckled. "Might as well. You'll never make it out of here. The general will see to that."

"The general? Why did he order this?"

"Well see, what you called 'eliminating a dangerous drug cartel,' we call 'creating an opening in a profitable business market.' Now that El Bruto and his buddies are gone, somebody has to take their place." Zephyr glared angrily as Martin continued, "We've worked hard. We've done our jobs. And for what? Shit pay and most likely and early grave. We think we deserve a bit more."

Zephyr snarled and put his face right in Martin's. "You assholes killed one of my men. You're not leaving here alive. Somebody tie him up and throw him in the panic room." He watched as Mother clubbed Martin in the head, knocking him out cold instantly. A few others stripped Martin of all his weapons and armor, and used bedsheets from the other rooms to bind him. Then, Roadblock threw him, quite literally, into the panic room, not yet shutting the door.

Zephyr looked around at who was left. Him and his team made eleven, plus five remaining DEA, two police officers, and Emilia, the sole remaining ex-sicario.

"Alright folks, based on what just happened, I'd say that the cavalry coming is not as good a thing as we initially thought. We need to use the time we have left until they get here to fortify this place and prepare for a siege. Killswitch, I need you to use anything you can find to get Rogue's radio operational again. We need to call out to Colonel O'Brien asap. Mother and Frostbite, I want you two on those chainguns. Breaker, get some mines and explosives out in the compound. Sandstorm, assess those choppers. Roadblock, gather whatever medical supplies you can find. Darwin, Ghost, Whiplash, Nyx, and Inferno, head to the armory and clear out everything you can. Everyone else, we need to barricade the fuck out of this house. We've got about fifteen minutes before those bastards get here. Let's move."

About fifteen minutes later, Zephyr began to hear engines and helicopters in the distance. He was currently peering over a bookcase that had been put in front of the doorway to the north balcony, peering through the scope of his rifle. They had done their best to prepare in the time they had.

Sandstorm had assessed the cartel helicopters but had reported that none of them had enough fuel to get very far and refueling would take too long. Killswitch was still working on the radio. His assessment hadn't been hopeful.

"The components have been torn up. I've found replacements for most of the parts that were damaged, but this thing has been pretty smashed."

"Keep trying. If anyone can get it up and running again, it's you."

Roadblock had raided any alcohol she could get from the compound to use as disinfectant, and anything that could become a bandage in a pinch. Anything that was medical or that could become medical if needed. Mother and Frostbite were currently hidden near the guns, ready to use them in a moment's notice.

The group that had gone to the armory had brought back a treasure trove of armaments. Guns, explosives, ammunition, and anything else that could be used as a weapon. Including quite a bit of mines and C4, which they gave right to Breaker. Breaker was currently grinning as she gazed out at the compound below. Zephyr had watched as she rigged grenade traps, antipersonnel mines, C4 charges, and claymores throughout the area. She'd even used a few of Mother's incendiary grenades to make fire traps and some tear gas grenades at the entrances to the mansion, so as not to injure them or damage their cover.

Zephyr gazed out over the prison towards the motor pool and watched as truck after truck parked there. He watched as dozens of soldiers climbed out the back of each truck. He saw the helicopters appear in the sky as the soldiers began heading to the bridges into the compound proper. After the bridge at the motor pool had been destroyed in the initial assault, that left three bridges for them to cross. All three of which Breaker had left a little surprise at.

Moments later, a series of blasts echoed from the north end of the camp. Zephyr could see what had happened in his head. The traitorous soldiers running across the bridges. A paw landing on the mines that had been placed and hidden on the bridges. The crossings and anyone standing on them obliterated instantly.

Now it was a waiting game. The soldiers still had to cross the rest of the compound to get to them, which Breaker had wired up with an impressive number of traps. A couple minutes later another blast echoed from somewhere. Zephyr glanced at the snow leopard beside him.

"Armory door. Rigged a charge to it." Another explosion came from the same direction. "And to the weapon lockers inside the armory."

A few minutes later, the first soldiers appeared to enter the courtyard in front of the mansion. Fortunately, all of Zephyr's people had remained hidden from the helicopters up until this point. He glanced through the crack in the barricade in front of him towards the birds. There were four circling the area, searching every inch of the stronghold for them. Zephyr watched as the choppers hovered near the mansion and more and more soldiers entered the fountain and helipad areas.

"Now!"

On his command, they engaged. Zephyr spun and emerged from cover, looking out the damaged doorway that led to the north balcony. He quickly acquired his first target, some sort of feline, and fired. As the feline fell, other windows of the mansion lit up with gunfire as his group opened up on the soldiers. They all darted for cover as Frostbite and Mother opened fire with the guns. Frostbite shot a deafening burst that strafed across the now crowded piazza. At least a dozen targets went down under his barrage.

Mother it seemed was a bit more ambitious. As their arctic fox was carving through ground troops, Mother had aimed up at one of the helicopters. The windshield of the chopper, as well as the pilot and copilot behind it, were torn to pieces as the bird began to spiral. The other three choppers banked hard to avoid the onslaught, one just in time to miss getting hit by the RPG that went hurtling past. Zephyr heard breaker swear as she readied another rocket.

Unfortunately, the pilots seemed to realize just who the biggest threats were. One of the helicopters orbited around Frostbite's gun until it was out of the weapon's cone of fire. Frostbite, realizing what was about to happen, just cleared the area as the missile hit the gun emplacement he'd been at moments before.

"West turret is down! Mother, watch out!"

But Mother was already off her gun and running. As the chopper on the east side lined up the shot to destroy the gun, the angry she-wolf hefted her grenade launcher. As the pilot, focused on the gun, fired, he didn't noticed Mother do the same. As the chain gun detonated, so too did the pilot and his chopper.

One of the two remaining choppers then dropped down into Zephyr's field of vision and began strafing the building with bullets. They all ducked back into cover as the bullets slammed through the walls around them. That moment of suppression was enough though, as the soldiers began charging the mansion. Zephyr heard splashing coming from outside over the din of gunfire, the soldiers not even bothering to use the bridge as they assaulted the building.

It ended up being Darwin who got the lucky shot. The windshield in front of the pilot spiderwebbed as the round pierced through. The aircraft faltered for a moment before the copilot regained control, and then pulled up again to avoid ending up the same way. Then, the front door was blown open.

"They're in!"

The tear gas trap Breaker had rigged to the door worked perfectly. Seconds after the troops flooded into the foyer, tear gas flooded in as well. The attackers were rendered helpless as Ghost, Whiplash, Nyx, Fathom, Emilia, and officer Valerio stepped up to the bannister of the second floor overlooking them and opened fire. The foyer was cleared in seconds. Anybody who entered the foyer became a fish in a barrel. They fired down into the room, preventing anyone from reaching the second floor.

As they shot, they didn't notice the other helicopter reappear. They didn't see as it popped up past the south balcony, facing their backs through the guest bedroom's shattered doors. They didn't notice until it opened fire.

Emilia was thrown over the railing to the foyer below by the force of the bullets. Everyone else dove for cover as they watched her fall.

"Chopper behind us!"

"Shit! Emilia's down hard!"

"Somebody take that thing out!"

Zephyr and Breaker ducked as the rounds slammed into the wall above them. "We're pinned!"

"I've got it! Somebody give me some cover!"

Zephyr glanced up to see Apollo taking cover just beside the door to the south balcony.

"You heard her! Cover!"

A few scattered shots rang out, pinging as they ricocheted off the chopper, but it was enough. The chopper shifted and stopped firing for a moment to avoid any rounds hitting the pilot. In those seconds, Apollo darted through the door and launched herself off the balcony. As her wings shot out and she took flight, she threw a small object into the chopper. She shot like a bullet back into the mansion, and seconds later the object went off.

The effect was immediate. There was no blast, but it might have been better for the pilots and gunners if there had been. The object, specially made for their tech specialist, was a small electromagnetic pulse grenade. As it went off, the helicopter, which was hovering over the cliff behind the house, simply shut down. As the engine died and the rotors slowed, the helicopter simply dropped, plummeting towards the cliff face and large lake below.

As the chopper fell, the fighters on the ground changed their strategy. It had quickly become apparent that they wouldn't be getting up the stairs. Zephyr heard a transmission from Darwin come over comms

"Sir! They're scaling the walls of the mansion! Multiple directions!"

Zephyr stopped firing his rifle as shots came from the balconies. "Damn! Try to hold them off everyone!" He holstered his rifle as he ran to the western balcony, where Frostbite, Darwin, and Kickstart were firing over the edges to the enemies below. Zephyr unholstered the MP7 strapped to his thigh as he ran to one of the edges, just as hyena was pulling himself over the railing. As the hyena went to aim at Zephyr, the snarling black wolf delivered a savage headbutt, slamming the hyena in the muzzle and knocking him backwards off the balcony. As he leaned over the railing and looked down, he saw a group of soldiers attempting to climb the wall. As he sprayed bullets down, the attackers scaling the wall quickly fell.

"Enemies on the roof! They're breaching the ceiling!" Whiplash spun as Inferno yelled. As she turned, sections of the ceiling above them turned to rubble as the breaching charges did their job. At that same moment, the north balcony barricade detonated in a large explosion, knocking Whiplash off her paws. She saw the final helicopter hovering outside the balcony as enemies dropped into the room from the holes in the roof and opened fire.

She saw Mother take a round in the Kevlar as she dove for cover, firing all the while.

She saw Sandstorm duck behind a wall and narrowly avoid a shot to the head.

And she saw a figure, a wolf she'd seen once before, drop through a hole and land behind Monk as he fired on another intruder. It was captain Reyes, the general's right-hand woman.

"Monk look out!"

But it was too late. As she yelled, Whiplash watched a large blade emerge from his chest as he gasped. As she withdrew the large machete and let Monk fall still, Whiplash lunged at her, her own blade out. She tackled Reyes, knocking them both towards the now open north balcony. Reyes swung the machete, but Whiplash parried the strike and countered with her own, which Reyes dodged.

Whiplash slashed and swung her wakizashi, but Reyes it seemed was also a skilled fighter with blades. Each swing either made was parried or dodged. Whiplash ducked a slash over her head and kicked out with a paw, knocking Reyes back to the edge of the damaged balcony. They both fought furiously. Then, Whiplash heard a yell.

"Whip! Duck!"

Trusting Breaker, Whiplash ducked without looking back at the other big cat. What she did see however, was the look of horror on Reyes' face as she dodged wildly to the side, just in time to avoid the rocket. But Reyes hadn't been the target. The final helicopter was still hovering behind her, and they didn't see the missile until it was too late. The chopper detonated in a massive fireball, throwing Reyes further off balance, and creating just the opening Whiplash was looking for. With a quick slash and a brutal stab, her blade pierced through Reyes' stomach and out her back as she gasped in shock and pain.

She kicked again, knocking the still alive captain over the balcony onto the bridge. Unfortunately for Reyes, the soldiers earlier had been right about the bridge being trapped. The critically injured she-wolf landed on the still untriggered incendiary explosive trap. Her screams didn't last long at all.

Zephyr, now wielding his handguns again, shot another climber off the wall.

"Keep it up, it looks like there aren't too many left!"

Focused on clearing the walls, nobody on the balcony had heard the thud behind them as a figure dropped to the balcony from the roof of the mansion. What they did hear however, was the thundering of hooves. Zephyr spun, hoping desperately that the hooves were Roadblock coming to help, but knew that wouldn't be the case. Before he could turn all the way around, the massive form slammed into him, sending them both flying over the edge and into the waterway in front of the mansion. As they plunged into the water, Zephyr looked up at the unmistakable form who had tackled him

General Santiago Martinez

Chapter 9

As Zephyr unsheathed his combat knife and plunged it towards Martinez, he knew he had to get out of the water. Zephyr was a strong and capable wolf, but Martinez's equine mass would let him crush the air of Zephyr's lungs underwater if he got a good grip. Martinez deflected the stab and connected a large fist to Zephyr's face. Zephyr slashed again, this time aiming for the hand that was holding him. Blood began to seep into the water from the slash on Martinez's forearm as he let go, and Zephyr kicked off of the horse towards the surface.

As he surfaced, he quickly pulled himself out of the water. Glancing back, he saw that he was now across the water from the house. He also saw Martinez surfacing a few feet behind him. Zephyr darted forward towards the helipad, where there sat half a dozen helicopters. As he darted into the maze of aircrafts, shots rang out behind him and a searing pain shot through his shoulder. Zephyr grabbed the shoulder as he ran, the wound only a graze but still a wound.

As he weaved between the choppers, Zephyr took stock of his weapons. His MP7 and his M1911s had been dropped on the balcony as Martinez tackled him. And Bad News, his trusty rifle, wouldn't help much in such close quarters. Its blade might help if Martinez didn't have a gun. Which left the element of surprise. So as the gunfire from back at the house echoed, Zephyr hid in the shadows and waited.

"Come on out Zeus. I promise I'll make it quick."

Zephyr darted between two of the choppers, narrowly avoiding Martinez's vision. As he hid again, the shooting from the house slowly began to die down. From the shadows, Zephyr spoke.

"You've lost. Just give up and maybe you'll make it out of here alive."

"No deal." Martinez fired into the shadows, but Zephyr was already gone and hidden somewhere else.

"This is your last chance to give up Martinez" Zephyr's voice came from the dark area behind one of the choppers.

"Not going to happen pup. One of us dies here. And I'm going to make sure that it's you." Martinez crept closer to the rear of the parked bird.

"Very well. I tried." Zephyr's voice came from the same area. Slowly Martinez inched around the tail of the helicopter and spotted...nobody. Then Zephyr spoke again, from the front of the aircraft. From the cockpit.

"This is for Rogue."

And then the helicopter turned on and the propeller spun.

Based on the scream, Martinez hadn't been killed by the propeller, but he sounded seriously wounded. Zephyr turned the chopper and moved towards the rear of it to see what shape Martinez was in after the propeller hit him. As Zephyr approached, he saw that the blades had hacked off the general's entire right arm, as well as a chunk of the side of his face. He glared furiously at Zephyr as a group of forms exited the front door of the mansion.

As the forms stepped over the burned but still intact stone bridge and the body of Reyes, Zephyr sighed with relief as his people approached. All of his team, minus Rogue, seemed to be in good condition. Some grazes and bruises, but nothing too bad. Four of the six DEA agents were also alright; Nyx, Kickstart, Fathom, and Inferno. Officers Valerio and Sainz were also there.

"We got them all boss. Only ones left are him and Martin still tied up in the house. Also, you dropped these." Mother handed Zephyr his dropped guns from the balcony, which he quickly holstered securely.

"And, I finally got the radio working." Killswitch held up the damaged but now working radio. "A bit late, but we can update O'Brien on what happened and get out of here."

"That's great news. Roadblock, if everyone's alright, make sure he doesn't bleed out." She nodded and began to see to Martinez as Zephyr took the radio.

"Zeus to O'Brien. Come in O'Brien."

There was static for a few moments before...

"Zeus? Was expecting to hear from you awhile ago. What's the status of the mission?"

"Bit of a mixed bag there sir. We completed the original mission; got the agents and eliminated the targets. Actually, we captured the boss and his chief lieutenant alive. But after that everything went to shit."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well, the local help shot us in the back. Literally. They killed Rogue, a couple of the agents, and the captured cartel HVTs.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Yeah. Then our 'reinforcements' tried to take us out, including Martinez. But we captured the piece of shit alive. Missing an arm now. We need extraction as soon as you can get it here."

"I've got a bird in the air on their way to you already. It'll be there before too long. Just sit tight. Over and out."

Zephyr hung up the radio and turned to Martinez. "You're going to be locked up for a long time after we get out of here general."

Martinez sneered at him, and then surprisingly, chuckled. "Oh, we're never getting out of here pup."

"What're you going on about? We're getting on that bird and then you'll be standing trial for what you've done here."

"What I've done? And what is it you think I've done? Do you really think I did this solely because of my own greed? Because I wanted more money? No. Money is nice, but power, that's what's really important. Control. That's what we want."

"We? What the hell are you going on about?"

Martinez only laughed, his laughter turning into a grunt of pain. "You've stumbled into something much much bigger than you or me, boys and girls. The Shadow Council is everywhere. We're inside governments, companies, religious institutions, universities, and more." Zephyr and his team looked worriedly at each other as Martinez continued, "Who do you think really controls the world? I was ordered to take control of the drug trade in this country and the rest of the continent. But I've failed. I've failed because you didn't die. You were meant to die here."

Martinez leaned back against the fuselage of one of the choppers and sighed. "He warned me you'd be hard to kill. I should've believed that. And now it seems he's going to get to kill you instead. Maybe that was his plan all along."

"Who's 'he'? What's this person's name."

Martinez began to laugh loudly. "You fools. You already know his name." He leaned forward and grinned. "I told you we've infiltrated governments. Do you think that excludes your own?" Martinez began laughing uncontrollably.

"Sir, I really don't like the sound of that. What the fuck is he talking about."

"Could someone back home be part of whatever he's talking about?"

"Alright let's fall back to the house. Roadblock grab him. Killswitch grab the ra...radio. Oh no." A sudden realization dawned on him.

"What is it sir?"

"Dammit! O'Brien!"

"Sir?"

"O'Brien's the only one we know of who sent us here. Who else could've told this piece of shit that we'd be hard to kill?"

"Oh shit."

"We've got to get out of here now."

"Sir! We've got a problem!" He glanced at Apollo, who was now facing the north, her keen eyes trained on something.

"What is it?"

"I see the bird O'Brien mentioned."

"And?"

"And it's not a chopper! It's an F-16! RUN!"

Without any hesitation they ran, leaving Martinez sitting against the chopper laughing as a plume of smoke came from the jet.

"I told you you'll never get o-"

Martinez's words were cut off as the missile struck the helipad behind them, the blast detonating all the aircraft there as well, and incinerating the general in an instant.

The fighter shot overhead as they ran. Zephyr was in the lead, slamming through the front door of the mansion again as the others followed.

"What do we do sir? It's looping around for another pass at us!" Sure enough, the sound of a jet shot over them again as the plane prepared to take them from the north again, making sure they couldn't escape. Zephyr looked around desperately and swore. There was only one option.

"Oh, son of a bitch!" He ran. He heard the shrieking of the missile as it raced towards them. Zephyr sprinted, smashing through the back door of the mansion. He swore again as they did the only thing they could do.

Zephyr and the rest of the survivors launched themselves over the side of the cliff.

Seconds later the missile hit, and the mansion was blown to smithereens.

A few minutes later, Zephyr was pulling himself onto the far shore of the large lake. This area was pure jungle, which fortunately granted tree cover. He glanced far up and behind him, spotting the smoking and burning ruins of the mansion.

"What the hell do we do now?" Zephyr glanced over as Mother asked the question.

"First we make sure everyone is alright. Everyone alright?"

Zephyr glanced around at the sheltered shoreline to check on everyone.

Sandstorm was pulling himself out of the water, seemingly alright.

Ghost was currently shaking the water out of his fur.

Whiplash was still in the water not too far from shore making her way towards land, as were Killswitch and Kickstart.

Apollo was standing on the shore with Nyx and officer Valerio. The three winged members of the group had had an easier time with the drop.

Frostbite appeared to have sprained his arm in the fall. Nothing too serious.

Darwin and Breaker were helping Inferno out of the water.

Fathom was pulling a limp form through the water.

"Need some help!" She pulled the form to the edge and flipped it over to reveal officer Sainz. Roadblock, who was already ashore, rushed over to check him, but quickly shook her head.

"Looks like he took a chunk of shrapnel in the back. That plus the fall..."

"Damn. He was so close to making it too."

"That bastard O'Brien fucked us," Mother snarled.

"He'll get his, Mother. Right now, we have to get out of this jungle and figure out just what's going on. We've stumbled onto something big, some sort of conspiracy. One that includes people in our government. Whatever's happening, we're going to be on our own for this."

"I think you're right about that boss."

Zephyr nodded. "Odds are we'll be declared dead, rogue, or both. But we have something to get us started. The Shadow Council. Now, my team is going after them. The rest of you, I can't force to get involved."

Nyx spoke up, "I think we're already involved. I don't think we were meant to get out alive either. We'll help you go after them. Plus, they killed two of ours. We've got to get them back for that." Kickstart, Fathom, and Inferno nodded.

"Very well. Glad you're on board. And officer Valerio..."

"Call me Nina. We've been through enough."

"Alright. Nina, if you want you're free to go. You should be alright."

"Whoever these people are, they killed my friends. I will help you fight them."

"Thank you. Alright, we're gonna do this. But first, lets get the hell out of this jungle. Then, we go to war."

Epilogue

As the bobcat walked down the empty hallway, his phone rang.

"Yes, this is O'Brien. Yes sir, it went perfectly. My pilot reported in not long ago. He says there's no way anyone could've survived that blast. No, I don't think we got them all. Yes sir, I'm taking precautions. We're releasing a statement just in case. The story is that they tried to take control of the drug operation. They killed the DEA agents and ambushed the general and his men when they came to secure the camp. We'll say that they're presumed to be dead, but for the people to be watching in case any of them survived. They'll be some of the most wanted criminals in the world.

The voice on the other end spoke and O'Brien responded.

"Yes sir, we're sending operatives to watch any allies they might try to contact. Yes, we're having our people analyze the remains to determine who might have survived, but it'll take some time. We should know within a few days whose bodies weren't in the mansion. I suspect some of them might've gone over the cliff and disappeared into the jungle. I've got teams searching for them. While it's a shame Martinez failed to gain control of the South American drug trade, we've got other assets working to give us control over the illegal activities in that region. That power and those assets will soon be ours. We're so close to having everything we need. Then we'll be able to move on to the next phase of the operation."

The voice spoke again before hanging up, and as O'Brien put his phone away, he smiled.

Soon, it would be time for The Sundering.