Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00190. Meeting in a warzone

The noise was deafening as small arms fire filled the air of a run down village. On one side was a small team of British Royal Marines and on the other was an unorganized group of men who were trying their best to kill them. While the smaller group was outnumbered and outgunned, they were doing a good job of staying alive so far.

A bullet slammed into the wall Emil was using for cover as he pulled out a fresh magazine and loaded it into his rifle. He then glanced down at the last full magazine he had left, still in his vest before he looked to his right. On the ground about twenty feet from him was one of his men, dead.

An unlucky… Or maybe a lucky shot, took the man in the head right as this whole thing started not fifteen minutes ago. It was actually a miracle no one else was injured as they all scrambled for cover after that first shot fired and all hell broke loose. Sure they at least had decent cover for now, but they were also pinned down and things weren't looking great for them.

While Emil would be lying if he said he wasn't upset about one of his men being killed. But right now his only concern was the ammo that rested on that man's body. Everything else didn't matter and wouldn't matter until the rest of his men were back at base.

Emil glanced towards the other members of his squad before he queued up his microphone and asked, “Ammo count.”

All of them answered back without even looking at their carrier vests and the answers made Emil frown. They had maybe ten minutes at most before they ran out of ammunition. If that happened before support arrived, well it wouldn’t go well for Emil and the rest of his squad.

Emil glanced at the body of his man again, over twenty feet away with absolutely no cover around it. The same one that was out in the open and would be a death sentence to try and get too. Emil clicked the button for the other channel on his headset before he queued it up and asked, “Chaos main, chaos main. This is wolf six, do you copy? Over.”

“Wolf six, this is chaos main. Over.”

“Chaos main ETA on backup? Over”

“Wolf six, hawk tree is inbound, ETA twenty minutes. Over.”

Emil’s brow furrowed at the reply as he said, “Chaos main, roger. Wolf six, out.”

Emil glanced at the body twenty feet away from him one more time before he made up his mind. He queued up his squad radio as he asked, “How many smoke grenades do we have?”

After he heard the answer Emil said, “I want them tossed in front of us and towards the building to our left.”

Emil watched as his men followed his command as he quickly striped off his pack and tac vest. He then changed position so he could run as he crept closer to the edge of his cover.

Emil waited for the smoke to fill the area before he said “Give me a tiny bit of suppressive fire on my command and make it look like we are moving.”

“Now.”  Emil said over the radio before he sprinted twenty feet to grab his squad member by his tactical vest and pulled the man's body back into his piece of cover.

The tactic worked and Emil was able to drag the man's body back to cover as the enemy focused their fire towards the building to the left of them. Emil removed the man's pack before he flipped the body over. There was a blood hole just below where the man's helmet ended, only millimeters away from what could have saved his life.

Emil stared down at the dead eyes of his man, still opened, staring at nothing. Emil quickly did the sign of the cross before he closed the man's eyes and then stripped the man of all his ammo. Emil then passed them down to his men as he said over the squad radio, “Make these count, this is all we have until support arrives.”

With a couple more magazines of ammo for each man, three frag grenades and two smoke grenades. Emil felt better about lasting until help arrived, but it was only a little bit. They were still pinned down and being overwhelmed by a disorganized group of attackers. If the enemy was actually trained and not thrown together, Emil was positive that his squad would already be dead or worse.

Emil tossed his tac vest back over his plate carrier before he pulled a small mirror on a collapsible shaft from his tac vest and extended it. He held it out around his cover for a couple moments before a round of bullets slammed into the wall in front of Emil. In that brief moment, he was able to make out the muzzle flash from a couple of windows across the way. He queued up his microphone as he said, “If you can get a shot, the windows directly North of my position have shooters.”

A three round burst from one of his men went off before he heard over the radio, “One tango down.” Quickly followed by another three round burst and, “Make that a pair.”

Emil smiled to himself for a moment before he used his mirror again to find another target. As he glanced through the mirror, more bullets slammed into his position before a chunk of wall fell next to him. He was distracted by it for a moment which tilted his mirror to the side and his eyes went wide as he yelled out, “Get down!”

A second after Emil dropped prone, an explosion destroyed most of the wall next to him and dazed him. Dust and debris filled the air as Emil queued up his microphone and asked, “Status check.”

As Emil slowly sat back up, he thankfully heard all of his men confirm they were still alive. A few were hit with shrapnel from the blast, but no one reported a major injury. Even with the after effects of the blast, Emil wasted no time as he commanded his men back into action. And the two smoke grenades were quickly used to buy them a bit of reprieve as they attempted to recover.

It didn't last long as another RPG flew through the smoke and barely missed his position, only feet away as it sailed past his head. It luckily missed everything and flew out of the village before it exploded.

Emil frowned as he glanced where the last one went before he turned to see the smoke start to clear. He then looked at what was left of their cover and knew that another RPG would probably kill him or someone else in the squad. Before the smoke could fully clear he queued his microphone and said, “Those rockets are coming from the building to the Northeast. Someone see if you can get a shot on them.”

“Acknowledged.” Came the reply from a couple of people.

Emil used his mirror to watch that area as the smoke fully cleared and even more bullets rained down on their position. Just before the smoke cleared completely a person with a freshly loaded RPG stepped out of cover. As Emil started to call out the target a three round burst took the man in the chest.

The man still managed to squeeze the trigger as he collapsed, but he was twisted towards where he stepped out from. The RPG launched and slammed directly into the building next to the man a moment later, which must have set off the rest of his ammo as that whole building exploded.

Even behind cover, Emil was tossed back onto the ground from the massive explosion. A silence hung over the previous chaotic area for almost a minute as everyone recovered from the blast wave. The dust cloud hung heavy in the air with the smell of roasted meat and sulfur as Emil sat back up.

Emil only took a few moments before he queued his microphone up and asked, “Status?”

When everyone confirmed they were okay, Emil said, “We're moving to the building to the left before this cover is gone.”

“Acknowledged.” His team responded as Emil got up into a better position for moving.

As Emil moved closer to his squad he said into his microphone, “Moving now.”

Emil quickly moved through the thick cloud of dust with his team and once they reached the new building, started to clear it. It was a small, run down building with thick walls and two exits. Emil posted one man to cover the rear door as he had the rest of his men setup at different positions. 

At this point the smoke was starting to clear and the members of the attacking force finally recovered. And they started to rain down fire on Emil’s previous position as Emil had his men hold return fire. After about a minute or so, the enemy fire died down and a couple of brave men cautiously crept out of their cover. They slowly moved towards where Emil and his team used to be.

Emil had his men hold their fire for as long as possible before he took a shot at one of the men out in the open. His men followed suit and a moment later the enemies still in cover returned fire. Just as the fighting returned to its fever pitch again, someone near Emil said, “You look like you could use a hand.”

Emil and his men instantly turned towards the voice with their weapons and found a man leaning against the wall of the building. He was dressed in a nice business suit and he had a tablet in his hand that he was looking at. Emil was positive the man wasn't there a few moments ago and almost thought he was hallucinating if his men didn't react the same way. It was a testament to their skill that none of them shot the man in their current situation.

Emil didn't have time to deal with whatever was going on and was about to order one of his men to restrain the man. Just before Emil spoke, a couple of stray bullets slammed into something that simmered with golden light about a foot away from the man and turned into pancakes before they dropped to the ground.

The shimmering faded just as quickly as it appeared and the man glanced up from his tablet before he asked, “Do you want some help? Or do you guys not understand America?”

Emil frowned at whatever just happened, along with the man's casual demeanor and stupid joke before he turned back towards the enemy as he asked, “Who the hell are you? Some kinda CIA spook?”

“I'm not with any of those three digit agencies. But you can call me Ezekiel.”

Emil glanced towards the man from the corner of his eye as he asked, “How did you get in here? Were you hiding in here before we arrived?”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I just got here. I heard that massive explosion and rushed over.”

Emil fired off a three round burst into a window as he asked, “How exactly are you going to help us? Do you have a way out of here or some backup close by?”

Ezekiel placed his tablet down and pulled out a kunai which he spun around his pinky a couple of times as he said, “Tell your men to hold their fire.”

Before Emil could reply, Ezekiel’s after image faded from view. Emil glanced towards his squad members for a moment before they all lowered their weapons slightly. Within moments the sound of gunfire became less and less before it died out completely. After a few more moments Ezekiel walked out of one of the other buildings with a man over his shoulder.

He waved towards Emil’s location as he said, “It's all clear, you guys can come out now. I also captured the enemy leader for you.”

Emil glanced towards his men before he said, “Stay here. I'll go check it out myself.”

Emil cautiously moved out of the building and met Ezekiel out in the open as he asked, “You took care of everyone?”

Ezekiel dropped the man he was carrying onto the ground as he said, “There were only about twenty normal people left. That explosion looks like it took out at least ten people… Then again it’s kinda hard to count chunks of bodies.”

Emil moved past Ezekiel and into the building he just left to find three men on the ground with their throats slit. He glanced into another building and found more men dead the same way. As he walked out of that building he queued his microphone up and said, “It's all clear. You guys can come out now.”

Once Emil was back in front of Ezekiel he asked, “So… Ezekiel. Why are you out here running around in this hell hole?”

Ezekiel pulled out a business card and handed it to Emil as he said, “I was actually looking for you. I came to offer you a job.”

Emil glanced at the card which only had a phone number on it as he said, “I appreciate the help, but as you can see I already have a job. One I enjoy doing.”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “And you're good at it too. Which is why I came to offer you a job doing basically the same thing you do now. Expect better pay, the best medical care in the world and more interesting missions then what you currently do.”

Emil flipped the card over to check the back as he said, “I'll think about it.”

“I look forward to hearing from you.” Ezekiel said as he flashed a smile before he opened up a portal and disappeared through it.

Emil glanced at where Ezekiel disappeared from before he turned towards his men as he pocketed the card and said, “Secure the area while we wait for our ride.”