Location: North-Western Oregon, USA

Unit: GOU, Coalition forces

Date: July 24th, 2021 CE

Mclaw watched as the hundreds of aircraft passed overhead, the day they had been planning for months had finally come. It was time to fulfil his promise and win.

He stood up and spoke three words to himself quietly, "Niji Wind Suffocation Monstrum," Mclaw stretched out his hand as a violent wind shot forth. All the flames caused by the bomb instantly evaporated. He turned around to several of his team staring wildly at their surroundings, "Let's move!" 

They all nodded, still slightly bewildered by what they had just seen. 

Mclaw exited the treeline, M16 raised; he looked to his left and right as he was followed by a line of GOU operators.

The firing on the hill started to quieten down, Mclaw knew they had suppressed or destroyed those sent to attack their position. Tapping his earpiece, "Gewehr, move to point Zulu; Alpine, move to point Whiskey."

Two voices responded immediately and followed Mclaw's orders. 

The GOU started to move forward. Pace after pace they got closer to the heavily charred base filled with dark craters. Mclaw entered the main base. He looked back to his men, "Masks on."

All the Operators nodded before removing their gas masks from their belt and placing it over their faces. Mclaw felt his breathing, it was as cold as the artic winds; he smiled with a chuckle remembering how inhuman he could be.

Mclaw stopped in the middle of the scorched stone platform. He raised a fist before pushing his hand towards the ground telling the rest to take a knee. The world was eerily quiet. Mclaw looked around, "York, Richards, Soman; the registered entrance to the underground portion of the base should be just to our left underneath that rubble, find it. Gibson get in contact with Delta, ask them where the hell they are."

Richards led his small team to a pile of rubble ordered one of them to stand guard while the other helped him. Tossing large rocks they removed piece after piece.

Richards was speaking into the headset connected to the radio, "This is Burns 1-4, Dens 1-1 do you copy?"

No reply.

He asked again, "Dens 1-1 do you copy?"

Still nothing; he kept on trying.

Mclaw raised a hand to indicate him to stop, he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. Inside his eyelids his eyes started to twitch back and forth. Each sound started to echo, bird songs, the rustling of leaves, the whipping of the air.

Mclaw knew what was going on; he immediately stood up and turned to Mabasa, "Hand me your M45 and take this," he pulled his rifle from his shoulder and swapped it for Mabasa's sidearm.

Immediately he took off running into the forest.

Mabasa groaned, "Couldn't he wait a second?" Turning to the radio man, he shook his head.

Mclaw darted through the falling ash, the padding of his feet echoed in the forest. Twigs snapped one after the other.

He slightly moved his jacket revealing a sword handle, Mclaw chuckled, "So I came crawling back."

He grabbed the handle with his right hand and pulled, a steel blade started to reveal itself."

He clenched the deep red handle wrapped in a tough leather. The blade was as dark as the night sky with a single gold engraving by the tip: 'Victoria per Sacrificium' or its English translation, 'Victory through Sacrifice'.

He suddenly grind to a halt; then he heard it, the soft thrash against the air. 

He turned, a soldier sat there looking over the bush into the valley. Mclaw paced closer. The soldier didn't seem to know he was there. Mclaw stood above him, looking down on the soldier. He could see the soldiers gear clearly now. ACR-3, Glock sidearm, and dark grey overalls. Immediately Mclaw flipped his blade around in his hand before grabbing the enemy with his left. Lifting the soldier into the sky, Mclaw smiled. Suddenly, he flicked his blade and the soldiers insides burst open. Mclaw quickly chucked the body onto the ground before grabbing the small radio from his belt.

"Found you," Mclaw's crooked smile split the air leaving a permanent mark on those across the radio.

Mclaw darted back into the shadows.

No more than two hundred metres from his position sat the remaining five Delta force members.

The Master Sergeant sat there gripping his magazine and placing in bullet after bullet, he was calm. This was nothing compared to what Mclaw had put him through. The soldiers around him were huddled together in a small divot in the ground, they sat there terrified. No more than an hour ago they had a full unit of 16 operators. Six were gunned down immediately while the rest were picked off while trying to find the shooters.

The Master Sergeant counted at least eight gun men. Pulling a mirror from a pocket he pointed a laser at it causing it to deflect deep into the tree covered hillside. Turning the mirror the laser bounced into tree after tree until it lit up something unnatural. It lacked the normal. The laser stopped and sat on its target.

The lead operator chuckled, "Found one."

Suddenly the target was lifted off its feet by a dark shadow, then thrown. The light attempted to follow but it was too slow, who ever... what ever had done that disappeared without a trace. As the light caught up it illuminated the lifeless body slumped against a tree. The body was bloodied with its own oozing fluid. Limbs were torn into weird positions and the neck was barely holding the head onto the body. Screams started to echo from around the forest, quickly being silenced one after the other.

Attempting to track them, the Master Sergeant swung his focused beam of light around illuminating the forest. It was quiet. The small group of Operators huddled together not sure what monster they'd see next.

Nothing came...

It was quiet...

Too quiet.

"So you lot gonna sit there forever?" A voice said, "Thought you were the famous delta force, or did I rescue the wrong unit?"

The Master Sergeant jumped to his feet, startled he immediately fell over again, "Captain Mclaw... I thought you were with Burns unit," wobbling back to his feet the American stood up.

Mclaw chuckled, "Well I was but we couldn't let your asses end up in Oceania before the main force arrive," turning around he gripped his bloodied blade and an M45 pistol, "Lets get moving, the enemy hopefully shouldn't bother you."

One of the other American Operators noticed the red liquid dripping from the black blade, he gulped before turning away. The other Operators detected a cold presence emanating from Mclaw's body so they followed what Mclaw said and instantly exited their ditch.

***

"It's open!" Mabasa tapped his earpiece.

An older British voice replied, "Good work Burns-2-1, you have permission to enter, over. Switch your camera on."

Mabasa chuckled before responding, "Ah yes my helmet camera... about that," he paused, "Break, Mclaw told us it was to much weight."

On the other side the General pushed his palm against his head, "Of course he did..." shaking his head, "He really doesn't like to be watched... anyway continue on but keep your microphone on."

Mabasa nodded, "Understood, moving."

He put his hand back into his bag pulling out a set of night vision goggles, the rest of the operators did the same. Soman was stood on the other side of the long stairwell. Her face covered by a black balaclava and her eyes covered by a set of panoramic night vision goggles. the only part of her head visible was her hair rolled into a bun on the back of her head.

Mabasa tapped his left leg and crossed the corner, rifle raised. Soman followed. Both entering the long stairwell, the moved further down into the darkness.

Coming up to a set of two door, both Operators stopped. 

Mabasa spoke with a calm voice into his earpiece, "I need a pair."

Two more operators came charging down the stairway. Splitting in half each soldier entered a room with either Mabasa or Soman close on their shoulder.

The first pair fired two shots into a dark corner causing a yell of pain as the bullets hit their marks. While the second pair didn't come into contact at all. 

Soman spoke first, "Three doors, room clear."

Mabasa reported his findings, "Also three doors, room clear, Burns 1 and 2 form on me."

Several operators entered the room one by one, waiting to be instructed on what to do next.

Mabasa spoke as soon as the final two soldiers entered, "It seems our predicted diagram is incorrect."

The soldiers hesitated before nodding. York was the first to speak, "So we just have to roll with it then?"

Mabasa chuckled, "Guess we are on the same wavelength."

A nod came from everyone in the room. Mabasa smiled before walking to the next door, he paused in front of it, "Gibson, with me."

The tall African-American walked forward, "You really want me to?"

Mabasa nodded, before turning to everyone, "Listen in, we'll use tactic: frontal assault to locate the containers."

Mabasa turned back to Gibson as they changed a nod; everyone stacked up in a line and press the forward assist on their weapons. 

"Go." Mabasa gulped.

Immediately, Gibson ran straight through the door sending it flying into the next room. Charging straight through he didn't even bother to check the room; Mabasa on the other hand checked both corners before stepping out of the way. Gibson ran down the next door sending it flying, again. Another Operator did the exact same as Mabasa letting off a single shot, another enemy fell.

This continued over and over. This was the earth shattering tactic of 'frontal assault'. It was created for speed and efficiency during searches. Originally it was a joke in the barracks between Zeller and Hunt, before he went AWOL. But when Mclaw discovered it, he attempted to work with it. Perfecting it within a week he started to teach it. 

As the final man passed Mabasa, he joined on the back of the column starting the cycle again. Several enemies fell on each pass, and the GOU hadn't even taken a single casualty yet.

Suddenly, the column ground to a halt as Gibson entered a room, two soldiers stepped to the side firing several shots, causing loud bangs to echoes through the open doors. As the smoke from their barrels cleared, blood covered every surface with bodies slumped across the floor. This was a large cluster of them.

Two of the operators went around the small barricade noticing a ramp descending into the facility. Splitting into two sections the rows charged deeper into the facility.