Burning Phoenix - Saga 1

(Quintiles 22, 59 / 10:50PM)

(Miles Group)

In the pitch black of the room, the only thing that lit was the reign of bullets.

The gunpowder smoke started to surround the room, with everyone’s noses being assaulted by the smell of burning superspeed metal.

The sound penetrated the entire lobby, booming through the walls and pillars near the stairs and lobby table. Their ear is bleeding as the noises that shoot out from their guns cause excruciating pain, as the four dark angels take shelter from the rain.

(Miles) Damn it Jack!

(Jack) At least I have night goggles!

(Miles) Why do you always bring us shitty luck?!

(Benn) Stop arguing!

As the safety of the strong wooden desk prevented bullets from penetrating the other side, Miles glared at Jack in the dark, his night goggles making him stand out more than he should. They didn’t dare to lift their heads.

(Random Blood Eagles Member #3) We’re rushing! We’re rushing!

In the dark lobby, Jack heard a few footsteps approaching the lobby desk, his heart increasing as the footsteps could be heard coming closer. Holding their breaths, Jack saw three to four pairs of legs from the corner of his eyes.

(Random Blood Eagles Member #3) Found you!

As Jack saw with his goggles three Blood Eagle members pointing their guns at him and the others, he quickly froze up, his arms and legs shaking as they all focused on Jack in particular. Having his bottom on the ground, putting his hands up high, he quickly started to turn pale.

(Jack’s thoughts) What should I do?! What should I do?! What should I do?! What should I—

A bluish light surrounded the four dark angels.

It wasn’t a light, but a rather defensive shield. It wasn’t a normal shield, but rather a little ball that enclosed the four of them. Jack, who realized who initiated the defensive ball, looked his head towards Miles, his hands emitting blue particles as it was pointed upwards.

(Miles) Jack, get back!

Jack crawled backward, his arms and legs moving as his breathing became less rapid and his face returned to its natural color. Retreating to the group, Miles then used both of his hands to point them toward the direction of the three Blood Eagles members.

Standing up, Miles then used his strength to push forward his two hands, droplets of sweat starting to form along the crevices of his eyelids. As his breathing somewhat intensified, the blue particles that emitted from both his hands stopped.

(Miles) Eat this!

The blue shield dome that protected the four of them started to rapidly change shape. The dome was cut in half from the back, leaving only the curved front side.

In an instant, the shield that was altered came charging onto the three blood eagle members, the force was so huge that it caused the men to be sent flying towards a nearby wall, leaving huge dents on the stone wood.

(Jack) Take their goggles!

As the blue shield was drawn back into the body of Miles, he, along with Benn and Hope, ran towards where the blood eagle's members' unconscious bodies were.

They quickly put the goggles on, tightening their straps. With the ability to see now ever more present…

(Miles) Alright, lock and load … cause we don’t have to hide anymore.

In the dark lobby, the four dark angels stood up to see a platoon of Blood Eagle members, all pointing their guns at them.

(Random Blood Eagles Member #5) Open Fire!

As the rain of bullets commenced , Miles extended his arm forward to showcase his hand to the enemies. Blue particles emitted from his hand forming a see-through wall, big enough to defend all four of them. With the bullets bouncing off the shield, it gave the other dark angels to strategize.

Benn, who wielded a heavy submachine gun on his back, looked towards the blood eagles who tried to penetrate Miles’ wall. Reaching towards his back with his right hand, he grabbed a hold of the grip of his gun, placing his left hand onto the middle of the gun.

With a slight chuckle, Benn placed his finger on the trigger, putting the gun gently to his hip to have better control of the gun. Lock and loaded, Benn pushed the trigger with a rare smile on his face.

Like no other assault rifle or light rifle, the heavy submachine gun caused disorientation amongst the blood eagles that already formed a perimeter, but when the bullets fired, many of them remained in tight cover, seeking to the back of the lobby to escape the rain of deadly bullets. Not wanting to take chances, some of the blood eagles saw the destroyed opening in the main entrance, leading them to make a run for the outside.

(Random Blood Eagle member #6) Come on, let’s go!

Escaping through the blown-up door, the blood eagles were right on the sidewalk, trying to control their breathing under their masks. As they were about to hitch a ride, they all noticed a nearby helicopter pointing a searchlight at the group.

Then came the rain of tranquilizer darts.

(Stan) Hold the gun steady Fred! Don’t let them escape!

(Fred) On it!

As the helicopter overhead managed to overrun the group, the blood eagles that were ransacked by darts started to act discombobulated, their faces bobbing up and down as their legs gave in. With all of them eventually passing out on the street, the helicopter moved in closer.

(Diego) You see any bodies, Gary?

(Gary) I can see it now! Fred! You and Luke made a pretty good weapon!

Seeing that the bodies weren’t getting up, Fred looked towards Stan, his face lighting up with a smile as Stan gave him a thumbs up.

(Stan) You did well Fred. I just hope Miles and the others are doing okay…

Meanwhile, Miles continued to hold the barrier for the barrage of bullets heading toward them, his strength slowly diminishing as his stamina started to dwindle.

(Miles) How’s it going, Benn?! Are you at least hitting them?!

(Benn) Yep!

(Jack) Half of them have been gunned down. With the nine we took out and the six that stormed out the building, I’d say there’s 15 left.

With 15 remaining blood eagles, Jack took out his long-range heavy sniper. Holstering the sniper near his head, he looked for any opening to take, his finger shaking as he caressed it with the trigger.

(Hope) Two down!

Finding a couple of blood eagles trying to rush her, Hope didn’t hesitate to fire her combat pistol, aiming at their stomach region so that they both wouldn’t die from the gunshots. Steadily aiming her pistol again, she noticed that one of the blood eagle members carried something large…

(Hope’s thoughts) Is that…

The blood eagle member on the way back carried a heavy gun, or rather it wasn’t a gun, but a weapon that a particular dark angel member loves firing.

Jack, who was too focused on trying to find any opening, had his shoulder tugged hard by Hope.

(Jack) Hey!? What are you doing!? Don’t you see I’m trying to concentrate—

Hope reached out towards Jack’s face and turned his head towards where the blood eagle with the RPG was. Seeing the blood eagle readying to fire his shot, Jack’s face turned pale as he saw with his eagle eyes the blood eagle putting his finger on the trigger.

(Jack) Oh shit!

Holstering the sniper with the help of his body, he entirely used all his focus to set up his gun for shooting. In a battle between the prepared and the unprepared, Jack barely had his finger on the trigger as he aimed at the blood eagle. Once the enemy fired his incoming rocket, Jack used his pointer finger to push the trigger, with his gun unsteady.

But the blood eagle was quicker by half a second.

But in that half a second, the bullet that Jack shot was not heading towards the blood eagle member, but …

At the shell that was coming out of the RPG.

Since the sniper round was faster, the large bullet managed to hit the shell, causing it to explode in front of the blood eagles.

The shockwave sent the rest of the blood eagles into disarray, as the shell was not only a normal RPG shell but a special one. It did not only just make half the blood eagles go unconscious…

It caused the entire group to be downed in major injuries.

The force of the explosion was so great, that it also caused the dark angels to take a step back, covering their ears with their hands as their ears pierced with the pain. Closing their eyes shut, they clenched their teeth as tinnitus pierced their ears.

Slowly opening up their eyes, they took in the sight of the rundown lobby.

(Jack) Just one rocket launcher … did all of this …

Small fires spread across the lobby, lighting the lobby with a dim light. Hearing that the upstairs fighting was still ongoing, Miles looked towards the stairs that led to the second floor.

(Miles) No time to waste here. We need to link up with the others!

With all three of them giving Miles a serious nod, the four of them headed towards the stairs, hoping to link up with the rest of the group.