Operation: healing arrow

3 months later

Apollo's pov
        We were all standing in a massive circle, everyone that had taken part in missions against the outbreak was here. We had a perimeter set around the city so we finally had a chance to take a break, I looked at Harry as he spoke "we need to decide a new strategy to retake the city, any suggestions?" I heard someone say "nuke it and call it a day" I commented "it's not an option" the base commander added on "we have no way of knowing how many civilians are still in the city, not to mention we don't know how radiation would affect the virus. Finally, good luck getting a launch cleared" one of the national guard privates replied "why not just napalm the city?" I scoffed as Mina asked "are they serious?" I looked to my left and nodded. Harry sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose before he said "We are not destroying the city, if you have any suggestions that do not have to do with leveling the city let's hear them" Erik asked "how's Doc's antidote coming along?" Harry answered "Slowly, we're still doing tests but we need a live subject to truly find out what it does to an infected person"
I lifted my hand "we can get you one" I heard the base commander start "no-" as I cut him off "trying to prolong this situation?" He paused "uh no, not at all" as Jack said "then let us get the subject so our medic can find a way to stop this" I heard Harry "we'll have a holding cell ready for your return" I nodded as my team wordlessly worked our way out of the crowd before I looked at Mina "when can your bird be ready to fly?" She replied "with preflight checks? 15 minutes" I nodded and said "we'll be ready" as she peeled off and started jogging towards her helicopter while we ran to our tents and started gathering our gear. 16 minutes later we were walking on the field, I heard Doc "Everyone, wait!" We all stopped and turned to see the friendly Frenchman running toward us, he spoke excitedly "I heard you're going to get a live specimen for me" we nodded confused as he said "Here, take these. I made them just incase. It's like a straight jacket but their spines can't punch through the material."
      I took the jackets and tucked them into my back pocket before saying "Mercí, we'll bring you a couple" he smiled before saying "I'll be able to save so many lives with this" we nodded as I heard Mina from the door of the helicopter "Let's go!" As I turned and jogged to the door. I climbed up and followed her to the cockpit "come on beautiful, we gotta make this quick" she looked over her shoulder and said "im gonna set up for a rappel in on Grand Hope Park, after that it's up to you lover boy" I chuckled and said "dangerous, I like it" she laughed and replied "I've looked it over, I can land there" I asked "you sure?" As she nodded "just trust me" I stood up "I already do" I turned around and said "this will be a quick mission, we get inserted. Grab the grunt, get em in the jacket get back to the LZ and then back to fort Irwin." Jack asked "anyone been paying attention to what's happening up north?" Ela said "I heard the police are having a rough time with the infected" Sanaa replied simply "they will handle it"
Craig commented "if they can't handle that we can always send those National Guard Blowhard COs to go give they're amazing plans and save the day" I replied growing tired of the conversation "enough, they're doing their part. No one was ready for this, we expected a couple weeks to prepare. We got about 3 days." They all looked around before I heard Mina on comms "If you look out to the left you can see Jäger on his way back from picking up the SEALs" I looked out the window and commented "they look tore up, Jager's got some pretty bad dents and tears on his bird" Mina replied "I just got warned that friendly forces have spotted one of the big ones" I sighed and said "I read some reports and it seems the big ones have the habit of throwing shit" Sebastien commented "mostly cars, they really like to throw cars" I looked back over my shoulder in shock as Ela asked "cars?" He nodded "The only time Jäger got taken down was when one of the bruisers threw a car at his helicopter and took it down" Jack replied "don't bring it up, he's pretty touchy about it"
     I heard Mina "We're on the x in 3" as we all started double checking our gear, I grabbed my sr16 and double checked it before I pulled the door open and looked around seeing National Guard teams alongside police teams conducting missions to try to regain control over LA. I looked further up the street and saw the park as I gripped the rappel rope hooking it up. I heard Mina once more "on the x in 1 mike" I shrugged and heard Craig "think we make it out of this?" I shrugged and said "maybe" until I heard Mina yell "oh shit!" And then the helicopter lurched. I got thrown back and around the area before hitting the roof and then dropping back to the ground as the helicopter impacted. I coughed as I slowly pushed myself up before I pulled my leg and felt it not move but the pressure on my calf grew. I called out "everyone okay?" I got "I'm up" from Blackbeard, Buck and Pulse. Ela and Nomad commented "battered but up" I heard Pulse say "Disciple you good?" I replied gritting my teeth "I think my leg is pinned, I can't see"
      Blackbeard and Pulse came over as Ela moved past us and went to check on Thunderbird, pulse pulled out a flashlight as I said "Nomad, Buck, cover the entrances." As pulse turned on the flashlight and illuminated the dust filled air, he looked at me as Blackbeard waved his hand through the air and cleared it before I heard Pulse "well the good news is, it doesn't look like the legs broken. The bad news is, the seats have crushed around your leg so well have to cut it out." I said simply "do it" as Ela called "Thunderbird is unconscious, but she's okay." I sighed in relief as pulse looked through the boxes for the steel saw. I heard Buck "we've got some movement through the buildings" I looked at Pulse "you've gotta hurry" he replied hurriedly "I know, I know!" I saw Ela pull Thunderbird into the cargo hold and then she grabbed her scorpion and crouched next to her setting up a second line of security as pulse stood with the saw and said "alright, getting busy" as he pulled the cord and the motor sputtered before falling silent.
       He pulled the cord 3 more times before it fell silent and he cursed as Blackbeard said "check the choke" pulse leaned forward and pressed the choke before yanking the cord causing the engine to turn over and the saw blade started turning. I heard the screams of the grunts as buck sighed into the net before saying "couldn't just be an easy snatch and grand, nope gotta be this shit" as pulse started cutting the metal seat frame. I covered my ears at the high pitched screaming was heard and the sparks bounced off the floor next to me, I winced as a few landed on my exposed skin before I heard Nomad's AK-74 fire and then the familiar bark of Buck's C8 was heard. I felt the weight on my leg shift before the saw stopped whirring and pulse ordered "I'm gonna pick up this end of the frame you pull him out" Blackbeard nodded and grabbed my pant leg "ready" as pulse counted "3, 2, 1" before lifting as I felt my leg get pulled free and the pressure disappeared. I grabbed my sr-16 and ordered "go help defend the helicopter I'll just slow you down. I'll try to get reinforcements" the 2 nodded as Blackbeard gripped the heat guard of his MK17 and Pulse grabbed his UMP and headed out the side door and back ramp.
I pulled my radio and hit squelch "Baseplate, this is Disciple, how copy?" I heard Exavier replied "Disciple, this is baseplate, good copy. send traffic" I spoke simply "our bird is down, we're under attack by an unknown number of infected. I'm requesting an immediate extraction, over" I got back a simple "I'm afraid we can't do that, Orders from higher up the chain has our hands tied. We can't send any more troops into the city. You've got 15 minutes to get out of the city" I radioed back "baseplate, what's happening in 15 minutes?" He didn't reply. I swore "Fuck!" As I tried standing feeling my leg shake but support my weight. I shuffled to the door and looked out before radioing "We've got to move, where's the nearest Decon point?" I heard Blackbeard"12 blocks north east." I looked at Pulse and said "Jack, grab Mina. I'd do it but I can't support both of us" he looked shock at the use of his name before coming in past me.
Nomad asked "why do we need to move? What about reinforcements?" I replied "the board has ordered a cease to all infiltration of friendly forces into the city. I couldn't get a reason why but our time frame is 15 minutes, let's go" pulse spoke from behind me "I got her" as I ordered "Blackbeard you're on point. Nomad, you've got 6. Lead the way" as I hobbled out firing my rifle at any grunts as we started moving. 13 minutes later, we were nearing the Decon poin with a horde behind us until one of the bruisers busted through the building infront of us, I groaned as I heard Ela "We have to keep going, we're less than a minute before our timeframe expires!" I yelled "go! Keep going!" As we rushed through the gate until I radioed "Baseplate, what the hell is going on? Why didn't we have a qrf? Why the time frame?!" Exavier replied "A russian nuke was lost in the wild, we have reports of Masks being spotted in the city carrying a crate matching the description of the lost russi-" the radio cut out as a massive flash appeared behind us and we spun just to see the mushroom cloud starting to rise before everything went black.
Harry's pov
I looked at the base commander and said "you should've told me earlier" he replied "I couldn't confirm it, we were just going on reports with no hard evidence" I sighed and angrily replied "6 of my operators, SIX OF THEM, have just been vaporized because you didn't tell me. You better hope the rest of them don't learn about your knowledge, because I will not stop them" he shivered as I walked inside and got on the phone "Mr. president, we have a confirmed nuclear detonation in LA." He asked "how many did we lose?" I replied "7 teams were active in the city and surrounding areas at the time of the detonations." He spoke sternly "give me a number" I replied with a lump in my throat "about 42, not counting the infected civilians we could've treated." He replied "keep the public out of the area, I'll start making a statement. That is all, have a good day director" I replied stoic "you as well sir" as I walked out to inform the team of our losses.