The Raid

Streets: Insertion

You wandered down the streets of a Russian city. Which one, you didn't know exactly, you had been dropped off late in the night. This was a special operation your PMC had been contracted for by a mysterious client and mysterious clients were your bread and butter. You adjusted your kit; an eagle emblazoned on your shoulder and a tag hidden below your rig identified you as John Garrett. There had been a squad of you dropped off and your LZ was to be this city. You were quite literally dropped in the thick of it. Your objective was only to collect intel and move into the next zone to begin regrouping with your squad. Your team was the vanguard of this operation and recon was your specialty. Your team were experts at different parts of special operation field tactics, especially meant for being dropped off in enemy territory just like this. First though, you had to gather intel about the ways in and out of this city. After that you were tasked with leaving the city and heading for the coast. You checked your rifle, adjusting the sights and checking your ammo. With that done, you were off.

As you wandered you could hear the occasional gunshots and fire fights in the distance. This would eventually involve you, as HQ had briefed you on the quickly deteriorating situation here and it was basically a war zone. Three factions were at play here. Your team, also known as The Eagles. A suspected russian force, whose name you had yet to discover and the armed civilian population. Virtually nothing was known about either faction, again, hence your mission. Any intel gathered would be useful in future operations. You continued to slowly make your way down the street, sticking to the sidewalks and sometimes ducking into cover at the sound of nearby fire fights. You had three extra mags in your rig, so you'd have to conserve ammo as much as possible. Eventually you'd be in a firefight and it would mean everything to have those extra mags. Your mind wandered, wondering on who you could speak to, to get more info in the area. Hopefully the civilians were not easily agitated. You clinked through abandoned cars, many driven onto the sidewalks and crashed through store fronts. That's when you heard it, a clatter from behind.

You swiveled around scanning the streets, knowing that sound was most likely a gun being dropped. Suddenly everything seemed so quiet. "Show yourself!" You shouted to the empty street. Nothing showed but, you knew better than to let your guard down. You quietly stalked back up the sidewalk, checking each alleyway. Eventually you heard heavy breathing from around the corner. As you closed the distance frantic scribbling could be heard as well. You came to the corner and stacked up on it, readying your rifle. You quickly swung around the corner aiming your gun at chest height, ready to engage the threat.

A man sat stunned, holding a journal and pencil, with a Mosin sitting up against the wall. He looked startled, mouth agape, body slightly shaking. He quickly dropped the journal onto the ground, letting it splash into a puddle. He scrambled up, reaching for the rifle. Your rifle already trained on him; you stepped in closer, yelling, "Drop your hands asshole!" He stopped at that, hands outstretched, nearly on the rifle. You could almost hear his heartbeat thumping against his ribcage. He slowly lowered his hands to his side. "Do you speak English?" The man stared blankly back. Okay, so he's either too scared or that's a no, you thought. Either way, you had to decide what to do with him. Were you going to have to kill this man, protecting your own safety or were you able to leave him alone and let him be on his way. There's a good chance he was trying to shoot you when you weren't looking. He wasn't Russian military though, so he was clearly one of the armed civilians, so he could be running from those firefights. On the other hand he could have been a part of those firefights, so could you trust that he'd keep to himself? You know what HQ would want you to do, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it. He was just a civilian caught in a war zone. It's a shame Roberts wasn't here, he was the resident translator, hopefully you'd find him soon. You lowered your gun and slowly backed away. Just then you heard a loud russian voice approaching from down the alleyway. You shot the man a look and slowly backed away from him. Just as you were about to leave a man in a heavily armored kit came around the corner, looked straight at the both of you and raised his gun. He was a stocky man with shaved dirty blonde hair and a cut over one eye. He shouted something in Russian at you, his voice deep and commanding, jabbing his gun in your direction. You took this as your cue to leave, quickly dropping your gun and bolting around the corner. 

Several shots rang out moments later and a loud thump followed. You knew what that most likely meant and it was a shame it happened, but nothing could be done now. You raced down the street as fast as you could, dodging between and over debris, your gun smacking against your rig. You heard several more shots rang out and heard zips and pings around you. You quickly came up to an alleyway and practically threw yourself into it, more rounds cracking against the corner of the alley. You quickly oriented yourself and rushed through the maze of streets and alleyways. 

After a while you slowed down again, not hearing any footsteps or yelling any longer. Most importantly the gunshots had stopped, well the ones aimed at you at least. Distant gunshots could still be heard, but they were winding down, having become less frequent as time went on. As you emerged from an alleyway back onto the street you could see the edge of the city a few blocks away, the city slowly falling away to the suburbs. That was your way out of here and with that man on your tail, who was most likely part of the Russian crew you were warned about, it was best to get out of dodge. You quickly gathered yourself and headed out into the neighborhoods.