Chapter 99: Hunter Hunted.
"Overwatch to all call signs I'm in my attack position and have eyes on the target, no signs of movement all remaining tangos must be inside, over," Fuller said into his comms unit as he lay on the metal support of an old billboard bolted onto the side of an old ruined highway overlooking the old scrapyard the ESF had converted into a base.
It felt kinda strange being back here now, they'd been watching the place for a day to try and gauge what was going on with them, but other than seeing them bringing in an unidentified prisoner who had a bag over their head and was trussed up and then leaving with what must have been one of the Numbers or taking an extra squadmate with them not much had been happening.
Wisp had finally decided enough was enough and they'd decided to execute their attack plan, she'd opted to hit the bae while the majority of the team was out and about so that they would meet minimal resistance while destroying their hardware such as their primary comms and the vertibird along with all the gear they'd brought with them from home.
Fuller knew that ESF teams were trained and capable of operating in the field away from home base without support for months if not years at a time if need be but cutting off their supply line and comms would put them royally on the back foot, it would also send them a message loud and clear, one that said 'We know and we don't care.'
In the position he was in now, Fuller couldn't see that far side of the base where the main building was too clearly but then again he didn't seed to, it was his job to hit both the comms unit in the form of the satalite dish mounted above the vertibird on a long pylon and the vertibird itself by hitting the fuel tanks and detonating them with the special explosive tipped rounds he'd gotten hold of, the plan was to punch a few holes in the armoured fuel tank with some regular AP rounds and then to hit the leaking fuel with a popper top to make the whole thing go up.
Once the vertibird went up this would most likely set the whole place on fire and force the remaining troopers and hopefully the numbers out into the open, they would then get hammered with fire from the others who were all set up in overlapping arcs around the only gate leading in and out of the compound, he knew that as soon as the fire opened up they would try and take cover in one of a few spots around the mostly open front end of the base, so he'd planned accordingly and had Malakai set some web traps on them, so if anyone dove for cover they'd find themselves web snared and easy pickings for both the shooters and the two armoured Claws waiting in the wings to pounce if need be.
"Roger that overwatch we're all set down here no point waiting any longer so on your mark let's get this party started ambush one over and out," Wisp's reply came in clear.
Fuller started taking deep breaths and holding them before exhaling slowly, he raised his scope to his eye and zeroed in on the mounting holding up the dish and then with a slight additional pressure to his trigger fired.
The dish went crashing down onto the roof of the vertibird as the mountings blew apart as the ultra-high velocity slug hit it with enough force to turn the tungsten into liquid and burnt clean through the cheap steel of the pylon.
Next up was the vertibird and quick as a flash he adjusted his aim never breaking his breathing cycle as he began to fire slug after slug into the tank housing, thanks to the armour the slugs managed to punch the tank without setting off the fuel but the popper top did the job nicely sending the whole lot up with a loud whoosh that he even heard from as far away as he was.
The explosion was glorious, when the liquid gold flames travelled up the river of fuel pouring from the ruptured tank and into a large rounded pod under the vertibird the whole thing exploded with enough force to lift the bird about ten meters into the air before crashing back down in a flaming mangled wreck.
It also had the bonus effect of setting the main base on fire as well as everything else in the compound.
It didn't take long for the ESF to respond and two power armoured figures raced out of the main building which was now a blazing inferno thanks to the aviation fuel which had gone up right next to it.
No sooner had they emerged into the open than the team watching the gates opened up on them from four directions at once, three human shooters and one Arachnakai who was hanging off another billboard giving him a decent elevation.
As predicted as the rounds began to hammer their armour making it ring like a continually struck bell the pair of soldiers dived for cover to either side of the front gate and dove head first into Malakai's near invisible web traps which sprung the second they came into contact with them.
Even with power armour-enhanced strength, the pair couldn't break free of the tightly wound sticky threads which gummed them up as they tried to struggle against it, leaving them defenceless for Ven and Passa to lea into action and to close in from either side using their claws to easily pierce the chest plate of each soldier putting them down for good.
As he watched the two claws take out his former comrades in arms Fuller did feel a pang of guilt in his heart but he swiftly silenced it with the knowledge that at least their deaths were quick, far more of a courtesy than they would have afforded him if they'd have caught wind of his continued life.
All that was left now was to deal with the two numbers but as of yet, the pair had failed to emerge despite the building being a raging inferno.
"Overwatch any sign of Eight or Nine over?" Wisp's voice cut through the howling of the flames.
"Negative no sign, I'd use thermal but the fire is so hot it's shutting down my optics no sight, so they're either still in there in which case they have burned to death or we've missed them somehow, over," Fuller said sounding as confused as he felt, he was sure he hadn't missed them as the team had only been and gone once since he'd been here, once to bring in the prisoner they were holding though who that was he didn't know he knew it wasn't Glory thankfully thanks to the size of the person but he did feel sorry for whoever it was because when they'd left he'd seen them bring out a pile of plasma goo to be thrown into a pit in the back so they'd not fared well whoever it was.
That's when it clicked, the extra member!
"Overwatch to Ambush I believe we've missed at least one of them, there were two guards, when they left earlier they had an extra member with them I think that was one of the Numbers in power armour, so at most there's only one of them left here over," Fuller said.
"Roger well all we can do is wait for the fire to burn down and then take a look, I'm not sending anyone into that inferno on the off chance unless they're a pyro I doubt they are going to feel well in there and even a pyro needs to breathe, over and out," Wisp said.
Well, that was that then, the plan now was to wait.
As fuller watched the heat from the fire set off a few smaller secondary explosions within the building itself as gas canisters and various other flammable objects went off but after an hour or two the place had basically burned down to nothing more than a warped metal shell that stood holding nothing but crackling and popping embers.
