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“Alright kiddos,” Sooyoung grinned wickedly as she ducked behind the shop’s wide countertop. “Show me how the Wolf Pack does it.” 

Hyejoo liked to think that this was the Commander’s preferred state; smack dab in the middle of a fight. 

Even when there were bullets flying over their heads and the occasional boom of a grenade, Sooyoung remained unbothered, easily returning covering fire without a flinch. If Hyejoo squinted, she could probably see the upwards curl of the Commander’s lip through the smokey air. An indication that the soldier was enjoying herself despite the stressful scenario. There was a flash of white as the Commander bared her teeth, the muzzle of her rifle kicking back as she took down a small unit in less than 10 seconds. 

(Hyejoo blinked. She wondered briefly if she was staring at a mirror. Or a picture of her future self.) 

“What’re we dealing with?” 

At their Commander’s question, Hyejoo looked over at Chaewon. The girl’s place of cover was higher than the rest of theirs, giving her an optimal view of the field. It played out rather effectively, Chaewon was their scout after all. Girl had some sort of superior vision. 

(“Unlike some of you HAGS.” Chaewon once bravely said during their field exercise before promptly running away.) 

The girl’s lean frame allowed her to peek out of her cover without the enemy noticing. Her eyes scanned the ‘battlefield’ in a long and measured sweep. Hyejoo had seen it enough times to know that she was calculating every inch of the enemy detail, noting their strengths and weaknesses and how to poke a prodding hole in their defenses. 

Chaewon’s response came out precise and mechanical, like a well-tuned scanner bot. Except better.  

“Clusters of soldiers by the main courtyard. A flanking maneuver seems effective. Or just lob a few inferno grenades.” 

Hyunjin perked up at that. Her canines flashed in a sharp grin as she held up her belt of inferno grenades in question. How convenient. 

“There’s a trio up on the catwalk above the opposite end of the courtyard. Support rails are rusty. Quick snipe or a blast to the beams; either works.” Chaewon squinted for a second, “We might be out of their range… and I think one of them’s a sniper…” 

Sooyoung had a growing smirk on her face. She was already impressed with the strategy. If they could carry them out then she’d be blown away. 

“Wait,” Chaewon squinted again, her eyes focused on something before traveling to each Cerberus soldier. Her eyes widened in realization, she turned back to her team, “The officer in command isn’t on the field. Back-up is on the way, most likely.” 

Sooyoung bit her lip, contemplating their next action. “Damn, that means we should move quickly before they come back with their reserves.” 

The Commander turned to them, “Alright, in your formations. I’ll be your cover fire.” Her eyes turned to Hyejoo, giving a nod before she reloaded her rifle. 

Hyejoo swallowed, her adrenaline was already kicking in. She looked at her team, her eager eyes reflected back in theirs. Her mind jumped at the strategies filling her mind. A few seconds passed before she gave out orders. 

“Hyunjin and I will be heavy hitters. We’ll draw the majority of the fire. Yeojin, stick with us. You’re our support.” Hyejoo turned towards her three remaining teammates. “Chaewon, Yerim; flank around the courtyard and take out the catwalk trio. We can’t risk a chance of a sniper or not, especially if we’re trying to get to Commander Jung safely. Heejin; I saw a roof access earlier, take your position there. Move up with us as more vantage points open up.” The Wolf Pack leader looked at each member before asking, “Everybody clear?” 

The team nodded and chorused their agreement to the plan. Sooyoung stayed quiet as she watched the whole thing play out. By the end of the mini-brief, her smile had grown bigger. 

Hyejoo turned back to her Commander when she wrapped up the plan. Sooyoung nodded in an approving manner, rested the back of her rifle against her shoulder and said, “I’ll cover Heejin. Whenever you’re all ready.” 

The team began splitting up into their assigned roles. Hyunjin called out a “catch” as she tossed something towards Yerim, who caught it effortlessly and pocketed the object in her ammo pouch. 

Hyunjin was by Hyejoo’s side, Yeojin waiting a few feet behind them. Heejin and Sooyoung had already climbed up the roof access. Chaewon and Yerim waited by the side entrance, poised to move out the moment the heavy hitters started… well, hitting. 

Hyunjin gave Hyejoo a smirk as she held her heavy assault rifle in both hands. “Let’s raise some dough.” 

Hyejoo groaned and shoved her shoulder, “Stop it with your bread puns… that’s not even the right expression. It’s ‘let’s raise some hell.’” 

Hyunjin laughed in response as they jumped the shop’s countertop with their guns blazing. She knew that but annoying Hyejoo was always fun. 

Yeojin rolled her eyes in jest, “So dramatic, these two.” Nonetheless, she copied their jump. 

As the two heavy hitters did their job, Yeojin stayed within range of them. She took care of their shield boosters and took down any Cerberus soldiers who managed to get too close or get behind them. 

Chaewon and Yerim snuck around the courtyard as everybody was drawn into the middle of the ruckus. Using the courtyard’s plentiful obstructions, they effectively stayed out of anyone’s sight. Once the two made it under the catwalk, Chaewon nudged Yerim, “Use the stickies.” 

Yerim pulled out the item Hyunjin had tossed her. Sticky grenades. She clicked the small orbs before throwing them at the walkway’s support beams. They stuck onto the rusty metal and blinked red. 

Chaewon and Yerim backtracked quickly, just making it out of the blast radius before it went KA-BOOM! 

They coughed as the metal platform collapsed with a creaking groan, kicking up clouds of dust and smoke in its wake. 

The deafening crack of sniper shots rang out even in the midst of the mini dust storm. 

The Alliance soldiers ducked under countless years of military training; it was practically a reflex by now. They stayed close to the ground or hid behind cover. The smoke was beginning to clear up but visibility was still low. 

Once the plaza courtyard was clear, it revealed the small number of Cerberus soldiers left. Only about a unit and a half remained. 

“ARROW!” The Commander’s voice filled the entire plaza all of a sudden. “DIPLO FORMATION MERGE!” 

The Wolf Pack filed into the formation as soon as the order kicked in. On one end of the courtyard stood Sooyoung, Heejin, Yeojin, Hyunjin, and Hyejoo. On the other end was Chaewon and Yerim. At her command, the two units met in the middle and formed an inverted v-line. Like an arrowhead, hence the name. 

“Advance!” 

The Alliance unit moved forward as their guns fired upon the Cerberus group. The enemy tried their best to defend themselves, backing up towards the bridge as they did so. Most of them went down, those that remained had physical shields equipped. 

By now, Sooyoung and the Wolf Pack had what was left of the Cerberus unit on the bridge. But they couldn’t take them down. The physical shields were effective in deflecting or absorbing their thermal bullets. 

After a few moments of useless firing, the doors of the building busted open with a slam! Like someone had kicked them open. 

Haseul led Vivi, Jinsoul, Jungeun, and Jiwoo in a similar arrow formation. They had effectively trapped the lone Cerberus unit in the middle of the bridge; their pincer attack had worked! Haseul’s team was able to quickly eliminate the remaining Cerberus stragglers, due to their exposed defence at the rear. 

The Captain kept her guard up for a minute longer, checking if the enemy was truly out of the fight before lowering her rifle. The rest of the squad lowered their weapons as they regrouped. 

With a playful smirk on her face, Sooyoung approached Jinsoul and Haseul. “Glad to see your faces are still ok.” Both of them chuckled at her remark. 

“Everyone accounted for?” 

Haseul’s eyes swept the area as she did a mental headcount of the squad. An “aye” came from Sooyoung. Now that that was settled, the Captain turned to Jinsoul. 

The Commander already knew what was coming. The reminder at her back weighed heavy on her mind, the grotesque images of the horrid experiment surfaced briefly before her mind sealed it away. 

“Quarantine?” 

Jinsoul nodded at her Captain’s question. A somber hush fell over the team as the Commander pulled out her Omni-tool to project the pictures she took of Cerberus’s experiments. The two Lieutenants looked away with a slight grimace. The recruits though, despite being warned beforehand, were shocked at the explicit images. 

Sooyoung stewed silently, the anger was raw and apparent on her features. 

Haseul sighed in a resigned manner. The Captain pulled up her own Omni-tool to radio the LOONA, “Mission objective complete. I need an extraction stat; Quarantine Level 03, raw Element Zero radiation and exposure, Cerberus affiliated. Sending coordinates Alpha 2XX, Vector 5XX.” 

A pause of silence went on before the ship’s Comms-Specialist’s voice filled their comms, “Roger that Captain. An extraction and quarantine team is promptly on the way.” 

Haseul turned to her squad. The two Commanders flanked her side. “Good job, team. Despite the grim discovery of Cerberus’s activities here, we’ve completed our mission objectives.” 

“Yeah, I’m impressed with what all of you have shown today.” Sooyoung added on. Her eyes lingered a little longer on the Wolf Pack as she finished her comment. “Keep up the good work.” 

Haseul nodded in agreement. She turned to Jinsoul to see if the blonde wanted to add anything else. The Commander met her gaze with a gentle shake of her head. 

“Ok team, we’ll return to the ship once the Alliance units arrive.” 

/