First

Preparation H

The fact that both Alpha and Omega are trying not to get shot themselves buys Harold a bit more time as he flies up the fire escape and then forces a window open.

There is a holographic woman in there that screams in terror. Giving away his position. He immediately gets out drops a level and forced the next window down before closing it behind him. He stands to the side of the window in the false kitchen. The door opens on the other side and he points his shotgun at the door and the holographic man freezes. Harold makes a shushing motion and the man backs off.

The sound of Alpha and Omega rushing the area and climbing up behind him and after a moment he opens the window and leans out to fire directly up at them both. They both shift and dodge the buckshot of the first round before Harold blasts again and again. Alpha dives into the open window as Omega jukes to the side and Harold follows him before firing again. Omega is too mobile to easily hit and then Harold ducks back in to dodge a stream of bullets from Alpha leaning back out with his rifle ready.

He moves through the kitchen, wrenches the door open. The man shouts in shock and Harold opens doors until he finds the hallway and leaves the apartment. Rushing down the hall he quickly finds the stairs and closes it quietly behind him. He takes control of his breathing and takes his pistol out from between his teeth and works his jaw a little. He shifts his grip on the weapons. The shotgun is now primarily held in his left hand and he’ll use his right arm to support it. But he can be more precise with the pistol and...

He senses danger, movement and ducks low before charging to the side to unbalance Omega who had been sweeping to the side after tackling the door open. Without the warning he would have been gotten. With it he’s under the weapon and he fires off a shot into Omega’s stomach. It hits armour, but the danger sense tells him he’s going to get gone if he doesn’t adjust his aim and...

His next two shots slip between the plating and Omega is forced back before Harold takes a final, higher up shot and gets him in the face.

The holodeck has red panels appear around him and he sighs.

“So the Primal did give you some supernatural sense. Very interesting.” Omega notes calmly. Then the stairway that Harold is out of detonates as Alpha is still up, moving and very, very grenade happy.

Then another drops and Harold’s instincts scream. He dives into the hall and the cooked frag grenade goes off and sends deadly shards through the area. As he’s already out Omega is not in danger and the simulation treats him like he’s not there so the wall behind him gets some shards embedded into it.

He rises up and puts his back to the wall. Alpha is coming, and he has a mostly dry pistol and a half dry shotgun. He needs to get clever.

He pulls out a grenade, levers it between his foot and the wall, and pulls the pin. The grenade is primed and will go off seconds after he moves his left foot now. He then reloads the pistol and shotgun, before holstering the pistol and preparing himself. He has to make the trap look like a failed ambush.

There is a hint of something else as Alpha round the corner and Harold jumps back with a blast from his shotgun forcing Alpha low. Harold rolls and gets more distance and Alpha starts around the corner, stops and ducks back to use the wall for cover from the incendiary. Seconds later there is a sensation of danger and Harold shoots despite the thick smoke of the burnt carpet.

Harold then throws a smoke grenade and the area becomes shrouded in fog.

“Forcing me to compete with that Primal Blessing? Smart.” Alpha’s voice comes from in the hallway to the right, but there is a sensation of danger to the left Harold fires that way and then throws himself back to avoid a hail of gunfire. The left explodes. The danger was a grenade. Alpha is already playing with his senses.

Harold thinks about the sheer level of threat Alpha is and... he almost sees it. Alpha practically lights up and Harold takes a shot. Alpha tries to dodge the point blank, and nearly does. But the simulation ends and Alpha is covered in red screens.

“You saw through the smoke.” Alpha says as Herbert rushes back up.

“What happened? The blast from the grenade got me.” Herbret says.

“What happened is that your little brother’s blessing from the Primal is no joke. And he got himself enough breathing room to really start getting creative.” Omega says. “I mean really? Using your own foot as a tripwire for a grenade trap?”

“If you can control when and where the boom is then you can control where your enemy is.” Harold says evenly.

“Yes, it’s clear you both make heavy use of Axiom and... we can’t really know what your blessing counts as. Is it this Other Direction we’ve heard about?” Omega asks.

“Maybe? But it was more like... they were complimenting each other? Letting me process and properly understand the information I get with the weird eyes.” Harold says pointing to his blank white eyeballs.

“Interesting. Something to poke at.” Alpha states. “Partially breaks the test though, having supernatural elements assist in a test of pure skill.”

“Well, if it’s genetic. Something in the family or something learned, is it really a disqualifying element?” Herbert asks.

“Hmm... It needs to be tested. Holodeck! Nighttime test! Alpha and I are to be given night vision equipment. Deny it to the testies.

“The testies?”

“Yeah, delicate, in need of safe handling so they don’t get hurt...”

“You are working overtime to make me want to shoot you.” Harold says and Alpha smirks.

“Simulation begin! Nighttime assault, minimal equipment.” Alpha says and the lights go out entirely.

The men and women watching in Intelligence observe as the screen goes black and white instead.

“Any rules or restrictions?”

“Still no Axiom. This is testing the unusual eyes you have.” Alpha’s voice echoes out of the void. Both Harold and Herbert nod as they examine the area. Urban again. But in the midst of a blackout on an overcast night. Meaning the only source of light is extremely muted. Not total darkness.

“We’ll have to explain after.” Harold says as they both walk behind a car and crouch down while going over what weapons and supplies they were allowed for this round.

“Why did it give you the sniper rifle?” Herbert asks as Harold hands over the parts that Herbert starts assembling.

“And why do you have the grenade launcher?” Harold asks as he starts reaching into Herbert’s own pouches.

“Clearly, we need to have a talk with them about what kind of men we are.” Herbert notes as he slots the magazine in place.

“Evidently. I’ll flush them out.” Harold says as he’s handed an extra magazine of grenades and he then lets Herbert dig through his pockets for the extra magazines for the sniper rifle. “Try not to laugh too much.”

“We can hear you.” Omega calls out.

“And we can see you.” Harold replies before miming zipping his lips and Herbert points up to a rooftop and Harold nods.

They slip away and Herbert starts climbing upwards. Using his lighter weight to use paths that Harold simply can’t and he makes it to the fifth story up in mere moments. He then points to the right side of the building and Harold stars moving around to find the fire escape on that side. He climbs up as quietly as he can. In near total silence he reaches the top and Herbert waves him over before pointing into the distance.

They both see two small points of light searching the areas they’re in. Herbert points to the left one and Harold nods before dashing and jumping from one rooftop to another. There is a slight amount of noise as Herbert starts setting up his sniper rifle and taking position at the corner of the building. Fully intending to use the gaps between buildings as his firing lines.

And Harold intends to lead them there.

Herbert steadies his breathing and keeps things calm. Harold, Alpha and Omega are all giving out light for lack of a better term. But it’s less actual light and more... clarity? Illumination? It’s not acting like light should, but can only be light because it’s illuminating things.

Other Direction bullshit is bullshit.

“The report on this is going to be more a pain in the ass than a cactus toilet.” Herbert mutters to himself as he watches Harold grow closer to one of the points of illumination and there is the sound of an explosion. The illumination starts moving fast. All three of them do and the one he knows is Harold starts leading them their way.

They cross into the alleyway and into his line of fire. But before he can take the shot both of them clearly figure out the trap and split apart to get cover behind the buildings. Harold launches another grenade and rather than getting into the danger zone both of them split in opposite directions, forcing Harold to make a choice.

His choice is to turn and wave at Herbert. Herbert waves back and points to the left one before pointing to himself and to another rooftop nearby. Harold rushes off after the left target and Herbert picks up the rifle to strap it onto his back and slot things back into place so he can move down the fire escape as fast as he can. He races across the street, climbs up a pipe and is panting but otherwise perfectly fine as he starts setting up the rifle again. There had been two explosions as he had moved and from the higher vantage point Herbert can see where Harold and the one he was chasing was engaging in a dance as they both tried to control the movements of the other. A bit of gunfire to try and get Harold to duck one way or another, and a responding grenade to try and spook his target.

But both men clearly have nerves that would trip a metal detector and neither one wants to give the other any ground. Herbert scans around and he can see that the other source of light is quickly moving around and clearly trying to find him in a spiral search pattern.

He positions his rifle to go for the searching target. He knows Harold will be alright for now. He watches and gets into place to take a clean shot as his target is moving and begins to focus. Closer and closer until...

The target abruptly turns around and heads back the other way.

“The fuck?” Herbert notes. Then his eyes widen. He picks up the rifle and starts moving while slinging it onto his back. He jumps as hard as he can and makes it to the fire escape two levels down with a massive clang. The rifle is jostled and begins strangling him as he pulls himself up and then adjusts it to get his breath back before climbing hard.

He makes it to the rooftop and barely has time to lie down beneath the level of the rim when he hears the slightest footsteps.

Alpha and Omega aren’t just fast, vicious and efficient. They’re fucking quiet.

Herbert pokes his head up to find that Omega is the one currently prowling around the buildings like a shark that smelled blood. The sniper rifle is not meant for a range like this. He sets it down and draws a pistol. Keeping low and using the not-illumination illumination to track the soldier as he climbs up and then listening as he hears the man shuffling around the roof ever so. The tiny crunches of gravel under boot. Nothing spectacular, nothing special. Then three quick steps and Omega lands on the lip of the building.

Herbert shoots his entire magazine into the man from four meters distance. All but two bullets crash into Omega’s armour. The remaining two bullets hit the neck and side of the head. Red panels appear. Omega is down.

“Natural and very effective night vision. I’d have done horrible, horrible things for that kind of visual prowess ten years ago.” Omega notes.

“Maybe gene splicing or a retro virus can pass it?” Herbert asks as he swaps magazines on the empty pistol and racks the slide. He then holsters it again and picks up the sniper rifle. The small war between Alpha and Harold is ongoing and he would like to have his own say.

“I’m glad to see you’re picking up after the hard time the first two rounds gave you. First was unfair and the second was unlucky.” Omega notes as Herbert checks the rifle.

“Thanks. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to shoot your buddy now.”

“Go right the fuck ahead kid.” Omega says.

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