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Chapter Text

Mother of Conspiracies

Rating: T

NOTE:

All characters/events are under the copyright of their respective holders/distributors. All other characters are under my jurisdiction.

Summary:

Stopping a false flag op in Britain planned by a rogue government official was the starting point of a major worldwide operation that would lead to an international conspiracy. AU of most of series/franchises, starts in the middle of the The Veteran (2011) movie.

"True heroism lies in the sacrifices made behind the scenes, away from the limelight"

Two teenagers of East Asian origin were loitering along a stretch of road somewhere in Walworth with nothing but townhouses and parked vehicles next to the sidewalk in the early afternoon. Both wore jeans and rubber shoes, although they only differ in their shirt/jackets. The black-haired teen with glasses wore a simple plain white shirt with a black windbreaker on, hood worn over his head. The brown-haired teen had a gray pullover hoodie that had the words I LOVE LONDON on it.

["Hey Nine."] The brown-haired teen said in Japanese when he leaned next to a 1997 Solid White Proton Mpi sedan parked next to the sidewalk.

["What is it, Twelve?"] The black-haired teen replied in the same language as he peered through a small black monocular to check the street for anything or anyone suspicious.

["Our friend reported in with the bugs that we planted at Home Secretary Gerry Langdon's office, home and car. Turns out we got some juicy information on him and his links to the Rising Peace Academy."]

["Any specifics?"]

["Turns out that Secretary Langdon's one of the many foreign backers of the Rising Peace Academy. Not sure on the extent, but he's one of the few guys in the UK who helped the RPA work with Savant specialists back in the day."]

["Looks like we hit the jackpot then."]

["There's even more."]

Nine turned his head to face Twelve, who had a wicked grin on his face.

["Turns out that he's got the services of an ex-Para in the British Army on surveillance to ensure false flag attacks go through. He did say that he's the key to make Langdon's faction go down the toilet."]

["Well..."] Nine spotted someone who just appeared on the road after he crossed through the chain link fence. ["Hey. Do you have a photo of the guy?"]

["Yeah."] Twelve got a colored photo of a man in his early 30s from his wallet. ["Here's a head shot of him."]

Nine took a quick look at the man's face. Caucasian man with brown hair in a crew cut with a green shirt. ["That's our man. Robert Miller."]

He gave the photo back to Twelve and scoped the bearded man who was seen just standing near the sidewalk just a few meters from him. What the hell is he doing?

Nine looked at the monocular again and studied the man's face. Remove the beard and all and that's Miller. But what's he gotten himself to?

["We better move..."] Twelve pointed to the speeding blue 2014 Volkswagen Transporter T5 panel van, approaching the standing man.

["No doubt that's Miller. Run for it."] Nine told Twelve when he made a running start first before Twelve would follow. It was only a miracle that they stood a few meters from the spot where the van appeared, so it was a short run.

The duo ran towards the van as two men jumped out after the sliding door was opened to grab the bearded man from the back. They wore different types of jacket, but appear to have jeans and black tactical boots.

Twelve was the first to make a move, taking out a Strider SMF NSN folding knife from the pocket of his jeans. Ensuring a tight and firm grip on the folding knife's frame with his right hand, the 4" blade popped out after he quickly used his thumb to depress the thumb stud.

"Shit! We got company!" One of the suspicious men who tried to accost the bearded man from the back brought his right hand into his black jacket and grab the pistol from the shoulder holster.

"Eiyah!" Twelve stabbed the short red-haired man in the neck, followed by several stabs to the chest.

"Gurh..." The armed man wasn't able to put up a fight since he received a serious stab wound at the neck. He began to choke on his own blood.

Nine reached for the other man, who had a brown bomber jacket and messy brown hair. The teen used his left hand went for the knife sheath strapped on the rear of his pants, which was concealed by the windbreaker worn over it.

"Fuc..." The brown-haired man had barely taken his pistol from his IWB holster when Nine drew out his Extrema Ratio Glauca B1 folding knife, the blade already extended. In one quick motion, he went for the man's throat as well.

The move quick short work of the man as clutched his slashed throat, being shocked that someone like Nine could easily get the drop on him.

The bearded man went for the dropped pistol, which was a SIG Sauer P226R, and took aim at the van's driver. He fired three shots through the front passenger door window, killing him after he got shot in the left temple, making him slump to his right thanks to the seat belt he wore. The other two shots simply went for his body.

"Bloody hell..." The bearded man sighed and checked the P226R's magazine and saw that he's fired three shots. He then saw Nine and Twelve check the bodies of the dead men for anything of value. They only got identification and money taken from the wallets of the dead men, confirming them to be officially working under the Joint Intelligence Service. The most significant person IDed by the duo is Chris Turner, who was formerly based from MI-5, according to the bio data the duo covertly obtained.

["You're good, Twelve?"] Nine grabbed the dead man's handkerchief and used it to clean the blood off from his folding knife before he handed it to Twelve.

Twelve nodded when he got the handkerchief.

"All right you two!" The bearded man slowly raised his pistol at the two. "Just who are you and what the bloody hell is going on? How are you related to these guys?"

"Easy, Robert Miller." Nine calmly replied after his knife was placed back in the sheath. He raised his hands up to prove that he's not a hostile.

Twelve kept his grip on his folding knife when Nine glanced at him from over his left shoulder and shook his head, warning him not to do anything stupid.

"How do you know my name?" Robert was more suspicious of Nine knowing his name, still having the pistol trained on his head.

"I'm not here to hurt you." Nine explained his position while keeping his hands up. "In fact, my friends and I are here to help you out of your current predicament."

"Friends?" Robert raised an eyebrow.

"Let's just say that we have a mutual interest to gain by going after Home Secretary Langdon's faction, which you partially took care of by going after the big fish himself when we're suppose to go after him."

"You mean there's a bigger conspiracy than his faction trying to use false flags operations based on the attacks in mainland Europe by ISIL?" Robert questioned Nine, but this time with his sidearm lowered since he realized that Nine and Twelve aren't hostile.

"Yes. It seems that they want to make 2017 go down in history with a bang for November. Come with me. We'll fill in the rest of the details." Twelve checked the van interior and secured another P226R from Turner's shoulder holster and an Apple Iphone 7 smartphone.

"Besides, we got friends out there who's taking care of someone you know."

Another blue 2014 Volkswagen Transporter T5 panel van was seen parked somewhere inside an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Rodmill Lane around Brixton Hill. Three men were inside, all armed with P226R pistols holstered in shoulder/IWB holsters and wore various clothes and footwear.

"Any word from Turner guys?" One of the armed men standing watch near the warehouse's metal gates looked outside for anything suspicious. He wore a bomber jacket, brown pants and sneakers. He had shot brown hair.

"None at all. Said that he'd call once he's able to get Miller into custody." The second man replied, who had a worn brown leather jacket, green cargo pants and black combat boots. His blond hair was in a buzz cut.

"Wonder what's taking him so long? It's not like that one ex-para can take on a crew..."

The two suddenly heard a loud noise coming from outside.

Like someone threw something hard at the gates.

"Who the hell is doing that?"

"I dunno. Better have that checked."

The brown-haired man was the first person to immediately draw out his sidearm and peeked from the corner of the glass window to check and see if anyone was throwing something.

This earned the man a shot to the forehead. The sound of a bullet piercing the window made the second man rattled as he ducked for cover behind a stack of crates. The window was completely smashed up when a mix of smoke and stun grenades were hurled inside.

"Oy! What's going on?!"

Before the van's driver could get out, the grenades detonated after they were hurled inside. The warehouse was engulfed by bright flashing lights and gray smoke. This distraction allowed a couple of persons to climb through the broken window.

The intruders were dressed in Gun Metal Grey Rothco Special Ops Tactical Soft Shell jackets, Foliage Green Emerson Gen 2 Tactical pants, black tac gloves, pistol leg holsters and boots. Their faces were concealed with black facemasks to cover their mouths and noses. Only one of them wore a black Ford Police Interceptors baseball cap.

The person wearing the ballcap has a Black ANA M2 Plate Carrier vest worn over his chest while the other one in the facemask wore a Black Flyye Industries LT6094 plate carrier vest, outfitted with the appropriate pouches for magazines, grenades, radios, utilities, drop pouches and smartphones.

They only differed in the small arms that they had, slung on their right shoulders. Brass catchers were installed to ensure no used ammo brass is left behind.

The person in the ballcap was armed with a Desert Design & Development D3-45SD pistol-type carbine in a black finish, outfitted with quad-rails, a Magpul MOE buttstock and a vertical foregrip with attached taclight with an EOTech Holographic Hybrid Gen. III holographic sight is attached on the upper receiver.

The other person was armed with a LWRC International IC-A5 assault rifle with a 10" barrel in a black finish. It's outfitted with an Aimpoint CompM4S red dot scope and a vertical foregrip with attached taclight.

"We got company!" The second man tried to aim and fire, but the smoke and the light messed up his vision (in the sense that he can't see well) that his shots didn't hit anyone, except the wall near the gate. He stumbled away from the crates in an effort to get a better shot.

"What a waste of ammo..." The cap-wearing person sighed before he wasted the blinded man by firing the D3-45SD carbine at him at three round burst mode. "Mukuro, go check on the van! The VIP may be there."

"Understood, Dagger." Mukuro Ikusaba moved in towards the van, her IC-A5 assault rifle shouldered while on the move. An ordinary person couldn't tell that she was a woman because the plate carrier covered her chest and her hair was cut very short that she can mistaken for a guy.

The driver came out when the noise subsided, his P226R aimed at Mukuro's masked face. She noted that he had a gray hoodie pull through jacket, jeans and hiking shoes.

"Drop it!" Mukuro shouldered the IC-A5 assault rifle and aimed it at the hooded man, the CompM4S red dot scope focused on his unprotected chest. "Drop it now!"

"Piss off, you wench...!" The man decided that he didn't have anything to lose by shooting her instead off complying.

"You snooze..." Mukuro fired her weapon at the armed man in semi-auto mode before he can completely pull the trigger. He went down, his back slamming against the van's sliding door before his corpse crumpled onto the ground. "you loose."

"Secure the van! I'll keep watch!" Dagger began to search the bodies for anything of value.

"Got it!" Mukuro made sure the sling of her weapon was secured before she opened the panel van's sliding door. Inside was a woman who was tied up, her arms behind her back, with plasticuffs. Her head was also covered with a black hood. Otherwise, she was dressed in a white shirt with a blue windbreaker, jeans and brown loafers.

Is this her? Mukuro went for a pouch in her vest, taking a colored photo of a slightly brown-skinned woman with long black hair, most likely taken from a surveillance photo somewhere in London. Only one way to find out.

Mukuro got inside the van and gently moved the tied up woman so that she can see her wrists. The masked woman kept the photo back in her pouch and drew out a Glock 81 Survival Knife with a black handle from the sheath strapped on her pants. "If you can hear me, I need you to hold still. I'll be cutting the restraints."

The Glock-made knife had the blade's sharp saw teeth cut through the plasticuffs. Mukuro took them off before she gripped the hood and removed it from her head.

"How is she?" Dagger checked the IDs of the dead men and secured them alongside whatever cash they have before their pistols were dismantled by removing the slides and magazines. Damn. These guys are from the newly founded JIS.

"Shaken, but she's okay!" Mukoro replied as she spoke to the woman. "Are you Alayna Wallace?"

The black-haired woman nodded.

"Okay. My partner and I are here to get you out of here. Can you stand?" Mukuro extended her right hand to her.

"I think so. They kept me seated for a day now after I tried to leave London." Alayna slowly tried to stand up, her legs almost giving out due to being forced to sit down by squatting before she was brought to Rodmill Lane.

"Don't rush it. Just take it slowly." Mukuro helped the woman get out of the van, taking to consideration that she was almost physically and mentally drained.

"Hey. I was able to get everything we needed." Dagger had just finished collecting the JIS IDs when he approached Mukuro. "Looks like these guys are from the JIS. No mistake, according to their IDs."

"But what's their endgame?" Mukuro questioned her partner after she finished guiding Alayna out of the van.

"They..." Alayna tried to explain the situation. "They wish to take advantage of the terror incidents perpetrated by the Islamic State in Europe to create chaos in the UK and in Ireland in order to justify more counter-terrorism funding as the first step and make them the scapegoat."

"They? Is this part of some kind of master plan?"

"I heard Secretary Langdon talk to someone over the phone a few days ago..." Alayna was a bit worried when she explained. "Something about a major operation going on here in the UK and in Japan, from what I remember."

"Damn..." Dagger muttered. "Just like the intel we got after we arrived in Britain."

"Yeah. We'll need to move." Mukuro escorted Alayna out of the warehouse while Dagger led the way.

"By the way," Dagger turned his head over his right shoulder to face Mukuro. "nice shooting back there."

"It was nothing."

Robert, Nine and Twelve were inside a 2015 Universal Silver Nissan X-Trail SUV heading towards an unknown destination somewhere in London, currently driving on Lambeth Road. Nine was the one in charge of driving with Twelve in the front passenger seat. Robert opted to sit at the back, behind Twelve.

For the past hour or so, the two Japanese teens explained to Robert why they were in Japan and the story behind their presence in the UK.

"So let me get this straight..." Robert sighed after he leaned on his seat. "You two are Japanese orphans who were taken in by a NGO known as the Rising Peace Academy."

"Yeah, that's right." Twelve replied in agreement.

"And you guys were experimented on with other orphans taken in by this NGO in an attempt to recreate savant syndrome as part of this... Athena Plan to revive Japanese nationalism after its defeat in World War II?"

"Yep... And also, Nine thinks it's a good idea to recruit you and help us take them down. Even with the big fires that wrecked this so-called Settlement during your escape."

The ex-para sighed when he heard the rest of the details from the brown-haired teen. "Sounds a bit ludicrous if you ask me though. That's like saying the British National Party has a plan using the members of its youth wing Resistance to make Britain great again by getting rid of the non-white populace."

"We'll take you to the one person who you wouldn't want to talk to after this fiasco." Nine calmly told Robert what they'll do next.

"You mean the Home Secretary himself?" Robert was a bit shocked at Nine's plans.

"You object to it?" Nine made a right turn at the circle and went for Lambeth Bridge.

"Not at all." Robert shook his head. "After all, it's about time I go and pay him a visit."

Twelve got his 2015 Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone out and made a call. "Yo, it's me. Got the VIP already. You got her out? Okay... that should be cool. Are you guys around Lambeth Bridge? We're about to take on the next target. Okay, that's cool. I'll see you guys soon."

The X-Trail was seen heading towards Horseferry Road, making a left on Regency Street and going straight until a right turn was made at Esterbrooke Street with a left turn at Chapter Street.

Their destination was the Barratt London - Chapter Street apartment building.

"We should head to the basement parking of the apartment. If we're in time, the other guys should be able to get the drop on Langdon."

Twelve was given one the P226Rs seized from the slain JIS agents by Nine before they left Walworth by Nine. He pulled the slide slightly to check if it was still loaded.

Nine parked the X-Trail at the building's basement parking. They went for the second basement parking floor, where Langdon's 2015 Alpine White BMW 5 530d M Sport sedan was said to be located. The SUV was parked right next to a 2016 Firenze Red Metallic Range Rover Evoque SE SUV. When Robert and the two teens got out, they noted that Alayna was inside the Evoque, who almost fired her pistol until she saw Robert.

"Jesus..." Robert nearly freaked out that he almost drew out the P226 tucked inside the pants' waistband.

Nine waved to Dagger, who waved back and motioned them to come to his position.

"Let's go." Nine whispered to Robert. "Looks like we got him."

The trio made a run for it to see Dagger and Mukuro, who have Langdon at gunpoint. They could hear him trying to defuse the tensions between him and the other two.

"Are the weapons really necessary?" Langdon sighed after he pushed the nose bridge of his glasses up.

"Shut it, old man." Dagger glared at the man with his carbine leveled at his chest. "We're the ones asking the questions. Not you."

"Hello, Gerry." Robert glared at the Home Secretary as he walked fast towards him, raising the P226R at him with his right hand. The right index finger was placed on the trigger guard.

Gerry sighed again, scratching the back of his head in frustration. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you put me up to this shit." Robert calmly replied, but the others nearby knew that the army vet was about to come close to pulling the pistol's trigger at any time.

Nine and Twelve raised their P226Rs at Gerry also with their hands.

Gerry didn't reply to his question, but instead gave off a calm, motive rant in a gentlemanly manner. "The organizing principle of any society, is for war. The basic authority of a modern state of rich people... resides in it's war powers. Today it's oil, tomorrow, water. It's what we like to call, the God business: Guns, Oil and Drugs."

"Damn yo..." Dagger muttered. "Looks like intelligence didn't leave any good notes on him being over his head."

Nine simply glared at him while he held his glasses at the left temple. "Basically the same principle like the Patriots, but reminds me a bit of the Templars."

Gerry nodded. "We have the same vision as those two groups, but I have a different motive for being involved."

"Really?" Mukuro raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"Our goals for sustainability is in a hurdle. That's why we implement demand destruction. We continue to make money, as the world burns. But for this to work, the people have to remain ignorant of the problem, until it's too late. That's why we have triggers in place: A population in a permanent state of fear, does not ask questions. Our desire for war, becomes its' desire. A willing sacrifice. You see? Fear is just a vacation, fear is control, fear... is money."

"So you're saying you use terror attacks committed by various groups to justify more funding to law enforcement and intelligence agencies?"

"All part of the plan... But it's more than just that." Gerry said with a confident tone in his tone.

"Who are you working for?!" Robert shouted, putting the pistol's barrel at his chest.

The glasses-wearing man didn't falter from Robert's threats.

"Someone with a plan to usher in a new age."

To everyone's surprise, Gerry grabbed Robert's hands and forcefully pushed his right index finger to pull the pistol's trigger.

"Shit!" Robert tried to wrestle the pistol from Gerry's hand, but it was futile as the deed was already done with the rogue official being shot in the chest.

"You're not going out that easy!" Dagger secured the sling of his carbine before he went to crouch next to the wounded man, who collapsed onto the ground next to his sedan. He moved to his black pants and took a white handkerchief from the man's pocket, using it to apply pressure to the gunshot wound.

Nine and Twelve kept their pistols, tucking them in on the waistband of their pants.

Gerry chuckled as he coughed blood. "Since I'm a nice guy, I'll give you a hint to start with..."

"Are you talking about Tyrone? Tyrone Jones? Guy mentions that he's in bed with you and the JIS."

"Looks like you didn't waste time figuring that out..." Gerry replied with pain in his voice despite Dagger's attempt to slow down the bleeding.

Twelve and Mukuro crouched down, the former checked the man's pulse and Mukuro went to see if he was still talking.

"Seems like the gunshot wound's slowly killing him." Mukuro told Dagger.

"Looks like it. Dammit, we could've taken him in alive."

The ex-Fenrir mercenary saw Gerry's lips move. She could hear him, albeit a bit faint, whisper his last words.

"Long...live...Spectre."

"Spectre?" Mukuro said out loud when she heard the group's name.

"Spectre? As in the international criminal slash terrorist group?" Robert asked her, confused after he quickly secured his pistol.

"Yep." Dagger nodded.

"Interesting..." Nine said after he heard the name. "Considering the age of terror and surveillance on the populace after 9/11, this happens to be very curious if they're involved."

"We don't know if they're involved with the RPA in some capacity." Twelve spoke to Nine after he heard his thoughts.

"Found something." Mukuro examined Gerry's hands and found a ring on his left middle finger. She removed the object and examined it closely.

"What is it?" Dagger asked her.

"Here." Mukuro showed the ring to him. "There's a drawing of some sea animal in there."

"A sea animal?" Dagger raised an eyebrow until he was able to get a closer look at the item. "What the? An octopus..."

The ring had the insignia of a black octopus with its seven tentacles pointed downwards. The octopus has no eyes drawn on it.

"This proves that he's in league with them." Robert said after Dagger showed him the Spectre ring.

"You heard about them?" Mukuro asked him.

Robert nodded. "Rumors and stuff when ISAF forces back in Afghanistan got intelligence that Spectre and other known criminal and terrorist groups had investments in the opium fields."

"All right. We'll need to regroup for now. In the meantime, taking down Jones is the next step in our search for any possible conspirators working in conjunction with the RPA."

"Hopefully it can add more info to the ones we found aside from intel on links between Spectre and the RPA through the Dark Web."

Dagger and Mukuro directed Robert to regroup with Nine and Twelve. The former told Mukuro to take the Evoque back to their hideout while he would pilfer Gerry's keyfob and use it to gain access to his sedan. Before he got in, he gave the ring to Mukuro for safekeeping.

He was the last to leave the parking lot, leaving the man's corpse behind with the wallet taken to give the police the impression that he was killed by an armed robber looking for a quick score.

Somewhere inside the corridors of Heygate Estate's Ashenden apartment block in South London, adjacent to Waltworth Road, a Black British man was seen walking back and forth. The 32-year old man with a black hoodie, white cap, worn jeans and blue/gray sneakers was on the phone talking to someone about the situation at the housing estate.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?!" The man yelled on the person speaking on the other line.

"Just calm down, Mr. Jones. I'm sure that my associates can square things away..."

"Square things away? I just tried to reach out to a contact from the Home Office and I was told that the Secretary himself was assassinated in his own apartment building! How do you explain that?!"

"Rest assured that your concerns are being taken care of as we speak..."

"I doubt that these meetings your bosses are having will take care of the problem."

"We have someone on the way to help you out. Just sit tight for now."

Tyrone abruptly ended the call between him and the other person, angry and frustrated that their conversation seemed like it wasn't going anywhere, except with the assurances that they'll send someone to help him out.

"Can this bastard actually help me out?" Tyrone murmured after he kept his phone.

"Hey boss!"

Another Black African man, who was in his early 20s with a gray hoodie jacket, sneakers and faded jeans, showed up at the same corridor Tyrone is in.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"We got a call. Said that someone just arrived and they happen to be looking for you."

Tyrone sighed. This must be the help they're talking about.

"All right. Let them know I'm coming."

"Got it, boss."

Robert was now in his own apartment, cleaning up parts of a Colt M4A1 carbine he acquired from a local gunrunner he did surveillance on weeks ago with the backing of the JIS. The P226R was placed on the table alongside the M4A1, being covered by some newspapers so that it wouldn't be dirty. The pistol would be checked and cleaned up next.

The man was surprised to hear from the others that they wish to stay in his apartment, at least to rest and regroup for the meantime before they head to Heygate Estate and take on their next target.

Not that he didn't object of course. After all, he had a bone to pick with the drug dealer over his indirect connection with Langdon, especially that he nearly got killed in a potential false flag op and blame it on Islamist sympathizers.

"So I'm assuming you lot want to join up with me on the raid on the housing estate?" Robert asked the group after he had just finished reassembling the M4A1.

"Yeah." Nine replied, who just nodded his head. "You lived in the estate before you joined up with the British Army as a paratrooper. We could use someone who's got experience in the area."

Robert was using a WD-40 lubricant spray can to clean up the slide and the springs. "Yeah. I'm only agreeing to come with you guys so that I can settle a score. Not to mention put down a potential threat towards Alayna."

"Let's start." Mukuro walked back inside the apartment, wearing her softshell jacket and tac pants without her combat gear and her facemask on. "I got the plans for Heygate Estate."

One could assume that Mukuro was in her 20s due to looking younger, but she was in fact in her late 20s.

"Nice." Dagger spoke to her. He was leaning on the wall, left shoulder and arm bracing it. His ballcap was worn in such a way that it would conceal most of his face. He didn't want to show his real face to Robert in case he either wouldn't agree on the raid on the estate alongside the rest of the group, be compromised by being arrested by law enforcement or get caught by Tyrone's gang.

"Shame that we can't get to our mutual friend in LA." Mukuro told Dagger as she unrolled the estate map on another table. "Said that he's busy helping some people there for some scores due to a bad call someone made a few months ago."

"But did you give him the stuff, just in case?" Dagger asked her.

"Yeah. Told me that he'd go over it in case he got some time."

"Well I hate to be in that guy's shoes." Dagger shook his head before he looked at the plans. "So what are our options?"

"Way I see it from taking a brief glance," Mukuro pointed to the roof and the various entrances and foot paths to the housing estate. "we got ourselves a few options."

"What are those options?" Twelve asked her when he took a look at the map.

"It looks like we can start from here and here." Nine pointed to the small roads that go near and around the estate and the foot paths from the streets. "We can take advantages of a pincer attack by storming the estate from the rear and side, as well as the entrances via pedestrian-only paths. Thing is we need to be mobile, quick and strike together in unison to catch Tyrone's goons by surprise."

Robert overheard the planning as he was about to assemble the P226R with the slide only missing when he looked at the map before he gave his advice. "Word of advice, guys. There's gonna be homeless people there, not to mention women and children who might be employed by Tyrone as either lookouts, couriers or extra guns in case things go bad."

"Guess this means we go non-lethal then." Dagger said, making the suggestion. "Let's stock up on tasers or stun grenades."

"Uh guys..." Twelve raised his left hand up. "Hope you're not forgetting about Ms. Wallace. I mean, if we're all going to raid the estate, who's going to keep an eye on her?"

"That happens to be a very good question, Twelve." Nine replied to his friend's concern.

Robert felt that everyone was looking at him ever since they saved him about being kidnapped by rogue JIS agents.

"One of my buddies got recruited to help the JIS with some stuff ever since he got an honorable discharge from the paras like me."

"Is he still under their leash?" Dagger raised the question.

"Yeah." Robert nodded. "Most likely. He tried to warn me that Langdon's faction in the JIS will try to hunt me down as part of their cleanup if their false flag op would go ahead."

"Then it seems that we'll need to take care of that loose end first." Twelve had a smirk on his face.

"Do we do it now?" Mukuro faced Dagger.

"Might as well. If anything, I doubt we'll hear anything from our pal in LA for a few hours." Dagger stretched his arms before he added. "Robert, you know where you buddy lives right now?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but there's a place where we always go to before and after we left the army..."

After Robert agreed to let the group go along with the raid on the estate, he offered a suggestion to draw out Danny Turner, his buddy in the paras and current stooge to the JIS by sending a SMS message that the two of them need to meet again at a Korean restaurant called the CheeMC somewhere in Walworth.

The group would be divided into two teams. One of them would be on surveillance duties to make sure Robert and Danny are safe. The other would try to locate any potential JIS-manned vehicles and take them out before the meeting could be compromised.

The X-Trail, used by Nine and Twelve, has the honor of scoping out the restaurant and keeping an eye on the two men in case the JIS has some surprises in store. They would scope the place out with binoculars.

The Evoque, used by Mukuro and Dagger, is tasked with locating any JIS vehicles that would potentially bring Danny to the meeting place and capture Robert if and when there's a chance. If and when possible, they're also in charge of neutralizing the threat. They're wearing the same clothes during the rescue mission to save Alayna, but without their faces covered up. The two of them didn't bring anything except for suppressed pistols placed in their shoulder holsters, concealed by their jackets. They also wore radio earpieces on their ears.

Dagger still wore his cap, but a bystander who walked by him saw that he was in mid 20s, East Asian facial features with short black hair in a crewcut haircut.

"Alpha 1." Dagger was on the radio, speaking via mike clipped on her jacket. She adjusted her earpiece on her right ear. "How's the rendezvous point over?"

"Just spotted the vehicle that dropped out Danny." Nine replied to Dagger's inquiry. "It's a gray Toyota RAV4. Looks about a 2014-15 model maybe."

"Got a plate?"

"Yeah. It's LU14 KBG. And they just turned to one of the side streets nearby."

Dagger turned to the side to see Mukuro point out the RAV4 turning right pass them. "Okay. We found the vehicle. So we're taking a closer look. Don't do anything until I say so. Got it?"

"Yeah, gotcha."

Dagger motioned to Mukuro to head to the side street as they got out of the parked SUV.

"Do we jump on them?" Mukuro asked Dagger on a plan of action.

"No." Dagger replied. "Let's keep an eye on the vehicle. If we're right, the agents inside should try to bail out and charge towards CheeMC."

"Understood."

The two of them walked by the RAV4 when they saw that it was going to be parked next to the sidewalk since there was open space. They later ducked into an alley in order to remain hidden and conduct surveillance from there by pretending to be hanging around there.

Robert took his seat in one of the empty chairs since he saw Danny take the table nearest to the entrance so that he can keep an eye outside.

"Glad to see that you took my message seriously, Danny." Robert took his seat in front of Danny.

"I don't need to remind you that the JIS in monitoring this. Whatever you say to me can make them freak out and bag you."

"And I came prepared for that." Robert raised an eyebrow when he heard Danny's warning.

"Are..." Danny leaned forward and whispered to him. "Are you packing?"

Robert didn't say anything to answer Danny's question.

"Oh god." Danny sighed, placing his hands on his temples to show off his frustration. "You really are packing a weapon with you now."

"I need you your assistance for one last time, Danny..."

"I heard about what happened to Alayna from them, Robert. But I can't. They got their eyes and ears on me..."

"Don't worry, I got some help on that..."

Dagger and Mukuro spotted four Caucasian men with either blond or brown hair wearing various windbreakers, pants and shoes. They were all armed with Glock 17s drawn out from their shoulder holsters.

"Let's go." One of the armed JIS agents said to the others. "We bag Robert and we take Danny back to the nearest safehouse. That clear?"

The other three JIS agents nodded as they walked towards the restaurant.

Dagger unholstered his Armscor 1911A2-45 FS PS pistol equipped with a Ramlite Magnetic Laser Sight attached underneath the barrel from the shoulder holster.

For Mukuro, she unholstered a Glock 21 from her shoulder holster, equipped with a railed SureFire X400 Ultra LED WeaponLight.

Both pistols were also equipped with mounted suppressors due to nature of the operation.

"Hold it!" Dagger shouted after he and Mukuro raised their pistols and aimed them at the group.

"Shit! We're made!" The JIS agents had just raised their pistols when Dagger opened fire with his suppressed sidearm at the first two agents, two shots at their chests.

Mukuro found her own targets and opened fire at them, two shots at their chests.

The event made a lot of people flee the scene, some taking cover behind parked cars or other places where bullets won't easily hit them.

"Guys! Get in there now! We've been made, but we neutralized the threats. I repeat, we neutralized the threats. Get the package out of there."

"Got it."

Dagger and Mukuro holstered their sidearms after the latter managed to collect the .45 ACP shell casings and placed them inside a plastic bag that happened to fly to her foot due to the slight gust of wind. Dagger gestured to Nine and Twelve to take Robert and Danny out of the area via X-Trial after he saw them take the ex-paratroopers out of the restaurant safely.

"We need to leave now." Mukuro picked up the plastic bag and dumped it inside the Evoque after she and Dagger got back inside, being the last to leave before the police could get to Walworth.

Tyrone walked towards a section of Deacon Way that led to the west side of the Ashenden apartment block, being watched by four of his boys armed with Russian-made AKS-47 assault rifles slung on their shoulders.

"Where's that damn motherfucker?" Tyrone groaned when he saw that no one was around to see him.

"Over there!" One of the AKS-47-armed men pointed to an incoming vehicle.

However, Tyrone not one, but two vehicles down the road coming towards his direction.

"Keep your cool, boys. But stay alert."

Tyrone noted that the vehicles coming over were a couple of 2016 Loire Blue Land Rover Range Rover SVR SUVs with British license plates. They parked on the side, the engines still running as a precaution.

Six armed men, a mix of Caucasian and African, emerged out the SUVs with dress suits and shoes. They appeared to be in good shape, giving off the appearance that they must have served in either the police or with the military. They also appear to be unarmed.

Later on, two men exited the first SVR. One was of African descent with a trimmed goatee in his early 30s with the other man was of Caucasian descent with some white hair strands on his blond hair with a neatly shaved chin. The former wore a gray dress suit, the latter wore a purple polo dress shirt, brown pants and loafers with shades worn to cover his eyes.

"Monsieur Jones, it's a pleasure to meet you." The African man introduced himself by shaking hands with him. "I'm Monsieur Moreau, an associate of Home Secretary Langdon on behalf of Spectre."

"Pleasure." Tyrone shook hands and returned the greeting.

"The man next to me is Colonel Jeremy Prentiss, formerly of the US Army and current head of the private security company Black Arrow."

The shades-wearing man stepped forward to shake hands with Tyrone.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Jones." Prentiss greeted Tyrone.

"Likewise, mate. Likewise."

"My apologies if there was any problem between you and my associate on the phone." Moreau explained to Tyrone about the call he received. "My superior is not pleased that his man at the Home Office was taken out before his plan was to be carried out. And it appears that whoever made him die will go after you for answers."

"And I suppose this is where this Yankee comes in, eh?" Tyrone pointed to Prentiss with his right index finger.

"I was told that this is such a short notice by Mr. Moreau, but my men can assist in training your..." Prentiss stared at the armed men standing near Tyrone's back. "boys so that they can effectively shoot at whoever happens to be coming after you. At least my men should be able to train them so that they can shoot better and stop acting like gangbangers."

Tyrone nodded, liking Prentiss' suggestion. Considering that he heard about BA and how they helped client states train their law enforcement/military forces handle coups and peacekeeping operations, there wasn't any reasons to turn him down.

"How long will the training start?" Tyrone asked the contractor.

"As long as you're willing to start," Prentiss said before he added. "My allies in Spectre will see to the fees."

The sun was now starting to set.

The group, Robert included, escorted Alayna to Heathrow Airport via Heathrow Express rail line after receiving assistance to help her get off British soil due to the threat of Langdon's faction, which was confirmed to be aligned with Spectre.

After some time to deliberate where to send her, Danny suggested to bring her to Singapore. When asked why, he mentioned that one of his buddies from the Paras is living in the country as a Strategic Studies Analyst with a think tank company and knows people from the Singaporean law enforcement and intelligence community to help her keep a low profile.

They agreed after Danny made contact with his friend and only after he agreed to help him out did the group consent to do it.

For now, it should give them time to weed out Tyrone's gang and pick up clues on whether Spectre and the RPA are linked in some way.

"Take care of her, Danny." Robert shook hands with Danny.

"Yeah, I will." Danny returned the handshake. "Sorry about what happened back there with the JIS. Should've gotten tougher balls like when were back in the Paras."

"Just... take care of her, Danny." Robert sighed before he patted his left shoulder. "I heard that Singapore's a nice place to unwind from the shit that's happening in London. Also includes the food."

Danny smiled at him. "Yeah. I'll keep that in mind."

Alayna thanked Robert and the others for saving her life by shaking their hands. "Thank you for what you guys did. I'll never forget it."

"Think nothing of it." Mukuro nodded in reply.

"Yeah. You didn't deserve to die." Dagger added, crossing his arms. "You got your whole life ahead of you."

"Take care of yourself." Nine said. "We'll make sure no one's going to harm you from the other side of the globe."

"Yep." Twelve grinned. "What Nine said, Ms. Wallace."

"We better go..." Danny said his goodbyes to the others. "The flight out of Heathrow should be starting by three hours. We can't afford to be late."

With that, Danny and Alayna got their luggage and walked towards the nearest elevator in order to go to the airport's departure terminal.

"Now what?" Twelve asked the others while they waited for the next available HE train.

Dagger felt his Iphone 6S smartphone vibrate, so he removed it from the belt clip and saw that it received an incoming SMS message coming from an unknown phone number, its area/country code indicating that it at least came from America.

"We regroup for now." Dagger said to the others while he looked at the smartphone. "Looks like we may have something."

Inside the deserted Crossways Church, located between New Kent Road and Deacon Way, plainclothes BA contractors were on hand to mentor Tyrone's men in properly firing their weapons, using the estate to their advantage by deploying anyone with good shooting skills to conduct suppressive fire. The contractors coached them on small arms drills by shooting at mock targets. All of them wore ear muffs to protect their ears from being deaf.

Prentiss was outside, speaking to Tyrone since they couldn't hold a decent conversation with the gunfire going around.

"Seems that your boys are learning, despite a few who happen to be hard in the head." Prentiss sighed after he told Tyrone the good news.

"When you hone your tactics with rival gangs and the filth all the time, you don't get time to practice except to fire to keep their heads down."

"Well we have enough time to get your boys to correct their methods."

"All right. Hopefully it'll be worth it."

Inside an undisclosed apartment somewhere near Heygate Estate, the group gathered around a coffee table that had the map of the estate shown. They were busy brainstorming ways to storm the area and locate Tyrone within the premises.

The map showed that as of early 2016, some of the apartment blocks located south of Heygate Street were almost done being demolished, with the rest being temporarily halted due to the presence of Tyrone's gang using it as a base of operation for drug smuggling/peddling, not to mention that there were a few hardcore squatters who are being sheltered by him. The estate was suppose to be demolished by 2015, but only stopped halfway due to some gang wars that took place, most of them involving Tyrone's gang as they used the abandoned estate as a part of their turf.

Dagger's Iphone 6S was placed on the coffee table on top of the estate map with the speaker turned on since a phone call was being made.

"Go ahead Lester, you're on speakerphone." Dagger spoke to Lester after he turned the smartphone's speaker on.

"Thanks." The person mentioned before he coughed to clear his throat. "Ah... Good evening everyone. For those who don't me, my name is Lester Crest and that's all you need to know."

"Okay, Lester. Let's get down to business." Dagger checked the time from his Kentex JGSDF wristwatch. "Hope I didn't interrupt you or anything back in LA."

"Nah, it's fine. Just had to take care of something for someone who I haven't seen in a while." Lester brushed off his concerns. "Anyway, I had some time to look at the Heygate Estate map you just e-mailed me an hour ago."

"How is it? Is it bad?"

Lester was silent on the line before he replied. "Let's see... Judging by what you got for me, it's still a nightmare even if the place has been halfway done being demolished."

"What do you mean by that, Mr. Crest?" Mukuro asked Lester when she heard his slight apprehension.

"Just call me Lester, I insist." Lester addressed Mukuro when he chuckled for a bit before he explained why he seemed apprehensive. "Even with Tyrone Jones' operation being centered throughout Deacon Way, it's still a nightmare in the sense he could place his men on the pedestrian footbridge if some of you are storming the place from the ground. Not to mention that his crew should be more familiar with the area more than the police. I expect traps or ambushes to be used in slowing your progress down as you search and clear the place. It's still troublesome that surveillance is needed to see which apartment block takes top priority."

Dagger began to scribble on the estate map on the significant areas with Lester pointing them out from an earlier discussion.

"But the good news is that if Tyrone wants to get away via vehicle, there's one path out via Deacon Way, so you guys can start with a roadblock and riddle his car should he show up."

The path between Deacon Way and Heygate Street was drawn in a circle to indicate its location. The words POTENTIAL AMBUSH was written next to it.

"As to what Dagger had discussed with me in the e-mail before I called, he pointed out to me that the abandoned estate has some footpaths leading to and from it. I would suggest sending someone from that route. Can be very handy for a distraction to sneak in someone to take out the guards. Not to mention using it to get to the nearest footbridge to provide cover."

New Kent Road and Rodney Place were circled and the words FOOTPATHS were written next to them so that the group would know that they can be accessed by pedestrians.

"If the intel we're going to get on Tyrone is correct," Dagger pointed to the center of Deacon Way. "His gang'll have full control of this area. This means we need to go in fast and hard. If you guys got cars, then you need to get a blocking force at the intersections leading to the place."

The intersecting roads (Walworth Road/Heygate Street, New Kent Road/Rodney Place and Heygate Street/Rodney Road) were marked with a X mark.

"I've made arrangements to have the estate under surveillance. They'll get back to me in an hour to see if they located the target and provide any more info about the estate." Lester can be heard taking a drink. "Hey Dagger, is there still a police presence there?"

"Not since 2015 when some of the gang wars started there. I was told by Robert here that he saw a kid harassing him with a gun there, so I'm thinking we may encounter kids or teens being used as gunmen for an ambush just in case shit goes down. Last I passed by, the chain link fences and gates are still there, so we may need to break in by picking the locks or bolt cutters. Anyway, let us know."

"I see, I see... I'll inform my guys. I almost forget, I assume you'll be packing LTL for this little gig?"

LTL or less-than-lethal. Just what Dagger needed in a situation like this. "We will. Don't want the death of a kid to be in my conscience, even if he or she is packing heat."

"I'm sure you can handle it. Oh... Give me a sec... I'll check if there's anything else was found."

"I assume this Lester Crest knows about me?" Robert asked Dagger.

"Oh yeah. Asked me on what's your relationship with the estate and I just told him you used to live there. If there's any info that he can get, he'll do it."

"Maybe we should get more manpower on this." Twelve spoke to Dagger. "If I remember about what you told me and Nine about Lester, he can outsource anything you need, like some hired mercs."

"That's true." Dagger stretched his arms. "But in this case, he used to be with someone who did scores in the western part of the United States back in the day. So he's got experience in getting freelance criminals. I'm not too sure on his experience in the mercenary world though..."

Robert stared at the group and wondered if they can really pull this off. Can we get in there, bag Tyrone and get outta there with our lives still intact? I think we'll need a lot more people to cover the ground.

"You got your laptop?" Lester came back on the phone. "I'll speak with all of you via camera."

"On it." Dagger motioned to Mukuro to get the Dell 15 5000 Inspiron laptop from the nearest side table. Mukuro got it and booted it up and waited before it was fully loaded. She then got the Skype program working.

"Here." Mukuro looked at the mobile number on Dagger's smartphone. She looked for it on the contact list and used the touchpad to click on the same number. A few seconds later, she move the laptop to make it face everyone as Lester's face was on the screen.

"All right. I see that everyone is here and accounted for." Lester looked at everyone from his house in LA, his eyes lingering on Robert. "And this is the ex-British paratrooper you told me about?"

"Yeah. Came in on such short notice, but we're joining in 'cause we got a mutual enemy."

"I guess that's a good thing. I got a new intel update that mentioned some people going there for the past day or so."

"What's this new intel you got?"

Lester showed a printout of the faces of Moreau and Prentiss on the screen.

"I know the other guy. Colonel Jeremy Prentiss, ex-Special Forces officer with 1st Special Forces Group. He's the leader of Black Arrow." Mukuro explained to the others who Prentiss is.

"Black Arrow huh?" Dagger said when he heard the name. "From the rumors we heard in the underworld, he's linked up with some group known as Megiddo and the company was purchased months ago by CEO Lucius Galliard."

"I remember hearing news that one of their facilities... A Price Airfield was heavily damaged. BA didn't say what happened to it." Nine added his thoughts to the debriefing regarding the PMC.

"Hmmm... Black Arrow helping out a local drug dealer with links to a rogue British government official with ties to Spectre. Damn, reminds me of what's going on here."

The glasses-wearing man was quiet for a minute, processing the idea that he was helping Mukuro, Dagger and the other take on a drug gang that's apparently being assisted by an American PMC with supposed ties to a criminal group, which is allied with an international terrorist group.

"Do we know the other guy?" Nine asked Lester, his hands placed at the back of his head.

Lester shook his head. "No clue. I'm running on the assumption that he's got ties to Spectre just like Home Secretary Langdon."

"Can you do facial rec on him, Lester?" Mukuro asked him.

"I'll give it a shot. No dice if nothing comes to that."

"Looks like this op is going to run into major trouble." Robert sighed when he heard the information from the others. "Is there any chance that we can get more backup on this one?"

"Already got some names." Lester was quick to give a reply. He was seen typing up something on his PC desktop. "Dagger, it should be sent to your Iphone in a bit via e-mail."

"Gotcha, Lester." Dagger gave a thumbs up.

"Some of the names you'll see from the list are freelancers I've met during some heists in the city."

"Are you sure it's okay to do so? I mean... I last heard from you, your buddies are in lot of heat with the FBI, CIA and Merryweather Security with a three-way shootout in the Kortz Center."

"No worries. Some of the guys I mentioned did some stints with us, so they're okay. Only thing is that when I told them about your situation... let's just say that they're getting way too excited to take on another conspiracy."

"Just what we need... adrenaline junkies."

"I'll keep in touch. I hope it's enough to make a decision."

"Thanks, Lester. We'll keep in touch."

The Skype call ended and Mukuro closed the laptop.

"Okay guys. For the meantime, let's all get some rest. We'll need it."

As everyone went to the nearest room to get some sleep, Dagger got his Iphone and checked the e-mail that came a while from the information broker.

As promised, I compiled a list of names for your little incoming operation in the UK. I can vouch for some of them since they've done some work with me in the past. They got some experience, but are still a bit new to the game. So watch out. I'll indicate with an asterisk mark on who happens to be a bit new in the roster. Let me know who you want to recruit and your method of entry. I'll send the details by tonight LA time.

- Lester

Chapter 1 END

Chapter Text

Near the outskirts of the Heygate Estate, the group assembled at New Kent Road towards the direction of the abandoned estate at Paragon Gardens. They were told by Lester to wait for them there since he took an early flight from LA to London with fake credentials to avoid being detected with some freelancers he met before.

They were also told that Lester will handle their weapons and needed supplies, including vehicles with help from contacts he made from the Dark web over the years.

"So how's Lester going to find us?" Mukuro asked Dagger while the two mercenaries waited inside the park by standing near the New Kent Road entrance. Both of them were not wearing their combat clothes/gear, but Dagger has an all-weather facemask that covered his nose and mouth. His head has a ballcap on.

"I dunno. I suspect he'll make contact with us soon since he's due to arrive any time now."

Dagger pointed to the others, who were also waiting on the side. They were mostly bored of waiting that Twelve played games on his smartphone. Robert looked at his wristwatch in order to check the time.

"I think he's here." Mukuro whispered to Dagger when the former saw a semi-bald man in a green checkered short sleeve polo shirt with a thermal shirt underneath with jeans and black loafers with no shoelaces with eyeglasses walking towards them. He was seen holding a cane in his left hand.

"Yeah..." Dagger murmured. The mercenary spotted at least three to four persons accompanying the man down the sidewalk towards the park entrance.

"Ah, greetings. Glad to see you're looking okay these days, Dagger." The glasses-wearing man shook hands with Dagger.

"Long time no see, Lester." Dagger shook hands with him. "Hope you took my advice on loosing weight despite your problem with the wasting disease."

"Well, I tried to." Lester shrugged his shoulders. "But things got out of hand lately in LA."

"Ahhh..."

"So," Lester looked at the side to see Nine, Twelve and Robert. "These are the guys who'll be joining up with the raid at the Heygate Estate."

"Yeah."

He then pointed to Robert with his cane. "And he's the one who's got experience with the place?"

"Yeah. But like you said last time, we don't know where Tyrone is."

Lester nodded, understanding his problem. "Of course, of course. But I have the details." He waved the manila envelope in front of him before he turned around to see the four persons already behind him, dressed in various jackets, pants and shoes/boots. "I forgot to introduce the guys who'll be helping out with your little crusade after I told them that this job is similar to the one done against the corruption in the FBI in collusion with Merryweather."

"Are they all freelancers?" Mukuro asked the man.

"Yes they are. Allow me to introduce you to them." Lester proceeded to make the introductions. "We have the hacker Rickie Lukens, used to be a staff member with Life Invader."

"'Sup." The mustached man greeted the party.

"Isn't that the same company that made headline when Jay Norris was blown up in a ceremony..." Mukuro asked Lester with some suspicion when she eyed Rickie and the information broker.

"Y... yeah! Yeah!" Lester tried to deflect some suspicion from her, seeing that she was killing to gut him up. "I also got two guys as gunmen and one person as the designated driver. Guys, I'd like you to meet Daryl Johns, Karl Abolaji and Karim Denz."

Robert raised an eyebrow when he heard the word ''designated driver'' from Lester.

"They're just a part of a crew I assembled. Some of the others... I know them from reputation and I had to be vouched by some other information brokers who I know from the Dark web for some of the other guys I recruited since some of them never heard about me."

"So where are they?" Mukuro asked him.

"Some of the others didn't want to meet due to being busy since they're staking out the estate. But some of the others are getting ready for the raid. Otherwise, they've been debriefed about you guys." Lester shrugged his shoulders. "But otherwise, they're stationed near the estate and they should have more info soon since they're staking out the place." He then faced Dagger. "Come on, you and me need to talk."

"Sure." Dagger nodded.

The two walked down a path in the garden while the assembled party shook hands with the crew Lester brought.

"Here." Lester handed Dagger the envelope.

"What's in here?" Dagger was curious to know about the contents of the envelope that the broker needed to get them alone.

"Map of the estate, drone surveillance video captures and stuff." Dagger look over them and saw that they were very useful for any last minute changes to the raid.

"And the others?" A folder was seen inside the envelope.

"Some reports I got about what happened to Mali during your time with the French Foreign Legion in Operation Barkhane." Lester replied to Dagger's query. "Also has some details that I think Mukuro should know about what happened to her family after what you told me about her."

"Thanks, Les." Dagger patted him on the left shoulder. "Didn't know that you'd go all this way for the both of us."

"Well, you know me..." Lester had a smile on his face. "Uncle Lester's finding new ways to get information without the other side being aware of what I do."

"I guess I should ya, uncle." Dagger chuckled. "Hey, at least that punchline's okay. May need a bit more work."

Lester scratched the back of his head. "Hmm... I guess so."

Dagger got the map of the estate with the finalized plans on it from the envelope. "All right. For now, let's go over the plans one more time with the others."

The two eventually turned around and walked back to the New Kent Road entrance.

The group walked out of the park after they went over the plans one more time with the freelancers. They were heading towards the direction of Falmouth Road, where the vehicles were parked for free for the first two hours.

Lester showed the group a couple of 2016 Nissan X-Trail Visia SUVs with Gun Metallic finishes, a 2016 Kia Optima Sportswagon '3' sedan in a Satin Silver finish and a 2015 BMW 3 Series Saloon SE sedan with a Jet Black finish. Nearby was a 2017 Toyota Proace Verso Shuttle Medium van in a Grey Limestone finish.

"Karim, I need you on the van. Twitch and Taliana'll be joining up later like we discussed." Lester told the freelancer his instructions.

"Gotcha, Les." Karim immediately made a run for the van.

Twitch got out of the BMW and greeted the group. He was the only freelancer hired for the job to wear a suit, black Mechanix gloves, tie, loafers and a necktie, although he wore shades and a radio earpiece on his left ear.

"Hey guys!" A female in her 30s with short black hair with a brown bomber jacket, pants, dark blue loafers and black Oakley gloves stepped out of the parked Optima Sportswagon.

"That's Taliana Martinez. Another freelancer who I recruited with Karim for the big job in LA." Lester introduced the female driver.

"So which car's going to be in which street slash road?" Robert asked Lester after he got a good look at the vehicles picked out for the job.

"And did you fund this entirely from your own pocket?" Nine raised the more serious question to him.

"I can assure all of you that the proceeds from the heist in LA gave my friends and I enough money to cover most of the things needed for the raid." Lester addressed Nine's concern about the funds paid for the mission.

"And as for the vehicles... Karim will drive the Verso to the direction of the estate where the footbridges are by New Kent Road and Rodney Place. The X-Trail Visias will be used to conduct the blocking force on the intersection of Walworth Road and Heygate Street and Rodney Place and Heygate Street."

Lester continued to explain the plan while he kept up his walking pace. "The Optima'll be around to drop the group that'll infiltrate the estate through the locked chain link gates that'll head to the areas that are being demolished."

"Guess it's time to go." Twelve said when he stretched his arms up high.

"Your weapons and gear are in the van, so do get them before you move out."

After the group spent some time equipping themselves with their weapons, web gear and some change of clothes, the vehicles began to move towards their assigned spots in and around the housing estate for the raid.

As the convoy began to arrive at the outskirts of the estate, the vehicles proceeded to their arranged locations. The BMW 3 Series was not involved since Twitch ensured the safe journey of Lester and Ricky at London Full House, where a room was rented for him and the freelancers brought in their stuff from LA... mostly.

The others recruited through the Dark web had their own place arranged by a mysterious information broker named Bain, who vouched for both Lester and the other freelancers who were arranged to be hired for the op. Twitch was told to be on standby.

While Lester heard a bit of info from the dark web about Bain and his connections to some heists in America's East Coast, Bain has pretty much heard about what he's been up to lately in helping his friends get out of being used by corrupt FBI agents and a shady businessman with connections to Merryweather.

At one point, he offered Lester the assistance of Twitch and two helicopter pilots named George and Alex during the heist on the city's Federal Reserve branch. Lester politely declined, telling him that they got the best people on the job, but he would revisit his offer in the near future. However, he did accept Twitch since he needed a spare hand to be another getaway driver.

Which happens to be now.

Lester and Ricky were at work inside one of the rented room, setting up their Panasonic Toughbook CF-33 laptops to be connected to the hotel's free wi-fi network. As per precaution, Ricky got the VPNs fired up to mask his online presence.

"Okay, my man." Ricky snapped his fingers when his laptop got connected to the wi-fi network. "We are now live and online."

"Good work, Ricky." Lester took a seat in one of the sofa chairs. "Once I'm on the internet, we make contact with the guys on the ground. I'll try and see if Bain'll try to make contact with me."

Lester checked his e-mails and saw that Bain hasn't made contact with him.

Oh well... He'll probably show up later. For now, I'll have to coordinate things with Ricky.

"I'm getting updates from the Spotter now. He's sending in some photos he just took with his camera." Ricky spoke to Lester before he connected the headset to his laptop.

"Alright." Lester connected his headset to the laptop and wore it around his neck. "E-mail it to me and I'll go over them."

"Gotcha."

Lester got a notification on his laptop on an e-mail that came in from Ricky. He opened it and saw that there was .RAR attachment. After running an anti-virus program to ensure it was safe to open, he download the contents and saw that it was photos of the estate and the roads around it.

"Okay... They're still all the same..."

The broker looked at the photo provided by the Spotter. However...

"Wait a second..."

Ricky turned around. "Something up, bro?"

Lester slowly nodded. "Yeah. Looks like some interesting personalities just showed up at the estate."

"Hey guys. It's me." Lester was speaking to the group on their earpieces. "I just got some new information from the Spotter."

"What about it?" Twelve asked him while he adjusted the earpiece's coil. 

"The information confirms what we got based from the drone recon photos the Spotter took. Also he confirmed that Mr. Jones just went inside the Ashenden apartment block. But that's not the only thing we got."

"Is there someone else in the area?" Robert raised the question.

"Aside from the presence of Black Arrow, I'm also seeing someone else with Mr. Moreau, the African man you guys mentioned was with Col. Prentiss. I was able to confirm his identification. According to what I got, he's a businessman..."

"That's great and all, but is there information on this mysterious guy who showed up with Mr. Moreau?" Mukuro was annoyed that Lester seemed to be going on and on without providing the relevant information.

"Here. The photo I got should be in your smartphones any minutes now."

Everyone got an incoming message alert from their smartphones that an image file was delivered to them. Most of them (except the drivers since they're, you know, driving and it would be illegal if they're caught driving while using a smartphone) opened the message sent to them and they were able to get the image file open.

"Who the heck's this guy?" Dagger murmured when he got a look at the photo while busy adjusting his balaclava.

The image file showed a man in his late 30s with a muscular body in a gray suit and tie. He was also seen with very, very short hair and a trimmed beard.

"That guy is known as Mr. Hinx. According to info I got from the Dark web, he's an assassin and the bodyguard of Spectre's leader... a Mr. Blofeld."

"Looks like we may have to contend with a musclehead who's going to be an obstacle." Nine calmly replied after he got a good look at Mr. Hinx's face.

"Regardless, the situation doesn't change. You guys get in there, meet up with any friendlies in the area and surround the estate to prevent enemy reinforcements from arriving."

"Roger that." Dagger replied on his earpiece. He and Mukuro wore the same Gun Metal Grey jackets and their personal plate carriers. The latter decided to use a generic blue ballcap worn over her balalaclava-clad head.

Infiltration Music

The vehicles were now at the outskirts of the estate. The X-Trail Visias moved in to the Walworth Road and Heygate Street and Rodney Place and Heygate Street intersection, parking them sideways in order to block it from any vehicular traffic. Karl and Robert were on the SUV that blocked the former with Daryl and on the latter. They were met by two hooded men who were waiting on the side of the road for them.

The Spotter made arrangements to have the chain link gates sealing off the roads leading to and from the estate by using lockpick cutters to destroy the padlocks a few hours before leaving the area. However, he told Lester that he'll stay within a safe distance so that he can do recon on the estate without fear of being shot at by hostiles.

One of them was a Caucasian man who identified himself as Ilija, a sniper of seemingly Eastern Europe origin, if his name was his actual name. The man was hired by Lester to serve as their eyes and ears, ready for combat. Bain recommended him when the information broker mentioned that he needed a sniper in some of the heists he previously planned before he worked with Michael and company.

The other one was an East Asian in his late 30s who identified himself as Norisuke Noburo aka Nathan, an ex-Japanese Special Forces Group and Information Self-Defense Force operator. He too was hired by Lester mostly to serve as extra muscle, but also to serve as backup when the raid started. Last time Lester heard of the guy, he was working as an overseas contractor a few years ago after the ISDF was taken down due to a scandal involving its first and only CO in a pro-nationalist terorrist plot.

The two already wore their plate carriers, leg holsters, tac gloves with the balaclavas just worn on top of their heads. 

The Proace Verso parked next to the curb of the New Kent Road sidewalk. The right sliding door opened up to allow Dagger and Mukuro to head up to the footbridge over the road by running up the stairs. It was a good thing that not much vehicles or pedestrians were in the area.

Otherwise, seeing a couple of persons with plate carriers over their soft shell jackets with small arms being publicly exposed would alarm a law-abiding citizen that he/she would immediately call 999 and report armed persons entering the estate.

The Optima Sportswagon parked next to the curb of the Rodney Place sidewalk in front of the chain link door that sealed off the Victory Community Park. Nine and Twelve got out of the station wagon. Unlike the others, they wore facemasks to cover their noses and mouths. They simply climbed the brick wall that served the estate as its perimeter.

All of them, except for the drivers, wore various types of plate carriers, web belts, tac gloves and pistol holsters on either their waist or in the IWB holster placed on their back while having different small arms as acquired by Lester. Dagger and Mukuro were the only ones who wore and used the same clothes/weapons/gear that they used previously.

The gunmen are armed with Taran Tactical Innovations TR-1 Ultralight AR-15 carbines outfitted with black Surefire M900A Vertical Foregrips and EOTech Holographic Hybrid Sight I EXPS3-4s with G33.STS Magnifiers on the upper receiver and suppressors on the barrels.

For this raid, Nine and Twelve were armed with Brügger & Thomet MP9 submachine guns outfitted with suppressors and Aimpoint CompM5 red dot scopes on the upper receiver.

Ilija armed himself with a PGM 338 sniper rifle equipped with a suppressor and a Zeiss Conquest V6 1-6x24 riflescope on the receiver.

Dagger and Mukuro were armed with the IWI Tavor X95 carbines, also equipped with black Surefire M900A Vertical Foregrips and EOTech Holographic Hybrid Sight I EXPS3-4s with G33.STS Magnifiers on the upper receiver and suppressors. However, the two were equipped with their own secondary weapons for the raid.

For the former, he was seen equipped with a Philippine Marine Corp-made Night Fighting Weapon System sniper rifle with a Bushnell Banner 3-9x 40mm riflescope and a KCI 5.56 NATO 50-round drum magazine.

The latter was equipped with a Fostech Origin 12 shotgun with a Hard Black finish, a Troy Industries Picatinny Modular Vertical Forend Grip and a 10-round box magazine with the first round loaded used for breaching.

They were also equipped with Taser X26P pistols as their main non-lethal weapon.

Otherwise, most of them have Glock 17M pistols, except for Dagger and Mukuro since they used their own sidearms, just to make sure that they have magazine commonality. They also had flashbangs, smoke and stingball grenade in case they would encounter any teenagers or young kids trained to fight them off.

"Okay guys. So far, the path is clear. The walkways were suppose to be sealed off with metal mesh doors, but the work was halfway done when the gang wars started there." The teams were moving in while Lester was making contact with them on their earpieces. "So you may encounter some of them not completely fixed. But even so, you should be able to kick them down with a strong kick or in the case of Mukuro, her shotgun with breaching rounds should help in case the doors won't budge."

"Understood." Twelve replied on the earpiece. "Nine and I are making our way around the side towards the Ashenden block. So far, the garages won't be a problem since they're welded shut for good."

"This is Mukuro. Dagger and I already walked over the New Kent Road footbridge. There's a metal mesh door in the way, but it looks vandalized. We should be able to get it out of the way since it's partially off its hinges."

"It's Robert. I found a chain link gate that seals off the way between Deacon Way and Heygate Street. They've used rope to temporarily close the gate, so it's easy to cut it open."

"Alright guys." Ricky was next to speak to the teams. "Those Black Arrow dudes will have their radios up and a few of their teams are on standby. I'll be here to jam their comms once the heat goes down."

"I'll work with Ricky to jam BA comms and locate their reinforcements in case things go bad for you guys there." Lester informed the others. "I'm getting word from another information broker that we may be able to get reinforcements of our own. I'll check in later and see if it still holds water."

Karl was told to stay behind and keep an eye on the Walworth Road and Heygate Street. He was told by Lester on radio that there's an unlikely chance that they can get last minute backup, so he has Ilija to help him out.

Col. Prentiss has just gotten off the phone with his boss, the CEO slash founder of Black Arrow, over the details on the little side op he's going in London. He did report that the training of Tyrone's gang is doing well that they're not shooting their weapons like some two-bit gangster. Rather, they're actually improving their field coordination in going in a potential firefight.

"Hope that he's not just getting paranoid over his insistence on having a team ready to be deployed nearby..." Prentiss grumbled after a BA contractor informed him that Moreau was waiting to speak to him.

"Alright." The man told the contractor. "Tell him that I'm on the way."

Prentiss was on the way to meet with him, being in one of the abandoned apartments he used to make his private phone call a while ago. Making his way inside, he was ushered towards a side corridor where Moreau and Hinx were seen waiting for him.

"Mr. Moreau." Prentiss greeted the French Spectre representative.

"Colonel Prentiss." Moreau returned the gesture. "Allow me to introduce to you Mr. Hinx. He's on loan from my superior for the duration of this operation."

The muscular man nodded at the colonel after he was returned.

"Does he know how to use a gun at least?"

Hinx placed a hand inside his dress coat and took out a dual barreled Arsenal Firearms 2011 Dueller Prismatic pistol.

"Ahh... A pistol with two barrels instead of one."

"My superior wants to know if everything is all right with Mr. Jones." Moreau spoke up to the contractor.

Prentiss pondered over the question before he said. "I guess... I notice that the man's getting a bit more paranoid about the deceased Home Secretary's links with Spectre that he could be indirectly linked to him and all that crap."

"Colonel Prentiss..." A BA contractor with a facemask, coyote tan plate carrier vest worn over his black hoodie ran up to him. "We may have a problem or two."

"What's going on?" Prentiss asked the contractor.

 "Jake mentioned that he's having a hard time dealing with some of Mr. Jones' crew in taking their training seriously."

"Can't be helped. In the meantime, tell Jake that he needs to suck it up."

"Understood, sir."

A couple of men in their late 20s, both Caucasian and wore hoodies, jeans and sneakers, were walking down Deacon Way in the direction of the Marston apartment block. They have Tokarev TT-33 pistols tucked in their waistband, acquired through the local black market.

Unknown to them, Nine and Twelve went to hide, using the wall corners and scattered debris that could hide their bodies from view. They waited and waited until they were in their sights.

Nine raised his hand slightly and signaled to Twelve to wait and hide behind some of the scattered debris, made from crumbled brick walls that were large enough for the latter to use. The former used the wall corner to hide.

"Bloody hell..." One of the hoodie-wearing men sighed. "I don't get why we're getting small arms training by some big-time PMC..."

"Well the guys have said that it improved their reaction time when facing against the filth..."

Twelve peeked out from the pile of debris and saw them approaching their position. His grip on his MP9 tightened, not knowing if he should fire now and risk missing a shot or just wait for them to get closer and risk being spotted if he makes one wrong move.

Nine conducted a brass check on his MP9 to make sure that it was loaded. After he examined his weapon, he peeked out to see the two gang members still unaware that they've infiltrated the eastern part of the estate.

The two teenagers swiftly emerged out of hiding and shouldered their MP9s. They immediately peered through the CompM5 red dot scopes and took aim at the gang members, who were surprised by their presence as they reached for their pants to get their pistols.

The suppressed submachine guns were fired at them, taking them completely off their guard as they were not given the opportunity to defend themselves.

They ceased firing after the two gang members fell down, now lifeless after taking several bullets to the chest.

["Wait."] Nine told Twelve after he first lowered his submachine gun. The glasses-wearing teen wanted to see if anyone would come rushing to the scene. And if so, they would need to determine if the person is a teen, a young child or a man in his 20s/30s before they would decide on what type of force to use.

["Looks clear to me."] Twelve sighed after he finished firing his weapon.

The two waited to see if anyone had seen or heard the two gang members go down. After a few minutes, it seems like no one has noticed anything.

Nine motioned to Twelve to stick next to him. They raised their MP9s, but kept their fingers off the trigger as they advanced forward towards their destination.

Dagger and Mukuro had already made it to the estate's central area, running across several footbridges to reach the ones that were in front of Ashenden, being positioned towards the direction of Deacon Way.

"All right. We made it. Looks like the infiltration went well." Dagger murmured when he got the NFWS ready after he adjusted the rifle sling on his right shoulder.

"Okay. You got the area covered?" Mukuro knelt down and secured her vest's straps by making them tighter.

"Yeah. As long as the others don't do anything that can alert the entire gang. Or their Black Arrow and Spectre backers."

Mukuro looked down on the streets and saw Robert leading the other gunmen on the approach. The plan the two had was to stay in the footbridge near the destination and use it to conduct overwatch and suppressive fire against hostiles who would either bust out of the apartment block and use the footbridges or enemy reinforcements from using the other apartment blocks.

"Lester, it's me." Dagger got on his radio. "Are there any changes with Mr. Jones or with their Black Arrow and Spectre guests?"

"Nothing yet. It looks like Spectre has their bodyguard in the building. Aside from that, there's a few BA contractors, but they're mostly in the building just to provide close protection for Col. Prentiss and his Spectre allies."

"Numbers?"

"Initial estimates from the Spotter suggests no more than twelve contractors on standby."

"Roger that."

Dagger peered through the Bushnell riflescope while he conducted a check on the other footbridges and the roads around the estate. He saw Robert leading Daryl and Nathan towards the Ashenden's ground floor entrance.

"Looking good..." Dagger kept his focus while he got his right index finger near the trigger. Mukuro provided rear security and fire support for Dagger should things come to worse.

Lester continued to monitor the radio channels used by Black Arrow while Ricky checked on the comms BA is using in creating a workable hack that can jam them for a while so that Dagger and the others can break into Ashenden, locate their targets and get out once things are finished.

"Dude...!" Ricky shouted to get Lester's attention. "I'm getting something here."

"Are we being contacted?" Lester walked over to get a good look at Ricky's laptop after he took off his headset.

"I think so, yo."

Ricky pointed to Lester that an unknown person was trying to make contact via Telegram.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Lester murmured when he saw that the contact details are unknown when Ricky tried to find out who the person was.

"Should we like... answer the person?"

Lester read the message on Ricky's Telegram app after it was booted up for some time. It had the following message:

I hope that you were able to have the additional manpower that you needed, Lester Crest.

Lester looked around the hotel room when he saw that the message was addressed to him.

Relax. I'm not here to hamper your operation. Otherwise, I would have done so a few days ago even before you started your work against Black Arrow and Spectre alike. Remember, I'm like you. After all, I'm after whatever secrets those two organizations have.

Lester was relieved after he read the message. "It's Bain. I'll go and talk to him." He walked back to his laptop and wore his headset before he booted his Telegram app on his laptop.

"Glad to see you have your ways of greeting a fellow broker, Bain." Lester spoke to the person from the headset's microphone with sarcasm in his voice.

"I would have know that you can figure out who was talking to you, Lester." Bain chuckled on the line. "But seriously, I'm also observing the raid from my end here."

"Well... thanks for volunteering your time."

"My crew's taking some time off from a previous heist that they did a few days ago, so there's no contact with them as a safety precaution."

"And you're confident that no one can track you talking to me?"

"Well, we're going to use Telegram to continue our conversation in a bit. The same app used by terrorists like the Islamic State. Our chat'll be a private one, so there'll be no way that anyone can trace this."

"At least it'll be better than using LifeInvader."

Robert led the infiltration into Ashenden from the ground floor via stairs. The lifts were in operation, but the sounds of the lift doors opening and closing can easily give away their stealth approach. Everyone planned the operation to be one for infiltration by ensuring that Jones nor his Black Arrow/Spectre allies will be able to find out that they've infiltrate the estate until the very last minute.

"All clear." Robert told the others as they pushed forward and climbed up the stairs. "Seems like no one's posted at the stairs."

"All the better for us then." Daryl grinned as he followed Robert up the stairs. Nathan kept an eye on their rear in case of a potential sneak attack.

Almost there. Robert thought to himself when he went up the stairs to the third floor. "Lester, we're already at the destination."

"Alright. Bain has made contact with us and he's providing more intel on Black Arrow and Spectre's activities in the abandoned estate."

"Are we expecting any help?" Robert gestured to the trio to put on their balaclavas.

"Maybe... Depends on how fast the person can arrive. For now, we're on our own."

"Understood." Robert and Nathan stacked up on one side of the door with Daryl on the other side of the door leading to the third floor of the apartment block.

Nathan patted Robert's left shoulder twice.

With the act done, Robert slowly gripped the door knob and moved it carefully to see if it was rigged with something on the other side. He carefully moved it until he can peek through the slightly open space.

"All clear." The ex-para whispered after getting a good look. "Let's move in."

The four men carefully entered the floor, clearing the immediate area before they began their search for the target.

Nine and Twelve made their approach towards the eastern side of Ashenden. So far, they encounter a few gang members loitering around the area. And from the look of things, they were waiting since they weren't given orders on what to do for the meantime.

["Counting around five to six armed gangsters."] Twelve whispered as they came near the building's east side.

["Don't do anything to give away ourselves."] Nine gave him his instructions.

Twelve rolled his eyes. ["Hey, you know that I'm not to give myself away unless it's necessary."]

["Of course not."]

Nine simply crouched and shouldered the MP9 before he opened fire, keeping his shots accurate with the red dot scope. Twelve later joined in, opting to not use the grenades in order to keep the element of surprise to their advantage until they can join the others inside the apartment block.

["All clear."] Twelve told Nine after the last gang member was shot dead before he can take out an Ingram MAC-10 submachine gun.

Nine nodded and moved to the eastern entrance. "This is Nine. I think I spotted a vehicle parked nearby."

"Roger, Nine." Lester replied to Nine. "Anything specific?"

Nine and Twelve inspected the parked vehicle. "Appears to be a black Cadillac Escalade ESV. I'm assuming that this is a 2016 model."

"Get me the plate details and I'll look it up. For now, we assume that this is a hostile vehicle."

"Understood."

The two teens waited near the parked SUV after Twelve found the license plates and gave the details to Lester.

Lester and Ricky were monitoring the transmissions from the teams as they began their infiltration of the Ashenden. Not only that, but they listened to updates being made by Ilija and by Dagger, being placed to do overwatch of the outside to make sure no one would get in the area and interfere.

"All clear." Ilija reported in. "So far, everything's quiet on my end."

"Same goes for me." Dagger reported in as well. "How's the Spotter?"

"He said things haven't changed yet since you guys moved in." Lester gave the reply as he looked through the map of the entire estate from his laptop. 

"Hopefully the guy hasn't left yet. He's very useful in keeping an eye on things where we don't have easy access to."

"Agreed. Wish I found out about him back in LA." Lester sighed. "Anyway, I'll keep an eye on things with the Metropolitan Police's emergency channels in case they get wind of the raid."

"Thanks a bunch."

"Yeah. Don't mention it."

Ricky waited for a search update to come back regarding the ESV's plates. His laptop gave a prompt that the details are now available.

"I got something regarding those plates." Ricky opened the file that the program compiled.

"Please tell me that you got some good information."

"Indeed I do." Ricky showed his laptop to Lester, which showed the details of the ESV's license plates and the registration details belong to Tyrone Jones.

"So it belongs to our drug dealer friend." Lester nodded after he briefly read the details on who the ESV is legally registered to.

"Okay guys." Lester made contact with Nine and Twelve. "We got a hit on the license plate you mentioned. That's one of the vehicles registered to Mr. Jones?"

"So how does a drug dealer have a vehicle registered to him when he's suppose to be known by the Metropolitan Police?"

"If there's one thing that ought to be know is that money talks. For the meantime, feel free to take care of Mr. Jones' SUV. We can't let it get away from the scene."

"Understood. Nine out."

["Let's sabotage the SUV."] Nine told Twelve after he took a good look around the vehicle as Twelve searched the dead gang members for the SUV's key.

["Okay! I found it!"] Twelve showed the SUV's key with the remote device in a keychain.

["Perfect..."] Nine took the keychain and used the remote to unlock the doors. Twelve got in the driver's seat from the right side since the vehicle's steering wheel is on the right.

Nine was about to enter when he saw a gang member rushing towards his position. As the gang member cocked the bolt of his MAC-10, Nine saw him getting shot at the left temple.

He noted that he didn't any audible gunshots, which meant that it was fired from a suppressed weapon.

Not that he knows where it's coming from.

"We took care of that guy who just came out of another apartment block." Nine heard Mukuro's voice on the radio. He assumed that she was speaking to everyone else who was sharing the same frequency. "Dagger took the shot."

"Roger that." Ricky replied. 

"Well that was... interesting." Lester was not that surprised that a gang member came out from another apartment block. "Must be someone who was on break or something since most of Mr. Jones' gang is concentrated inside Ashenden."

"So what now?" Nine asked on the frequency as he got on the SUV. Twelve drove the vehicle and used it as a makeshift barrier on the road, seeing that it was still in good condition.

"We'll still stick with Ilija and Dagger providing cover fire. Robert and the others are still conducting their advance inside to search for Mr. Jones, Mr. Moreau and Col. Prentiss. With any luck, they should stumble onto them sooner or later."

"Understood."

"You guys cover the entrance and use the SUV as a barrier."

The four-man team advanced inside Ashenden, keeping their TR-1s raised up for the eventuality that an armed man will come out and confront them. They moved in a straight line, being on the alert and watching the front, side and rear for anything out of the ordinary.

"How are you guys doing?" Lester made contact with Robert over the comms.

"Nothing to worry about..." Robert was about to give a full reply when an armed gang member came out of an apartment behind Nathan. He was about to shout when Nathan grabbed him by the shirt collar and punched him twice in the face to knock him out cold. "And we took care of a gang member who's about to break our cover."

"Well, nothing changed so far aside from the recent spotting of a gang member from another apartment block Dagger took care of... So uh... I don't need to remind you guys to watch your backs."

"But you already did, Lester." Daryl raised the said issue to the broker.

"Never mind. Ricky's trying to see if he can break into BA's comm channels right now. He should give us an update in a minute or two."

"Got some news. Though it depends if you want to hear the good one or the bad one."

Robert gestured to the others to stop. "Let's hear the bad news first."

"Okay..." Ricky was stoked to give the needed info. "Some of the BA contractors have been trying to get in touch with some of the gang members killed outside. Now I don't know if they're aware that they're dead dead, considering that we went in without alerting anyone and I heard a partial radio transmission, but Mr. Moreau is considering the option to have the contractors deploy out."

Just what we need... "And the good news?"

"The good news is that he's currently talking to Mr. Jones with Col. Prentiss. Which means you can bag 'em all at once."

Lester moved in to speak before Ricky could potentially get carried away. "Moreau's got Mr. Hinx to serve as muscle. And from what information I can find, he's very determined to do his job and he won't stop even if he's on the loosing end until he can do his work. Be warned that he got his fingernails replaced with razor sharp ones, so he's deadly in close quarters combat."

"For a minute there, I thought we're gonna have to face off against a homosexual with sharpened fingernails, brother." Daryl chuckled after he heard Lester's answer.

"Come on..." Robert chided the hired gunman. "Concentrate."

"Okay..." Nathan informed the other three. "Gunman's taken care of. I stashed his body back at the apartment where he came out."

"Good." Robert nodded. "Hopefully we don't encounter any teenagers or kids ready to fight us."

A door had opened up and a woman in her 20s with her baby, held in her arms, was seen heading out when Robert moved in to talk to her.

"I need you to get back inside." Robert instructed the woman. "It's not safe."

The woman nodded and went back inside, locking the door after she went back into the apartment.

"How's Dagger doing?"

"Looks like it's going well, sir. But are you sure about this... I mean."

"I understand your concern. As long as we don't reveal our hand out there, we'll be fine. Well... maybe except for our enemies. They'll probably know."

"We should probably start recruiting more allies to help us against their plans. They've been doing this for a long time even before we started to get involved."

"I understand, sir."

"Let me know when there's an update on things going on from America and Japan."

"I'll get right on it."

A blond Caucasian man with glasses was told by a waiter inside Fischer's, an Austrian restaurant located at London's Marylebone High Street near the Sherlock Holmes Museum. It was a table seated for three persons.

"Thank you." The man thanked the waiter and informed him that his food was already ordered and is in the processed of being served.

"I'm so glad that you decided to receive my invitation, Mr. Lane..." The grey-haired man wearing a navy blue silk Nehru jacket, brown pants and brogue shoes invited his guest to sit down. He was seen eating the Lamb Goulash. The main thing noticeable about the man was the presence of a scar that was over his right eye.

"Thank you, Mr. Blofeld. And please, call me Solomon." Solomon sat down on his seat. Looks like the intel we got is right. That man is Ernst Stavros Blofeld and he wants to make an alliance between the Syndicate and Spectre. We may share some interests, but it depends on where we stand.

"Of course, of course." Blofeld showed him his seat after he ate a piece of the lamb.

Solomon took his seat when the waiter presented to him the Grilled Spatchcock Chicken with Salsa Verde on it.

"I hope you don't mind. I took the liberty of ordering your lunch." Blofeld said after he finished chewing his food. "And we should have one more guest joining us."

"I understand." Solomon nodded. "I'm assuming that you called for this lunch meeting because of an offer you're making..."

"Ah..." Blofeld smiled and nodded. "I'm glad to see that you're eager to listen to me. This should be interesting for our guest when he arrives."

An East Asian man in his early 50s with black hair and a trimmed goatee arrived inside Fischer's. He took off his brown trenchcoat, revealing his white dress shirt, grey pants and black Venetian-style shoes. He smiled and shook hands with Blofeld when he was directed to the table.

"I'm pleased to see that you made it, Peter." Blofeld shook hands with Peter Choi, the ex-Commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force, currently a private security consultant operating out of Britain in the IT industry.

"When I was told you were having a meeting with Mr. Lane, I immediately came here as soon as I could." replied the ex-Commissioner, having a slight Cantonese accent when he spoke. He took his seat next to Solomon.

"I hope I didn't interrupt you or anything."

"No, no. There was a meeting that was rescheduled a few hours ago before my secretary told me that you were looking for me when I was in a phone call." Peter shook hands with Solomon. "So, what's the agenda for today?"

"Well..." Blofeld started the conversation. "The agenda for today is that Mr. Lane represents the Syndicate and he seems eager to listen to an offer for an alliance."

Solomon nodded. "Yes. When we last spoke, I was not so sure about it considering that various intelligence agencies had been tracking down Spectre's activities since the end of the Cold War."

Peter crossed his arms when he listened to the blonde man. "Was there something that changed your mind?"

Solomon was silent for a minute or two before he replied. "Yes. Yes there was."

"And that was?"

"We share mutual enemies. And if I recall, you mentioned about some group that's been interrupting your operations alongside James Bond." The query made by Solomon was directed at Blofeld.

"Indeed they have. Things were doing well, but they've interrupted some minor operations that has little consequence to me since we're able to restart them immediately." Blofeld sighed after he finished his lamb.

"But I'm concerned that this group, whoever is bankrolling them, will come butt heads with me." He pointed his fork at Solomon and Peter. "And to you and you."

"I can ask my contacts, see if there's something that can be done to alleviate the situation." Peter raised a suggestion to Blofeld. "But will the Impossible Mission Force make a move?"

"No." Blofeld shook his head. "From what I heard from a contact in the CIA, they're too busy investigating the lead on the Syndicate, which according to him, their director believes to be a spy's fairy tale."

Solomon smirked when he heard about the Syndicate's existence being questioned by the CIA. Which is one of the most efficient foreign intelligence organization within the First World. He began to eat his food while he wondered on his thoughts.

"I have someone on the inside... within British intelligence." Blofeld addressed Peter's query. "He's been good to me. In fact, I'm receiving word from him that he relayed orders to some of his men within the Metropolitan Police to hold back a potential assault on the Heygate Estate."

"I remember that place was suppose to be condemned..." Solomon mused, having been familiar with the place. "So you're working with the local drug dealers."

"Only because the Home Secretary, who has sadly passed away, is one of mine as well. He's a good man."

"I see."

"So this means we are all in agreement?" Peter asked the two men at the table.

"It would be for our mutual interests if we combine our resources." Blofeld replied to Peter. "But as long as our operations don't conflict with our interests... legitimate or otherwise."

"I agree with him."

"We can convene again in the future." Blofeld said before he started to conclude the meeting. "I'll have another meeting soon with a... friend who can make some arrangements regarding some sponsorship projects that they want to handle."

"Who are they and who are they going to bankroll?"

The leader of Spectre smirked at Peter. "Oh. Wouldn't you like to know?"

Col. Prentiss made his presence known when he entered an apartment that was being used as a private meeting spot for Moreau and Jones, the former being accompanied by Hinx for protection.

The BA officer made arrangements of his own to have BA contractors inside as well for the trio's protection while the outside would be guarded by some of Jones' own gang members.

"Glad to see you, Colonel." Moreau greeted the colonel. "I hope things weren't difficult with your superior back in Washington."

"No, no." Prentiss sat down at the nearest sofa chair. "Just cleared a few things up with regards to this little venture he arranged." Good thing too that I gave the order to not let the contractors wear or carry anything that can give away their affiliations to Black Arrow for this op.

Hinx simply stared at Prentiss took his seat. His hands were positioned over his pelvis, one hand over the other.

"I've made contact with Mr. Blofeld a few minutes before you arrived, Colonel." Moreau explained to him the details he had after his previous phone call. "He seems to be concerned that with the death of the Home Secretary, there's going to be an intensified investigation on our links to him and to Mr. Jones."

"I thought you blokes said that you got someone on the inside." Jones eyed the French-African man cautiously.

"Yes, we do. But according to our recent update with him, even he doesn't have enough influence to ward off the investigation. Sooner than later, we need to burn our connections with him if you want your drug operation to survive this."

"And he's the only one who could block any filth investigation into my operation..."

One of the BA contractors was on the radio when he heard a transmission in his earpiece, who was armed with a Heckler & Koch MP5A3 submachine gun with a red dot scope on the upper receiver. The submachine gun was set to fire at three round bursts.

"What's going on?" Prentiss asked the contractor when he approached him from the side.

"Sir, we got some bad news."

Prentiss gritted his teeth. "How bad?"

"Some of the gang member we trained were trying to make contact with some of their guys outside. Said it's been twelve minutes since the last radio contact."

"Get everyone in position." Prentiss told the contractor his instructions.

"Mr. Hinx." Moreau called for the man's attention.

Hinx nodded, looking at the man for instructions.

"We leave at once. We need to cut our meeting short."

While Hinx was making preparations to leave, Moreau took out his Samsung smartphone and made a phone call.

"Get in touch with our teams." Prentiss spoke to an armed contractor. "Tell them that the situation has gotten complicated."

As they were about to leave the apartment, the four men could hear automatic gunfire from within the interior of the Ashenden.

At the outskirts of the estate, a blond Caucasian man was seen standing on the roof of a building overlooking the area. He was wearing a gray suit, necktie, white dress shirt and black Oxford shoes with an earpiece on his right ear. At the moment, he was observing the raid on the estate via binoculars. Beyond that, he couldn't get a look at what's happening inside.

"Looks like things are heating up at Heygate Estate." The man said out loud. He spotted a speeding SUV making an approach towards the estate, so he peered through his binoculars to see what was going on there.

Karl and Ilija were hearing on their transmission that an incoming vehicle was deemed hostile.

A 2016 Mitsubishi Shogun LWB SG4 SUV with a Eiger Grey finish was seen making the approach to the estate. Lester informed them that Rickie checked out the SUV and it was registered to a known associate of Tyrone's.

Even with the parked X-Trail blocking the way and gunfire from Karl and Ilija, the driver didn't show signs of hesitating and chose to drive over the sidewalk to bypass the roadblock.

The gunfire resulted in several bullet holes and broken windows, none of them hitting the SUV's critical parts like the engine body.

When the SUV came to a stop, Karl went up to see who was inside. He radioed to Ilija that the occupants were armed gangsters trying to move in to reinforce their gang.

Taking a look at the estate grounds, a few gang members ran out from some of the dilapidated apartment blocks towards Ashenden until they were shot dead in their tracks.

"If you're hearing me, 007, then it means that no one's jamming this transmission yet." A calm, but frustrated man was heard on the earpiece.

"Indeed I'm hearing you, Q. I appreciate you covering for me. Did M ask for me after my side trip from Austria?" The man known by the codename of 007 replied on his line. When he tried to focus on where some of the sporadic gunfire came from, he saw Dagger firing his NFWS with Mukuro covering his rear.

Nine and Twelve were seen as well firing their MP9s, using the Escalade ESV as cover since the vehicle was being shot at with bullet holes on the windshield and the body. The two were seen moving in to the apartment block after they thinned down the hostiles until no shots were being made against them.

"He has, but I'm sure he has ways of finding out about what you're doing sooner or later." Q replied. "I'm assuming that the things from Austria is related to this how?"

"Mr. White mentioned about having some personal links with some interesting people there."

"How so?"

"Well..." The agent lowered his binoculars as he walked back to the rooftop door, leading to the staircase. "I'll have to go and get a closer look." 

"Do be careful. I'm not sure when M may have to check in with me again to see if you're still around."

"Will do."

Hinx and a few BA contractors began to escort Moreau and Prentiss through the apartment block as gunfire was heard from a distance, presumably from the gang members trying to fight off the incursion into their territory. They were moving towards the nearest staircase when one of the contractors reported contact with a hostile.

Prentiss listened in on his earpiece as he got the transmission from a BA contractor who had been shot by Robert as he and the other two gunmen made contact and are moving in towards their location. The last transmission he got was that Jones was leading the charge to stall the trio for the time being. He also heard that two unidentified persons were reported to be inside the block, most likely trying to stall their efforts to evacuate.

"We head towards the nearest elevator." Prentiss ordered the contractors. One of them pointed to a working elevator within a distance.

"Go, go, go!" The three BA contractors immediately moved in to secure the elevator. Two of them secured the area while the third pressed the button to call for the elevator car to the third floor.

When the chime was heard, the elevator doors opened up to reveal no one was inside. When the contractors gave the thumbs up to indicate that the car was clear of any occupants, Nine and Twelve emerged from the car's ceiling and opened fire while they leaned out from it by exposing their bodies.

The Spectre enforcer motioned to Moreau to get inside an empty apartment while he helped Prentiss get some of the wounded contractors after they were shot by using the drag handles to get them dragged inside before they would be killed.

"Help me with this!" Prentiss motioned to Hinx as he lobbed a primed M18 smoke grenade after he took it from the grenade pouch of a BA contractor's plate carrier. Hinx nodded and followed what he was doing and tossed out another M18 to fill the hallway full of red and yellow smoke.

"Dammit..." Nine gritted his teeth when the smoke began to obscure his vision. Not that he can't see, but he can't see anything beyond the hallway if any hostiles were in the area.

Twelve opted to hang back and conduct a brass check on his MP9 to see if there was still ammo in his magazine.

What the? Nine could hear someone running very fast towards their position. He wasn't sure who was out there, but the smoke cleared out when Hinx executed the single leg running dropkick attack at him.

Shit! The teen nearly was kicked if he didn't make a last minute decision to dodge by leaning back on the wall. After Hinx realized that he missed, he used his right arm to parry a punch meant for his face from Nine.

Hinx glared at him when he kicked him hard on his plate carrier that he fell down. Twelve leaped on his back and placed his arms around his neck.

However, Hinx rolled his eyes since he was not amused by the sneak attack. He grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. This made Twelve land on top of Nine. Their MP9s were left dangling on their side, thanks to the combat slings placed on their right shoulders.

Chapter 2 END

Chapter Text

Somewhere in a dimly lit room, a person wearing a balaclava and Chinese-made American Woodland BDUs, was seen looking at a PC laptop screen. It appears that the person was talking to someone online via Skype desktop app with a VPN being used to mask the location's IP address.

<"How are things there?"> The balaclava-clad man asked the person after they started videoconferencing in Arabic.

<"We're being careful as usual."> The other man on the laptop screen sighed. <"Considering the recent attacks made by Daesh in most parts of Europe, it'll be harder for us to easily mobilize without getting the attention of the police. Especially with their territory getting smaller and smaller, they'll be desperate to do something to show the entire world that they're still capable... I don't know if we can help give the People's Liberation and Resistance a name outside of the Middle East.">

<"I don't really know if it's worth the time to beat Daesh at their own game while we should support Baghdad to crush them before they become a menace that we can't even take down.">

<"Hey. I just volunteered with the PLR. You need to take up that issue with Al-Bashir on that.">

<"Whatever... I'll try to make contact with Gazul as soon as possible. See what we can do. We may have to get on top of them to get an advantage if we have to.">

<"Understood. I'll check on what's happening on my end.">

Some sudden tremors were felt in the room. In fact, those tremors appear to be resemble those heard from very, very loud explosions.

"Allah Ma’ak."

"Allah Ma’ak."

The man immediately booted down the laptop after clearing the cookies of his browser, activating the password protection feature. Just as he was about to leave the room with his laptop inside a shoulder bag, he heard loud gunfire coming from somewhere.

<"It's Daesh, Ali!!"> A man of Arab origin with the same Woodland BDUs and vest with a Norinco Type 56 assault rifle slung on his back, a balaclava worn over his head and a leg holster strapped on the right leg ran up behind the masked man and grabbed his arm. <"They're raiding the place while we're conducting a siege on Mosul!">

<"But how did they breach this place, Umar?!"> Ali ran alongside Umar down the corridor towards a three-way intersection when the latter turned around to fire his Type 56 at Daesh fighters, who were seen clad in various desert camo BDUs, boots and shemaghs to cover their face. A few were shot dead, which forced the others to crouch or go prone to avoid being hit by gunfire.

<"They used a car bomb to take out the entrances to the base before they struck us by surprise from all directions..."> Umar shouted when he opened fire at the Daesh fighters. <"It's as if they've been keeping an eye on us for a while ever since we started the operation on Mosul for the fourth time.">

<"I know it wasn't a good idea to set up base near the outskirts of the city when Daesh can send in their best.">

Ali covered for Umar when he saw a Daesh fighter show up in front of Umar. <"Get down!">

Umar ducked down and clutched his shoulder bag when Ali opened fire a few times to take out the hostile fighter. He flipped the bayonet out when another Daesh fighter tried to get in close with a knife, except that Ali had the better opportunity since he was trained to handle rifles and carbines with bayonets attached in close quarters. It resulted in the fighter being stabbed in the chest multiple times with the fatal stab on his throat.

<"What's happening now?"> Umar got up with help from Ali, feeling a bit tired from constantly running. It didn't help that their makeshift base was very big and had a lot of ground to cover.

<"We're advised to get away from here and regroup to another PLR base ASAP."> Ali led Umar by putting his right hand on his left shoulder while he gripped the Type 56 from the pistol grip held with his left hand.

<"Any backup from Hezbollah?"> Ali ran besides Umar, the latter leading him to a section of the hideout that goes to an underground corridor. The door was locked by Ali after it was closed to stall the Daesh fighters from pursuing them.

The two PLR fighters ran towards a waiting AIL Storm M-240 Mark II Armored Border Patrol jeep with a driver provided, provided covertly by the Syrian Army after they took it from abandoned FSA vehicles left during a fight between them and ISIL fighters a few weeks ago.

Four PLR fighters were present to provide covering eye in case Daesh would be encountered. They stood near a parked AM General M1114 Humvee armed with a Russian-made Tula DShK heavy machine gun encased in an armored gun turret with armored plating over the rest of the vehicle's body and in Iraqi desert camo paint with the Iraqi flag painted on the driver and front passenger doors.

It was previously used by the Iraqi Army before ISIL captured it, which was subsequently captured by PLR fighters during an armed encounter alongside Hezbollah and Quds Force.

<"I don't know... I got word from the others that communications with them stopped because our gear was seized and destroyed by those Daesh dogs. We're going to be one of the last ones to withdraw from here. This place is lost to us now."> Umar motioned to Ali to get inside the back seat of the jeep while Ali got inside the front passenger seat. The driver told the two of them to hang on because he was driving as fast as he could.

When the jeep drove away via dirt road, the other PLR fighters boarded the M1114 and prepared to open fire when they left the area and used the mounted DShK to take out any Daesh fighters that were out in the open. They prioritized taking out fighters who were seen with RPG-7s or other anti-tank/armor weapons/equipment before the M1114 was lost in an attack thanks to a volley of anti-tank rockets.

The surviving vehicle drove away from the outskirts of Mosul, abandoning their hideout a few kilometers near Mosul International Airport via Abu Saif.

It was merely a two-story mansion built by a Ba'ath Party official who made it as alternate residence for him and his family to use whenever they would take a vacation from the hectic life at Baghdad. Right now, the building was under attack and was in the process of being destroyed.

It was originally established as a covert observation post by the PLR when they secretly took out ISIL fighters assigned to it as an OP of their own to keep an eye on Iraqi/Iranian/Coalition forces if they would try to advance onto Mosul from the south.

In the meantime, it was seen as a minor setback for the anti-ISIL coalition force as they continued to do battle with them to slowly regain control of the Sunni-majority city.

The driver of the jeep radioed back to a joint command post being used by Hezbollah and the PLR to coordinate their efforts, either by themselves or together with the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or Sepâh for short. They were informed that their cell is the only one to survive the assault on their OP and will rendezvous back to their main base.

Now our story heads back to London, where a siege is being conducted on Heygate Estate by a mysterious group against the operations of local drug dealer Tyrone Jones and anyone else supporting him from the shadows.

Nine and Twelve are currently in trouble, mostly due from fighting Hinx in close quarters. They were victims of being given the shoulder throw and clothesline treatment.

The two responded by firing their B&T MP9s at the Spectre enforcer, forcing him back and on the run when he got to the empty apartment which Moreau used to hide himself with Prentiss.

["Okay! We're on the offensive."] Twelve said when he emptied his magazine, which forced to immediately reload. Nine covered for him when he saw a BA contractor show up to open fire with his HK MP5A3. He dropped dead after the glasses-wearing teen shot him in the chest several times.

They took cover using the nearest wall corner to hide from being hit by gunfire from BA contractors protecting Moreau, hiding with Prentiss and Hinx. They got in touch with Lester, being told that Robert, Daryl and Nathan were advancing in from the other side, taking out Tyrone's men and a few BA contractors sent in to reinforce them.

["About damn time too."]

Twelve secured a few M67 frag grenades from the tactical vest of a dead BA contractor. He showed Nine the live grenade and pulled the pin before he hurled it towards the open door when a BA contractor was conducting suppressive fire. The explosion killed him immediately and damaged the door and parts of the entrance with shrapnel.

["Better send another one to keep their heads down."] Nine told Twelve after he had to stop firing his MP9 since it ran out of ammo.

["On it!"] Twelve shouted with enthusiasm as he chucked another live frag grenade. This forced Moreau, Prentiss and Hinx to keep their heads down until they can get help.

The blond man, or 007, was walking up another staircase leading to the upper floors of the Ashenden when he encountered four armed gangsters, all in various hoodies, pants and sneakers and were armed with Ingram MAC-10s.

Hello there.

He was intrigued to see that the armed men were not aware of his presence just yet. With this in mind, he decided to go up the stairs slowly. When he was at arm's length, the nearest gangster was grabbed from the back.

"What the?" The others were alerted to the scuffle going on and one of them had the chance to fire his MAC-10.

"My apologies, gentlemen." The man placed the gangster to sleep by placing him in a headlock until he was out cold. The unconscious gangster was shoved in front, which startled the second gangster to fire his submachine gun. The barrage killed him instantly.

"Holy shit...!" The other two were about to raise their MAC-10s when the intruder moved in, using quick punches and kicks to knock them out one by one. For the last one though, the man gave him a beating by punching him several times until he was unconscious.

"Now then..." The agent opened the fire escape door and saw Robert, Daryl and Nathan clearing the hallway of the gangsters blocking their way by using bound and overwatch. Robert was the one to take the lead while either Daryl or Nathan stepped back to provide cover fire and vice versa by using the apartment door corners for cover.

So far, things were going well for them. He saw that they had to stop and take cover in an empty apartment while getting information from their earpieces about what's happening.

Robert gestured to the other two to check their TTI TR-1 Ultralight AR-15 carbines before proceeding. The agent had previously been told that the apartment was made off-limits by the Metropolitan Police Service to Tyrone Jones' control over the derelict estate. And if whoever's shooting up the place is hunting him down means that both parties may have strong backers who happen to be helping them from behind the scenes.

Better wait for them to leave first. I don't know if I'll be walking into a crossfire. Besides, they could lead me to Mr. Jones.

As soon as three-man team moved further down the floor, clearing it of hostiles and getting civilians to get behind something safe, the man followed them from a few steps behind just to shadow them and see what they're going to do next.

Tyrone Jones was forced to retreat when he got a call on his Samsung smartphone. He motioned to his men to push forward and slow the intruders down while he answered the call he's getting.

"I'm fucking busy!" Tyrone shouted since loud gunfire was heard in the background.

"Sorry about it, but we're gettin' trouble from the rear too." The reply came from one of his men on the line. "But them private contractors are tellin' us that they're gonna bug it outta there.."

The drug dealer cursed bitterly. If his Spectre and Black Arrow backers are going to abandon him and his crew to the mercy of the ex-para turned vigilante and the others despite the few weeks that they have conducted paramilitary training for them to properly fight back, then that means...

"Screw it then!" Tyrone is more pissed that he's being abandoned. Not to mention that an unofficial liaison from London has not been conveyed to him yet ever since the Home Secretary was assassinated. "If we're going down, then we go down fucking fighting!"

"What about those guys helpin' us out?"

"If they're bailin' on us, then I'm considering them expendables! Send the word out..."

After the frag grenades went off, Nine and Twelve started to check their corners for any signs of hostiles if they're standing or not.

["Looks clear."] Twelve murmured when he peeked around to see the ceiling, the walls and the floor marked with remains from shrapnel. ["Looks like our target's been quiet. Follow me."]

Nine nodded and covered Twelve's rear when the former took a good look at the first apartment door he saw, which has mostly been destroyed by the grenade blast and/or shrapnel. It was kicked down, allowing the duo entry.

"Nobody move!" Nine shouted after he came running inside the apartment, aiming the MP9 around to see if anyone was around. He signaled to Twelve to take a look around to see where the targets have gone to. ["Dammit.."]

While some shooting was going on, Twelve searched the rooms up to the common bathroom to see that no one was around. He did find a wall that was recently breached in with explosives, suggesting that they make their escape in the chaos.

["No one here."] Twelve told Nine. ["Looks like our friends in Black Arrow and Spectre made their escape."]

["Damn shame."] Nine sighed before he got an incoming transmission. ["Hold on. I'm getting something on the comms."]

["Is it from Robert?"]

["Yeah. Give me a sec."]

Nine listened in on the transmission while Twelve stood near the busted door to see if anyone was coming towards their direction.

The Spotter was in contact with Nine who, with Ilija's assistance, was able to track down the explosion that tore through Ashenden the minute he saw it through his binoculars.

"Ilija, can you get a better look on who did that?" The Spotter radioed in.

"Ah..." came the reply from the sniper.

"What's happening outside?" The Spotter could hear Nine's voice on his comms.

"We saw the explosion from the outside. Does it belong to the targets?"

"I believe so." The Spotter replied. "We're checking it out..."

Ilija came back on the line. "I was able to get a good look at the rear. I've sighted Black Arrow and Spectre HVTs making a run for it."

"Are they in a vehicle?"

"No they..." The Spotter and Nine heard the sniper's hesitation for a few seconds. "they got themselves into a vehicle. It looks like they took out of one of Jone's men trying to pursue them."

"That's... interesting." Nine got the word. "I'll make sure to inform the others."

Twelve linked up with Robert, Daryl and Nathan, seeing the former holster an Advanced Taser M26C taser pistol on the holster attached on his right leg.

"Didn't realize that this bloody thing would come in handy." Robert said after he entered the wrecked apartment.

"So what's he talking about?" Twelve asked.

"He found an armed kid trying to shoot him from the back, so we..." Daryl began to explain. "I mean we warned him after Nathan spotted the kid trying to aim the giant pistol of his from the back."

"Yeah, yeah." Robert sighed, hoping that the hired gun could stop praising him.

Twelve took a look outside and saw a young African-British kid unconscious, placed near the wall with his back resting on it. "Least you didn't kill him."

"Apologies for the wait guys." Nine reconvened with the three men. "The spotter mentioned that the HVTs have escaped with a few surviving Black Arrow contractors."

"That puts the work back into square one." Daryl groaned in frustration.

"Word is we'll meet with the others outside Ashenden and then figure out our next move with Lester."

Lester radioed in on the guys. "So I don't know if I wanna say good work, but did of you guys spot Tyrone Jones anywhere in that apartment building?"

"Shit..." Nathan murmured when he heard Lester on the radio. "I think we caught a glimpse of him, but we last heard him heading off to who knows where."

"So if we didn't get the guy, then we can't get a chance to grill him on his links with Spectre." Nine kicked the nearest pile of debris, which consisted of wood from the door ripped apart by frag grenades.

"Perhaps I can help with that."

The five persons turned their attention to the door and saw Jones, who was in a headlock in front of the blond man. They aimed their weapons at him.

"Who the hell are you?" Nathan was surprised to see the blond man bring the subdued drug dealer in.

"Oh. I'm just a friendly secret agent man." The man smirked. "But you can call me Bond. James Bond."

"What does MI6 have their involvement done with this drug dealer?" Robert kept his aim at Bond, but lowered it a bit since he brought Jones in and didn't threaten him nor the others.

"Funny story. I just happened to follow one of my leads from Italy when I caught wind of rumors that Spectre's involved as a foreign entity in the British drug trade."

"Let's say you're right... Mr. Bond." Robert replied to his answer. "Me and my buddies here need to ask him about his links..."

"...with the Home Secretary." James followed up on Robert's answer. This left Robert raising an eyebrow. "Relax. I got friends in law enforcement and in the intelligence community who started an investigation onto his activities."

"Let's start this slowly..." Nathan motioned to Robert to lower his carbine. "For now, let's grill the man and see what info he has on his links to Spectre."

"H-hey... what the hell man?!" The drug dealer squirmed while in Bond's grip.

"You're going for a little trip out of here."

The next thing Tyrone remembered was that something was used to cover his head. And his wrists were restrained.

Lester and Rickie were monitoring radio channels used by the Metropolitan Police Service and the National Crime Agency when the former got word that they've met with an ally who's willing to help them out with their problem concerning the Home Secretary being infiltrated by Spectre due to Langdon being a covert member.

They didn't hear anything about Prentiss nor his Spectre allies, which suggests that they got away.

"The channels are picking up, man." Rickie told Lester when he lowered his headphones to listen to chatter from the MPS. "Someone called in an explosion at the Heygate Estate."

"Damn. I'll call them in." Lester patted Rickie on the shoulder before he made the call by contacting the Spotter via burner phone. "Hey it's me. Yeah, Rickie managed to overhear radio chatter from the MPS. Let the others know that they need to leave the estate ASAP. And if they got Jones, be sure to incapacitate him."

"Understood." The Spotter replied before the glasses-wearing underworld information broker ended the call. 

"And you need to evacuate too with Ilija. No way am I going to incur Bain's wrath, you hear me?"

"Gotcha."

"Rickie." Lester turned to the hacker. "We need to start packing everything up. Don't leave anything behind."

Rickie nodded when he turned off his laptop and started to pack it.

"I'll go and make the necessary calls. Don't wait for me."

"Got it."

Lester made further calls to Twitch, who was outside their hotel room to prep the car once he can and to make contact with Taliana to get ready to flee the estate grounds before the MPS can show up in full force.

Some civilians in the streets near Heygate Estate saw incoming MPS squad cars and vans going in to put up roadblocks and enter the decaying estate just as a few vehicles pulled out of the area a few minutes before they came in.

No one had seemed to notice the vehicles that came out of the estate. As far as they were concerned, it was already a bad area that no one had seemed to care about it.

The MPS reported that the Cadillac Escalade ESV parked near the Ashenden was being burned. Although unknown to them, a thermite grenade was used, taken from the combat vest of a slain BA contractor.

It would take a while for them to investigate the situation since Tyrone's gang has some backers in the Home Ministry, even with Langdon already dead, trying to delay the start of the investigation as much as possible to ensure that nothing can be linked to Spectre.

When Tyrone came to, he felt that he was placed in a chair, restrained from the back with his arms behind his back on a chair and his left leg cuffed to a chair leg. His head was still covered in a black bag to ensure that his vision would be blocked.

Where the bloody hell am I...?

"...we still got time?"

"...been some time since we got the guy in here."

"Better do it fast."

How long was I out?

Tyrone struggled to get himself out of his current predicament. But the more he struggled, the more he realized that he wasn't going to get out of this one.

"Looks like our mutual friend is awake."

That voice...

The thing that was removed from Tyrone's head was a black hood, worn over his head. James took a good look at him and he noted that he wasn't clean shaven and tidy since he already started to grow a beard, nor did he have a neat appearance with some bruises on his face. Weeks and weeks of being held in confinement in an undisclosed location would be responsible for that. The captive was only given some water and food enough that he can survive for a few days.

Tyrone squinted, trying to get use to light again after being in a hood for a few days every time. In the meantime, it was a matter of routine for him. The African-British man saw it was some kind of warehouse, but only parts of it had working lights and stacked shipping containers. And he wasn't sure if he can get out of his current problem.

James, after he came back to London, opted to go for the all-black look. Black squall bomber jacket and thermal shirt alongside dark blue jeans and brown loafers.

"Are you well, Mr. Jones?" James asked him about his condition, not attempting to hide the tone of sarcasm in his voice.

"When I get my hands on you..." Now Tyrone was desperate to get out of his restraints, even though his wrists and feet are cuffed.

"Hey, hey!"

It also didn't help that a pistol's barrel was pressed on the back on his head.

"Now that I have your attention away from business at hand, I have some question for you regarding Spectre's hand in the drug dealing business in London."

Tyrone gritted his teeth.

"Fine, have it your way."

The pistol was fired on his left leg.

"AAAAGGGGHHH!"

"Scream all you want Mr. Jones, no one will be able to help you out."

"Okay, okay!"

"Put it away." James spoke to the person behind Tyrone to holster his weapon.

"That guy.... Moreau..." Tyrone began to talk, while trying not to think about the gunshot wound on his left leg. "He mentioned to me back in Heygate that Langdon from the Home Office was the one responsible for ensuring that Spectre gets some cut from the drugs I sell on the streets."

"How much profit?" James was eager to hear what the drug dealer had to say about the organization's influence.

"A-around 5% of the profit."

"I guess that does confirm what our intel has on them."

James turned to the side and saw a masked Mukuro approach him.

"Did it now?"

"Yeah. We've been keeping tabs on them, amongst other shady groups that my partner and I have encountered on the field for a while. After all, we've been playing a game of taking them down slowly and painfully..."

James nodded when he heard the mercenary's answer.

"We need to go."

A man in his mid 50s in a black suit, blue dress shirt, a blue and white necktie and black loafers with a brown trenchcoat walked towards James. His hands were in the front pockets of the trenchcoat. The main thing noticeable about him is that he has a receding hairline.

"I thought you were busy with Q, Moneypenny and Bill, M." James greeted the head of the former MI6 agency.

"Your new friends helped expedite things a bit faster, 007." M told the spy as Tyrone's head was being covered again. "I found them to be quite effective in weeding out Spectre and Syndicate influence in London while you were in Morocco making your presence known there for the past few weeks. I'm already considering getting our friends to work for us once Spectre and the Syndicate's plans are kicked down the drain."

"So another player has come to join our little game?"

M nodded. "From what a Mr. Ethan Hunt has mentioned, they used to be an agency project before the Prime Minister pulled the plug for problems of accountability and how it can be easily hijacked by anyone who has an agenda in mind from back in the Cold War."

"I'm already guessing that it's been hijacked already..."

"Hey man! Let me go!"

Mukuro and Dagger were dragging a cuffed Tyrone out of the warehouse after they removed the cuffs from his leg and the cuffs on a chair.

"Don't worry, my friend. We'll take you to a special place that you'll really like."

Those reassuring words came from the masked mercenary himself when they brought Tyrone outside, who had some difficulty walking since he didn't have any kind of footwear on.

"Mr. Hunt and Mr. Stickell are ready, keeping Ms. Swann company." James and M were met by a man in his 30s with messy brown hair, who wore glasses, a gray fleece jacket, black shirt, jeans and black boots. "They just got back from their op on exposing the Syndicate to the Prime Minister."

"Thanks, Q. We need to talk with them and go over the plan." James thanked Q for getting him and M up to date.

"I'll go and speak with Bill and Ms. Moneypenny at once." Q left them and spoke to M's aide, who was just waiting on the side with the African-British woman.

"Although I have to say that it's a big bold for them do so by masquerading as the National Security Adviser." M said, being blunt about what he heard about Hunt's op.

"Well, the Americans have guts to do it, if I say so myself." James walked with M towards another section of the warehouse with Q leading the way. "If I may say so, I never liked Atlee in the first place."

"You're not the only one." M said. "And sooner or later, we'll all be doing something that going to be the most gutsy thing we do in the history of counter-terrorism."

James placed hand on the back of his head to see if something was there. But there wasn't any. It was most likely the sensation of having the back of his head nearly being drilled by his foster brother Blofeld.

Right now, he didn't want to think about it.

"Ms. Madeleine Swann." M spoke to the blonde-haired, French-born, Austrian-based psychologist who was seated in a wooden chair while she waited to talk to James, finishing up talking to Ethan and Luther. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Madeleine nodded and shook hands with him.

Mukuro and Dagger brought Tyrone out of the warehouse as it was getting dark. They walked with him down on Brickfield Road towards the direction of Limehouse Cut water canal. Since it was early evening and the area has warehouses that are not in use, people weren't present there. This meant that it was easier for Mukuro and company to stage their operations, knowing that it's a place where they can do their work without being alerted by the public.

This meant that that the warehouse needed to have equipment ready to be used as a makeshift command post. Thanks to Lester and Bain, the latter working from behind the scenes, they were able to help secure some of the equipment, either small arms, ammo or vehicles with bogus license plates and registrations because they can't count on the JIS since it's secretly a Spectre puppet.

"This is the end for you, Tyrone Jones." Dagger told the drug dealer calmly and honestly as the man stood near the edges of the empty parking lot facing the canal. They were able to enter by picking the lock used to lock up the chain link fence.

Tyrone tried to yell and get away, but he couldn't do it since his mouth was covered with something and his wrists was cuffed behind his back.

"No use trying to get away..."

Mukuro grabbed him from behind and placed his head in a headlock after she got him to kneel down with both of his knees on the ground. She drew out his Glock 81 knife and used it to cut his throat.

Dagger looked around to make sure no one was present or looking at his direction when Mukuro took care of Tyrone. After the deed was done, the two mercenaries disposed of his corpse by immediately shoving it to the canal so that they don't have to clean up a lot of wet blood on the lot.

Mukuro immediately sheathed her knife before they walked back out and locked the fence again to cover up their presence.

"We need to head back." Dagger told Mukuro after the former locked up the fence. "Way things are set... We may need to split up and take on both groups at the same time."

"True, but we'll need more manpower."

The two of them saw an incoming 2016 Peugeot Expert Panel Medium van in a Nimbus Grey finish. It parked next to the curb adjacent to the curb in front of the warehouse where their allies have currently set up their temp HQ. The sliding doors opened up to reveal some familiar faces with a few unfamiliar in the mix, including a green-haired Caucasian woman, an Asian-American woman and a brown-haired Caucasian man with a clean-shaven face.

"So you were saying?"

The female mercenary simply rolled her eyes in frustration. "Whatever."

The two were greeted by Lester, who told them that everyone has shown up for the briefing session.

Dagger and Mukuro carefully observed who's who in the meeting of people from all around the world who are present in London to take on a major operation against Spectre and the Syndicate in a joint mission... of sorts.

Lester took the lead in addressing the assembled group when they were gathered around a long table to check a world map placed on top of it. He started to brief everyone by explaining how the rogue Impossible Mission Force agents led by Ethan with ex-MI6 agent Ilsa Faust and James Bond nearly intersected with each other in Austria and Morocco, foiling Spectre and Syndicate operations in both countries.

This was eventually followed by their respective treks back to the UK. Tracing the route made everyone wonder if this was a coincidence or if their leaders made it this way so that in case one of them had trouble, they can summon for assistance from the other.

It was thanks to Lester, with Bain's assistance, when he set himself up as the contact after James suggested to the rogue IMF agents that they should come and see him. The rogue agents included Ethan Hunt, Luther Stickwell and William Brandt.

"From what both Ethan and Luther have told me, with additional information from Mr. M here..." Lester started the briefing when he showed M standing nearby to remind them that he had some information to share. "it seems that our enemies have decided to reinforce their position here after Mr. Dunn was abducted by Syndicate agents."

Lester pointed to the Thames, specifically the riverbank.

"If I recall correctly," Q spoke up to give more details. "that area has a cafe on the side. Mostly serves coffee and small bites."

Two men, one Caucasian and the other African-American, were toiling away at a laptop checking some data nearby when the latter patted the former on the shoulder, hearing that the briefing stopped for a bit. "Ethan... you're up. Tell them the details."

"Right, Luther." Ethan replied. "Everyone. I'll be going with Ilsa together and meet up with Solomon Lane to formally make the exchange with him in return for my colleague."

"I'd say that's mad..." Dagger heard his plans. "but I'm going to assume that you got something else in mind?"

"Yeah, I do."

"In the meantime," M spoke next. "My aide Bill Tanner should fill in on our battle plan."

"Thank you sir." Bill pointed to a certain part of Spring Gardens. "Some of us will start here and make our way to a hidden entrance located near the Thames. MI6 has a safe house that we can access prior to the establishment of the JIS."

"Anyone has a key or something to get there?" Robert asked Bill after he got a good look at the location of Spring Gardens on the map for himself.

"I'll take care of that." M told him. "I know the details on that safehouse."

"So are we going to divide our forces?" Mukuro asked the veteran SAS operator.

"That..." Lester tapped the location of the Thames on the map with his left index finger. "should be easy to handle." He counted how many people are present, except for Rickie since he's designated for tech stuff with him. All in all, it was more or less 29 people present who can fight when the situation calls for it.

If he got his counting wrong, who cares?

"We should get ourselves into two teams. And since I'm counting twenty-four in total, except for Rickie who's going to stay with me." Lester said before he faced Rickie, who was helping Luther with the USB flash drive to see if any additional data was inside, cloning the data to another flash drive without the veteran IMF agent knowing about it.

"And Twitch, since we'll need a driver to help us get out of here in case the situation goes FUBAR."

Rickie informed Luther that he already finished analysis of the flash drive and handed the original one back to him.

When Dagger approached him, Rickie handed him the other flash drive without hesitation. He also told the mercenary that it contained data taken from the Syndicate.

Twitch acknowledged himself by nodding. The others would be able to physically recognize him since he's wearing shades (which some peeps got to ask themselves why wear shades at night, even if it's just to hide his eyes from the public), his trimmed beard and a ponytail while he wore leather gloves, a dark blue suit, white dress shirt, light blue necktie and black loafers.

"Half of you guys will need to go with M to Spring Gardens and use their safehouse as a staging ground." Lester marked Spring Gardens with a red circle. "I'll let M take over from there."

The glasses-wearing man sighed and marked the Thames somewhere near the bridge with a red square. "The others will act as backup to Mr. Hunt while he goes to make the exchange."

"And the drivers?" Karl asked Lester before he stretched his arms.

"I'll let Karim and Taliana decide on that matter." Lester replied before he introduced the brown-haired man. "I recruited Declan Gormley thanks to a recommendation from Dagger. He'll be on standby with a chopper for transportation purposes. Twitch'll stay with us as usual and the Spotter will join you guys on the field."

Declan nodded to acknowledge himself. "I'll be on standby after you guys are deployed for the op. My callsign is Phoenix."

"So is the Spotter going to be armed?" Twelve asked Lester.

"No worries." The Spotter said, who was just staying quiet to listen to the briefing. "I've been told that I'll be meeting with some people once I'm out there."

"Yeah, Karl'll go with him." Lester addressed the teen's concern.

"Don't worry." Karl reassured Twelve. "I'll protect him like he's my own flesh and blood."

"For those in the IMF, you may recognize a familiar face." Dagger motioned to the Asian-American woman standing near him.

"Zhen..." Ethan greeted her.

"Good to see a familiar face." Luther smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. Greet to see you guys again."

"One more thing. We got additional manpower right now. One of the newbies we got is straight from Poland. Allow me to introduce you guys to Elżbieta "Ela" Bosak."

Ela nodded. "Please. Call me Ela."

Everyone else nodded at her request.

"Rickie and I will keep in touch with you guys." Lester mentioned that detail after Declan was finished. "We'll check in with comms to hear what the Metropolitan Police and other law enforcement agencies are up to."

"Understood." Dagger said when he looked over the map of London and took note of the positions mentioned. "Are the comms safe?"

"We worked with them for the past few days now. Should be fully proofed against electronic eavesdropping unless someone gets the drop on us."

"Guess the only thing we need to go is to move out."

The group began to divide themselves according to the manpower and priorities they need once they're in the Greater London Area.

Two teams were being drawn up. One would work alongside the defunct MI6 team and head to an unused safehouse, which would be used as the initial staging point. The other would work with the rogue IMF agents to secure one of their own from Lane's group and extract said person.

Depending on how the teams are drawn up, the others may most likely stay behind as backup and as such, will be deployed by Declan just in case. Lester has not said anything on having Twitch out in the field.

The first team going with the MI6 group consisted of Dagger, Mukuro, Robert, Ela and Ilija with Taliana as the driver. Lester designated them as Alpha Team.

The other team going with the rogue IMF agents consisted of Zhen, Karl, Nathan, Nine and Twelve with Karim as the driver. Lester had them designated as Bravo Team.

The plans call for them to be deployed simultaneously in order to tackle both factions and take them out of the picture before it's too late.

"All right! Time to go!" M shouted as the groups went for the vans parked inside the warehouse, already donned with their black Flyye Industries LT6094 plate carriers (or black Eagle Industries Sniper Vest for the snipers) with leg holsters strapped on either their left or right legs. Lester went to work with Rickie on checking and monitoring their radio channels to see if they're working and whether anyone was trying to conduct electronic surveillance on them. The latter informed the team that for the op, they were going to be issued with Television Equipment Associates-made LASH headsets with U94 Tactical PTT devices. The drivers still had the generic earpieces they got when they arrived in the UK.

For small arms, they (except for the IMF and MI6 teams, as they brought their own weapons) were still using the same TR-1 carbines and Glock 17 third gen pistols. Dagger and Mukuro opted to use them in order to share mags, even though the X95s they previously used were STANAG compliant. Otherwise, they still used their own sidearms. For this op, the duo also chose to pack their own combat knives. You know, just in case.

M67 frag and AN-M14 TH3 incendiary grenades were also handed out to anyone who needed them.

Rickie gave the thumbs to Lester when he wore his headset on, listening on MPS channels while working on his Macbook Pro laptop.

The MI6 team got on board the 2016 Toyota ProAce Panel Medium van with a Falcon Grey finish while the IMF team got on board the same Peugeot Expert van parked outside.

The two vans began to drive towards the direction of London when the sun was about to set, but they would split up as they make their approach towards the Tower of London after Lane made arrangements for Ethan to meet up with him at a terrace cafe at the riverside area of the River Thames. At the same time, a Bell Huey II painted in black took off from the warehouse's empty parking lot with the Spotter and Karl inside the cabin while Declan was at the controls.

Swann was ordered to stay behind by Lester due to the risk of being captured by either Spectre or Syndicate agents and they can't afford to spare any more manpower at the moment since the op needs to be done as fast as possible that Twitch volunteered to look after her while Lester and Rickie went to work.

Daryl was told to stay behind just in case things got really bad.

"How are things?"

"Making progress as it seems..."

"I sense hesitation in your voice."

"Well, we are running into much trouble than anticipated."

"Do you mean more than those agents formerly from the IMF and MI6?"

"Yes."

"I see..."

"Your orders?"

"We continue with the usual. But be sure that you're in contact with them at once."

"Understood."

"Keep in contact as usual."

"Will do."

The panel vans were on schedule as they drove towards the direction of the Tower of London. The minute the vans passed it, the drivers were in contact with each other and radioed back that they're proceeding to split up.

The Toyota ProAce would make the journey to the Spring Gardens, depositing the team there where the MI6 allies would guide them there. The Peugeot Expert got to their destination to get Ilsa and Ethan off after Luther and William disembarked from the van to head to another staging area in the Thames area. The second team would stay in the van for the meantime.

"Show time guys." Karim radioed in after he parked the Expert next to the sidewalk.

"Same here." Taliana replied after she drove away from Spring Gardens.

"Good luck guys." Lester came on the line. "I'll be checking in with updates and whatnot when the op starts."

Declan's Huey II was seen flying over the River Thames, which took off around ten minutes after the vans left their Brickfield Road staging area. The Spotter was in contact with the two vans via radio with Karl keeping a close eye on the outside to maintain security on the chopper.

"Listen up guys..." Declan was talking to his passengers via headset mike since the rotors were making noises that it's very much needed. "I'll be making the approach on Point Alpha."

The Spotter and Karl unfolded the map of London and looked for the mark POINT ALPHA on it.

"Right here?" Karl saw that the PA location was positioned between the London and Tower bridges.

"Yeah, that's right." Declan replied after he began to make the approach.

"But we're going to look suspicious."

"Hold on..." Declan said when he got an incoming radio transmission. "I'm getting something..."

"Baseplate to Phoenix. Baseplate to Phoenix. How's the situation there, over?" Declan had received a transmission from Lester, who was operating under the codename Baseplate.

The ex-Irish IMF agent replied. "Phoenix here. Looks like London's going to be not normal if the exchange that Ethan's doing is about to end in a hail of gunfire."

There was some silence on the line before Lester gave a reply. "Understood. Just be ready to move in."

"Gotcha."

The Huey II continued on its journey towards the River Thames as the Spotter was in contact with the teams on the ground.

The Toyota ProAce Panel van arrived outside a certain building in Spring Gardens, which had a gray folding gate to seal the front door. Taliana was instructed to park the van immediately as Bill led the others to the front of the building after he removed the padlock on the folding metal gate. M explained to the teams that the place there going to go into is a MI6 safehouse that hasn't been commissioned in recent years, especially since the agency was forced to disband in the wake of its HQ being gutted in a bomb attack.

"Never knew that MI6 would have a safehouse like this." Ela was a bit surprised at the choice of safehouse in the area. She realized that the building seemed very old and wondered if they're suppose to hold their position here for the meantime.

"That's the entire point." M told the Polish mercenary. "You blend in so that no one else suspects it to be an intelligence agency's safehouse."

"We better move then." James told the others. "Before we start to attract too much attention."

"Better take off for now, Taliana." Mukuro told the getaway driver. "We'll let you know if we need a quick getaway."

"Gotcha." Taliana gave her the thumbs up.

The van drove off as M and Bill led the others inside the safehouse. James and Moneypenny were the last ones to get in so that they can keep an eye on the street for any suspicious characters lurking about.

The MI6 team went inside the safehouse. M tossed to James the padlock after Moneypenny closed the folding gate. She had to work her hands on the gate to get the padlock lock it since there wasn't enough room for her to get her hands to move around. The front door was closed and locked.

"Follow me." M told the others. "The rear side of the building should lead us to an area of the Thames where we can go the river canal."

"Where does this this go to?" Dagger asked M when he pointed out the staircase that leads upstairs.

"The roof. We'll need to take a good look first."

When M showed the way to the roof, Dagger and Mukuro went to work in conducting recon on the downtown area and on the River Thames, if only to see if they can spot Ethan conducting the exchange and the Huey II Declan was piloting.

"Looks like things are quiet." Dagger said when he took out his binoculars to observe the River Thames.

"Can you get an eye at the riverside cafe?" Mukuro asked him when she was checking out the city streets.

"Give me a second."

Dagger focused his sights on the Thames' shore to look for any establishments. In particular, crowded cafes or restaurants that would be used for an overt meeting spot.

Where are they?

"Think I got something." Dagger told his partner.

"Where?" Mukuro focused her attention on the Thames after she got word from him.

"There's a cafe on the shore where Ethan is in front of the Tower of London."

"Okay." The Japanese mercenary found the cafe. She focused her attention on Benji, Ethan and Ilsa with some nasty-looking men loitering nearby. Must be armed men sent by The Syndicate as an insurance policy in case the negotiations don't go well in their favor.

"How is it?" Moneypenny asked the two. James and M were talking about the situation with Spectre, with a report from James that the supposed leader of the organization, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, was killed in action during an operation in Morocco.

"I think..." Dagger saw that Ethan and Ilsa were now armed and were in a shootout with the nasty men firing their pistols at them with Benji now free from the strapped IED vest that was planted on him. "That part of London is under fire."

"We need to move." M said to him. "They should keep Syndicate forces from helping out any Spectre agents in the UK."

Dagger and Mukuro stored their binoculars and went down from the roof. They linked up with Robert, Ela and Ilija, the three of them waiting while they checked on their weapons to make sure that they were loaded and ready to go.

"Situation?" Ilija asked Dagger.

"We need to move." Dagger pointed to the direction of the Thames. "Ethan was able to get his colleagues freed, but there's a shootout in the Thames area."

"We got vehicles to use?" Robert asked the next sensible question.

"Not sure..."

"They're outside." Ben told the ex-paratrooper. "We got the keys ready."

The Huey II flew over the Thames by the direction of the Tower of London after Lester gave an update that there's a shootout starting there. In addition, they got reports that the MPS was now deploying armed police officers to the scene.

"We'll need to move, guys." Declan piloted the helicopter to fly near the tower, but to some place where he can land the Spotter and Karl without any trouble from the police or any fleeing civilians. "The party's already starting on the ground."

"Alright brotha..." Karl started a brass checked on his TR-1 after he took off his headset.

The Spotter did the same while he checked what's going on outside from the door window. He was given another TR-1, on the insistence of both Declan and Karl for his own protection in case they're forced to be separated during the op.

"Get ready!" Declan was now getting the chopper going on an eastward direction towards London Bridge. "Zhen's heading towards that direction with Nathan, Nine and Twelve to reinforce Ethan and Ilsa near the Tower of London before they get screwed over."

The Huey II's cabin door opened up after it landed on the intersection of Upper Thames Street and Angel Lane, where they saw people panicking and fleeing from the streets. Karl and the Spotter could hear a lot of gunfire and it was very loud, which meant that trouble was just around the corner. They could hear the sounds of a grenade exploding.

"We better move, brotha!" Karl told the Spotter when they started to run towards the sidewalk. "The team's in trouble now!"

"I'm not your brother!" The Spotter shouted after he rolled his eyes.

The chopper took off as the duo took cover behind a deserted 2014 Nissan NV200 British Gas van as the gunfire continued to intensify.

"Cover me." The Spotter spoke to Karl when he peeked from cover. "I'll need a closer look to analyze the situation."

Karl nodded and gripped his Ultralight AR-15 carbine as the Spotter crawled towards another abandoned vehicle, which was a black London Taxi TX4 cab.

The gunman kept his guard up, protecting the Spotter, until a Metallic Black Nissan NV200 Combi Van was spotted at the intersection of Upper Thames Street and Arthur Street. Armed men were seen getting out of it and running down towards the direction of Lower Thames Street. They were sporting various jackets, gloves, pants and boots.

"Hey..." Lester came in on the radio to make contact with Karl and The Spotter. "Phoenix gave us some updates. He saw a black van with armed men in an intersection just a few kilometers near you. Have you spotted it?"

The Spotter replied to him. "Yeah. They're heading down Lower Thames Street. I'm assuming that Ethan and the other rogue agents are located somewhere there."

"That's right." The Spotter signaled to Karl to come to his position after gunfire rang out again. "I was told that they got a plan to lure out the Syndicate leader out of hiding, so they're going to linger there to reduce some of the manpower in the hopes of getting their man."

"Do we engage them?" Karl asked Lester.

"Please do."

"Understood."

"Let's sneak up on them." The Spotter advised the African-American man. "We need to give the other guys the advantage."

"Understood." Karl ran down the street, crouching to give himself a low profile. The Spotter did the same thing until they were on Lower Thames Street.

The armed men opened fire with their submachine guns and/or assault rifles, using various vehicles that were left behind for cover. Karl got an update on the radio that Ethan and Ilsa were being pinned down after Zhen helped Benji get away from the Thames.

The Spotter took on the observer role very quickly, providing Karl some updates on what's happening in Lower Thames. "Zhen's in the area with the other guys."

"How's the rogue IMF guy?" Karl leaned his back on a 2016 Polar White Mercedes-Benz C-Class W205 SE sedan.

"Our gal covered him and she's holding them off quite well."

"Time to do this."

Karl shouldered his TR-1 and aimed the EOTech Holographic Hybrid Sight I EXPS3-4. He subsequently positioned the mounted G33.STS Magnifier behind the Hybrid Sight to get a good look at the armed men firing on Zhen's position in Lower Thames.

A burst of gunfire rang out from Karl's carbine, hitting at least one of the armed men engaging Zhen from the back. He went down on his knees and collapsed onto the street, back first.

"Shit! We're under attack!" Some of the armed men were now force to fight on two fronts. It was perfect for Karl, having the opportunity to distract them while the other side would pounce on them hard.

M led the other team on the rear side of the Spring Gardens safehouse, getting their three 2015 Scotia Grey Metallic Land Rover Discovery 4 L319 SUVs. James and M took the first SUV while Bill and Moneypenny took the second one. Dagger and his team took the third SUV.

Their plan was to drive towards the direction of the abandoned MI6 building using various side streets to avoid being easily detected by Spectre agents. On their way there, the occupants could hear a lot of sirens. They saw some BMW X5 SUVs with MPS markings heading towards the direction of the Thames, belonging to the MPS' Specialist Crime & Operations 19.

According to Q, he listened in on the MPS frequencies while using his laptop to hack in and got reports of gunfire at some cafe in the area from the general vicinity of the Tower of London.

The convoy traveled to the direction of the Ritz London, using side streets if possible to avoid being caught out in the open. So far, it seemed to be going well. Everyone involved got constant radio updates from Lester on what was happening in Lower Thames.

The journey seemed to be going well when the convoy made a turn towards the intersection of King Street and Saint James' Square the second time as part of its plan to avoid a potential tail before it drove down the street towards Bury Street.

All of a sudden, an ambush was initiated almost immediately when a 2015 International 4700 armored truck in a black finish drove hard on from the direction of Angel Court. The attack worked since it immediately disabled the first Discovery 4. 

"AMBUSH! AMBUSH!" Bill shouted when he pressed the brakes hard. Dagger did the same likewise. 

After the armored truck made its appearance, Robert turned around to see two 2016 Nightfall Mica Lexus RX 450h SE SUVs blocking the rear. "We're getting boxed in!"

Mukuro saw four men breaking into the smashed SUV just to get an unconscious James out. They were armed with Heckler & Koch MP5K-PDWs.

Bill and Moneypenny got out and opened fire on the armed men taking James to the armored truck. Two of them were shot dead, but the gunfire from the PDWs forced them to keep their heads down as they got the ex-MI6 agent to the truck. This part was true for Q since he kept his head down throughout the entire incident and hugged the laptop on his chest so that it doesn't get damaged.

"CONTACT!" Ela shouted when armed men got out of the two RX 450hs and aimed their Heckler & Koch HK416 D14.5 RS carbines, equipped with vertical foregrips and red dot scopes on the upper receiver.

Dagger directed Mukuro, Robert and Ela to engage them at once. Ilija got his suppressed PGM 338 sniper rifle ready. He got prone and used the parked vehicles next to the sidewalk for cover as he used the Zeiss Conquest V6 1-6x24 riflescope. Gunfire was heard all around him as bullets flew over his head.

The sniper remained calm and concentrated on getting a bead on his target. In the meantime, he calmly focused his scope until he got one hostile within his sight.

"One down..." Ilija calmly said after he took out an armed man firing on the third Discovery 4. He calmly worked the bolt to extract the used .338 LM casing and load a new one into the chamber.

From both sides of the River Thames, gunfire continued to linger on. And tonight, the MPS would deploy more SCO19 units with additional reinforcements coming from Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers.

Chapter 3 END

Chapter Text

The intersection of King Street and Saint James' Square was now cleared of hostiles, even if the International 4700 truck left the scene with James being taken as a prisoner.

"Everyone alright?" M asked around, getting out of the wrecked Land Rover Discovery 4, which was now beyond useful since it got T-boned a few minutes ago.

"Just barely..." Ilija sighed when he checked the scope and suppressor of his PGM 338. "That was nasty."

Ela and Robert were checking the corpses of the dead men for anything that's worth collecting for evidence, securing around four to eight 30-round 5.56 NATO magazines for the TR-1 Ultralight AR-15 carbines and a couple of radio extenders used by the armed men. Mukuro and Dagger were on the side checking the Lexus RXes to secure anything of value.

M went to check his Apple iPhone 7 to see if he got a message or not.

"Better hurry it up." M informed the others. "Our friend gave us a heads up that the Met has gotten wind of what happened here."

"Then it's a good thing that we got these." Mukuro told the career officer as she and Dagger prepped several AN-M14 TH3 incendiary grenades and took a couple of Apple smartphones that were still working.

"Our vehicles are good to go." Ilija said when he got one of the surviving Land Rover Discovery 4 SUVs running again.

At this point, M joined up with Bill, Q and Moneypenny in the second Discovery 4.

"Mukuro, take care of the wrecked Land Rover." Dagger said as he popped a couple of TH3s into one of the Lexus RX 450hes. "I'll take care of this one."

"Understood."

The two masked persons tossed the primed grenades into the wrecked/abandoned SUVs. The grenades exploded after they detonated, setting the vehicles on fire.

Dagger commandeered the Lexus RX that wasn't shot up full of holes. Mukuro joined up with him in the front passenger seat. 

The two Discovery 4s and one Lexus RX drove off from the intersection, just as the sounds of sirens began to get louder. Which meant that law enforcement is on the way.

Meanwhile, a part of the intersection at Upper Thames Street and Angel Lane was being cleared of armed men sent in to attack Zhen's position on the Thames near the direction of the Tower of London.

Karl did most of the work though, running and sometimes gunning for them like there's no tomorrow. The Spotter reported on the hostiles from a safe position, from which he told Karl who to shoot and who not to shoot sine the MPS' Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers had just arrived.

Where it was though... the masked man didn't say.

"All clear from here..." Karl murmured when he checked the dead armed men from a while ago. Since they were also armed with the HK416 D14.5 RS carbine (only a few of them had Heckler & Koch MP7A1 submachine guns equipped with the Hensoldt RSA-S reflex sights), it was easy for the Epsilonist to gather extra mags for his Ultralight AR-15 carbine.

"Peace be with you, brother..." The bald African-American man checked them for anything else. In the process, he found indication that the masked gunmen were from Black Arrow based from the PMC patches that he found hidden in the unused tac vest pouches. "Especially if you're working for a PMC that bent's on destroyin' absolute happiness."

"Hey. What's your status?" The Spotter made contact with Karl via radio.

Karl adjusted the earpiece on his right ear before he replied. "All good, brother. Turns out that our armed gunmen have some links to Black Arrow."

"I'll have to beat it to your skull that I'm not your brother, nor do I subscribe to that Epsilon bullshit." The Spotter sighed. "Way reminds me of Scientology too much."

"I'll pretend that I didn't hear that."

Karl could hear more loud gunshots one after another.

Looks like it's not finished yet. The BA patches were probably hidden from the public just to heighten the tensions, except to be used as a form of ID.

Karl got his carbine ready when he saw people running away from the TOL.

"Looks like we got our next destination..." Karl told the Spotter on the radio. "Can you make it to the Tower of London? Phoenix can't come and pick us up right now. He's helping out with our little SAR op."

The Spotter was silent on the line before he replied. "I'm moving in to the direction as we speak. The loud reports we're hearing are coming from that direction."

"Right, moving out." Karl ran towards the London Bridge, seeing a light emit from a flying helicopter. "If we're lucky, we could run into Zhen."

"Frankly speaking, I'm not going to hold my breath for that one."

Lester and Rickie were busy keeping tracks of radio comms being used by the Met and the JIS in the wake of the shootings going around and/or near the Tower of London. They were also checking in on the whereabouts of Bond after he was abducted by armed men at the King Street and Saint James' Square intersection.

Madeleine was also nearby, being cautioned by the underworld heist planner and information broker that if she was out there, the bad guys will take advantage of her in order to lure his allies into a trap. Therefore, the safest place for her would be in the temporary safehouse.

"Phoenix, you got an update for me?" Lester spoke on the headset's microphone.

"Not much. I'm seeing a lot of movement of people runnin' away from the Tower of London area. I can spot our friendlies trying to make a run for it."

Rickie showed Lester his laptop screen, which had the map of the Thames Street area with locations of the teams in the streets, except for those who are with M.

"Roger that." Lester nodded. "You got a location on Ethan and Ilsa?"

"Baseplate," Declan spoke on the frequency. "I can see them heading towards the Middle Temple location. I've sent the details to Zhen's team."

"Roger that. See if you can keep an eye out for Mr. M."

"Understood."

"So what's next?" Rickie asked Lester when the latter took off the headset.

"I'm going to speak to Twitch in a few." Lester told the ex-software programmer. "It doesn't hurt to be prepared. Not when most of our enemies are gathered together."

"I agree, man."

"I'd go ahead and look for the man, but I can't walk that much..." Lester sighed as he took a seat down. "thanks to this goddamn wasting disease."

The glasses-wearing man looked at Rickie. "Go see if our man is busy with the vehicles or something."

Rickie nodded.

Zhen and Nathan led the team, with Nine and Twelve at the rear, as they went after the Syndicate agents pursuing Ethan and Ilsa through the streets and alleys of London.

"Did we lose them?"

A few gunshots were heard.

"I'm guessing we'll find out, Zhen." Nine replied sarcastically.

The four-man team carefully navigated through the side streets in trying to catch up with Ethan and Ilsa. So far, things were quiet aside from the occasional gunshot.

"Time to move." Zhen signaled to Nathan to watch his sector after they shouldered their respective Ultralight AR-15 carbines. Their third-gen Glock 17s were holstered via leg holsters strapped on their right legs.

Nine and Twelve got their B&T MP9s and fourth-gen Glock 17s holstered via IWB holsters.

"It is a long and cold night for this one." Nathan sighed. For tonight's operation, everyone involved wore various windbreaker jackets with stowable hoodies hidden on the collar and black tac boots (except Zhen had green tac shoes). The men wore jeans while Zhen had brown combat pants.

They proceeded carefully. They stopped and crouched when gunshots were heard. They advanced when everything was quiet.

But when they were about to clear a side street near the Middle Temple's Cloisters, around six armed men were seen looking for someone named Vinter. At least that's what they heard from the conversation they were having after they apparently found his corpse.

Zhen raised her hand up to tell the rest of the team to stop near the pillars. She took cover and peeked from behind. The men were armed with Heckler & Koch MP5A3 submachine guns and were dressed in bomber jackets, jeans and walking boots. A couple of them were checking on Vinter's corpse before they radioed in to inform their boss that Vinter was dead and whoever killed him was still on the loose.

Six men over there. Zhen went back to the team and gestured to the armed men nearby.

Nine, Twelve and Nathan gave the thumbs up, indicating that they understood.

Here goes. Zhen gestured to Nathan that two of the armed hostiles were setting up the perimeter while the remaining four were keeping an eye for anything that can help them give chase.

Nathan used one of the pillars to conceal himself, but he leaned out after he shouldered his carbine. Zhen did the same.

Nine and Twelve stayed behind to provide cover for the rear.

The ex-commando got a flashbang from the pocket of his windbreaker, recently seized from one of the dead Syndicate agents they killed en route to assist Ethan and Ilsa.

"Do it." Zhen told Nathan. "Don't want to get any collateral out there."

"I know." Nathan took the safety pin off before he tossed it.

The sounds of the grenade landing near the armed men took them by surprise. They couldn't see who tossed it. Before they can fan out and search, the device exploded and their vision was covered in bright, white light.

"GO! GO! GO!"

Zhen and Nathan were the first ones to open fire at the blinded men, who can't see through the bright light to immediately put a fight. Two of them were shot and killed on the spot.

Twelve lead the rear. Nine had his left hand on the former's right shoulder as they advanced.

The other four raised their MP5A3s, but couldn't see that well that they resorted to firing in random directions in the hope of hitting someone at least who's not on their side.

Or at least... that was the plan if Nine, Twelve hadn't opened fire at response when they were force to crouch and fire back. Zhen and Nathan took cover behind the nearest pillar they can find in the Cloisters.

When all of the gunmen were dead, Nine shouted, "All clear!"

"All clear!" Twelve repeated the same call.

"Ok. I think we're good." Zhen checked the area out and see if the dead are truly dead by kicking their corpses.

Nathan came out from cover and did the same thing with the other corpses that he saw.

"Um... guys?" Twelve tried to get Zhen and Nathan to stop. "I think they're deader than dead now."

"You never know unless you can get confirmation firsthand, kid." Zhen replied with a snark after she did a kick on the dead man to make sure he wasn't playing possum.

"I'll make contact with the others." Nine adjusted the earpiece to make sure it was still snug and secure on his right ear. ["This is Bravo 4. Bravo 1 and the rest of us have secured one of the Syndicate guys..."]

Mukuro was in contact with Nine when she heard his voice on her earpiece. ["Loud and clear, Bravo 4. Alpha 2 and the rest are heading out."]

Dagger was doing the driving.

["Where to?"] Nine asked her.

Mukuro examined one of the Apple smartphones taken to look at the map app. When the ex-Fenrir mercenary was browsing through it, she noted that the address always being used is the one that leads to the deserted MI6 building.

["We're checking out the deserted MI6 building. The armed men we killed a while ago have the address pointing to the place to be used a lot since yesterday, according to the app logs."]

["Understood. I'll relay the message to the others."]

"That him?" Dagger asked his partner when he drove the Lexus RX 450 down to Piccadilly Road, approaching the Bomber Command Memorial.

The streets and places near the River Thames were almost deserted due to what's going on with the double attacks by Spectre and Syndicate agents in the area. With the exception of police and other emergency personnel, civilians were told to evacuate since blockades are due to be in place.

"Yes. Apparently he and the others are able to confirm the death of Vinter, who was killed while pursuing Ethan and Ilsa."

"Aahh.. Janik Vinter. The Syndicate's go-to-guy if they needed to torture and humiliate someone." Dagger nodded when he made a left turn to another street. "Not that I'm going to miss him."

Mukuro turned around, looking over her right shoulder to check on the two Discovery 4s.

"The others are following us."

"Good. Even if there's no traffic, we don't want to get lost."

The SUV's navigation system informed them that they needed to make a left turn soon towards Grosvenor Place Street. Meanwhile, the radio was tuned in to local news frequencies. The latest news indicated that the current UK Threat Levels was currently at Severe to Critical due to the shootings that took place hours ago.

"If the logs lead us to the old MI6 building, then it's likely being used by Spectre or the Syndicate for something." Dagger gave his thoughts to Mukuro after he made a left turn.

"If I may, Bravo 1." Dagger heard M's voice over his earpiece after he started to drive straight on Grosvenor Place. Mukuro pointed to hers too, indicating that she's also receiving it.

"All ears, sir."

"We'll need to stop somewhere if we're near the Vauxhall Bridge that leads to the former SIS building."

"You fear an ambush?"

"Worse. It could be rigged. In all of the chaos, it could be left unguarded for all of us to drive into."

"I see. So they'll expect us to drive there and they'll come in guns blazing."

"Right. Also nearby is the Centre for National Security Building or CNS."

"That's the one where it's used by the Joint Intelligence Service, if I recall watching BBC News."

"One and the same."

Mukuro then interjected the conversation with a question. "So where do you want us to stop?"

M was silent on the radio before he said. "Make a turn at John Islip Street after we start traveling on the Vauxhall Bridge Road."

"Any place to stop at?"

"We'll figure it out."

"Understood, M."

Zhen and Nathan have just checked the corpses for anything worth of intel value by looking at their Android-type smartphones. They had Telegram installed for communication purposes.

"Looks like they just got an update." Nathan checked the smartphone taken and saw that there was a recently read message from an unknown phone number.

"Says something about Old Broad Street." Zhen said when she read the message. "All right... Looks like we found ourselves our next location."

Zhen gestured to Nine and Twelve to group up.

"Okay guys." Zhen showed them the Telegram app on the smartphone screen. "We're heading to Old Broad Street."

"That..." Twelve got another Android smartphone Nathan tossed to him and used it to browse the internet and go to Google Map. "Looks like we're not that far... by 27 minutes."

"We need to start moving." Nathan advised the rest of the group.

Zhen nodded. "Okay Twelve. You hold onto that phone and help us navigate with Google Maps."

"Got it."

The four-man team ran off from the Cloisters, heading to the direction of Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill as they ran along the sidewalk.

"Baseplate. This is Bravo 1. We're heading to Old Broad Street. We'll need a ride..."

The Huey II landed somewhere on the deserted intersection of Upper Thames Street and Angel Lane to pick up Karl and the Spotter. Declan got word from Lester that Zhen was moving in towards Old Broad Street. He was now tasked to pick them up.

"TAKING OFF NOW!" Declan shouted when he got the chopper flying again, flying towards Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill to pick up Zhen and her team.

After what seemed to be a few minutes of flying, Declan landed on the street after some sedan tried to move out of the way fast.

"Appreciated." Zhen thanked Declan after she entered the Huey II. Nathan greeted the pilot before he boarded. Nine and Twelve were the last ones to board.

"We're heading to Old Broad Street as planned." The Spotter told Zhen after she and the others who came in took their seats.

Karl closed the cabin door after the chopper started to take off.

"What about the drivers?"

"On standby on orders at a nearby location. They'll be out once we're able to detain our targets."

Zhen nodded, understanding what will happen next after the London op is over.

"Baseplate to everyone." Lester was making an urgent transmission as the chopper made the approach to the target area. "I'm getting an update from Ethan and his team have detained the Syndicate leader, Solomon Lane."

Everyone gave "Yes!" with fist pumps and thumbs up, relieved that one part of the equation was done.

"From what I've been told, they're going to turn him over to the British government."

"How so?" Declan asked Lester.

"Well... they're disguised themselves as Metropolitan Police officers. So they'll figure something out."

"This is Bravo 1." Zhen came in on the radio. "Do we need to pick them up?"

"I'll get back to you on that matter. Right now, Alpha Team is closing in on the old MI6 building and JIS headquarters by the Thames."

"Understood, Baseplate."

"H...hold on. I'm getting an incoming transmission. Standby."

The lone Lexus RX 450 and Discovery 4 SUVs had just turned left on John Islip Street. The vehicles made a right turn at Ponsonby Place and found parking spaces on the left and right sides of the street.

The vehicles made a stop at the left curb.

"Out we go."  Dagger shut off the RX 450's engine and placed it on Parking with the gear stick on P. He and Mukuro exited the vehicle, leaving the looted smartphones inside. They were met by Ilija, who told them that M, Bill and Moneypenny were outside too, looking at the tall glass cylindrical building.

Ela and Robert went to work to recon the area around the CNS building.

"I'm assuming that's the CNS building?" Mukuro asked the sniper.

"It is."

The trio saw someone being dragged from the street adjacent to Ponsonby Place. Dagger and Mukuro noted (just barely though) that Ela and Robert took some things from the man's pocket before they chucked his body to the river.

"I hope for their sake that the guy's armed or something." Dagger mused, not wanting to get an innocent bystander involved.

Ela motioned to him, Mukuro and Ilija to see them ASAP.

They ran up to see her.

"Look at this." Ela showed him a smartphone she unlocked by using the man's fingerprints. "We took this from a JIS agent who was minding his own business."

"And how sure are you?" Dagger asked the Polish woman.

"Robert and I looked around carefully at the outskirts of the CNS building. Saw him getting out armed with a Heckler & Koch MP5."

Robert showed them the JIS ID card, which gave the name "JOHN CURTIS". His photo was also shown. The man looked to be in his late 30s with blond hair in crewcut.

"Been hearing some things on their comms..." Robert also showed the radio extender he took with no earpiece since he took it off. The ex-para slightly raised the volume up so they can hear what was going on.

"The thing at Legoland with that Bond guy's almost done." The team heard the transmission. "Guy got loose after our van took him there."

"Least we know where he is." Ilija mused.

"We have orders on what to do with him?"

"Boss says just to leave him there. Heard the place's being rigged to blow up anyway. Last I heard, they're suppose to be some reconstruction."

"Oh shit..."

"This day just keeps getting better." Dagger sighed when he heard what was going to happen with the MI6 building.

"We need to inform the others." Mukuro suggested. "And there's still time for us to inform Lester about it."

"Right, right."

The four ran back to see M and other ex-MI6 employees to update them on the situation.

"This is bad." Bill was confused on what to do. "Very bad."

"Agreed." Moneypenny was pissed after hearing about the planned demolition of the building with Bond still inside after being taken captive. "At this point, we'll have to divide ourselves just to seize the CNS building and the old building."

Dagger and Mukuro were on the radio calling for Lester on whether they can spare the manpower after they were told that Ethan was able to get Solomon Lane into police custody.

Ela and Robert were talking with M on what to do next in case they can't get enough people to help raid the MI6 and CNS buildings.

Mukuro gave the two (and M) a thumbs up after they wrapped up their conversation over the radio.

"Looks like we got something." M said out loud when she and Dagger ran to see them.

"We got an update on what to do with the situation." Dagger debriefed M on the matter. "It looks like Syndicate leader Solomon Lane's brought into police custody."

"Thank god." M sighed when he heard the news. "One problem down."

"We haven't located the leader of Spectre. But we suspect that he's somewhere in London. The problem is we need to get more manpower for this."

"We've been told that Agent Hunt is willing to assist us." Mukuro interjected.

M was pleased that help was coming. "Is... he coming by himself?"

"That we don't know."

Declan's Huey II was seen flying overhead as it made the approach to the ruined MI6 building.

"Looks like we got a decision made." Bill said when he saw the chopper.

"So we forgot to fill in that detail." Dagger told the ex-MI6 Chief of Staff and ex-MI6 chief. "We've been told that Declan and company will check the MI6 building."

"Let's go and plan how we can storm the CNS building..." M spoke up when Ela unfolded showed a digital map of the building from her personal iPhone 8 smartphone.

James had just entered the remains of the MI6 building after he relieved himself of his restraints and shot dead the two Spectre henchmen who brought him to the area.

While he searched for a familiar... someone, Bond encountered mocking photos of him (printed on bond papers and stuck on paper targets) and the people he knew through his MI6 career, plastered on the walls in the basement floors.

Like Le Chiffre. Dominic Greene. Raoul Silva. Alec Trevelyan. Nicole Hunter.

And Vesper Lynd.

What the? Vesper?

He remembered her from the Casino Royale case back in the day. She backstabbed him and MI6, although not by choice.

Looking at her printed photo, it was conjuring all shorts of memories with Vesper before she got killed by drowning herself in Venice.

Later on, James came across a printed photo of the previous M, plastered on the wall.

There's only one person who could do this.

James kept the Heckler & Koch VP9 raised while he searched the basement. At one point, he decided to look up.

Wires. Explosives maybe?

He continued to look around until he got to the end of a corridor that lead to an open door. There was a curved path that led to a short flight of steps towards what seemed to be a room of sorts.

Inside, he saw someone.

Blofeld.

The VP9 was fired at his direction. But... Bond saw that the bullets weren't hitting him.

Bulletproof glass.

James walked up the steps towards the formerly used Interrogation Room.

"You're a hard man to kill Blofeld." James mocked him when he got inside.

Blofeld turned around and stared at the man through the transparent, bulletproof glass.

The last he was publicly seen... Well, he was suppose to be dead after James detroyed his Morocco facility. But he was alive. In the flesh.

Albeit with a scar over his right eye. And said eye was now milk white, its sight function lost permanently.

"Ouch." James winced sarcastically at the wound. "I hope that doesn't hurt too much."

Blofeld shrugged. "My wounds will heal." He then smirked. "But what about yours?"

James was confused.

"Look around you, James." Blofeld advised him with a sarcastic tone. "Look. This is what's left of your world."

James won't admit it, but his scarred stepbrother has a point. MI6 and MI5 are long gone now, being replaced by the JIS.

"Everything you ever stood for. Everything you believed in, a ruin."

The spy raised an eyebrow. "Then why are we here?"

Blofeld still had the smirk on his face. "Did you miss me?"

James glared at him. "No. Obviously not."

"But I know someone who does."

James was alarmed at Blofeld's statement, wondering what he was trying to say.

Twitch ran up to to the makeshift workspace where Lester and Rickie were working on. Daryl was with them, mostly to keep an eye on Madeleine just in case with his own Ultralight AR-15 carbine and a SIG Sauer P226 Mk 25 pistol holstered on the leg holster he placed on his left leg.

"What happened, dude?" Rickie saw Twitch making his run with a Beretta 92FS Brigadier pistol drawn out.

"I spotted a bunch of armed men breaching the perimeter. They rammed their SUVs to the chain link gates to get in."

"Oh shit..." Lester began to shut off the laptops they had. "Rickie, shut off the laptop you're working on."

"Got it, got it."

Madeleine was alarmed. "What's happening?"

"We were likely tracked by Spectre or the Syndicate and they gave our location away."

Daryl got his weapons ready and stood up from the chair he was seated on. "Twitch, you got the car ready?"

"At the rear. I got a route just in case."

"Looks like we're about to get boarded." Daryl made sure his blue hoodie was zipped up before he got his brown plate carrier vest and wore it over his chest.

"Should be done." Rickie got the laptops and the AC adaptors and kept them in a shoulder bag. "I didn't have time to warn Declan about the unidentified chopper we just detected."

Lester then asked Daryl. "Daryl, you got something to help burn the extra stuff on the table?"

Daryl checked one of the pouches on his vest while Twitch directed Madeleine and Rickie to come with him. "I'll take care of it."

Lester faced the young hacker. "It's not too late. We can contact them once we're out of danger."

The African-American hired gun placed the AN/M14 grenade inside a server rack by opening the door and closing it after he took off the safety pin off from the grenade.

A couple of armed men in jackets, jeans and brown hiking boots chanced upon Daryl and were about to raise their pistols when the gunman took the initiative to shoot them.

"Come on, Lester!"

Lester walked as fast as his legs can take him while Daryl opened fire on other gunmen coming in.

"In three minutes, this building will be demolished..."

Blofeld pointed to the rigged explosive behind him.

"I can get out easily. But you have a choice."

The scarred man began to walk a few feet backwards.

"Rush back to your hideout and save her... or live and just save yourself."

"You're bluffing." James was starting to get pissed.

"Am I?" Blofeld raised an eyebrow. "I've really put you through, haven't I? That's brothers for you."

He then exited the room with a smile on his face.

"They always know which buttons to push."

The explosive's digital timer was turned on after the Spectre leader left the Interrogation Room by pushing the big red button.

Oh shit!

James began to bolt out of the basement and made a run for the ground floor, dashing up the stairs.

But when he got there...

The entrance was closed off. Explosives were already in place and turned on after Blofeld started the countdown.

This meant James had to keep running. And running. And running.

Until he got to the upper floors of the building when he heard the sounds of a chopper making an approach.

James found a big hole on the wall in one of the floors that led to an open space. He saw a familiar black vehicle flying in close.

It's that Declan guy.

The Huey II hovered a bit over the open space and the cabin door opened up.

"GET IN!" Karl shouted since the noise of the rotors were (obviously to anyone who's near or rode a chopper before) making things like talking in a normal voice hard to do so.

James nodded and boarded the chopper.

While the chopper took off, Declan received a transmission on an unidentified chopper that landed a block away from the MI6 building.

"Guys! Looks like we got to swat down a bothersome fly!"

A few minutes after James was able to get away, the explosives inside the abandoned MI6 building blew up.

Things were quiet tonight at the CNS building. Despite the JIS being operational for a few years after the MI6 building was targeted (once again) in a bombing attack, they weren't scheduled to use the building as their new HQ  yet. For the meantime, they were using the former MI5 building as an interim HQ.

Four JIS agents were conducting routine patrols at the lobby near the security guard counter. All of them were armed with Heckler & Koch MP7A1s outfitted with red dot scopes, suppressors and combat slings.

While parts of the London Metropolitan Area are on high alert, the JIS was also being mobilized to hunt down armed hostiles in the city.

Unknown to the public (and to the rest of the world), the JIS is effectively Spectre's de facto legal arm when the new Nine Eyes surveillance system is to be made operational after 12 midnight, UTC time. Which is why there was security in place. So that no one has second thoughts about barging in and stopping it.

Latest word that all British law enforcement/military (albeit on standby)/intelligence agencies is that RAINBOW is being deployed to help secure the LMA. Max Denbigh, known by his public critics (Well.. to James Bond anyway before it grew from within as a MI6 as a form of disdain) as C, has reassured the government that the JIS is on the case. While the agency is on high alert securing the CNS building, Max has secretly given the agents orders to stop any actual British law enforcement/military/intelligence personnel from entering the building in a worse case scenario.

And he has given the order for lethal force to be used if absolutely necessary.

"Must be John finishing up... whatever the hell was doing outside." The loitering agents heard the sound of electronic card beeping when the lobby turnstiles' glass wing barriers retracted.

"Holy shi..." One of the agents was about to raise his MP7A1 when Mukuro instantly fired her suppressed Ultralight AR-15 carbine at him.

Sneaking/Action Music

She later killed the other three JIS agents near the counter as fast as she can. Afterwards, she went for the counter and pressed the button to retract all of the glass wing barriers.

"Nice work."

Dagger gave her the thumbs up when he directed Ela and Robert to secure the lobby. Ilija reportedly hanged back outside, somewhere, to keep an eye on the roads leading to and from the former MI5 building in order to conduct overwatch and ambush potential enemy reinforcements.

"That went well." M was... a bit impressed by Mukuro being able to seize control of the lobby by herself.

"We'll need to hurry." Moneypenny scavenged the slain JIS agents for weapons and ammo. She pilfered the MP7A1s for herself and Bill with enough ammo for the two of them before she took some folded maps of the building and information on the various floors.

It appeared that the folded map were made for the agents and issued just for the situation the city is in.

M checked one of the dead agents and took another JIS ID card, which had the name "THOMAS BLAIR".

Dagger picked up one of the dropped radios to check. The masked man then listened in.

"What is it?" M asked him.

"Nothing suspicious, but it seems they're trying to get a status update from the agents in the lobby."

"A pity. But we'll need to move sooner or later before Mr. Denbigh makes his escape or activates the system earlier than what was announced from the press."

Everyone made their way to the open elevator and got inside.

"We'll split up from here." M began to instruct everyone inside the car. "Moneypenny. Bill. Take Q and look around for a security room that has access to the building's security systems."

The ex-Northern Ireland veteran then faced Dagger and Mukuro. "The rest of us will search the twenty-third floor and infiltrate C's office."

"Understood, sir." replied Billy.

"What about the sniper?" Robert pressed the buttons going for the third and twenty-third floor, leading to the security room and some... office floor. Restrictions were made for the last seven floors as part of the security measures initiated by JIS, which meant the JIS ID cards can't give the group access to those floors.

"He'll be fine." Dagger reassured the ex-para. "Heard that guy's got a reputation in the field."

A gray AgustaWestland AW109 had landed recently at a street block somewhere near the MI6 building on orders from Blofeld. Two men armed with Heckler & Koch UMP 45 submachine guns and dressed in black softshell jackets and brown combat pants and boots secured the area until Blofeld could run (normally) to the awaiting chopper.

"Take off now!" Blofeld shouted after he got into the AW109's cabin. The armed men later followed and entered the cabin.

The pilots were informed by Blofeld to take off right now before they're pursued.

The chopper's rotors were being turned while Blofeld and the armed men got their sealtbelts on.

But when the AW109 took off from the street, Blofeld saw an incoming white helicopter heading straight for them.

"Hang on!" The co-pilot shouted when he told the pilot to prep the chopper to quickly evade the incoming chopper.

"A bloody Huey!" The pilot told the co-pilot after he secured pitch controls to make sure he doesn't go out of control.

One of the UMP 45-armed men moved the fire selector from safe to semi-auto mode. But before he can do anything, the man was shot in the head.

"Shit!" The other armed man saw that someone from the Huey II took a shot at the AW109 the moment they were aligned and were side by side.

"Nice shot, Nathan!"

Nathan shot first when the Huey II's cabin door was instantly opened after Declan got to maneuver the chopper to let it fly next to the AW109.

"It's not over yet!" Nathan told the ex-IMF agent. "We need to shoot that chopper down!"

Nine and Twelve shouldered their MP9s and targeted the AW109's pilots. They opened fire after said chopper performed evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit.

"They got good pilots!" Nine shouted while unloading his submachine gun.

Zhen focused on firing her Ultralight AR-15 carbine, taking over from Nathan since he had to reload his carbine. She focused on taking out the AW109's tail rotor. 

"Keep shooting!" Declan shouted.

After the escape from the temporary safehouse, Lester told Taliana and Karim to be on immediate standby at the LMA for extraction with their vehicles at a couple of locations that were not disclosed to Twitch and Daryl.

Twitch was (always) in charge of driving the 2016 Hyundai Tucson. Rickie decided to be in front. Madeleine was seated in the middle with Daryl on her left. Lester was on her right.

The vehicle was now heading towards the LMA via B221 and South Lambeth Road. Twitch was told to take side streets to avoid being detected by the MPS. Rickie was using his iPhone 8's Map App to help him locate any of those side streets.

"Lester, any progress on the Huey II?" Lester was on the laptop keeping an eye on the Huey II, being tracked through a custom tracking program he developed back when he was helping Michael, Trevor and Franklin with their heists back in the day. He had a 4G dongle connected to it.

"Should be almost there, Twitch." Lester was busy checking the screen to track Declan. He referenced the tracker's coordinates with Google Maps and determined that they were somewhere flying over Harleyford Road near Vauxhall Station.

It seems to be flying all over the place... Unless...

The hacker/information and logistics guy checked the maps again and followed the Huey II.

"Up there!" Rickie pointed to the sky where the Huey II was seen chasing the AW109. They could see muzzle flashes from the former, indicating that they were shooting at the pilots manning the latter.

"They're getting to the intersection of Durham Street and Harleyford Road, Twitch!"

"Gotcha!" Twitch replied with a nonchalant tone when he accelerated the Tucson's accelerator pedal and drove straight forward instead of making a left after South Lambeth.

Daryl, Rickie and Madeleine kept an eye on the choppers flying above Harleyford Road as the shades-wearing driver executed a sharp right turn, making the SUV skid a bit before it was aligned straight to the road.

The occupants can see more gunfire from the Huey II, taking out the AW109's tail rotor. They saw that it was going out of control fast.

And it was starting to make preparations for an emergency crash.

"Punch it, Twitch!" Daryl shouted after he got the safety of his Ultralight AR-15 carbine deactivated.

Twitch pressed the pedal hard, making the Tucson go fast in order to catch up with the descending AW109.

Q, Moneypenny and Bill left the elevator car and followed the map given by M that showed the layout of the third floor, including the security room.

"Stay behind us." Moneypenny instructed Q while she took the lead. Bill was right behind her as backup.

They followed the map to find the security room. While it didn't take long to find, they had to evade the JIS agents guarding the floor by hiding in closets and empty office rooms.

It was best to surprise them so that they can seize the room without serious opposition.

After some time was spent using alternate routes to go around the agents, they were able to find the security room. It was conveniently located next to the fire escape door. A security camera was seen nearby, but it's not clear if it covers the security room door.

"Good thing we got this." Bill took out the JIS ID card that belonged to Blair.

He used the ID card on the card reader next to the door. A beeping sound was heard to indicate that it was worked. The reader also showed a green light.

Bill and Moneypenny could hear voices, wondering who's coming in.

"Now." Moneypenny whispered.

Bill nodded and kicked the door open.

"SOUND THE ALA...!"

The African-British woman went in first, guns blazing when she fired the MP7A1, set to fire at full auto mode. She was able to gun down the three JIS agents manning the controls of the surveillance cameras and other security measures in the CNS building.

Bill took a peek and saw one of the wounded agents trying to reach for the dropped pistol after she was shot at her right leg. Crap!

He moved in and fired his MP7A1 at semi-auto mode, shooting the downed agent at the chest.

"Thanks for the assist." Moneypenny thanked Bill for helping her clear the room.

"All clear." Bill waved to Q that he can head inside. "And close the door behind you."

"O-of course." Q nodded after he entered the room.

Moneypenny went to check on the dead agents for any weapons or anything that may be of use. Bill showed Q the controls of the room, meant for the cameras and other security measures. The MI6 researcher/inventor got to work and used an empty table to set up his laptop.

"I'll try to get into the JIS' network." Q took an unused network cable and connected it to his laptop.

Bill went to lock the door from the inside and barricaded it with a table and some unused chairs.

Moneypenny went to work in checking the cameras feed to locate M and company and monitor their movements to help them get to Max's office.

"Come on, come on. Where are you?" She went to check each and every monitor, starting from the ones outside.

"Over there. I found them." Bill pointed to a monitor that showed M and company going inside the fire escape.

"Thanks, Bill. Keep an eye on them, will you?" Moneypenny told the ex-Chief of Staff while she picked up the radio and earpiece from a slain JIS agent to listen in on their channel for anything useful.

"Here we go." Q got busy using whatever hacking program he has on his laptop to breach JIS security protocols and gain immediate access to the agency's networks.

"Any progress?" Moneypenny asked while she adjusted the radio's volume on the earpiece. She's been trying to pay attention to whoever's talking on the channel.

"Seems to be doing okay so far." Bill told her. "They're going up the stairs. I won't be surprised if they go all the way to the thirtieth floor through the fire escape."

"All right. I'll try to listen in to any of the JIS agents in the buildings to see if anything's up. Do we know if we can get in touch with Ilija?"

When Bill heard the question, he scrambled to check the corpse of another JIS agent for a radio and earpiece that he can take. "Yeah. Dagger passed us his frequency just in case. I'll get in touch with him. Or vice versa just in case."

Q was now busy breaking into the CNS servers, looking for details on the location of the files for the Nine Eyes surveillance system.

With Moneypenny keeping tabs on the JIS agents on foot, Bill kept an eye on the progress M and the others are in to raid the upper floors of the CNS building and hopefully take Denbigh into custody without killing him.

Dagger and Mukuro led the way for M, Ela and Robert as they walked up the staircase going to the thirtieth floor to clear it of any hostiles. They've received an update from Bill that he and Moneypenny seized control of the security room with Q doing his hacks on the CNS building servers.

"I'll check." Dagger was about to grip the door handle.

"It's me." Dagger heard Moneypenny on his earpiece. "I'm checking the cameras on the thirtieth floor. Looks like there's someone outside."

"Is he armed?"

"He is. But her back's facing you if the door's open."

"Understood."

The floor's fire escape door was opened very slowly.

As expected, the JIS agent didn't notice that someone was behind her. Which in this case would be Mukuro.

Mukuro kicked her legs to make her kneel. The mercenary then drew out her Glock 81 survival knife to slash her throat.

"Looks like we got incoming." Dagger knelt down and retrieved a Fox G-10 folding Karambit knife with a black finish from a pocket in his softshell jacket. He gripped the bladed weapon with the right hand, holding the safety ring through the index finger.

Mukuro was busy dragging the corpse she had on her hands and placed on the side.

"Another one. Coming from the right."

"Roger."

When Dagger saw the arms of another JIS agent with the MP7A1 poking at the fire escape interior, the other masked merc grabbed the left arm and threw him inside.

"Bloody hell..." It turns out that Dagger may have his thing cut out for him since the agent drew out his own knife, which was a EDC folding knife.

Dagger was on the defensive, dodging to move his head and body from being stabbed.

There were attempt to get a stab on Dagger's head or neck several times, so the latter kept dodging until the next opportunity could come.

"HAH!"

Dagger grabbed the agent's right arm with the left hand. He moved in close to stab at the right shoulder plexus.

"AAAAGGGGH!!"

"Oh shut it."

Dagger was pissed at the man wincing in pain that he stabbed him at the left leg and did a heavy stab at his chest near the neck.

The man died from the last attack. He used his left hand to try and stop the bleeding on his chest...

"All clear." Mukuro told the others waiting at the staircase landing between the twenty-ninth and thirtieth floor.

Mukuro and Dagger cleared the area outside of the thirtieth floor's fire escape door. Being guided by Bill and Moneypenny helped them sneak around and look for Max's office, only taking out a minimal number of JIS agents on alert without being detected.

"How's our guy?" Mukuro asked Moneypenny on her earpiece.

"Should be fine. Last I heard, he's managed to breach some of the CNS servers already. And he's also prepping someone he found in Denbigh's office."

Dagger saw that a holstered Taser M26C was on the tac vest of the slain agent Mukuro killed. He took it and tossed it to Ela.

Max was inside his office on the phone with the Prime Minister, attending a Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms or COBRA meeting with the Home, Justice and Defence Secretaries. He was seated behind his desk on a black swivel office chair.

"My apologies for not coming to the meeting, Prime Minister. I've delegated someone else to come in my place to represent the JIS." The Spectre double agent was on the phone. "Yes, yes. I have to oversee the work here at the CNS to make sure the system goes smoothly tonight."

On Max's desk was a loaded Glock 17. That was his personal weapon after he was recruited to oversee the new agency. It was seen next to an open laptop.

"Of course. I'll inform you and the rest of the people in the meeting if something should change. We should be still passing the relevant information on what's happening in and around the Metropolitan Area."

What Max wasn't aware is that the two JIS agents stationed near his office were being taken down by Ela and Robert while being assisted by Dagger and Mukuro to ensure were really, really quiet.

"Thank you, sir."

M carefully strolled in, making minimal noise as possible. He grabbed the sidearm and secretly took out the magazine. Afterwards, the ex-SAS veteran took a seat at the nearby gray couch chair.

Apparently, he just wants to troll him.

"I... I'm sorry, sir. I'll have to call you back. Yes, sir. I'll see about calling you back once things are fine at CNS."

Max sighed and turned the chair around so that he was behind his desk. The wireless phone was placed down on the table before he saw that his login credentials to the CNS server wasn't working and it was in the process of shutting down, even though he inputted his login name and password.

"Not a good feeling being watched, is it?"

The JIS chief was a bit stunned, but not surprised that M was in his office when he looked at the side. He looked at the nearby offices due to the transparent glass windows and saw the PC monitors showing the same server login errors.

"Don't tell me you were responsible for this."

"No, but my Quartermaster is. And he's extremely talented."

"Well bravo..." Max said sarcastically. "But in case you don't realize it, you two are out of the job. So... you're trespassing."

M nodded slightly, conceding to Max's argument that his group did trespass inside. "But I'm afraid you've got the wrong end of the stick, Max. We're going to stop the system from going online."

Max just had to smirk at his bravado.

"And then my team's going to bring you in."

"On what grounds exactly?"

M had to stop for a bit. He wasn't sure what kind of charges he can bring on the spot. Oh well, better than nothing.

"Having poor taste in friends."

Twitch parked the Tucson from the wrecked AW109 by a certain distance when it made the crash landing near the intersection of Durham Street and Harleyford Road.

They could see three people bust their way out of the wrecked chopper's cabin. Two of them were helping the third person get up, having a leg injury sustained from the crash.

Daryl opened the door and got out, but kept close and shouldered his Ultralight AR-15 carbine.

Declan landed the Huey II on the intersection since it was clear of civilians and vehicles alike. Zhen was the first to leave the chopper, followed by Nathan. Bond followed. Nine and Twelve stayed behind on Zhen's orders to cover the chopper and their rears.

The three circled around and got their weapons ready.

The armed men tried to open fire. Daryl and Zhen opened fire on them first, except for Blofeld since he fell down and can't walk up straight.

A familiar IMF agent was seen running towards the street to where the chopper crashed. Zhen and Nathan ran up to the running man and aimed their carbines at him with orders to stop running.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The man raised his arms up. "It's me."

"Ethan?" Zhen was surprised to see him by himself. "You're here by yourself?"

"Luther and the others are dropping him to the police."

While Ethan had his encounter with Zhen, Blofeld was trying to get away by crawling as fast as his good leg and hands could take him.

"Hold it!"

Blofeld turned to the side and saw James aim the VP9 right at his forehead.

"James!"

The 00 agent (to be precise, ex-00 agent since MI6 no longer exists) saw Madeleine exit the SUV.

The blond man turned his head slightly to look at her, but he had his eye and weapon on Blofeld.

The temptation was there. Blofeld had been the man responsible for the (mostly bad) things that happened ever since James got recruited to the ranks of MI6 after his time in the Royal Navy, especially in the SBS.

"No." James lowered his sidearm. "We need to bring him in alive. He needs to answer for his crimes."

"Understood." Nathan got a pair of plasticuffs and placed them on Blofeld's wrists after he got his arms behind his back. "You're under arrest."

"I guess... I'm not needed?" Ethan saw that the standoff between James and Blofeld ended without any shots fired.

"Not really." Zhen explained the situation to Ethan. "We'll need to surrender him to the authorities."

"All right. I'll do what I can."

Daryl joined Nathan, getting a black hood and a pair of earmuffs from Twitch when the driver lowered the window in order to give it to him. He tossed it to Nathan, who placed the earmuffs and the hood over Blofeld's head.

The two men lifted Blofeld up and helped him go to the Huey II. Zhen went to inspect the AW109 with Ethan for anything useful.

Max still had the smug face even though Q was in the process of destroying the CNS servers of its data.

"Take a look at the world." Max placed his hands on the table. "Chaos..."

M was not sure where he was going on his villain speech.

"Because people like you, paper-pushers and politicians, are too spineless to do what needs to be done. So I made an alliance to put the power where it should be."

So Spectre...

"And now you want to throw it away for the sake of democracy." Max sighed and shook his head. "Whatever the hell that is. How predictably moronic."

Max kept an eye on the pistol on his desk.

"But isn't that what M stands for?"

He grabbed the Glock 17 and aimed it at M.

"Moron."

What the? Max tried to fire his sidearm, but nothing happened.

"And now we know what C stands for." It was now M's turn to smirk when he reached into a pocket of his gray wool jacket and showed him the loaded 17-round magazine. "Careless."

Ela and Robert stormed Max's office. But before Max can at least defend himself, Ela fired the M26C's electrodes to his chest.

"AAGGHGHAGHGH!!!!"

The ex-GROM operator and promising RAINBOW candidate pulled the trigger to send 50,000 volts into his body before he collapsed onto the floor.

"We got him." Ela radioed to her comrades in the streets. Robert moved in to check Max for a pulse.

"Understood." Moneypenny replied. "We'll secure the security room before we depart."

Chapter 4 END

Chapter Text

The lobby of the CNS building was completely vacant the minute M led his group to secure the place to take down Max. It's been around... maybe an hour or two since the building was raided.

No one seemed to be outside. So far, everything was really quiet.

Except for two black 2017 BMW X3 xDrive 30d M Sport SUVs that were parked outside the building in Millbank Street. The doors immediately opened up to around nine armed men dressed in various jackets, tac pants and hiking boots. They were seen with earpieces on either their left or right ears.

They were also armed with Heckler & Koch UMP45 submachine guns outfitted with EOTech sights and vertical foregrips.

"We haven't heard from the others since the last check in a few minutes ago." One of the UMP45-armed men said on the microphone clipped on his brown tactical jacket. "Looks very quiet. But I may be wrong."

"Roger. Secure the area and see if our guy's still in there." The modulated voice was heard giving the orders. "Haven't heard from him since he exfiltrated from the MI6 building. RAINBOW's being brought in to reinforce the police and the SAS, so retrieving him is our top priority before he's arrested. Use the JIS credentials if you have to."

"Understood."

"Oy! I think we saw something!" An armed man with a black beanie cap, tac pants and brown tac boots shouted while staying near the BMW X3's front passenger door.

The brown tac jacket-clad man nodded and signalled to the others to stay low, find cover and aim at the building's main entrance.

Two elevator doors opened up to the ground floor.

Moneypenny, Bill, Q with M emerged from the first car, but opted to stay near it.

The other elevator car opened up. Dagger and Mukuro led the way. Robert carried Max's unconscious body with Ela next to him.

"Don't look now, but we got some visitors." Dagger informed the party after he peeked out from the corner of the elevator hallway that led to the open lobby.

"Wonder where's Ilija?" Mukuro mused when she checked the magazine of her TR-1 Ultralight AR-15 carbine.

"Hopefully he got to someplace safe. He did report a couple of suspicious vehicles heading to the CNS building."

"Status?" M asked the masked mercenaries.

Mukuro spoke to the man while standing near Dagger. "Dagger has spotted some armed personnel outside the building."

"Any affiliations?"

Mukuro shook her head. "None that we are aware of."

Dagger was trying to check on his comms. "Dagger to Sniper. Dagger to Sniper. Can you hear me?"

"Understood, Mukuro."

"Tell the others to stay put, Mukuro. Looks like they're going to breach." Dagger continued to peek from the corner, crouching down. "And I've able to get in touch with Ilija. Said that the armed personnel aren't friendlies."

Mukuro nodded and motioned to the others via hand signals to stay put.

A few seconds later, they could hear someone open the building's glass doors. Likely with the same kind of card Robert and Ela swiped from the CNS agent they took out earlier.

"How do we deal with this?" Mukuro asked her partner.

Dagger was silent, contemplating on her question.

"You may not like this..."

Prior to the Huey II lifting off, Zhen and Ethan cleared the crashed AW109 since there was nothing worth salvaging aside from pulling the corpses of the pilot and co-pilot out of the cockpit.

Daryl and Nathan helped them by positioning the corpses away from the wreck on the sidewalk. They were the first to check the AW109 to retrieve the corpses of the two gunmen. The former suggested to check them for anything useful, which the latter agreed to.

The only thing Nathan took were undamaged Nokia 6 smartphones and their UMP45s.

"Clear!" Ethan told Declan as he prepped the Huey II for take off.

Declan nodded and gave the thumbs up.

Twitch was given instructions, courtesy of Lester, to help drop Madeleine to friendlies once the situation is resolved. He then told him that Taliana was on the way to rendezvous as they speak.

With the Huey II's rotors already moving (with a cuffed and hooded Blofeld inside), Ethan and James moved inside the chopper with Daryl catching up. Nine and Twelve were inside to just wait for the rest to finish up.

Nathan, Karl and Zhen stayed behind to help Madeleine leave the area.

"All right guys. We got Blofeld and Lane now." Lester updated everyone on their radio channel. "The only person we need to take out is that cunt."

Everyone in the scene who got the word from Lester wondered who he was talking about.

"He's talking about Max Denbigh." James interjected after he took his seat in the chopper. "Had a chance to talk with Lester about him and we share the same views about calling him C instead of his full name."

Ethan nodded when he said, "Okay. Cool." before he shrugged his shoulders.

Taliana was seen making the approach with the Toyota ProAce to the intersection of Durham Street and Harleyford Road.

The plan was made and finalized by Lester. It called for the Huey II to deposit the detained Blofeld to the proper authorities.

"Go ahead and take off, Phoenix. We'll rendezvous later."

"Roger that, Baseplate."

The Tucson, with Twitch at the wheel, would bring Madeleine with Zhen and Nathan accompanying him to another safehouse.

Lester and Rickie were in the ProAce with Taliana at the wheel.

According to Lester, they got help from a friendly who agreed to help put her up somewhere until the terror threat level is stabilized throughout London. He didn't say where though.

As the armed men got inside the CNS building, Dagger decided to challenge them in order to see if they're friendlies or not.

"FREEZE!"

Dagger was able to sneak around and head to the reception desk near the middle of the lobby.

"ARMED POLICE!"

The armed men responded to the challenge by firing towards the desk.

"Well that went well!" Bill shouted as their position was now under attack.

"If you got time to spare, shut up and help!" Moneypenny shouldered the Heckler & Koch MP7A1 submachine gun and fired at the armed men who were already inside the building. She went prone after she positioned herself near the corner of the elevator lobby.

Mukuro, Bill and Ela joined in the firefight. Robert and M stood back to let them do the work.

"Incoming, guys."

Everyone in the lobby heard Ilija's voice on their frequency. After he spoke, a loud shot rang out.

Moneypenny felt relieved to hear him. "It's about bloody time."

Someone shouted at the lobby to watch the rear after the gunshot rang out.

And then another.

And then another.

The armed men inside had two things to worry about.

Sniper attacks from the outside and the team inside the building forcing their way out of said place.

"Push 'em back!" Dagger shouted after he reloaded his Ultralight AR-15. Damn. How much do I got left?

The Huey II was airborne for a few minutes after Blofeld was secured inside the chopper. They were en route towards the direction of the Vauxhall Bridge.

"Okay guys. We're cleared for landing to hand over our guy." Declan told everyone else inside who wore headphones.

"Where to?" James asked.

"The former MI6 building."

"Oh."

"Looks like we got cleared to land there. We also got a friendly who's going to meet us there."

"Should sound good." Nine chimed in.

"Don't worry. When we land, some of you will probably know said person by face."

The American-made chopper was slowly descending as it was near Vauxhall Bridge via the River Thames bank where the MI6 building was.

"That's gonna leave a mark." Ethan said before he gave a whistle.

"I feel sorry for the building." Twelve gave on his usual dark humor.

"Okay guys. We're ready to land." Declan told his passengers. "Be sure our guest is safe and sound."

"No problem."

After the chopper was neaar the building, Declan heard over the radio from Lester that he's to land at the Albert Embankment Street in front of the place.

"We're going to land." Declan told the passengers as he slowly began to land the Huey II on the deserted road.

Several persons clad in black tactical gear were seen securing the street as the Huey II was preparing to land.

One of the black-clad persons oversaw the landing of the chopper as it slowly touched down.

"So these guys are responsible for capturing Solomon Lane and Franz Oberhauser?!"  A Caucasian man in his mid-40s was seen standing with a black balllistc vest worn over his chest and neck and PASGT helmet.

"Yes, sir!" One of the masked persons replied. "We got word from a contact that former MI6 mustered help to apprehend the leader of Spectre and one of his moles in the British government."

"This ought to be interesting...!"

When the Huey II landed, the cabin doors opened up with Ethan and James taking the restrained Blofeld out.

"I'm James Danko, Deputy Director of RAINBOW!"

"Pleasure! Bond! James Bond!" James greeted the man. "We got a present for you!"

The restrained Blofeld was brought down from the chopper by the masked Nine and Twelve.

"Take him to custody right now!"

Two RAINBOW operatives took the Spectre leader by the arms and brought him to one of the unmarked 2018 black Hyundai i800 vans parked nearby.

"Tell our mutual friend that the assistance is appreciated...!" James thanked the British agent.

The 007 agent looked back at the chopper's occupants as if he was asking the sane question of the moment.

What mutual friend?

"We'll make sure he's informed!" Nine spoke to the RAINBOW Deputy Director.

"I suppose you two want a ride now that most of the situation's taken care of?!"

"Welll...!"

"We don't know about that part yet!"

The gunfight at the CNS building was drawing to an end. The nine-man team originally sent in to regain control of the facility was ambushed from both sides.

With Ilija somewhere in the streets near the building and Dagger leading the others to hold their ground inside, the so-called JIS agents were gunned down one by one.

They were slowly being pinned down from both sides.

"Screw this!" The last surviving UMP45-armed man decided that he's had enough and ran out to one of the parked X3 xDrive 30d M Sport SUVs, located.

"I got him." Ilija radioed in as he fired his suppressed PGM 338 at the armed man's direction.

First, Ilija took out the nearest SUV's rear wheels in quick succession.

"Shit! Where's he firing from?!" The armed man couldn't find where the gunshots were coming from.

He didn't notice or see that Ilija aimed for his legs.

"AAGGHHH!"

At least the left leg.

After the man was shot, he fell down to the ground and was forced to grip his leg to control the bleeding.

It didn't help him much as he was later shot in the head.

"Area secured."

"Nice work. Secure the area. We're taking the prize out."

"Understood, Dagger."

"Ilija's secured the outskirts." Mukuro told M and the rest.

"Nice work." M replied.

"We'll bring the vehicles up front."

"Here." Moneypenny tossed Mukuro the keys to one of the Land Rover Discovery 4.

"Thanks." Mukuro was able to get the keys. "We need another driver to take the other Discovery."

"I'm coming." Bill volunteered himself when heh got the keys to the other Discovery 4.

Dagger and Mukuro were the first to leave the building. They swept the outskirts and were met by Ilija.

A few minutes later, the two ran towards Ponsonby Place. They didn't wait for Bill to follow.

"How's our guy?" M asked Robert, who didn't have a problem carrying the restrained Max over his left shoulder.

"Totally fine, sir."

"It's me." Ela went for the U94 Tactical PTT button attached on her plate carrier. "We got the package. I repeat, we got the package."

"Understood." Lester was heard over the line. "Get to Phoenix ASAP. He's positioned near the MI6 building. I'm relaying to him your current situation."

The two Discovery 4s and the Lexus RX 450h had arrived when the transmission came through.

"Let's go!" M shouted for Ela, Robert, Moneypenny and Q to leave the building.

"Phoenix, this is Baseplate." Lester made contact with Declan. "The guys at the CNS building bagged their prize. Should be on their way."

"Understood, Baseplate."

"Hey!" Twelve spoke to Declan. "I've made contact with Dagger and company! They're driving over Vauxhall Bridge as we speak."

"What about Madeleine?"

"Dunno. Said that they're bringing her to a hotel that's not near the bridge nor the MI6 building."

"Alright."

Nine, Twelve and Daryl took a look at the Vauxhall Bridge and saw the incoming vehicles.

"Just an update, guys." Lester radioed in for an update. "Dagger and company are in a couple of Land Rover Discovery 4s and a Lexus RX 450h."

"Yeah, we're seeing it now." Daryl replied when he saw the vehicles approaching the end of the bridge towards the MI6 building.

"That's them all right. Just keep an eye out... just in case."

The RX 450h, which was leading the two Discovery 4s, has M sticking his head out from the rear left passenger window to identify himself to any friendlies.

"This is Five." James went for his radio. "We found friendly vehicles across the Vauxhall Bridge."

The masked RAINBOW operators directed them towards a section of Albert Embankment Street that's not being occupied by the Huey II.

"I'm Mallory! Double 0 section!" M was the first to get out of the SUV before Bill, Q and Moneypenny followed. Dagger and the others dismounted from their vehicles and kept an eye on their surroundings.

"Deputy Director Danko! We last met a few months ago before JIS was activated!" James shook hands with M while the other ex-MI6 personnel exchanged greetings with the RAINBOW operators present.

"Ah yes I remember!"

"I heard you got something!"

"Yes...! He happens to be inside! Follow me!"

M showed James the recently opened trunk of one of the Discovery 4s. Inside was the restrained Max, albeit unconscious and with a black hood placed over his head for operational reasons.

"Very interesting." James seem pleased that another bad guy was taken off the streets. "RAINBOW had some intel to suggest that Spectre may be trying to plant a mole in the government..."

"And there he is. Max Denbigh. The first and last head of the Joint Intelligence Service."

"I see where you're going with this."

"MI6 will take custody of this man. Of course, I do welcome assistance from RAINBOW in investigating him further than what we publicly know of him."

"And the others who came with you?"

"They're with me. Especially Mr. Bond and an esteemed colleague from the IMF."

"Got it. We better take him out of there. Would look bad if he stays cooped up in the back."

The ProAce and the Tucson arrived outside the Park Plaza London Riverbank.

"We're here." Taliana spoke to Twitch through her TEA LASH headset. "Hotel looks okay."

"Looks clear. All I can see are a bunch of civilians looking fine, except I'm seeing armed officers nearby." Twitch observed the sidewalk near the hotel.

"Look alive guys. I'm seeing someone comnig out of the lobby." Taliana spoke when a Caucasian man with blond hair in his late 30s, wearing a black suit, red necktie and black Oxford shoes, walked out of the hotel and approached the vehicles.

"I'll go first." Twitch placed the SUV's 6-speed automatic gearstick to P before he got out. He later walked to the rear left passenger door to allow Madeleine to step out. "Cover me."

"You heard the man, guys." Taliana turned around to face the passenger seated inside the van.

"On it." Zhen gave the thumbs up before she stepped out of the van, followed by Nathan. Lester and Rickie opted to stay inside.

Lester told them to leave their guns in the ProAce.

The last thing they need is to have armed police swarming over them.

"Good evening Ms. Swann. I'm Jenkins from Management." The blond man greeted the psychologist. "The Park Plaza has your room ready as we speak for the night."

"Are you sure it's safe to enter?" The French woman asked.

"Don't worry. The premises are far from the cordoned area. The authorities have informed my bosses that security has been ramped up around the hotel."

Lester decided to step out of the van after he heard the conversation.

"Ah, Mr. Crest." Jenkins shook hands with the glasses-wearing criminal. "Your... boss has informed my superiors that Ms. Swann's needs at the hotel is taken care of."

"Thanks. I'm sure that someone will appreciate this."

"And don't worry. Your boss has paid in advance for Ms. Swann's room."

"That was fast."

"Thank you, Mr. Crest."

"This way, Ms. Swann." Jenkins showed her the main entrance.

"Thank you." Madeleine shook hands with Lester, Zhen and Nathan before she went inside.

"All right guys." Lester turned around to face the others. "We call this a night and head to the alternate safehouse... We wait for Dagger and Mukuro while we're at it in case they're not there yet."

As the RAINBOW operators were bringing the detained Max to the parked i800 vans, Robert was talking to M and Bill about what was going to happen next now that the threat to London is extinguinshed... for now.

A while ago, his TR-1 was taken from him by Daryl as Robert planned to leave the area and head back to his house to get some sleep with the crisis being brought under control. He also planned to be anonymous for the meantime.

"So what do you think of my proposal, Mr. Miller?"

M asked Robert on whether he would consider joining MI6 once it's reconstituted, while taking care of any problems the ex-Afghan War vet with the JIS and Home Secretary Langdon.

"I... I'm not sure, sir. I mean, I appreciate what the service has been doing ever since the incident at Heygate Estate."

M sighed and handed him a business card. "Just mull it over. You don't have to give an answer right away. After all, it's to thank you for what you're doing for this country."

Robert nodded and took the card.

"Besides Mr. Miller, I think it's time you got home, get a shower and something to eat."

"Oh yeah..."

M reached out for his wallet from the back of his pants and took out bills worth £1,000 in £100 bank notes. "It's the least I can do."

"Thanks, sir." Robert nodded and accepted the money. "It means a lot."

The Huey II took off with Nine, Twelve and Daryl on board. Ethan and Bond stayed behind to liaise with the ex-MI6 employees and RAINBOW before they would call it a day.

"What a night, sir." Bill told his superior, relieved to see that most of what happened in London tonight was (mostly) over.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Bill." M gave an approving nod.

"It's me. Things in London didn't go well for us."

"..."

"I know. Blofeld's arrest is a blow for us, but it's not going to affect the other operations we have in other places."

"..."

"Our agents have reported spotting the mercenary known as Dagger."

"..."

"Yes, sir. He assisted the remnants of MI6 to apprehend Spectre's man in the British government."

"..."

"Understood. I'll tell the others."

"..."

"I'll take care of that too."

A few weeks after the terrorist incidents in London were resolved with Max, Solomon and Blofeld arrested and detained in undisclosed prisons, Lester gathered everyone else who's set to depart from Britain for another mission related to Spectre. They all met in a Cantonese restaurant somewhere in the city with a booked private room for a lunch meeting on one December afternoon.

The semi-crippled information broker informed Nine, Twelve, Dagger, Mukuro, Daryl, Karl, Taliana, Karim, Rickie, Ela, Declan, Zhen, Ilija and Nathan up to speed with their next task.

The unnamed Spotter was not seen in the private room (Not that anyone has an idea on what he looks like he's known to always wear a balaclava and a head harness for night or thermal vision goggles) as he was contracted for another job, but in Ireland. Twitch was also not present as his presence was needed back in the US.

Dagger was seen wearing generic shades he purchased during the London trip. Other than that, everything seemed normal.

In the meeting, Lester told everyone that they're to leave London when the situation is normalized in a few more weeks. Details will be made after they leave Britain for operational reasons.

After the third week of December 2017, the assembled group made plans to depart. They went to Cranfield Airport in Cranfield, Bedfordshire at 9 in the morning. Arrangements were made for them to use the white 2014 Bombardier Global 6000, which brought some of the team to Britain from overseas.

For security and planning reasons, their weapons and gear were sent off first in before the start of the third week, disguised as items retrieved from various embassies to invoke the use of the Vienna Convention so that the police/intelligence agencies can't intercept them... Even though they worked to defuse the terrorist crisis in London. The team didn't like the idea, but they had to listen to Lester since he planned it with approval from their benefactor to avoid creating an incident.

Everyone had settled inside the aircraft after it took off, seatbelts placed either on their laps or over their chests as instructed by their pilots. They were seated near the rear of the plane as there was a table with four seats in total, two facing the rear and two facing the front side of the plane. A gray sofa was positioned adjcent to the table.

It was only after a few hours that the passengers were able to remove their seats when the Global 6000 got into a cruising altitude of 10,000 feet.

"All right." Lester called for a meeting. "I hope you guys have settled in for the long run in your seats, 'cause we're all heading to South America for serious work."

"Where are we.... starting off?" Mukuro raised the question everyone has on their minds.

"I'd agree with what she says." Karim said.

"I'm getting to that right now." Lester raised his right hand up, since he was holding his cane with his left hand. "So bear with me here. Rickie, can you get the laptop?"

"Almost done." Rickie nodded, looking at the laptop screen after it was booted up for a while now. "And I got it."

"Rickie here is going to show us info related to what's happening in the continent."

"Thanks, my man." Rickie placed the laptop down on the table.

"Really? A powerpoint? It's like I'm back in school or something." Dagger criticized Rickie's idea on how to debrief the team.

"I know. I know. But right now, it's the best way I can let you guys digest the information we have as of today."

The team decided to sit back and let Rickie do the talking.

Lester was seated nearby, just in case. While he can stand upright with the cane, he prefers to sit down when it's not necessary to talk while standing up thanks to his condition.

"We're heading to South America on an op that's related to the Spectre case in London, with their relationship in secretly establishing the JIS and whatnot..."

Rickie has just booted Powerpoint on the laptop while Lester was speaking. "Okay guys. Lester wanted me to show you guys the photo of this particular woman..."

The team saw the photo of a Caucasian woman with short blonde hair.

"Wow." Karl said before he whistled.

"Ah, sorry Karl. Last I heard, this woman is now married." Rickie said to the African-American crewman without mincing his words.

"Sick burn, Rickie."  Taliana chuckled. Everyone else couldn't help, but smirk.

"While I appreciate having a little humor to give us a break," Lester said, also chuckling a bit before he tapped the floor with his cane. "we need to get our heads back on the game."

"Right. This woman's name is Zoe Reynolds. She was first recruited into MI5 in 1997 straight after graduation from Oxford." Rickie began to debrief the team on the blonde woman's name. "She's built up a reputation in taking down both criminal and terrorist groups operating in Britain. That is... until she had to leave Britain in 2004."

"What's the story?" Declan asked the mustached hacker.

"Story is..." Zhen spoke up after Declan raised the question. "The British courts found her guilty of manslaughter when he used her charms on someone in the Turkish Mafia to kill his own boss, who boasted at times of working alongside Islamists in terms of supplying arms and explosives. There was a plainclothes officer involved in the same op as MI5 and he also got killed. Apparently, one of the soldiers involved was persuaded to shoot him."

The others looked at her, as if they wanted to know how she knew about that piece of information since it was never made public.

"When you work in intelligence for a while, you tend to hear these kinds of stories."

"That is... how you do say in English..." Nathan replied, summing up his thoughts. "Pathetic."

"Yeah, pathetic's one word to describe her case." Lester nodded, tapping his cane once again on the floor. "Regardless, London sentenced her to 10 years in prison for it. That's the official word."

"Heard of the case when I started this line of work." Dagger said as he leaned back on the couch. "But I wasn't fully operational a few years ago. Only did some supporting work here and there."

Lester nodded, acknowledging Dagger. "However, her ex-boss in MI5 was able to make a last minute deal with the Home Office where they agreed to look the other way unofficially as long as she keeps her head down until the day when the news is no longer in people's memories or when she croaks."

"A shame."

"Okay... so she at least has a happy ending." Mukuro said her thoughts on Zoe's case.

"Right. The name given to her is Gina Hamilton North, a Chilean of British origin. She's been living in South America for a long time even before her husband Will North migrated to Chile a few months after Zoe moved there." Lester continued with the briefing.

"So is someone after her?" Nine threw in the question that everyone's been thinking after the briefing started. "I mean Ms. Zoe is no longer in MI5 service and London's already willing to look the other way as long as she's not publicly acknowledged by someone on the press or in the internet."

"Well..." Rickie scratched the back of his head. "It wasn't easy hacking on British intelligence here and there with concerns to her MI5 background, so I got some help in looking around with anything related to her work happens to be significant."

"The only thing we looked into was big cases that Ms. Reynolds was involved in the day she was recruited." Lester said while Rickie used the arrow keys on the keyboard to show the picture of a man in his late 40s.

"This is Eric Newland, a scientist who once went over to South Africa during Apartheid to help them with their research on WMDs." Lester began to explain the man's short history.

"I remember that he was taken out en route to Norway by ferry." Ela said after she and the others got a good look at the photo. "Prior to that, wasn't he blacklisted?"

"Indeed he was. Rumor has it that London called for his assassination after he was covertly courted by Pyongyang." Lester motioned to Rickie to change the slide. "Rickie, can you change the slide?"

"Yeah." Rickie nodded.

The next Powerpoint slide showed Newland standing next to a woman in her 50s in glasses in a corridor that looks like it was from a university.

"The woman here is Dr. Clark. She and Dr. Newland did a research project contracted by the ATGC company in the 1980s before the good man moved to Pretoria for a few years." Lester continued to debrief him on the new photo the team was examining via Powerpoint slide. "This is before she moved on to FOXHOUND. And to her eventual death in 2003."

"What happened?" Ilija raised the question on his mind.

"Officially, she was killed in a lab accident. Unofficially, I have no idea what's true. Except for rumors that she was murdered. But that's a story for another day, depending on whether this operation we're tasked to investigate is related to it or not."

"Has MI5 conducted any investigation on Newland's other activities in the past?" Zhen asked Lester.

"I heard there was... but after his death, MI6 reportedly took over due to national security reasons."

"If I had to guess, they never disclosed the reasons why they did according to a memo we found regarding Newland's alleged ties with FOXHOUND." Rickie showed the next slide of what seemed to be an internal memo with redactions made. "I'd try to find a non-redacted version, but Lester and I will likely have to reach out to some people anonymously to assist us."

"We'll cross that bridge just in case with regards to Dr. Newland's ties to other groups." Lester stepped in to speak after Rickie. "All I know is... that with some help from other hackers I know, MI5 did investigate those links on the potential that ATGC may have tried to recruit other like-minded scientists like Newland on behalf of FOXHOUND aside from being lured out by the likes of rogue states and other interested corporations. Ms. Reynolds was in on some of those cases before she was given her sentence. My theory is that during said investigations, our mysterious enemy may have noted said investigation was going to threaten their activities that they tried to silence the officers involved."

"Spectre?" Dagger asked Lester.

"Doubt it. Could be a different group. Maybe the same one you and Mukuro have been trying to investigate long before Spectre started to do their behind the scenes stuff."

The others looked at the two young mercenaries.

"Long story." Dagger said in his defense.

Wonder if she's alright...

"Achoo..."

A blonde-haired woman with very short hair in her early 40s was seen walking in the streets of Las Condes after she got out of the Manquehue metro station.

I wonder who's talking about me?

The woman walked for around four minutes after going up the stairs of the metro station to the sidewalk. It was after four minutes that she walked inside a certain skyscraper. 

"¿Cómo estai?" She greeted the guard who opened the door for her.

At the lobby's elevator hall, there was one particular company name that stood out from the list of offices in said building.

Trans Atlantic Security.

"After we land at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport," Lester took over from briefing the team. "we'll head to our safehouse in Santiago. From there, we'll work on scoping out who our new bad guys are targeting and why they're doing it."

"Any support?" Daryl asked the glasses-wearing man.

"I'm told that they we may have a man or two with us, but everything's not set in stone yet."

"What about contact?" Karl was the next person to ask.

"I'm looking into that as well. Have no name yet, but we'll be assisted on that part too."

"Gotcha."

"In the meantime, I want everyone to relax on the flight. There's a five hour time difference between the UK and Chile. And yeah, don't forget to eat when you can in the 14-hour flight. We'll talk more at least an hour before we land."

Lester took a vacant seat and went through his Apple iPhone 6S Plus smartphone in order to look into his notes.

The notes given to me by Bain from our last call should have details on what I can do next in Chile...

The woman was alone inside the elevator car that was taking her to the 30th floor, which is solely dedicated to the TAS office.

A loud ringing tone was heard from the black leather lady handbag, slung over her left shoulder.

"Hello?" The woman said when she answered the call on her smartphone, seeing that the person calling her has a non-Spanish name.

"Ah, nice to hear from you."

"Tom. I assume that this has something to do with the latest in-house assessment?"

"It is. We're going over the details we got, but the initial analysis suggests a threat against the Chilean office. Maybe it's against you. Some of the staff or our clients."

"Alright.  I'll inform the staff."

"And watch your back. Even when you left London years ago, the threat was always there."

"I know, Tom. I know."

The call ended before the elevator car arrived at the said floor.

The Bombardier Global 6000 was almost getting halfway into the North Atlantic Ocean when the team was told by Lester to take something to eat for lunch.

The team was still taking their break from the first debriefing Lester and Rickie did for the upcoming operation in South America.

"Hey Lester." Rickie called Lester before he was about to have lunch.

"What's up, Rickie?"

"Here. I was able to check my Proton Mail account a while and I got something."

"Is it related to the upcoming operation?"

Rickie nodded. "Gotta love Bombardier WAVE for the connection."

Lester took an empty seat next to Rickie as he opened the e-mail message, which only has one message.

This is necessary. Get back to me if further information is required.

Rickie saw that the sender also have a Proton Mail e-mail address, likely for secrecy reasons.

A WinRar attachment was seen on the message. The file name said "South America".

"What do these South American files have?" Lester was curious to see what info their backer has.

Rickie used the laptop's trackpad to move the mouse cursor on the attached WinRar file to download it to the desktop.

The mustached man extracted the WinRar file's contents to the desktop in a folder.

"Let me have a look." Rickie opened the folder and saw a bunch of photos, Word documents and other types of files. "There's a lot to unpack here. May take a while."

"All right. Just go over them as soon as you can."

"Gotcha. Holler me when you have something."

"Okie dokie."

The blonde woman entered the floor after she was greeted by the receptionist, who informed her that some TAS security analysts were waiting for her in her office.

"Ms. Hamilton." A male TAS analyst, who spoke English with a slight French accent. "We're able to compile more information based on initial threat assessments being made against the company."

"Any progress?" The woman asked after she took her seat inside the office, showing off her RP English accent.

"Nothing specific. I've spoken to the other analysts yesterday at TAS HQ in the US. They're saying the same thing, but we're going to check again in case we miss anything aside from the threats aimed at the company or maybe our clients."

"All right. Keep me updated if there's anything significant."

"Of course, Ms. Hamilton."

After the analyst left, the woman saw that the caller ID on her phone was not identified. Since she doesn't know who's calling, she decided to pick up the phone and answer the call.

Better than leaving it unattended to let it ring over and over.

"Yes?"

"Ms. Gina North?"

The voice on the line was garbled. She could tell that it was male, but it was otherwise hidden electronically. Naturally, this made the voice very distorted and sounded like a demon.

"Who is this?"

"A friend."

Gina frowned when she heard the response.

"You need to be more specific than just saying that you're a friend."

"Let's just say that I'm here to warn you that the threats made against TAS are related to your past work with MI5."

She was left speechless on how the mysterious caller knows of her work with MI5.

"You're going to receive backup. They're on the way to Santiago as we speak."

"How do I know that you're speaking the truth?"

"You don't, Ms. Hamilton. Or would you want me to address you as Ms. Zoe Reynolds?"

The woman was silent. She never thought that someone would know that name and address her as such.

"Besides, I think it's best if you uncovered the truth of why someone's after you. And as much as I want to help, I can't do it overtly without the chance of my current position being compromised. Don't worry, we shall talk soon."

The call ended afterwards.

It was more than 10 hours since the Bombardier Global 6000 flew over the Atlantic Ocean. More than half the team was either still sleeping or were recently awake just to eat some light breakfast.

It also includes Lester.

Rickie, on the other hand, was awake for the past hour. He was told by Lester to go over the information provided and take note of what information is needed later on.

"Looks like we got a ton of things to do after we get to Santiago."

The ex-Lifeinvader employee read through the data until he read a particular document that was said to be taken from classified MI5 files.

What the hell man? The big guy helping us got to score classified documents?

Rickie wondered if the group was going to get into a pickle.

The others were either eating early breakfast or were just taking water to be hydrated.

"Hey."

Rickie turned around to see Mukuro was standing next to his seat.

"Hey... what can I do you for?" The man greeted the ex-Fenrir mercenary.

"Anything you found in the files lately?" Mukuro asked the hacker.

Gina, or rather Zoe, reached for her handbag for her Apple iPhone X. It was recently acquired thanks to a TAS-backed trip to the US that netted the phones for her under company expenses.

"Hello..." Gina dialed a number from the phone's contacts app.

"Hey..." A male voice answered the call.

"It's me. How are the kids?"

"They're okay. I just asked their teachers at school if I can call them to be on the safe side as always."

"That's good."

"Is something the matter at work?"

"Company's trying to make sure. They've got threat assessments ongoing and I've been told that there may be a troublemaker. That's all."

"All right. I understand. I'll make sure everything's okay on my end."

"Okay. We can talk later. Bye."

The Bombardier Global 6000 was making its approach towards Chilean airspace. It was two minute after 3 PM.

"All right guys." Lester walked towards the cabin after he went to the cockpit to talk to one of the pilots on whether they were almost at AMB. "I've spoken to the pilot about our situation and it looks like we're going to land soon. So far, there's no turbulence after we got halfway over the Atlantic."

"Safehouse first?" Ela asked Lester.

"Yeah. We'll be meeting our guys on the ground and fetch us from the arrivals area."

"And weapons?" Declan asked another question.

"Word is that they're being readied. Includes gear and other tactical stuff. Hopefully they'll get in the country without any major problems that can be traced back to us."

"Gotcha."

"Ladies and gentlemen." The plane's intercom was being used by the pilots. "Hope you guys had a chance to eat, freshen up in the toilet and relieve yourselves. We're approximately one hour away from Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport. Please head back to your seats and fasten the seat belt at once."

Everyone in the cabin sat down in their seats and fastened the seat belts over their laps. There were a few seats that also included seat belts for the chest, so they were also used.

So far, there was no sign of turbulence as the plane was now approaching Chilean airspace from the northeast.

Here we go.

The co-pilot informed the passengers that the plane would start to descend as they approach the airport's airspace in preparation for final landing.

Outside the arrivals area of AMB, a couple of 2017 JAC Sunray SWB vans in white finish was seen arriving outside the international terminal.

The vans parked next to the curb as the drivers kept them slightly idle.

"Espera aquí." The man spoke in Spanish with a little hint of an Asian accent, seated in the front passenger seat of the first JAC Sunray stepped out. He wore a plain white shirt, jeans and brown hiking shoes. In addition, he wore a blue baseball cap and his eyes concealed by shades.

The driver nodded when the man was already outside.

"Yes?" The man answered the call on his Iphone 8. "Yes, I already arrived at the airport."

"...."

"I'm going to meet with them soon. They should be arrving as we speak."

"...."

"Things are being arranged. I'm bringing Mr. Crest and his team to the safehouse."

"...."

"Understood. I'll inform them of that problem when I meet them at the terminal."

The call ended before the man walked inside the terminal.

At AMB, the Bombardier Global 6000 was cleared to land after the pilots made contact with the airport's control tower.

The instructions given to them was to land at the nearest available runway. Afterwards, the jet would taxi to a designated vacant hangar. From there, transportation would be arranged for Lester and the rest of the crew to get to the international terminal.

Next came immigration and customs clearance.

Lester told the group that they're expecting at least one person who would meet them once they're in the reception area.

Lester led the group towards the international terminal's arrivals area. He looked at his Iphone 8 Plus for an incoming SMS message.

The man was informed in the message that he needs to look out for someone who has a sign that has his name on it.

"Here we are." Lester said after he read the SMS. "Now let me see where is our man with the sign..."

He looked around at the reception area to see anyone holding a sign that has his name on it.

Come on greeter... I need to see my name on it...

"We waitin' for someone?" Karim asked Lester after they got clear of the exit.

"Yeah. Said that our greeter should have my name..."

Lester spotted the person wearing the blue baseball cap with a sign that says LESTER CREST, written in black marker pen on A4 size bond paper.

"Ah, there he is." Lester pointed the person out to everyone else. "Come on, follow me."

"Excuse me." Lester spoke to the person.

"I assume that you are Mr. Lester Crest?" The shades-wearing person asked Lester after he pointed himself out. Unlike his Spanish, his English was good with no trace of an accent.

"Yes. That's right."

"Welcome to Santiago, Mr. Crest." The man shook hands with Lester. "I'm Anthony Chul. I'm your contact for what's about to happen in the city."

"Thanks."

"Not at all. I've arranged for transport. Two vans that'll take you and the others to the arranged safehouse."

"Appreciated."

"Let's not stand here all day. I'll take you all outside."

Chapter 5 END

Chapter Text

The two white 2017 JAC Sunray SWB vans departed from Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport.

The first van had Anthony accompany Lester, Dagger, Mukuro, Daryl, Karl and Zhen.

The second van had Nine, Twelve, Rickie, Ela, Taliana, Ilija and Declan.

Both were heading towards the direction of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, specifically to Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins. According to what Anthony told Lester, there are apartments in the street that were available for rent on a short-term lease for their upcoming op.

And according to him, the group's unknown benefactor (not Bain though. He told Lester that he has other business to attend to, but wished him luck) was able to acquire them for rent.

"So how long's the rent?" Lester asked Anthony after he got word of the supposed rent.

"Around three to four months. According to what I was told."

Lester pondered over the terms of the rent.

"But he said that the terms of the rent can be negotiated if changes are needed. He'll just foot the bill."

"That's great, Anthony."

And Lester found it great. It should give them time to prepare for the upcoming op.

"I believe the gear is coming. I don't know how it'll be done, but it's being arranged. If anything, we need to thank those two."

Whoever the benefactor is helping Dagger and Mukuro, he likely has a lot of political clout that such arrangements were being made possible.

Lester looked to check the other passengers. Most are just sleeping it off while one or two were just looking through the window to see what the streets of Santiago are like.

For now, he decided to sit back.

"Thanks. Hopefully that goes through without a hitch." He then turned around briefly before he said, "I'll have to set up a meeting after we arrive."

The vans continued to move in Santiago. There was light traffic that they were a few blocks away from arriving at Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins.

From there, their eventual destination would be the commune of Vitacura for their safehouse is a high-end luxury apartment.

It was located at Santa Teresa de Los Andes. After making some detours since it was a one-way street, the vans made a left turn and passed through the gates leading to Raimundo Larraín.

When the vans arrived at their destination, Lester told everyone that they should bring their things inside the apartment (the one with the roundabout in front of the building) and get settled first.

It was after dinner that they'd make plans for the upcoming operation. They were ordered in as they needed to rest and be ready for start tomorrow.

Everyone (including Lester) got room keycards. One person each.

"Before I start," Lester said when the group assembled in the living room. "I don't have to remind you that you can't lose your room keycard to get into the apartment and the building entrance. Anthony's made it clear that we'll have to be penalized if this happens."

Everyone nodded.

"I hope that you guys have your driver's license... depending on the jurisdiction where you spent most of your time." Lester said while he looked at the photos that were placed on the whiteboard with masking tape. "Vehicles are being provided for the op, but it'll be a mix of sedan, station wagons and vans, depending on what we can get."

"Weapons?" Zhen raised the important question.

"Sidearms for now. They should be ready in the apartment. They're packed in another room so that no one's the wiser in case we get unexpected visitors. When the time comes, we bring out the heavy stuff."

"And the plan?" Daryl asked the information broker.

Lester pointed to the whiteboard that has photos of Zoe and the Trans Atlantic Security office entrance, taken covertly throughout Las Condes.

"I've received a package of these photos taken of Ms. Reynolds and her daily commute in Las Condes. From what I know, her husband uses their SUV to take their kids to school."

"And which school is that?" Taliana asked Lester.

"The International School Nido de Aguilas in Lo Barnechea. The family live in a nice apartment in the area at La Dehesa Avenue near the intersection of San Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer Avenue. I've also posted photos of what the school and the apartment building looks like."

The team looked at the photos taped on the whiteboard.

"We start by doing quick checks on the school, apartment and by the office building that has the TAS branch in Las Condes." Lester pointed to the photos of the school and the TAS office entrance. "Look around. We check for anything unusual or something of interest. Weaknesses. Blind spots. Anything that's going to be out of the ordinary. I wanna know about it."

Lester walked in front of the whiteboard from one side to the other, trying to gather his thoughts.

How to go about this?

"I'll see about splitting you guys into small teams. For the meantime, I'll stay here with Ricky to provide support. Meanwhile, each team will have an assigned driver when we start the surveillance operation tomorrow."

Remember. Keep a low profile and don't do anything that can make you stand out so easily.

After Lester debriefed them for the entire night, they got the time to get some sleep. However, they were required to start the surveillance work at 5:50 AM sharp for the team to get to their respective destinations on time before their targets arrive.

If there's an immediate threat, intervene when you can. For now, keep it low drag. Even if there's an attack, the bad guys could use it to draw us and Chilean law enforcement in. Remember to keep in touch at all times.

The first team consisted of Dagger and Mukuro, the two having worked together for a while now. Nathan, Daryl and Taliana was present, the latter being the driver. Lester tasked them to keep an eye on the building where the TAS office is.

The second team hanged out near the intersection of La Dehesa Avenue and San Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer Avenue. It consisted of Ela, Zhen, Ilija and Karim, who serves as the driver.

The third team was staking out the International School Nido de Aguilas in Lo Barnechea. Nine, Twelve, Karl and Declan were in the team. Declan volunteered to be the driver.

Everyone was decked out in windbreakers, some with hoodies attached. Otherwise, they all had jeans and various types of footwear worn.

It was only Dagger and Mukuro had chosen to wear their usual tactical softshell jackets and black tactical boots.

"All teams, check in." Lester spoke on the their encrypted channel via earpiece.

"Team One." Daryl reported to Lester, keeping an eye on the office building. "Las Condes is bustling as ever."

"Any sign of our female ex-spy?"

Daryl scoped the office building and spotted Zoe entering after greeting the guard outside. "Yep. She just arrived."

"Alright. You guys stay put." Lester waited for the other teams to call it in.

"Team Two." Zhen spoke next. "The apartment building looks okay. And the streets are good too."

"Thanks, Zhen."

"Team Three." Nine was the last to speak. "The school is clear as of the moment of any hostiles. Spotted a marked green and white Carabineros de Chile squad car, but it seems routine."

"Continue surveillance for an hour tops. Then we meet back up here. We keep doing this for a week or so."

With a collective sound of "Got it"s heard, Lester told Rickie to monitor what's happening in the dark web for anything related to Zoe, her family or the TAS.

"Anything you need? I'm gonna check the fridge and see if there's anything to drink." Rickie asked Lester.

"Nah." Lester shook his head. "I'll get some water later."

Lester was on the line talking to the teams to make their way back. Rickie browsed through dark web forums on whether any topics popped up related to the targets set out by Lester.

After all, it was almost a week since the teams were monitoring the targets from a distance (and sometimes, sneaking around in secret while avoiding law enforcement and roving security guards) in order to see any potential deviations.

There was one particular topic that had pictures of Zoe and her family, taken from official passport bio data pages of their British/Chilean passports. One line was typed up underneath their photos.

CONTRACT JOB. LOOKING FOR PROFESSIONAL TAKERS.

Once everyone made it back to the apartment, Lester immediately gave a quick brief update on the operation they're about to undertake.

"Just a quick update. It seems Rickie got some luck monitoring the dark web. An anonymous person's trying to contract the job to kill Zoe and her family to someone. No takers."

"Still trying to do a trace, my dudes." Rickie told them. "No dice so far. The person who made the post is using multiple servers to cover their tracks. I'm still looking."

"Anyone took the offer?" Ela asked.

"None. Pretty quiet for now."

Lester went for the map of the Santiago Metropolitan Region attached to the whiteboard with masking tape. There was yellow post-it notes attached on the map on Las Condes, the intersection of La Dehesa Avenue and San Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer Avenue and the International School Nido de Aguilas.

Rickie, on the other hand, was checking various dark web forums. So far, there were some posts on the asking price. Lester instructed the ex-Lifeinvader employee to inform him if someone was willing to take up the contract job.

"Rickie and I received a call from Anthony. He said that he'll provide backup when the bad guys show their face." Lester said while he fixed the post-it note placed over Las Condes.

"Good to hear..." Twelve said with a satisfied nod.

"Word is that he could be the only backup, although he insists that he's still talking to his contacts if extra manpower can be provided until Chile's done."

"The more, the merrier I suppose." Declan said when he heard the news of extra manpower.

"We won't be taking any choppers for this operation or maybe other subsequent operations. The one we used back in London was already scrapped just to be on the safe side."

"Shame..." Declan felt sad (sarcastically of course) that the Huey II was scrapped. "Bird wasn't bad."

"So what's going to happen in case things go down with Zoe... I mean Gina North?" Dagger raised the important question that everyone has on their mind.

"Right. Let's cut to the chase. Since we didn't see anything to deviate from their usual routines, here's what we're going to do when the time comes."

Lester took a black permanent marker pen from the pocket of his khaki pants.

"We'll assume that hostiles will target Zoe and her family, regardless if it's at the three locations simultaneously. Or maybe the TAS office and the school."

Lester then used the marker pen to make a circle on Las Condes with the post-it note in the center.

"Let's start with Las Condes and the TAS office." Lester stared at the assembled team. "For an attack, the bad guys'll have to either storm the front entrance and take control of the lobby before they take our VIP to a car. Either parked in front of the building. Or they use the basement parking lot."

"So a snatch and grab." Karl surmised from Lester's explanation.

"Right. So Dagger and other team members will take charge of that area as usual. I'll leave it up to you guys on how to find a way to prevent such a thing from happening."

Dagger crossed his arms when he looked at the map. "Way I see it, either we blitz like usual with our sidearms in case the bad guys get their guns out. Or in the case that they bring her to someplace where we can't risk firing on them, we'll have to sneak around. Perhaps the basement parking could be their best chance of getting out alive."

"I'll have to agree. Only because this is the best course of action considering we can't get any closer to the office."

A circle was made next on the intersection.

"For the team that staked out the Hamiltons for a week, I'd like to hear whatver gameplan you have in mind in case the nasty comes by."

Zhen shared her thoughts. "The building we staked out has two entrances. One facing San Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer Avenue and the other at La Dehesa Avenue. Entry is protected by keycard entry. There's also basement parking lot access, which is also covered by keycard entry."

Lester nodded when he heard her assessment.

"There's a guard stationed at the desk with the receptionist at the La Dehesa Avenue entrance. That's the only opposition anyone will have to face." Ela added. "The basement parking has up to five floors."

"Anyone in the team have details on any security room in the building?"

"Not sure. We couldn't get that far unless we act as if we're residents there."

"Understandable. Anthony should be back with some news later on regarding those keycards." Lester then circled the International School Nido de Aguilas on the map. "Updates on the school?"

"Allow me." Declan nodded. "We've spotted at least one or two squad cars from the Carabineros making roving patrols once in a while, given that it's an international school and some threats were made against the expat teachers. But I'm not sure if there's a terror threat made against foreign places in Chile."

"Could be anarchist groups that are against foreigners." Zhen said to her ex-IMF colleague. "Or maybe just an anti-crime patrol by showing up in the area."

"Anything regarding the school that we need to take note?" Lester asked.

"Three entrances. One is at Nido de Águilas and the El Rodeo intersection. The other is way up north at Nido de Águilas before the local Center for Improvement, Educational Research and Experimentation building. The third is located at El Rodeo, which leads to the parking lot. We think it's a challenge."

"I'll be taking a guess that this is where the additional manpower could come in if Anthony's able to get some backup."

Zhen and Declan nodded.

"Roger that. I'll be speaking with the man when he comes by."

"Ideally," Ilija spoke. "we'd have to position ourselves near the entrances so that they'd be killed even before they would set foot at the school."

"Ideal positions for you?"

The sniper heard Lester's question.

"A lot of residential housing and schools in the area. Flatlands too. Best I can do is use a van or a similar vehicle and set up a position on the roof or use a small forest near International School of Nido de Aguilas. That means that I'll need to be extracted separately in case I use the forest route."

"I'll note that later, Ilija."

There was some loud knocks on the apartment's entrance.

"Rickie." Lester turned to the mustached man.

"Roger, dodger."

Rickie checked the door's peephole to see who's outside. "It's Anthony."

"All right."

Rickie opened the door and greeted Anthony.

"I apologize for being late." Anthony greeted Lester, Rickie and the others in the apartment. "Just had a bump on the way with logistics."

"We hope for good news." Lester replied after he acknowledged Anthony.

"I do." Anthony showed the information broker a bunch of keycards. "My man in the apartment where the Hamiltons are staying in was able to get a bunch of these apartment keycards. He apologizes that he can't get more."

"It's fine." Lester took the keycards and examined them. "I'll just hand these to the team securing said apartment."

"Also, I'm going to help when the operation starts. I use to be with the 707th Special Mission Battalion for those who don't know."

"You're the only company we have?" Karl asked the South Korean man.

"No. But I'm crossing my fingers on this one if I can make contact with another person I know. I'll be speaking to some people I know who served in the 707 in the meantime."

"I'm getting a feeling that we can use all the help we can get." Nine said, sharing the concerns Karl had.

"Hopefully you're on top of this, yeah?" Lester then spoke to Anthony.

"I'll let you guys know."

"Meanwhile," Lester gave the keycards to Ela, Zhen, Ilija and Karim. "I'll see to whether anything else is being held up."

For the rest of the night, the team spent their time trying to relax from the briefing after Anthony left the apartment. According to him, he's heading out to reach out to his contact for either additional manpower or other items to provide for the team.

"Rickie." Lester spoke to the hacker. "Before you turn it... I need you to check something."

"What about it, my man?"

"While the guys were on stakeout duty, I got an anonymous e-mail mentioning that we're recruited to protect them from whoever wants to gun for them."

"Anything concrete?"

"Not that anything comes to mind, except that we're going to be paid and the sender knows of our op in London to bust Spectre. My usual suspicions with the government. In this case, could be someone in British intelligence using an anonymous e-mail address to avoid being traced."

"All right. Send me the deets. I'll go see if I can trace the e-mail..."

Everyone turned in for the night, including Lester. Rickie told him that he's staying a bit up to check the dark web for any updates, working from the living area as the area had a rectangular table next to the kitchen. So far, he could only pick up chatter from various posters who were just egging anyone to take on the mission to kidnap the Hamiltons.

Damn man. Like there's none at all.

Rickie decided to turn in for the night as there wasn't anything significant.

The Toughbook was about to be booted down for the night.

The latest post on the thread said the following...

I'LL DO IT. PROVIDE ME THE DETAILS.

Everyone in the apartment was already asleep for the night, going into the early morning.

Rickie, on the other hand, decided to get up at 5:25 in the morning. He kept himself in the flowery hippie-based pajama jacket/pant since the air conditioning was turned on. A few others decided to get up a bit early just to be ready... just in case.

Not that he was able to get a look and see who else got up early.

"Better see if there's something." Rickie murmured when he booted the Toughbook in order to check the dark web forums for any updates regarding the planned hit.

After the laptop was booted up, Rickie opened the dark web browser to check for updates.

I have a bad feeling that there's something here that would force us to take immediate action.

When he checked the forums, the hippie became nervous that he felt sweat trickle down his right temple.

"OH SHIT!" Rickie shouted. "OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!"

The shouts forced Lester and the others who haven't woken up from their sleep to wake up ASAP.

From there, Lester made the rounds in the apartment to make sure everyone who's not awake yet to wake up ASAP and change after cleaning up. For those who are already awake after their shower, they went to grab anything from the pantry that's easy to eat.

Rickie had to assemble everyone while (some of them were) eating to explain that a mysterious hitman has agreed to take the offer from the unknown person who contracted the job out to take out the Hamiltons.

He also mentioned that they're doing it today, still on a weekday.

Lester got a call from Anthony that he's able to get some help. He was on the way to the apartment.

And yes, he too was informed that a hitman was recruited for the job. Lester figured that this was from Dagger and Mukuro's benefactor so that they're all on the same page.

Lester and Rickie got to work on having their makeshift comms station ready.

As usual, Lester was in charge of providing real-time intelligence while Rickie provide support, usually hacking. The former also told the departing team members to gear up, especially since most of their arms have arrived in-country without any major fuss.

Before they left, Lester provided miniature tracking devices that took the shape of disk-shaped, checkers-based pieces in case they need to tag something.

"All right guys. I know that this is sudden, but Rickie got through for us when he prowled around the dark web."

A 2016 Dodge Charger, a 2017 Chevrolet Tahoe and a 2016 Mahindra XUV 500 were seen driving out of Raimundo Larraín.

"The person who responded to the post mentioned that he's fielding some teams today. We don't know how long they've been in Chile, if at all."

The three vehicles made a left turn after arriving at the gate, heading to Vitacura via Santa Teresa de Los Andes.

"From the post in the thread, the unknown person is providing the teams to take Zoe on her way to work and for the rest of her family. The latter's heading to the school as we speak."

The vehicles were now at the outskirts of Vitacura.

"I'm assigning Dagger and Nine for Zoe. The others will head to the school."

The Charger and XUV 500 went off to Las Condes while the Tahoe went to Lo Barnechea.

"I just hope you guy are packing enough firepower."

Gina just took a taxi, which was a 2011 black and yellow Nissan V16 sedan, to Las Condes since the nearest bus stop from the Hamilton apartment was delayed. Aside from the light traffic, it seemed normal as always.

She thanked the driver and provided payment for the fare after it parked on the curb somewhere on Vecinal 29-99.

But before the V16 could leave, a couple of 2015 white Toyota Land Cruiser Prado SUVs swerved from the road to cut it off from the front and back.

"Qué?" The driver was shocked to see the SUVs surround his sedan.

But before he can do something, the occupants dismounted from the Prados. They were armed with suppressed Heckler & Koch HK416A5 carbines with 14.5 inch barrels and red dot scopes. Gina counted a total of eight armed persons looking at her direction.

The driver was shot several times in the chest as they advanced on the taxi.

"ZOE REYNOLDS! DO NOT RESIST!"

Gina noted that the gunmen, already wearing balaclavas, black caps, plate carriers worn over their gray tactical jackets and shades to cover the one hole and their eyes.

A couple of marked 2014 Carabineros de Chile (CDC) Chevrolet Optras responded to shootings, lightbar sirens turned on.

The gunmen, in turn, opened fire on the incoming squad cars. The carabiniers were not able to react as they were shot dead. The Optras stalled halfway before they can get near the V16.

"Oh god. Oh my god!"

Everyone on the streets ran to either avoid being hit by gunfire or to just hide from stray bullets. Any vehicle that was in the road was left abandoned by their drivers.

While the people were panicking, the Charger and XUV 500 drove to Vecinal 29-99 at high speed.

The vehicles skidded to angles that allow for the occupants to get out and use the car doors as cover and avoid being exposed by gunfire.

"Go, go, go!" Dagger and Nine led the counterattack. All of them wore various tactical jackets/pants/boots/caps and black neck gaiters with various plate carriers. Like the time in London, they were using Taran Tactical Innovations TR-1 Ultralight AR-15 carbines, still outfitted with the same black Surefire M900A Vertical Foregrips and EOTech Holographic Hybrid Sight I EXPS3-4s with G33.STS Magnifiers.

Dagger and Mukuro were seen using them when they engaged the gunmen.

The others used the abandoned vehicles on the road (if any were nearby) to shield themselves from gunfire as they advance towards the Prados.

This sudden assault forced the masked gunmen to divert their attention instead of breaking into the V16 and snatching the passenger inside.

"Stall them now!" One of the gunmen shouted when he moved to the stalled V16. He used his HK416A5's buttstock to smash the right passenger door window.

"You're coming with me...!" The gunman was about to open the door when he was shot in the back.

Not on my watch.

Dagger fired his TR-1 at first instinct at the gunman who had his back facing him.

"Moving!" Daryl moved up after Karl and Nathan provided suppressive fire to cover for him as they clear the area near the taxi. The others stayed back a bit to shoot at the other gunmen, who were also using the abandoned vehicles as cover. Dagger motioned to Daryl to cover his rear.

Declan decided to go prone immediately when the shooting started. He opened fire at the legs of the masked gunmen trying to open fire at their direction. His strategy was good that three of them were shot in the legs that forced them to go down on the ground. Afterwards, the ex-IMF agent from Ireland shot them in the chest.

Dagger used the same strategy as well and took one of the two kills from Declan. Not that he minded anyway. Just a few less hostile persons to worry about.

Twelve, Mukuro and Taliana took advantage of the gunfight when it started by sneaking up behind the other four gunmen on the side.

Karl and Nathan provided cover fire by engaging them from a few vehicles away as they shot at each other. They were firing their carbines from behind the engine blocks or blind fired them over cover.

The three gunmen were shot dead before they realized what happened. The fourth gunman was about to shoulder his carbine when Mukuro charged and placed a hand on the sheath strapped on the rear side of her plate carrier.

"HAAAHHHH!" Mukuro drew out a Steel Will Censor Karambit 1302S knife with her left hand, holding it in reverse grip while ensuring that one of her fingers is in the safety ring.

When the gunman tried to engage her by launching punches on her face, she dodged all of the hits. Mukuro moved her right foot forward in a sliding motion and used her right hand to grab the gunman's right arm.

Mukuro then used the karambit to make a quick slash at his stomach.

The man gritted his teeth. Mukuro moved to the rear and slashed his legs to force him to kneel. This was forced by slashing his throat after she grabbed his head.

"Area secured." Mukuro radioed Dagger after she made the kill.

"Copy. We're closing it on the taxi." Dagger said while he and Karl moved close to the taxi. The former grabbed the right passenger door and gently opened it.

"Mrs. Hamilton?" Karl addressed her after the door was opened. 

"Y-yes?"

"We're here to help."

"W-what is this about?"

"We don't know.  We're hoping that... "

"Guys..." Rickie came on their comms. "Stay on your toes. Looks like I'm picking up chatter that another vehicle is coming. Not sure if it's hostile or police."

"Never mind!" Dagger shouted when he told Karl to get her to safety.

Two Prados showed up, already speeding up. Two men poked their heads and arms out, aiming their Milkor Supersix Multi-Range grenade launchers. The GLs fired several a mixture of smoke and tear gas grenades on the streets to distract the team and provide a smokescreen.

When the SUVs came close, more gunmen in respirators emerged. They fired X26 taser pistols on Dagger and Karl to stun them while the rest grabbed Gina and placed her on one of the Prados.

Dagger was forced to temporarily retreat, but he was able to secure the piece Lester gave him and tossed it, albeit weakly, due to the tear gas. He didn't see it, but it landed on the Prado's rear bumper.

The smoke began to clear, Mukuro and the others had to wait until the smoke dissipated for them to get close.

"Hey, Rickie! The target's not here! Likely grabbed... can you track her with her phone?!" Mukuro covered for Daryl, Nathan, Taliana and Declan as they helped Dagger and Karl get up.

"Already on it."

"Lester, how are the others?"

"They're already getting to work."

"I used one of the trackers. We got ambushed and they took the package..."

"Standby. He's on it..."

Ilija was dropped off, ready for work, from the Tahoe when it made a right turn on the road, which was left open by the school guards as they expected parents to use it as parking lot space. The school entrance was secured with automated bar gates and a guardhouse and only those working in the school or studying there can enter, including parents and guardians dropping them off or picking them up after class.

He had his suppressed PGM 338 sniper rifle ready with the attached Zeiss Conquest V6 riflescope. He was in a ghillie hoodie while wearing a brown tactical jacket as he tried to trek his way to the bushes in front of the school, staying low to avoid being seen easily.

I hate that I have to trek to the nearest bush and there's nothing that can provide me some decent cover.

The sniper went to work after seeing the first bush.

Perfect.

He briefly took off the hoodie, after he crouchd, and grabbed some branches from the ground on it.

"I hope you're in position." Lester radioed Ilija after he began his work.

"No worries, homebase. I've gotten a good point of the school entrance. I'm setting up now."

"All right. The other guys are going to set up. The father and his kids are due to arrive. Don't forget to provide observation support."

Ilija finished up getting his hoodie ready to wear. Once he wore it, he got prone and shouldered the PGM 338 after he flipped the attached bipod legs down.

"I'm finished. I'll cover the approach to the school."

"Copy. Informing the others now."

The sniper scoped out the roads going to and from the school. He kept still and an eye on his teammates as they parked the other Tahoe when they also made a right turn on the road before hitting the school entrance.

"I have eyes." Ilija radioed the team after they slightly opened the doors of the Tahoe.

"Thanks, mate." Karl emerged out of the SUV from the driver's seat. "Just cover our blind spots."

Declan got out from the front passenger seat, keeping an eye on the street. "Looks clear from here."

"It's me. I got the father's car. It's a 2016 Proton Prevé. License plate RG BZ 25, registered under Will North."

"No problem." Ilija said on the comms. "I have eyes on an incoming car."

"Acknowledged." Declan radioed to Lester.

A gray 2016 Proton Prevé was seen driving down El Rodeo. Before it made a left turn, a couple of speeding black 2016 Mitsubishi Montero Sport G2s were seen on the same road. One of them blocked the road that led to the International School Nido de Aguilas' guardhouse and bar gates. The other one blocked the road behind the Prevé.

"BP. I'm seeing two incoming Mitsubishi Montero Sport G2 SUVs. They're blocking off the Prevé."

"Sh*t just started!" Twelve shouted after he saw eight masked men in windbreakers, jeans, gloves and boots emerge from the Montero Sport G2s, armed with suppressed Heckler & Koch MP7A1 submachine guns. The attached slings were placed on their right shoulders.

To start, the school's guardhouse was shot up, some of the 4.6 bullets hitting the guards inside. They then aimed their MP7A1s at the Prevé and shouted in English and Spanish for the driver to get out.

"Okay! Okay! I'm getting out!" A man with brown hair and in his late 30s to early 40s came out with his hands up. "Don't hurt my kids!"

"That's Will guys. I think they're going to get whoever in the rear seats of the sedan."

"Oh don't you worry..." One of the masked men said after he punched Will in the face. Another punch was made at his mouth to send him down on the ground. "You're worthless to us."

Three men approached the rear of the Prevé after another man went for the driver's door to unlock the rear doors.

"All right! Get out of there!"

The MP7A1s were trained at the rear doors; a young girl who appears to be 12 years old and a young boy who appears to be 10 years old were taken from the sedan.

"Stop crying and shut up!" The gunmen were now forcing them to the Montero Sport G2.

"We got incoming!" The gunmen standing near the second Montero Sport G2 and the Prevé, seeing squad cars coming from the Investigations Police of Chile (PDI).

A couple of 2016 Nissan Pathfinders with PDI markings had the siren lights on.

"BP. I'm getting incoming police." Ilija reported. "White and blue."

"Could be the PDI. I recall that they have a station nearby." Lester responded. "Probably why they're able to get to the scene."

"And likely someone called in it the moment gunshots were fired."

"Hey. We're going in." Twelve radioed in. "Situation going hot; they're already shooting at the PDI."

"Roger that. We'll provide support as usual. Watch your six. Ilija, help them out when you can."

Nine, Twelve, Declan and Karl donned their balaclavas as the gunmen were forcing the kids to go to the nearest Montero Sport G2. The PDI squad cars were being shot up that bullet holes riddled them, the officers inside already killed by multiple bullets.

Their TR-1s were shouldered. Nine and Twelve made a beeline for the gunmen who went for the kids. Karl and Declan mounted an attack on the gunmen, busy shooting at the PDI Pathfinders before they crashed either at the safety barrier or at the nearest tree near the sidewalk.

"Covering fire!" Nine advanced on the gunmen taking the kids. He used the bushes for cover, shooting one of them from the back as he shoved the kids into the Montero Sport G2's rear passenger seat. The other three took turns firing at them, forcing the two to go low. The other two got in the SUV while the third got himself inside the rear left passenger door.

For Declan and Karl, their work was easy. Since the gunmen had their attention to take out the PDI response, they were easily taken down by surprise. Declan was the first to open fire at the gunmen, taking out two of them from the back.

The other two used the other Montero Sport G2 as cover, shooting at Declan and Karl. They had to use the nearby bushes to stay prone.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

The surviving gunmen shouted after the kids were safely secured in the SUV.

Three guys in the first Montero Sport and two using the other one to act as a shield in case the police show up.

Ilija made his observations as he scoped the SUVs. He aimed the suppressed sniper rifle at the Montero Sport G2 where the kids were taken. The sniper opened fire, hitting the driver at the head.

"Oh sh*t!" The driver's corpse was pushed out of the vehicle before another gunman took over.

The other gunmen forced the four-man team to keep their heads down by firing their MP7A1s over their heads, followed by smoke grenades tossed to obstruct their view.

The gunfire soon came to a halt when the smoke formed; the team (and Ilija) couldn't get a good shot in. The only thing they heard was the sound of the SUVs traveling at high speed.

"Move out!" Karl shouted after the smoke began to slowly dissipate. He led them to the Prevé, where they came across Will's unconscious body.

Ilija came out of hiding, picking up all used .338 Lapua Magnum brass.

Lester and Rick waited, monitoring things electronically at the Raimundo Larraín apartment.

So far, they failed to secure the scene near International School Nido de Aguilas. But they did hear from Nine that Will's okay, but a bit hurt from being punched by the armed men.

Rick later relayed the news that they're monitoring anything suspicious and tracking down one of the vehicles that took Gina. He also added that they need to bug out ASAP since the Carabineros and the PDI are responding to the shooting incident.

Lester came back to instruct the team to take anything that can help identify the gunmen and leave ASAP. He also told them to leave Will alone for now and let Chilean law enforcement sort it out.

"Anything on the Prado that had the tracking device on it?" Lester asked after they finish contacting them.

"Double checking now." Rick replied when he checked his laptop. "Last know location was right here."

At the screen that showed the tracking program, Rick pointed the tracker's last known location.

The screen prompt showed the tracker as being located in El Molino.

"El Molino?" Lester mused and wondered why it went there.

"I did a quick Google map search. It's located way away from Santiago up northwest." Rick showed him the map. "Looks to be like something when you head out from LA or SFO and you see miles of road with little housing or commercial facilities."

"See if that moves again. Since the other guys didn't have time to put a tracker on it, I expect that our kidnappers will try to move somewhere else, at least to ditch the two Montero Sports. After that, contact the others and tell them to come back."

"On it."

Lester saw that he was getting an incoming call on his Apple iPhone 8 Plus smartphone. "I gotta take this call. Cover for me, will ya?"

"Gotcha." Rick said before he replied. "Is it from the British? I'm having the sinking feeling that they could be aware of my little activities."

"I'll go and talk to our client, if it is our client. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for our guys."

The information broker (and part-time criminal mastermind) went to use a vacant room to answer the call. Looks like this came in after that e-mail.

Lester saw from the same anonymous e-mail that they know that Lester's trying to track down who sent the e-mail. He was warned not to pry too much since it wouldn't look good for him in the long run.

As usual, an unknown number.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Crest, I must warn you and your associate not to waste your time and finding out where the anonymous e-mail was sent from. There IS a reason why it was sent after all."

Lester noted that the man speaking to him has an accent that's only spoken by someone who's lived most of their lives in the Yorkshire region of the UK.

Not that he knows of it.

"Apologies for upsetting you, sir." Lester was now trying to potentially deescalate the situation before it could potentially get worse. "But I pride myself in checking those who hire me for my services and expertise to make sure you're not going to doublecross me."

"I see. I've been informed that your associate's able to find out where the e-mail came from. Long story short, there was a brief moment when the e-mail account was briefly taken over. However, nothing seemed to be serious last I checked."

"..."

"Since you really want to know who's responsible for hiring you and your help, I suppose it's fair that we clear this thing up."

"..."

"Mr. Crest, you'll be receiving further instructions from me. I've learned that Mrs. Gina and her children were taken by armed men while on her way to work in the morning Chilean time."

"I appreciate the assistance, Mr..."

"Call me Mr. H."

"..."

"Yes, this is Mr. Quinn speaking."

"..."

"A kidnapping?"

"..."

"I understand. I assume that someone's trying to ascertain the situation?"

"..."

"What's the plan?"

"..."

"Guess I can save money deploying most TAS resources..."

"..."

"Honestly, I'm not sure if I can be there in Santiago in such a short time..."

"..."

"It's Zoe?"

"..."

"I... I understand. But I'll need more details. Not like the news gave a lot of details about it."

"..."

"No worries. I'll avoid doing anything that can expose her former career with MI:5."

"..."

"Understood, Harry."

At a seemingly deserted warehouse, a woman with short blonde hair in her late 30s was seated in a wooden chair. Her head was covered by a hood with no holes in it. Her arms were tied behind the backrest while her legs were tied on the chair legs.

Nearby, two masked and armed men with Heckler & Koch MP5K submachine guns were chatting away. They saw one of the slightly wounded men enter, his MP7A1 slung behind his back.

"Sorry we're late. Had to take the long way and ditch one of the Montero Sports along the way. Some of the guys got killed in the op."

"Vehicle torched?" One of the MP5K-armed men had to ask.

"Yep."

"Good one. Now we'll give the PDI and the Carabineros a bit of a distraction."

"I'm assuming that we put the kids in another makeshift cell?"

"Yeah. Make sure they got cuffs on before you're done. Put the woman in the cell too."

"Gotcha."

"And get some help to carry that chair."

As the chair was being carried away, the other man with the MP5K noted from his Walton Primo G7 smartphone that there was an incoming call from an unknown number.

Wonder who's calling?

"Yes?" The man answered the call.

"Are the prisoners secure?"

"We're putting in the makeshift cells as we speak."

"Excellent."

"But I'm told that some of the guys we recruited got killed."

"No need for concern. There's always other people I can recruit. There's one thing that needs to be done ASAP."

"Sir?"

"Some specialists are heading to your location as we speak. You're to help them in any way possible. Is that clear?"

"Sir."

Three photos were sent via SMS. The message mentioned that the persons in the photos were the specialists sent to help.

Among them include a particular person, a familiar blonde man in shades. The only message included after that photo was BLACK ARROW.

Chapter 6 END