Let's go save Captain Stick-Up-My-Ass - open to those saving Sykes

[hunt_the_devil]

What was really meant by the term extraction when referring to John was teleportation. He was their way into the camp once they were on the perimeter, as well as a scout for that matter, and with only a few hundred yards to go to the fencing it was easy to feel the team getting themselves all psyched up and prepared.

The undergrowth was thick enough

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[hunteroffreaks]

Jack could have cared less about what Haylie and Pyro were up to. Oh, sure, he still wanted to take that little fire punk's head off at the first possible chance, but not until the job was done. He was already slipping into the flow of things. A good sniper was a part of scenery, merely another object like a rock or a tree.

He dropped to one knee and waited. He could afford to be patient. Let the muties do all the hard work. They could do distraction with their powers better than he could anyway. His patience was rewarded when men began pouring out of the building, unsure of whether to deal with the fire that had a mind of its own or the trees that were exploding at random. Jack made up their minds for them as he took them out at random. His shots were designed to wound rather than to kill. Taking care of injured men required more effort than stepping over a dead body.

Scanning the undergrowth with his sights, he caught Pyro in them. He had the mutant dead to rights. It would be so easy to pass it off as enemy fire. But as he squeezed the trigger, the shot went wild from one of the concussive blasts from a tree being turned into shredded splinters. The bullet landed in the tree next to Pyro's head. Oh well. It was still a good reminder. If Jack could get to him, so could one of the other men.

[notouchpolicy]

While Haylie could respect the tactical advantage of wounding men versus outright killing them while sniping, she had a problem with Jack pointing his gun at Pyro. The nearby tree that sent his bullet astray was merely a coincidence, but the next one that exploded near him without wounding him was a clear warning that if he tried that shit again, he wouldn't like the consequences.

A quick glare was all Jack would see before she bolted off again, jumping into a tree and making her way from tree to tree like some weird kind of acrobat. She was making her way further south while sending her explosions to the east in an effort to hide her location. Leaping from a tree to the roof of a watchtower, she crouched and took a look around to see where her powers might be needed most.

While she had the time, she was going to radio the teams to check if they needed back-up. "Wraith, Hughes, Jones, Wilson. How're we doin' in there?"

[hunt_the_devil]

John lifted the radio once he was done knocking out and locking in a cupboard the operative who had tried to jump him from behind. The guy hadn't known what was happening as John teleported them both up and down the corridor faster than you could say Uncle. Ended up leaving the operative dazed, confused and hurling his guts up; just perfect for John to knock out and drag out the way.

His voice was a little bit drowned out by the noise of the tannoy system still blaring about the INTRUDER ALERT: CODE 100 in the background. "We're good Collins. Just keep 'em distracted outside. I think they believe we're more than we are but unorganised so let's keep it that way."

The radio fell silent once more. The Extraction team were relying on the Distraction team to provide them with enough suitable cover. So far it seemed to be working as the operatives were focused on the chaos that was developing outside and seemed surprised to see mutants in the building already. John couldn't fault the others for that!

[codenamepyro]

The whiz of the bullet past and into the tree, not to mention all the concussive explosions, well it was enough to make Pyro even more jittery about the whole thing.

The blanket of fire and smoke wasn't enough cover right then, but turning the whole place into an inferno probably wasn't a good idea. He was mostly toying with people, mild burns, enough to make them drop and roll to put themselves out, enough that he wasn't getting too close to anyone to really face much danger. But Jack and his stupid sniper rifle seemed to always be a danger.

Putting up a wall of fire, almost completely surrounding himself, St John pushed his limits and wore out two lighters to feed it, his hands were on fucking fire with the sizzle of heat and mild pain, but it wasn't a big deal because any more of Jack's bullets were going to miss damnit.

And those idiot humans were fucking shitting themselves. Pyro figured he was doing pretty good just to be following orders as a distraction.

[notouchpolicy]

"Beautiful. Just how I like it." John would be able to hear the smug sense of satisfaction in Haylie's reply before she put her radio away and made another sweep of the area.

Noticing a group of operatives that were closely guarding a section of building with no windows and what appeared to be reinforced walls, Haylie frowned and threw a rock charged with energy a few yards away from them. When it exploded, the operatives drew their weapons and looked around, but didn't leave their post.

Well, if that's not a red flag, then I don't know what is.

Getting on the radio again, she opened the channel to everyone and kept her voice low. "I think I found our tower and our dragons." What? Wade's joke was kinda clever.

Little did she know, it was merely a decoy. And boy, was she gonna be pissed when she found out.

[hunteroffreaks]

Jack's very limited patience with the explosion causing mutant grew even less when she deliberately blew up a tree nearby. The large splinters that resulted fucking hurt. Being his ornery self, he decided that simply because she'd warned him not to, Jack would have to redouble his efforts to snipe Pyro.

He picked off insurgents carefully as he waited patiently for the right opportunity to present itself once more. Pyro had gotten better with his powers since the last time Jack tried to kill him, but they still weren't good enough. With Haylie off being Miss Heroine, there was no around to save him now.

Between the smoke and the fire wall, a head shot was out of the question. The hunter was forced aimed low, his trigger finger resting lightly as he stared through the scopes. Patience. That was all it took. Patience and a little luck. With the smallest gap in the fire, Jack saw his shot and took it. As causally as if he had been taking out the trash, he turned his attention back to causing a distraction. Let the others deal with their own kind. He had a job to do.

[codenamepyro]

At first, he was just trying not to let the shots affect him. One by one, insurgents dropped like flies and Pyro had to admit, as far as skill went, yeah. Jack was fucking good -one good eye and everything. The problem really presented itself after Pyro set a tree on fire and a trail along to it in order to draw attention.

Another gunshot sounded but this time it was closer. And then pain blossomed and then his control went to shit and the fires just raged on their own as he dropped to his knees and gripped his stomach. Fucking Christ.

His hand came away slippery with blood and holy hell, that was a lot of blood. That was so much more than the first time, so much more than when his fucking shoulder was just seeping blood back in Russia. Missions were not something Pyro liked. "Fuck, ow."

Practically collapsing in the grass, letting the heat surround him as he tried to focus and failed, Pyro just held a hand on his stomach and blinked a few times before grabbing the radio. "Can- ca-" coughing at the smoke that was gathering now, Pyro tried again, "can someone remind the old- the old man that it's not me he's meant to shoot?"

Fuck they better move it and get Sykes out so that he didn't bleed out on the fucking grass like road kill. Unless Jack had some insane urge to come over and put a bullet in Pyro's head. All that did was make St John pull the control back the tiniest bit and make the fire dart out in all directions, not even caring about who was where anymore.

[hunt_the_devil]

John stared at the radio wondering what the hell was going on! He needed to keep focused on his mission, get the Captain, watch Olivia and make sure she didn't get hurt and get the hell out of there but yet he was getting radioed by Haylie and now bloody St John.

Oh wait. Maybe the bloody St John was a little too apt.

"Haylie? Find out what the fuck is goin' on an' then take a look at that location if you can. We're making a move. Keepin' contact to a minimum; radios on emergency contact only. Pyro you better not be playing pranks!"

And with that John left Haylie, Pyro and Jack to fend for themselves. If they were desperate they'd have to deal with it and hope for the best.

[angelica_jinx]

Angel stopped and groped for her radio. She had an earpiece for stealth but she had to be hearing this wrong. Did Pyro say Jack shot him?

"Pyro? Pyro, are you okay? What's going on?" She felt a little desperate for information. She was lost in this building with no idea where Sykes was and she had no idea what was going on outside but it didn't sound good. "Someone talk to me. Please."

[codenamepyro]

Hearing her, Pyro stared at the hand set as if willing it to just pop over and let him tell Angel that, no. No he was not okay, he had a new hole. But it stubbornly remained where it was.

He would've sighed if it didn't hurt. And then Haylie appeared.

[notouchpolicy]

That was it. Clearly, Hendley didn't get her warning and she was ready to blow up his gun and feed him to the wolves. Just because she refused to kill anyone, didn't mean she wouldn't watch him die. At this point? She might enjoy it.

"Fine. I'm not responsible for what happens to Hendley." She snapped into the radio and leapt from the watchtower into a nearby tree, grasping onto a branch as she swung herself towards another tree and repeated the process until she ran out of trees to cover her. The last hundred yards brought her into a full sprint while she sent off a series of small explosions to lead the operatives to Jack. He could deal with them on his own. He deserved it.

Reaching Pyro, she focused her sonicboom around herself to get through the flames and drop to her knees. Jesus, it's like Spencer all over again.

"Hey, I need to get a look at your injuries."

[codenamepyro]

Pyro heard John's comment, and had he had any energy right then, he'd have picked up the radio and shot back another snarky comment loaded with foul language. Followed by an apology just for Angel. As it was, he couldn't even tell Angel that no, no he was not okay, Jack had put a bullet in his gut and now John was being an ass. First time the man had to flat out be an ass it was when St John was bleeding out. Fabulous.

And then Haylie walked through the fire and for a moment Pyro wondered if the flames were even there, if he was just imagining them or not. But he felt them still, calling out for him, almost asking him to take control of them again. "Well, it's covered in, in," a cough caught in his throat and Pyro wondered if the bullet hole was high up enough to have ripped his lungs, "fucking hell, it's right there." And it was, bleeding almost steadily, although probably not as much as it should.

The bullet was still in there, but Pyro's elevated body heat was already heating the metal and probably starting to cauterize the tip of the would where the bullet lay in his gut. "Don't suppose you brought a magnet?" Lucidity wasn't his strong point.

[notouchpolicy]

"Sorry, kid, but a magnet isn't exactly in my first-aid kit." She replied pathetically as she reached into the vest she was wearing to pull out some gauze and a few rolls of bandages. Really, all she could do was pack the wound enough to keep the bleeding under control until Olivia healed him or she could get him to a surgeon. Not that the place was crawling with doctors or anything.

"I need t'move your hand and get some bandages on you, okay? I'm a medic, not a surgeon, so it has to stay in there until we get someone with tools and training to do this the right way." Because from what she could see, there wasn't an exit wound, and that meant it could be tangled in a lot of nasty places that she'd prefer not to think about.

While she waited for him to comply, she got on the radio to respond to Angel. "Fuckin' Hendley shot him. He'll be fine, Red, just hurry up and find the Captain so we can get him outta here and to a doctor."

[hunteroffreaks]

It was a clever maneuver that Haylie had done, drawing the attention of the men to Jack. But all he could think was, "That little bitch." If he could have had half the chance, he would have shot her too. But he had his hands full with the group now shooting at him. Setting aside the sniper rifle, he picked up a smaller handgun. Compiled with some fire that had gotten out of Pyro's control, Jack found himself in quite a pickle. Still, he was pissed and wanted everyone to know it.

For the first time, the radio crackled to life with Jack's voice. The words were punctuated by occasional gunfire and once the loud boom of a grenade. "Still alive, kiddo?" Bang! "Damn shame. Better hope-" Ka-bang! "-you bleed out soon. It'll be better'n what I've got planned for you."

He had to pause as the fight grew fiercer. But after a lifetime of facing mutants, a group of normal humans was no challenge. Coughing on smoke from the nearby flames as the last one fell, he picked up the radio once more. "None of you seem to be remembering one simple fact. I'm a mutant hunter. My job is to kill you. Get it through your fucking heads." Picking up the sniper rifle, he looked through the scope towards the area where he had last seen Pyro. Spying Haylie kneeling next to him, a grim, thin smile graced his lips. Aiming for her, the hunter let off two shots. She was the one who had wanted to play hardball. Let's she how she coped now.

[notouchpolicy]

Hendley was lucky that the large power surge she'd experienced during the invasion seemed to have died down for the most part, or he would've eaten his words. She almost wished that power was still there, because the more he opened his damn mouth, the more she wanted to kill him. Her anger was starting to bubble out past her mental blocks, and the random sparks of red in her eyes were the only physical indication that she was about to lose it.

When she heard the shots, she winced and growled, sending out a large explosive wave that annihilated everything within a thirty-foot radius of herself and Pyro. Her bicep burned like a mother, and once she realized she'd been shot, she threw Pyro over her shoulder and took off towards the trees. Had she not been blessed with genetically-enhanced strength, it would've been much harder to not only carry him, but to get them up into a tree where Hendley wouldn't be able to see them. She just hoped that Pyro didn't burn the damn thing down.

Her radio crackled to life just long enough for her to respond, "Your job, Hendley, is to distract the assholes holdin' the Captain hostage so we can get him out. And you can bet your ass that you'll be lucky to walk out of here alive."

[codenamepyro]

Between the distraction of the fire surrounding him, the pain in his stomach and side and all over his chest, Pyro wasn't really listening enough to hear Jack or his threats, or even most of Haylie's directions. The fires stayed in the distance, and the only thing that told him he'd been moved was his distance from the fires and how little he felt them. Well, that and the searing agony of the jostling that had moved him.

This must've been so much worse than the last time; the last time the bullets grazed him, the last time they struck bone and just stuck there. This was much more painful and likely enough, much more serious.

"Hope's gonna be pissed." Probably not only because Jack was trying to kill them, but because she had another bullet to pull out. "So's Frost." And that got another wince out of him as he finally dawned on another tidbit, "Oh, Mac's gonna kill me." Mostly, St John became strangely pliant, allowing Haylie to pretty much work without fighting her. It was probably better that way.