The two other team members on their team rushed for the rack to snatch the only two machine guns. Nate waited for them to move, before grabbing two pistols. The other two members gave Nate a strange look, but he ignored them. Sean took one of the pistols that Nate gave him, asking curiously. "Why these? Don't you want something bigger?" Nate winked at him, then asked the other two stagnantly. "You have a plan?" The man with a name tag reading; 'Killer' answered him confidently. "Ya. Defend the flag. It's not rocket science." Killer's friend with a name tag of 'Terminator' muttered out to Killer darkly. "Figures we'd get stuck with noobs." Nate gave Sean a sarcastic look, before rolling his eyes. Terminator pointed to them both, ordering out flatly. "You two can go huddle up at the front. Just tell us when their coming in. We'll carry you through this. I won't have you fucking up our streak." Nate tapped his plastic pistol against his leg, saying a bit mockingly. "Oh, don't worry. I wouldn't dream of getting in your way."

The two of them ventured to the door, while Sean approached Nate to whisper over his shoulder discreetly. "What are you planning?" Nate turned to face the map, telling him clearly. "They want us to go here. This way the enemy has to reveal themselves to them in order to get through. In other words... We are the pawns. We die first, but they'll know the enemy is close." Nate peeked over his shoulder to see if they were listening to them. They weren't. They were hopping in front of the door to loosen up. So, Nate told Sean in a hushed voice. "We'll go to the front like they want... but nothing says we have to stay there. The other team is expecting us to defend. So, we'll take the fight to them." Sean shuffled his feet nervously, whispering back. "Is that really wise? They could cream us..." Nate lifted his pistol, answering with a wicked smirk. "Trust me. The reload on these things is O.P.. They won't know what hit them if we move fast enough." The commander listened to something in his earpiece, before announcing. "Get ready!"

Nate clicked a button on the gun to drop the magazine from the handle and then popped it back in. The gun made a realistic 'clicking' noise and the orange LED barrel turned on. Nate showed Sean how to do it and told him quickly. "You've got twelve shots. After that, pop out the magazine and pop it back in to reload. Magazines are unlimited. So, don't worry about that." Sean chuckled nervously, saying aloud. "These are very realistic... but how are these good exactly?" The red light over the door turned on as a loud alarm blared out. The door swung open and they rushed out into the semi- dark area. The edges of the walls and barriers had LED strips in bright purple coloring, while their flag was a bright neon green. As Nate lead Sean passed their two other teammates, he told Sean over the noise. "Pistols have no cool down. They reload as fast as you can pop the mag. Those fucking machine guns have a lot of ammo... but take fifteen seconds of wait time before reload." Nate huddled down by a wall and signaled for Sean to huddle by the wall next to him.

Sean pressed his shoulder against the wall, watching Nate slide down to a knee. The alarm kept blaring for a minute more, before it went dead silent. Sean hated the silence. It made him anxious. He could almost hear his heart beating. Nate held his pistol at the ready, listening closely to every little sound. Sean pressed his back to the wall, holding his pistol close to his chest. He felt like he really was fighting in a battle. Nate peeked around the wall, then gestured with his hand for Sean to follow him. Nate hugged the wall as he slipped around his barrier. Sean took a deep breath, then quickly followed. Staying low, they both crept along toward the stairs. Nate waved him over and together they stayed low under the open steps. From here, they could hear people above them shuffling around. A male voice spoke softly to another team member, saying. "Be careful. They could be anywhere down here." Sean's heart began to race in his chest. He really hoped that this other team sucked.

Nate aimed his gun between the steps as one started to come down. The man. He was scanning everywhere with his rifle at the ready. When he stepped down just far enough, Nate shot him in the back. The light beam of his gun shooting out to tag the man in the back. The man's clear green LED body vest made a loud gunshot noise and turned Red. The man lowered his gun, falling to his knees as he cursed out loud. "Son of a bitch..." The man turned to crawl back up the steps, when he spotted them. Nate tensed up as the man yelled up the steps. "Under the stairs!" Sean aimed his pistol at the stairs, expecting more to come down. Only to see a round heavy black rubber ball fall down between them with a small flashing yellow light. Sean noticed his vest flashing just as Nate shoved him away, screaming out. "GRANADE!" Nate grabbed Sean by the arm, racing for the nearest barrier. They barely made it behind the barrier, causing their vests to stop flashing mere seconds before the grenade made a loud 'BANG.' 

Nate rose to peek over the low wall and let out a nervous whine. Sean peeked over next and nearly swallowed his tongue. A woman stood halfway down the steps, holding a rocket launcher over her shoulder that she aimed at their barrier. The woman gave them a grin, before clicking a button to shine a beam of light on the barrier wall. The barrier's purple LED lights shut off and the built-in speakers let out a realistic sound of impact. Once the lights went out, the wall sank into the floor, leaving them exposed. Nate started to push Sean toward another barrier, yelling out in a panic. "Oh, shit! Oh, shit!" They made it to another barrier, when Sean yelled out to Nate in a slightly playfully voice. "I'm feeling like I was misinformed on a few things... How do they have THAT?!" Nate chuckled nervously, peeking around the wall as he told him in a rush. "This is my fault... They must have put me in with people around my old rank... Which means we are going against people with Captain ranks. They get all the fancy shit... but if they lose games. They lose a tier weapon."

Sean hugged his pistol to his chest, mumbling out in a shaky voice. "So, if you're a Captain... What the hell am I?" Nate fired a shot over the barrier, before answering coolly. "A corporal. That explains why our teammates were pissed... Because of you they lost their tier weapons in order to balance out the overall level of our team." Sean peeked around the barrier to see the woman dragging her teammate up the steps. Sean tried to shoot her, but the stair railing was hard to shoot through when she was moving. Nate glanced around the area, then told him semi-excitedly. "Look on the brightside though... If we win, you're kills will be worth a lot more with your low rank. You might just get to Captain yourself." Sean chuckled nervously, muttering out to Nate sarcastically. "It was nice knowing you, Nate..." Nate grabbed his vest, shaking him playfully as he told him. "Don't give up on me yet, son! We can still win this!" Sean laughed heartily, then let out a scream as another grenade dropped down next to them.

They both eyed it for a second or two, before they both screamed out in almost perfect unison. "FUCK!" Nate leapt over the low wall, firing shots up at the woman on the stairs. While Sean leapt toward another barrier, rolling head over heels as he slammed his back against the wall. The grenade went off and Sean peeked over the barrier to see that Nate was heading for the spot under the stairs. Sean took up cover fire to chase the woman back up the steps with a few close shots that made her vest flash in warning. Nate seized the moment to snatch up the grenade, then backed up to circle around the steps. The woman took a sudden knee to aim her rocket launcher down the steps, while another man behind her tried to pepper the wall with his assault rifle to force Sean to duck behind it. Nate fearlessly fired something on the stair railing and the stairs purple LEDS started flashing blue and making electrical zapping noises. A set of blue beams shot over the stairs in straight lines, tagging both the man and the woman at the top. Their vests turned red and they both slumped to the floor with mournful moans of defeat.

Nate popped his mag out, then popped it back, calling out to Sean excitedly. "Follow me!" The stair lights went back to purple and Sean ran out to follow Nate up them. The people were crawling away back toward their base, when Nate took the sniper off the man. The man playfully mourned the loss of his weapon but kept crawling. Nate tossed the sniper to Sean, telling him. "Cover me!" Sean quickly looked over the sniper and popped out the mag. Popping it back in, he felt the gun vibrate for about ten seconds before it stopped and clicked with fresh ammo. Nate gestured toward a ramp off to his right, before zigzagging his way through the walls to his left. Sean raced up the ramp with his sniper at the ready. From here, he could see Nate serpentining through the maze of walls with his pistol at the ready. Sean caught movement of a woman heading for Nate and dropped to lay down. Quickly setting up the sniper, he followed her with the barrel. He needed a clear shot.

She was clever enough to stay just behind the barriers, peeking out on occasion to see if Nate noticed her. She was hard to keep track of at certain times. Seeming to vanish and reappear in places. When Nate rounded a corner, the woman made her move. She didn't come out from around the barrier... she simply caught Nate off guard by shooting him point blank with a shotgun. Nate's vest went off as he jumped back into the nearest wall in fright. Slowly sinking to the floor, Nate took a moment to catch his breath, while the woman laughed innocently at how she had scared him. Nate flipped her off and she stepped out to tell Nate devilishly. "You sneaky fucker... How dare you try to attack us while playing defense!" Sean lined up his shot with a smirk of his own, when the barrel of a gun gently tapped his shoulder. Sean peeked over his shoulder to see the man who owned the sniper he was using. The man held up an item that clearly read; 'Adrenaline shot.' It looked like a big pen that clearly had revived him since his red vest was now green.

Sean gave him the sweetest smile he could and closed his eyes. He expected to be shot. Instead, the man kneeled beside him to discreetly ask him. "That man you're with... Think if we told him to bring us your flag in exchange for you... Would he do it?" Sean shrugged, honestly answering. "Probably not. Is that even legal?"  The man chuckled, politely saying. "Anything is legal as long as I don't really hurt you. So, come with me willingly. Or I can shoot you and you can crawl all the way back to your base. Your choice. I don't really need the points, but I'll gladly take them." To Be Continued...