Chapter 76: {the Final Act} (2/2)

"Hostiles! Above!" one of Joe's elites suddenly shouted

Joe immediately whipped his head

A veritable flock of drones buzzed above, descending towards everyone outside Some of these drones were corade

"No explosives!" shouted an Elite, confir that they were not suicide bomb drones But then what the fuck was this? Without bombs strapped to these drones, the vastes! We take no risks here!" said Joe

Joe's eight elites knelt down and rapidly gunned down the swarm of drones above with volleys of explosive rounds They tossed up EMP charges in locations where the drone sas thickest, disabling large swatches of the desperate if this is his idea of a distraction," laughed Darius as he crossed his arms and looked at the dense cloud of rando to anti-unit fire!" said an Elite

Now that the cloud of drones had been thinned enough, it was possible to see that there were people hidden within White suited ht capability whether it was levitation or through wings

"The Strike Squad!" shouted Joe "Take them out before they reach us!"

The Red Circle's Strike Squad consisted of its airborne staff that functioned like cavalry,quick strikes in and out with their ainst theht in the insides of the Red Circle where their flight was restricted

But throughout the night, the Strike Squad had never shown up

Not until nohen Joe had allowed his confidence to lapse just a tiny bit, splitting his Elites up in half

Joe's mind raced The cloud of drones had also hidden the Strike Squad not only in a enerated from the mass of drones that it was impossible for the Elites to scan them out beforehand

Yet the Strike squad was still high enough up that they would suffer horrible losses before getting close

Already, Joe could seein pain as bullets struck theh their heads to instantly kill the into the ground and bleeding out of holes punched into their brains

Out of the twenty or so Strike Squad round without injuries, and then what?

Blackwater's faculty would just annihilate them

"Where's Hirondelle!?" said Joe His eyes darted from side to side as he tried to find the leader of the Strike Squad Without Hirondelle, this attack was h power to put up a fight against Blackwater faculty, and yet, even she was hilariously outainst three faculty members

"She's not there!" shouted an Elite

"Cube energy signatures scanned!" said another Elite

At the rew serious, the laugh wiping off his face He started to blast forth streama up to try and thin out the Strike Squad

Clank could not do anything He was recharging froun

Joe stared at Colette as she just stood there with a hand on her hip and bored expression on her face, looking at theAlters above

"What?" said Colette in distinctive French accent "I can't fly"

Joe turned away from Colette and to his nore all others! Squadrons 1 and 2, recall!" shouted Joe He understood as happening The Strike Squad was essentially co a suicide attack to try and thron Cubehead's warp cubes to try and teleport everyone away

Joe saw as his elites expertly began to snipe those holding the cubes, but Strike squadup bullets as long as they could

Too late

"Warp defense forroups of three as they continued to fire,sure they would not be alone arped away

Yet those with the cubes did not focus on the Elites

They ot close enough to the ground, the final three members of the Strike Squad tossed a cube at each of the three combat instructors

"fuck!" Darius tried to reach out and shoot ma at the cube in front of him

"Welp" Clank saw the cube hover in front of his face

Colette shrugged at the cube in front of her, knowing nothing she did right now ger its warp effect

The cubes expanded and engulfed each co away

In exchange, the Elites i them all

Joe looked around at the battlefield

Twenty white suited bodies were scattered all across the ground, sohts, soround fro shot in the head

Fires from Darius and aht breeze

Countless broken drones sputtered all around, loosing an eerie y for the dead

"All squadrons, return to encies on hand!" said Joe He adapted to this sudden turn of events He did not panic Time was still on his side

Casimir had lost all of his Strike Squad to warp the Blackwater faculty away, and those were the strongest aher ups The rest were fodder that Joe's elites could gun down

The only issue was the higher ups theht that without the Blackwater faculty, Joe's Elites were defenseless against the Red Circle higher ups

Joe s heart starting to calain

Little did Casiainst all of the Red Circle's higher ups The corrosive rounds for Walters, the kinesis fields for Hirondelle, and the viruses against Spybird's tech - all of this still gave Joe the upper hand

Joe alher ups He wanted to iine how Casiest and closest to himself were systematically and cleanly executed by Joe's Elites

"Wha-?" Joe dropped his shades as he felt blood trickle from his mouth He looked down and saw a serrated dirk of black metal made slick by…his blood? It jutted out of his chest, where his heart was

Joe's knees failed and he fell on the ground… The force of the blade ripping out of him turned hi before he died: the cold, inhuman stare of a fleshless bare skull