You don't get to the point of car know how that I have before you've driven your fair share of absolute shit boxes. A true car guy sees potential in everything, but when you do find those cars where you....just can't see yourself trying to make something of it, then chances are good it's crap. Example, I'm watching a One Take on The Smoking Tire's you Tube channel (Best channel ever, look it up), it's about a 1990 Nissan Axxess, a beat to shit minivan with a Nissan 240 SX engine, 4 speed manual and no, I'm not making this up, this is, 100% true, a toilet mounted in the back of the car. It had garbage bag's for windows and if I remember correctly, it had the notorious muscle car sleeper Mexican blanket (I want one for the Civic, I think foreign stuff is cool) and pieces of the dash were flying around. But I'm sitting here watching this video and all I can see in this, this crap van is a stripped, matte blue 450 horsepower front wheel drive rally van. I could picture a very beautiful rally car just waiting to wake up. The vehicle I was driving now, however, as much as I loved it's model, had no business having the engine that it had. The dinged up Nissan 240 SX rattled and creaked along the Pakistani road, the headlights barely working and the rattles from the engine case making me thing they were gonna fall out the front of the car. As bad as that was, it wasn't the worst thing ever. Anyone who off roads will tell you that creeping over rocks with a manual transmission requires just the right shift at just the right time, this car, there was no just the right time. The thing had well over a million miles on it and I knew that was all original gears. This old thing has the heaviest clutch I've ever used in a car, it puts my Civic to shame, the shifter was so light by comparison I could easily miss a gear and the steering was so touchy that losing focus for a second would send Mako and I off the road. The car's redeeming factor? 650 Wheel Horsepower from a twin turbo V6. The car had been modified by Venom mechanics before we arrived so we could easily outrun anything the terrorists could send after us. Problem was, the transmission was so old and worn out that I was sure passing 5500 RPM would shear off what gear teeth it had left, and never mind the fact that Mako was playing some really, really bad music from the 50's.

"Mako turn this shit off", I said reaching over and turning off the radio.

"Hey", Mako protested, "I was listening to that."

"Well I don't wanna hear it", I said trying to prepare myself for a 4th gear shift.

"Radio check", Nina said as I carefully placed the transmission into 4th gear, kicking the tach back from 5500 down to 3k, "everything okay back there Ace?"

"Everything except for Mako and his fabulous hits of the 50's, not to mention the clutch on this piece of shit, puts my Civic to shame."

"I'll take 50's over Jayden's Hip-Hop any day, he might be the first one I shoot", Nina replied.

"How long till we get off this highway?", I asked.,

"Umm", Nina said, "hold up."

There was about a minute of delay before she answered me back.

"looks like about nine minutes down the road, but we have to go through a non occupied town".

"Let's hope those hologram generators actually work", I said.

When we had stepped off the jet at the overseas venom base, we had each been given something that reminded me of the stealth boy from Fallout 4. Mako explained them as being hardlight hologram projectors. Stupidly advanced boxes of circuits and mirrors that would not only make us appear human, but would render things like our tails, horns and wings 100% translucent, meaning that someone cloud step on my tail and neither of us would ever know, problem was, if they cut out, and your tail or one of your wings was inside something, yeah, you'd know that.

Nina put on her blinker and started to slow down, turning her Datsun 510 sedan through a corner and on to an off ramp that lead into a small town underneath the bridge, not unlike something you would see in America. Just off the ramp was a four way intersection with a gas station to the right, an underpass to the left and two business style buildings on each side directly in front of us. Nina and I drove up to a stoplight and waited for the color to change. I was worried that my 240's cammy sounding V6 might make some of the locals what was up, Nina's Datsun had a 4 banger putting about 350 to the road, but the lack of a muffler would make someone at the drag strip think she had a 1250 RWHP V8. I did see a few locals turning heads, which worried me. I knew the Middle East was home to a metric ass ton of super cars, but I wasn't sure how common high power Japanese cars were. Thankfully, the light turned green, allowing Nina and I to get away before anyone had a chance to come see what was up.

"That was sketchy back there sister", I said getting on the radio to Nina, "a couple of guys at the intersection were giving my 240 looks."

"Yeah", she answered, 'few guys in other cars had this pissed off look on there face when they saw me, what country is it that doesn't allow females to drive?"

"Saudi Arabia", I said.

"Where in Pakistan right?", she asked.

"Yeah", I said, "how long till we make the village?"

"Should only be a few minutes from here", Nina said.

We drive a for a bit longer before turning onto a dirt road that lead up into the mountains and down into a large valley. I could see the lights in the town on from the cliff road as well as make out a decent sized cluster of houses, medium sized buildings and what appeared to be a castle.

"Check it out Ace", Arnett said over the radio, "you seeing this?"

"Yeah", I said, "this was one of the reasons why I wanted to join Delta Force way back when."

"One of the reasons?", Nina asked, 'what was the main one?"

"Spec Ops The Line for Xbox 360", I said, "that was what really made me want to join the army."

"That might not have been the best idea", Nina said.

"I know", I answered her, "anyone got eyes on the blue flares?"

"I do", Mako said, "we stay on the road were on."

"Mako said to just stay on the path", I said.

"Rodger", Nina said.

We drove for a few more minutes before rolling into the check point. Nina and I flashed our headlights and one of the men at the check point picked up the flare and waved it at us. We drive up to the check point and stopped. I heard Nina speaking in Arabic to one of them. This continued for a few minutes before the man said.

"Nah everything good here sister."

"Any word on the elder?", Nina asked.

"He's being held in the castle up the road", the man said, "I suggest hiding your cars somewhere close by, but out of sight."

"Thanks", Nina said.

"Alright guys", the man said as I put the 240 back in first, "pack it up, let's get."

I followed Nina past the check point and into the town. I didn't see a single light on in any of the buildings, that made me think that there wasn't any power, or the town was abandoned, which didn't match the Intel Morningstar had given us before we left the base.

"Nina", I said getting on the radio.

"Yeah Ace?", she answered.

"The town seems empty", I told her, "didn't Morningstar say it was occupied by Taliban and civilians?"

"Yes", Nina sighed, "think everyone's asleep?"

"I don't know", I said turning to Mako, "Mako, see anything on your Thermals?"

"Yeah", Mako said quietly, "I can see quite a few armed guys moving behind some walls just up ahead, this has ambush written all over it, we should stop and change course."

I swallowed a little, this wasn't a video game, this was real, I had just gone from a little worried to scared shitless, it was made worse by the fact that most of my combat team was six to eight years old.

"Mako said he sees an ambush on Thermals", I said.

Nina came to a stop and put her car in reverse. As I shifted into reverse, Mako shouted

"RPG!"

He raised his Ar-15 and fired about 6 or eight rounds, killing his target, but the RPG fired anyway, landing between my and Nina's cars. As the AK wielding terrorists jumped out from every direction, I slammed on the gas, flinging the car backwards. Once I was certain I had some space, I yanked on the parking brake and flung the steering wheel to the right to spin the car around. I hadn't ever done a power slide before, nor had I ever drifted in the Civic, mostly because you can't drift in Front Wheel Drive cars, but given the situation, I had to learn how to drift and power slide real fast or Mako and I were going to die.

The way the 240 felt made me feel like I had lost control. I learned from watching You Tube videos, or more heard, that when you first start drifting, your going to feel like the car is spinning out of control when it really isn't. I forced myself not to twist the steering wheel, letting the car do it's thing. Once the nose was pointed forward, I straightened out the wheels, put the parking brake down and tossed the car into 1st matting the pedal to the floor.

"Hold on Mako", I shouted over the hail of gunfire as the 240's rear tires fought for traction on the sand. I started back the way we came, intending to go around and get Nina, but as I was nearing the turn, a deli door opened and another man with an RPG stepped out.

"Road hazard!", Mako shouted as I once again pulled the E brake, flinging the car's rear end out and drifting through the corner between the deli and another building. I felt the car's rear end bash through the terrorist and in the rear view I saw him go flying. As I once again pulled the car from a drift, I handed the radio to Mako and clutched the car into second at 55MPH.

"Find out where Nina is!", I said as I got onto the main road, which was empty and forced the car into third.

"Nina", Mako called into the radio, "where are you!?"

Over the gunfire on the radio, Nina shouted, "were pinned down by about 17 insurgents and there's no back way out, we need you guys here now!"

"Hang on!", Mako said as I drifted through another corner, getting back onto the unpaved roads, "were coming in from the enemy flank!"

It took me way to long to find a spot close enough to Nina and the others that I could leave the 240 and get to them undetected. I left the car in an abandoned garage and turned on the beacon for the engineers to come get it. Mako and I pulled our primary weapons from the trunk of the car and then headed out the back door of the garage and into an alley way where I saw three or four men exit a building and take off in the same direction we were headed. Without really thinking about it, I dropped to my stomach and sighted them in, letting off a 25 round burst that ripped through their backs and dropped them like dominoes. When I came off the sight and saw them piled in a heap, the gravity of what I had really just done set in. Those four men were dead, they were gone, they weren't getting back up. This wasn't Call Of Duty or Fallout 4, they weren't just bots....it was real. I realized that one slip could wind me and my team in the same place.

"Holy crap", I shuddered.

I looked up at Mako, he was shaking too, but seemed to have the same thought I did.

"We can't let it bother us."

"Target's neutralized", I said as I stood up, taking what I had just done and shoving it into the back of my head, this wasn't the time for it, "let's move Mako."

Mako's face shifted from a horrified little kid to solider who was ready to do what he was trained to do, "lead the way."

Mako and I moved down the alley way, dispatching a few more tangos who were coming out of alley ways to join the fight against Nina and the others. When we cleared the ally way, we were right on Nina and the others. They were being rained on by 7.62 ammunition which was shredding the barricades they were hiding behind. We hadn't flanked the enemies like I thought we would, but maybe I could still make it work.

"Nina!", I shouted over the gunfire as I let my Emitter die, "were on your four!"

"What the fuck took you so long!?", she asked.

"Traffic can be a bitch!", I shouted tossing a smoke grenade into the clearing. They waited for the smoke to fill before crossing the street on their stomachs to avoid the gunfire. Once everyone was on my side of the street, we retreated a little into the alley way to reload.

"How many did you say there were?", I asked sticking a new box into the M220.

"17", Nina said, "these guys aren't your typical terrorists though, there dressed head to toe in body armor, Multi cam and are carrying M4's and M249's."

'What?", Mako asked, "Ace, what was that guy at the deli wearing.?"

"Fuck if I know", I said, "was worried about not getting my ass blown up."

Nina opened her mouth to say something else when the gunfire stopped. I listened closely and could hear the sounds of Magpul P-Mag's feeding into M4 mag wells as well as the sounds of dust covers going open along with the sounds of bolts and charging handles flying forward.

"Fuck", I said, "sounds like these guys have Magpul P-Mags."

"How can you tell?", Nina asked.

"Polymer on aluminum sounds different than aluminum on aluminum", I said, "I used Magpul magazines on my personal weapon."

'What does this have to do with anything?", Jayden asked quietly.

"If they are using plastic mags and half of what Nina said", I told him, 'were dealing with either PMC's or some Black ops team."

"I hope it's not the latter", Nina said.

"Lets' find out", I said.

'STAR", I shouted.

No answer.

"STAR!", I shouted again.

No answer.

"Hmm", I said, "this isn't a case of mistaken identity, these guys are here to kill us, no doubt. This must be why the town is so quiet."

"What do we do now?", Arnett asked with fear in her voice.

I exhaled, "I have an idea, where are they exactly, did you ever get eyes on?"

"Yes", Nina said, "there in a tall brick house directly across from the intersection. I could easily bring it down with the 203, but I'd need a clear shot."

"Let your hologram emitters die", I said, "we might beable to use our dragon forms to scare them enough to buy us a few seconds."

My team let their emitters die and we walked out into the smoke, setting up fire positions as quickly as we could.

"When the smoke clears", I said, "let them have it."

We waited for the smoke to clear. The second I could see the building, I let the 220 rip. Soon the sounds of 4 Semi Automatic S-30's joined.

"Throw grenades!", someone from the enemy team barked.

"Rodger that", a few voices replied.

"Nina!", I shouted, "now!"

"Firing M203!", Nina shouted standing up and lobbing a grenade straight through the window. When the 40mm round went off, it must have triggered a stash of explosives because there was a secondary detonation that caved the building in on itself.

"Move up", I said mantling over the concrete divider I was hiding behind. About half way over, I felt a bullet smash itself flat against the back of my head, sending me snout first into the sand below me and making me see stars.

"Contact six!", Nina shouted turning around and bursting 12 rounds from her M4.

"Ace get up", Arnett said helping me up, "are you hurt?"

"Seeing stars", I said trying to open the dust cover of my 220, "the bullet hit me in the back of my head."

"Nina!", Arnett shouted over the gunfire, "toss me a kit!"

Without taking her eyes off her targets, Nina reached into her vest and tossed Arnett her first aid kit. Arnett pulled it open and pulled out a small syringe. She stuck the needle in my neck and emptied it's contents into my blood stream. Most of the hurt went away and my hand eye coordination returned to me.

"Thanks sister", I said.

She smiled at me and stuck Nina's medical gear into her vest.

"Target their medic!", one of the men shouted.

"There targeting Arnett!", Jayden shouted over the radio.

"Jayden!?", I asked, "where are you?"

"Up on a roof", Jayden said, "use the laser on your scope to mark targets for me Ace!"

'Rodger that!", I answered.

I peeked out from behind the concrete divider to observe the situation. I counted three guys in front of us, one with an M4, the other with what looked like an AR-10 and the other guy with them had a Styer AUG. They were dressed in such a way anyone could easily mistake them for US Black Ops. I flashed the laser on the man who seemed to be leading them, the guy with the AR-10. Jayden wasted no time in dispatching the target, while Nina and I killed off the other two.

"Clear?", I asked.

"Clear", Jayden said from the roof.

"Clear", Nina said sticking a fresh mag into her M4.

I rose from behind the divider and walked over to the bodies of the men. They were well equipped, which was an understatement. There uniforms were Multicam and they were using Condor Outdoor full plate carriers with what I assumed had to be ArR550 plates. They had full head gear, ballistic glasses, medical kits, radios, Secondary weapons, which were Glocks and plenty of ammunition, which was contained in Magpul E-Mags.

"Holy shit", I sighed, "get pictures of these guys."

"On it", Mako said pulling out a huge Nikon camera.

"Hey Ace", Nina said picking up one of their M4's, "look at this, these M4's are Semi Automatic."

"What?", I asked taking it from her. Upon looking at the safety, I discovered that the weapon didn't have the automatic setting, it just had Safe and Fire.

"Non Automatic fire?", I asked myself, "hmm."

"Fuck!", Jayden said.

"Don't talk like that", I growled.

"Sorry", Jayden said, "but this guy's American!"

"What are you talking about?", I asked.

"Come look!", Jayden said.

I walked over to the man's dead body. Sure enough, he was not only wearing an American flag on his shoulder, but had a Ranger tattoo on his neck.

"I'll be damned", I sighed, "Check the rest of the bodies, look for any kind of ID."

My team inspected the bodies, turning up two more ID Cards, one indicated the man on it was American, the other was Russian. I sighed. American and Russian forces working together against Americans?

"What are you thinking Ace?", Arnett asked.

"I'm wondering if we should scrub the mission", I said, "Morningstar said this town was occupied by the Taliban...not mercenaries."

"Maybe the intel was off?", Mako asked.

"Maybe", I said, "regardless, let's move to cover, get out of the open. Mako, can you get in touch with Morningstar?"

"Easy", Mako said.

We retreated into a small building and set up a few Clay mores to cover us while Mako set up a small radio station.

"Shadow 6-4 to base", Mako said, "come in Overlord."

"Rodger Shadow", Morningstar replied, "go ahead."

"We have made contact with 20 plus foot mobiles", Mako said, "they belong to an entity unknown at this time, though they appear to be a mixture of Americans and Russians."

"Are you sure?", Morningstar asked.

"Yes", Mako answered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a few more of the mercs pull up in a Hummer and pile out, there were about five of them.

"Contact five hostiles 35 meters out", I said.

"Sir", Mako said, "should we abort the mission?"

"That's up to your commanding officer son", Morningstar said, "I'm not qualified to decide for you guys at a desk 3,000 miles away."

"Ace", Mako said, "what's the call."

"Were about 500 meters from the castle", I said, "we fight through and finish the mission, can we get close air support?"

"Sir", Mako said, "can we get close air support at our location? I've activated my Radio's transmitter."

'Rodger that Mako", Morningstar said, "A-10 Tankbuster inbound, ETA in 5 minutes."

"Rodger", Mako said, 'Shadow out."

"Warthog huh?", I asked, "Awesome, file out, Jayden and Arnett on the left side, Nina and Mako are with me on the right.

We exited the house and went up the street, engaging the enemy fighters as we went. We fought through the main street and then turned into an alley way to get out of the open. There of course was no shortage of bad guys in the alley ways. In the main alley way we were in, we dispatched two tangos carrying AKM's and then on the way up to the roof tops, encountered at least 16 more. The closer we got to the castle, the heavier the concentration of Unknown Mercenaries became. By the time we were withing range of the castle, all hell had broken lose. My team and I came out of a school building and into a play ground which sat behind a road that would take us to the front door of the castle. They must have had a drone in the area because as soon as we were out in the open, a Hummer pulled up with a .50 Cal.

"MaDuece!", I shouted raising the 220.

"Firing M203!", Nina shouted.

Nina, myself and the Hummer's turret gunner all pulled the triggers at the same time. Nina's grenade blew up on the front of the truck, while the BMG round slammed into her chest, throwing her into the wall like a rag doll. I could see the men who had managed to bail out of the truck turn white as sheets of paper.

"The MaDuce didn't seem to phase it!", one of the mercs shouted.

"In that case we'll need heavier weapons", another shouted as the Mercs started to fall back, "Disciple six this is Disciple five Anti Material Weapon was ineffective against enemy combatants, requesting immediate dispatch of Armor."

"Rodger Disciple Five", a woman on the other end of the radio said, "Two M1-A2 MBTs inbound from the motor pool at this time, ETA in 30 seconds."

I raised my 220 and tore into them as Arnett dragged Nina, who was coughing and trying to get a breath, behind cover.

"Mako!", I shouted, 'radio Morningstar and get my Warthog here! There bringing out two Abrams main battle tanks!"

"Morningstar!", Mako shouted over my radio as I dropped to my stomach and started dropping the mercs as fast as my 220's action could cycle, 'where's our Warthog!? The mercs are bringing out an Abrams!"

"Tomahawk 2-2 is entering your airspace at this time", Morningstar said, "his radio frequency is 451 HRTZ."

Mako messed with a few dials on his radio.

"Tomahawk 2-2", he shouted, "are you there?"

"Rodger that Shadow", a woman's voice came, "Tomahawk 2-2 is wheeled up in the overhead and ready for tasking."

"2-2", I ordered, "this is Specialist Kyloth, Enemy fighters have dispatched two M1-A2 Main battle tanks, request danger close fire package, I will be lazing."

"Rodger that", the woman said, "waiting for your mark."

I turned on my laser and looked through the scope. I could see the two tanks rolling out of the castle door, blowing blue diesel smoke as they did. I put the laser on the tank and waited. Soon enough, Tomahawk got the message.

'Rodger your mark Shadow 1-1", she said, "Tomahawk 2-2 is visual friendlies and tally targets, coming in for a strafing run."

"Cover!", I shouted.

My team and I ducked behind the wall as the A-10 came down on the merc tanks, turning them into smoldering scrap metal.

"Shadow 1-1", Hawk said, "count 20+ targets in the castle court yard with a Dhskia Machine gun, gonna soften them up for ya."

The jet came around for another run. I saw her chew through a few hundred rounds of ammunition as well as several bombs, which I didn't understand how they didn't knock the castle down.

"Targets vaporized", Hawk said, "exiting to the southwest to establish holding pattern, just lase targets if you need me again."

"Yes mam", I said, "thanks for the support."

"Rog", she said as the Warthog exited our airspace.

"That was badass", Nina commented as we moved for the castle entrance.

"And scary as heck", Arnett said.

We moved through the castle, navigating through the twisted scrap and burning bodies. The sand had been turned red with blood and there was ash and charred bones everywhere. I had never smelled burning flesh before, I'd never seen so much death. The closest I'd come to a dead body was a single open casket at a funeral, and even then I couldn't hang around that long, this was much, much worse, and holy shit did it fucking stink. I heard Arnett cough and then throw up, as did most of my team, Nina and I were the only ones that managed to hold ourselves together, though I assumed Nina was no further away from puking than I was.

"I'm gonna get PTSD doing this shit", I sighed as I helped Arnett up and Nina turned her attention to Mako. Jayden seemed to be taking care of himself, though he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"You okay Arnett?", I asked rubbing her back as she tried to stand back up.

"No", she said quietly.

She coughed again and fell down, throwing up even more, I caught her as she fell and she leaned on me like a crutch, trying to stand up underneath the weight of her gear and what I assumed must be jelly legs. Arnett, Jayden and Mako were way to young to be doing this shit. I think they knew it too, maybe they only knew it subconsciously, but I think they knew it.

Nina and I helped the little ones recover and then took the lead up to the castle's main door.

"I don't know how Tristan is expecting to deal with this shit when he joins Delta in the future", I sighed quietly.

"Who?", Nina asked as we approached the door.

'Buddy of mine who finished AIT", I said, "I'm wondering how he'll react to this when he first sees combat. I've written about characters reacting to dead bodies before, but until tonight the closest I'd come was an open casket, "until tonight I had never pulled the trigger on a Human."

"Yeah", Nina said, "I have a new respect for snipers. At least we don't have to see the final reactions of the people we shoot, they do."

"Jayden's a sniper", I said quickly peeking back at Jayden, he had an empty look on his face.

Nina sighed and didn't answer me as we stacked on the door, I couldn't hear anything inside, which I wasn't sure I liked.

"Mako", I said, "see anything on Thermals?"

"One guy", Mako said, "he's got an M4, doesn't look like a Merc and there is a pile of bodies on the floor."

"Can we breech?", I asked.

"I don't think so", Mako said, "too close."

"Lets walk right in then", I said, "unless he's an expert knife fighter, he can't hurt us too much."

"What if he is?", Nina asked.

"Then he kills me first", I said, "I'm on point."

I raised my 220 and opened the door, the man, who appeared to be in his late 40's turned around and raised his M4.

"lower that weapon or I'll fill you full of lead!", I barked, "I won't tell you twice!"

"Are you", the man paused, "are you Ace?"

"Yes", I said, "you who were looking for?"

He lowered his rifle, "you Venom kids know how to make an entrance. I'm Tariq, I believe I have information your commanders can find useful."

I lowered my SAW, "Mako, Radio Morningstar and have him send us a Blackhawk, let's go home.