As Twilight, Ilona, and Mitchell moved into the streets, bullets from KVA weaponry smacked into the stone all around them, sending splinters everywhere. As Mitchell tossed a Threat Grenade, he quickly was beset upon by three KVA soldiers, and boost-slid into cover.

"Focus fire!" he ordered. "We're getting pinned down! There's too many of them!"

"I can't even see them, let alone shoot them, Mitchell!" Twilight retorted, reloading her ASM1. It seemed that for every single KVA infantryman they dropped, three took the vacant position and resumed fire on them. Twilight holstered her ASM1 and drew her Atlas .45 pistol to drop a grenadier that got to close, only for her sidearm to be shot out of her hands.

"Fuck!" she cursed, blind-firing her ASM1. "We can't stay here!"

"Then fuck these guys!" Ilona ordered. "Use Flashbangs and flank around them! We've wasted too much time!"

As Twilight and Mitchell hurled their flashbangs and waited for the blinding detonation, the brief break in the gunfire gave them their chance. As they boost-jumped over into a nearby museum balcony and smashed through the windows, a call sounded over the radio. Twilight recognized it as Torrez's team, who had deployed east of her team's location.

"This is Striker 3, we've got eyes on Hades! He's headed to the waterfront in a five-car convoy...GAH!"

"Striker 3, report!" Twilight ordered. "Torrez, talk to me!"

"Striker 3 is down, there's a sniper in the bell tower!" replied Torrez. "No clear way to get around...SHIT! Uhh…"

As the line went dead, and the vidlink showed Torrez's vital signs at zero, Twilight swore out loud and slid past the windows to regroup with her team. As she unloaded two magazines at the tower, a growl of fury escaped her lips.

"We just lost Torrez, we can't delay any longer!" she growled. "We need a clear path to Hades now!"

"We're doing our best, Twilight!" Mitchell replied as he opened fire on the bell tower with his Bal-27, unloading three magazines in quick succession."You two move, I'll cover you!!"

"Copy, moving!" Ilona replied, and she and Twilight dove into the open. As they followed Mitchell's instructions, and weaved like a snake from safe position to safe position, Mitchell dove out of the museum as a sniper shot from the bell tower nearly took off his head. As he rejoined his team, Twilight tapped into the radio.

"Prophet, this is Two-Three! We need HE ordinance for that sniper! Is there anything in the area we can use?" Twilight called out.

"Two-Three, we have RFID confirm on a Stinger near Striker 2's position." Prophet replied. "Move to obtain and neutralize that sniper."

"Moving!" Ilona ordered. As they advanced into another restaurant, dodging more shots in the process, a nearby Atlas Soldier called them over from a nearby staircase that was luckily turned against the sniper's vantage point.

"Stinger's on the top floor!" he called, covering his head from another sniper shot. "We can't reach it, it's covered by drones!"

"We'll handle it!" Twilight replied. "Check yourself and find cover! Keep your head down!"

As the soldier nodded and dove into the interior restaurant office, Twilight strafed into cover and saw the Stinger's ordinance crate laying in the open. When the sniper stopped firing to reload, she dove and retrieved the rocket launcher.

"Firing!" she bellowed, unleashing four rockets on the bell tower. As it exploded, Twilight saw the body of the KVA sniper fly outwards from the blast.

"Up yours." she said with satisfaction, before she rejoined her team. As they proceeded into the main street, Twilight received a Vidlink signal from Prophet.

HADES INBOUND ON YOUR POSITION, TWO MINUTES MAX.

"Set up an ambush!" she ordered. "I'll place explosives in the road! You two make the far side!"

As Twilight placed a breaching charge in the street, meant to enter the KVA safehouse earlier, she grabbed the trigger and dove into cover. As her sweat-laced hands gripped the trigger, she knew it all came down to this. Whether or not Hades would escape depended on her.

As the KVA convoy approached and the lead car drove over the charge, she detonated the explosives with a nod.

As the other vehicles swerved, tumbled, and collided in an attempt to dodge the molten heap that was the lead car, Mitchell and Ilona opened fire from a nearby balcony. As Twilight regrouped with them, the car containing Hades smashed into a pillar, immobilizing their target.

"Clear up! Get on Hades!" Mitchell ordered. As the last few KVA hostiles fell, Twilight tore the car door open and saw an unconscious Hades toppled over.

"We've got him." Twilight said, only for Mitchell to cry out as a KVA car ran him into a wall. As Twilight and Ilona dropped the driver and passenger, they moved to pull out their teammate. As Twilight pulled, she felt a harsh impact on the back of her head before blacking out.

As Ilona countered a now-conscious Hades's attacks with a knife after he rushed Twilight and knocked her out, Mitchell pushed the entrapping vehicle away and drew an Atlas .45, only for Ilona, who had been pushed back, to fall out of his hands.

As Hades's knife then pinned his prosthetic arm to the car, Hades then drew an MP443 and aimed at a winded Ilona. As Mitchell yelled out, a trio of gunshots sounded amidst the clearing.

====

As Hades fell, blood coming from a shot to his shoulder and two to his chest, Mitchell saw Twilight unsteadily aiming the stray Atlas .45 at their target. As Mitchell pushed the car away and helped Ilona to her feet, Twilight stood up and staggered over to Hades.

"Target is down, repeat, Hades is EKIA." she said, only for the KVA leader to grab her arm and pull her down close to his face. As he placed a data chip in her hand, he uttered his last words among the living.

"He knows...Irons...knows…"

As his bloodied hand fell, Twilight stared at the chip, then Mitchell, then Ilona.

"What does Irons know?" she murmured.

"We'll find out." Mitchell said as Twilight pocketed the chip, placing it out of sight as Atlas units descended, Gideon and Joker among them. "But let's keep this quiet for now."

"Agreed. Good job, team." Twilight said exhaustively as Atlas medics helped them into a Warbird. "Now...we watch and wait as the world turns safely once again.

However, as the scene unfolded, a fly drone marked with the same sigil as the data drives from Detroit watched from atop a nearby gate, streaming a video feed to an unknown location before buzzing away unnoticed among the Atlas soldiers and others present at the scene.

Author's Note

Update!

Next time - an Equestrian interlude, and the introduction to Mission: UTOPIA.

Also, sorry this took so long. I've been busy on my end. Expect more updates for this any more stories soon.