Prologue: Warehouse Assault (Ghost)
Undisclosed location
Griffon Kingdom
If any griffon saw it, it definitely would've caused some cause for concern. It was well out of place of the plaster and straw huts that griffons usually live in, an oddity. Something that shouldn't be there.
What's more, multiple griffons stood at the entrances of this block, all of them armoured and armed with Kar98k bolt-action rifles. That would've seriously raised some questioned. But given that this warehouse storage area was well away from civilization, noone would suspect anything.
All of a sudden, a quite generously-sized boat approached the dock at the north end of the facility. One of the griffons guarding the docks went up the the boat to greet it. On the boat, was three griffons. The first two were more heavily armoured griifons, both were holding IMI Galil assault rifles (Israeli version of the AK-47). And the third was covered completely in maroon-coloured feathers and fur, and was wearing a expensive-looking suit.
This was Bloodwing, the leading black-market arms dealer in the Griffon Kingdom. He had arrived at this warehouse facility to conduct business.
The three griffons stepped of the boat and onto the pier and a lone griffon approached him, strapped his rifle to his back and eagerly shook claws with Bloodwing.
"Mr. Bloodwing! It's great to meet you!" He greeted, as he began leading the three towards the biggest warehouse, "Orion is waiting for you. Did you bring your money and weapons with you?"
"They're still on the boat. I need to see if what you're selling is good enough before I can pay and make my pitch," Bloodwing explained, as he approached the massive warehouse. All the Mauser-armed griffons watched Bloodwing's guards with envy, waning to improve their own weapon stocks.
But unbeknownst to Bloodwing, someone was watching him...
As the boat pulled alongside the pier to dock the boat, a lone figure watched from a heavily-forested cliffside near the site. A long and thin black dragon laid on his belly in a bush, not worrying about all the insects he didn't know that existed treated him as a buffet table. He may have been covered in bug-bites, but it didn't bother him. The only thing that concered him was keeping the crosshairs of the x20 zoom optical scope mounted on his Dakota T-76 Longbow sniper rifle aimed right at the head of the bright red griffon.
Suddenly, a voice came through a small earpiece in the dragon's right ear. Demon Lord to Cougar. Do you have eyes on target?
He just lightly tapped his right ear to activate the device and spoke in a deep but quiet voice. "This is Cougar. I have visual conformation on Bloodwing. He's heading for the warehouse at the north end of the compound,"
As he kept his sights on the blood red griffon's head, he could hear the radio chatter going on between his teammates. Looks like the info from Tank's source was on-point, A young voice remarked.
Gilda's had some run-ins with both Bloodwing's and Orion's cartels. She would love to see them crumble and earn revenge for the gang war recently held in Griffonstone, Another, deeper voice explained.
Okay, cut the chatter! The leader replied, which the dragon recognised as his squad leader, Akula. He just kept his sights on Bloodwing. However, he just waited and before he got the order an fire, Bloodwing entered the warehouse and disappeared from view. Now, if the dragon was provided with a big caliber anti-material rifle, he could easily take out Bloodwing from the cliff he was positioned on. But the Longbow was chambered in the .388 Lapua Magnum round, the was no way that it could punch through the sheet metal walls of the warehouse. Not at that range, anyway.
"Akula, Bloodwing just entered into the big warehouse at the north end of the compound. I don't have a shot from here," He reported, switching his aim from the warehouse to where the rest of his squad was positioned, deep in the shrubs surrounding the compound.
Acknowledged, Ghost. Evil Angel, what's your status?
Another voice came over the comms, this one female, Demon Lord, Orion escape my view moments ago, but a fleet of trucks just pulled into the compound and stopped outside the same warehouse that Cougar saw Bloodwing enter. I have a feeling that Orion is in there as well,
Do you have a shot?
Negative,
The radio waves remained in silence, until Akula then said, Roger that. Looks like we're doing this the hard way. Angel, sweep the compound and make sure that nopony enters or leaves. Ghost, you'll provide overwatch and cover for the strike team,
"Copy your last," Ghost acknowledged, shifting his aim to track his friends as they slowly crept through the forest surrounding the warehouses. However, he took a quick glance ahead and saw that they were heading straight towards a pair of guards. "Akula, stay where you are! You've got two hostiles just ahead of you, I'll need to take them out so you can cut through the fence,"
Roger that, Cougar. Take out the hostile to the East, and we'll deal with the other,
Ghost immediately lined up the crosshairs of the scope on the head of the griffon on the right, who didn't have a helmet on for some reason. But he didn't pull the trigger. He needed to calculate some things first. He could feel the breeze blowing against his nose, letting him now how much he needed to compensate for wind effect. And he knew the characteristics of the .388 Lapua Magnum, and after a few simple calculations in his head, he was able to work out that there was no need to compensate. He then began his combat breathing, taking big, deep breaths to stabilize his aim. And after a few breaths, he then took a very deep breath... and pulled the trigger.
Instantly, the shot flew through the air. But with the inbuilt suppressor on the barrel of the rifle, the shot was reduced to a whisper and there was no flash. The bullet impacted the griffon guard right between the eyes. The bullet cleanly passed through the griffon's skull, exiting out the back of his head and burrowing into the ground. The first guard dropped to the ground, already dead. The second saw his companion fall to the ground, but before he could find the shooter, Tank then stepped out from a bush and took the fellow griffon in a headlock. And almost immediately, there was a neck snap before Tank dragged both of the corpses into the bush he emerged from. After that, the rest of the squad emerged from the bushes and Strict Thunder began cutting a hole in the fence.
Nice work, Cougar. We're heading in. Keep us covered, Akula reported, as the fence was cut open and the group proceeded into the compound. Easily, and without being spotted, they were able to reach the warehouse where the exchange was taking place without being spotted. Ghost slided the bolt back on his rifle and ejected the spent cartridge, before sliding the bolt forward again, and placing a new round in the chamber.
But as Akula's team breached the warehouse, gunfire erupted from the West side of the compound. He immediately shifted his sights to the source of the gunfire, and saw that a group of guards were firing on the exact position where Viral had set-up her sniping position. There were also quite a few dead bodies in the area, telling the dragon that Viral had already taken some of the guards down. But when he shifted his sights to where Viral was set up, she wasn't there. She had already left for the exfil point. Now, it was up to him to stop the guards finding out what was going on. He lined up his rifle, made his calculations and fired. A griffon immediately buckled and dropped down, dead.
But when he fired, seconds later, a massive explosion rocked the cliff face. A griffon had spotted the dragon and fired on the cliff top with a Panzerfaust rocket launcher. The round detonated at the top of the cliff but while explosion didn't kill the dragon, shrapnel from the detonation had embedded into Ghost's skin, easily breaking through his very thin scales. And some even hit his wings, preventing him from flying away.
Ghost still layed behind his rifle, bleeding badly. But he was able to find the strength to work the bolt again. The third round was loaded into the chamber and Ghost fired on the griffon that shot at him. The griffon recoiled back and slumped over the part of the fence he was guarding, bleeding badly.
Ghost ejected the third round and chambered the fourth, his final round before having to reload. He knew that he didn't have enough strength to reload his rifle again, so he had to make his final round count. He thought that he was going to die there, but he had to get his friends to safety first.
He lined up his rifle with another target and pulled the trigger...
Author's Note
Viral Velocity Evil Angel belongs to RDgamer321. Big thanks to his support on this story!