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Harley had worked at the laser tag and paintball arena for years; she honestly quite enjoyed the job. She had seen many kinds of people over the years from kids to drunk 50-year-olds and everyone in between. This group was different though the men carried themselves like soldiers and she would bet they were.
The group was led by a man probably 6' with a boonie hat and mutton chops. Following close behind him is another man matching the height of the first if not a bit shorter. He had a baseball cap and shades. Next in the formation, because that's what it has to be, was a man easily 6' 4" with the build of a house. He's in all black with a skull print neck gaiter with a shock of ash blond hair and mismatched eyes.
Following close behind the mountain of a man is a shorter man 5' 10" max with a grown-out brown mohawk and blue eyes. He had a scar through his left eye, and the last man was the shortest of the group around 5' 8" with a tan neck gaiter. Light blond messy hair that sticks out everywhere, but somehow still looks good. His apple-green eyes and freckles contrast his many scars.
There's another group of adults playing, and these are the perfect people to pit them against. The man in front came up to the desk and offered her a smile. She smiled back, "We would like to play a few rounds of both Laser tag and paintball." She smiles broadly. The British accent was a surprise.
This was going to be interesting, "Of course, it's $25 an hour per person or you can pay for individual rounds." The man turns to the men behind him not saying a word, but whatever he was asking must have been answered as he pulled out a wallet.
oO0Oo
It doesn't take long for the group to make their way into the back area to gear up. The other group of adults just finished their round and had just entered as well. The soldiers, that's what she was going to call them, shared looks with each other in a silent conversation.
The other group eyes up the soldiers with interest before she calls their attention, "ALRIGHT! For the new guys, these are the rules: no climbing." The soldiers looked at the short blond guy, she'd keep an eye on him. "No physical contact, no blocking vest sensors, and most importantly have fun."
The soldiers all nod or give an auditory confirmation, she can't identify all the accents but they're not all British. The spoken confirmations also confirm her theory on them being soldiers, having all answered with some form of roger or affirmative.
The other group seems to draw the same conclusions as she had by the widening of their eyes. She points to the soldiers, "You're on the right." She turns to the other group "Switch vests so you're all on one team and you'll be on the left." Everyone quickly exchanges and puts on the laser tag gear, she's close enough to overhear them and make a plan. The boonie hat man begins "Simon you're on overwatch." The house of a man nods. "Gaz you're with me on the right." The man with the baseball hat nods, giving a "Rog." He's also British, "Soap and Roach you're on the left."
The last two men nod the one with a mohawk also giving an "Ey." He's not British. She can tell that, but she can't place the accent from the one word. Also, what are those names Soap and Roach? The man with the boonie who she's yet to learn the name of is obviously the leader, but after he finishes speaking they all look to Simon.
"Don't mither check your corners and remember we don't have comms." He pauses but tacks on. "Good unting." With those final words, his eyes crinkle slightly in the corners. He must have been smiling. The soldiers share a look all smiling and chuckling, "Not quite Laswell but it'll do." Gaz jokes and the others chuckle again.
"OK! Everyone, you have 5 minutes to get into position.……GO!" With that, they're on the move. Harley goes and takes her seat in front of the live feed to watch. Simon drew her attention first as he scanned the layout finding the highest point and settling himself in a dark corner; he was practically invisible.
Gaz and the boonie hat man hug the right wall on their side while Soap and Roach hug the left. She checked the other team to see them spread out on their side. She got on the speaker system and counted them off, "5,4,3,2,1……GO!"
Like a shot Soap and Roach in tandem with Gaz and the boonie hat man move forward as one, sweeping left and right signing back and forth between the pairs.
One man from the other team had stepped out into the open and before she could blink Soap had shot him. His reflexes were impressive. The groups continued on.
“SHIT!” One of the other team bemoaned,
Harley checked the logs to see ‘Ghost’ had shot the man. She could only guess who that was since they made their own names. Harley looked at the cameras with the other team on them, but it was clear they were outmatched as every time they closed in on locations where the soldiers were the soldiers would shoot them first before moving once again.
She watched as one man rounded a corner not checking said corner where Gaz had placed himself. Gaz was quick to eliminate him before turning the same corner and taking down the other man following his now-shot comrade. On the other side, Roach had got on top of a wall. ‘Get off the wall’ she ordered over the speaker. Roach rolled his eyes and hopped down, but he found a small place that he crammed himself into shooting anyone who walked by leaving everyone confused as to where he was.
The boonie man had found a hidden wall to place himself behind and stuck his gun out of the small gap between the two walls he was at. He shot anyone that got close. Eventually the other team, civilians, she deemed them found his spot so he had to move. She learned his name was Price from the logs.
Soap had placed himself in the middle of the area swiftly moving from wall to wall shooting anyone that came close. At one point one of the civilians had been walking towards him. Soap paused as the other man's gun led the way around the corner Soap was at. Soap quickly grabbed the gun pushing it slightly up so it couldn't shoot his sencers and brought his gun up before shooting the other man's vest. The man grumbled and stocked off while Soap chuckled.
In the end, the soldiers hadn't been shot once.
It went on like that for rounds on end as the other team kept asking for rematches. Sometimes they manage to shoot one of them but usually, the end result of the round would be the same.
With the scoreboard looking something like.
Soap: 3061
Price:3050
Gaz:3049
Ghost:3045
Roach:3038
However, the placements could change depending on how the civilian team moves. She also learned Simon was Ghost. In the end, the other team called for a round of paintball. The soldiers agreed with wide smiles.
oO0Oo
As everyone moved outside and dawned the new gear the set up of teams shifted for the soldiers. Soap and Ghost had teamed up leaving Price as overwatch while Gaz and Roach paired off after a small discussion.
The paintball arena was more complicated with small buildings dotting the area.
As everyone was getting ready she had given them the rules. Once everyone was in place she began her countdown, “3,2,1, GO!” With that, she watched from her perch as Price made his way to the largest building planting himself at the highest point. Soap and Ghost made their way up the right side with Gaz and Roach moving up the left. The civilians split up scattering throughout the area.
Price had sniped one, Roach got another, and Soap had busted into a building eliminating another two who had grouped up. Ghost sniped one from across the arena and Gaz cornered the last one. The round lasted 7 minutes.
Another round was demanded and once again the soldiers started the same way as before. This time one was shot by Price who had tried to sneak up on him. 3 fell to Ghost who had used Soap to pin them in a corner of the arena, Roach had managed to climb up a tree sniping one who had walked under him, and Gaz circled behind the last one who had been distracted by Roach, shaking the tree he was in, and shooting him in the back.
At the end of that round, the civilian team was sulking. Soap walked up to them with a smile. “Lads ye keep making the same mistakes.” The civilians asked for clarification. Soap chuckled, “Ye have tae check er corners and stay out o' the open. How about we dae a round mixed up.” All the men shared a look before Price nodded and responded, “No harm in that we can even count this as practicing for recruit training.”
Soap waved Harley down to them, “Lass ye can learn tae so ye can help others in the future.” Harley nodded along and finally placed the accent, Scottish.
The soldiers quickly gave the rundown of how best to do ‘Seak and Eliminate’ games. Soap and Gaz covered clearing houses while Ghost and Price covered sniping. Roach was translated for them as he covered urban fighting with Soap. Gaz and Ghost covered how best to check your surroundings and what to listen for. Finally, Price covered anything they overlooked and answered questions.
In the end, the Soldiers had taught them a lot and split themselves with Soap, Price, and Gaz on one team with three of the civilians and Ghost and Roach with the remaining three.
Before they split Price had given a rundown, “Listen up muppets we have Ghost and Roach up against us there are things you need to know. 1 Ghost is an expert sniper, watch yourself and stay hidden, 2 Roach can be anywhere if you think there's somewhere he definitely couldn't be. I promise you that's where he is. 3 If Ghost comes down from his sniper nest any shadow is fair game. Check your corners, stay out of sight, and keep your ears and eyes open.”
Ghost had given a similar talk to his team,
“Stay out of buildings. Yous ave' Gaz and Soap teamed together. It won't go well, Price is an expert sniper so stay out of the open. Soap can be reckless and unpredictable. Keep your eyes open, you can never be sure of what he'll do. Finally, check your corners.”
As the round began Gaz took two of the civilians with him and Soap took one while Price headed to a relatively central building for his sniper position. On the other team, Roach took one civilian leaving the other two to team up as Ghost got into his sniper position.
Ghost spotted someone on the opposing team and shot, but they had just barely moved behind a building leaving his paintball to splatter on the wall where the man would have been. Soap’s head shot over to where his teammate had been standing with wide eyes, “Shit ok he's somewhere in front o' us let's move interior tae see if we can get an angle.” Ghost cursed to himself but aimed towards the windows of the house the man had walked behind.
Soap grabbed the man, keeping him out of sight of the window as he looked around the area outside he could see.
Roach took the right side with his teammate and as they made their way up they froze as they heard rustling. In front of them was Gaz and two of the civilians. If it wasn't for the two of them Gaz would have been silent. Roach held up a hand signing for his teammate to move behind a wall near them. As Gaz neared Roach started a countdown on his finger. As he gestured sharply they popped out quickly shooting Gaz and one of the other civilians while the other escaped.
Roach and his teammate quickly moved to another position.
Price watched as two men snuck through the area, but he could never manage to get a clean shot. Eventually, Soap came into view through a window. He was looking around trying to spot something. Price flashed his scope at him.
Soap’s eyes landed on what had to be Price and began to sign his situation. Price in answer began to pan around looking for anything and spotted where Simon must have been and tried to relay it to Soap.
The civilian that has survived Roach and his friend made his way towards the center of the map but froze as two of his friends came into view. He quickly shot one and moved to cover. The surviving one also ran to cover.
Roach and his partner moved closer to where Roach suspected Price to be, Soap saw Roach turn a corner and shot eliminating him. Ghost quickly turns and sees Roach admit defeat before scanning the area and spotting Price. He shot at him but Price moved and barely avoided it. Cursing again Ghost turned and surveyed the area once more before getting up and exiting the building quickly.
As he exited the building, he spotted one of the civilians from the opposing team and shot him from where he was sneaking up to the center area. Ghost snuck through the shadows making his way to an area with a view on Price.
Price moved just in time to avoid Ghost’s shot and quickly scanned the rest of the area, and moments later another announcement of ‘I'm shot’ was announced from someone on his team. He scanned the area once more before landing on a shadowy figure, “Fuck” Price cursed as Ghost’s paintball hit from where he had already aimed and shot.
“Hit.” He announced as he exited the building.
Soap cursed a blue streak as he watched Price go down knowing exactly who shot him. He signed for his partner to exit out the window and into another building. “We have tae catch him by surprise or we're fucked.” Taking point in the building they waited to spot Ghost. Ghost checked the house where Johnny had been finding nothing before scanning once more.
“Johnny.” Ghost drawled out taunting, holding a paintball gun and scanning he looked for any reaction. Soap grabbed a loose rock from in the house and threw it.
Ghost swung towards the noise but there was nothing until suddenly footsteps behind him caught his attention. He turned around pointing his gun and shooting at the civilian of the opposing team. However, before he could do anything else he was hit. Soap had told his partner to sneak around, but he was caught; however, Soap took his chance and eliminated Ghost.
As everyone gathered up once more. “Well it's been fun," Price told Harley who couldn't help but agree. She definitely considers this the best group she ever had.