North Korea-
Somewhere near the DMZ-
LZ Duke-
2248 hrs-

The rain continued to pour from the overcast sky, the sound of raindrops almost peacefull with the low rumble of thunder in the distance. Keeping his M21 aimed in the direction of the trail, the young raven haired soldier tried to ignore the biting cold, the water soaking through his clothing, and his own breath in front of his face.

Suddenly the young man's eyes widend as he rolled to the side quickly, realizing his mistake quickly before the sound of assault rifle fire and hail of bullets begin to rip his position to pieces. From the amount of rounds coming his way and the speed his fighting position had been tore up led the young solder to believe the enemy had at least one light machine gun.

A round, metallic object suddenly bounced off the log to his right and time seemed to move in slow motion, "Grenade!" he yelled out before pushing himself backwards into a natural sinkhole. Before the words had even left his mouth, two more forms shot out of the brush and lept to the side, landing on top of their weapons and covering their heads before the grenade exploded into thousands of shards of metal.

"Anderson! Heagy! Sound off!" a burly male with a shaved head shouted over the sound of approaching gunfire, even as he brought his own M240 B back onto it's bipod and begin sighting in the nearest flash.

A brown-haired girl quickly rolled onto her stomach and knocked off a few rounds from her M16A2 with M203 mounted underneath before replying, "Here Boss!"

The black-haired young man moved up towards his comrades position and briefly taking a knee, firing a .308 round from his M21 and watching as a silouette fell to the ground even as he worked the bolt action of the rifle and dropped into the prone position, "Minor injuries, continue mission Sergeant Mackallen?"

The Sergeant First Class grunted briefly before he squeezed the trigger of his heavy machine gun briefly, sending ten to fifteen rounds into the enemy center, "Damn! Charlie's already found good cover!" Mackallen shouted before spraying another burst towards the largest concentration of muzzle flashes.

"Sergeant Mackallen, these are Koreans... not Vietnamese." John Heagy replied in a low voice that almost seemed quiet in the sounds of gunfire.

Erin Anderson smiled as she broke open her M203 and loaded a 40mm HE round into the chamber, "Fire i'the hole!" then moved to a knee briefly as she fired the grenade into SFC Mackallen's target. "Good job... that'll teach those Korean bastards try and dig in with us... err... no offense Heagy."

Heagy watched as the enemy begin moving in from the left flank, quickly estimating that the enemy are withing 75 meters, probally about 65 meters. Dropping his M21 to the side, John produced a Beretta M9 before the rifle had even hit the ground and squeezing off two rounds at the advancing soldiers, "None taken sergeant."

"Well Heagy... since we're about to be overrun... might as well try getting to know Sergeant Anderson a little better." John didn't have to look at the older sergeant to know that he was grinning. He was fairly sure that Sergeant Anderson was grinning too.

With a grunt, Heagy brought up his 9mm again and squeezed off another two rounds into a enemy before firing a third shot that sent the him to the ground. "Stop..." two more shots and another enemy down, "... trying to..." another shot but high and to the right, "... do that!" three more shots and the closest man went down with a grunt. John quickly noted that he had only two rounds left in this magazine.

The loud rumbling of a low flying chopper suddenly became apparent over the sounds of the machine gun fire and an AH-64 Apache moved up from behind the hilltop, unleashing a barage of 2.75 hyrdra rockets into the enemy before letting it's 35mm do the talking. One enemy soldier took a rocket to the midsection and was ripped apart before disappearing in the explosion. Another was chewed up by the heavy 35mm rounds, chunks of flesh and organs splattering across the nearby trees. His buddy only got hit once, his head exploding like a ripe melon and spraying his terrified comrade with brain matter and chips of skull.

The remainder of the forces were routed quickly by the attach helocopter as a second set of blades could be heard rapidly approaching. A UH-60 Blackhawk flared up in a nearby field and came to a low hover, a few soldiers jumping off and forming a light perimeter even as SFC Mackallen's squad begin to move towards them.

"Anyone looking for a ride?" one of the crew chiefs asked before giving a thumbs up to the boarding soldiers, "So how did the mission go Sergeant?"

"Well the North Koreans won't have nuclear weapons for a while anyways." was the bald man's weary reply.

A rather clean looking 2nd Lieutenant leaned foward in one of the seats, "Sergeant Heagy?" John looked his way and raised a hand, "Your being reassigned to Operation Shadow Hunter sergeant."

"Sir, the Wolfpack will need me more than ever since we lost Duncan... and we have a sortie in Columbia in two weeks sir."

"Don't worry sergeant, your platoon will be brought back up to full fighting strength... we need your specific talents in this." the 2LT smiled thinly before he took off his sunglasses, "Have you ever heard of the Umbrella Corp.?"

*************

South Korea-
F.O.B. Hotel-
0745 hrs-

John moved up towards the door of his supieriour and knocked loudly. "Sir! Sergeant Heagy, Sabre Operative 2nd plattoon 4th squad, reporting as ordered sir!"

"Enter." came the stern reply from inside. John swallowed loudly then opened the doors then walked into the room and snapped to attention before an older, grey haired man with a mustache. "At ease sergeant." the captain said calmly. Heagy moved out of reflex, hands snapping behind his back and taking one step to the left with his left foot. The older man chuckled before shaking his head, "Always so strict by the book... why is that sergeant?"

"Sir, being part of the Sabre team has given me the ability to help people sir... and... I owe them everything from saving me sir... from the terrorist... and from myself sir." the captain smiled at this then nodded for the sergeant to continue, "After what I saw sir... I wanted... I wanted revenge for every life destroyed sir... every family that couldn't be saved... every child who was..." John shook his head slowly, "Sir... I almost became just like them... so twisted by my thoughts of revenge that I would have allowed innocent life to be destroyed... and that ain't right sir..."

"True.... but how do you feel you are now sergeant? Are you happy?" the look of confusion on Heagy's face told him everything, "I mean... do you think you life is... a good one sergeant?"

"Yes sir. Thanks to you sir, I've been able to help save many lives... and neutralize many threats to the world's stability sir."

Captain Adair was a calm man by many standards, but the boy's lack of ablity to answer even simple questions without an explanation sometimes worked on the nerve, "No Heagy, I mean... do you enjoy your life... do you think you'd be happier as a civilian?"

On this question, the young sergeant paused for a moment as he ran different scenarios and posibilities through his head. "Sir... I do not regret becoming a soldier if that is what you mean... I know things that cause me grief and do things that make me endure pain... but if I didn't... who would have to do so in my place sir?"

"A good enough answer for now sergeant... anyways... here is your assignment." Captain Adair slowly pushed a simple vanilla folder marked 'Classified' to the young man. Opening up the folder, John begin to read through the files and profiles presented to him, subconsciouly memorizing names, dates, and locations. Upon reaching the profiles he froze, his eyes widening a little before he looked up at his commanding officer.

"Sir... with all due respect... you can't be serious..."

"Ah yes..." the captain picked up a photo of a brown-haired young lady with blonde highlights and a pair of encrima looking weapons, "Miss Victoria Millan... an aquaintence of yours sergeant? I'm sure you'll recognize some of the other names there too... Kay Lee... Iwa Hoshi... N-"

"Wait!" There was a moment of brief silence before John looked down, "... sir...." then slowly back up to the older man, "Sir... these people.... they've been through enough sir... is it really wise to involve them in something like this sir?"

Shaking his head slowly, the captain replied in a calm tone, "Sergeant... these people are not involved because of us... they are entering the tournament. Which is precisely what we expect you to do sergeant." Watching his subordinate stare down at the documents he closed his eyes and spoke in an empty tone, "You have your orders sergeant... treat your enemies as you should and try not to involve the innocents... those already involved... deal with as you see fit. And remember... many lives may hang in the balance of your actions alone this time sergeant..."

***********

1203 hrs-

Walking down the hallway of the temporary compound, John continued to play back his meeting with the captain and re-read the contents of the folder. Somehow his thoughts wandered to the first time he had killed a man, back in Iraq all those years ago. He had still been a fresh recruit back then. He could still see clearly the man's face, as he popped around the corner with his AK-47 and fired off a few rounds before John had put 3 rounds of .223 into him.

He could still remember the feeling of nausea that had hit him later on and the way the man's face had haunted him. After his first kill, John never got sick again. At first, he would find any face he killed to burn itself into his memory and haunt his dreams at night. But as he continued to fight in the wars, the faces begin to blur together and the dreams stopped coming. Soon John found it all to easy to kill anyone who was his enemy.

Looking down at his open right hand, John stared at the scars on his hand and thought back to how much of a kid he had been in the last tournament. Back then, it had just been a good adventure and a chance to meet some of his heroes. He idly thought about what the others would think of him now, from being the wide-eyed kid to a killer of men. No matter how he justified it, John realized that killing a man does something to you, it changes you.

Shaking his head quickly, he quickly dispersed the thought. A soldier's duty is to kill enemies and protect what must be protected. Nothing more. It didn't matter what anyone else thought of him so long as he did his mission properly and efficiently.

Unnoticed to John, Erin had moved up behind him after he had stopped. "Incoming!" Out of pure reflex, John was on the ground face first with his head covered which was exactly what Erin had wanted to see. "John, your such a tightwound dork!" she managed to get out through her laughter.

Realizing that there was no incoming artillery round, John slowly pushed himself up then moved back onto his feet. Knocking some of the dust off he shook his head slowly then looked over at Erin with a grunt, "That's not funny sergeant Anderson... you've heard about the little girl who cried wolf... right? And I ain't a dork... I'm a soldier." this only caused Erin to laugh even harder however before she begin to walk off.

An arm draped over John's shoulder suddenly followed by a sudden drop of weight onto his neck, "Ah... she's just teasing you cause she really likes you." Sergeant Mackallen said with a grin, "You oughta try to get some of that you know..." and that was when John attempted to throw the older sergeant over his shoulder. Mackallen however simply rolled into his landing and was back on his feet with a loose grin, "Temper temper now."

Turning away from the Sergeant First Class, John made his way towards the chow hall. He was sure that Mackallen was following him however. Getting a simple meal of steamed rice, green peas, and potatoes, John made his way to an empty table and sat down. Sure enough, SFC Mackallen sat down right across from him.

"Man... sometimes I worry about you... is weapons and killing all that's on your mind anymore?"

Looking up from his food at the older man, John answered quickly, "Of course not."

The older man pulled out a rolled up magazine and layed it next to John with a wide grin, quickly flipping it open, "Oh yeah... then tell me what you see here and what you think about." The picture was of a scantily clad red-haired girl with white stockings on and some skimpy lingerie.

John turned his head to the side quickly, sure that his nose was about to bleed and already certain that his cheeks and ears were quite flustered, "Put that away!" he said in a quiet tone, trying not to draw anymore attention than he had to.

"Oh no... not until you answer me... and that IS an order now to by the way."

Frowning and trying to ignore his heated face, John looked back down at the picture and studied it for a moment, "Umm... well I see a female.. err... underdressed.... the clothing can't be practical in the least... unless she is trying to hide grenades in her bra... or perhaps she intends to use her stockings as a sap... this is quite possible with a piece of lead or other heavy weight..."

Mackallen stared at him in disbelief for a full ten seconds before he shook his head and stood up, "Not what I want to hear solder..." then suddenly broke into another grin as he begin walking to the chow line, "You keep studying that until I get back now."

Letting out a weary sigh of resignition, John looked back down at the magazine and begin to study the picture intently. Surely there was something he was supposed to see that he was missing, a hidden weapon, a suicide bomb, perhaps even a mark that had a tie to a criminal orgin-.

"JOHN! YOU PERVERT!" came a shrill shout from behind him.

John looked up and over his shoulder just in time to see Erin's fist coming towards his eye.

**************

LZ Gamma-
1847 hrs-

Sitting on his duffel bag next to the helocopter pad, John tried to ignore the looks a few of the other soldiers around had given him. His left eye black and the cheek was swollen pretty bad. Operation Desert Fox? Not a scratch on him. Operation Freedom Wing? Didn't even get dirty. Sitting around in the chow hall? Hit in the face by his own team mate while another simply laughed his ass off.

Letting out a deep breath, John begin to do a mental inventory of everything he had packed. Two uniforms, one desert and one woodland. Interceptor body armor. M4 Carbine. Steyr SPP. Beretta M9 with silencer. Accuracy International's Artic Warfare sniper rifle. A martial arts uniform. His katana. A large variety of grenades including frag, CS, concussion, smoke and flashbangs. Extra ammo for all weapon systems. Communications device. Combat knife. Claymores. First aid kit. Field surgery kit. Compass. GPS. Toothbrush. Toothpaste. Floss. Soap. Towells. Some extra MREs. And finally enough C4 to destroy a mall. Rigged up with an emergency dead man's trigger that was in his pocket of course.

He'd said his goodbyes 2 hours prior. Erin had appologized and promised to get Mackallen back from him. Mackallen had simply told him to live and learn. Both had wished him well and good luck on his mission. Erin had even started to give him a peck on the cheek until Mackallen opened his mouth. Somehow he'd been the one to get the kick to the face and get called a pervert again. If this were any indications, maybe it was good he was leaving the platoon for a while. Seats could be filled, slots taken, and tempers time to cool. Maybe a little sanity too.

John thought to himself about the future and what was beginning. It was only another two hours until the Chinook arrived and then he would be flown to another airbase. From there he would make his way into hostile territory via aerial insertion. Most likely he would register using the alias he had earned in Iraq. It would be interesting to see how things would turn out from here.