He tosses it inside and it bursts almost instantly into thick rolling smoke, filling the space. I kick the second door panel open and wait for the right moment, until the gunfire thins out, then push through the smoke and move inside.
With my ability still running, I reach the first combatant hiding behind a stack of crates. They’re all betas, which means without weapons they stand no real chance against me, so I take him out fast. Ennio and the others move in right behind me.
A second later I grab one of Ennio’s men and hold him back for a split second before he steps straight into a firing line from deeper inside the warehouse, then pull him behind a stack of crates. "Stay close to me, I’ll know ahead of time when a shot is coming your way."
"Sounds useful," Ennio says evenly. "We’ve all got vests, but I’d rather not deal with bruises."
We move deeper into the warehouse, from one stack to the next, and I guide them between incoming fire. Near the stairs there’s a group of shooters behind a pile of wooden pallets, so I take a second to assess it. "Alright. Who here can shoot and land it on the first try? I need that right now."
"That would be me," Ennio says calmly.
I raise a brow. "No offense, but alpha reflexes are known to be quicker."
He doesn’t take it badly, just looks at me with a hint of superiority and one brow raised. "Don’t worry. I’m an exception."
"Okay. If you say so. Stay close, I’ll call the exact moment they lean out and when it’s safe to fire. I’ll give you the window in seconds."
"Roger that."
I shut my eyes for a brief moment, testing scenarios. "Now. Two seconds," I say, and Ennio leans out from behind the crates and fires. One of the NFH fighters drops instantly.
"Impressive," I mutter, because his speed and precision are hard to ignore. Ennio just gives me a look that says, "Didn’t I tell you?"
We repeat it twice more, I call the window and he fires, but the next one is tighter, just one and a half seconds, and I feel he’s about to linger half a second too long, so I grab him and pull him back down behind cover, noticing in the process how hard and solid he feels. "Stay inside the window. That shot would’ve grazed your temple."
He studies me for a moment. "Quite a skill you have."
I don’t comment. "We wait a few seconds now."
More bullets cut through the space above us, but none land. "Now. Three seconds."
Ennio rises, fires, and another body hits the floor.
"Alright, they’ve pulled back deeper toward the stairs. Relocate to that stack, it’s safe now."
We advance as a tight group, his men disciplined and moving exactly how they should, keeping everything controlled. "Now. One and a half seconds."
Ennio leans out, fires, and lands another hit. He’s an exceptional shot, no question, hitting like that in that time frame is on the level of competitive marksmanship.
They fall back again, and my vision feeds me the next piece, two of them are about to run up the stairs. "You’ve got a window to take them. And… now."
Ennio steps out and fires twice. Two bodies tumble down the stairs.
"The rest are upstairs. Let’s move."
I go first, still running scenarios in real time, knowing that the moment I come around the corner on the first floor I’llbe walking into a storm of bullets, since they’re all behind a barricade up there. "You still have gas?" I ask the one who threw the smoke earlier.
He nods. "One more."
"Give it to me."
I wait for the right moment and throw it past the barricade. "You," I point at Ennio, "move with me, exactly one step behind, in a straight line."
Using that brief chaos, I rush forward, slipping past blind fire and slamming into the barricade of crates with my full weight, knocking it over onto the betas behind it. Ennio is ready, and the next shots land clean on the downed combatants.
The last two try to run down the warehouse corridor in the opposite direction, but Ennio fires twice more and both shots finish them off.
Silence settles over the space.
