Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Jared threw a weird look at Oscar from his statement but the evidence was already in front of him. It took him a moment to discover it himself but to put it simply, as bad as it would sound for us, only a select few of the Rangers and the DDS from our country could hope to match Tatiana, Mikhail, Vera, and the rest of their team. Not to mention, their team leader would arrive tomorrow morning.

Jared could out-shoot most of them, even Alexei but if we were looking for all-around potential and who was already battle-tested, the answer couldn't be more obvious.

"Sorry, stupid question." Jared said as he piped down.

"Don't look down at yourself, you just need more experience. Play on your strengths but don't forget to sharpen your rough edges. There are a very few long shooters like ya." Oscar commented.

"How many are coming, exactly?" Lois asked.

"All 13 of them. Wait- make it 9 since you guys are here while the other two are in the provinces." Oscar replied.

"I thought you guys are much more when you came here?" I turned to Tatiana and the rest.

"We're 'hardy fuckers' but we're not immortal. It's different over there compared to this place. Not to talk bad about your president but it's not as accommodating in the early days. You need to prove yourself by doing high-risk missions. We're used to it but it gets ridiculous when you're competing with other countries who have more people." Vera explained.

"What happened over there? I believe I didn't ask much about it." I replied.

"Shit happens, that's why we went here to search for Ilya and the rest. We're lucky with Ilya but there's still no news from Alexander and Kuzma. Don't worry too much about us, you got a place to run." Mikhail added.

"Heh, not a chance. If you're gonna be working with me, I'll fucking worry about everything. I reload a save if I made an NPC mad, don't you know?" I said as I chuckled.

The three just shook their heads in amusement but Vera soon explained their situation from the other side of the country when they were sent there. It was just as she said earlier being 'not as accomodating' where they needed some street cred. The power struggle they were experiencing got worse when they lost people but she never openly stated it was due to other people but she was kinda leading onto it. However, she didn't fail to mention that they were also at fault for accepting such missions but there was some foul play involved.

'A sabotage then? It's hard when everyone around you could be an enemy.' I thought to myself.

"Did you have any idea as to which group did it?" I asked.

"It could be anyone, kid. Hell, they could be done by the American dignitaries as well." Oscar commented.

"Hmm, it could also be done by our own. I mostly trust the president with his decisions but there are some snakes always hiding in obscure areas. He already rooted a few from the surface but there's always someone pulling the strings from behind." I added.

"Hey, we got no time worrying about the struggle in that place. We have our own problems and bringing them here would just make them deal with our problems now. Call it avoiding a problem or not I'd rather be shooting heads than sitting in my ass with those dignitaries. It's fucking boring if you ask me." Matthew added.

"That's true. Anyway, Vera, you're still maintaining contact with them, right?" I asked.

"Yes, anything you want me to pass on?" Vera replied.

"Pass onto them the whole plan before this night ends. You got it all down, right?" I said.

"Yeah, that would be no problem." Vera replied.

"You ain't gonna try and talk to him? I thought you wanted to meet the guy?" Oscar asked.

"Hmm, I'd like my first time talking to Artem is face to face, the rest of his team too. I could only figure so much about someone through a call." I replied.

"Hah~ I think you two would get along, Boss." Mikhail added.

"We'll see." I replied.

We started talking about topics unrelated to the meeting, so I quickly ended the meeting so everyone present could go home. I still had to prepare the equipment we would be using tomorrow and on top of that, we needed to wake up early, so I only did my daily routine without sparring with the rest of the group. Aside from that, I already declared that my shields were up so any sort of attempt to make me even more tired unless I request it, would be completely denied.

"Okay, my tattoo is about finished on the back. You could rest, for now." Tatiana chuckled.

"What else are you guys doing?" Rin asked.

"Well, deep clean of the guns we would be using tomorrow plus Kaley and I would be cleaning my katana and her wakizashi. Aside from that, packing a lot of ammo and magazines on the ammo cans and also preparing other supplies such as food, water, medicine, and etc." I explained.

"Oh, give me a list of what you don't have yet. I'll be taking it out from the storage area." Rin offered help.

"Okay, here..." I quickly wrote down on a piece of paper and she brought Tatiana with her to carry some of the stuff up.

"Why me?" Tatiana protested.

"Put those muscles to work!" Rin just pushed her down the stairs.

"Then you're fucking coming too!" Tatiana started to drag down Vera browsing through the catalog Daisy brought.

"I'm busy!" Vera protested as well.

"She'll be inking me tonight, you'd get your turn later!" Tatiana exclaimed but Vera soon gave up.

The three disappeared though Cynthia and Daisy were still with us.

"I need to get better at shooting so I could come with you guys, right?" Daisy asked.

"A few more things as well but you're keeping Jay's group together. Bing mostly listens to you." I chuckled.

"Well, that's right on so many levels." Daisy just shook her head in amusement.

"I'm thinking of bringing my PS90, is that okay?" Cynthia asked, bringing it out from her case.

"Ooh~ I've never fired one of these before~" Kaley commented.

"Heh, I'll give you one if you want but I thought you hate guns with short barrels?" I chuckled.

"W-Well, that's true, I guess..." Kaley went back to cleaning her rifle.

"What's did you call it again? Isn't that a P90 not a PS90?" Daisy asked, confused.

"It's an FN PS90. Yeah, they look the same but this one only fires semi-auto and its barrel is a little longer than its counterpart. I have a suppressed P90, do you want to use it instead? It's the same thing but only with a shorter barrel and it could go full-auto. I'd argue that it's better than an MP5 but I love that gun as well. Different situations call for different guns, I guess." I replied then I turned to Cynthia.

"Really? I'll have a go with it then." Cynthia said as she nodded a few times.

"Growing tired of your takedown AR-15?" Kaley asked.

"Oh, not really but I couldn't reload as fast as you guys yet so I'm opting with something that could hold more rounds. We'd be going room to room and shooting more on foot, right? I wanted something lighter and a little bit more compact." Cynthia replied.

"It has less recoil too since it uses 5.7x28 rounds, not 5.56 as your AR-15 does. One mag could hold 50 rounds instead of 30 and it's reliable aside from the drums and quad stacks we have. Here, check it out." I added as I handed her a case.

Cynthia's eyes lit up as she saw something more kitted out than her own and she immediately asked about the other features it could do more than her PS90. I explained them briefly while Kaley continued to clean our guns and while Daisy was helping with reloading the magazines full. Daisy was using the speedloaders I have at my armory so she was making incredible time.

"Can you teach me to switch out the sights for the moment? I'm used to this one." Cynthia asked.

"Sure, it wouldn't take long. Well, still have to zero it too but that could be done easily as well." I replied as I brought out the rest of my tools to replace my holo-sight with her red-dot sight.

The four of us continued to talk while working and the three that went down eventually joined us.

"Did Jared and the rest grab their share?" I asked Rin.

"Yeah, Lois brought a few more candies while Jared grabbed a few more protein bars. I saw it written down on the list but the rest took the regular stuff." Rin replied.

"It's okay, sometimes I'd bring an energy drink with me as well." I said, bringing out the bags I would be putting the rest of our gear in.

We placed them by the door for tomorrow along with the ammo cans filled with extra magazines and chock full of different kinds of ammo. I brought some throwables as well for emergencies and I made sure each one of us had a few in our separate pouches.

We were about done with our gear and much to their disappointment, I made everyone vacate our room because I needed some sleep for tomorrow.

"You just wanted me alone, don't you?" Kaley giggled from behind.

"Maybe." I chuckled before turning the lights off.