Hearing Mark bark orders through the radio had given Athena and Ross a better idea what to do. Fortifying themselves and cleaning everyone up while he did god-knew-what in that building up there. Looking back at Ross, Athena raised an eyebrow, before peeking out from the right side of her cover to spray some 9mm rounds downrange. There wasn't much ammunition for this gun in the bag nor on her person. She had 9mm rounds on her, but there was no way that she was going to be able to transfer the rounds quick enough between the magazines. Worst case scenario, when she ran out of ammo, she ditched the gun for another. There were a lot of guns in that bag, but hopefully they were going to be enough to fend off all of these people. Peeking out once again, Athena fired an accurate three round burst from her gun before retreating behind cover once again. Conveniently, the magazine was translucent, granting Athena a much easier way of keeping track of the bullets inside of her magazine. 

Eventually, the 30 round magazine of the Czech-made weapon became completely dry, and at that point Athena had to slap in the remaining magazine for that gun, trying to keep up the constant rate of fire to keep those Sicarios back. Now that they were in a more favorable position, it was easier to keep these people back. Now the path that they were coming up had become a funnel of death. They were behind a sturdy piece of cover that was nigh-invulnerable to the smaller arms that the sicarios were carrying. They had nowhere to go other than back the way they came, as if they came up any further the driveway, they were going to be receiving a 5.56mm or 9mm round for their efforts. Eventually, the magazine ran dry again and Athena was forced to ditch the gun. Dropping the now useless weapon, she dove into the bag to find something to use. It didn't matter what it was, just as long as there was ammunition for it. 

She pulled out a Saiga 12, and three magazines with what appeared to be slug shells. A small smile formed on Athena's face, as she realized she could seriously fuck some people up with a weapon like the Saiga 12. Inserting the magazine in the gun, she chambered a round before she emerged from cover, aiming downrange and watching all the poor Sicarios that were about to eat some rounds run straight at her. Pulling the trigger, the gun kicked hard as it spat the slug from the barrel, immediately taking a Sicario down with it before Athena snapped to the next target, repeating the same procedure. It was satisfying to have a more useful weapon, even if the magazine size wasn't as high as the SMG she had been wielding earlier. 

In the meantime, Ellie, after watching Ross and	Athena get themselves to safety, had also listened to what Mark said and was going to follow his directive to the T. Back the way they came, eh? That wasn't as bad as what Athena and Ross were dealing with. All she had to do was to haul ass outside of the compound and hope to god that she didn't catch a bullet on the way. Seemed simple enough, right?  Slowly making her way out of the security booth, she could see people running for dear life in various directions. They were more than too busy with dealing with Mark and Ross and Athena to pay the 6'0" Scottish-Canadian girl any mind. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins -- but it wasn't the same kind of adrenaline that she would get from skydiving. No. This was the kind of adrenaline that soldiers and police officers faced -- it wasn't something Ellie had dealt with before. Her senses were heightened, and the "flight or fight" reaction was at its peak as she darted from the security booth and back the way she came. 

The sheer size of the compound was rather disorienting, but she figured with the dead body and his brains on the wall, she should be able to find her way back through the hole that she came through. It seemed like whatever Mark needed to get done had been done and now she just needed to make her way back to outside perimeter. The only problem that was on the agenda was extraction, but she figured Mark must have had something planned. Her trip back out the compound was safe. Nobody saw her, let alone had even the slightest idea that she had even been on the compound. It was clear as far as the eye could see, save for the distant gunfire that might as well have been straight out of Fallujah. "I'm good! I'm clear!" Ellie said into comms, before finding herself somewhere behind a rock, keeping herself safe for the time being.

Upon finding out that Ellie was safe, Athena decided it was time to get away. Their ammunition was dwindling by the second, and Athena had resorted to going back to her G28 after expending the last of the shells. Luckily, Athena had discovered that there was a smoke grenade in the bag, which had played into her plan quite nicely. A quick toss and pop of the smoke would provide enough cover for them to run away and get somewhere safer. "Scratch that, Mark! We'll make our own extraction. Meet us at Ellie's." With that, Athena grabbed the smoke grenade and pulled the pin, before turning to her brother in law. "As soon as you see the smoke fill in, you run like hell." Athena then put her hand up to her earpiece, activating the mic, "Ellie - where'd you come in through? We'll meet you there." 

Sitting against the rock, Ellie was startled when she heard Athena come in through the comms. "Uh... not sure. There's a booth and a dead body nearby. That's all I know. His brains are kinda on the wall..." Ellie muttered, before coming off the comms, "There's a hole though, it's not hard to miss." She replied. "Thanks, Ellie." Athena said, before chucking the smoke grenade at a distance. Landing right in the middle of the driveway, the two were soon obfuscated by the smoke. "Let's go, Ross!" Athena yelled, before getting up and making her way away from the car and the previous cover. By the time the smoke would dissipate, the two would be long gone and be nowhere to be seen. There was no point in carrying the sack of weapons anymore. The ammo had been spent and everything that could have been used was used. 

Running along the perimeter, eventually Athena found the aforementioned dead body and the brains splattered against the wall, before she found the hole in the wall that Ellie was talking about. For someone who had never done something like this before, she sure had a knack for being able to find exploits and get out rather cleanly. Athena doubted that the body was her doing as well, there was no way she could kill someone that cleanly. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out through the hole, making sure Ross was behind her. There seemed to be nobody for miles, which was good. "Ellie? You around here?"

The Scottish-Canadian girl's ears perked up as she heard her being called for, "Yeah, I'm right here!" She rose up from the rock, her pistol in hand to make sure it was actually them. It was, and it was only them. Mark was probably on his way over -- but in the meantime, Ellie could relish in the fact that this was all over. Athena sighed and sat back against the rock, waiting for Mark to get over to them so that they could finally exfiltrate and leave this situation in their dust once and for all.

[hr]

After it was all said and done, the group found themselves at a small airport not too far away from the compound. Some coercion was in order to secure a means of transport and make sure that they had a way to transport themselves. The Jeep was too far gone and too bullet riddled to use, so for the time being they simply borrowed another vehicle to make their way back to the airport, where their extraction was due to take place. Everything had been planned out prior, and at this point they were about to put a pretty red bowtie on the Rossi Family's retribution. There was no way they would be coming back from something like this, and everyone knew that they didn't want to do this again either.

Athena, free from the weight that was her plate carrier, had taken a deep breath as she leaned against the car, waiting for the airplane to be readied up. Ross and Ellie had fucked off elsewhere and they were doing whatever they were doing after such an operation. If they were sleeping, they deserved it. They'd seen some shit and no doubt been through a lot - they definitely more than deserved the rest that they were getting. Athena and Mark, on the other hand, were doing something else. They weren't exactly cut from the same cloth, considering that one was a former special operations operative and the other one a highly trained police officer, but the both of them understood what it was like after such a strenuous operation. It was kind of a weird bond between the two, despite the fact that the both of them dealt in the polar opposite areas of the law.

Athena, rolling her shoulder, had looked at Mark curiously, watching him do whatever he was doing. She cleared her throat, looking up at him. "So... what's next for you? Now that this is all over - where are you gonna be? Back to Europe - doing god knows what?" 

[hr]
[center][b][u]Part Eight[/u][/b]: Reunion

[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/03/30/3c0330e1a898a615eaa998c65f905c40.jpg[/img]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMJm_97QXHA]mood music[/url][/center]

[right][i]A Few Years Later...[/i][/right]
[hr]

It was a calm, late summer evening in Southern California. The sun was still peeking over the horizon, painting the skyline in a beautiful shade of pink and yellow. Nothing could be heard besides the tranquil sounds of cars passing by and a zephyr making its way through the palm trees that seemed to line every single street in this area. The street lights dimly lit the pavement, providing those who walked its way with a light, despite the biggest source of light still being in the sky. 

There was nothing but peace and serenity in this quiet little suburb of Southern California. There was nothing that could disturb the quiet scene that was set in front of them. That was, until the soft sounds of rapid footsteps suddenly emitted from within. "Mommy, mommy! Look!" A little girl not much older than five years old had emerged out into the open, along with a German Shepherd which had something in its mouth. She had a happy look on her face, as the dog followed her, "Look what Ruby found!" 

A figure shifted in their chair, before turning and letting the light reveal her face. Her piercing blue eyes looked over at the girl and the dog, nothing being said from her before she stood up and stepped a little closer. The light revealed her blonde hair, and her nose ring glistened against the bright lights as she bent down and looked at what the child and dog had brought her. Upon closer inspection, it was a piston. The silver shined against the light as well, matching the female figure's nose ring as she bent down and looked closer. The woman looked over the piston, before putting a hand on it and lightly tugging. 

The German Shepherd quickly obliged, letting go of the engine component before the woman held it in her hand. "What are you guys looking at? Get back inside, it's almost time for dinner!" She smiled, before ushering them back in. The little girl smiled, before she darted back inside with the dog. Laughing gently to herself, she held the piston gingerly in her hand, as she walked inside her house. The smell of a slow-cooked lasagna filled the woman's lungs, and the sounds of laughter and joy filled her ears as she closed the door behind her, making her presence known in the room. 

Kimberly Rossi, on the cusp of her thirties, had come a long way since what had happened in Las Vegas. It didn't seem like that long ago when she was barely recovering from the tens of surgeries that she had to undergo to keep her alive, and the months of physical therapy she had to undergo to regain her basic functions and get back to being at least a part of who she was. It was painful and rough, but Kimberly persevered. As much as she would have wanted, she couldn't get back to who she was before the incident. Needless to say, the woman had lost a step since the accident. She was no longer the hyperathletic woman she was prior to the accident. No longer could she change directions in a blink of an eye or jump high enough to dunk. She was lucky enough to be alive, let alone be able to run. 

Additionally, there was the fact that Kimberly had a second child since then. Having to deal with recovery and pregnancy at the same time was, without a doubt, one of the hardest things she had to do in her life. But, she did it. She gave birth to a beautiful, surprisingly healthy baby girl later that year. Even though she was still confined to a wheelchair for the most part, the pain and suffering was more than worth it to see her baby girls grow up and become the people that they are today. Kimberly, more importantly, had given up the driving fast lifestyle she had prior to the incident. Once she was standing and had full control of her legs, she didn't want to be involved in that scene anymore. She had battled for her life because of her skills, and the prospect of dying and leaving her kids without their mother was more than enough to give up the racing.

That didn't mean she was totally disconnected from the scene, however. Kimberly, instead, was hired on by a prestigious tuning company to oversee her own branch, which meant she was able to run things the way she wanted and hired the people she wanted. Kimberly was the head engineer of the entire thing, but she barely did any actual engineering as everyone else was more than qualified to handle those tasks. The woman's days were vastly different than those five years prior. The time that was originally used for street racing and car meets was swapped for spending time with her daughters and making sure that her body was getting stronger and stronger. 

However, just because you took the girl out of the race, doesn't mean the race in the girl was gone.

Kimberly sat at the dinner counter, positioned so that she could see into the garage. In it sat her Nissan Skyline GT-R, the same one that she had met her husband in and took all over the world. It was far too valuable for her to let go of, as much as she didn't use it anymore. Kimberly these days drove a more conservative, family oriented Audi Q8. It was perfect for trucking her kids around and taking to work and errands. But for whatever reason, tonight, she had a weird itch she just couldn't scratch. She couldn't look away from Godzilla.

"Babe... do you ever have the urge to start.... driving again? I don't mean the driving we do... but [i]driving[/i] driving. You know what I'm saying? The type of driving that brought us together..."

[hr]
[right][i]The Rocky Mountains, Nevada, USA[/i][/right]
[hr]

Since the incident in Mexico, Ellie hadn't quite been the same. After seeing some dead bodies, it took some time for her to be able to process what had happened. Eventually she came to terms with it and had managed to overcome it. Nobody, not even Seb, had gotten to know what actually happened in Mexico. But that didn't matter. The biggest focus for her since that was most definitely the growth of her channel. The years between then and now had caused her channel to explode in popularity. One hit after another, it was like she had struck the YouTube gold-mine. She had forty million subscribers and counting, all wanting to see her extreme sport hijinks and how a girl as cool as her lived every day.

Today was one of those days that her fans would be able to see what that was like. The sun was setting, which created a beautiful scene for their upcoming shoot. They had hiked for hours and hours on end to the top of this mountain. Wingsuit gear on, they were getting ready to carve the fuck out of the Rocky Mountains. Because they had been so successful, they were also able to afford a lot more. There were more crews around, and more sophisticated equipment around to make sure that their shots were as cool as possible, such as slow-motion cameras and drones that followed them around.

Ellie smiled as she looked at Seb, securing her wingsuit gear as she got ready to start the shoot and leap off the cliffside. "You ready, babe?" She smiled, planting a kiss on his cheek. "This is gonna be our coolest shoot yet."

[hr]

[right][i]Sonoma, California, USA[/i][/right]

Forge was a thing of the past. Somewhere down the line, negotiations had soured and Ryan and Gina were no longer associated with the racing team. They had decided to take their talents to another team, who was more than willing to give them whatever they wanted, including the advice of one of the smartest minds in the racing world. Even though she wasn't exactly racing anymore, her presence was more than appreciated when figuring out setups and configurations to squeeze out those tenths of a second that were so valuable in the racing world. Gone was the Audi R8 LMS and in was the Acura NSX GT3. It was a far superior car to the Audi R8, Gina found.

Right now they were getting ready for an event tonight. There were cars all over the place and plenty of people who had come to watch them. It was Ryan and Gina's first season underneath this new team - and overall the first season this whole team was going to be at the event. Needless to say, all eyes were on them as they were headed up against Forge Motorsports, their old team, in their return to this racing scene. The world wanted to see if Gina and Ryan were truly talented, or if they were just a bunch of frauds made by Forge.

Currently, Gina was sitting on a couch, her black helmet in hand as she looked up at the ceiling, where a map of Sonoma Raceway had been put as per her request, and she was mimicking the footwork she needed to get through the course as fast as she could. It was a little weird... but it worked.