The amount of fight the NCR still had left was thrilling in a twisted way. Perhaps they knew there would be no surrender to their assailants. Only a quick death. But if that was the case retaliation on this level was akin to suicide. They must uphold the notion that it was better to go down fighting. However, the sad truth of it all was in the end the manner in which they chose to die would make no difference. Though, encouraged by the challenges he was being faced with today, Golem wasn't sure how to approach the situation the soldiers, Archangel and himself had found themselves in. Traipsing through the death-trap of a front entrance was out of the question. Enemy fire and ally bodies were all that awaited them there. He frowned while playing with other ideas. Subways had multiple access points for loading, maintenance, and-- It seemed Archangel's little robot had the same idea. He listened to the woman's plan intently and nodded in the affirmative when she had finished. [b]"I can do that,"[/b] he said shifting his weight and getting ready to attack. He watched Archangel's back as she left. No messing around. He knew he would need to decimate the NCR before they had time to even recover from the shock. To aid him he gathered the Enclave soldiers gathered nearby and briefed them on the plan. Then they waited. For less than a second the shock wave of the explosive crushed the air around them. To others it would have been stupefying. To them it was like a starting gun. Armored, faceless demons stormed through the tunnel while the debris still fell and ashes still cleared before the blood from NCR wounds could begin to flow. The Golem lead the charge. Many of the the survivors of the initial blast did not even see them, too stunned to react to a series of sudden deaths. Surprise could bring even the best soldiers to their knees and it was reducing the best the Bear of the South had to offer to nothing. After the assassinations and uproar settled down Golem sent scouts further down the tunnel and moved through the fallen to remove the heads of any still breathing. Blood slicked his armor. He began to wonder if there were none who could oppose him. If there were none who could oppose the Enclave. Archangel came into the tunnel looking a bit worse than when she had left. [b]"Your plan went smoothly,"[/b] he welcomed her, [b]"at least on our end. I sent scouts down. Haven't heard back yet. We should push further down and make sure there are no loose ends."[/b] --- Ginger braced himself in a sturdy corner of the building until the explosive onslaught ebbed. His ears were ringing. He couldn't see anything save for what the modules in his visor pointed to and outlined for him in the smoke and fire. The rubble piled up around him. Their hiding place was in shambles. Too bad for those obstinate, devious, lily-livered, cheeky bastards he was still alive. He wished he could spit on their graves... though he knew they would never get any. All's fair in love and war supposedly. Carefully, he risked looking around a bit hoping the sensors in his helmet would pick up signs of the enemy surrounding them. The ringing in his ears was fading just enough for him to hear yelling over the comms from his squad and Deathstroke, yet it took him a few moments to register the meaning behind their words. He ordered his squad to find a way down the building without killing themselves and confirmed Deathstroke's orders. Wait for the opening. Every couple seconds he was picking up blips of movement here and there most of them blinking in and out of the scope of the sensors. Gunshots were being fired. There was yelling. There was chaos out there. But at least visibility was returning. He hunkered down and lined up his sights on the shapes beyond the broken walls. Lasers blasted brightly in all directions. Bullets whirred past. Still waiting but dying to pull the trigger or run. Staying put was a death sentence. He tensed. And nearly took the head off the Enclave sniper who landed behind him followed by a barrage of fire. "Stop!" he hissed when Ginger whirled to face him, "We're down. Well... Most of us. Lost one in the attack. Orders?" [b]"Damn shame,"[/b] Ginger took up aim on the skirmish again emotion absent from his response, [b]"I need to get word back to command."[/b] He pressed his lips together. He didn't know what the boss intended to do by himself against the Rangers. The sound of a rifle thumped through the air and was followed by a wild spread of laser fire, most of it in the wrong direction. Not that he doubted the man's abilities but taking off and leaving a member of Eagle Claw behind who just so happened to get killed didn't sound like it would go over well back at Eagle Point. Now he could see it and his equipment confirmed the rogue sentry bot mowing down it's allies who were now desperate to take it out. If he got back to command alive he wanted to keep it that way. Time to go. [b]"Follow me. Don't slow down. Don't get shot. When we get out of sight spread out and keep an eye on things. Help out if you can, just make sure Deathstroke doesn't get himself killed. Got it?"[/b] Got it. One of the sentry bots still in working order turned on it's defective brother. Now or never. He gave the word and they were gone, racing out from under the NCR's grasp a midst a hail of wild fire. Cover came quickly in the city but it took several minutes before the three remaining snipers risked splitting off from the group. [b]"Stay in comm range of each other,"[/b] he reminded them. He continued sprinting through the wrecked buildings alone. Before long he was back in familiar territory. A battlefield pock-marked with craters from grenades, missiles and bullets and littered with human remains and broken equipment. As his cover broke up and became sparse he powered up the cloak on his armor. For obvious reasons he was edgy and he didn't want anymore of those NCR dicks catching a glimpse of him. Up on a ridge almost completely hidden from view he made out the location where several high-ranking officers were stationed with scouts, runners and lookouts to keep an eye on the operation's progress. He didn't stop running until he got to them and was breathing heavily. [b]"HEY!"[/b] Ginger couldn't be bothered with formalities when calling the attention of the first officer he saw, [b]"We've got a problem. NCR rangers knew the location of our sniper squads. One of Eagle Claw and a few snipers are holding down several of them not far from here,"[/b] he pointed in the direction he had come from, [b]"We need to send in back up and alert the rest of our men. There's no telling what else these sons-a-bitches know."[/b] Even here he kept watch on his surroundings. These days he was forgetting what it was like to feel safe. --- The beams of light on his helmet that pierced the darkness were barely of any help this deep into the system. Golem still hadn't heard back from the scouts he sent down. It was entirely possible they had simply gone out of range with the Enclave scrambling communications. He seriously hoped so. The silence on the comms as well as the silence that seemed to physically surround Archangel and himself was becoming too heavy for comfort. On the bright side the logistics of a quick escape through this route were looking far more complicated than he had expected. Without decent gear, light and knowledge of the layout of this place the going would be slow for any NCR caught down here. Ancient clutter and waste both man-made and natural filled the floor of the subway obscuring the tracks. Ahead a demolished train guarded the path. There had been no branches in the subway thus far meaning this was the only way out. They would need to go around the broken machine and the fit was a tight one. Golem clenched his teeth. [b]"I'll go first,"[/b] he told Archangel, [b]"Keep an eye on the rear and if that bot can see anything in this we might want to send it on ahead."[/b] The things he was doing for the Enclave. His heartbeat was picking up as he maneuvered between the train and the tunnel wall, but all be damned if he would ever let it show. Moving as quickly as he could in order to get this over with he kept the lights on the ground directly in front of him. A bloody gauntlet thrust itself into the beam out of the black. Golem paused. He directed the lights up the body which was crumpled and contorted awkwardly where it fell in the narrow passage. It was Enclave armor. One of the scouts. He got to the head which rolled back sharply to stare at the ceiling with dead eyes. The helmet had been removed. Forcibly from what he could tell from the scrapes on the face. Under the man's body blood pooled. His throat wore a fresh slit from ear to ear. [b]"Damn it!"[/b] he cursed while snapping the soldier's holotags up, [b]"Found one of those scouts. Need to move faster."[/b] With little ceremony or respect he kicked the body out of the way and stumbled over it. Soon they reached the end of the train and sweet, sweet open space. He stretched his arms, one stiffening from the bullet lodged in it, just to reassure himself there was room to move out here. He thought he heard something rustle down the tunnel. Golem quickly moved his light to and from every corner. Strange shadows cast themselves in twisted forms under the light only becoming mundane when one truly focused on them. However, no signs of movement or life. Now it became silent again. It wasn't right. The subway took a sharp turn further up blocking visual of anything that might lay beyond. They pressed forward. Until Golem saw something small, metallic, disc shaped and disturbingly similar to... But focusing on the object in question revealed it to be merely to be a rusted hubcap. Damn the dark and damn this place. He breathed slowly as they continued on, trying to take the edge off his nerves and remain ever calm. Again another hubcap caught his eye because the stupid things looked so similar to... but no. This time it looked exactly like... A landmine. Great. He warned Archangel of what stood in their way now. He could disarm them, but it would slow them down and he was beginning to feel his near limitless patience slip. They couldn't allow anyone to get away. As he neared the first mine he heard the same rustle as before. But again, the beams of light guiding them revealed nothing. [i]KRA-KOOM![/i] Something slammed into his back. Hard. The force was enough to unbalance the brute and send him to his knees. He wasted no time wheeling around, hurling his axe in a wide arc to split whatever had hit him. But he only split the silence which immediately filled itself back in. There was nothing behind him. Somewhere something was here though. Someone was with them. Even more terrifying was the little red light blinking away only a few feet away from him. [b]"GET BACK!"[/b] he yelled. Golem lurched away just as the mine burst. It shook the tunnel and left the old walls trembling even in the aftermath. For the brief moment the blast lit up the area he thought he saw a human form crouched on the roof of the train.