Simulations of War

The new Operation Schools soldiers are assigned to a training simulation. However, later they deal with something bigger.

Andrew thought to himself as he walked how good it was to be part of Operation School. He only had four classes a day. Training, A.I tutorial, strategy, and regular. Regular was stuff like math and social studies but it was really easy and all crammed into 45 minutes of class. Today Mrs. Phillips had taken them on a trip to the "garage". The garage was an underground facility located beneath the school. It held all the vehicles. Land, sea, and Air. Andrew marveled at the tanks. They were incredible. Especially up close, then Andrew heard a voice in his head. "Don't get any ideas." It was Cortana. The A.I was able to project their voices into Andrews ears through his helmet were they were currently linked up. 
"I'm not" Andrew responded.
"Sure you aren't."
Andrew laughed to himself a little. After a full school week of living with the two A.I how could he not. Things like that happened all the time. Cortana would constantly crack jokes, especially at Deltas strict rule following. Having Delta and Cortana around made Andrew feel...safe. 
They were shown a lot of vehicles, but Andrews’s personal favorite was an ATV with a huge cannon on the back. Sadly this was only a prototype which was unrivaled. Then they went to the course. The course was a large track/arena with a extremely high ceiling and a pool of water in the middle. This allowed all the vehicles to be tested in the course. Andrew couldn't wait for their first real vehicle class. So far all they had learned was safety and types of vehicles. Mrs. Phillips then finished explaining the course and finally said something not just Andrew, but the entire class wasn't ready for. There first mission would be tomorrow.

Andrew couldn't eat that night and it took a long time combined with Delta giving him a lecture on the importance of the dish towel for Andrew to fall asleep. They had not yet been given a briefing on the mission and did not know what to expect. Andrew lay in his bed worried that this would be his last night.

Andrew was relieved when he found out what the mission actually was. The students would be given paintball guns and have to find a quick route to an evac helicopter while facing numerous adversaries. The twist was that if one member of your four man squad was hit you failed the mission. Andrew and his three teammates Luke, Sam, and Erica were dropped in the middle a large field and were told that there evac was at the head of a river. The 4 students grouped up and there A.I projected themselves.
"This is easy" said Sam "We just have to move through the field, find the river, and move upstream."
Delta quickly replied "To simple we would easily be spotted and killed by the enemy we must move using cover from the trees."
Luke's A.I Epsilon responded with "Delta is correct we should move to the woods at the side of the field. It will grant us more cover." Everyone agreed and moved to the woods. Andrew found it interesting that the holographic projections of the A.I that came out of his helmet actually looked like they were running. Almost as if it were a much bigger attempt to make them seem human. In the woods Erica suggested that they simply move towards the river, which they had been told was north. No one objected and so they all began to move north. 

They had been running for maybe 5 minutes when they were attacked. The attack came very fast. First they all noticed that they had heard a sort of metal clinking sound. They were soon blinded by a flash. "Flash bangs!" Andrew thought to himself. He then heard Delta, Cortana, and the other A.I telling the kids to get up. This was followed by an electronic sucking sound and Andrews’s vision going blue. He then felt something grab him by the back and through him into a pile with his comrades. As his vision slowly came back he could see they were using some sort of EMP device to knock out the A.I. He also saw four men, each with a paintball gun aimed at the kids, standing in front of him. Quickly thinking Andrew shot his and Luke’s captors and the two of them brought down Sam and Erica’s. Luke kicked the EMP device to restore the A.I. They then took the ammo of their captors and were off.

They made it to their Helicopter in 15:27 minutes/seconds. They weren't the fastest but they weren't the slowest. But they were the only ones to survive getting attacked. It was all worth it to get to fly home in the helicopter.

2 Weeks Later...

Andrew had now been in Operation School for a month and loved it. He had gotten stronger, faster, smarter, and all around better. His family wondered how he had improved so much in so little time. Andrew was now giving permission to carry A OS5B Assault Rifle designed especially for Operation School. He had been told that he was a great trainee and would probably do great in the field. At the moment he was on guard duty and Cortana was shifting through the many Different Scarsdale Middle School surveillance grid cameras. Something caught his eye. "Cortana go back" the camera was one situated at the top of the chimney. It looked right out in front of the school. And in front of the school, just past the fence, Andrew knew he could see an invasion force.

The alarm sounded. "s#%$&" Mrs. Phillips said "everyone man your stations this is not a drill." She told her class. "This is the big one" she thought to herself "this is it."

Andrew and his friends had been trained to work independently but be able to become a team when needed. Andrew rushed quickly down the halls after he got confirmation that it was an invasion. 
"Delta mission info" Andrew said as he moved through the chaotic Hallways. 
"There appear to be 100 armed men intent on attacking and capturing the school. They must have found out about us through a spy or some other sort of surveillance."
"Not now Delta." Andrew said
"Right sorry, they have no vehicles of any sort meaning that the fence should hold them back temporarily so keep them back for as long as possible." 
"Understood" Andrew said turning on the radio "You guys all here that"
Several yes's came over the radio as Andrew neared a window to the roof where he would begin his attack. 
When everyone was in position Mrs. Phillips came over the radio and said they could engage the enemy. As soon as he said that Andrew went out the window saying "Hit-It".
Cortana responded with "Prepare to Drop." To which Andrews only reply was "Not funny."

As Andrew exited onto the roof of the school bullets immediately began whizzing past him. With no other thoughts in his mind he began to return fire. Looking around for cover he noticed many of his comrades were wearing black ski masks on their heads. Why were they doing this Andrew thought? Then he remembered they were supposed to hide their Identities in public. Quickly getting behind cover he placed his mask on and returned to battle.

Alex ran through the vehicle depot to a helicopter. He was the helicopters minigunner and it was about to take off without him. Running as fast as he could he jump into the helicopter as it began to lift off the floor. The ceiling opened up to allow the chopper to leave and in a couple seconds it was rising quickly.

Andrew noticed that even with a defense force of over 500 operation school trainees they could not beat the 100 attackers who were now marching through the fence. Andrew decided to take another course of action and ran back into the school. Quickly finding a Weapon Armory Andrew searched for a Sniper Rifle to attack with. He finally found an OSSRLS4 Sniper Rifle. As he grabbed it he heard the hum of a helicopters blades. Hoping the helicopter was on his side he ran back to the window and prepared for battle.

Alex felt the helicopter tilting as the pilot brought them to Airspace above the enemy. "I need you to back up" Alex said over the roar of the blades "I can't get a good shot on the enemy soldiers." 
"On It." shouted the pilot flying a little more to the left. With this vantage point Luke opened fire.

Andrew watched in awe as the minigunner ripped apart the enemy. However he soon returned to his duties concentrating fire on the RPG troopers. Shot after shot and more and more of the enemies fell. Then Andrew saw something he couldn't prevent. One rocket flew up and hit the helicopter in the side.

Alex was knocked back and the helicopter began to fall from the sky. Slowly turning on its side until the pilot gave up controlling it. The helicopter crashed to the ground. 

"s#%$&!" Andrew screamed. Forgetting everything he was taught he took out his Assault rifle and ran off the roof, onto the field in front of him and to the helicopter.

Alex looked up. Seeing the dead pilot wasn't a good sign nor was the blood he could feel on his face. Outside the helicopter he could see a remaining ten men firing at the school. One got killed. Then a second. Then two at once. Whatever was firing at them was getting closer. He heard the clanging of metal, saw a flash, heard an explosion and blacked out. 

Andrew finally made it to the helicopter. Having managed to kill the remaining men Andrew attempted to pry the door open. When that didn't work he took out his pistol and shot out the window and went in through there. Inside he turned to face the pilot and based on the mess concluded that he was dead. Andrew then went looking for the gunner. Finding him at the opposite side of the helicopter Andrew at first thought he was dead then Delta claimed "He's alive if you don't believe me check". Andrew felt for a pulse and after doing so admitted the gunner was alive. Andrew hoisted him up and exited the helicopter. 

The last thing Alex could remember was a figure entering the helicopter and carrying him back to the school. And all the cheering he could hear.

Later...

Andrew was amazed. Not just with himself but with how the entire school was praising him. He had saved a boy named Alex from near death in their first battle. The boy had broken his arm and lost a lot of blood but he was going to pull through. It had been a week since the battle. The day after the fight, Newspapers ran stories detailing the attack on a "common" middle school. The stories told of an unknown organized crime group that sent its men to strike fear in people’s minds by attacking the "defenseless" kids. The media was of course, wrong. No one knew anything about the attack. Andrew lay back on his bed ready to go to sleep when he heard.
"Why do you keep thinking about that?"
It was Cortana. Because the A.I could scan and read their users thoughts she and Delta knew everything Andrew was thinking. 
"Oh just let him sleep." said Delta but Cortana and him began to bicker. Andrew removed them from his A.I holder and placed them in storage. He then fell asleep.