VIPER Elite

VIPER Elite, a set on Flickr. Images captured by MC News Photographer Ryan Santana

Orion Prime and Tessi Midoree held a simulation programme for team tactics practice attended by myself, one other Ultimate Guardian and a young student of the Guardian Academy. The five of us started the operation with enemy evaluation and analysis. Our mission was to stop VIPER operatives and their leader VIPER-X. The situation was non-negotiable so the use of force was sadly inevitable, as is too often the case. The situation did not involve captives so a distract-and-rescue tactic was not necessary. This pretend mission required only full frontal assault, disarming the enemy by share overwhelming power. Easier said than done I thought, as the villains proved more difficult and resilient to attacks than I personally expected. Obviously I was in the company of legends, well above my own combat capabilities. I even utilised my new Brutum Animalia spell which combines the Goliath giant-growth incantation with the animagus spell to form a wild beast transformation, scaling up both strength and resilience. Still, it was ineffective. These were VIPER elites. The only recourse then, was teamwork. Orion's idea worked best -- he and I would alert the VIPER agents, typically one group at a time and ambush them with a surprise team attack once they were in a desired location to trap them -- a 'lure-and-ambush' tactic, very common in most field operations. It got us all the way to the final boss VIPER-X who was locate din the generator room. Moving too close to the unstable generators would electrify the person, so Prime called out for increased environmental awareness. Tessi Midoree hatched a clever idea; Orion would confront the VIPER-X hologram and distract him, his invulnerable suit acting as his protective shield, while the rest of the team take position [i]behind[/i] VIPER-X, unleashing maximum damage impact upon him from his blind-spot. Of course, the plan worked, and what a highly valuable tactical lesson it was. Afterwards, I even got to see Mr Prime, with his helmet off. Indeed I was in awe of his presence. Obviously, I cannot say much more on the man's identity, my colleagues or the young student who was present.