Part 1 – Vietnam
Promises, it's funny how we something, but we can't keep it, that's why I think about if I can keep a promise before I make promises (true statement).
It began during the Second Vietnam War when an insurgent group attacked from inside of Hue and Hanoi, the U.S. Army was sent in to keep the peace.
When Sasuke Uchiha, a young Army Sergeant was at home he made a promise to his parents that he would come back the same way he left.
When over Vietnam, Sasuke stood next to his best friend Naruto Uzumaki, their exosuits (or EXOs) contained standard-issue armaments, enhanced strength, boost-jump, and stimulant-injectors which could heal them for a brief period of time, allowing them to stay alive long enough to get medical attention.
Sasuke's primary weapons was a Remington R5 with a Picatinny-rail sight, an extended barrel that had three different side and under-rails, the entire rifle is kept lightweight because the gun is made of carbon fiber and the magazine is made of clear plastic.
Sasuke customized his R5 with an angled fore-grip that had a built in laser-sight, a side-flashlight, and a MARS red-dot sight.
Naruto was the resident sniper of their squad, his rifle was a Remington R6 sniper rifle, another version of the Remington R6 but with a 20.5 inch barrel, a built-in tri-pod that doubles as a fore-grip.
Naruto's was customized with a double-zoom scope.
"Alright listen up," Lieutenant Might Guy said as he stood in front of his squad in the briefing room, "We've got our mission, our job is to infiltrate Hue and assist in securing the city," the screen behind him showed a back-drop of Hue, "Our entrance is a drop-pod into the courtyard of Quoc Hoc High School. Once we enter, our objective is to make out way to the first bridge along the river, and hold out until the tanks arrive. If we succeed we move down to the Truong Tien Bridge, and secure the train station. Any questions?"
"Yes," Naruto said, "What's the word on opposition?"
"The insurgents are currently standing at a number of twenty five thousand in Hue," Guy said, "Primarily small arms, no word yet on if they have ordinance or not."
"How about backup?" Army Corporal Neji asked.
"Washington has lent us a combat-model V-280 Valor with front-mounted Vulcan miniguns, a 40mm under-mounted cannon that can be controlled via tablet," Guy said, "And for some extra support, we have four mobile spiders to provide support plus the Navy has lent us a few under-water mortar crews."
"What about the insurgent leaders," Sasuke asked, "On the way over from the States intel said that they were last seen in the general area we're dropping into."
"As of this moment the insurgent leaders have gone underground, Force Recon is still searching the city," Guy said, "If we are to come across him we are to take him alive if possible."
"And if not?" Sasuke asked.
"Use your imagination," Guy said, "But remember, we don't compromise our objective. Any further questions," no one said anything, "Alright, let's go, we've got work to do."
The team grabbed their weapons, and jogged into the drop-pod bay.
Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, and Guy entered their own pod while their squad mates jumped in their own.
The three locked themselves in as the capsule sealed, and there was a brief moment of zero gravity as they fell from the drop ship.
As they were flying toward the surface, they felt the capsule bump and sway, Sasuke closed his eyes, and exhaled, he didn't like turbulence, it gave him motion-sickness, but that kind of turbulence you get in a drop-capsule is ridiculous.
In the first tests of the drop-capsule to determine what would be a safe drop-height for the cruiser and the pods the first test subjects passed out before they made it to the ground.
The second test was a little bit more successful, the test subjects only vomited twice when they were being dropped, and then once when they got out.
It took seventeen more tests to get it to where they were ready to go into service, and even then they still didn't get it right.
It wasn't until the blast door cracked that Sasuke started to get worried, "Drop-point coming up," Guy exclaimed, "Impact in thirty seconds!"
Sasuke braced as the drop-pod crashed through the roof of the old high school, landed sideways on the ground, rolled out the front of the school, and came to a stop against a tree.
"Fuck," Sasuke groaned as he held onto his stomach.
"Above you." Naruto said.
Sasuke reached up in time to grab an air-sickness bag just in time to watch his breakfast come out.
He then deposited the bag in the trash-can he had right next to his leg, "Ok," Guy said, "Sound off."
"Goldenboy." Naruto groaned.
"Bloodshot." Neji groaned.
"Blood-Spray." Sasuke groaned.
"You good Spray?" Guy asked.
"Yep," Sasuke said as he slammed the bottom of his fist on the latch-release, and sat upright before rubbing his head, "That was horrible."
"I know," Naruto groaned as he released the latches on his seat, and pulled out a pack of breath gun, "Gum?"
"Thanks bro," Sasuke said as he took a piece of the gun, and started chewing, trying to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth.
"Alright," Guy said as he unhooked from his harness, and landed with his feet on both Naruto and Sasuke's seats, "We still have a job to do. Goldenboy, Blood-Spray, get the door, Bloodshot, grab the gear."
Sasuke and Naruto climbed onto the back of Guy's seat, and Naruto tapped the door-release, the door didn't budge.
"Jammed," Naruto said as he pounded the release only to have it crack under his fist, "Shit."
"What's the hold up," Guy asked as he freed his weapon.
"The damn door's busted," Naruto said, "Hydraulics must have been damaged in the crash."
"Let's try this," Sasuke said as he pounded against the door itself, leaving a small dent, one more punch opened the door leaving an exposed gap.
One more punch left a gap big enough for him to squeeze through, once he was out, Sasuke grabbed hold of the door, yanked it off the hinges, and tossed it aside.
Sasuke reached his hand to Naruto who accepted it, and was able to pull him over the edge, and then jumped down as Guy helped Neji out.
"Blood-Spray," Neji said as he tossed Sasuke his rifle.
Sasuke reached up, and snatched his rifle out of mid-flight as Guy handed Naruto his R6.
It was late in the afternoon, and in the middle of a thunderstorm, rain was pouring onto them, and making a light pinging sound as it struck their armor and weapons.
"Let's get through the school," Guy said as they walked up to the front of the school.
The four boost-jumped into the school, seeing first-hand what their pod did.
"This used to be a thriving school," Sasuke said as he pushed one of the desks aside with his foot, "Now look at it."
"Now it's a school for dust," Naruto said as Guy took cover next to the door.
Guy pushed the door open with the barrel of his Fabrique Nationale Mk48 LWMG (light-weight machinegun), and looked down the hall, "Two down the hall," He whispered, "Blood-Spray, Goldenboy, you know what to do."
Sasuke and Naruto let their weapons hang from the magnetic slip on the backs of their exosuits, and snuck up behind the insurgents.
Naruto grabbed his from behind, and drove his Karambit knife through the insurgent's back.
Once his friend heard the sound of the blade piercing skin, he turned around in time to take Sasuke's fist across his face.
The insurgent went flying backwards, and was skewered on the pole from a broken desk.
As the insurgent opened his mouth to scream, Sasuke stepped on his throat, and broke his neck.
"Nice touch," Neji said as he walked up to Sasuke.
"It is a nice touch," Guy said, "A little overkill but nice."
"Thanks," Sasuke said as he retrieved his rifle, "Now let's find the rest of the squad, and finish our objectives."
"This is Mighty," Guy said as he pressed two fingers to the side of his helmet, "Is anyone out there?"
"Good to hear from you boss," Private First Class Michael Davidson said over the radio, "We saw your pod go into the school, and we expected the worst. We've found a few new friends."
"Good to meet you," a man with a British Accent said over the radio, "This is Captain James Davidson of the British Royal Marines."
"Good to know we can count on our allies," Guy said, "What's your 20?"
"Heading toward your objective right now," Captain Davidson said, "You can join us whenever you're able."
"We're on our way," Guy said as the line disconnected, "Alright, we've still got our objective. It's show time."
Sasuke and his team moved down the hall, and after entering the stair-case, a single squad of soldiers raised their weapons.
Sasuke raised his first, and unleashed a salvo into the three insurgents on the stairs.
The one on the upper-stairs aimed his AK-12 at Sasuke, and as he did, Neji fired twice with his Kel-Tec KSG shotgun, the first shot nailed the insurgent in the shoulder, and the second shot took out the center of his chest.
The three soldiers moved down the stairs, stepping over the dead bodies of the insurgents, and smearing blood on the bottom of their shoes.
After leaving the school, they saw a small platoon of insurgents standing guard.
One of the insurgents shouted something in Vietnamese which as far as Sasuke could tell was "Contact!"
One of the insurgents raised his rifle to fire only to have Sasuke pepperbox him with the last ten bullets in his R5.
After diving into cover, Sasuke reloaded his rifle, and pulled back on the cocking-drive while Guy hosed them down with a spray of bullets from his Mk48.
Three of them fell from bullets from the LWMG while the others dove into cover.
Sasuke then balanced his rifle on top of the concrete slab he was using for cover, and took down two of the insurgents before Naruto's R6 took the top of the final one's head clean off.
"Nice shot," Guy said as he stood up, and reloaded his Mk48, and signaled them to keep moving.
It wasn't too hard to find the rest of their platoon and the British Marines, the Army and the Marines had set up a make-shift wall using the rubble from fallen buildings, and torn-up street.
Once they arrived, the four jumped into cover, "Good to see you Lieutenant," Michael said as he pointed over his shoulder at a man with a British Flag on the shoulder of his uniform, "This is Captain Davidson of the Third Commando Brigade of the British Royal marines."
"Good to meet you," Guy said as he reached over Michael, and shook Captain Davidson's hand.
"Likewise," Captain Davidson said as he went back to shooting at the insurgents who were shooting at them from the across the river.
"What's the situation?" Guy asked.
"The under-water mortar crews are still not in position," Captain Davidson said, "The insurgents have placed anti-watercraft mines at the entrance to the bay down there," Guy looked down the river, and saw one U.S. submarine was on resting on the surface, and on fire, "I sent a small team from my squad down there to deal with the mines but they're pinned down by an insurgent sniper across the river."
"Goldenboy, Blood-Spray," Guy said as he turned toward Sasuke and Naruto, "There's a group of British Royal Marines pinned down by sniper-fire at the entrance to the bay. You know what to do."
Sasuke and Naruto nodded, and moved toward the Marine's position down the river.
After half an hour of running, Sasuke and Naruto spotted the Marines taking cover in a small fortress made of a busted-up crater in the ground, concrete from the streets, and sandbags.
Sasuke and Naruto jumped into the crater, and one of the Marines raised his rifle toward them before his commanding officer swatted it away, "Stand down," he said, "They're Americans."
"Sergeant Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said as he knelt in front of the Marine, "One hundred and Third Infantry Division, U.S. Army."
"Lance Corporal Nick Allen Hatake," the Marine said, "Twenty Second British Infantry Brigade."
"What's your status?" Sasuke asked.
"Captain Davidson sent us down here to deal with the mines preventing the submarines from reaching mortar-distance," Nick said, "As we got close to the beach, a sniper in the tree-line took down Allen's shoulder," Nick pointed at another Marine who was lying on the ground in front of them bleeding all over the ground, "Our armies are stuck on this side of the river unless we can get those tanks across the bridge, and we can't while we have rockets being fired at them. Plus Allen can't last much longer out there."
"Alright," Sasuke said, "Naruto, set up for the kill," Sasuke pointed at Nick, "Nice come with me. The rest of you, wait here and cover us."
Sasuke and Nick jumped over the top of the crater, and took cover behind a destroyed car, narrowly missing the sniper's bullet by an inch.
"Who are we going to get to Allen?" Nick asked.
"This way," Sasuke said as he pushed against the back of the car, pushing the car forward, "Push with me."
Nick put his hands against the back of the car, and they used their EXOs to move the car forward, as they were pushing, Sasuke heard a metal pop, and he knew the clutch had gone out.
Halfway there, Naruto had the sniper in his sights, and was ready to shoot before he noticed something.
He was aiming at a repurposed General Dynamics XM312 Heavy Machine Gun with a mounted camera-scope, he just retargeted the robot controlling the gun, and fired.
There was a huge flash as the robot controlling the XM312 exploded in a burst of sparks and flames.
"Sasuke, Sasuke something's wrong," Naruto said, as he picked up his rifle, jumped out of the crater, and signaled the soldiers to follow.
"What," Sasuke asked as they scrambled over to the wounded soldier.
"It was an auto-sniper," Naruto said as the medic checked on the Marine, while the others went to disable the mines, "The only wanted to distract us."
"From what?" Sasuke asked.
The Marines came running back toward them, "Sergeant," One of them said as he knelt down to Sasuke, and removed his helmet, "It was a false-flag attack. There was only one set of mines."
"Oh fuck," Sasuke said as he tapped the side of his helmet, "Lieutenant!"
"Go ahead Blood-Spray," Guy said over the sound of gunfire, and explosions.
"Lieutenant it was a false-flag attack," Sasuke exclaimed, "GET OUT OF THERE NOW, ITS A TRAP!"
There was an explosion coming from the area where the two squads were, "Oh shit," Nick said, "We got to get back there now!"
"Let's go," Sasuke exclaimed as he grabbed his weapon, and ran toward the bridge with the British Marines and Naruto.
When they arrived, they found that the U.S. and British squads were fighting off an advancing Spider Brigade.
Spiders are a type of tank that crawls along on four legs with treads, it has one barrel for the tank-shells, and another for the fifty caliber machinegun.
"They're getting torn up down there," Nick said, "What do we do?"
"I tell you what we do," Sasuke said, "We're going to steal one."
"Great plan," Nick said, "After you."
Sasuke, Naruto, Nick, and the British Marines flanked behind the Insurgents, and found themselves right behind a Spider.
The soldiers boost-jumped on top of the tank, and as they did, one of the Insurgents popped through the Spider's hatch.
After the hatch was opened, he raised his AK-12 to fire, but not before Sasuke pulled out his Bulldog revolver, and emptied the cylinders into the insurgent's chest and head.
The Bulldog revolver is a top-break 7.62x20mm action revolver with the appearance of a MP412 but with a thinner barrel and a body made of carbon-fiber.
After reloading, Sasuke poked his head it through the hatch, and shot the driver and gun operators in the head.
They then pulled the bodies out of the insurgents out of the Spider, and climbed in themselves, "I'll Command," Sasuke said as he took his seat, "Naruto, you shoot. Nick, you drive. Marines, I want you on reload duty, I want to fire these shells as fast as we can."
"Ready," Nick said as the Marines loaded another shell.
"Rotate the turret seventeen degrees right." Sasuke said.
"Target acquired." Naruto said.
"Fire!" Sasuke exclaimed.
Naruto pulled the trigger on the cannon, and fired, the shell struck the back of the hostile Spider, and exploded on impact.
"Spider two-one stand down," One of the other Spider-operators said.
"Rotate Thirty degrees in the opposite direction." Sasuke said.
"Target acquired." Naruto said.
"Fire!" Sasuke exclaimed.
The shell struck the Spider on the side of the turret, and split the Spider in half.
The final Spider fired at Sasuke's, it hit the turret, right beside the gun, glanced off, and flew off to explode in another part of the city.
"Target that one!" Sasuke exclaimed.
"Soup's hot!" The Marines exclaimed.
"Ready!" Naruto exclaimed.
"FIRE!" Sasuke exclaimed.
The round flew from the end of the barrel, struck the spider right on the left leg, sent in falling to the side where the shell-turret got stuck in the ground, and went off.
The resulting explosion tore the Spider to pieces, and with the bombardment of the other side of the river almost finished, Sasuke could see the tank brigade moving across the bridge.
"Nice job there Sasuke," Guy said over the radio.
"Thanks," Sasuke said as he climbed through the hatch, and looked down at his CO, "But how'd you know it was us?"
"Because only you would be stupid enough to steal a hostile Spider." Guy said.
"Lawmen this is command come in over," Command said over the radio.
"This is the Sheriff," Guy said, "Go ahead."
"Sheriff Force Recon has located the Insurgent Leader at the Tien Bridge," Command said, "I want you to dispatch a team to capture him."
"Roger that Command," Guy said then looked up at Sasuke, "Blood-Spray, get your Spider down there, and get him."
"Yes sir," Sasuke said as he pounded on the roof of the Spider, and pointed toward the Tien Bridge, "Let's go!"
The tank moved toward the Tien Bridge, and they got there just in time to see the Insurgent Leader boarding a bullet-train.
"Command," Sasuke said as he tapped two fingers to his earpiece, "This is Blood-Spray, the Insurgent Leader is getting on bullet-train bound for Hanoi."
"Blood-Spray this is Command," Command said over the radio, "You are to pursue by any means necessary but do not harm the primary target."
"Roger that Command," Sasuke said as he grabbed his R5, and signaled for Naruto, Nick, and the Marines to follow him.
Sasuke and the soldiers snuck around to the side of the station to see several insurgents placing boxes on the train.
"What are we doing here Sergeant?" Nick asked.
"We're going to jump on that train," Sasuke said as he tightened his grip on his R5, "We're going to wait until he's in the rural farmlands where he can't call for help, and take him there."
"I guess we'll follow you." Nick said.
"Let's go," Sasuke said as the Insurgents started loading the last few boxes into the train.
The soldiers boarded the train behind the boxes, then hid behind them as the doors closed.
After half an hour, the team had set up their raid, while Sasuke was on his tablet looking at their position, Naruto was setting up the surprise he had in store for the insurgents on the other side of the door.
Sasuke closed his tablet, slid it into the pocket of his vest, and walked over to Naruto, "We're there," he said, "We take them now."
"Ready," Naruto said as he set up the auto-assault rifle mount.
The soldiers set up by the door, and prepared for a hot-breach.
Nick pressed the door switch, and as they did, the insurgents on the other side turned to be greeted by a hail of AK-12 gunfire.
After the rifles were spent, the soldiers entered the car to find the AK-12s had killed them all.
"Nice one," Sasuke said as he slapped Naruto on the shoulder.
"Thank." Naruto said.
"Let's move," Sasuke said, "Let's see what the U.S. and Great Britain can do."
Once they opened the door to the next car, they saw that the fire had drawn the attention of the Insurgent Leader's personal guard, and dove into cover when they opened fire with fully-automatic XK-45 heavy machine guns.
"Oh fuck," Naruto exclaimed, "We can't get passed these guys!"
"We don't have to," Sasuke said as he pulled out his tablet, and called in backup.
Naruto looked out the window, and saw the V-280 Valor that Washington lent them for Hue was coming in for a strafing-run, "The Valor," Naruto exclaimed, "That's brilliant Sasuke!"
Sasuke controlled the Valor from the tablet, and sprayed the entire side of the train from the following-car down to the next-to-last car with fifty caliber bullets.
After the Valor moved off, Sasuke put away the tablet, and pulled out his R5, "Let's keep moving." Sasuke said.
As they were moving through the car, Sasuke noticed one of the Insurgent boss's personal guards was reaching for his weapon, Sasuke kicked him onto his back, and emptied ten rounds into the man's chest.
After that, they entered the next car where they found the gun-fire from the fifty caliber machinegun mounted on the bottom of the Valor had completely killed all the insurgents in the following two trains.
The third car was apparently made of bullet-proof metal because there wasn't so much as a bullet-hole in the walls, and there were unarmored guards sitting at stationary computers.
One of them, stationed right next to the door was drawing his knife, and had it two inches out of the sheath before Sasuke grabbed him by the shoulder, and threw him across the room.
The Insurgent flew the entire twelve feet, knocked over several of the computers, and landing on one of his friends.
The last two sitting insurgents grabbed for their pistols but not before Nick and another one of the British Marines opened fire, and killed them.
The final two tried to stand up, but one bullet from Naruto's R6 killed them both.
After pushing the insurgent out of his chair, Nick got on the computer, and started typing away.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.
"Searching," Nick said as he opened several files, "Holy shit. This is the Insurgent Leader's personal train, and command center."
"So this is where the insurgency started," Sasuke said then placed two fingers to his earpiece, "Command this is Blood-Spray come in."
"This is Command," Command said, "What is it Blood-Spray."
"Command we believe we may have found where the insurgency started," Sasuke said, "We've appeared to have boarded the insurgent leader's personal train."
"Copy that Blood-Spray," Command said, "Be advised your objective remains unchanged. Capture the Insurgent Leader alive, the information in that train is irrelevant."
"Command just a side-note here," Sasuke said, "But what if we are unable to take him alive?"
"Let me be very clear Blood-Spray," Command said, "You're orders are to not touch him. Do you understand?"
"Roger that Command," Sasuke said as the line disconnected, "Alright, let's move we still have a job to do so let's do it!"
As the team moved to the front of the train they found the insurgent boss with his elite guards.
The man turned around, and raised his weapon, only to have it knocked out of his hand.
As his guards turned around, Naruto and Nick opened fire, killing the guards and the train's drivers, and causing them to shift the train into over-drive.
As the train lurched forward, everyone flew backwards through the entrance to the second-to-last train, and quickly realized they were heading for trouble as the obstruction-ahead warning came on.
"We're coming up on a bridge," Nick said as they looked out the window.
"Grab the controls," Sasuke said as he held the insurgent leader in a choke-hold.
Naruto and Nick jumped into the train-driver's chair after pulling the dead drivers out, and deployed the emergency brakes.
Almost halfway to the bridge there was a wild-scream as the insurgent leader broke free from Sasuke's grasp, and ran into the cockpit with a twelve inch blade Kukri machete with a blacked-out finished.
Sasuke tackled the man to the ground, and attempted to wrest the blade away, with little success.
After breaking free from Sasuke's grasp, he took one swing, and cleaved Sasuke's left arm clean off from the elbow down.
Sasuke screamed in pain as he dropped to his knees, holding his bleeding arm.
The insurgent leader turned around, and as he was about to swing at Naruto, Sasuke pulled out his Bulldog, and emptied the chambers into the man's back and head.
The man fell forward, and fell dead against the console as the train came screeching to a stop not half an inch from the bridge.
"Nice one," Sasuke said as he fell back against the ground, blood loss taking its toll on him.
Naruto jumped out of his seat, and ran over to Sasuke who was half-conscious, "Sasuke, hold on," he exclaimed, "Command this is Goldenboy, we need immediate medevac. Hang on Sasuke. We need some help here!"
Naruto and Nick lifted Sasuke onto their shoulders along with the British Marines, and jumped out of the train running toward the Valor.
Sasuke looked up at the sky, "I failed them," he thought, "I broke my promise…" that thought stayed in his mind when everything went black.
Try to guess what happens…