It had been a gruelling four hours for the Allied Nation's Bravo squad. The four peacekeepers and six javelin soldiers had parachuted into a city and were tasked with holding the position no matter the cost and they had done so valiantly and without fear. The Soviets had sent sickles, conscripts, hammer tanks, twinblade gunships and even a kirov bomber which they had only brought down thanks to the efforts of their Apollo fighters.
Currently, they were fighting off another wave of enemies consisting of about eight conscripts who were constantly trying to throw Molotov cocktails through the windows, but to no avail and three sickle walkers that were currently peppering the building they were in with gunfire as shell casings fell to the asphalt like metal water.
The leader of the squad; Donavan Case was a peacekeeper and with a well aimed shotgun blast, took out a Soviet infantryman with a makeshift grenade in hand which broke upon his falling to the ground, causing fire to cascade everywhere and burn his fellow soldiers alive.
"Hey sarge!" A javelin soldier called over the radio.
"Go ahead." Donavan replied calmly as he reloaded.
"If you and the others can get your shields out and occupy the sickles, we can get a shot on 'em!"
"Roger that. I want all peacekeepers to the northern entrance of the building with shields ready." Within a minute, the remaining three Allied soldiers rushed were ready to move as they formed a wall with their bulletproof shields and occupied the enemy walkers. Bullets thudded against the glass and Donavan grunted as he struggled to maintain his stance. "Whatever you're going to do, Alex, do it now!" He shouted over the gunfire.
The squad leader took a quick glance behind him at the two-story building to see two rocket-bearers launch one missile each at each of the three walkers, causing them to explode and fall over destroyed.
"Alright boys, let's get back inside." He ordered his team. They nodded in compliance and returned to the building to perform an ammo count.
As Donavan climbed the stairs to the second floor, he was greeted by the sight of five javelin soldiers reloading their launchers while Alexander Rite was just gazing mindlessly out the window at the half-destroyed buildings. He walked over to the other soldier and clapped a hand on his shoulder from behind as he joined him in watching.
"Something catch your eye?" He asked. "I'm sure living here's real cheap now that no one wants to be here." Donavan said with a smirk underneath his helmet.
Alex gave a light laugh and shook his head. "Naw man. I just been thinkin' about the people who were here before us. What life was like before the shit hit the fan."
Donavan nodded in affirmation. The Empire of the Rising Sun was unrelenting and the Soviets were just as bad, leaving cities like the one they were in now completely void of life.
"Yeah well, just try and keep the grim stuff to yourself. Don't want morale to be an issue as well."
Alex nodded. "Sir yes sir."
After a half hour of no contacts, the Allied commander overseeing the forces contacted Donavan.
"Sergeant, you have an inbound contact. It's all alone but it looks like a tank so be on your guard."
"Copy that commander, we'll be alert." He replied as he made for the second floor of the building and relayed the message to the rest of the troops.
"Wait, the commander said a contact as in singular?" One javelin soldier asked.
Alex scoffed from behind the man. "Probably a rouge hammer tank driver gone to 'seek glory for Mother Russia!'" He declared in a mock Russian accent, which elicited a few laughs from the small crowd.
Donavan shook his head and felt the ghost of a smile on his lips. "Whatever it is, it's hostile so keep your weapons ready."
The soldiers nodded at their leaders order and took their positions with javelins up high and peacekeepers down on the first floor. Another fifteen minutes went by when Alex came over the radio.
"Did the commander say it was inbound?"
"That's what he told me."
"Well, it's been quite a while and we haven't…" Alex trailed off.
"Corporal? You still there?"
"Yeah, I'm here. I thought I heard something."
"What did it sound like?"
"Don't know. It was like this high-pitched squeal."
"Hmm." The sergeant replied. "Stay alert."
As soon as the words left his mouth, another squeal erupted although this one was much closer and it's origins were now known as a red tank about three times the size of the Allied Guardian tanks rolled over a stranded car in the middle of the street and rendered the metal flat. The monstrosity bore a turret with two massive cannons and four sets of treads with a set of spiked rollers in the middle. On its sides and front was the ever-recognizable Soviet Union icon.
"What. The. Fuck." Alex asked.
"Take it down!" Donavan ordered. Seconds later, half a dozen missiles launched towards the tank and exploded upon contact, making it stop dead in its tracks.
Alex smirked and reloaded his launcher. "So much for intimidation." He declared. A moment later though, the turret slowly turned towards the building and fired two rounds in quick succession at the building, the first one hitting the side of the building taking out a massive chunk of concrete and rebar while the second went for Alex's position on the second floor, killing half of his brothers in arms upon detonation.
"Fire again!" Donavan ordered over the radio.
Missiles continued to fly towards the machine but it continued to proceed on its warpath towards the building, firing as it did so. Eventually, panic crept into a peacekeeper's mind as he tried to make run back to the Allied base. The metal monster took notice of the soldier's attempt to flee and fired a single round, causing the soldier to fly back when the 125mm tank shell detonated in front of him and sent him flying backwards.
Donavan knew that if the blast itself didn't kill the man, the fall from being launched so high in the air did as his corpse dropped from the air at terminal velocity onto another abandoned car, setting off the alarm.
"How the fucking hell is this thing still moving?!" A private next to Donavan asked as the tank continued to move forward.
Donavan could only shake his head helplessly as it stopped firing and the spiked rollers in the middle of the two treads expanded and it began to bulldoze the building.
"Everyone, get to the next building across the street now!" He shouted. Within a second Alex and the other javelin soldiers followed behind their leader as they sprinted across the open street and the tank moved effortlessly through the building and shredded anything in its path. The turret on the tank turned towards the soldiers and fired two more rounds; one landing in front of the pack and the other directly in the middle of the group.
Alex didn't know what happened. He thought they were running towards a building when he was engulfed in flame and he was now lying face up on the street, shrapnel in his leg making him bleed with the body of his squad leader on top of him, his helmet gone which now revealed a face with short cut blonde hair and a pair of blue eyes that were now void of life. He checked around to see if anyone else from the squad was alive but found nothing.
The mysterious new tank had stopped when it had exited the former building's foundation and a hatch on the turret opened and four men exited the monstrosity with grins plastered on their faces.
Bastards. Alex thought. Just a few feet away was his team leader's shotgun. Maybe if he could just shuffle over and…
A foot kicked the weapon away while a man wearing a black and red jacket with jet-black hair and green eyes smirked sadistically at the javelin soldier.
"You Allied soldiers will pay for the death of our comrades. But first, there is something you must know about our newest development." The Russian man said in a deep rumbling voice as he gestured to the tank.
Alex spat out some blood and scowled back. "What's that?"
The Russian drew a handgun from a holster at his thigh and cocked it before aiming it at Alex's head.
"There is no mercy."