Hell was an underrated word for what was happening. The Rangers had walked into an ambush and everyone was paying for it. Already, four helicopters were shot down after moving into CAS positions. No one could expect that this was only the beginning of the battle that would last at least an hour with heavy casualties. McCord shook his head trying to clear it as he began to bank his helicopter as McCoy began to mow down the opposition below.

"Overlord, Fox Six-One has hit the deck. There is small arms fire from the cockpit. Request permission to go on an SAR."

"We only have twenty four birds left… Dagger Two-Two and Dagger Two-Three, standby for new directive."

The replies were quick. "Awaiting new directive."

"Your new directive is to cover Dagger Two-One on the SAR for Fox Six-One. Dagger Two-One, after you pick up the crew, you are to regroup with Reaper Two safety."

McCord grinned as he banked sharply to the left leveling out at fifty feet and began to lower until the Blackhawk touched down. Silvers jumped out and ran over to the crashed AH-64 pulling out the pilot and co-pilot. Silvers loaded the pilots onto the UH-60 and quickly jumped in. It only took a moment for the whole SAR to occur. McCord pulled up right as an RPG was fired at where the Blackhawk would be at. He only managed to say, "Coming out."

Dagger Two-Two and Dagger Two-Three broke off to continue on the mission. As they were breaking off, Wilhmer watched a Stinger missile fire from a rooftop streaking after the Blackhawk. Alarmed, Wilhmer shouted, "Dagger Two-One, Stinger launch!"

McCord quickly pulled to the right, but it was too late. The stinger hit the tail. The helicopter violently shook as McCord lost all controls for a second. McCord continued to fight for control while the Blackhawk began to straighten out. "Come on… you son of a bitch" He said gritting through his teeth.

After what seemed like an agonizing ten minutes, McCord gained control and began to make his heading towards Reaper Two. After catching his breath, McCord spoke on the radio, "Reaper Two Actual, this is Dagger Two-One coming in for landing, have wounded crew that needs attention. ETA: Three minutes."

"Roger that. We'll be expecting you."

Finally the battered Blackhawk began to touch down at the landing pad running the Fox crew off the helicopter and into one of the medical helicopters. As McCord was about to take off, the pilot of Fox Six-One looked at McCord and nodded to him silently wishing him luck for the hell McCord was going to return to with a damaged and vulnerable helicopter. McCord looked at the pilot giving him a silent thank you and climbed back into his cockpit. After a moment, the helicopter took off and headed back to the battlefield. As McCord began to look over his soldier, there was a bright flash through his window. He shielded himself while Davis took over making sure the helicopter wouldn't give up now. McCord looked back and saw what happened. "Viper Seven-Three is down." He spoke calmly looking at the flaming wreckage.

Overlord responded quickly, "Any survivors?"

"Negative. Exploded and broke up on impact."

"Roger that, continue on with your mission. Dispatching infantry to secure the crash site."

McCord continued on and looked at Davis, "Mind taking over for a bit? Need to check something because this isn't right…"

Davis nodded as McCord looked at one of the panels and widened his eyes. "Silvers are we trailing anything?"

Silvers was alarmed and replied "Let me check Chief." He turned and looked at the tail after leaning out of the UH-60 and saw what was wrong. "Chief, you might want to set it down shortly. That stinger missile never fully exploded. We're flying with half a missile stuck in our tail."

McCord looked forward and commented, "Explains why we're rapidly losing altitude control Hydraulics are holding however. Tail rotor is still effective. Collective and pitch sat. We have at least twelve minutes of flight before we have to bug out before we crash. Let's make these twelve count."

"Overlord, rejoining the fight, relink with Dagger Two-Two and Two-Three?" McCord said calmly while watching his panels.

"Negative. Return back to Firebase Phoenix. City is secured and is firmly in the hands of our forces. You have done us an excellent job."

"Roger that, how many birds are left?"

"Rest pulled out mid fight. Only you and the remaining Fox and Daggers stayed."

"Well… returning to base sir." McCord replied before switching off his mic from the radio and over to the intercom to listen between the conversations of the crew. He sat back and closed his eyes for a bit and opened them and looked at Davis, "Ready to take over?"

Davis had his eyes fixed on a panel until McCord saw the issue. The hydraulics was slowly bleeding and the tail rotor was losing effectiveness.

"Dagger Two-One, this is Dagger Two. Forming up at you now" Echoed Wilhmer and Byrd.

"Boys we've suffered some severe damage. We don't know if this girl can make it back without scraping rocks."

"You'll get back. Just stick with us."

"Lead the way then Byrd. Wilhmer watch out six."

After a few moments the three flew over the bridge which McCord looked down and watched as hundreds of troops swarmed each direction. It would be a while before the region would stabilize. At what cost though? Are we just numbers to the public or the military? Of course not, if we were they'd throw us at the enemy like blind bats. A hand tapped his shoulder which made McCord jump and he turned to see Davis looking at him, "You alright?"

"Yeah just was in thought."

"Making sure you weren't losing it on us. Anyways adjust course to 238 degrees."

As McCord adjusted, he could feel something slowly snap inside of him. He wanted to be with Vanessa and relax and be there for her instead of being across the globe. He snapped out of the thoughts quickly when he saw the airstrip in front of him as the three helicopters slowly began to land. Finally McCord and Davis began to turn off the engines and the rotors making sure the panels still were functional for next flight while Silvers and McCoy dismounted to check out the damage done to the aircraft. They were certain the helicopter wouldn't be able to fly again.

McCord stepped down from the cockpit and ran to the tail to find the damage done to it. In fact, many of the pilots and soldiers came to see as McCord carefully removed the Stinger missile from the back of the tail. McCord laughed and announced to his crew, "This part was disarmed the whole time. The initial impact was the warhead going off."

His whole crew either laughed or sighed in relief. This was considered another mission that was successful for Reaper Four. As McCord began to walk off, Shepard motioned for Byrd, Wilhmer, and McCord to follow him into his office. As he sat down, he looked at the three pilots and said three simple words, "You're going home."

"Sir?" Replied McCord as if he was just dumbstruck.

Shepard stood up and looked at McCord with a smile. "Boys, we are the most powerful military force in the history of man. Every fight is our fight, because what happens over here matters over there. We don't get to sit one out. Learning to use the tools of modern warfare is the difference between the prospering of your people, and utter destruction. We can't give you freedom. But we can give you the know-how to acquire it. And that, my friends, is worth more than a whole army base of steel. You've earned this because of your actions today. You three and your crews remind me of my task force I used to lead..."

Byrd asked curiously, "What happened to that Task Force General?"

Shepard looked at Byrd serious now and replied calmly, "Five years ago, I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye, and the world just fuckin' watched. We lost our will to fight that day, forgive me, you understand?"

Byrd nodded as McCord looked down and muttered "Pelayo…"

Shepard looked at McCord, "She was a good pilot, much like you. I read up on your files and saw how you two were related… You understand why I fight hard. We all lost something that day." Regaining his composure, he looked at the pilots and sounded off, "Your flight leaves at 16:30. Report to Fort Bliss in Virginia."

All the pilots saluted and left the office going to inform the crews of what has transpired with the General and his ultimate order. McCord looked forward to returning because Vanessa was stationed at Bliss with Fox Eight.