Chapter 4- Defense
All the men of Big Easy including some other troops on loan to them stormed toward the entrance of the temple headquarters expecting a fight. It was nighttime, pitch black, but the searchlights on the rooftops illuminated the compound. The artillery barrage lasted a few seconds. The Firenation was coming.
The men then hit the sandbag emplacements 50 yards from the woods.
"Fucking A, man, FUCKING A! Finally! Action!" Whooped AG. He cocked his rifle like the other men and waited tensely. On the rooftop, Dudewhattheheck kept his sniper trained on the forest floor with his thermal scope.
"All units standby for Lt. Rudiger's order to fire." Radioed SBD.
"Roger that."
"Roger!"
"Affirmative."
"Standing by, roger." Those were most of the replies.
Rudiger sprinted over to CZ and ordered, "Don't make yourself visible. We need you alive to heal the others."
"YES SIR!" Replied CZ, retaking his position.
"Stay away from the gun emplacements!" Hollered Sg. Gotag. "They are gonna get targeted-"
"INCOMING SHELLS! TAKE COVER!" Screeched Outlaw, jumping over the sandbag emplacement. Soon it seemed that little firebombs were going off all over the compound.
Shit. Napalm, muttered Taunt. He was with Gotag, One Half, and AG. The others were with Rud. It was a huge risk that they weren't spread out. If one shell hit either group that was half the squad.
It looked like for a moment they were in hell. Fire everywhere, explosioins everywhere, screaming everywhere. For Kalypso he was tightly clutching his rifle and feared for his life. He looked around. The other men seemed scared, but not fearful like he was.
Soon, the shelling stopped. Silence.
"Anyone hurt?" Yelled CZ.
"Ugh…shit…Medic!" someone called. The voice came from one of the gun emplacements closest to CZ. The Waterbending medic made his way to what was left of the gun emplacement. The 50 Cal gun was split open. CZ looked down and saw the gunner clutching his leg.
Or what was left of it.
"Everyone! Look alive!" Shouted Rud. He turned to SBD and said, "I don't like this. Shelling in two intervals….It doesn't seem like what they'd do."
"Diversion?" Suggested SBD. He remembered what Rudiger said earlier about a traitor in the ranks. Come to think of it….
"Just a hunch. Kalypso, One Half, check the east end of Home Plate and camp there!" Radioed SBD.
Dudewhattheheck sat perched in his sniper nest looking perplexed.
Check the east end? He slowly crouched and made his way over to the east side of the rooftop. He raised his sniper rifle, looked through the thermal scope and-
"I gotta get stuck with you, of all people," muttered One Half as he and Kalypso sprinted towards the east end. It wasn't hot that night, but the adrenaline from before made them sweat. Kalypso felt like he was going to throw up, but kept on trotting to-
Dudewhattheheck's thermal scope picked up body heat from the base of the trees. He squinted as he zoomed in on the heat mass. There seemed to be a number of Firenation troopers advancing. The ones with the violet heat signatures were Firebenders, and there happened to be two of them. He calmly took aim at one of the benders, quickly putting on his suppressor to minimize noise and to prevent giving away his position. He took aim at the head of the bender and pulled the trigger.
The SPR gave a slight kick as it made a quick pfft sound. There was a scream and a squishing sound afterword from the trees.
"ENEMY!" Screeched the private.
Kalypso followed the voice to the rooftop. "Huh?" He said, but was immediately cut down by a burst of gunfire.
"Aaaagh!" He cried out.
"Man down! Man down!" Shouted One Half. He sprayed his M60 towards the woods . Soon gunfire opened up from the forest as the Firenation soldiers advanced towards the east side of the temple. It was a whole squad of them advancing like a swarm of bees. Their crimson uniforms and their battle masks made them look fearful, but it didn't scare One Half.
"Eat this, bitch!" Yelled One Half as he attempted to mow down the soldiers.
Dudewhattheheck lay prone in his perch and radioed to Rudiger. "Raccoon to Concrete, One Half and I have made contact with the enemy, over! I've got 7 Flamers firing from the forest. Proceed with caution!"
"Copy that, we're on our way!" Acknowledged Rudiger. "Outlaw, stay here with Taunt, CZ, and AG. Watch our 12 o'clock. Gallantmon, Gotag, you're with me! Move it!" He ordered. M4's in hand, the trio moved to One Half's position.
"YEAH! YEAH! YOU WANT THS!?" Roared One Half. He was firing his M60 wildly. Rudiger, Gallantmon and Gotag arrived on the scene and took cover with One Half at the sandbags. Gallantmon quickly noticed Kalypso on the ground. Amid the gunfire, he cat-crawled his way over to him and dragged him back to his position.
"H-How bad is it?" Cried Kalypso. There was a large wound in Kalypso's side. Gallantmon wasn't a medical expert, but from the looks of his wound, he was going to live.
"You're gonna be fine, dude!" Smiled Gallantmon slyly, slapping Kalypso on the arm.
"Shit! I'm out of ammo!" Grunted One Half. He took cover. The sound of the bullets wizzing by were enough to scare anyone, but the men didn't have time to be scared.
"You'd have some ammo leftover if you didn't waste it!" Shouted Gallantmon. One Half glared and snatched Kalypso's rifle from the ground and hudled with the other men.
"What the hell do we do now, sir?" Gotag shouted.
"They're slowly advancing towards your position, Chief!" Warned Dudewhattheheck sternly.
"We'll flank 'em!" Replied Rudiger. "SBD, come in!" Radioed Rudiger.
"You guys need help?" Replied SBD. He and the other soldiers were huddled around CZ while he attempted to heal the gunner.
"AG, Taunt, SBD, go around the Flamers and frag the shit out of them! Outlaw, protect the colonel and the top brass!" Ordered Rudiger. The gunfire from the Firenation soon became suppressive.
Flanking maneuver…
"Protect the colonel? I thought you said he was a prick!" Gotag laughed amid the gunfire. It was odd to see humor on the battlefield, but that's how confident the soldiers were.
"Hey, in the end they're worth protecting. They kiss your ass!" Replied Rudiger.
"I like your style, man!" Laughed Gotag, "Real fresh!"
"Okay!" Announced Rudiger. "We gotta suppress them and give covering fire so that SBD and his men can flank these guys!"
"Got it!"
"SBD, flank their three o'clock, now! We'll cover you!" Shouted Rud in his radio.
"COVERING FIRE!" Screamed Rudiger. Some of the men were wise not to poke their head too far up from the sandbag. Instead, they lifted their rifles over their heads and fired towards the enemy.
Meanwhile, SBD, Taunt, and AG quickly moved around the perimeter and into the tall grass towards the enemy.
There they were, about 20 yards from their position. The enemy didn't even see the Earth Kingdom Marines. Perfect.
SBD then motioned with his hands to throw fragmentation grenades at the Firenation soldiers, then to fire on them with their rifles. AG and Taunt nodded quickly, their faces wet from the humidity. The trio equipped their frag grenades, pulled their pins, waited about 3 seconds (there was approximately a 5 second delay for grenades), then all in one motion lobbed the "Green party balls" towards the Firenation and quickly slung their rifles into their hands. The Flamers never had a chance.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
Men screamed from the exploding shrapnel hitting their bodies, while several of them continued fighting. They were all mowed down by SBD's men, while Rudiger's men quickly emerged from the sandbags to engage the enemy head on. The Firenation was caught in crossfire.
Soon the conflict was over. There was now dead silence in the area, with the exception of Gallantmon's radio, which sounded radio communications from outlying Allied units. Big Easy slowly advanced on the fallen Firenation with caution.
"Raccoon, are we clear?" Radioed Rudiger.
The young sniper quickly scanned the entire area with his thermal scope.
"You got 'em all, Chief. Good hunting." Came the reply.
"Roger that, Private. Check your weapons and reload!" Ordered Rudiger. They all obeyed him, slapping in fresh ammo cartridges into their rifles, eager to kill more Firenation.
"We got a live one, Chief!" One Half announced. He was standing over a wounded Firenation soldier who was desperately trying to crawl his way to safety.
"Put a bullet in 'im." Replied Rudiger coldly. Those bastards deserved it.
"No please! I-" cried the soldier, but he was cut off by two shots from One Half's pistol. He then spat on the dead corpse, muttering, "Fuckin' piece of shit." It was widely accepted in most of the Allied armies to take no prisoners and kill any Firenation soldier that was found wounded. This was frowned upon by many officers, who, of course, preferred them alive so they could be interrogated. Col. Uncle Iroh wasn't going to be happy about this. Of course, Rudiger didn't have to tell him. Neither did the members of his unit. Though a few hated him, they remained loyal to him. They knew damn well to keep their mouths shut unless Rudiger said otherwise. That was just how it was on the battlefield.
