Operation Fortitude
Chapter 6
Age Old Traditions
As dawn broke over Jump City, it began to wake up. In normal times, families would be getting their children ready to go to school, businesses would begin prepping for the work day, and loud-mouthed talk radio hosts would begin researching the news for any items that would support what they were going to say that day.
But it wasn't a normal day. Today, the majority of the population was hunkered down in their homes or feverishly finalizing plans to bust out of the city to escape the fighting. After what had happened yesterday, one would be a fool to think they could wait out this storm.
In the area of the city so cleverly designated Sector 3, the Marines not already on watch woke up and stowed their gear back inside their packs, checked ammo, and began going over the plan for the day.
"Assassin Actual, this is Assassin Two Actual…we are preparing to move out of the area and link back up with our vehicles, how copy?" Bradford said into his radio.
"Negative Assassin Two. You are ordered to continue moving through the area. Second and Third Platoon will be reinforcing you as you make your way through, over," Captain Uncapher said from back at the FOB.
"Interrogative: are we going to be resupplied?" Bradford asked.
"Unknown at this time. Stand by."
"You gotta be fucking kidding me," Bradford said to himself. They'd gotten lit up, burned through at least half their ammo, and now battalion wanted them to continue moving through the city. Fucking great.
"Assassin Two, this is Assassin Actual. Two helos will be dropping off ammo and chow at a location you will designate. How copy?"
"Solid copy. Assassin Two out."
Time to go let the men know…
After he'd received the good news last night, Sergeant Harris went back to his building and passed the word he had. So it was a little unsettling to see the LT walk up to him a good hour before they were supposed to be moving out.
"Harris, I have some bad news," Bradford said.
"Oh no…did the Cowboys lose last night?" Mattingly said, turning his attention away from his gear.
Ignoring him, Harris looked back at the LT.
"What might that be, sir?" he asked.
"Battalion has ordered us to continue patrolling through this area. First and Second Platoons will be reinforcing us, and we're getting a resupply by helo at an area we designate," Bradford said.
"Sir, I was under the impression that battalion knew how fucked up we almost got the other day and was reassessing how they were going to fight this war," Harris said.
"I was also under the impression that we were going to get another week of training before we stepped off for Jump. Word changes fast. Have your men ready in ten Mikes," Bradford said.
"Yes, sir," Harris said. As Bradford and Gunny left, he turned around to his team.
"We got fucked by the big green weenie again, didn't we?" Mattingly asked.
"Looks like it. Stow your gear, check your ammo, and get ready to get lit up again. We're Oscar Mike in ten Mikes," Harris said.
Fucking officers, Harris thought.
Walking back to his building, Bradford raised Chaos on his radio.
"Chaos Actual, this is Assassin Two Actual, over," he said.
"This is Chaos Actual. Standing by," the Marine on the other end said.
"I'm requesting backup from the Teen Titans. I don't think two superheroes is going to be enough," Bradford said.
"Assassin Two, this is Chaos Actual. Request is approved. We're rounding them up now. How copy?"
"Solid copy. Assassin Two out." Well, at least they had more backup.
"You get that backup sir?" Gunny Quinn asked.
"Yeah, for all the good it'll do us. We're looking at another hard day. We might suffer some real serious casualties today, so we'll need to be ready for cas evacs. We need to find a good spot to get that resupply as well," Bradford said.
"I think there's a park a little bit up the way here. Good open space, and within the secured area. We can rendezvous with the Titans up there," Quinn said.
"I like that plan. We'll pass that word along to the TLs here when we step off," Bradford said.
"Sir! Platoon is ready to step!" Harris yelled to him.
Just as Harris yelled that, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl flew in to the assembly area to get their instructions.
"You guys sure you want to be taking orders from the military? Might put you at odds. You'll probably be used in ways that don't really utilize your special talents," Bradford said.
"We came here to help any way possible, and that's what we intend to do. Semper Fi," Green Lantern said.
"Semper Fi, GL. Alright, I need you two on point to act as scouts and bait. They focus their attention on you, we pinpoint where the fire is coming from, and move to take out the bad guys," Bradford said.
"Roger that," Green Lantern said as he and Hawkgirl flew to their positions.
"Alright! We're ready to step!" Bradford yelled to his platoon.
As they moved up to the park, Bradford heard something…it sounded like…singing?
"F-U-C, K-E-D, A-G-A-I-N! Who's the branch that always fucks us over in the end? F-U-C, K-E-D, A-G-A-I-N, we never get the gear we need and then we end up dead! Marine Corps! Mar-ine Corps! They guarantee to always fuck you in the ass!"
Apparently the men hadn't taken the recent developments in their op as stoically as some might've wished for. But Bradford found himself restraining his urge to join in. It wouldn't look very good in front of the younger Marines for an officer to join in their ripping of their command.
Still, they had a point, however blunt it might've been. After one of the most horrendous days he'd ever witnessed, battalion wanted them to keep pushing. It was an idiotic plan at best, and would most likely get them all killed.
All they could do was do what they did best- fight and win.
Moving up on the park, they found that the area was relatively secure, and a quick radio call confirmed a bird was inbound to drop off supplies. Now the question was, where the fuck were the Titans?
"Assassin Actual, this is Assassin Two. Any word on backup from the Titans, over," Bradford said.
"Assassin Two, this is Assassin Actual. We're raising them right now. Stand by," the response came.
"Standing by, over."
"Assassin Two, this is Assassin Actual. We have confirmation on them heading to your location. ETA, two Mikes. How copy?"
"Solid copy. Assassin Two out."
With the Titans and the resupply helo inbound, there was nothing left to do except set up security and wait.
"Why do they need all five of us again? Shouldn't two members of the Justice League suffice?" Raven asked as the Titans moved to rendezvous with the Marines.
"They ran into some real big problems the other day. Their command mentioned something about needing more backup," Robin said. Ever since he'd attended the briefing put together by the battalion commanders, he was impressed with their goals. This however, bordered on idiotic.
"Must've been something big if the Marines need help," Beast Boy said.
"Early after-action reports indicated that TH had a Huey gunship. Justice League swooped in and saved the day," Cyborg said.
"How come they did not immediately request support from more people? I believe Speedy and Jinx were in that area the other day," Starfire said.
"They didn't have comms with the Marines in the area. They're still working on getting a unified comm system set up between us and them. Until then, a lot of units out on patrols don't have comm links with us," Robin said.
"Yeah. I've been working nonstop since they got here. I've barely had any time to recharge," Cyborg said.
"We're almost there. Try not to be to be shocked by how the Marines act. They've just been through some hard combat, and from what I've seen at their camp, they're not the most well-mannered people in general," Robin said.
Arriving at the rendezvous point, the Titans sought out Lt. Bradford to receive a briefing on the situation.
"All right ladies and gents, this'll be short and sweet. We've been ordered to bust ass through the city, try and take out as many bad guys as possible, and then get picked up by our Humvees at VCP 3 in Sector 4 of the city," Bradford said to the group.
"What should we do if we spot someone?" Cyborg asked.
"Wax them," Bradford replied.
"You mean…" Beast Boy said with horror.
"If you have moral or ethical qualms about it, at least point them out so my Marines can take them out. You'll most likely be on point drawing fire anyways. You guys heard of running the rabbit? Guess what. You're the rabbit," Bradford said.
"That seems a bit suicidal for us," Raven said.
"Oh really? Because superheroes on this planet have long been known to be susceptible to projectile weapons fielded by modern militaries. You guys get the bad guys to come out, and we come through and make it a bad day for them," Bradford explained.
"I still don't like it. Too much risk for casualties," Robin said.
"You want me to issue your whole team flak and Kevlar? Tough shit. Grow the fuck up and deal with it. Ask GL and Hawkgirl where they want you," Bradford said, making a motion with his hands as to dismiss the Titans.
Walking up towards the point where Green Lantern and Hawkgirl were posted, they quietly grumbled to each other about how they were being used in this war. Aside from gathering intel, what use were they?
Apparently, bait.
"Sir, we've been static for too long. We should get moving," Harris said.
"That's a good idea Sergeant. Second Platoon, we are on the move!" Bradford yelled out.
As they moved through their patrol, the sector of the city seemed relatively quiet again. In other areas, Bradford could hear the sounds of civilization leaking through the urban shield, but in the sector he was patrolling, it smelled like another ambush.
"Sergeant Harris, make sure we're watching the windows, and have the JL and TT members push out further. The enemy might see us in the same area and realize what's going on," Bradford said.
"Roger that sir. All Tango Limas, all Tango Limas…" Harris said as he moved back up with his team.
With the information relayed, the Marines continued to patrol, and shifted their focus as the superheroes pushed farther away from the main body.
Suddenly…
BOOM!
"IED!" someone shouted as reports of gunfire erupted from several buildings.
"Corpsman!" another shouted.
"Net call, net call, get the Corpsman up to the wounded. Get with Raven, have her set up a shield around the wounded. See if GL and Hawkgirl are already engaged, and push the rest of the units forward. Looks like we have another long day gentlemen," Bradford said into his radio.
"Second squad! Move up!" Harris yelled out.
"Raven! Get your ass up to the blast site! Set up a shield around Doc and the wounded! Everyone else, fan out! Fives, tens, and twenty-fives! Get your standoff!" Bradford yelled.
"Hammer Three, this is Assassin Two Two. Requesting immediate air support at this location: Grid 156 break break 789," Colbert said into his radio.
"Assassin Two Two, this is Hammer Three. Hang tight, we got Cobras inbound," the Marine on the other end said.
"Everyone get real small! We got helos inbound!" Colbert yelled out.
Marines all over the place hit the deck and waited for the close in air support to come and bail them out.
Meanwhile, Raven was extremely pissed off. Not only was she being forced to run up to these men under fire, put up a shield, and expect to hold said shield up while gunfire poured in all around her, that Lieutenant character had yelled at her like she was one of his Marines.
Naturally, she started getting angry. People who knew Raven knew that her being angry was not a good thing most of the time.
Her frustration at being dragged into this fight, being ordered around by seeming savages of men, and being told to move up to protect the wounded and having to watch them die as they slowly bled out from the wounds inflicted by the bomb, all culminated into one thing.
She snapped.
"Oh, shit," Harris said.
"I win the platoon pool!" Mattingly yelled.
Watching the demon grow to her full fury, Harris prepared to die for the second time in as many days.
A/N: Huge apology for the delay. Things are picking up quick fast and in a hurry here in Hawaii. With the main body back, and with training picking up paces quickly, it's getting hard to find time and motivation to write. Don't worry though. Even if the updates are months apart (expect this to happen sometime in November: deployment to the 'Stan) I will finish this story. Goddamnit, I promise you, I will finish it. That's all for now. Form it back up, and feel free to drop a review. Love it, hate it, got some ideas or constructive criticism, you know where to put it.