Chapter 7: Into the Fire

Italica East Gate

9:30pm

The East Gate walls were under attack by the bandits, who had surged onto the walls and began to attack the city defenders violently. Bozes watched in horror as the guards that were manning the defenses were getting overwhelmed. Phantom Squad pondered about a plan of action to aid in the defense of the walls, but Rory Mercury, their guest, was beginning to act strangely, as if she was getting aroused by something that wasn't seen by the members of the team...

"What is with her?" Anthony asked.

"She is an apostle of Emloy, so the souls of the dead are being sent to Emloy through her body." A voice said behind them.

The team spun around to see Emily emerging from the shadows very calmly , so they lowered their weapons not to hurt her...

"Sneaking up on us like could have gotten you killed." Xavier said.

"I'm sorry, I was curious about you." Emily explained.

"Well, you could have asked us." Erin, a squad member, said.

"What's going on?" Emily asked, sounding a bit scared.

"Looks like the bandits saw through the plan that Bozes had." Xavier said.

"What will we do?" Emily asked.

"Alright, Brian, hear anything from Outpost Temple?" Xavier asked.

"There's a Night Witch task force inbound to Italica." Brian said.

"Okay then, Blaze, Dante, and I will go to the east gate to provide support and direct the task force there." Xavier said.

"Rory, hang in there." Mikayla said.

But Rory ignored Mikayla and leapt from the walls and sped off to the east gate, with the trio following in one of the jeeps. Xavier jumped on the radio to contact the Night Witch task force, which was commanded by Juliana...

"Firestorm, this is Kingpin, fighting is at the east gate, I repeat fighting is at the east gate, we shall mark it with a flare." Xavier said.

The helicopters surged across the countryside towards Italica with great speed, while Juliana received the information supplied by Xavier...

"Attention all units, this is Phoenix Leader, get into attack formation." Juliana said to the other choppers.

"Copy that, Phoenix Leader, all choppers get into attack formation, we'll ride with the sun at our backs." Prowler 3, another chopper piloted by Taylor House, said.

"Angel One, start the music." Juliana said to the pilots of a Blackhawk that a stereo setup onboard.

"Copy, Phoenix, what playlist shall sing for us?" Alexis, one of the pilot operators, asked.

"Let's go with an old school war favorite." Juliana responded.

"Got it, we're flying with the Valkyries today." Alexis said.

The helicopter's speakers blared the old song Ride of the Valkyries, in which two of the helicopters, Phoenix 2 and Angel 3, moved in a synchronized formation. Every soldier onboard the helicopters readied for combat, in which Nicole noticed one of the male Ghosts pull off his helmet off his head and sit on it, which she was confused by...

"Why do all the guys sit on their helmets?" Nicole asked Peter, one of the Silent Knights that was a part of the operation.

"It's so their balls don't get blown off while they're in the air." Peter responded.

The choppers surged over the hills towards the columns of smoke that billowed from the walls of Italica, where the city defenders were getting overwhelmed...

"This is our final stand! Hold the line!" Benjamin shouted to his men.

Benjamin and his men fought off the bandits as best as they could, but they were all killed by the bandits, in which one of the bandit leaders held up Benjamin's lifeless body with a look of pride on his face...

"THE ENEMY COMMANDER HAS BEEN SLAIN!" The bearded leader shouted to his men. "Comrades, this city belongs to us! It is our will that commands its people , it's riches belong to us! Italica is ours!" He exclaimed.

But in that single moment, Rory leapt from one of the rooftops with her halberd in hand, giggling uncontrollably. While she did that, unknown shooters killed the other leaders excluding the bearded leader. As Rory stared down the bandits that crowded the gates, a missile came up behind the bandits, completely obliterating the bulk of the bandits outside. The helicopters opened fire on the hostiles, killing many of the advancing bandits that were heading to the siege ladders that were resting against the walls...

"All units, this is Phoenix Leader, we have friendlies inside the walls, so restrict your fire to the outside." Juliana explained over the radio.

"This is Angel 3, Roger that." One pilot said.

The choppers opened fire on the bandits, killing several bandits and sending some running away. Two bandits on the walls raced to a large ballista and got ready to load it to fire on the attacking choppers...

"Enemy AA on the walls, they're still loading." Phoenix 2's pilot, Christine Santonecci, said.

"Phoenix 2, you are cleared hot to engage that target." Juliana said.

"Phoenix 2, copy." Christine said, firing on the AA weapon.

"Well done, when you get back to base, I'll buy you a beer." Juliana said.

The choppers flew around the east gate, firing upon the bandits outside of the walls, killing them with missile attacks and minigun fire. The fighting was seen all the way from the south gate, where Emily and the rest of the squad watched...

"Oh my gosh, is that magic that your people wield in this fight?" Emily asked.

"No, that's just old fashioned military firepower combined with effective strategy." Anthony said.

A group of bandits were running along the wall, trying to get away from the attacking choppers only to be mowed down by missiles. The blackhawks proceeded to mow down a group of archers that tried to fire on them. As the choppers flew overhead, Rory was about to face off against the bandits that were standing in front of the Gate, who were terrified of her...

"The priestess of Emloy?" The bearded bandit leader said in a confused tone.

The truck carrying the three ghosts arrived at the east gate, with the trio stepping out of the vehicle with their rifles in hand...

"Ready bayonets!" Xavier ordered, attaching his bayonet to his rifle.

Blaze let out a warrior's cry and charged into the fray, leaving Dante and Xavier behind at the truck...

"That little pyscho!" Dante said in an annoyed tone.

"We'll provide support, ready...forward!" Xavier said.

Rory began to carve through the bandits surrounding her with her halberd in hand, even decimating a group of bandits that had gone into a tortoise formation to combat her. She then killed another group of bandits that had surrounded her and attempted to drive their spears into her. A large bandit came up behind her , ready to slam a massive warhammer down onto her, when Blaze intervened by driving his bayonet into the bandit's side and pulling the trigger on his rifle.

"You fellas should have called in sick today." Blaze said to the other bandits.

Bandits charged him but he was able to quickly take them out, until he accidentally broke his bayonet on a bandit's shield, leaving him to block the bandit's sword strike with his own rifle, leaving him to quickly pull out his desert eagle and kill the bandit. He turned to the rifle, only to see the stand that was attached to the body of the gun fall off onto the ground in pieces...

"Oh, jeez." Blaze said to himself.

"Do not panic men! Regroup and attack!" The bearded bandit leader ordered.

"Frag out!" Blaze shouted, tossing two grenades into the bandit lines.

Blaze then proceeded to fire on the bandits with his pistol, killing several of them alongside Rory, who ended up saving him from a bandit was going to attack his back at the same time as Blaze killed a bandit that was coming up behind her while Xavier and Dante took up positions near the bulwarks...

"This is not good, those two have lost track of their surroundings." Xavier said.

"So what do we do?" Dante asked.

"We cover their backs, do not let a single bandit get behind them." Xavier ordered.

"Understood." Dante said.

The two boys fired on any bandits that tried to come up on the rear of Rory and Blaze, angering the bearded leader of the bandits. But while he was getting angry at the boys for killing his men, a missile came up behind him and impacted on the wall behind him, sending him flying through the air. Only to land on the pointed tip of Rory's halberd, causing her to look up at the dying man who had begun to speak...

"This (cough) was not (cough) part of the plan. We (cough) were supposed to take the city (cough) so the ghosts would die." The leaders said before Rory slammed him to ground, pulling the halberd out of his chest.

"(Cowering tone) Our leader!" One bandit exclaimed.

"Do not be afraid! Regroup and fight!" A bandit lieutenant exclaimed.

Xavier let out a sigh of annoyance as the bandits still tried to fight back, until his radio kicked on as Juliana contacted him...

" Kingpin, this is Phoenix Leader, we are about to eradicate the hostiles inside the Gate in 10 seconds, clear out immediately." Juliana said before repeating what she said.

"Dante, get Rory, I'll handle Blaze." Xavier said.

"Okay!" Dante said as an Apache came through the smoke that billowed from the Gate.

Xavier pushed Blaze towards the bulwarks while Dante grabbed Rory and ran towards the Bulwarks as well as Juliana counted down to one as the bandits watched in horror as the chopper took its place in view of the Gate. She spun up her machine guns and mowed down the hostile bandits that crowded the gates, in which the city defenders heard the screams of the bandits as they were massacred by the chopper.

" What is that monster?" Cardin asked as the chopper flew by.

"Is that an iron Pegasus?" Bozes asked herself.

While Bozes and Cardin looked upon the technological power of the Ghosts, the Blackhawks moved into position above the battle scene in which the pilots turned their occupants and said...

"Deploy now! Check survivors and round up prisoners! Go! Go!" David, the pilot, said.

The ghosts onboard the choppers roped down to the ground and immediately went to work, providing medical aid to the wounded but surviving city defenders and rounding up surviving bandits as prisoners, including Myuute.

" Phoenix Leader, this is Scarecrow, the enemy force has been decimated, kill count currently stands at 500." Nick said.

"Well done, everyone, that's another one for the books." Juliana said over the radio.

3 minutes later...

The ghosts and city defenders were cleaning up debris that was left over from the fighting, while a group of ghosts and volunteers watched over the prisoners as the walls were now manned by Imperial soldiers that were dispatched to aid Italica.

"What's the bandit casualty toll?" Xavier asked.

"The toll currently stands at over 500 dead, including the leaders of the bandits." Dante said.

"That explains why we have over 90 prisoners." Xavier said.

"It's a good idea that we decided to help with the clean up before they give us compensation for helping in the defense of the city." Xavier said.

" So we're guarding the prisoners while the rest of the group are doing the heavy lifting." Dante said as Rory walked over.

"Hey, Rory, what's up?" Xavier said.

"Is it okay if I talk to you in private?" Rory asked.

"Sure, what's up?" Xavier responded, following Rory to over near the walls.

"When the bandit leader was thrown from the walls by the missile, he said something that peaked my curiosity before he died." Rory said.

"Really now?" Xavier said in a curious tone.

"Yes, he said that attacking Italica was part of a plan to try and lure the Ghosts into a trap to die." Rory explained.

"So somebody has been plotting against us?" Xavier said.

"Apparently so." Rory said.

" I see, so my suspicions were true." Xavier said.

"You were suspicious?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, one part of a Ghost's training is to notice if the enemy you fight are really puppets on strings." Xavier said.

"So what did you notice that aroused these suspicions?" Rory asked.

"I noticed that the bandits were able to hit the city defenses at the right spots to cripple the defenders, along with the fact that the weapons that they were carrying were Imperial issue." Xavier explained.

"I see." Rory said.

"By the way, I saw you talking to that bird girl." Xavier said.

"Myuute is actually a slave that the bandits acquired for the fight, plus her species is called Demi-Human." Rory explained.

"So she's a slave?"Xavier said.

"Lieutenant Moore, Countess Myui and Commander Bozes are ready to meet with you." Grey Co Aldo, a fellow Rose Knight , said.

"Understood." Xavier said, leaving Dante and Rory to guard the prisoners.

Xavier made his way to the Formar Estate to meet with Bozes and Countess Myui to discuss the details of the compensation that the Ghosts were to receive for aiding in the defense of the city. As he walked up the steps of the estate, he saw a couple of trucks coming up the road which meant that some more help was on the way for the evening. He entered the estate and proceeded to the estate meeting room, where Myui, an 11 year old girl and the current leader of Italica, and Bozes awaited alongside Juliana.

"So glad you could join us." Juliana said sarcastically.

"I was busy guarding the prisoners while you guys were getting ready." Xavier said.

"Let us proceed with the negotiations between the Ghosts and The people of Italica." Emily said, unrolling a formal document.

They discussed the terms of the reward for the Ghosts involvement in defending the city, coming to terms on the treatment of the prisoners, the reconstruction efforts, in which the final part of the discussion was the permission of the Ghosts taking a prisoner of their choice back with them, in which the prisoner that Xavier chose to take was someone that neither party expected: Myuute.

"Who's Myuute?" Juliana asked as they walked out of the building at the conclusion of the negotiations, in which Xavier handed to her a pair of binoculars.

"Look to the prisoners, do you see a girl with a feather in her hair?" Xavier said.

"Oh yeah, the girl sitting on the ground closer to your friend Dante." Juliana pointed out.

"That's Myuute, she's apparently some demi-human slave girl that the bandits acquired for the fight." Xavier explained.

"Demi-human?" Juliana said in a confused tone.

"That means that she is part animal, in her case, she is part bird." Xavier said.

They arrived at the east gate, witnessing a group of Ghosts talking to Dante about how the battle went. Juliana was about to walk away when she turned to Xavier...

"Listen, I have to take the choppers back to Outpost Temple, Ashton wants all assets back to base as the treaty states we can't force an occupation on the city." Juliana explained.

"So we have to drive back?" Xavier said.

"Pretty much." Juliana said before walking away.

The choppers took off as a crowd of people cheered as their rescuers took off to Outpost Temple, while a group of trucks carrying two separate squads , Phantom and Banshee, drove back to the base with two extra guests. Rory sat across from Myuute, who seemed confused by something and that was disturbing her...

"What seems to be bothering you?" Rory asked.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I am not used to this much kindness." Myuute explained.

"Why are you not used to people being kind?" Xavier asked.

" Being a slave, all of the people who saw me always looked down at me, treated me poorly." Myuute said.

"I know that feeling well." Erin said.

"You do?" Myuute said.

"Believe it or not, Erin was held captive by a group of slavers back before the Militants became the Ghosts." Xavier said.

"Really?" Myuute asked.

"Yeah, I was lucky enough to have been liberated from captivity by the Militants during their campaign to try and reclaim some of the territory of the old New York State." Erin said.

"You were fighting for reclamation of old territory?" Myuute said in an interested tone.

"Yes, after COLOSSUS Day happened, a lot of territory fell into chaos and was eventually ruled by slavers, bandits, and degenerate war-like tribes." Xavier explained.

"Ok, we'll be coming up on the stream mentioned in this map provided by the Night Witches, so Anthony, please take a right at the stream." Brian explained.

"All right." Anthony said, turning right at the stream.

The trucks drove for a while, in which the sun began to set. But as they drove along the highway, something seemed off as Myuute took notice of a large column of smoke...

"What is that?" Myuute asked, causing all of the Ghosts to look at where she had been pointing.

"A fire?" Xavier said.

The convoy of the Ghosts decided to investigate the source of the smoke, pulling up to the edge of a large forest, seeing a massive fire blaze on the treeline, in Myuute shakingly hid behind Xavier...

"What's wrong, Myuute?" Xavier asked.

"Bad things follow fire." Myuute said in a scared tone.

"What does she mean?" Rayne, the leader of Banshee Squad, said before hearing a loud roar coming from the forest.

"What the hell?" Nicole exclaimed.

The members of the convoy looked towards the forest to see the one who had caused the fire in the forest: a large red, fire dragon. The group readied their weapons for combat should it turn its attention to them...

"What the hell is that monster?" Brian asked.

"A fire dragon." Rory said in a scared tone.

"Why is it scaring you?" Nicole asked Rory.

"Dragons are affiliated with the goddess of the underworld, Hardy." Rory said.

"My people rear the beasts for their destructive power." Myuute said, trembling behind Xavier.

"The thing's flying off." Blaze said.

Xavier looked to see the enormous fire dragon fly away from the forest it had just attacked and ignited into flames, in which he was about to give the order for the group to move on when he noticed Myuute looked to the forest with great concern...

"You know something about this forest, don't you?" Xavier asked.

"Yes." Myuute responded.

"What is it?" Xavier said.

"The slavers that I once was owned by always talked about an elven settlement in the forest that they had considered attacking." Myuute explained.

"Where is this settlement?" Rayne asked.

"In there." Myuute said, pointing to the forest that they were in front of.

Xavier and Rayne acknowledged the fact that what Myuute had just said could be the truth and they remembered one of the Ghost's resposibilies and most important duties : when there is a settlement in need, always be a helping hand.

"Rayne, there is a settlement in need." Xavier said.

"So the Ghosts will descend on their cries for need and answer the call." Rayne said.

"Everyone, our return trip to Outpost Temple is going to be taking a pitt stop." Xavier said to the group.

"Get ready to move, we have survivors to rescue." Rayne ordered.

"You heard the lady! Gear up!" Anthony shouted.

The soldiers proceeded to get ready to move to the settlement in the forest that was ignited by the dragon, just as rain clouds gathered above the forest to extinguish the fire...

Unknown elven settlement

3:14 pm

The soldiers arrived in the ruins of the elven settlement, among charred remains and burned down buildings and burnt trees. There were scorch marks everywhere, in which the teams wandered around, checking the ruins for any survivors of the dragon's attack. Xavier rested by the remnants of the settlement's well as the group searched for survivors and said a prayer for the ones who didn't make it. Xavier took a drink from his canteen, while Dante walked up to him...

"How is the search?" Xavier asked.

"We have counted over 30 buildings, but over 27 corpses, it's just too few." Dante said.

"Assuming that there are three people per building, that could be over 100 people." Xavier estimated.

"Rayne said that while the base was being established, they were attacked on occasion by winged dragons that had scales hard as tungsten." Dante said.

"Probably some lesser cousins of the one we saw, how did they drive them off?" Xavier asked.

"They were lucky enough to drive them off with 12mm armor piercing rounds." Dante responded.

"Have Brian tip off Ashton about the big fire-breather we saw awhile ago, let him know that it might attack settlements." Xavier said.

"Understood." Dante said as Xavier tossed a bucket down into a well.

But as Xavier tossed the bucket down, they heard it clatter against something down at the bottom, which immediately attracted their attention...

"What's that noise?" Dante asked.

"Light." Xavier ordered, with Dante turning on his flashlight.

They shined it to the bottom, where they ended up seeing an unconscious young elven girl in a soaked green dress with long, blonde hair resting at the bottom of the well...

"Oh my God." Dante said.

"HEY, WE'VE GOT A SURVIVOR!" Xavier shouted to the others.

This concludes Chapter 7, as the squad aided in the defense of the city of Italica with the Night Witches arriving to break the siege of the city. The group negotiated the terms of the reward for the Ghosts involvement in the battle. The squad is joined by Banshee Squad, a fellow unit, and Myuute, a demi-human bird girl slave that was once part of the bandit army that attacked the city, so they are set to drive back to their outpost following their involvement in the battle. But their drive back is interrupted by crossing paths with the fire dragon as it decimated a large settlement of elves in a forest, with the only survivor of the attack being a lone girl, who is actually Tuka Luna Marceau from the series itself. The next chapter will start off with the convoy arriving at the village of Coda, in which they cross paths with another familiar face, and engage in their first firefight with the fire dragon while they were escorting the civilians from Coda to safety...

WAIT AND SEE.