Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HTF characters,

only the story I have thrown them in.

Chapter X

Slowly lighting up a cigarette Flippy took a few puffs to assure that the tobacco was indeed lit; smiling he had just gotten off his third weekly video chat with Flaky. It bummed him out that he only got to see her face once a week, but being the general's son meant he got the perk of using the phone a bit more frequently than others. Leaning back in the chair he took another puff as he took out the picture of her that he brought along and a smile took over his face, he couldn't wait to see her. At this rate he might get a chance to see her before Christmas, it was only the first week in October and all their plans were ahead of schedule. After returning her picture back into his pocket he closed his eyes and let his mind wander since there was nothing to do as of yet. This however was interrupted by being lightly hit with a rolled up newspaper. His eyes popped opened and he was greeted by a woman with dark green hair that was pulled up into a tight bun and slate gray eyes. Smirking he stood up and chuckled to himself before asking, "Now what would your brother say if he knew you were treating your C.O. like that?"

Smiling she sat in the chair that Flippy had just vacated and logged onto the computer before turning and smirked, "He'd laugh and tell me to hit you once more for good measures."

Chuckling he knew that it was true; Sly Camaleonte was the younger sister to his old partner Sneaky, and whether it was work or downtime she acted just like him. Letting her have her time on the computer he began to walk around and watched as the young group he was in control of were playing cards, and overall were simply carefree. Part of him was envious, they were lucky that they didn't have to go though the hell he had encountered during the Tiger Wars; that and the fact that they didn't fully understand how quickly everything could turn to hell if they weren't careful. Everything up until now had been pretty basic, but he had a strong feeling things wouldn't stay this way for much longer. Walking outside he looked up t the bright sunny sky, it was a beautiful sight, but there was something very eerie about this serene setting. Taking another long drag he heard a deep rough voice calling for him; putting out the lit tobacco he walked back into the small building and was greeted by his superior. He stood at attention before the stocky older man with gray hair and honey brown eyes; saluting the man he returned to standing straight with his hands flat at his side, "Major Rhino sir?"

"Sergeant, I just got off the phone with General Orso, he is urging us to get to the capital city as soon as possible. I'll be taking my men and part of the equipment with us; we'll clear out a path to city for you and your men. Once we get into the capital I will call for you and your men to come join us with the rest of the equipment, understood?"

"Affirmative," he said saluting his superior once more, he then watched as Major Rhino called for his men out of the group. Seeing the number of men wither to about a handful he knew he should inform his men about what was about to take place. Turning to his regiment he loudly cleared his throat trying to get their attention, when this failed he took a deep breath and barked out, "Attention!"

Looking over to see Flippy standing there with a very serious look on his face they dropped what they were doing and quickly stood at attention. Standing tall with his hands behind his back he looked over his men before calmly speaking, "Listen up because I don't want to repeat myself. The two hundred and tenth regiments are packing up as we speak, they will be taking only some of the supplies and will be cutting a path to the capital city for us. We will be in charge of bringing the rest of the technical supplies along with us. This will be a quick and easy mission unless we make it otherwise; right now I want you to start gathering all the equipment, load the jeep up and get it ready for transportation, understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir," his regiment answered him before heading off in multiple directions doing as they were told and rounding up everything that was going to be taken along. Sly moved her way over to Flippy and continued to stand straight until she was given the motion to relax. Looking over her C.O.'s expression carefully she had to know what was eating at him, "Flippy is there something bothering you?"

Frowning he sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "I have a bad feeling about this mission. I don't know why but something about it just isn't sitting right with me, and there was something really off with how Major Rhino was acting."

Patting his shoulder she tried to reassure him about the situation, "You're over thinking it, I mean with you in charge we'll be able to handle anything that comes our way."

"I hope your right," he said in a sadder tone, with that they went off in different directions. Flippy had made his way over and got to work helping load the jeep up with supplies. Most of which were computer and communications devices, but nonetheless it was expensive and highly needed and to get that through to his men he was forced to yell several times to be careful. Frazzled he walked away and began massaging his temples, groaning he made his way outside and leaned up against the building wall and relit his cigarette from earlier. It had been fifteen minutes since he first talked to his men and Major Rhino was just now leaving with his regiment. It would take about an hour to get to the capital city, and that was with no interference, but this was war so that meant that there would be interference. So by his calculations that would hold them up for about another hour to hour and a half at most, so it would be around two and a half hours before he and his men would even begin to head out.

Taking a drag this sinking feeling returned and was more powerful than it had been earlier. Breathing out he tried to shake this feeling once again, but his thoughts always seemed to go back to one thing. Flaky, and how she would be crying her eyes out over the news of him being injured or worse, dead. Sliding down he sat on his heels, he had to stop thinking like that, he was going to get home to her and never let her out of his sight again. He had never missed someone this much before, and his yearning to see Flaky again was what was driving to do whatever it took to get back home. Pinching the bridge of his nose he knew that he had already talked to her this morning on video chat but suddenly he wanted to talk to her once more. He just wanted to tell her that he loved her with all his heart no matter what happened to either of them because as it stood right now he wasn't sure of the next time he'd be able to talk to her.

Staring down at the sandy ground beneath his feet he noticed some small wet drops started appearing, rubbing his cheek he came to the realization that he was crying. Closing his eyes tightly he let the tears fall freely and couldn't help but sadly laugh; the big bad war hero Sergeant First Class Flippy Orso was crying at the thought of not being able to talk to his girlfriend. It wouldn't be so bad if he was just a regular soldier crying about his girl back home, but he was considered a hero for his adventures during the Tiger Wars, and to top it off he was the general's son. Snuffing out the cigarette once again he sniffled and wiped his eyes several more times and tried to quell his tears, he couldn't let himself have a breakdown at such an important time like this. Taking several more deep breaths he tried to regain himself, once feeling confident he stood back up and nodded to himself, no matter what he was going home to Flaky.

Tossing the cigarette to the ground he stepped on it to make sure that it was actually put out before walking back into the building with a new found confidence. Walking over to the jeep he looked it over to make sure that everything was in place and tightly strapped down; making a few altercations to the straps he was actually very pleased with how his men handled loading the truck with little help from him. Now he just needed to wait for their call to come through, walking back into the room he took a seat in one of the open chairs. Looking around he took noticed at how the mood had changed so quickly; every single person in the room was nearly silent. Two of his men were praying to the god that they believed in, with the other four were readying their weapons. Sighing he too needed to find something that would keep him busy while they waited.

Pulling out another picture and a sad smile took over, it was him and his old regiment, they were all so young. It was just a shame that none of them were alive to see how the nation that they died for had changed over the past five years. He couldn't help but laugh remembering how he, Sneaky Camaleonte, and Mouse Ka-Boom were know as the three musketeers. Smiling he muttered to himself, "This victory is in memory of you guys."

After the long grueling two hours and twenty-five minutes the phone finally began to ring, picking it up and pressing talk Flippy pressed it up against his ear and spoke firmly, "Sergeant First Class Orso speaking."

"Sergeant, things did not go as smoothly as planned. As soon as we started to pass through we were swarmed by Scorpion Army troops, be ready to put up a fight because by now they're had a chance to regroup and they're probably expecting another group to pass by."

"Alright I'll make sure that all my men are well prepared," Flippy said, this was only gave him another reason to believe that he may not be able to make it through the mission.

"Good luck Sergeant," with that the call ended and he stood there frozen for a moment, in the back he heard his men start to panic. Setting the phone down he took a deep breath and slowly turned to see that all eyes were on him. Breathing out he tried to keep his composure, "Men, prepare your weapons, we'll be greeted on our way there."

Ordering his men into their positions on the truck he made sure everyone had their vests and helmets on before slipping on his own combat vest and strapped his helmet on his chin. Double checking everything and everyone he knew they might be going through hell, but he refused to be ill prepared. Picking up his M249 he slowly climbed into the driver seat and started up the engine. Making sure that he could clearly see all around him he called out to his men, "Are we ready to take these bastards head on?"

"Hooah," his group answered him in unison, a smile crept across his face feeling a bit more confident that he has his men there to support him.

Stepping lightly on the gas he made his way out of the base they had been occupying. Driving down the road everything was going well, but this was only the beginning and the base was still in sight from the rearview mirror. Once the base was out of sight he knew that they'd be coming up on the first checkpoint soon, and once that was reached he had the Private First Class that was in the passenger seat give base the notification of where they were. After he got off the call Flippy focused on the road ahead once more. Up ahead he noticed debris and then an eerie chill fell over him and his stomach stank, and once more the bad feelings flooded back into his mind. Closing his eyes for a moment he calmed his on edge nerves as he pressed on.

Looking around he spotted what looked like makeshift graves, but what really got him was that they looked fresh; along with that there was broken weapons scattered all along the road, and to top it off it looked like there was bits of convoy that left before them mixed with the debris. Pushing any worry he had out of his mind he couldn't let that get in the way, continuing on maneuvering the jeep down the road the sound of gunshots echoed. Stopping the truck some of his men jumped out and started making their way up the hillside, moving to join him Flippy found himself caught on something. Struggling to get free he looked up and what he way made his heart stop, and before he had a chance to react the front end of the jeep had been sent airborne. Trying to hold himself down as the jeep rolled several times before coming to a stop on its left side, two more men had been thrown out by the launch. Flippy slowly opened his eyes he groaned and looked and found himself still hooked on something and the private next to him had been knocked out. Turning his attention straight forward through the window he found himself looking straight at a rocket that was heading straight for them. Gasping he tried to scream but couldn't find his voice as the rocket nicked the front of the jeep just enough to send it airborne once again

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but in all honesty I feel like it was about time for one. Just a forewarning, the story is going to be coming to an end soon, when I originally wrote it I only intended it to be about a five chapter story and it really came a long way. I do however have a surprise for you guys, but I'm going to keep that under wraps for now. Also lots of love and a special shout out to DotDotDot for getting a FF account and adding this story to her fav and alert, and the comment. Lots of love to Mitchi-chan and ShelovesBBLFlippy for the comments!

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