Glorious Fanfiction writers and readers all around. I am here today to bestow upon you a- *sigh* never mind. Read the chapter and please, enjoy!
Two Months Later,
Location: Menagerie.
It had been a cloudy day and the forecast had called for rain later on in the day.
The dense forest that surrounded the base had strangely quiet today. But no one seemed to take notice of that.
Inside the base, one of the many four-man teams that had been assigned to the base were relaxing for the time being, waiting for their patrol duty to start.
The team was known by everyone on base and off, as Death Stalker.
They sat in one of the recreation rooms that was filled things that were there to just kill time. There was a black leather couch in the center of the room with two other arm chairs with the same black leather design off to the side. A medium sized flat-screen television hung on the wall in front of the couch. Under the television was a shelf that held a DVD player and a couple gaming consoles.
The leader of the team, Aiden Strumwind, was sitting in one of the chairs to the side while cleaning off his AX338 bolt action rifle. He had brown eyes and short hair of the same color. He was short in height but he made up for it with his previous experiences along with his skill and tactical ingenuity on the battlefield.
Sitting on the couch was another member of the team. His name was Hunter Pierce. He was taller than Aiden by at least seven inches. He had dark brown hair that was cut military style and hazel colored eyes. His skin seemed to always bare a light tan. He sat on the couch with a controller in his hands and playing on one of the gaming consoles.
By his feat, rested a German shepherd. Its eyes were closed but its ears were still perked up,showing that the dog was on alert. Around the neck of the dog was a collar that held a pair of dog tags that only read "Sirius". The dog wore a vest around its body. On the vest, there were multiple pockets and pouches that held extra medical supplies for Hunter to use. He was a medic after all.
Next to Hunter, sat Knato Voklov. She was roughly the same height as Hunter but had a few more curves than he did. Her black hair went straight down to her middle back, and two black fox ears poked out of the top of her head. Her eyes were a dark purple color, along with the scarf around her neck. She was on her scroll, looking at news from stations across the globe.
Finally, in the other chair of the set, sat Ally Demarco. She had shoulder length silver hair withblue streaks that would curl at the ends. She had emerald eyes that shinned brightly. She sat in the chair, with her nose buried in a random magazine.
Things had been relatively slow for them in the past few weeks. The influence of the White Fang had always been strong in the region of Menagerie. But recently, things had been very calm and almost nothing has happened with the White Fang ever since the incident in Vale a couple months ago that the legendary Beowulf squad had been assigned to.
That was one of the squads that had made a name for themselves in their time in H&H. They have apparently been in the company for three years. They only needed one and a half to make it the top of the company's leaderboards.
They flew past where Death Stalker sat in the leader boards. They were both now among the top teams in the company. Although they were not the best of the best. A few of the best of the best were either gone or had retired and took on new lives.
Ever since Beowulf had surpassed Death Stalker, Aiden had been training the team and pushing them to their limits every day.
As Aiden finished up cleaning off his rifle, he stood from his chair.
"Alright guys," he said, "I know that you're not wanting to do anything today, like every other day, but we should head to the ranges. I don't want you guys getting rusty." he stated.
"Listen," Hunter said, not taking his eyes off the screen, "I understand that we have to continue to be in, I guess you can say working condition, but if my aim was fine yesterday, along with the day before that and so on, I don't think my aim will be any different today. Besides, I'm practicing my aim right now." he said as he killed an enemy on his game.
"Yeah, but that's a game with unrealistic things such as getting shot ten times in the chest and then just shrugging it off." Aiden said. "And also, you're using a controller not an actual weapon."
Hunter's finger stopped pressing buttons on the controller and his character stopped moving. Eventually he sighed and shut off the console. "Fine." he mumbled.
"Don't worry Hunter," Knato said, "After we finish up there, you might be able to get back to the game." she said, trying to cheat him up.
"Yeah, I guess." he said.
Aiden then slung his rifle over his shoulder and made his way for the door while being followed by the rest of his team.
They exited the recreation room and navigated their way through the halls of the base. All of the bases for H&H resembled each other in many ways. Some were even of the same layout and design.
They walked until they arrived at the armory where weapons lined the walls and other weapon racks stood on the floor.
The team opened their assigned lockers and began to grab their weapons.
Aiden, with his rifle still slung over his shoulder, took an ACR from the locker and slung the weapon over his other shoulder. The ACR had a holographic sight, a fore grip, a laser sight and a slightly extended barrel. He then strapped a pistol holster to his right leg and slipped an H&K Mk.23 SOCOM pistol into the holster. The pistol had a laser sight under the barrel and a suppressor screwed into the barrel.
Hunter, with Sirius standing a couple feet away, opened his locker and brought out his weapons. At first he pulled out a couple regular weapons. Such as an M1014 semi-auto shotgun, in which he threw over his shoulder, and two P226 pistols strapped to his legs. He then removed an odder weapon that would rarely be used in the company. From his locker, he took out a modern day crossbow. It would almost never be used because most other mercenaries had deemed is as "unreliable". Hunter although, was able to find many reliable ways for the crossbow to be of use.
Knato took out her sheathed double edged sword that she had named Fantasma and wrapped a strap around her shoulders so that the hilt of the blade was at her right shoulder. After she strapped a pistol holster to her right leg, she took a 90 two Beretta pistol and slipped it into the holster. Finally, she removed an H&K MP5. It had a holographic sight and a grip under the barrel.
Lastly, Ally had a more interesting set of weapons. The pistol that she had was a P250 that had a suppressor screwed into the barrel. But when she held it, her face showed a look of slight disgust, as if the weapon was inferior. After she strapped the holster to her leg and slid the pistol inside of it, she reached inside the locker and grabbed a quiver of arrows. It was a special quiver that held three different slots for three different arrows. Two of them were closed and the other one was open. The one that was open held plain steel tipped arrows. She then retrieved a modern day longbow and slung it over her shoulder.
The team then shut their lockers and turned away to begin walking towards the firing range. The base in Menagerie didn't have an indoor firing range. Most of the things they did for practice on the base took place outside.
As they walked outside, the group noticed that the clouds looked to be heavier than before.
"Hey, Boss," Hunter said, "If those clouds don't hold up, the practice might be postponed. Thatwould be such a shame." he said with hidden sarcasm.
"You're wrong there," Aiden said, "If it does rain, we'll just practice in it."
Hunter sighed. "Great." he muttered.
They arrived at the firing range to find that they were going to be the only ones there. With their weapons set and ready, they took aim at the targets don't he range and began to fire. All of their aim was practically spot on. The targets that they were shooting at were full body silhouettes with scoring areas from the outside to the center. The head area had the same scoring as the chest but with smaller areas and writing.
All of the shots that they took at the targets landed in the same areas as the previous rounds fired. The results of their shots showed good groupings.
After about twenty minutes their shots all hitting their marks, they stopped for a quick break. Ally walked over to the target that she was aiming at and began to remove the arrows from the head of the silhouette.
"That looks and feels painful." Hunter said, watching Ally.
"Yeah, I once asked a guy I fired one at how it felt after the arrow was through his knee." she said.
"And?"
"All I got in response was him screaming in pain."
Hunter and the rest gave a small chuckle.
"It was honest question at the time as well." Ally said.
The rest began to full on laugh which lead Ally to laugh a little as well. Suddenly a drop of water landed on Ally's nose. She looked up and watched as another drop of water fell, then another, until it was completely poring.
"Oh, come on!" Hunter shouted over the rain.
"Should we head back in?" Knato asked. "It's kind of really heavy."
"Yeah. Let's head back in." Aiden said. "Before it ge-"
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!
All their heads jerked towards the direction that the noise emitted from. In the distance, and heading toward the base, we're three red parachute illumination flares. The flares arced over their heads and slowly descended over the base.
"What the hell was that about?" Hunter asked.
After he asked, their scrolls began to beep. Opening their scrolls, they read a message from the command center within the base. The message read, "Be on guard to the east, threat level 1." That was something that worried them. Threat Level 1 was simply code for "Uh-oh, get ready for a fight".
Aiden looked away from his scroll and towards the forest. He squinted his eyes and concentrated. He noticed the leaves and branches rustle. Then, he heard the faint sound of an engine and it was getting closer.
"You guys hear that?" he asked.
"I hear it." Knato said, her fox ears twitching for confirmation. "I think it's a truck."
"How long 'til it's here?" Hunter asked.
"Not long." Knato stated.
"How long is not long?"
"Let's just say-" A large camouflaged truck exploded from the brush of the forest. "Now!" Kanto shouted.
The truck held under a dozen White Fang soldiers in the back. All of their weapons were in hand and at the ready. Their faces were hidden under the white bone masks that they were. They got the idea from The Creatures of Grimm, an old fairy tale that was told throughout the ages. They were like regular animals, but were pure black with bone armor. They were said to have been slaughtered by a group of warriors, who had been trained to kill the beasts. They were only known as Huntsman and Huntresses. H&H based themselves off of them. In essence, they are both sworn enemies.
"White Fang!" Aiden yelled. He raised his shotgun and fired two shells. They were both slug shots so they both were heavy hitting shots. They both hit their mark on the front right tire of the truck. The tire popped and began to rip itself apart, the shreds of hard rubber flying through the air.
The truck screeched to a halt as it began to lean to the right. The White Fang soldiers leapt from the back of the truck and fired their weapons at Death Stalker.
"Crap!" Aiden shouted. "Find cover!" he rolled behind a large rock that was big enough for him to hide behind. Hunter, Sirius and Ally both dropped into a small ditch, avoiding a good amount of the bullets being fired. Knato pressed herself against one of the many trees that stood around the firing range.
"They got us pinned!" Hunter shouted.
"Where did they come from?" Ally asked.
"I would rather learn when we're not dead!" Aiden said. He quickly pulled his ACR over the rock and took aim at a White Fang soldier who was reloading. He pulled the trigger and watched as the soldier fell to the ground, his weapon being almost thrown from him.
The other soldiers were slightly surprised as their comrade fell. A few of them turned their weapons and pinned Aiden behind the rock again.
"Damn..." he muttered.
He glanced over and saw Ally huddling in the ditch with Hunter, her bow ready.
"Ally, Explosive Arrows! Thin them out!" He yelled over to her.
Ally nodded over to him and she placed her normal arrow back into the quiver. She popped open one of the closed compartments and pulled out an arrow with a large orange head. She notched the arrow in the bow and pulled the string back. She poked her head up slightly over the edge of the ditch and a bullet hit the ground in front of her and kicked up grass and dirt.
Her head shot back down and she looked over at Aiden and she shook her head. "Too much heat!" she shouted.
Other trucks were beginning to crash out of the forest. They were all heading right for the base. Other trucks were already at the base and the White Fang were moving into the building.
"We need to get back there. Now!" Hunter said.
"Any plans, boss?" Ally asked.
"One." he said.
He set his ACR down against the rock and pulled his AX338 from around his shoulder. He pulled the bolt back, which ejected and empty cartridge, to make sure there was still a few rounds in the magazine. Thankfully, there was. He pushed the bolt back in which loaded a new round in. Pressing the butt of the sniper against his shoulder, he gripped it tightly, ready to take a shot. He peered over the rock and saw a group of four White Fang standing or kneeling close to each other. One that was standing had an easily visible grenade belt around his hips.
Aiden felt a small smirk spread lightly across his face. He quickly forced it down, trying not to seem to distract himself with the simplicity. He breathed in and out a few times, exhaling slowly. With one final deep breath, he shot up from the rock, and aimed down the scope of his rifle. Everything seemed to go in slow motion at that moment. The White Fang were beginning to turn their rifles towards him. He trained his sights right on the grenade belt of the one White Fang soldier. There was a large margin for a shot missing, the grenade was no bigger than the palm of his own hand, and it could have been smaller than that.
Aiden held his breath as the crosshair moved and settled over the grenade. And, with one final exhale, he squeezed the trigger. The round flew from the barrel and impacted the grenade. Half a second later, a burst of shrapnel erupted from the hip of the White Fang solider. The sheer explosive force of the grenade practically ripped him in half and took a chunk of flesh from the other soldier standing beside him. The other two had smaller pieces of shrapnel in their sides and backs, but were still on the ground in agony.
While the four were taken out, the others turned towards them in shock and disbelief that this event had just happened.
"Now!" Aiden shouted as his ejected the empty cartridge from his rifle, the shell still smoking.
Knato turned around from the tree and aimed her MP5 at the final five White Fang soldiers. She fired a large burst of round from her weapon which hit dead on the side of another soldier who fell to the ground with a cry of pain.
Hunter and Ally both stood from the ditch with their weapons ready. Ally, once again, had a normal arrow notched in the sting of her longbow. She released the arrow which instantly implanted itself into the head of a White Fang, making his bone mask shatter.
Hunter fired another two shells from his shotgun. These both were also slugs, and they both implanted the centers of two of the final three White Fang. They dropped to their knees, each with large holes in their chests.
Finally, the last White Fang left panicked and dropped his weapon. He turned and ran from group and his fallen comrades in an attempt to escape.
Aiden gave a heavy sigh as he raised his rifle again and turned his sights over to the fleeing White Fang. With a squeeze of the trigger and a loud Crack! The runner fell, face first, his head caved in.
"Contact's eliminated." Knato said.
"I wouldn't say so, Knato." Aiden said as he pointed towards the base. There were already firesbeginning start on the runway as grounded Bullheads were hit with RPG's and other explosive devices. Muzzle flashes could be seen from where they were across the tarmac, indicating small firefights and from the looks of it the mercenaries weren't holding well. The doors to the base were being protected by a few mercenaries with small arms weapons such as pistols and PDW's. The heavier weapons were bound to still be inside, being prepped and rushed outside.
"They need help." Hunter said.
"Yeah," Aiden said as he picked his ACR back up and threw his AX338 over his shoulder again. "Let's go, Death Stalker." he began to take off him a sprint towns the base, the rest of his team following close behind. They ran as the rain pelted the tops of their heads and drenched their clothes. Water splashed around them lightly as they stepped in the forming puddles.
Gunfire could be heard all around them. Few bullets even whizzed past them as other White Fang spotted them.
They made it to the doors where they had exited from earlier and were coming up behind the White Fang soldiers.
The team crouched in a small and Aiden pulled his scroll from his back pocket and opened it up. There was an option on the scrolls for them to be able to access the communication channels of the radios and be able to talk to friendlies if you did not have the right equipment at the moment. He quickly selected the option and went to the open network.
"This is Death Stalker. Whoever is guarding the east, we are coming in behind the White Fang, watch your fire. Over." He said into the scroll.
A response came quickly. "Roger that, Death Stalker. We got you covered."
"Alright." Aiden mumbled. He waved his hand forward once. "Go!" he said.
Quickly standing, the team leaped from the ditch with their weapons raised. The doorway had two trucks in front of it with at least seven remaining White Fang in the area. There were three final H&H Mercenaries defending the door, two more were lying on the ground, their chests filled with holes as blood pooled around them.
Raising their weapons, Death Stalker stood in a line while walking, aiming for the White Fang that had killed their fellow mercenaries. With a few press of the triggers, a wave of bullets flew from their weapons. The White Fang jerked and fell to the ground as the bullets impacted their backs.
As the sounds of their weapons firing faded into distant echoes, they ran toward the doors. "Thanks for the help, guys. I thought our tickets were punched for a second there." said one of the mercenaries that was standing there. He looked to be low on ammunition already, seeing how his belt only had a single magazine left for his weapon.
"No problem, glad to see you guys are alright." Aiden said.
Hunter was checking on the other two mercenaries to see if they had any injuries that needed to be given immediate medical attention.
"Not all of us are alright, sir." the mercenary said, his eyes glancing slightly to one of the dead mercenaries.
Aiden walked over to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "They went down fighting. Their deaths won't go without punishment."
"I know, sir." the mercenary said as he loaded a new magazine into his weapon, his tone a little more upbeat.
"That's the spirit, you guys got this area covered?"
"We should in a bit. From what I hear, there are a few more guys coming from inside to assist."
"Alright." Aiden said as he walked to the doors, his team following behind him.
Once inside, they were met with the sound of loud sirens and alarms. "Security breach in the vehicle depot, and in the west wing of the barracks!" someone said over the bases PA system, possibly relaying from the CIC.
"This is not good." Hunter said as three other mercenaries went in the opposite direction as to where they were going. "They caught us all of guard and now everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off."
"Yeah." Knato agreed. "I bet even the guys in the CIC are still trying to figure out what to do."
"Don't worry. We'll pull through this. H&H never fails." Aiden said.
After that, they jogged through the halls in silence until they arrived at the armory. There were mercenaries moving from rack to rack, grabbing weapons, ammo, grenades, and other things you brought to war. As Death Stalker walked in, a group of heavy gunners walked out the door, bandolier belts holding dozens of rounds of ammunition were hanging around their necks and spilling out of their pouches.
"I guess there's a lot of White Fang out there for them to be bringing that much ammo." Ally said, stating the obvious.
"Grab the rest of your gear and restock on any ammo you used." Aiden said as he opened hislocker, the rest doing the same.
As he put on his Kevlar vest, Aiden began to wonder. Why would they be attacking us? We haven't done anything to provoke them in a while. Was it what happened in Vale with Beowulf?
"Holy shit..." someone said in the background, "It's not just us!" he said for everyone in the barracks to hear.
"What the hell are you talking about?" someone asked, the voices dying down in the room.
"The entire continent of Menagerie is under attack by the White Fang." the mercenary said as he closed the scroll he was looking at and moved over to the giant television that was on the wall of the armory. The television was mainly there for giving orders if there was a large amount of people in the armory, like there was right now but there were orders being given through the PA system at the moment. The television was turned to the news station of the continent as it showed images of the capital city being taken over by White Fang. The deer Faunus news caster spoke about what was going with fear clearly in her eyes.
Just a few moments ago, what witnesses are reporting to be sounding like a hunting horn, sounded throughout the streets of the seemingly quiet city of Immigration. Soon after, sounds of screams were heard as the radical group known as The White Fang were spotted emerging from buildings all over the city. Eye witnesses say that every White Fang radical held an assault weapon and when they emerged from the buildings, they began to fire their weapons into the air as if saying, and "We are here"! Police are currently attempting to control the situation as more shootouts are breaking out all over the city. Some buildings are burning down that belonged to human business owners and others are just where humans lived. Word of the military being dispatched to the city momentarily in order to help with controlling the situation. More information soon, as the story develops.
"This whole continent is fucked!" someone shouted.
"When's the next bullhead outta here?" someone else asked.
The PA system then came on once again. "Death Stalker to the CIC, Death Stalker to the CIC." the voice said.
The team finished preparing the rest of their gear and closed their lockers one by one. Walking out of the door to the armory they joined the flow of mercenaries who would be dispatched to areas all over the base in order to hold off the White Fang attack.
They jogged down the halls until they entered through the double doors that led into the Combat Information Center which were currently being guarded by four heavily armed mercenaries. The CIC was the room where all mission intel would be relayed to the currently dispatched teams. Large monitors were spread across the room while people typed away commands and such into the consoles. Their fingers were all flying across the keyboards at this moment as it was a very desperate situation where they needed everyone to help with the defense. Status reports were being shouted across the room as teams reported engagements around the base.
Standing before the largest monitor in the room, which was currently broken into several smaller screens that played live security feed from cameras all over the base, was the commander of the H&H base in Menagerie, Carter Karman. He had short green hair and emerald colored eyes. He wore a black shirt with a white Kevlar vest over it. He had the same black cargo pants and combat boots as every other mercenary. Strapped to his waist was a plain .45 M1911 pistol in a holster.
He turned around as he heard the double doors close and saw Death Stalker walking forward, their weapons ready.
"Glad to see you four are still alive." He said as they stopped walking and stood there respectively.
"We had a few close calls, sir." Aiden said.
"I saw your situation from the firing range." he said looking to Aiden. "Nice shot, by the way."
"Mhm." Aiden grunted, not really wanting any praise.
The commander sighed as he turned towards the large monitor again. A few moments turned into almost a few minutes of silence.
Hunter opened his mouth to ask something, but was immediately cut off as the commander began to speak once again. "I'm not sure what to do at the moment." he said.
"Called it..." Knato muttered.
"Sir?" Aiden asked.
"We are not prepared to take on an invasion force of this size. You've probably seen the news from around the island at the moment. There are estimates that their forces exceed the amount of Vytal's military. They are all over the world, just like us, but in greater size. Our base, has one of the lowest amount of mercenaries stationed here, and the closest base that could send us help would be Atlas, but they are still trying to grasp a hold of what's going on as well."
"What's the point?" Hunter asked, ignoring the glare from Aiden that was meant to remind Hunter that he was addressing a superior.
The commander looked at Hunter over his shoulder, a glare on his face as well. "The point,lieutenant, is that the base is screwed. I'm calling an immediate exfiltration with the remaining bullheads that are currently secured on the runway and were going to fall back to the main base in Atlas." he said, turning fully toward the team once again.
"What!?" Aiden shouted
"I want you on the bullheads out of here when that time comes. Except for you Miss Voklov." he said, ignoring Aiden. "You will report back to the armory and change into your White Fang clothing. I need you to stay away from any real conflicts and make it look like you had been with the invasion force this entire time. You're one of our best inside agents, and we need you to be on the inside in case anything else happens that we are to be notified about. Understood?"
"Ye-Yes, Sir." Knato said cautiously with nervousness lacing her voice. She gave a brief goodbye to her teammates and exited the CIC, making her way back to the barracks.
As she left, the rest of Death Stalker watched her as she walked, even when she had left the room, they looked at the door, somewhat hoping that the commander would tell her to come back. That moment never happened.
"She'll be fine." the commander said.
"We know, Sir... we know." Aiden said.
"Then you all will be fine as well being separated from her for a short time." he said. "In the meantime, we need to start heading for the-"
A loud explosion echoed throughout the base and completely shook the building. The commander turned toward the screen to see a few of the cameras had been taken out and the screens were showing nothing but static.
'What was that?" The commander asked. "Status report." he said.
"I've lost contact with three teams in the barracks areas. That's also where most of the cameras went out as well." someone said from one of the consoles.
Another explosion shook the base, this one smaller than the other and another two camera feeds turned to static.
"What the hell is going on? Does anyone where the sources of the explosions are coming from?" the commander asked.
"I got someone saying that they are seeing rockets and missiles... appearing from the sky?" said someone from a console.
"What does that mean?" the commander asked.
"One moment, Sir." the person at the console said. "Sierra squad, please confirm."
The squad member was put through a type of speaker so that the entire room could hear what he was saying. "You heard what I said! The missiles are appearing out of thin air in sky and are hitting the base and the bullheads on the tarmac! Please advise, what do you want us to do!?" the Sierra squad member asked with panic in his voice.
The commander stood there, confusion and shock spread across his face. After a few moments he spoke. "Get them out there, we're speeding up the evac. I want all wounded and as many others on the bullheads within the next fifteen minutes. Everyone, go. Now." the commander ordered.
The command was relayed to all teams and as soon as everyone got the word, the consoles were being abandoned one by one.
Then, another explosion hit. This one must have hit very close to them because the entire room shook with an amount of force that some people were knocked off of their feet. Light fixtures flickered on and off and some of the radio equipment and consoles began to spark.
"I've lost contact with Atlas base and all outside nets. We're in the dark and on our own." A radio operator said.
"So we're up shit creek without a paddle?" the commander asked.
"Basically, sir."
"Great."
"We need to get out of here, Sir." Aiden said
"Right, let's go." the commander said as he un-holstered his M1911 and walked towards the doors. "Come on people."
Atlas Base
Same Time
The mood in the CIC, Combat Information Center, was grim.
The few people who were in there were all focused to one console. Large screens played security camera footage in the background.
Scenes of explosions enveloping H&H mercenaries switched to other mercenaries being executed. On the main screen, it showed the image of a large structure burning. Bullheads that were parked outside on an area of blacktop had become burning empty shells. Bodies were scattered on the blacktop as well.
"Menagerie base, come in." the person sitting at the console said, his voice full of fear he was trying to hide. A broken mug of coffee was off to the side, the liquid dripping down the sides of the console and onto the floor.
The commanders stood back, staring at the images that were of played back security files from just minutes ago. A few of them, even live. Their expressions held a look of disgust and anger.
"Menagerie base, this is Ursa, do you copy?" the person said again.
Another explosion plumed from the blacktop of the base.
"Menagerie base!" the person said, more urgent than before.
A larger explosion went off and the live feed was cut, even the radio channel went to static.
"We've lost eyes and ears, Sir's." said the person at the console.
Menagerie Base
"All security cameras are down!" Someone shouted from the CIC as Death Stalker and Commander Karman made their way towards the emergency hangars with four other mercenaries jogging with them as extra security.
"What's the plan, sir?" Hunter asked Aiden.
"Did you not hear back there? We're leaving." Aiden said.
"So that's it? We're just going to leave our home?" Hunter asked.
"What the hell do you think we should do? Take on an army of White Fang while we wait for reinforcements to come all the way from Atlas?" Aiden counter questioned.
"I think that's better than running with our tails between our legs." Hunter said.
"Hunter, I personally would not like to die today." Ally said.
"I agree with Ally," Aiden said, "Today is not our day."
"But what happened to that 'One of the best' thing that you're always telling us?" Hunter asked.
"At the moment Hunter, we only have three people. Even if we had Knato right now, it would be a losing fight. I know you don't like leaving this place, I don't like it as much as you do, but it's what has to be done." Aiden said.
The rest of the jog towards the hangar was spent in silence. At times they needed to step over a few bodies. Both White Fang and H&H. The H&H bodies were picked up by a few of the security mercenaries while they were saying "No one left behind".
Inside the hangar, there was even more. The hangar was underground and held up to twenty bullheads. At least half of them were being filled with wounded and dead.
There were a lot of them.
Some were on the ground on stretchers while their wounds were being tended to. A few were small injuries such as a cut from a blade on someone's shoulders to a bullet in someone's foot. The worse ones were indescribable and looked as if they would never recover from the injuries. Screams of pain occasionally echoed throughout the hangar.
As they approached the bullhead that they would be leaving in, Aiden looked back and saw even more wounded being brought into the hangar.
Commander Karman was the first on the Bullhead, followed by Hunter and Sirius with Hunter still grumbling about having to abandon the base. Ally and Aiden stood there for a few more moments, looking around at the hangar, taking in what was happening.
"You're worried about Knato, aren't you?" Ally said
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? Sure she's tough but I'm the team leader. I need to worry about my team members and friends." Aiden said. "Besides, I'm sure you're worried about her too. If we lost her, you'd be the only girl on the team." he said with a smirk.
"Don't joke about us losing her." Ally said.
"Sorry." Aiden said, getting rid of his smirk.
"Its fine, I understand you're just trying to lighten the mood a bit, I appreciate it." Ally said as she began to board the bullhead, silently followed by Aiden.
They all took seats on the benches that were in the wall, except for Aiden who stood by the door with his ACR in his hands.
He watched the door, he noticed that progressively that mercenaries were making their way inside the hangar quicker and moving towards bullheads, as if they really wanted to get out of the hangar fast.
A loud CHINK echoed throughout the hangar and light and rain began to fall inside. Above them, the entire roof was spreading apart for the bullheads to fly out. The last of injured were being loaded onto bullheads and the final groups of mercenaries were making their way through the doors. After they were in, the door was shut and a locking mechanism locked the White Fang out.
"They're right outside the door!" shouted the mercenary who shut the door, running towards a bullhead.
The sounds of jet engines powering up sounded through the hangar. Aiden could barely hear it was so loud.
Suddenly, the door that was shut exploded into a cold of dust and metal. Aiden raised his ACR and was about to fire when to fire when two White Fang stepped through the door, their weapons already pointed at Aiden. One of the White Fang fired and the bullet struck Aiden in the shoulder.
"AHH!" he screamed. "FUCK!" he fell back to the ground and pushed himself away from the open door while holding his shoulder as more bullets ricochet off of the side of the bullhead.
"Aiden's hit!" Ally shouted, "Close the damn door!" she shouted to the pilot.
The pilot looked back and saw Aiden on the ground in pain. He pressed a button on his console and the door shut quickly. The bullheads engines then went to full power and the entire force of bullheads flew into the sky, the burning structure of the base that they had once called home fading into the distance.
"Hunter, help him." Ally said to the medic as she kneeled beside Aiden.
Hunter kneeled on the other side of Aiden. He took Aiden's hand away from his shoulder and examined the wound.
"Alright," Hunter said, "it went right through. We need to stem the bleeding. Sirius."
The German shepherd stepped to the side of its master with its vest still on. Hunter reached over and grabbed one of the pockets on the vest and took out a white towel, a few pieces of gauze, and a roll of bandages. "Good boy." Hunter said, patting the dogs head.
He then turned his attention back to his fallen comrade and pressed the towel to the hole in his shoulder.
Aiden hissed in pain slightly as the pressure was applied to the wound. "That hurts." he said, stating the obvious.
"You're going to be alright, Aiden." Hunter said.
"How long until we reach Atlas?" Commander Karman asked the pilot.
"About 5 hours at full speed." the pilot said.
"Make it happen."
Atlas Base
Five hours later
Weiss POV
Weiss sat in the barracks area of the boot camp. The training for today had been canceled due to a meeting that required the presence of the team members of the high ranking teams, which meant that all the instructors were at the meeting.
It was the late afternoon at the time and she was currently sitting on her bed, doing nothing while Marissa sat above her on her bunk reading a book.
Weiss had improved a lot during the training over the past two months. She was as fit as she was during her times doing fencing every day of the year, maybe even more fit. Her accuracy with her weapon on the first day had indeed been beginners luck. The second time she got behind the sights of her rifle, her aim was all over the place. But when she was able to use her rapier, it was as easy as riding a bike. She was able to hit targets with incredible accuracy and speed. Conveniently, her instructor while using her rapier was Blake. Blake was to teach her how to use her rapier and pistol at the same time effectively. Most of the time they practiced with hard wooden swords instead of their actual blades to avoid injury.
The rest of the training over the two months were grueling. She had pushed her body and mind to the limit multiple times. She remembered laying on the same bed she was now a couple weeks ago, completely out of breath after having to go on a run with the rest of the trainees with all of their equipment for twenty miles to and from.
Another time when she was tired beyond belief was when Ruby and the others had listened to the commanders and had decided to help Weiss with her close quarters combat in the training room. Ruby at a point had to go against Weiss in an all-out fist fight. Who knew that girl could punch so hard.
Other than a few bruises, Weiss had never had any serious injuries. Even if she had gotten hurt though, she would have had to continue with the training.
In the corner of the barracks, there were a few other trainees messing with one of the radios, seeing if they could get an outside radio station for them to listen to some music to pass the time. When they continued to press the up button on the stations, which must of still been on the H&H channels, they heard a brief part of an incoming message.
"-Incoming with lots of woun-" they changed the channel which cut off the rest of the message.
"Wait," Marissa said above Weiss, "turn it back, now." she then jumped down from her bunk and began to walk over to the radio.
They pressed the button down again and the message came back.
"I say again. To anyone on this net. This is Hammer 2-2, we are incoming with lots of wounded. We need as many medics as you can and bring them to the hangar. We are inbound, two minutes." The voice on the other side of the radio said.
Marissa picked up the microphone and clicked it on. "Roger that Hammer 2-2. Wounded inbound, two minutes." she confirmed.
She placed down the microphone and over to her bunk. She put on her combat boots and began to walk towards the door. She then turned to everyone else in the barracks. "Well? They need help people, let's go!" She shouted.
That put everyone in motion. They all began to run around grabbing the small medical bags that were kept in the cabinet for emergencies and left the building.
The men were already coming out from their barracks as well. When Weiss stepped outside, she heard a loud buzzing siren. A second later, she heard multiple jet engines fly over head with a loud WVVOOSH.
Looking up, she saw a large number of bullheads fly over. There was well over a dozen of them and a few of them had smoking engines.
"Where are they coming from?" Weiss questioned. She then turned towards the hangar and began to run with the rest of the trainees.
When she ran up to the hangar, she saw the first few bullheads already landing. There were medics waiting patiently and other mercenaries standing by to help. The doors to the bullheads began to open and out stumbled a few mercenaries with their weapons on straps around their shoulders. Medics began moving towards the bullheads as they finished their final landings and their doors were opened.
At first, all Weiss saw were a few mercenaries with minor injuries like small cuts and bruises. But then she saw the more serious injuries.
People with their bodies burned and bloodied. Some had holes in their arms, legs and chests. She saw one whose face was completely covered in gauze and bandages.
Screams of pain sounded as people were moved so that their injuries could be examined.
She saw a German shepherd walking around with a vest that looked to hold a lot of medical supplies because medics were reaching into pouches on it and taking out things like bandages and such.
She saw one man having his shoulder treated for a bullet wound. "It's just a graze. I'm alright." he said to the medic working on the wound who had a red ribbon around his wrist.
Weiss turned her head as a stretcher was rushed past her with another mercenary on it.
He wasn't moving all.
'Who could have done this?' Weiss questioned in her mind.
Weiss saw another man being given CPR while half of his left arm was gone.
Weiss stood there. As multiple people around her were injured, dying or already dead. She felt helpless.
Suddenly, she felt a hand pressed against her shoulder. She turned to see Ruby standing there, a knowing look on her face.
"What happened to them all?" Weiss asked.
"Our base in Menagerie was hit hard by the White Fang. The entire country is being hit hard for that matter. What you see around you are the people who were able to be extracted from the base. We don't know if anyone is still there, but all we can do right now is help the ones who need it the most." Ruby explained.
Weiss gave a deep breath and pushed all her helplessness away. "Alright".
Chapter 9, complete! Okay guys. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It was full of OC's and held some major plot development.
Many thanks to the creators of the submitted OC's that were used in this chapter.
Aiden 'Wraith' Strumwind: submitted by, GhostPheonix113.
Hunter 'Orian' Pierce: submitted by, Kerosene Desire.
Knato 'Nyx' Volkov: submitted by, SnowHeiress.
Ally 'Atremis' Demarco: submitted by, JiroBuster976
So, as you have read, things in this story are seeming to get really intense.
I've got a lot planned out for this series of stories, so just you wait.
Shout out to Shattered Specte for beta reading this chapter. It was a huge chapter at almost 8,000 words. I was expecting it to be around 10,000 but I managed to shorten it up just a bit.
Welp, thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all, in the next chapter.
