Chapter 4: Angel City
Part 2: Taking Control (a)
Near the middle of a burning city was a heavily armored tank guarded by five goliaths and two other tanks. At one point the convoy stopped and the door to the middle tank opened. Jim stepped out as the driver of the tank was saying something.
"This is as far as I can take you," the driver said, "it's safer if you walk to the rest of the way. Reports say that all the blocks between here and the tower are crawling with marines with RPGs and ghosts with high explosives. But don't worry; we're not leaving you alone."
Not five seconds after that, a human dropship and protoss shuttle landed behind the convoy. Out of the human dropship came fourteen marines and two ghosts, including Edward Jimenez, and Nova. The protoss shuttle had twelve zealots.
"Who's the leader of this group?" Jim asked the humans.
"I am," Edward replied, "Lieutenant Edward Jimenez ready for orders, sir."
"Where's lieutenant insignia, son?" Jim asked, noticing that Edward's suit only had the rank of sergeant on it.
"I gave myself a field promotion, sense the other lieutenant died on the way here," Edward said.
"I thought there'd be more," Jim said, taking a second look at the zealots.
"There was," Edward said, "two more dropships and one other shuttle, but they all got shot down. We're the only ones left."
"Then call in for more reinforcements," Jim ordered.
"Already done, sir." A marine said.
"Since I've only got a handful of men," Jim said, looking at the driver of the middle tank, "you're tagging along."
"No offense, sir," the driver said, "but leading armor into an explosive infested area is suicide. It's better off leading a division of men in on foot, it's a lot harder for ghosts to plant explosives on you."
"You've got fourteen marines, two ghosts, and twelve zealots as cover," Jim said.
"Yes, sir," the driver said as he closed the tank door.
"Onward," Jim ordered, and three tanks, five goliaths, twelve marines, two ghosts, and twelve zealots all moved forward with Jim in the middle. The large group moved through the ruined streets as explosions and gunfire went off in all directions. There were still dogfights in the air although the Hyperion had obviously won over the UED air units.
"Enemy targets closing in fast," a marine said, "vultures by the look of 'em. There's three of 'em, one seems to be lagging behind the others, probably damaged, sir."
"Hold position," Jim shouted, "you two," he pointed at Nova and the other ghost, "get ready to lockdown the two that come first. Nova you lock down the first, the other one lockdown the second. The rest of you open fire on the third. Fenix, you and your zealots stay back, for now."
The zealots were frustrated by the fact that they were being held back but they knew that two lockdowned vultures and a damaged vulture would be little challenge for them.
Within seconds, the first two vultures came around the street corner and Nova and the other ghost both launched specialized lockdown missiles at them. The vultures lost their hover ability and tumbled across the ground before ramming into a building. The third vulture had an engine on fire but still managed to launch one cluster grenade before getting torn to shreds by tank and goliath fire. The single cluster grenade hit the lead goliath and exploded. The damaged goliath now had a red spot from the heat of the explosion but little permanent damage had been done.
"Keep those sensors on full blast," Jim said, "next time something like this happens, we'll be ready to tear 'em apart just like this."
"That just might happen, sir." The same marine said, "Multiple targets closing in. Looks like infantry moving through the buildings."
"Take up positions," Jim ordered, "Fenix, this might be your time to shine. Take your zealots through the buildings and clear them out. Marines, spread out and find cover. Nova, take your partner ghost and make sure no UED ghosts sneak up and blow up our armor."
"En taro Adun," the front zealot said, "Come with me, my men. We shall purge this land."
Marines set up watch posts in the two buildings sandwiching the tanks and goliaths while Nova and the other ghost sat behind the convoy and watched the streets for any ripples in the air or signs of movement. Jim kneeled down behind a pile of rubble for cover and the twelve zealots charged into the two buildings in front of the group, six for each building.
"If you see anything blue that's not glowing," Jim said, "shoot it."
As Jim finished his fire at will order, a single rocket shot from the fourth floor window of the front, left building. The rocket hit the lead goliath almost in the exact same spot as the cluster grenade from the vulture. The rocket had less effect than the cluster grenade but it still hurt. A barrage of gunfire then opened on the immediate area of where the rocket came from. That entire part of the building was soon destroyed, leaving a gaping hole in the building. Then, a gunshot was heard, but this was different from a gauss rifle. It was loud and sounded powerful. It was unmistakable, the shot came from a canister rifle.
"Bloody hell, they're behind us!" a marine shouted.
"Nova," Jim shouted, "hunt down the ghost that shot that rifle, now!"
Nova complied and abandoned her post behind the convoy. She entered the building where the shot was heard from and found a dead, rebel marine lying on the ground. A part of his suit had been blown to bits by the powerful canister rifle. Depending on how loud the shot was, and how much damage was done to the suit the dead marine was wearing, the rival ghost was using explosive canisters instead of armor piercing rounds, the kind Nova was using. Suddenly, the lead goliath exploded with deadly force and red hot shrapnel flew everywhere. Jim ducked as a large piece of metal from the leg of the goliath flew over his mound of rubble.
"What the hell," Jim shouted, "you're supposed to be watching our armor!"
"Sorry, sir," the ghost apologized, "It won't happen again."
Half of a UED marine fell out the third story window of the forward right building as a blue light emitted from the room. It signaled a kill for the protoss. Now gunfire was heard inside the forward buildings but they weren't directed outside at Jim's group. Inside one of the forward buildings, there was a group of three zealots engaging a group of four marines in a large corridor hallway. The front marine fired off his last rounds into the front zealot but the bullets bounced off an invisible shield that glowed bright blue whenever struck. The zealot stabbed the marine in the chest with both of his deadly wrist blades and tore him in half as the other two zealots charged past him and attacked the remaining three marines. In the other forward building across the street, six zealots were finishing slaughtering a cornered group of marines.
"There, the job is done," one zealot said, "I do not sense any other beings inside this building."
"Still," a second zealot objected, "there could be ghosts on the fourth floor or roof that are hiding their presence."
"I doubt there are any more humans in the building," the first zealot said.
As the zealot said this, a gunshot rang through the building and a small hole opened up on the ceiling. The six zealots looked up as a small object fell from the hole. The object had a blinking red light and was emitting a beeping sound.
"Do you still doubt?" the second zealot said right before the object exploded and sent the six zealots flying out of the third floor of the building and onto the street below.
"Shit," Jim shouted, "you guys alright?"
"We're fine," a zealot said as the six zealots got up, "It will take more than that to kill a zealot." As he finished this sentence, several of the same small objects were thrown out of the fourth floor of the building he just came flying out of, "but that might do."
The six zealots kneeled down and shielded their faces with their wrist blades as the multiple bombs detonated, shrouding the entire street with dust and debris. Nova ran into another room as another gunshot from a canister rifle was heard. She found another dead rebel marine but this time she also found the culprit. A ghost was standing in the doorway with a raised canister rifle. The UED ghost aimed at Nova but Nova was quick to pull out her katana and get close to the UED ghost. The UED ghost dropped his rifle and unsheathed his katana just in time to block Nova's downward strike.
"Come on, baby," the masked UED ghost said, "I wouldn't want to hurt a fine thing such as yourself."
Nova, being without a mask, simply smiled at the UED ghost, "sorry, you're not my type."
Nova pulled her sword back and swung diagonally from the ground up. The UED ghost blocked the strike and pulled out a pistol. Nova pulled back again swung from downward on the UED ghost. The UED ghost blocked Nova's strike again and aimed his pistol at her. Nova lifted her left leg up and kicked at the UED ghost's pistol. But the UED ghost dropped his pistol before Nova's kick even landed and instead grabbed her leg. He lifted her leg up and pushed, knocking Nova onto her back. Nova had abandoned her rifle early on in the fight and now she had also dropped her sword. She reached for her sidearm but with one quick swing the barrel to her pistol was gone. The UED ghost raised his sword, preparing to deliver the killing blow, but then a bullet hole opened up in his chest. The shot came from a canister rifle behind the UED ghost. He stumbled forward and landed on Nova, dead. Nova, disgusted, pushed the dead ghost off of her and got up. Edward had walked in on the fight and picked up Nova's canister rifle.
By now only four of the six zealots that were hit with multiple bombs were still alive. That four reentered the building and had hunted down the ghost that kept on throwing bombs. The rebel ghost that hid behind the convoy shot his rifle and the bullet soared through an invisible body that was trying to get close to another goliath. The invisible body became visible and dropped onto the ground, dead. Six zealots walked out of the forward left building, one of them had blood splattered all over him.
"I see you've been busy, Fenix," Jim said with a laugh.
"Indeed," the blood-covered zealot said, "Although I feel as if I didn't let my men get enough kills."
"They'll get their chance," Jim signaled for his men to leave the cover of the buildings.
So all the marines and Nova left the cover buildings and continued on with the rest of the group down the road. But the group was now down one goliath, five marines, and two zealots and they hadn't even traveled two blocks yet. It was going to be a long walk to the center of Angel city.