You know, I really need to start finishing these….or at least not stopping. Heck, I finished one but then deleted it so hey, I can do it. But enough beating around the bush. If you're still reading this after the long break, my thanks for the patience waiting for the next chapter. If you're new to this story, welcome and please leave me feedback.

So then, with that done, let's try and work out some rust, eh?

Chapter 24

Operation Cloudburst part 5

Rescue

He always found a way to get into trouble

Back then I just hoped he wouldn't keep it up.

But…we were inexperienced.

Remind me why I'm doing this again. Leaving behind the main battle to go and save my brother, armed with only a shotgun, a pistol and a few….I'll just say improvised grenades. Knowing my luck so far, I'm going to be facing….at the very least riflemen. And now as I walk the dead silent streets, save for the sounds of combat in the distance, all that can be heard is my footsteps, all four of them….wait, what?

Tightening my grip on the shotgun, I spin around, lowering to one knee, my eyes darting from spot to spot, trying to find the source of the other footsteps. The steel pressed to my side digging in quite painfully.

The second pair of footsteps is unheard; the streets, laden with the shell of a car along with shelled buildings, are a dismal sight, but yield no surprises. I breathe a sigh of relief, relaxing slightly, and standing back up. This is bad when I've only been serving, what….a few weeks at most. I'm going to be a wreck by the time this is over.

*Click* oh shit.

"You need to check your back more often" oh thank god. I turn around, seeing Catherine, holding her pistol.

"Please don't do that to me" I told her, shaking my head. "But then again, what the hell are you doing here? I thought you'd be with Welkin and company assaulting the bridge"

"Welkin sent me to help you out, said you would require some sort of aid in your little brotherly issue" ah Welkin, how kind. She pulled back on the slide of her gun, spinning it in her hand before holstering it, then grabbing her GSR off her back.

"I owe you one Catherine" I scratched the back of my head as I said this. "Come on, James can't hold forever"

Catherine nodded, moving the bolt on her rifle to make sure it was set. What's with her and constantly needing to make sure she's loaded? Anyway, digressing aside, we kept on running through the streets, getting closer to James' location, I strapped on my earpiece once again, hearing the radio chatter from the bridge in full swing. Damn it how am I going to-

"Can anyone hear me?" wow, that was lucky.

"James! Come in!" I shouted back.

"Craig? You anywhere near the Church of St Lauress?" Church of wha?

"James, this is Catherine, we're about 3 streets away. How many are we looking at?" Ah Catherine, good to fill in the blanks in directions.

"I…" we heard a few gunshots followed by a thud. I heard a few footsteps on the line, quieter then James' should have been…

"James?" No response, just more footsteps. "James!" I heard a door close, followed by another thud.

"Remind me not to do that again" he replied. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief as he spoke. "Took a shot to the side but I think I made it" he breathed heavily a few times, another thud. "There's…8 or so….Rifles and….and Submachine guns" he coughed, another thud on the mic. "Listen, I managed to get a rifle from one of them. Got about 3 mags along with it…poor guy never saw the melon that hit his melon" I heard a click as I presume he pulled the bolt. "I'll do some fighting when you move in…but if you fail…well…"

"Don't talk like that James" I told him, shaking my head. "We're the heroes, we'll save your ass" he huffed on his side, this time definitely charging his rifle.

"You better Craig…" he remarked.

"Just be ready for some fireworks"

He 'hmmed' on his end, gunfire rising on his end once more as the mic cut out. I took the mic out, hearing the gunfire in the air. "Let's move" I told Catherine, lifting the shotgun into my hand again. She nodded, running ahead of me to the…church.

Running through these war-torn streets was…odd. You know what I said earlier about it being dismal…it still was but it seemed so…distant. Maybe having the objective of saving James in my mind made it seem further away from my mind but….I don't know.

We eventually came to the chur- this is a church? If this is a church, my god, what do the Cathedrals like? this was flipping fancy. We could hear gunfire inside and see a shadow against the stained glass (another Valkyrur…no surprise) he was spinning around, firing his presumably rifle around the place. You know, I'm going to feel sad burning this place to the ground. But the Pyromaniac in me demands I do so. I ran over to the door, kneeling down and placing the shotgun down. Catherine switched to her pistol, slinging her rifle over her back.

"This is going to be fun" I told her, pulling the cocktails off my belt and stuffing the rag into them. "And now, for a bit of flame" I pulled the lighter off, flicking it open and looking at it, dragging my thumb down, hear the click with no flame. "Stupid piece" I did it once more. "Of junk" Third times the charm, lighting the flame. "Finally" I lit the rags, flicking the cover over the lighter and putting it into my pocket again. I held one of the Molotov's out for Catherine. "Soon as we enter, throw it. More of the blighters we get, the better off the three of us are going to be" Catherine gave me a look of disgust as she grabbed hers.

"We're going to burn down a church?" she asked. I shrugged, grabbing my shotgun again.

"A building can be rebuilt, a life can't be replaced" she sighed, shaking her head at my logic.

"Fine, fine" She walked away from me, going to the other end of the door. I stood facing it, ready to go. I looked at Catherine, getting a nod.

Right. Let's go.

I booted the door with all my might….getting a pain in my leg in response. I hopped around for a bit as I realised what this door was made from: solid oak. Frick. Plan B. I aimed my shotgun at the hinges, firing a blast and pumping as it disappeared in a cloud of buckshot. I did the same to the other, pumping one more time as I booted the door once more.

This time got a reaction, the door failing to the floor loudly, echoing around the insides. This one was larger then it's counterpart over the river, with loads of pews, an altar at the far end of…may as well be a small street. At the opposite end were two staircases attached to the walls, going off opposite ways and looping around the wall to the stained glass window and a door, leading, presumably to a bell tower.

And that's when I saw them…well, more felt them. The 8 soldiers James had told me about, each one charging down the stairs towards us, the front two stopping in the middle to shoot at us. I dived for cover behind one of the wooden seats as a flaming bottle flew from behind me, landing just short of the imperials. The ball of fire still erupted however, setting some of the seats on fire.

By now, the Imperials had taken their positions behind the chairs. I shot up, looking around quickly for where they were. 4 left, 4 right. Great, a 50 50 split. I looked at the closer lot, throwing the cocktail with all my might towards them, landing close enough to actually hit one of them. He screams as he erupted in flames, swinging his arms around wildly in order to try and extinguish the flames. His mate stopped firing in order to help him, patting the flames. I reached for my pistol, swinging it out quickly and lining up the irons.

Before I could capitalise on the pair's distraction, a hail of bullets flew my way. Before the risk grew too great, I dived, mentally citing myself for failing to get a good shot in. reholstering the pistol and grabbing my shotgun with both hands, I breathed a few times, hearing gunfire flying from Catherine.

"James we're going to need a hand here!" I shouted, jumping over the pew and taking cover in the next row as the next wave of gunfire hit. I didn't get a response. I looked over the pew, seeing 4 Imps, 2 from each team, moving forward as their comrades fired or reloaded. "Catherine, screw the Pistol, get some shots in with the rifle!" I heard a very loud bang and a scream as an imp took a bullet. I looked over to Catherine, seeing her pulling the bolt on her rifle.

"Sorry, what was that?" she asked. I smiled, shaking my head. Well, that saved time. And now it's 7. I heard footsteps near me, grabbing my shotgun and flying up, seeing the imp to my right.

And then….I don't know how exactly to describe it. I just seemed to…know... EXACTLY where to shoot and when. The easy bit to explain is the fact that the world slowed down and even though I felt bullets hit me (4 of them in fact, so add them to the list of wounds from this battle), I didn't feel the pain. I lined up the shot, pulling the trigger. Time sped back to normal and the blighter was riddled with enough buckshot to bring down a horse. I ducked back down, pumping the shotgun. 6 left. I looked around the side of the pew, seeing small fire building in their end of the church…yeah. Probably should have thought the fire bombs through a tad bit more.

I looked around, seeing the remaining 5 (did the other die of the fire from earlier?) group together on the right. I dived to the right, a hail of bullets following me, hitting my leg a bit more. And this was when the adrenaline finally wore out, the pain from the bullets finally digging in with a groan of pain from me. I breathed a few times, shaking my head to ignore the pain. I hear another gunshot, hearing Catherine groan in the background. I turn to her, seeing a wound on her shoulder.

"Catherine! You ok?" I shout. She nods, aiming and firing another shot quickly, retaking cover. I'm not sure how she pulls it off but she pulls the bolt back and manages to get another bullet before letting go of the bolt, the bullet landing in the insertion point and the sniper rebolting the rifle. Skills from the 1st Europan war perhaps.

She repeats what she did before, this time getting a clear shot at one of the blighter's chest. I lunge up, firing two quick bursts and finishing him off. 4 left. I breathed a few more times, not seeing any smoke or indeed the heat of a fire, as one was walking along the pews, checking them each in turn. Why? I'll never know. He just saw me firing and he knows where Catherine is. Either way, one dumb Imp is an improvement for me. I shot up, running towards him.

"Hey, Imp!" I shouted. He turned towards me, swinging his gun around. I went into a slide, hitting his legs and tripping him up, watching as a bullet went right before my left eye. He hit the ground face first, his gun discharging once more. I swung my shotgun around, firing a point blank burst into his chest, pumping and firing once more, making sure the bastard was dead. I pumped once more, looking down at the guy, my back to a seat. Poor guy now has quite a large hole in his chest. I breath a few times, suppressing some vomit as the sounds of gunfire and bullets impacting the wood. Right. 3 left. I shot up when the gunfire ended, pulling the trigger once more AND nothing.

"Shit" I remarked, pulling the trigger a few times to make sure. The gunfire restarted, resulting in me getting hit a few times by bullets in the shoulder. And fuck did they sting. I dived down once more, grabbing my shoulder. Come on, it's just a few bullets you prat. Get back in there. I pumped the shotgun again, seeing the subtle lack of shells.

"Catherine, I need to reload!" I shouted, flipping the gun in my arms. "Cover me"

"I'm reloading as well!" she shouted back. I looked at her, seeing her pulling the bolt back, shoving in a new clip and struggling to replace the bolt (didn't she put a stray bullet in earlier?). I could see the strain on her face as she fought to reload. She looked in. "Reload quick, their on the way!"

I started the painstaking process of reloading, grabbing the first 3 shells off my bandolier and starting to shove them in. I grabbed the next 3, shoving the next two in and getting the third stuck. I let it go, trying to pump the shotgun and failing to get it moving.

"Shit" I said to myself. smacking the side of the gun, trying to get the new shell in. I heard footsteps and laughter to my right, turning and seeing the Imp ready to shoot me. "Shit"

"This isn't your Day" he told me. I forgot all about my pistol, crawling back away from him, still fighting with the shell.

Suddenly, he crumbled under a lump landing on him. I crawled backwards a bit, finally getting the new shell in as the lump moved.

"This isn't your day" He spoke. I heard a shot being fired with the lump moving to my side. "Miss me?"

"No, I didn't" I told him, sighing. "Thanks James"

"Thanks for coming to save me" he told me, unloading his pistol. "Got any spare mags?"

"Yeah. But shortcut" I grabbed my pistol, holding it out for him. He took it from me, and I grabbed my spare mags. He shoved one in his own pistol, pulling the slide back and flipping them round. "Ready?"

"Oh yeah!"

He jumped up as the hail of gunfire ended, aiming his pistols quickly, emptying the entire clip of both at the imperials. I heard two very loud shouts as he finished shooting, lowering his pistols. "all clear" he spoke. I stood up carefully, looking over and seeing the imps dead. He turned to me, looking serious. "Had to dump my rifle, but we got the job done" I shook my head, turning to him and throwing my fist at his face, knocking him to the ground.

"You IDIOT!" I shouted, walking over to the doors. "When we get to camp, I'm going to have a word with you about this" I heard him getting up slowly.

"How far along are we?" he asked. I stopped at the doors, not looking at him.

"Last I knew it was the assault on the bridge. If we're quick we should be able to get in for the final few minutes" I heard him pick up a rifle, so I turned and saw it behind the altar...slightly singed. I guess the fire was put out during the fire-fight...no pun intended. He holstered his pistol, holding mine and throwing mine to me. I took a hand off to catch it, looking at the mag...or therefore lack of. "Where's the ammo?"

"You've got the shotgun, you don't need pistol ammo" he told me. I shook my head, kneeling down and placing my shotgun on the ground to grab the spare clip and shove it in, holstering it again. I never want to say holster again.

"James, sometimes I wonder..." I commented, grabbing my shotgun and standing up. "...never mind...let's go and finish up here" James nodded, catching a stripper clip Catherine threw him and reloading, catching another two and attaching them to his gun.

Fighting in a church of the Valkyrur... to stain such a sacred, to these people at least, with blood and death...

I'm not religious myself...but I respect the faith people can have.

But...what happened there...I...don't know...

maybe they were watching over me...maybe...I don't know.

You know, it's kind of odd to leave this for so long and come straight back into a combat chapter. Once I got going it was easy but, getting going: bleh. Took me like 5 attempts to get it going. Kept changing between a shop, a church and a bar.

Anyway, I'm back, and I'm ready to go. Consider this a late Christmas gift from your old British friend (and if you don't like Brits...I actually can't think of anything witty about that but still...*sad face* )