Richtofenking95: Hello ladies and gentlefolk! Le gasp! I've managed to post within a month! Haha anyway I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, thank you for all those who've been supporting this fic, it has really been keeping it going! And I hope that I am consistent in the quality that I deliver to you.
Anyway just to let you know that my dear sister Tsukibooks is going to be taking a backseat for a bit, we're still collaborating but she won't be writing authors notes for the foreseeable future, however she may drop the occasional one.
Also giving you a heads up, that the next chapter is going to probably be a pretty long one, and chock full of stuff, so I'll try as hard as I can to write it out and post it, but it could take a while.
Anyway please R&R and let me know your thoughts on this chapter, and story.
Chapter 35: Grab the gear!
"What in Lenin's name do you think you're doing!?" Major Mororzov demanded, pistol and aimed at Price's back.
Price rolled his eyes, grabbing his Desert Eagle, spinning round and pointing the gun at the Major; "We're leaving" he said bluntly, staring daggers at the rival Russian.
"Nyet! You're not going anywhere!" Morozov barked furiously, tightening his grip on his pistol aimed at Price's head.
The Russian Major looked like he had been through the meat grinder and was at his wits end. His greying hair was not in its usual kept state, and was dirtied with dust and debris. Under the hairline must have been an open cut as a flow of blood had made its way down into his scared face, which was also sporting a couple of new cuts, which looked like Hellhound claw marks, across the scars that were already adorning his cheek no doubt adding to them. His grey eyes were frenzied, and filled with fury from the stress. Sweat from his brow was mixed with the grime on his face. His uniform too reflected his face, covered in dust and dirt, torn with a couple of debris wounds. All in all the Russian Major didn't look like he was having a good day.
"You 'heroes' just cannot make life easy can you?" He spat. He then glanced at the Arkwright sisters; "And who gave you two permission to give them their weapons back!?"
"With all due respect sir, our orders were to protect them, and considering you weren't around and it was only us two we had little choice but to give them a means to defend themselves" Kelly answered venomously, glaring at her Major.
"Insubordination!" Morozov spat, before directing his glare back at Price. Before he could say anything Price spoke first.
"Listen here Morozov, we don't have time to argue about this. Moscow is falling, there's nothing that can be done about that. We're leaving weather you like it or not. Now you can either put aside your pride and help us out, or am I going to have to put you down myself?" The British Captain rested his finger on the trigger of his Desert Eagle.
"It is unlikely that you'll be able to shoot me when you're dead" Morozov smirked, preparing to fire his own pistol. He stopped though in surprise as Evan raised his M1911 at him.
"You pull that trigger and I'll kill you myself" the bloody faced teen challenged the Russian.
"Put the gun down boy" Kelly ordered, aiming her assault rifle at Evan.
"I don't think so sister" Dempsey growled, Lamentation raised to the younger Arkwright. He was backed up by a couple more of the team.
"Nein Fräulein!" Richtofen hissed grabbing Emily from behind, knife to her throat, preventing her from raising her own gun.
"What's it going to be Morozov?" Price smirked challengingly; "Even if you shoot me down, these guys are capable of looking after themselves without me"
Morozov breathed heavily, studying the situation, pistol raised and ready to still fire, finger itching to pull the trigger. He looked in Price's eyes and saw a cold resolve in them.
"Don't make me regret this Price..." Morozov sighed, relenting and lowering his pistol; "But I am coming with you"
"You bloody well ain't mate!" Evan scoffed, pistol lowered, but still ready to spring into action.
"If you want my help to get your remaining gear and to get out of this city I am!" Morozov barked, glaring at the teen.
"We've managed this far without you, why would we need you now?" Soap asked.
"Because fool, I still have a squad of soldiers at my command who can help you escape, as well as transport out of Moscow" Morozov explained; "And I am still under orders to keep you wretches under my safekeeping"
"We don't have time to argue about this!" Price snapped, silencing any other objectors. He then raised his Desert Eagle at Morozov; "we'll accept your help, and you can come with us, but pull anything funny or get in our way and I won't hesitate to put you into the dust, clear?"
"It is you who should be put down dog, but yes we're clear, you'll have my support... for now" Morozov nodded bitterly.
"Good" Price said, eyes staring coldly at the Russian Major for a couple more seconds, before lowering his pistol.
Kelly lowered her assault rifle, as did Dempsey and the other Heroes who had their weapons raised.
"Hmph vell zhat is disappointing" Richtofen grumbled, releasing Emily, and sheathing his knife; "Don't take zhat personally" he told her.
"Kind of hard not too German" Emily said, rubbing her throat disgruntled.
"Right Captain, what is it you need to do and what is your plan?" Morozov asked Price.
"We need to get Rosie's Tech buddy and laptop back, we also need to go back to the hotel and grab the rest of our gear, and then get some transport and get the hell out of here" Price listed off on what they needed to do; "I think we'll have to split up again, we'll have radios this time though. I think three groups should do; one to go into the Kremlin and grab the tech, one to retrieve the gear from the hotel, and the third to secure and protect transport until we regroup"
"So who do you want where Cap?" Dempsey asked the seasoned soldier.
Price scratched his beard thinking for a second before speaking; "Alright Rosie, Dempsey, Soap, Reznov, Drunk Nikolai, Roach go to the Kremlin, get the gear"
"Kelly, go with them too" Morozov told the younger Arkwright. He turned to Price who was glaring at him; "You may have our help Price, but I still maintain command over my own"
"Fine" Price grunted; "Evan, Richtofen, Takeo, Section, Harper, Ghost, Foley, Jackson, get to the hotel and grab what you can"
"Emily, you'll join them" Morozov told the older Arkwright sister.
"Where would this transport of yours be Major?" Price asked the Russian.
"Same place as you landed when you first arrived; Domodedovo airport" Morozov answered; "Which will no doubt be under heavy attack being as it is our main air force base, however I can order a couple of transport helicopters to be ready for us along the way there"
"Alright, the rest of us, including myself, and Morozov will head to the airport to secure transport and hold it down. Be sharpish people, we don't know how quickly this is going to escalate, and remember to maintain radio contact" Price told the team.
-"I vould make it even snappier, Samantha's forces have broken through ze Belarus-Russian border and are making fast pace to ze Capital" Maxis informed through the radios.
"Follow me, I'll take you to the President's office" Kelly told Rosie, Dempsey, Nikolai, Roach, Reznov, and Soap, walking towards the gate that separated Red Square from the Kremlin.
"Let's get you guys to the hotel, we'll take a truck" Emily said cheerily to her group.
"We'll find some trucks to get us to the airport" Morozov told Price as the Captain lit a cigar. The remaining Heroes followed the two soldiers.
-"Makarov, how goes ze assault?" Samantha asked her Russian general over the radio.
"It goes well Samantha. My force took Russian defences by surprise, bombers quickly crippled them, and the Kamikaze attacks on their military H.Q had better results than we anticipated" Vladimir Makarov reported in; "Ground forces are landing as we speak, and are dealing with the remaining resistance, while securing the city"
-"Good, this pleases me" Samantha told the terrorist Russian; "As you may have heard, Dragovich and Kravchenko have broken through ze Belarus-Russian border. I have instructed them to lend their support to you, they'll arrive as quickly as their Helicopters allow them to"
"Fine, not that there will be much for them to clean up when they get here" Makarov told the evil girl.
-"Be zhat ze case or not it doesn't matter" Samantha said; "Moscow is a strategic location, from there ze army can be directed to vhere I bid them to go"
"If that is your will Samantha, then I won't object" Makarov agreed.
-"It is. Now then, vhat of zhat rat Edward and ze others, do you know if their location?" Samantha questioned.
"I've received word from our contacts that the 'Heroes' regrouped and rearmed, and are attempting to flee the city" Makarov informed; "They have been forced to split into three groups as they are missing some equipment. Some are heading to the Kremlin, others, including the Doctor, are heading to the hotel they were staying in. Captain Price and the majority of the others are heading to the airport to secure transport. I am heading there now to meet them"
-"Make sure you do not let them escape Makarov, and do not compromise our own in the group" Samantha warned.
"Damn, bastards have defiantly been through here" Dempsey grimaced at the bodies of Russian soldiers and Kremlin staff lining the bloodstained floors of the Parliament building.
"Let's just keep moving, and keep your guard up, there could still be more of them" Kelly suggested, cautiously keeping her Assault Rifle raised as she led the Marine, Rosie, Roach, Reznov, Nikolai, and Soap to Putin's office.
"Do you think Putin would still be here?" Rosie asked curiously, stepping over a corpse.
"Maybe, he may have been evacuated though?" Kelly shrugged.
"Hopefully the son of a bitch was massacred too" Roach muttered scanning a side room for hostiles, and finding only bodies.
"Watch your tongue" Kelly hissed as they continued their creep down the hallway.
"Can't we pick up the pace a bit?" Dempsey asked impatiently.
"Sure, if you want to get yourself killed" Kelly glared at the Marine.
"For fuck sake we're not getting anywhere fast at this rate, come on Nikolai, let's take point" Dempsey told his drunken ally.
The American and the Russian pushed past a grumpy Kelly and went ahead of the group, weapons at the ready.
"Sweep that room pal, I'll take the one on the right" Dempsey ordered the drunkard as they came up to the last two doors of the hallway, before the staircase. The two soldiers went into the rooms to search for any enemies.
Nikolai looked drunkenly around the office he was in. Seeing that it was empty he was about to leave when he heard a guttural growl from behind the desk. Turning round the Soviet saw a lone zombie with one leg missing climbing over the desk and dropping to the floor with a thud.
"Nikolai I'm clear, how you doing?" Dempsey asked coming back out into the hallway.
"I've got one hell pig in this room" Nikolai answered, taking his Olympia Shotgun from his back and aiming it at the flesh hungry crawler.
"Alright pal, just take it out with your knife, don't want to aler-..." Dempsey began but was cut off by the sound of the Cossack's Shotgun blasting the zombie. A couple of seconds later an unearthly Howl sounded through the building, followed by many many more.
"Shit! Nikolai get your ass out here!" Dempsey shouted over the howls before looking sharply at the others; "Run!" He yelled before running up the stairs.
"What the hell is that!?" Roach asked as the howls and moans grew louder, as he, Rosie, Kelly, Nikolai, Reznov followed their American comrade up the stairs.
Soap who was bringing up the rear held back for a second, hearing the cries getting louder, looking back down the hallway he saw from another hallway halfway down the one they had come from a tidal wave of zombies and Hellhounds heading towards them; "Holy shite! You don't want to know!" the Scotsman cried running up the stairs too as the hoard approached.
"Nikolai you fucking idiot!" Dempsey roared, gunning down more zombies coming out of offices and rooms as they ran to Putin's office.
"Ahh!" Soap cried as a crawler from one of the side rooms tripped him up. He shot it dead before it could take a chunk out of his leg. His eyes widened in horror however as he saw the hoard approaching him.
Just as a Hellhound was about to leap at him it was met with a hose of bullets killing it and letting its limp body skid to a stop in front of him.
"Get in your feet! I won't be able to hold them back forever!" Reznov, who had been Soap's saviour, shouted, firing his PPSH into the wave and cutting many down, causing others to trip of the corpses of their companions.
Soap quickly got up and helped the Russian cut down a few more zombies before they both turned to catch up with their allies.
"Go left! Now right! Keep going we're almost there!" Kelly shouted directions at Dempsey and Nikolai who continued leading the way.
"Guys watch out!" Rosie screamed as she spotted a group of Ultranationalist soldiers charging out of another hallway to cut them off.
"Wrong way bitch!" Kelly berated Dempsey, pulling him out the way of the enemies gunsights and leading the group down a different hallway.
"Heads down!" Roach shouted as bullets whizzed over them. Soap and Reznov gave suppressing fire as they ran.
"There's the office!" Rosie pointed to the door with the Presidential seal on it. The seven of them ran into the office and slammed the door shut. Nikolai and Dempsey quickly pushed the desk in front of it, and then placed a couple of sofas on top of it for good measure. From the other side of the door they could hear the banging of soldiers and zombies trying to get it, bullets being shot, only to be absorbed by the large sofas.
It was then that Dempsey smacked Nikolai across the back of the head; "Why do you always have to fuck everything up Nikolai!" He snapped; "Don't you remember that there's never only one zombie and that they'll hear shit like you pulled off!"
"I don't see what big problem is Dempsey, there's now one less hell pig" Nikolai shrugged, rubbing the back of his head.
"'I don't see what big problem is'" Dempsey repeated in a mock Russian accent; "Firstly dumbass you wasted ammo on one zombie crawler where your knife would've been better! Second; the 'big problem' is now we're trapped in the room with a load of zombies and soldiers blocking our only way out!"
"Eh whatever, we always get out of bad situations, this is no different" Nikolai shrugged again, not caring, and walking over to the drinks cabinet.
Roach and Reznov had to restrain Dempsey, who had a vein popping out of his head, from launching himself at the drunken Soviet.
"So uh Maxis, any clue where my tech is?" Rosie asked the German, trying to break the tension.
-"I am getting signals from ze cupboard by ze window" Maxis answered from Kelly's radio; "Yes your laptop und handheld device are in here, follow ze sound of my voice" the Scientist's voice had moved from the radio to the cupboard.
Rosie walked over and pulled at the drawer, but found it was locked; "Dammit" she sighed.
"What?" Soap asked.
"Draw is locked" Rosie answered.
"Just shoot the lock" Dempsey told her bluntly.
"And risk breaking the tech" Roach pointed out; "Rosie do you have a hair pin?"
"Uh yeah sure" Rosie said, taking the pin she was using to hold her hair up out and handing it to the 141 soldier.
Roach knelt down in front of the drawers and placed the pin in the lock, his ear close by listening intently.
It was then that a fresh round of bullets shredded through the door. Thankfully one of the sofas prevented the bullets from going further, however that didn't stop a couple of zombies from pushing through a hole in the door and pushing the sofa aside.
"Shit! We got a breach!" Dempsey shouted, firing his Lamentation at the zombies attempting to climb through the hole.
"Die! Die!" Nikolai yelled drunkenly, firing both barrels of his Olympia, and blasting chunks of meat back into the hallway.
"Rrrrrearrrgghh!" Reznov cried out like a wild animal, jumping on top of the desk and unleashing a barrage of bullets from his PPSH out into the hallway; "Get the chair back on the desk!" He told the others jumping off the desk as he had to reload.
"Fuck I'm out!" Dempsey cursed, throwing his empty Lamentation down and pulling out his CZ75 Pistol as Soap and Kelly lifted the sofa back onto the desk, covering the breach.
"Got it!" Roach said triumphantly as the drawer unlocked.
"Thanks Roach" Rosie smiled, teaching her laptop out of the drawer and putting it in her bag. She then took her Tech Buddy; "Maxis you in there?"
-"Yes, I must admit it feels good to be home" Maxis answered.
"Great, now that we have your tech, how the hell do we get out of here?" Soap asked leaning against the sofa as more zombies tried to push it aside.
-"I am afraid you're only escape is either through ze door, or down three stories out ze window" Maxis informed.
"Shit, looks like we're going to have to fight our way out" Roach groaned.
"We'd better think of a plan quickly, I think I heard the enemy soldiers say something about breaching charges" Kelly suggested.
"Shit enemy Little Bird baring down on our six!" Harper shouted, looking in the mirror from the passenger seat he was in, as Emily sped around a corner in the truck they were in.
"Suppressive fire!" Foley shouted as he, Ghost, Jackson, Takeo and Even fried at the Helicopter from the back of the truck.
Evan switched his Commando for his FR F2 Bolt action Rifle and aimed at the cockpit of the Little Bird. The truck swerved as he fired, missing.
"Emily can you try and drive straight for a second!" The teen shouted in annoyance, cycling the bolt.
"Hey I'm trying to not get is killed here kid!" Emily shouted back.
While the others suppressed the Helicopter Evan waited for the opportune moment to shoot.
"We're crossing the bridge over the Moskva, Evan now!" Emily called as she began driving straight.
Evan held his breath for a second calming his senses and lining up the shot; "Please god" he hissed before pulling the trigger. The bullet whizzed straight through the cockpit class and hit the pilot in the chest. The Little bird nosedived, crashed into the road in flames and skidded off into the river.
"Ah Evan, wunderba shot, vorthy of ze British" Richtofen commended the teen. He and Section had been shooting enemy soldiers and zombies from the backseats of the truck.
"That was a damn good shot kid" Ghost agreed, laughing and slapping Evan's shoulder.
"Cheers guys" Evan laughed. He tentatively touched the gash on the side of his face. Luckily the bleeding had stopped and it had clotted preventing more blood loss.
"How's the cheek?" Foley asked.
"Bleeding has stopped, but it still stings like a bitch" Evan answered; "Richtofen can I use one of those Syrettes?"
"I am not wasting one of my injections on a simple cut, ve have a limited supply as it is until I get my hands on more 115" Richtofen answered shortly; "Once I get my medical equipment back I'll be able to stitch it up in a jiffy, it vill scar though"
"I guess that's the way it's gonna have to be" Evan sighed, shrugging.
"Hazard of the trade mate" Ghost said cheerfully.
"We all bare the wounds of battle in some way or another" Takeo muttered.
"Hey ladies, we've arrived" Harper told them as they came to a stop. The nine of them disembarked.
"Jeez this place looks a mess" Jackson whispered as they looked at the hotel which had bullet holes in the walls, shattered windows and a couple of bodies just outside.
"Emily, I'd park the truck around back, don't want the enemy blowing it up" Foley suggested, noting the destroyed cars close by.
"Sure thing, I'll meet you guys inside" Emily agreed, pulling the truck away and driving it to the hotel car park around the back of the building.
"Let's head on in" Section said, climbing the stairs and pushing one of the wooden doors, which was hanging off its hinge, open.
"Oh my god..." Evan grimaced as they walked into the trashed lobby. The place looked like a massacre had happened. Zombie, civilian, enemy and friendly soldier bodies, littered the blood soaked floor. Even looked at the reception desk and saw the receptionist, who they had left only a couple of hours ago, slumped over dead in her chair.
"Hey guys I'm... back... oh god" Emily began cheerily but then turned to horror as she saw the scene before her; "Those bastards"
"Let's just grab our gear and get out of here" Foley told them; "Takeo take point"
The Japanese Samurai took the lead as they made their way to the fourth floor and rooms the Heroes were staying in. The group kept their guard up, ready for anything that might leap out at them.
"Right, we're on our floor, let's split up and grab what we need" Section said as they came to where they were staying in the hotel. The nine of them dispersed among the rooms. Richtofen went into his room first, he was one of the few people in their group who had his own room, not that anyone wanted to share with him anyway. He walked over and grabbed his journal from a drawer, as well his medical kit. He pocketed the journal and strapped the kit to his belt. Just as he was about to turn and leave he heard a voice in his head.
"Hehehe peekaboo I SEE YOU!" Samantha laughed wickedly.
Richtofen's lightning green eyes widened violently. He span round and looked at the window, where just outside on the ledge sat a flying zombie monkey.
"Nein Samantha you little brat!" The Nazi screeched, firing his AK-74u at the monkey, shattering the window. His efforts were wasted however as the undead primate flew away into the night.
"What the hell is going on German?" Foley demanded hearing the commotion.
"One of Samantha's flying pests as scouted us out, ve need to be quick here, otherwise ve'll have ze hoard of zombies she's sure to be sending our vay on our hands" Richtofen answered, rushing out into the corridor and into one of the other rooms and grabbing everything that looked important.
"Shit" Evan swore under his breath, stuffing his belongings into his bag, grabbing Daniel's gear, and moving to another room. After a couple of minutes he had Rosie's and Lara's bags too.
Ten minutes later they all met back out in the corridor, gear in hands. Luckily most of the Heroes didn't carry much.
"Alright looks like we're all set, let's get out of here" Harper stated. The team began descending the stairs, as they reached the second floor however the heard a commotion from the bottom of the building.
"Zhat doesn't sound good..." Richtofen trailed off.
"Awe man not this bullshit again" Harper groaned as a hoard of zombie came rushing up the stairs and towards the group.
"Fall back, fall back!" Foley barked as he and the others fired at the wave, and backing towards the stairs they had just come down.
"When. Will. We. Get. A. Break!?" Evan yelled, firing a shot from his F2 with each word, dispatching a few zombies, including some collaterals. Just then a Jumping Jack zombie leapt from the wall it was crawling on and smashed into the teen. Evan struggled against the mutation, its shark like mouth trying to tear into his throat, razor like talons digging into his chest. The teen held the Jumping Jack back by holding onto its elongated fangs, forcing its mouth to stay open.
Suddenly, with a flash of metal, the abomination's head came loose in Evan's hands, and the rest of its body fell limply to the ground.
"(You will not feast this day vile beast)" Takeo announced in Japanese, Katana drawn from beheading the Jumping Jack.
"Thanks Tak!" Evan said breathlessly as the Japanese Samurai helped him up hastily.
"Guys thank each other later and get out of there!" Harper snapped as he and the others desperately tried to hold back the ever growing hoard of zombies from tearing into the two.
Evan looked quickly at his FR F2 on the ground just in front of the hoard.
"Leave it Evan it's not worth your life!" Foley barked, knowing what the teen was thinking.
Takeo grabbed Evan's shoulder and pulled him out of the way of a lunging zombie before cutting it down with his Katana.
Evan pulled out his M1911 Pistol as he and Takeo turned to run back to the others, using it to fire a few shots every so often.
"Heads up, frag out!" Jackson warned as he pulled the pin of a grenade and launched it at the zombies. As the frag blew up, killing many zombies, the nine of them ran to the last floor of the hotel.
"How many do you think are left?" Ghost asked, as they all aimed towards the end of the hallway, waiting for the remnants to turn up.
"Could be a dozen, or a thousand for all we know" Emily frowned, gripping her Assault rifle tightly. They suddenly heard a thud, the sound of metal on wood, followed by another one, and another, alongside a mechanical rattling.
Richtofen, and Takeo, narrowed their eyes recognising the robotic sounding steps; "This isn't going to be good" the German grimaced.
Soon enough the mechanical monstrosity came into view as it climb the top of the stairs. Clad head to toe in dark hardened steel, that was slightly rusting, metal feet like cinder blocks thudding on the ground. A powerful looking jetpack, similar to that of the Cosmic Silverback's, on its back, alongside a fuel tank for the dangerous looking Flamethrower attached to its right arm. Its left arm was sporting an equally menacing large mechanical spiked claw clamp that was rotating slowly. Its armoured chest wore the Iron Cross on its right side, and on the lower left was a yellow power core. The helmet, which looked similar to an old sea divers helmet, had a spotlight on the top, and a glass cross visor, which from within the team could see the glowing yellow eyes of the zombie operator glaring at them.
"What the hell is that!?" Section cried, horrified at the robotic abomination at the end of the end of the hallway.
"Ze Panzer Soldat!" Richtofen announced.
To be continued...