Chapter 34:
Dragonslayer (part 1)
October 28th 2019, 0540 hours, Tokū Solis.
"To all Vikings, break formation into squadrons, clear the road ahead for the Marines."
The triangular formations of tanks broke down and spread apart onto the grassy plains, the column of vehicles remained on the paved road, heading towards the chaotic city.
Intense firefights and fierce explosions echoed across the landscape and throughout the city. The loud cacophony of battle could be heard through the armour plates of the APCs. Nearby tanks started to shoot volleys of shells and machine gun fire.
From above, a storm of rockets and missiles soared in the sky, plummeting to the ground in resounding explosions of fire and asphalt. Dark clouds rose up to the sky, numbering in the hundreds.
The L-ATV's windshield shook as two attack jets flew at low altitude just above them. Corporal Brook looked up with worried eyes.
"Jesus Christ..." He mumbled in disbelief and awe.
"You okay, Corporal?" Asked Lieutenant Sparks, shifting his attention away from the buzzing radio.
"Yes, Lieutenant, I'm glad we're hammering the Imperials down..." He assured his platoon commander, "I'm just worried for the civilians. Did we even warned them?"
Sparks sighed and looked ahead of him, witnessing the ongoing destruction with his eyes coldly, "That wasn't our job to do so, it was the digimon's."
"I hope they made it out in time. At least some of them."
"I hope so too," Sparks stated, a tired yawn escaped his mouth, "But we need to focus on the mission. Join up with the SFs and Paras and fortify our lines." He reminded the worried driver.
"Yes, Lieutenant."
Off to the side of the main road were several groups of civilians, escaping the ruined city. They waved and called for the humans but the Marines had a more important mission. The Marines just drove past the helpless civilians with reluctance, leaving them behind to their uncertain fate.
However, there will be more civilians to encounter, thousands trapped admist the chaos and violence, caught in the intense crossfire. They were either hiding or dead at this point.
"Alpha-Actual, this is Alpha 1-Actual, we're approaching the city's limit." Sparks announced through the radio.
"Copy, be ready for anything, Marines, this is the Wild West beyond that point."
"Oorah." Sparks muttered as he grabs his M4A1 carbine, inspecting if the chamber was loaded.
In the far distance, they could see one of the city's skyscrapers collapsing on itself, a large mushroom cloud of dust and smoke arose seconds after the fall of the tall building.
"Holy shit..." Brook said with wide eyes.
The convoy finally entered in the city, surrounded by towering civilian buildings such as apartments, restaurants, hotels or work offices to name a few. The armoured convoy drove slowly, observing carefully its surroundings for an ambush or an IED.
Deep in the urban jungle, they could hear firefights all around them, unable to pinpoint their directions.
Sparks looked at his map, trying to figure out their position and their objective point. Despite the fact the streets were large enough to accomodate four tanks side by side, the environment looked the same, adding to the factor of confusion was the light mist of dust obscuring some degree of visual.
They were moving in enemy territory, the sound of gunfire closing in on them but so far they haven't encountered any enemy contact.
Suddenly the windshield cracked. A large hole appeared in front of Brook's very eyes, the cracks spreading across the entire windshield, completely obscuring his vision. He slammed on the brakes, the massive L-ATV came to a screeching halt. The passengers were forcefully shoved forward on their seat before weapon cracks and bullets whizzing pass the vehicle.
"CONTACT!"
Brook heard the M2 Browning machine gun going off above him, the turret gunner shot lethal doses of hot lead. A handful of empty fifty caliber casings fell in the vehicle.
"Steer to the side!" Sparks ordered loudly.
Brook grabbed the steering wheel and blindly drove to the left. The vehicle shifted abruptly to the side, almost throwing off the gunner.
"Fuck! Stop the vehicle!" The gunner, a Lance Corporal, shouted urgently, "We're going to run into a building."
On command, Brook slammed his foot on the brakes, the vehicle suddenly decreasing in speed in a matter of seconds. He felt his body being once again pushed forward by the momentum.
Multiple enemy rounds struck the vehicle's armour, doing significant damage as they chewed into the armour platings.
"Stay in the vehicle!" Sparks instructed him, "The rest of you disembark and get behind the vehicle!"
"Yes, lieutenant!" They replied without a protest.
Sparks opened the side door, ducked his head as a hissing bullet barely scraped his helmet, and quickly ran around the vehicle, slamming his back against the transport vehicle. To his right was a small restaurant, the building they almost ran into. In front of him, he had a clear view of the rest of the convoy. They were spread out, Marines and JSDF soldiers of the Third Recon Unit were on foot engaging the enemy. The four Amtraks stayed behind, launching above the Marines high explosive grenades. Coming to their left were two M1A3 Abrams tanks, arriving to give heavy support to the ground troops.
Two H.E shells shot out of the tanks, pounding a building two hundred fifty meters ahead of their position. The building caved in and collapsed, further deepening the cloud of dust that envelopped the city.
With the supposed threat down, the Marines advanced a couple of meters before being pinned down by more enemy fire.
All over the city, soldiers were caught in a fierce stalemate with enemy forces. Special Operations Forces units and paratroopers were being cut off from the main force, unable to regroup. Soon, they'll need supplies and medical evacuations for the wounded and the dead.
Stuck and backed into a corner of a neighbourhood with a platoon of U.S Army Rangers, Renamon's squad was on the rooftop of the double "T" shaped building that now acted as their sole cover.
Eventhough they were surrounded by enemy forces, their position offered an advantageous view on the city, with ample amount of cover and chokepoints in their favour. Behind the building was a tall concrete wall, forming a sort of inner courtyard. The right, through a narrow alleyway, was the street and just across it was the concrete wall.
By accident, the Rangers had found the perfect position to regroup and to defend themselves from the enemy. They have eyes on the two parallel streets, the main road along with the wide open square in front of them and they don't have to worry about being shot in the back.
Two klicks North-West of their position was a small sniper team of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, giving them additional sniper support and extra eyes on the streets for the Rangers and Force Recon Marines.
"I've got eyes on you, Charlie 6, friendlies on the rooftop of FOB" Goodwing", over." Renamon informed the sniper team as she and her team set up their equipment and rifles.
"Affirmative, we've got eyes on you, Spartan 2. Glad to have you guys join the fun." The sniper team leader said with a laid back tone.
The five-Marine team got into their positions on the rooftop. Renamon replaced her MK18 carbine for her M40A5 sniper rifle. Her squadmates either had a DMR or a bolt-action sniper rifle; and in case they needed a more powerful punch, Sergeant Adam Blade – still nicknamed as "Rookie" - came with the M82A3 anti-material rifle, a powerful sniper rifle chambered in .50 BMG, it could easily punch through several layers of Chrome Digizoid.
She deployed the rifle's bipod and rested them on the small wall that surrounded the rooftop.
"I've got eyes on two dozen hostiles, three hundred meters on the right street, coming in hot." Reported Sergeant "Roach" Sanderson while peering into the scope of his M110 SASS, "They're hugging against the buildings."
"Smart..." Renamon muttered while adjusting her aim, "Any armour?"
"Negative, Staff Sergeant," He replied coolly, "Should we engage?"
"Wait until they're fully exposed, then you waste them." She instructed.
The Marines set their aim for the incoming enemy wave. Renamon warned the Ranger platoon leader of the enemy, the elite soldiers set up their defenses and machine gun positions in the building while some prepared themselves outside behind a wall of sandbags.
"Rookie," She called the sergeant, "How many rounds do still have left for the M203?"
"Twelve rounds, H.E and four smokes," He answered back.
"Spare them, use them only when necessary."
"Yes, Staff Sergeant."
Her cold eyes focused behind the scope, she switched the safety off and gently placed her finger on the trigger. She calmed her breathing, controlling it at a low rhythmic rate. Crosshair set at the corner of the building, she spotted the faint shadows of the soldiers casted on the street.
Then a head popped out, carefully, glancing left and right, before signaling the rest of the column of legionaires to move out. Rushing out for a nearby cover, a Commandramon tucked their head in and hunched their body over, making themselves as small of a target as possible. In the five second gap that they have to move from point A to point B, Renamon fired the first shot.
The rifle's roar echoed in the street, the bullet sped across the field, struck the digimon through their chest, a cloud of blood bursted out of their back and spraying all over the ground.
Following the first shot, four digimon fell on the street: three dead and one severely wounded, crawling their way back to their shocked comrades.
Their supposed leader, an Assaultmon, shouted at the troops to move out. Soon the whole enemy wave dashed out of cover and fired randomly at the buildings, a couple of stray bullets flew just above the Force Recon sniper team. An angry shower of bullets stormed at the Imperials, taking out a half of their numbers in less than a minute. Not knowing where they were getting shot at, but they were also outnumbered and exposed to the humans, trapped by deadly snipers and superior volume of fire. Just as they were about to eliminate the first wave, a second wave of legionaires came to support them with a larger force behind them. Another detachment of hostile troops came around the corner and moved up to the concrete wall to the FOB's right, trying to flank the Rangers.
Fortunately Rookie was there to beat them to the punch.
A light 'thump' came from his underbarrel grenade launcher, a loud explosion mixed with cries of pain came shortly after.
"Contact to our East! Other side of the wall! Three dozen or so foot mobiles!" He reported quickly as he loads up with another 40mm high explosive round.
More rounds were starting to fly at them but the Rangers and Force Recon Marines remained unflinching, engaging the enemy with more purpose and determination to win.
Blade shot out another grenade, part of the targeted building blew out, throwing aside two Sealsdramon. From below, he spotted two Rangers running up to the wall, and lobbed out two frag grenades over the wall. The legionaires panicked and ran away, only to be destroyed by the two hand grenades. He set his M4A1 carbine on the wall and fired at the incoming enemy soldiers. They were now pinned down by a single Marine. A fireteam of Rangers joined them to the rooftop. They set up a MK48 machine gun near the sniper team while two riflemen provided extra firepower with Rookie to overwatch the right side.
This was, according to the Rangers, the third attack that the Imperials have sent on their position, and now with the two sniper teams, the task of defending the FOB became easier to do so.
"Looks like they know how important this place is!" Roach commented before ducking behind cover.
"It's a great spot. Can't blame them." Pointed out a Ranger with an amused grin.
"Amen to that." Sergeant Andre "Coal" Blackburn added.
Enemy troops were pouring into the square, numbering in half a hundred troops, probably more. On the right side, at the other side of the wall, the enemy had tried numerous attempts to scale over the obstacle and even set explosives but they were quickly gunned down by Rookie and the two Rangers.
They were a bit overwhelmed, fortunately, it was nothing that air support that can't handle.
Two distinct screechings resonated from above, setting fear into the enemy's heart. The A-10 Thunderbolts furiously spewed out a volley of 30mm rounds, decimating the enemy force and painting the streets red and with gore.
At 0700 hours, the coalition managed to set a foothold in the city, their forces now reorganized.
The Marines of Alpha Company had successfully pushed through some heavy enemy resistance with minimal casualties. The two tanks at the lead destroyed the group of Knightchessmon and Tankdramon. They were approaching on their objective point, just a few blocks away.
Out of his vehicle, Raymond consulted with the executive officer on the map and on their progress while Marines fought off the enemy.
"We're about a klick away from the objective, Captain," The First Lieutenant reported.
"I know that, I just want to know if you had any words from the paratroopers."
"Only from what we've heard an hour ago. We can assume that they've set up their FOB but are taking heavy enemy fire." Sullivan told him.
Raymond shook his head, not liking the situation. He looked at the battlefield, his Marines were already pushing away the enemy, they were about to move out.
"Is it possible that the enemy is jamming our comms?" He asked curiously, considering the possible threat in his mind.
"Probably, Captain." Sullivan replied without much of a thought.
"Then we need to move fast," Raymond claimed, "We need to regroup with the paratroopers and hold that line until the Army gets here."
"What are your suggestions, captain?"
"Once we get to the FOB, I want Medevac and a supply drop on our position. We set up our defenses, capture those three building over there," He indicated on the map, "So that we can overwatch these streets and hopefully halt the enemy from flanking us. We need to-"
They both suddenly ducked down, a round ricocheted off the side of the Amtrak.
"We need to set the tanks here and here," Continued Raymond as if nothing happened.
Once the resistance had been eliminated, the Marine got back in the vehicles, only a handful had to continue the trek on foot, and head for the objective.
They were in full swing. Nothing can stop the convoy. The enemy was still in disarray from the initial bombings and attacks, and so far they were losing control of the city. The Marines could only speculate that maybe, just maybe, the High Command had been assassinated by the Royal Knights. But they'll just have to wait until they get a confirmation.
The convoy steered to the left, one of the tanks bursted through an already ruined building. Earth shattering thunderclaps resonated loudly in the street. Imperials were starting to abandon their post and began to retreat, possibly to regroup and rearm at the Marines' objective point, knowing exactly where they were heading to.
"Hostiles up front! Fifty meters!" Shouted a Marine.
Sparks looked up ahead, spotting three enemy soldiers retreating. He dropped to a knee and lifted his carbine. The ACOG's trijicon crosshair hovered behind a Chackmon's back. He held back his breath and gently squeezed the trigger, a three-round burst shot out of the muzzle, all three rounds connected to the bear's back.
They fell forward, dropping their rocket launcher beside them and lied motionless on the street.
Suddenly out of nowhere a group of civilians ran out of a building, in the middle of the crossfire. The convoy violently stopped on their tracks, some almost bumped on each other.
"Jesus Christ! Get down! Down on the ground!" Sparks angrily ordered the civilians, running out of cover to protect them.
"Lieutenant! Lieutenant!" He heard Flamedramon yelling behind him.
Sparks crossed the street, miraculously avoiding being hit. The group of four civilians saw the human running towards them and shouting at them. They cowered back into the building.
"Down! Down! Down!" He repeated before he got in the half-destroyed building.
He took cover, panting heavily. He looked at the civilians to his left. They were mostly children, to his eyes: two Burgamon, one Gomamon and one Cutemon, all shivering in fright at the sight of the human.
He looked back at the convoy. He spotted Flamedramon and gave a thumbs up. He then faced the group of digimon with a scowl.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You could've been killed out there!" The digimon stared at the ground in shame, "Goddamnit... Stay here until I say otherwise, is that clear?" They nervously nodded in obedience.
He leaned around the corner and fired a couple of shots before he had to reload. His Marines were just less than forty meters away from him but it seemed so far away with enemy fire continously harrassing them.
"Alpha-Actual, 1-Actual, I've got four civilians on me, what should we do? Over."
"Repeat last traffic, over."
"I say again: I've got four civilians on me. Over." He repeated loudly.
"... Right... Once the tanks get pass you, bring them to the amtraks, I'll figure something out on the way. Clear?" Raymond instructed with reluctance.
"Solid copy, captain." He faced the four rookie-level digimon," Ok, listen up, once these big vehicles get pass us, you will all follow closely behind me, is that clear?" All four nodded meekly, "Ok, cool... let's get you guys to safety."
Blood shot out of the Marine's chest, the man screaming in shock and pain, "Oh fuck! Fuck!"
Kuribayashi shifted her rifle to an enemy soldier, firing in three-round bursts while closing in on the wounded Marine. She grabbed hold onto his plate carrier and dragged him behind a cover with much effort.
She looked over at his wound, a large hole punctured his kevlar plate and guts, the wound gauging out blood.
"Medic! Medic!" She yelled as loud as possible through the intense sounds of gunfire, "Mari! Over here!"
The Japanese combat medic ran to her and slid next to the Marine, her eyes and hands already set on the task.
"We need to get him to the vehicles! Let's go!" She commanded as both women dragged the much heavier man back to the convoy.
The ground trembled and dust fell on them as the tanks fired another volley. The sound of their threads and engines moving gave a signal to Sparks. He glanced out and sure enough they were moving.
"Get ready to move." He warned the digimon.
The massive armoured vehicles drove pass him with Marines following on foot just behind them.
"Let's go!"
Together they ran out of the building and hurried to the convoy. Sparks's men provided cover fire as he finally reached the Amtraks. Once there, he met up with Captain Raymond, a frown on his face when his eyes were on the four digimon.
"Jesus Christ... so these are the digimon that almost got themselves killed, huh?" He asked rhetorically, "Regroup with your platoon, Lieutenant,"
"Thank you, sir." Sparks replied, almost with relief in his voice.
Sullivan stood beside the captain, eyeing the digimon confusely. "Uh, now what, skipper?"
Raymond pinched his nosebridge in frustation, "Eeeeh... I don't know... Call in a helo I guess, we do not have much of a choice..."
He noticed Kuribayashi and Kurokawa dragging a wounded Marine back, next to a group of busy corpsmen and other wounded men.
"Kurokawa!" He called her, the medic spun around and gave him a confused look, "Do you need help to evac the wounded?"
She placed a hand behind her left ear and slightly narrowed her eyes with uncertainty written on her face, she demanded him to speak up.
"I said: do you need help to evac the wounded?" He repeated loudly while pointing at the wounded Marines.
She simply nodded and gave a thumbs up in reply. Satisfied enough with her answer, Raymond ordered Sullivan to call in a Medevac.
"Itami!" The mentionned lieutenant turned around, "Get a squad to stay here until evac arrives." He ordered in Japanese.
The First Lieutenant nodded and looked back at his platoon. After some quick thinking he called the designated squad leader:
"Furuta! Sergeant!"
"Hai!" The newly promoted sergeant and former chef responded.
"I want your squad to stay here and protect the medics until evac arrives!" Itami ordered in an authoritative tone, something he rarely uses.
"Ryokai! Third Squad on me!" Furuta commanded with a wave of an arm.
His squad of mostly rookies complied to the order and fell back, grouping up around the medical team as they impatiently wait for the evac helicopters to come.
"Uh, Sergeant, when are the helos suppose to come?" Asked a young Leading Private Okawa nervously.
The sergeant remained silent for a moment, knowing well that some of his men were already on the verge of collapsing.
"Soon." He replied coldly.
Back on FOB "Goodwing", the Rangers and Force Recon Marines had been fighting non-stop since the second attack.
Having recently learned that the U.S Army convoy of 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment is under attack by heavy enemy fire and now held up at a square just a few klicks away, thus delaying their support for the Rangers.
This meant that they have to fight harder and longer if they want to succeed in the mission.
The ground rocked after a powerful explosion erupted, a plume of smoke and dust forming up to the right side of the building.
"Ah shit! They've breached through the wall!" Rookie yelled before throwing a frag grenade on the street.
A combat medic was on the same rooftop, currently nursing an injured Ranger, screaming in agony.
"Roach and Coal, regroup on Rookie and do not let them get through!" Renamon ordered sternly.
A long wound was on the side of her skull scraping just below her right ear. Blood tainted her already dirty yellow fur but she didn't care at the moment, if it wasn't urgent she can live through the pain.
Like her men, she was exhausted, sweating and very pissed off. Not only her lungs – which were far greater than that of a human's – were burning in exhaustion, she was pissed at the enemy for just trying to get through them. She pulled the rifle's bolt back and pushed it forward, chambering a 7.62mm round. She took aim, her icy blue right eye focused behind the scope despite projectiles hissing near her. The scope's crosshair centered at a black coloured Greymon. The black dinosaur took a couple of hits but was over all still fine. She aimed for the Greymon's neck, breathed in, held her lungs and pulled the trigger. The rifle knocked into her shoulder, a bright flash shot out of the muzzle.
Her gaze still maintained on the Greymon, the dinosaur flinched backwards, stumbling on their massive feet before falling with a loud thud. The relatively small bullet pierced their scales and destroyed their windpipe, now a mess of blood and gore. They flayed around, gasping for air while choking in their own blood. Two rounds struck them to the chest, ending their life swiftly.
A pyramid formation of black and white PawnChessmon made their progress through the square with squads of Troopmon and Sealsdramon taking cover behind them, firing back a the Rangers.
"Get the Javelin up!" A Ranger Staff Sergeant yelled behind her.
Two Rangers ran up to the rooftop, one shouldered the fierce and heavy FGM-148 Javelin. The elite soldiers sat down and aimed the launcher at the pyramid formation. One of the Rangers peered into the launcher, made a few swift adjustments and yelled:
"Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!"
Everyone on the rooftop ducked their heads before the launcher fired. The missile shot upwards before plummeting down behind the PawnChessmon formation and onto the Troopmon and Sealsdramon.
A loud explosion erupted violently, causing the ground to shake violently while a powerful shockwave sent out dust and ash around the epicenter. Very few digimon survived the devastating blast. A couple of the small chess-like soldiers lied on the ground, screaming in agony with missing limbs, spilled out guts or their armour melted to them. Their screams were a painful reminder to Renamon of the horrors of war, something she was exposed to frequently. She winced inwardly at the bloody sight and refocused back on eliminating the enemy.
Her hawk-like gaze spotted two Darkdramon diving for the Airborne sniper team. She quickly grabbed the anti-material rifle. The heavy sniper rifle rested on the small wall of the roof, its barrel pointed at the two cyborg digimon. With accurate calculations and perfect timing, she fired one shot, the powerful rifle roared furiously, kicking up dust around it. The large bullet struck one Darkdramon to their shoulder, sparks and blood bursted out of them before they fell to the ground helplessly. The other one hovered in place in shock. They turned to face Renamon, a savage glare directed to her. However that gave enough seconds to fire the second shot at the still hovering enemy. The round penetrated their armour and through their flesh and bones before shooting out of the other side. Darkdramon was pushed backwards by the stopping power of the fifty caliber bullet. Severely wounded and profusely bleeding, they let out a snarl of defiance and charged towards Renamon. The calm vulpine digimon readjusted her aim and fired the third shot. The round punched through their lightly armoured waist. This time the Darkdramon lost consciousness and fell to their death.
"Thanks, Spartan 2, we almost got fried by these two!" The paratrooper team leader said gratefully.
"Don't mention it, Charlie 6," Renamon replied through her headset with a small smile.
"Hostile Mobile Artillery! Three hundred meters, our two o'clock, right street!" Reported urgently Sergeant Simon Graves.
Renamon changed position and hurried over next to the Sergeant with the heavy M82A3 in hand. She propped the sniper up and aimed at the tall and intimidating mechanical digimon. It was a Mugendramon, the bane of human military; one of them is enough to obliterate the FOB to smitherings. They had to act quick and violently if they want it down fast.
"We need a Javelin up!" She demanded the Rangers, "Charlie 6, I need air support on that Mugendramon quickly!"
"The tall robot with cannons?" The paratrooper asked unsurely, not knowing well which digimon she meant.
"Yes!"
"R-right! We'll try our best."
Two Rangers behind her prepared their missile launcher, their weapon set on the intended target. The kitsune digimon shouldered the sniper rifle and peered into the scope. The massive digimon walked slowly, each footfall sent a light tremor to the ground. Hot steam hissed out of their nostrils and large maws.
"Hold your fire, Rangers." She instructed coolly. The two elite soldiers stared at her dumbfounded.
"What?" One of them asked.
"Whatever it is you're trying to do, Staff Sergeant, make it quick." Graves urged her with concern in his voice.
"No pressure..." She commented under her breath.
She knew she couldn't take out the Mugendramon with a single hit, but she can disarm it if air support didn't come to help.
The anti-material rifle roared, dust kicked up around her. The bullet went through the digimon's armour but inflicted minor damage. The Mugendramon stopped on their track and roared at Renamon to intimidate her. Their cannons lifted up from their back and rested on their shoulders, powerful energey build-up in the cannons.
"Blast this..." She said with sadistic grin.
The rifle kicked back as it spits out the powerful projectile. It flew across the street in the blink of an eye and struck through one of the Mugen Cannons. The cannon released a squeal before it exploded brightly on Mugendramon's back. The energetic blast swallowed a whole platoon worth of Imperial troops who were unfortunate to stand near Mugendramon.
Severely damaged but not destroyed, Mugendramon furiously roared, their empty eye sockets glaring at Renamon.
"Fire the Javelin now!" She ordered loudly.
The Rangers wasted no time to arm the launcher, "Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!"
A distinct 'whump' came out of the launcher before the missile flew straightly upward. The Rangers maintained the target designation on the Mugendramon, the missile now descending at full speed on top of the digimon. It pounded the tall cyborg to the ground before igniting and exploded spectacularly. Added with the remains of energy in the Mugen Cannon, the explosion was twice stronger than expected, shaking the earth and shattering windows, some buildings even fell due to the powerful shockwave.
Seconds later, the ear-shattering "boom" rang painfully in the area. Renamon had to cover her sensitive ears on instinct, swearing as pain shot through them.
Ironically, it seemed to have halted momentarily the fighting. Men and digimon were completely in shock after the explosion, some had their ears going deaf for several long seconds, some were permanent.
"Aaah... Fuck!" She cussed for the fourth time, the eerie ringing of bells in her ears was still in there.
"Ow... my precious ears..." She faintly heard Graves said next to her.
"Is everyone all right?" She asked loudly, wincing at the painful sound of her own voice.
"Y-yeah! I think so!" Roach replied hesitantly.
"WHAT?" A Ranger yelled in response.
"Shit, Tucker's deaf..." Another Ranger explained dreadfully.
Moments ago they just felt a strong shockwave coming from the distance. Looking up, Raymond stopped and noticed a large smoke cloud rising up to the sky.
"At least now we know where that came from." He thought inwardly.
"Alpha-Actual! This is Echo 2, where the hell are you?" His headset blared into his ears.
"We're coming just around the corner. Do not fire to your south-west, over." He informed quickly, "Let's hustle, Marines! Paratroopers are waiting for us!"
The Marines rushed towards their objective, the sound of an intense firefight indicated them that they were close.
Off to the right of the road was the commercial centre, built around the Shibayama metro. The commercial centre was a pair of "L" shaped buildings connected to each other by three small bridges on the first floor. Between the buildings was the inner courtyard where the metro is located with two access points by stairways. Near the metro once stood the marble statue of a Blitzmon. Key word being "once" since the statue now laid in pieces and rubbles, bullet holes and burn marks peppered its support platform.
The tanks continued to roll on the road, their main turrets spinning at the enemy and pounding them with machine gun fire and tank shells.
APCs drove off the road and into the commercial centre where U.S paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division cheered in relief and started to assemble the wounded for evac. The Marines on the ground joined them into the fray, taking cover and fire back at the enemy located just at the adjacent block.
The Amtraks were being loaded with wounded soldiers with some JSDF soldiers lending a help to speed up the process.
An injured officer came up to Raymond, a tired but grateful smile on his dirty face. "I hope you didn't have to wait too long, captain-"
"Captain Thomas Graham, D company, 2nd Battalion. Glad to see a legend among us."
Raymond chuckled as he shook Graham's hand, "I'm no legend, just had a few bad lucks."
Three Black Hawk helicopters flew overhead of the commercial centre, their attention shifted back to the current situation.
"So what's the sitrep?" Raymond asked with a frown.
"For now, hostiles are slowly retreating, probably to regroup. I have snipers on the rooftops and piled up all the ammo and supplies we have in the metro." Graham stated coolly, clearing his throat after the report.
"Does it lead to anywhere?"
"Sadly no, the Imps have blown up the underground access."
"I guess that'll leave us with fortifying the FOB and evacuate the wounded." Raymond concluded, "Gunnery-Sergeant!"
"Yes, skipper?" Dukeman responded dutifully.
"I want four APCs to escort the Amtraks back to base."
"On it, captain!"
"What are your orders, captain?" Asked Sullivan beside him.
"For now, we will hold up here and maintain this position until we get orders from command to move on to the next phase." He instructed plainly. He brought up his M4A1 carbine and checked his magazines. "Think you can keep up with me, Lieutenant?" He asked with a playful grin.
"Not like I have any choice, captain." The executive officer replied ironically.
Raymond chuckled dryly after inserting a new mag in the carbine. They then joined the Marines into the fray, leaving behind a confused airborne captain.
"... Am I suppose to do something here?"
"Smoke out!"
A light 'pop' echoed from the courtyard before a purple smoke rose up to the sky. The sound of rotorblades slicing the air was getting closer as the Rangers prepared themselves to evacuate the wounded and get their supplies off the choppers.
They need to act fast and efficiently, hostile troops had been harrassing them all morning now and show no sign of quitting.
Staff Sergeant Eric Schmid took a large sip of water from his hydration pack. Things just spiralled downwards since the third attack. Hostile snipers were positioned at a couple of blocks away from the FOB; a lucky bullet struck Second Lieutenant Daniel Hofheimer to the chest, missed his heart by a few inches.
He painfully watched as the then platoon leader on a stretcher was being held up by two Rangers.
Dust kicked up around them, the first Black Hawk, Thunder 5, made its descent in the dangerous courtyard, projectiles hissed and buzzed by the black metal bird as the legionaires try to take it down.
The roar of the M82A3 rifle indicated that the Reconnaissance Marines were providing cover fire for the helicopter.
Schmid, now the new platoon leader, took deep breaths before he turned to the small group of tired but equally eager Rangers.
"Let's go! Go! Get the wounded in the chopper!" He bellowed at the top of his dry lungs.
The elite soldiers tucked their heads in as they struggled to approach the helicopter that was producing a small tornado of dust and dirt. One of the helicopter side gunner waved an arm at themselves in quick succession, signaling the Rangers to pick up their pace. The men carrying Hofheimer and Corporal Todd Sexton grunted with effort as they gently placed them in the helicopter's passenger compartment. They then hurried back to cover with Schmid giving a thumbs up to the pilots before they took off and flew back to base.
The other two Black Hawks circled around dangerously at low altitude, their side miniguns spitting out hot lead unrelentlessly.
The second helicopter, under cover fire from the third, made its quick descent. The gunners hurled out the medical supplies and various ammunation cases, which some Rangers picked up in a hurry, before they load in more wounded in the helicopter.
All of this happened while under intense enemy fire.
A projectile struck the entire windshield of the helicopter, luckily missing both the pilot and the co-pilot – whom remained completely calm as bullets fly in every direction.
"Crazy Night Stalkers," Schmid thought but was glad nonetheless.
They gave a thumbs up and brought the helicopter up, the metal bird ascended back to the sky before it swirved and heads for the main base, dodging a rocket in the process. The third helicopter finally came down, empty hot bullet casings dropped on the heads of Rangers as it continously spewed out 7.62mm rounds at the surrounding enemy.
Schmid gasped in surprise as he felt a hot casing dropping in between his chest and grimy uniform. He quickly shoved his hand in it, grabbed it and tossed it sideways. That was one way to stay awake in a stressful situation.
"Come on! Get the ammo out and get the wounded in!" He shouted as the Blackhawk finally touched the ground.
The Rangers executed their tasks, hurrying to the LZ to grab the supplies while others carried the last wounded. The Black Hawk, after two intense and long minutes, finally hovered upwards while projectiles try to take it down.
An energy bolt hit the tail's rotorblade, black smoke coughed out of the tail with sparks flying as a couple of bullets hit the bird's body.
"Damn... we've been hit." The pilot announced coldly, "Overlord, this is Thunder 7, we've been hit."
"We can see that, Thunder 7, there's black smoke coming out of the tail. Can you make it back to base?"
"Uh... Affirmative... just, uh, having a bit of complications but we should be all right..."
It was obvious to anyone on the ground that the pilots were having a hard time to keep the transport helicopter stable in the air.
"Please don't make this another Black Hawk Down..." Schmid heard the co-pilot said half jokingly, half seriously.
"Nah... it seems fine, fam, just a little shaky..."
From the rooftop, Renamon eyed the smoking Black Hawk with worry. She brought back her M40A5 sniper rifle, pushing the bolt back into its original place, a round chambered in and took aim at the targets on the streets, her eyes occasionally glanced at the helicopter.
Thunder 7 flew meters away from the LZ before it started to rock sideways. The pilots tried their best avoid being hit by enemy fire while stabilising the helicopter in the air. Hell hit the fans when it suddenly began to spin around uncontrollably. The inevitable was coming.
"Mayday, Mayday, Thunder 7's going down." The pilot reported calmly, "Thunder 7's going down, I repeat, Thunder 7's going down."
The soldiers watched helplessly as it spiralled downwards a couple of blocks ahead from their position. Black smoke danced around the helicopter as it made its crazy descent.
"We're going down," The pilot repeated one last time, "HOLD-" The line went dead as the helicopter violently crashed on to the ground, skidding forward while its rotorblade cut the road and breaking to pieces until it halted against a building. Another trail of black smoke rose to the air.
"We've got a Black Hawk down, we've got a Black Hawk down."
Air Base Delta, IDDF HQ and Command Centre, Apollomon Valley.
Eversman watched anxiously at the monitors, the downed helicopter laid motionless on the ground, deep in enemy territory. He sighed in frustration and rubbed a hand through his greying short hair.
Other high ranking officers from different armies glanced at the still image of the crashed bird.
"Get me the nearest SOF units on the ground from the crash site," He instructed to a group of command staff members, "We need to secure the crash site before help arrives."
"We have a squad of Raiders near the crash site, sir," Reported a First Lieutenant, "Callsign Tombstone 4."
"Get me in touch with them." The lieutenant nodded and grabbed a radio, dialing in the squad's correspondent number. He handed the large green device to the Colonel. "Tombstone 4, this is Overlord, do you read me?"
"Overlord, this is Tombstone 4-Actual, receiving you five by five."
"Tombstone, as you may have seen, we have a downed bird located near your AO. I want your team to secure the Charlie site until we send reinforcements and PJs on site. This is will be a hard mission but we cannot, cannot, leave anyone behind. Is that clear?"
There was a small moment of silence before the Raider Marine squad leader replied: "Loud and clear, Overlord, leave Charlie site to us."
Gunnery Sergeant Jason "Ash" Burns ended the communication. He turned around and faced his squad. Four battle-hardened and grizzlied men stared at him with respect and attention, their hands firmly grasping their weapons.
"New mission, gents," He began lowly, "We have a crash site, two klicks ahead from our position, to secure and hold on to until reinforcements and an exfil team arrive. We do not know when but we will not leave a man behind, dead or alive. Are you all up for the challenge?"
"Oorah!" They all replied unanimously, with determination and eagerness clear in their voice.
"Then let's move out, Tombstone!" He ordered sternly before they silently went out of cover and to their new objective point.