Author's Notes:
As usual, the short is attached to this chapter out of every ten.
The camp ground that once based the expeditions' forward elements in the form of Tier One Rangers was a burning wreck. It had been ravaged upon by four demons not a soul remained, those that ran were hunted like wild game even before they left the camp perimeter.
The horrors he'd seen. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, he'd been to them all and survived. But this…
He watched as an enemy superior in equipment, prowess, and grit assailed the camp and slaughtered over fifteen hundred men like farmers culling sheep. Those that died by bullets were more fortunate when they still had ammo to spend. Because after that, they drew their kukris and shrew his battalion. Then, hooded men came out of the forest to join the fray, killing them with precise shots from their bows. Some men survived but were poisoned and spasmed about on the floor due to the lost control of their extermities.
But these three warriors that appeared with him didn't move like any men he'd seen before, especially that one guy with the mask. He could only guess that the Colonel was long dead, these men had the intention of killing them and were confident in doing so alone which spoke a lot of their abilities. And the way that guy moved to slaughter his men, he could only guess where that confidence came from. If only he'd realized it sooner instead of thinking he'd surcome to fatigue like an ordinary man would.
"Why…." The last survivor asked on his knees before the orchestrator of this one-sided onslaught.
"Across this mountain range are over four million souls, good honest people and you were opening the gates for your main force to return hell to their lives. I'm simply doing unto you as you would do to them."
"We were just following orders!" Though he exhibited no physical response to those words, he could feel a killing intent rise from the demon that caused the surrounding ground to tremble.
"Orders… following orders… How many people who said they'd done horrible things because they were ordered have I killed? I've lost count, but I see what you're getting at… you don't even want to take accountability of own your actions….. then I don't have to treat your fellow soldiers or their corpses with a human's dignity." He returned an inhuman grin back at the Major with leaked of his malice and fury at the same time.
(Wheewwwheewwwheeww) The sound whistling could be heard from the projectiles flying over their heads.
"Right on schedule. I was beginning to worry the rocket artillery wouldn't deploy on time, but you can't look down on dedicated soldiers." He said looking at the time.
"W- What?.."
"I wonder how will your supreme commander respond to thermobaric rockets pummeling his unprotected troops. I can't believe your senior staff chose to conceal the nature of your trek into the woods when they knew you weren't dealing with militia but an actual army. Clearly Pentagon didn't put my Kyrati Army in their eyes. But I'm sure it'll bring him here to investigate, right where I want him to."
"You're-… you're a monster…." The Major said in Ajay's grasp.
"You took that long to realise. I don't think I'll have to worry about the rest of the expedition now. The Rakshasa will toy with you comrades, no- even the Exalts are enough." He said as he throttled the life out of the Ranger. (Crack)
He squeezed till his neck snapped and body fell limp, only then did Ajay threw his raggard corpse to the ground.
The rest of the hunters and his Lords gathered around him, including Maya who'd sat this one out due to the volume of fire the Rangers were throwing at them which she couldn't survive in. It wasn't a problem when she had the camo cloak with her.
"My lord, we had encountered Golden Path on the outskirts." The leader of the hunter cadres reported after clearing up the stragglers.
"Good."
"What now?" Vasu asked.
They took a look around at the destruction from drawing upon Ajay's demon power. A combination of shell craters and incomplete bodies of the elite reconnaissance element sent to clear the way for the US expedition in imminent arrival. He drew out his kukri and beheaded the Officer's corpse, sticking it on a branch that held it up.
"Now we leave them a message."
The rest were appalled but Vasu silently sighed and drew his blade as the rest did. Being familiar with Ajay's terror tactics, he could foresee the reaction the Main force would have.
Men only reacted in two ways when their comrades suffered terrible fates. They either cowered in fear, or they lost control of their anger and sought nothing but revenge. He could tell Ajay was hoping they would chose the later, they were after all the most powerful army undaunted by none. The indiscriminate artillery on their positions would at to that flame as they would wrongly triangular the Rakshasas' domain than their own forces. They weren't like the careful and patient PLA that wisely fell back. Nothing could stop them once set upon a foe, no men that is.
The ranger Captain didn't know whether to call it luck or an opportunity. After trekking through the forests, his platoon and many other scouting elements had reported via shortwave radio of attacks by savages with bows. Already, there were forty casualties, fifteen had been poisoned with some sort of neural toxin and were heading back to the forward camp. For an unknown hostile tribe to be killing them off one at a time whilst never revealing their locations, not even tracks. No one was able to identify where and what they were. If they had to guess, they stumbled into a territory of a hostile tribal community, but how were they to know. They couldn't even bring the bodies of their fallen back.
It had been frustrating beyond measure, they were just five klicks from the Marines' distress beacon to add to the nuisance. Until they came.
A militia group about the strength of a company, led by a foreigner of all things. And not just any foreigner but an American. His name was Jason Brody and the people he fought alongside were the Golden Path resistance.
For there to be a rebel militia out here, there had to be an oppressor. And they had just that in their Homeland of Kyrat, a tyrant King and a viscious lieutenant by the name of Badala. Almost when the Golden Path came to rescue their helpless asses, these "Hunters" left the field and harassed them no longer.
They were some sort of special pathfinder paramilitary unit highly respected in the Royal Army of Kyrat. The fact that there was an entire nation here without them knowing or at least not being told to them by their superiors to protect the nature of their mission here, spoke of the ignorance they held in this dangerous place where the theats were asymmetric.
Either way, the fact there was a local resistance cell here was good news indeed. They could now acquire intel they badly needed and to support an existing resistance to take down the regime. Not a bad foreseeable ending if he might add.
Most curious of all, was the integration of Mr Brody into their ranks. Apart from being very eccentric in his way of conducting himself, his prowess was testified by nearly all of the Golden Path members in his unit. And now, was the time to escort them to their camp to see what Patterson could do for them, that was after all his forte.
"I really can't get a read on you at all, Brody." The captain said to Brody who was walking alongside him.
"Just the way I like it. You Army boys were really out of luck to bump into those guys."
"I don't ever wanna cross them again." He admitted.
"They all exclusively come from a single tribe subjugated by Pagan decades ago. So chances of encounters are extremely slim, unless you're a high priority target, marked by Pagan or Yuma. It really wasn't your lucky day." The Senior Havaildar accompanying them said.
"What he said." Brody just added and chuckled away at the irony. Who would've thought there would be an entire army waiting at the borders to invade Kyrat.
Which glorious bastard sent for them? It couldn't have been Willis, right? There was nothing like shaking the odds beyond recognition, and adding the US army into the picture was doing just that.
"What?" The captain noticed his contemplation.
"Nothing, just thinking how fucked they are with you lot coming in." Brody smiled thoughtfully.
"I'd like to express how fortunate we are to have found you, Brody. I was beginning to worry about our odds, our long-wave comms and Navstar are completely cut off. Pentagon and Peshawar have no way of being updated on out situation."
"So you've been cutoff, hey?"
"Yeah, that's about right."
Brody was beginning to feel that Mohan was right about what could happen. He had to get to their supreme commander quickly to get them to stop venturing further into this "sacred ground". Or the Rakshasa will slaughter them. Mohan had no power of those beings and so it was all up to Brody to save his fellow americans from certain death. Initiating a friendship between them could help put the Kyrati Army in more dire odds due to international pressure.
"How far are we till your camp?"
"We aren't far, just a few klicks West should take us there. Look, we'll even be able to see it from up there." He pointed to a mound that he used as a landmark to back track to the camp since his GPS and Dead-reckoning module weren't working at all. The captain accompanied by Brody climbed the mound since he wanted to show him where it was roughly from their position.
But when they climbed up and looked out, he stopped smoke rising from where the camp was in beneath the canopy of the dense forest.
"Oh- nonononono! Corporal! Take platoon two and head around through the Southern entrance! The camps been hit!" When these words left his mouth, a serious look passed through his soldiers as they got sorted out and left the Golden Path whom were having thoughts about what had happened.
"Looks like we were a bit late." Brody said casually with a big smile.
The captain didn't want to bother about what was the meaning behind what Brody said, all he cared about was reinforcing the camp. There was barely any rifle discharges or explosions from where they were so it could mean the end of a battle or even a stalemate to whoever attacked them.
The last platoon accompanied by Brody and the Golden Path freedom fighters made their way with haste towards the camp hoping for the best. The captain of the scouts had high hopes, while Brody was a little more realistic considering the geography of this place. Perhaps the Rakshasa had gotten to them first, they were aware of the intrusion after all and had cancelled their connection to their satellites.
It was not long after a thirty-minute jog to the location that was the camping grounds of the Reconnaisance Battalion did they witness the horror in store for them.
"Wh-….What the fuck is this…..?" Amidst the crisped earth and ruined tents were a row of pylon stakes that led into the inner compound, as if to welcome them in. if that were all, it wouldn't have matter and their next priority would be to find where the other Rangers were. But they didn't need to anymore.
Presented on those stakes were the fifteen hundred heads of the US Rangers, their faces held horrified expressions as their last emotions were captured in a work twisted of art.
Some of the Rangers and Golden Path fighters couldn't control their stomachs and puked on the spot. The captain walked slowly but surely towards the Command tent entrance where a single stake was mounted. A stake holding the head of his friend and superior, the Major.
Waves of emotions passed over him as he reached out and closed the open eyes of his colleague. He didn't know whether to feel shocked that such inhumanity was possible still or angry that they disrespected the sanctity of their corpses.
Brody and the Havildar approached from behind.
"Who-… who could've done this?" He demanded the information from Brody as he grabbed hold of his shirt to stay up.
"Don't think there's a need to guess, this feels like Badala's handy work. Damn he did a fine job."
"Excuse me?..." The captain said almost stunned at what Mr Brody said, these were his fellow Americans.
Brody looked around as if searching for something while sniffing about. The Havildar was doing the same but it looked more focused with the Kyrati.
"This is fresh." He said as he touched the warm blood dripping from the impaled heads.
"Direction?" The Captain asked as he picked up and cocked his assault carbine.
"Mmm…. I'd say due North East. Seems we passed them."
"Tsk! Will! Gather what supplies you can find and we move out in ten!" A sergeant went about ordering the salvaging of ammunition and food supplies for a hunt.
Brody laughed at what he saw. "Wow! You guys are so predictable."
"Listen you! I was starting to like you but being that we found you amongst these savages, its no wonder you're so fucked in the head!" The Captain grappled Brody but lost grip as he slipperyly coiled out of the dead lock.
"Hey. I'm not the one who underestimated my enemy, if you really have to know…. All this was done by just five fellas."
"What?!"
"Count the heavy tracks that dig into the ground as if lunging from that position and you'll have around that number as they dash around chopping off your fellows' heads off." Brody said pointing to said tracks.
(Wheewwwheewwwheeww) The sound of screeching could be heard over their heads.
"Jesus! Those are 122 mil rockets!" The Captain exclaimed in shock. He saw some of the projectiles in a certain trajectory that matched where the Main Force of eleven thousand were assembled.
"Oh my god…." He was aware of how unprepared the expedition was to this sort of firepower in the mountains. They were all under the impression that the forces that were pinning the Marines by the Nukes were militia that formed an army, not a conventional army. And one to be able to deploy ordnance like this in the steep mountains had to have helicopter support.
"Hey, cap. You still with us? What will you do? Return to base and tell'em what happened or are you gonna chase the sunnovabitch did this?" Brody asked him as if giving him an ultimatum on what to do.
In a rational mind, he should be heading back to tell them what he had seen and of the contact he'd established. But after a serious of shellshocks he'd been experiencing far worse than before, his mind was clouded with finding who did this and pursue him. There were after all only five people, and he was two platoons and a company strength of the at home Golden Path fighters.
"Lead the way." He said to which Brody grinned widely.
"Finally, some balls at last."
The havildar who was watching sighed. If only for a minute, he released an expression of loathe at both Brody and the witless Captain.
How naïve and witless were these humans were.
The soft hum of the sub-systems powering let Pravindra know that his new ride codenamed "Tiger 1-3" was in motion to activating its engines. Pravi felt lonely, being the only pilot in the cockpit. He'd traded-in the Su-30 two-seater which he was used to for a state-of-the-art fighter being brought specially for him from the Russian far east aircraft plant of Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
It looked the same as his previous fighter, with the exception of only one seat. But that didn't say what was underneath the covers of its composite titanium shell. A powerful AESA radar that to detect an object the size of a tangerine at non-line of sight distances. An experimental engine meant for Russias next-gen fighter that would be called Su-57 when it was operational, but was placed in this one to act as a testbed. He'd gone for rounds in it a couple of times to find that the engines almost overpowered the airframe, a feeling he never had with the normal thrust capacity in his old fighter. It allowed him to manuever as wrecklessly as he wanted without compromising his energy.
Like him, Commander Singh and their other best pilot Astra had been placed in a special squadron comprising of most of their own Indians pilots, but also Russian Pilots under the callsign "Sokol". Pravi didn't know how to feel about this, only that the Russians were quite set on commanding the airspace and them acting in the way they saw fit. Their superior deemed it acceptable as they were taking responsibility of the situation. Their job was to provide protection for their fighter-bomber squadron who were going to go seal clubbing of the American troops that had unofficially wandered into the grounds of their "exercise" bombing points.
Commander Singh was not telling him why New Delhi was getting more involve than it originally had but it decided the future of Indias influence and power to come. The Russians seemed to be involved because the kremlin seemed to know something about what had been apparently they were searching for and wanted something else out of it besides what India wanted.
They had over twelve Su-35SM air-superiority fighters. What did the Americans have, F-15 Eagles and those rare but fabled F-22 Raptors. Astra prayed they wouldn't encounter the raptors and just the F-15s kitted for airstrikes to aid their ground forces. But Pravi was having a feeling that the pair of Raptors from that time would appear again.
*You look ready.* Pravi's comms went alive with Commander Singh's voice. He turned to the adjacent hangar space where said superior was already plugged in and awaiting the warming up of his engines.
"It feels weird not having a voice scream at the back of your head." He meant the co-pilot as a joke. Which made his fellow pilots whom had co-pilots in the form of Weapons officers laugh.
*It's a good day to fly. Tiger 1-1 to Sokol 1-1, we'll take to the skies first. Your boys can have the rearguard as we fly you into your drop area.*
*Khorosho (Very well). Please do heavy lifting for us.* The Russian Commander joked.
*Tiger 1-3, take the central runway. Tiger 1-2 take the third runway to the Right and I'll take the last. The rest follow by number after. Now sort out while I get permission from Control.*
*Yes, sir. Tiger 1-2 copies.*
"Tiger 1-3 copies." The rest hailed into the intercom their acknowledgements.
Pravi added some juice to the engine power and released his wheel brakes, allowing the aircraft to emerge from the hangar gradually and onto the tarmac to position on the runaway designated to them. The vibration of the Sukhoi rolling up to his destination was monotonous so he took a look at the newest accessory to his front glass LED display. Hung on it was Arun's family crest, a Garuda soaring into the sky. He'd recovered from his deceased co-pilot's locker back in the base, when he was done flying, he would make the trip back to his friend's hometown to tell his mother and father of their son's heroism.
He had to come back from this.
*Tiger 1-1 to all all squadrons. Control has greenlit out flights, we're clear sky all the way till our destination. Rohan says happy hunting. I'll see you in the air, lads. Out.*
Upon receiving the all-clear from the Control tower for a clear flight, Pravi's squadron mates took to the skies first.
"Lieutenant Kumar, Tiger 1-3. Taking off!" He revved the throttle to high speed and released the brakes on the wheels once more. The gradual hum turned into a powerful turbine noise as the air was converted to thrust sending the fighter soaring into the sky.
This was the moment he'd been waiting for, the time between taking off. Where anything could happen and the flight may not complete and it was left to chance based on the technicians' skill and his own flying prowess to stabilize the flight. Once he knew he was stable, the skies were as good as his. His trauma had prevented him from passing the flight simulation, but after much therapy and practice, he was ready once more to find those bastards that killed his co-pilot in a cheapshot from long distance without identifying themselves.
But now, they were about to fly over a very special zone where Radar wouldn't matter and neither would Radar-lock missiles. That was why he had the technicians load only two Infrared missiles like the last time and a full drum of 30 mil. He also had a gunpod attached underneath to act as a reserve for his 30-mil Semi-armor piercing high explosive incendiary ammunition.
For when flying over point 2153, they would be reduced to a pure guns-only dogfight.
Once again, Kamran was called upon to show his superior helicopter skills. Flying in a highly magnetized area caused avionics to fizz and disrupt, and gyroscopic inert navigation needle to spin out of alignment. It was especially serious if you flew the helicopter all digital. But in Kamran's case, he'd been born behind the control stick of a helicopter since his father had let him make the mail deliveries via buzzer minicopter at the age of ten. So he didn't depend of avionics to have a feel of where the ground was.
But that wasn't on Saras's mind at the moment the helicopter touched down.
"Hey, beautiful." The mischievious Paul called out to which she responded to the word beautiful like he expected.
"Your boyfriend's gonna be fine, trust Cousin Paul. I've seen lesser survive shit like what he's about to enter." Paul said with an assuring smile. And he was rewarded with a return smile from her.
"Thank you, Paul. Sometimes I forget, but he's still a flesh and blood human being underneath."
"Huh! Really, I thought Bad's was made entirely out of grit."
His neighbor seated across him next to Saras hit him on the head lightly.
"Calmez-Vous! (Can it)" Said his favorite lady.
"Eh, sure. Leave it to you chief. I'm boots on the ground first." He said as he walked across the compartment to the rear ramp that lowered. Kamran maintained the helicopter in hover over the ground about five metres as the forest density prevented further descent.
The rappelling ropes were lowered and down went Paul, followed by Ricardo, Samson, Luca, Emilio, Alberto and Stella. Accompanying them were three Russian specialists in nuclear devices and their superior, a GRU Spetsnaz Captain by the name of Anton. But they insisted on their callsign which was Irina One, Two and Actual. The name was to humor the irony of the job they'd been sent to do.
"After you, Cher." Michelle held out the rope for him as she attached her bucket and went down.
When all had departed the helicopter, Kamran flew off as quickly as he could to refuel and await their request for extraction which wouldn't be long. He'd be the one to tow those warheads at the end of his ride back to the base under fighter escort when they called it in.
And where exactly were they which Kamran deposited them was a relatively inexcessible valley from outside. This exact point was not far from the beacon the Marines set for their expedition to find them amidst thousands of square miles of mountains and forests. Ajay was the one calling it in based on intel he "extracted" from a Colonel of a reconnaissance element of the Division outside and closing in.
The Russians and Indians were initially confused why their main forces had been made to wait at the borders of Kyrat and fortify to prevent the Americans from escaping, as it would just incur their reserve forces to breach from the Pakistani side of the fence to free them. What they didn't know was that they weren't just entrapping the Americans but fortifying against something else. Only Brigadier Sharma of the Indian Army was partly aware of the strategy. Those expeditionary forces will never be able to contact their home base in time when "that" enemy emerged to devour them.
Ajay had managed to distribute much of his anti-demon weapons in small quantities to his own forces and special ammo to the Indian and Russian forces as he could. If they didn't have sufficient ammo for to put down the Rakshasa clones, then high explosives were still sufficient in damaging their temporary bodies.
The Kyratis numbered thirteen thousand, the Indians were six thousand and the Russians were a single Crack Mechanised Guards Regiment at Four thousand. With the topography charts and geographic intel available to them, their High Command decided on deploying armoured troops. It allowed them to bring heavy firepower to substitute their lack of anti-demon weapons even if they weren't aware of the enemy that would come knocking. The Kyrati Army was placed in the frontline to give the others time to process the thoughts on who the Rakshasa were. They did however had access to fire support not available before. Rocket artillery fifteen miles to Pacchim, along with howitzers batteries. There were bombers and ground attack aircraft stationed and ready to sortie at a moments notice. Some of the Mi-28 Havoc and Ka-52 attack helicopters were parked in a clearing as well.
But that was their job, theirs was to locate and retrieve the nukes. And a secondary mission of neutralizing renegade marines led by Staff Sergeant Fredrick Grilles, that marine held intel that could threaten their operations due to his long-term working relation with Willis. Technically, he had disbanded from the Marines had joined Willis as black ops operatives, not that it mattered anyway.
Up ahead was a clearing with no forest to hinder them any further, instead the ground was substituted with just rocks and the cliff of a mountain up in front.
Ricardo took point and began utilizing his pathfinding skills that was better than the rest.
After a short walk, he raised his hand to signal a stop. He bent down and investigated the ground in front of him. Sara and Paul walked in front.
"What is it?"
She asked as he fiddled with the dirt in front of him.
"Compaction in the ground that doesn't match half the journey were made. Whatever it was, something hit here pretty hard." He could only guess one such object falling down from the sky to do this to the earth.
"I still don't see no wreckage though." Paul said as it was the clear sign that the bomber had been here and Ricardo's assumption to be true.
"I'm just stating the facts, perhaps Sergeant Grilles and his men have cleared the area to mask its presence." It was also a possibility.
They looked around in the surroundings as well as the beacon, it was pointing in the direction of a cave not to far from where they were.
They moved to the direction of the beacon based on Ajay's coordinates on the GPS with silence.
"Do any of you smell an obvious trap?" Paul asked.
"….."
"How about you let me spring it first?" He walked on without waiting for a go ahead. Saras grasped his shirt to stop him.
"Oh? The lovely lady worries about me too." He exclaimed with glee.
"Here's a smoke grenade in case you get pinned." Contrary to his expectations, Saras instead encouraged him and provided him with a smoke grenade in case he got into trouble. Paul shook his head and chuckled sadly to himself.
"I'll take it gladly." He said without revealing any sort of complaint.
They took cover behind a defilade while Paul walked up to the opening of the cave where the beacon was blinking. Halfway to his destination, he received some unexpected assistance who volunteered to follow at the last minute.
"Always nice to have company." He said with a pleasant smile.
"Don't let it get to your head, imbécile." Michelle said as she walked beside him.
As they continued on their way, Samson and Alberto were eyeing the cliffs with their scoped rifles to watch for hidden snipers.
Paul had made this request as he possessed better instinctual senses than any of the people with them, these were skills developed in conflicts like Gaza or that one fateful time in Longinus's home of war-torn Africa. They were so well honed, he could sense if crosshairs were aligned to him or anyone near him.
Like the one currently on Michelle.
(Bump) "Hey! Wha-." He pushed her aside as- (Bang)
"Contact! Ten o clock, behind the boulder!" Ricardo traced the shot and fired suppression on the rough location where the shooter was.
(Bababababababaam….)
The rest behind the defilade added to that firepower. Samson and Saras got out of cover to quickly retireve Michelle and Paul.
Michelle ended up being weighed down by his body and collapsed with him. When she recovered and pushed him off of her, she found her hand smeared with blood.
"Paul?….. Paul! Wake you, you stupid bastard! Paul!" She shook him as he failed to respond.
"Grab his arms! Miss Roka, cover us!" Samson gave orders that could potentially save their lives. Saras did as she was told whilst Samson lifted Paul with the help of Michelle.
With the likely marine lone marine pinned behind the rocks. One of men from the Irina trinity took out a thermobaric launcher and blasted away at the boulder. The result was a shrapnel of rock flying all over along with with a burnt-up body falling from the heights.
"Urraa!" Shouted the Russian that fired the rocket, cheering his perfect shot. But none of them including his fellow Russians were particularly content with what happened.
They managed to bring Paul and Michelle back as quickly as they could, then Emilio and Stella begun first aid. But Paul remained unmoving.
"Paul…. Paul… Wake up, Paul!" Michelle was at the verge of tears as she shook him violently, detrimental to the two who were actually attending to his bullet wound.
"PAUL!"
"-Uph! I'm up, what did I miss?" He said as if he were just caught dozing off.
It made the few who thought Paul was a goner complete bewildered. Like a guy faking his funeral and appearing for it in person. Michelle was in a stupor for a couple of seconds before she turned away and walked a distance.
(Pakk) "Ow! Hey what the-." He got smacked by Saras on the face before she went off to be with Michelle.
Samson left to dispatch orders to the other boys and the Irinas' to investigate the mouth of the cave and the body to find clues.
"We don't know if he was trying to delay us to buy his friends some time, we need to act fast. Paul, stay here and wait for pick up."
"Urggh… No man. I'm going-…" He said struggling to get up, a bullet had pierced straight through his shoulder and out the back. Thankfully the projectile didn't cavitate or it would've been worse.
"Man, what the hell was all that about?" Ricardo got off asking as Stella continued to apply the blood clot agent.
"Buddy, you're too young if you don't know that it's not good to make a woman cry on your behalf." He said it like it was no big a deal and temporarily forgot his pain. Hearing that reasoning, even Stella stopped working and accidentally pressed onto his wound too hard.
"Ow!"
"Sorry." She returned to fixing his wound.
Ricardo took a while longer to recover then sighed. -What a man.- He thought.
"Just hand me the morphine shot and I'll be right as rain again." Stella looked at Ricardo worried, because she knew the extent of the wound but her husband nodded to her and she dug into the pouch to hand him said injection. He took it and didn't hesitate for a moment in stabbing himself with the shot and inserting the fluids.
"Thanks, you're a lifesaver." He said to Ricardo. "And you're an angel." To Stella and got up on his feet without even waiting for the effect to kick in. How many times had he done this before, and did he always come out this way? He was almost as monstrous as their boss. Paul ran up to apologize to Michelle personally and earned a few yells of warning, but she seemed to have more of a worried look than of loathe like usual.
"What a guy." Stella said to Ricardo.
"That's exactly what I thought. Damn, if I were a chick, I'd be all over him." His lady chuckled at his expression.
"We've got a nuke to find, so let's hurry." She nodded and followed him with haste to catch up to the rest who were already assembled by the cave entrance which led into the mountains. And ominious size that kind of said there was an entire cavern network underneath. They made their preparations for close quarters as best they did for the Marines that were waiting for them.
A little war going on amidst the chaos about to collide with the arrival of the Rakshasa upon the battlefield.
They followed the trail that was left by their target of opportunity. Half the group were on this venture purely to disrupt the Demon's efforts. The other half were thinking of exacting vengeance on behalf of their battalion being wiped out. Despite Brody's warning, they insisted. They clearly didn't know what they were getting into, still it was fun to watch hopeless fools try and fail at the cost of their lives.
Tracking Badala had its strategic advantages as well for Brody and the Golden Path. He could isolate him from whatever plans he had and keep him from commanding what forces were purposely luring the expedition onto whatever trap they had in place.
They'd been running non-stop for over twenty minutes and the trail was just barely noticeable but there. He had to admit, the Rangers knew their craft but they were still headed in the wrong set of objectives. Admirable foolhardy behavior, worthy of the title warrior. Not like that pussy who thought he was a warrior simply by picking up a machete and gun and becoming good at killing. Jason was a coward, these boys were the real deal. Brody almost felt sad that they were walking into certain death. But hey, that was their freedom to choose. And Brody treasured nothing but freedom.
They arrived at a clearing that seemed to be a result of a change of terrain, there was a canyon up ahead that led to an open space.
"…"
"What are you waiting for?" The captain asked.
"It's a trap!" He did his back to mimick a certain character in a space opera franchise.
"Just kidding, there's a whole lot of trees here so it'll be pretty ideal for use than the attacker if that were the case." With Brody's confirmation and his own assessment of it to be exactly as he said, he waved his platoons to take point.
Even as he said so, Brody was having a rather itchy feeling from the voodoo craft he wove of something magical in the area. It only reacted to the presence of something like Badala the last time or a Rakshasa General like that one guy he met.
The havildar who was walking a bit in front stopped where he was, the Rangers ignored him and moved on ahead.
(Click) "Huh?"
"Oh Fuc-(BOOM) The point man screamed before his body was blasted by the hidden pressure mine under his foot. Everyone hit the dirt when it went off.
"Shit! Doug's gone!" One of the Rangers reported to his nearest NCO.
"Damn it! They were expecting us to follow." The captain scorned.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, cap." Brody said.
"Isn't it obvious!?"
"No, cap. I think you've got it wrong."
(BOOM) An explosion rumbled behind them on their origin path. The canyon entrance they walked through was blown to smithereens and the rock came crashing down sealing their exit from whence they came.
"They were waiting for us." Brody said in completing his sentence.
"Spread out! Find cover and set up that MG!" He begun to take reactive measures to the impending assault from everywhere. That was the response for ambush 101. The Rangers ran into action, whilst the Golden Path members were surprisingly still. Much to the Rangers' dismay, thinking they were amateurs or simply to stunned to respond to the trap sprung.
And then, as a group rushed to the nearest treeline. The whole line of forest caught fire and engulfed them with the trees that burned fiercely.
The captain watched as their only means of protection had turned into a death trap with walls closing around them. The fires spread till they became a full-on forest fire, the sound of wood crackle, the smoke almost concealing their front and the rising temperature.
"Target! Three o clock!" A Ranger happened to notice a figure amidst the flames, standing all by himself with the backdrop of flames sent a powerful message that he was the orchestrator of all this.
"It's him!" Brody said with a wild grin.
The Golden Path exalted fighters turned their weapons towards the figure and fired. The rangers did the same, but all they hit was a mirage to their disbelief. They ceased fire as they were merely expending bullets worthlessly.
"I'm shocked, Ajay Ghale. You put all of this on for me." Brody called out to claiming this was done for him.
"You and me….. we're one of a kind, yunno that, right? We're both monsters in our own class, the world, our own people reject and try to kill us. Even now, you're trying to escape from it, aren't you." The captain had left him to his deluded monologue, dismissing Brody as out right insane. He did his best to keep his men alive instead by gathering to form a firing circle that covered 360, apparently the Golden Path exalts were also outside of it and within their firing arc. Just went to show how much they trusted them now.
"Why do you still cling to your faith in people, when all they do is betray you?" Brody shouted to get an answer from him.
"… The fact that you put me in the same cloth as you… is utterly revolting. As for my faith, a little brat crying because his sister abandoned him and throws a hissy fit wouldn't understand."
It was for a split second that Brody's smile fell and filled with a twisted expression, but quickly replaced with the same annoying grin.
"Daisy told you, eh? Heard about your little tie-up you had with her years ago. And man! To think you were just a mechanic, sadly anti-climatic." He said to agitate Ajay into coming out. But the only response that came was an arrow flying at a hundred pounds worth of kinetic energy. He was too late to dodge as it struck him and pushed him a few metres from his original position.
"Urghh!" He could recover from this, but it still hurt.
"Huh?" Brody looked down and saw blood continuously dripping with no signs of recovering. That was when the pain really set in. He looked down at the arrow shaft, it had intricate Vedic texts carved onto it cancelling out the exaltation casted upon him much like the Devas.
Weapons fire erupted from distortions amidst the fire, but not noticeable silhouette could be seen. Killing some of the Rangers whom had no ground cover, until they fired back. Some shots hit something in emptiness and distorted. It appeared to be some sort of active camoflauge like in the movies, but they had trouble picturing such tech here of all places. Especially when there hadn't been any public developments of this sort of tech known to them. But there they were, with muzzle flash being the only physical thing giving their position away. The Rangers fired along with the Golden Path who were just as surprised that someone was attacking them with CNS tech.
"You feel that pain, don't you? There're a million ways I want you to suffer, Jason Brody. Or should I call you by your real name…. Vaas Montenegro!" Brody, or Vaas laughed so crazily he almost busted a gut even though it was just that which was penetrated by that heavy arrow.
"What did I tell you, we're two of a kind. We both hide behind masks, hermano! Now, show me what you've got!" He stood up limping whilst drawing his machete.
"Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery!" He triangulated the voice origin to be at his back and turned his head to see an arrow leave his bow flying straight for Brody's head. With the power of its draw, the arrow moved extremely quick, almost reaching bullet speed but carried more mass and therefore more energy.
Ajay wasn't going to play around in a knife fight like he thought, he was going straight for the kill. And here, he'd misjudged the justice and honour fellow over the rage and contempt he felt for Vaas.
And just when the arrow was about to pierce his head. (Ping) Like glass shattering, a sound prevented the arrow from reaching any further. For an arm cladded in some sort of ancient gauntlet held onto the arrowand crushed it.
That arm belonged to the senior havildar that accompanied Brody and the Company of Exalt fighters.
Such a thing could be done to Ajay's arrow which had sealing rites carved upon it, that would make Rakshasa think twice before getting hit by it. Yet this person stopped it with his hand.
Only one sort of being could do such a thing.
"Which one of her lackies are you?" Ajay called out to the Rakshasa General who kept his identify hidden from even Brody.
"I am Purushartha, General of the Southern Gate." The Rakshasa waved his hand and out of thin air materialized a black staff or rod of some kind.
"Her highness might have instructed us not to kill you, but that does not mean I will do you or your comrades no harm, vessel."
