April 1st 2003 Battle of London PBS
James Pots British Army
"Cronos, fucking blighter, ok to be fair pretty much all of the Enders were fucking blighters, only one that wasn't a bloody arse was old Ironwood and that just comfirmed how bloody fucking stupid and evil that whole lot was."
Takes a sip of tea.
"Seriously, one of the first things you learn as a squaddie is don't act like an arse to the fucking medic, it's just fucking common sense. I remembered watching the telly when that happened Rogers had some fucking yarbals on him, walked in there and had himself a chat, yah know?"
He's smile is misty.
"No one knows what was said, Rogers wasn't the bragging kind and old Woody just kept saying that Rogers got him to see the errors of his ways. I'd like to think that Rogers let him have what for, for scaring the shite out of the city, mum likes to say that it was all settled over a cup of tea. Point is, when the surrender happened I knew at that moment that the yanks would never, never, ever shut the fuck up about it."
Another sip of tea.
"They even played their fucking national anthem, with a band and everything. So then we find out that the Enders are doing all of it for shits and giggles, which yeah we knew they were prats but it was just bloody obvious now."
He looked up at the ceiling.
"Had a mate in the service with me when we got the bad news that there were 20 of the blighters. Well he looked gobsmacked, we all were of course but he...yeah we found 'em at the end of a rope the next day. Bad business that."
He stops hands shaking.
"Sorry... so the brass knows were all knackered by the news and brings in the units medic and has him explain all the shite he does for the unit. The old hands had a general idea so it was mostly for the new folks. Then when the speech was over the commander smiled, 'we have their medic now and they don't."
His hands were still.
"We were on edge, but it was the yanks problem. Then India happened and well, we won. Not any photos of it but Behemoth, he was dead. The Enders weren't invincible, it didn't feel real and then Seattle happened and we watched Leviathan get sent straight to hell."
A smirk.
"It was like a bloody spell had been lifted, Lev died like a proper bitch, wailing and screaming. The Enders really weren't invincible anymore, we could fight, no... no we could fucking win. Yeah there were 20 of the blighters, but 2 of 'em were down."
He paused.
"We got the news about the attack on London 3 days in advance, April fools, way we figured it well it fit cause a fool was about to fucking die. We got the message and the hardest of the hard were told to go to London. We had guest coming and we had to show Cronus some proper british hospitality."
He smirks.
"So pretty much everyone in the United Kingdom who thought they were hard men showed up, fucking hell the bloody queen 'er self was in London, the Prince was their too, not Charles but we expected 'em to be chicken shit. Labour remained, and most of the tories, got to give 'em this most of them had enough balls to stay, well except the pig fucker, he ran."
He motions with his hands.
"So pretty much all the gangers were there, the navy boys, the air boys and every squaddie worth his salt. The Yanks sent in their boys the whole world came to play and then in the distance I saw old Ironwood. Bloke was going round, healing any minor injuries, one of the officers asked him to fix his bum knee. One of my friends asked him to help make is wife no longer 'ave a fat arse. We laughed and then he agreed...so the wife's brought in and she's as fat as a whale and angry as a wet hen, but Ironwood fixes her like that and then she looks almost like she's worth a shag."
He sips his tea.
"He died in the fighting, bloke was always worth a laugh but you know... it is what it is. So the whole city's there waitin' for the fight and we're getting bored, maybe it's a prank right? Old Ironwood havin' some fun at our expense."
He puts down the tea cup.
"Really wish he was, would have been easier that way, Cronus comes waltzing in like he owns the place and everything goes to hell. Bloke controls time, old Ironwood could burst his bubbles but we had guys starving death, had buildings rot away and turn into dust, and now it's serious. We shoot at him, throw bombs at him, use the heavy stuff but it's not doing much. A few people decided to charge 'em. Brave, stupid and dead, Ironwood's got these monsters about, healing people and keeping 'emself right in Cronos' face."
He places his hand on his cup of tea and sighs, it's empty. He starts refilling it.
"Then...then he grabs Ironwood and just crushes 'em, and Ironwood isn't moving, and... and we were fucking scared yah know? So Cronos starts laughing and heads into the Thames."
He sips his tea.
"Up from the river old Ironwood pops right up and grabs him, flowers and plants rising from the Thames and he's trying to crack open Crono's chest to expose his core, that's when me and the boy's get word, use everything, no holding back, this is for queen and country. We didn't hold back, fuck I was part of that mortar squad shelling 'em with everything we had and then we get the message on the radio. Endbringer down, Endbringer down."
He smiles and takes a loving sip from his cup.
"Good cuppa. So we won, third Endbringer kill in jolly old England, the West end was just a touch too much for Cronos. All the villains? Get a Royal Pardon, the heroes of the Home Guard some money, and all of us squaddies? Well we were getting a pension or a bonus to the pension when we retired, Royal edict and no PM was going to tell the queen no, not on this."
He sips his tea again.
"Old Ironwood tended to the wounded like a good and proper medic, the rest of us? We partied I mean it got wild, if you fought in London then you had a bird on your arm. It was good times all round. Shame it didn't last, see we got all knackered up thinking about the kill that we forgot one bloody thing. The other 17 Enders were out there."
He put the cup on the table again.
"2003 wasn't the worst year of the war, that came later but it was a pretty bloody awful year."