Author Note: Chapter 8...I really have to get new chapters out faster. I've now abandoned the idea of writing out drafts in my fanfiction book, and instead I am just going to type them out. It makes the whole thing faster.
Disclaimer: Advance Wars, Advance Wars 2, and their content are copyright Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Red Mesa and its CO's are my intellectual property.
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Advance Wars: Red Mesa – Chapter 8: Gradi.
By CO Shade.
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Location: Zynkov POW Camp, Blue Moon.
Time: 1200 Hours BM Time, one day after the Red Zephyr launch.
"So what exactly is Red Mesa shrouding?" Grit was talking to Swift again in her cell. He kept asking questions about Red mesa and Swift always managed to give answers without giving away any secrets. This time was no exception. "Well, it's basically using a network of electromagnets similar to degaussing in ships. It bends light around the object, rendering it invisible...the rippling mirage effect is caused by instabilities in the field." Grit frowned. Every answer she gave threw up more questions. "An' how come on'y Shade uses shrouding technology in battle?" He asked. Swift smiled. "He doesn't. He seems to be able to reproduce the effect with his EM powers...boy, if the main Mesa shrouds went offline, you'd have a sight to see." Grit raised and eyebrow. Obvious subject change there, he thought. Did she nearly let slip an' tell me a secret? Hmm... "Why would there be a sight to see?" He asked. Might as well play along... "We have beautiful cities," Swift said, sighing dreamily as she recalled them. "Wonderful architecture, plants, flowers and trees everywhere...every one of our cities is an oasis amongst the barren landscape of our country." Before Grit could ask another question, three Blue Moon soldiers rushed in. By the looks of terror and their erratic movements, Grit realised they were panicking. Not exactly hard ta figure out... he thought. "What in tha blazes is goin' on here?"
"T-there's a massive flying....thing...approaching the camp, s-sir!" One of the soldiers cried. "It's several hundred meters in length, maybe a kilometer, and it's approaching fast!" At this, Swift got up and went to the window, looking up into the cloudy sky. "They're behind the launch date.." She murmured, almost to herself. Everyone else in the room turned to stare at her. "What?!" Grit cried. "Do you know somethin' about this?" Swift turned to look at him, a triumphant smile playing on her lips. "Know? Grit, I commissioned the development of the Red Zephyr myself?" She said. "You guys are in so much trouble now..." Grit sighed. Today was going to be one of those days...he turned to the soldiers. "Ready our ani-air defenses an' get ready ta blow that thing outta the sky!" Swift shook her head, still smiling. "You'll hardly scratch it," She said, chuckling. "Simulations we ran showed that nothing save hardened armour-piercing warheads can penetrate the Red Zephyr's hull." Grit took out his revolver and twirled it around his index finger. "A Super Snipe will blow open any weak points," He said, holstering his gun. Swift frowned. He may be right... "We'll see," She said. Her mind was racing. If the Zephyr is here...then they've come to rescue me...Shade...he must be alive! She turned back to the window to see the Red Zephyr, flying low to the ground less than a kilometer away, and closing fast. She saw a dot lift off from the left wing, and she squinted to look at it. It was a T Copter, rotors whirring as it flew towards the camp, straight towards a battery of Missiles. She looked on in horror as a wall of missiles shot up into the sky. Most missed the T-Copter - Swift had no idea how - but one hit it dead on, tearing open the side in a ball of fire. Five figures jumped out seconds before it exploded, and parachuted down to the ground, rippling into nothing as they shrouded. Vipers! Swift thought. Only they would be insane enough to do that...
Her eyes darted back to the Red Zephyr as it slowed to a stop, less then 200 meters away from the camp. Grit's Missiles threw everything they had at it, only to see their missiles blown up by chain gun fire from the battlecruiser's anti-air turrets. Swift heard the cell door swish open, and she whirled around to see the five Vipers unshrouding in front of Grit and the shocked Blue Moon soldiers. Grit whipped out his revolver so fast his arm was a blur, but the leading Viper (wearing a red shoulder patch) took out his own just as fast, drawing the hammer back with an ominous click. With his other hand he took off his helmet, revealing a youthful, blond-haired face. "Colt!" Swift cried. Colt nodded at her, and said "Nice to see you, Commander. Before we bust you outta here, what shall we do with Grit and the three Mooners?" Swift looked at him, then at Grit. "Grit, you're always saying how you hate this war," She said, a plan forming in her mind. "It's very probable that the Red Zephyr will wipe this camp off the map, as well. Why don't you come with us?"
A shocked gasp came from the Blue Moon soldiers, and they would have said something if it hadn't been for the presence of the Vipers. Grit was thrown by the way Swift asked him so offhandedly, and it was a while before he could speak. "Well, that's a generous offer, but-"
"You'll have complete amnesty, the choice of whether or not you actually command, and you'll get out of Olaf's plans," Swift said, cutting across him. "You'll be bale to see all our new indirect units, and your skills won't be going to waste like they are doing here." Swift ran a hand through her hair as Grit thought about it. "Plus the fact that we could really use your experience," She said. "Compared to you, the Red Mesa CO's are combat rookies. Sure, we've had field tests and battle simulations, but these real battles are our first."
"Well..." Grit weighed up his potions. Stay with Blue Moon and get wiped out with the camp...well, the Reds made it easy. "Yeah, but I don't know if I really wanna command. I'll go, but just to make sure I don't get blasted to hell an' back by you guys." The Blue Moon soldiers looked furious and betrayed, but said nothing. "Okay...we'd better go now, and fast," Colt said. "Vipers, take care of these soldiers while I escort the Commanders outside and signal for a copter." The other Vipers nodded, and Grit, Swift and Colt walked out of the cell. As the door swished closed, their were a series of thuds and muffled groans from inside the cell. Colt turned toward the noise, and smirked. "Brutal, but effective," He said. "That's just what I like to see - hear, from my unit." Grit raised and eyebrow. "You have separate units in an elite group?" He said. "Each of the Cobras - that is, the squad leaders of the Vipers - has their own unit, to train how they like," Colt replied. "Mine are quick and brutal gunfighters." He headed for the exit. "I'll take point. Follow me." As Swift and Grit followed Colt, they saw him take out and switch on a radio. "I've got them both," he said into it. "Get us a T Copter down here, and make it quick." He put the radio away and stopped in front of a large steel door. Colt turned to see the rest of his unit rendezvous with them.
Location: Left Wing Aerial Deck, Red Zephyr.
Time: 1230 Hours BM Time.
Shade was getting anxious. It had been almost 15 minutes since Colt had radioed for a T Copter, and it had only just launched. Thank god it's shrouded, he thought, or we'd just give them a fireworks display...
He shivered. It was cold up here. He looked around him. The left wing stretched out far to the right of him, planes and helicopters dotted along it's length, and to his left stood Diesel and Cougar. Judging from the way Diesel had stolen Cougar's heavy brown trenchcoat and wrapped herself in it, she was feeling the cold too. Cougar however barely felt it as he squinted at the camp. "They're takin' longer than they should," He said, frowning. "C'mon guys..." His voice trailed off as the T Copter unshrouded a short way from the wing. "Good timing, Cougar," Shade said, smirking as the T Copter landed next to them. "Maybe you should be predicting stock market crashes!" Cougar shot a mock-angry look at him as they went towards the copter (Shade still in his wheelchair). Shade heard a high-pitched scream milliseconds before a crying hysterical Swift ran into him, wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. "Uhh...yeah...I missed you too Sarah..." He said, voice muffled slightly. "Now, could you please spare my ribs? They're quite sore at the moment..." Swift released him, eyes full of tears. "I thought you'd died..." She said quietly. "So did I, but I'm alive still, despite turning a square kilometre of desert in glass," He replied. "Now stop crying, you'll make me cry," He said, grinning. Swift smiled slightly in return. They turned to see Grit walk up to them. "It's nice ta see ya in the flesh Shade," He drawled, extended a hand. Shade shook it, the grin still on his face. "Grit!" He said. "So you came...good..." Shade looked at a crewmate standing near to them. "Tell Captain Alaro to initiate the attack," He said, and the man nodded and sprinted off to relay the order. "Now," said Shade, looking at Swift, Grit and the others, "Why don't we go to the bridge and watch the show?"
The Blue Moon forces stationed at the camp were doing everything in their ability to attack the Red Zephyr, but to no avail. Then, suddenly, all the Anti-Air fire from the massive cruiser stopped, and the two circular ports on it's nose opened. Then, without warning, massive beams of energy lanced out of the ports, and the ground they hit disappeared in a massive explosion, dirt (and Blue Moon units) being flung high into the air. Shade and the others watched as the Red Zephyr opened fire again, this time destroying the west wing of the camp. "What the heck kinda weapons do you have on this thing?!" Grit cried, awestruck. "Railguns," Shade said. "They use electromagnets to propel slugs at incredible speeds. These ones can launch the slug at three quarters the speed of light - it also makes the beams, but they don't cause damage. It just looks like they do because the slugs are travelling too fast to be seen by the naked eye." The railguns fired again, this time wiping out the main camp building in a single strike. The other numerous weapons on the Red Zephyr opened fire, with rockets, missiles, chainguns, EMP weapons, and prototype Directed Energy Weapons turning what used to be Blue Moon's biggest and best POW camp into a smoking wasteland. Not to mention the escort fighters being launched from the wings, who were engaging the Blue Moon jets that had managed to take off and avoid being shot down/blasted to bits/ripped to shreds by the railguns. All in all, it took less than ten minutes for the Red Mesa forces to clean up and destroy all traces of the camp. The Red Zephyr then turned around slowly, and flew off back to Red Mesa, to rest and refuel before heading to their next destination.
Orange Star.
Location: Blue Moon HQ, Blue Moon.
Time: 1330 Hours BM Time.
"ARGH! THAT MISERABLE TRAITOR!" As most people in the HQ could tell, Olaf was in a bad mood. "THOSE USELESS, COWARDLY RED MESA FOOLS!" He roared, pacing back and forth behind his desk. The soldier who had had the unluckiness of telling him this information had long retreated behind Olaf's antique couch, shaking uncontrollably. Olaf calmed down somewhat, but has was still shaking with rage. "Now we have a CO gap! I'm the only Commander in Blue Moon!" He cried. Spotting the cowering soldier, he bellowed, "Who else do we have who is fit to command?!" The soldier stood up shakily, and frantically tried to remember who else they had in reserve. "G-G-Gradi, Sir. H-he's a psychic, can read minds and stuff." Olaf raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Bring him in the-"
"I'm already in here, Sir," Said a quiet, Russian-accented voice. Olaf turned from behind his desk to see a tall, thin man, with a bald head and a small goatee. "How did you know you were going to be called in here?" Olaf asked. Gradi smiled slightly. "I simply read your mind as you thought of the order. It was quite simple, really." Olaf stared in wonder. "Amazing...if you can read minds, then-" Olaf was once again interrupted by Gradi. "I can see through Shade's EM Jamming and see whatever he is doing...I can read anyone." Gradi gave another small smile. Olaf nodded. "I think we've found our replacement CO," He said. "Gradi, you are now an official Commanding Officer of Blue Moon. Congratulations!" Gradi nodded his mind churning with new thoughts. Good, very good...now, all I have to do is eliminate that fat fool and any people loyal to him, and a new, psychic world order will arise...
Olaf didn't know it then, but he had laid the foundations for one of the most brutal and horrific wars ever to be fought in Wars World...
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End of Chapter 8
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Author Note: Chapter 8, and Olaf's doomed his country...and, of course, the entire world.
Shade: What do you expect? He's Father Christmas, not a CO!
True, true. Chapter 9 sees the combined might of Red Mesa and Orange Star smash Black Hole, but what about their missile platform? And Gradi?