The Siege

Chapter 16: Sight for Sore Eyes

By JagdPanther

In the basement of the station, a Navy Corpsman, Petty Officer, Second Class Williams, worked feverishly on the mounting casualties. The firefight was still going on outside the cafeteria, he was running dangerously low on medical supplies, and the casualties just kept coming. By now he had to start discriminating on whom to treat. The most heavily wounded were the first the to be treated. Everyone was SOL until the worst were taken care of.

Williams noticed a group of Marines and Army troops bring several bodies into the room. 'God, no. Not more.' He gestured for them to come over. "Over here! Put them here!" The Corpsman pointed to a table that was cleared off and directed the soldiers over.

"We've got five live ones, Doc. This one is dead." The trooper motioned to the body of an Army Private, First Class slung over his shoulder. "Some Army guys and two Japanese women. All unconscious."

"Just put them down here." Williams wasn't even emotional about it anymore. He was just on autopilot. He'd never seen a scene this bad for dead and wounded ever before. "Okay, who's hurt the worst?" he said to no one in particular. Fishing his penlight off of his web-gear belt, Williams leaned over the body of a young U.S. Army Private. The Navy medical man lifted the soldier's eyelids back and played the penlight over the eyes. "Dilating well. He's stable, I think." He pulled back the trooper's uniform to see two no wounds. "Where's he hit?" Williams turned the soldier over. "Ah, hell." There were two in-only bullet wounds in the shoulder and back areas. "Someone apply pressure to this one's wounds and find me some bandages. Just pressure them. His pupils would tell me if it was really, really bad. Not too much bleeding, either. "

The Corpsman continued his work. Next he checked the two older Army soldiers. They appeared to be dressed like the Delta Force operatives. "These two are okay. In-and-out wounds. Someone wake them up." He tossed smelling salts to the Marine who had returned after setting down the dead Army PFC. "Use these. Then give them some water and patch the wounds with strips of cloth. This one already patched his own wounds, it looks like."

"This is crap," muttered the Corpsman as he moved on to the two women. "Women getting shot in this. Why? Just why?" But he continued anyway. The black-haired woman had two bullet wounds to the upper torso area and some grenade fragments in her legs. It looked like there more fragments stopped in her flak vest in front. "Damn, she's in pretty bad shape. I'm going to need any plasma left. Someone find me plasma!" Steve Williams shuffled over to the brown-haired woman next. "Pupils dilating. Wounds to the shoulder and" he was cut short by the woman herself.

"What are you doing to me?" yelled Natsumi, grabbing Williams' arm and reaching for a pistol that was no longer in her holster. "Get away!"

"Hey! Hey! Calm down! Listen to me! Calm down! Miss!" Williams forced her arm back down while another police officer came over and held her body down. "Calm down! I'm trying to help you! Don't fight me! Your body can't take the stress!" He leaned heavily on her to keep her down.

Natsumi relented finally after recognizing that the Corpsman wasn't a JSDF soldier or terrorist and was actually the Corpsman from yesterday that she had met. Feeling the pain in her shoulder and back again, she started to drift off, but the Navy man slapped her cheeks a bit to get her attention.

"Hey! Don't faint on me! Do not do it! You stay awake, you hear me?" Williams unzipped her flak jacket and began taking it off of her while the police officer tried to put pressure on the wounds. "Stay with me, lady."

She fought hard to stay awake. "Ah, it hurts so bad," she whimpered. More blood oozed out of her bullet wounds. "It hurts so bad." Natsumi winced while Williams tore up a tablecloth and wrapped it around her shoulder.

"Just stay calm and try not to move, okay? You'll be fine." Williams turned around and saw an Army PFC return with a bottle of blood plasma. "Good! You found some!"

"Yeah, the last one I could find," responded the trooper.

"Well, that sucks. But I need it anyway. Okay, someone give me a hand with this one!" Williams took his last IV needle and tube out of his medical kit and began the transfusion into Miyuki's arm. She was losing blood fast. "Okay, patching the back and shoulder first. Leg wounds aren't too bad."

Before then, Natsumi hadn't even noticed that she was lying next to Miyuki on the table. When she did, she flipped out. "Miyuki! Oh my God! No!" She tried to sit up and hold her friend and partner, but a soldier forced her back down. "No! Let go of me!"

"Someone get her out of here! Now!" yelled Williams. He gestured for the Marine to move her away, but Natsumi just clamped her hand to Miyuki's and wouldn't let go. "Ah, damnit. I'm out of cloth." He looked around and couldn't see anything. "Hell." The Corpsman undid his flak jacket's zipper and dropped it. Next came his BDU top. Underneath was his gray NAVY T-shirt. Williams took that off and began tearing it into strips with the aid of surgical scissors. "Just keep her calm," he said, gesturing to Natsumi. "Your friend is going to be fine. She will not die on my watch."

The words didn't calm Natsumi too much, but just enough for her breathing to go back down to normal. "You make sure of that! She's my partner!" Natsumi couldn't bear not being able to do anything for her friend, no matter how much she wanted to. With her wounds, she was in danger of passing out at any moment, just as she was about to now. Her vision blurred a bit, but she fought back and tried to stay awake. It wouldn't work. She passed out from the stress she had caused herself and slumped back down onto the cold, hard table surface.

"Wonderful," muttered Williams as he fastened his shredded shirt around Miyuki's shoulder with a knot. "Keep an eye on that one, I don't need her going on me." The Corpsman was getting more and more flustered by the minute. "Okay, her back and shoulder are okay. Now to clamp the legs up." Williams cut Miyuki's pant legs with his scissors and found the fragment wounds. "Woah, got some fragments on the surface. Going to try and remove them." He located his forceps in his medical kit and carefully began to remove to fragments that had stopped near the surface of her leg. "Okay, this is going to get a bit messy with blood, but its better than leaving this crap in her leg." The two metal fragments came out easily with only minor bleeding. "Need more cloth! More cloth!"

Williams commandeered more T-shirts from other soldiers and tied off the wounds to Miyuki's leg. "Someone just keep this plasma container up. She needs it, bad." Without any further words, Williams left to take care of the next casualties just coming in. 'What with?' he thought, moving away from the table. "I need more medical supplies! When is that damn reaction force getting here?" he bellowed.

Just as he left, Aoi and Yoriko happened by the table with Miyuki and Natsumi on it. They were carrying water canteens from the kitchen area to another medic on the other side of the cafeteria. Yoriko was the first to notice. "Oh my God! Natsumi! Miyuki!" The canteens she had been carrying clattered to the floor and came to rest in a heap. She rushed around to the other end of the table, past the police officer holding up the plasma bottle for Miyuki, and took Natsumi's hand. "Speak to me!"

Aoi came around, too, and put her hand on Yoriko's shoulder. "My God. They both look so pale. What happened to them?"

The other police officer spoke up. "The American said that they were shot twice and both took some grenade fragments. He said Officer Kobayakawa is worse off. She lost a lot of blood. They are both very weak right now, though, so he would rather them be unconscious so they don't strain themselves. He wants me to keep an eye on both of them so they don't slip off while they're sleeping." His tone was very low and seemed full of dejection. "I hope they'll both be okay."

"If they don't make it, I don't know what I'll do with myself." Aoi said, trailing off towards the end. Yoriko just pouted next to her. They both looked up to the other two officers so much, and now they were unconscious, wounded severely, in the basement of the station with the battle still raging on. "Ken, the Chief, and Arleigh will be crushed when they find out."

"Miyuki! Natsumi!" Yoriko continued to squeeze Natsumi's hand. She didn't want to disturb Miyuki's arms, since the one closer to Yoriko was the one with the plasma being induced into it. "Please don't die."

Natsumi's eyes fluttered back open and she groaned softly as Yoriko rested her head on Natsumi's hand, still crying. "Hey, hey. What's this about dying?" she managed to squeak out. She felt even more terrible than she had a few minutes before when she almost killed Williams.

"Natsumi!" Aoi yelped. "You're awake!"

"Yeah, sort of." Her voice was very weak. "I feel like hell." She turned her head slightly and saw the other officer holding the bottle of plasma up. "How is she? Is she going to be okay?"

"For right now, yes. The American said that she lost a lot of blood and he was kind enough to give her the last bottle of blood plasma. He also said that she's much worse off than you are. I think that she needs to be evacuated soon. But there is no way that we can do that."

Natsumi's eye lids closed a bit while she pondered that. "Please don't die, Miyuki. Please." A tear began to form at the corner of her eye. "Why did this have to happen? If I would've reacted faster I could have pushed her clear."

"Officer Tsujimoto, it wasn't your fault!" Delta Sergeant Carlson was conscious again. The smelling salts had quickly brought him grunting back to life. Now he was seated on the edge of the table massaging his wounded legs, trying not to let the wounded parts touch any surface. "You can't blame yourself for that. What happened is what happened. There was nothing you could've done to change it. I wish I could've done something to help Chris, but I couldn't. He got shot. It happens." The other Delta in question was still a bit woozy, lying on the table to Carlson's side, trying to blink away the stars circling around his eyes.

"But I know if I would've just been faster..."

"No. You did what you could and that's that. She will be fine. As long as nothing else happens to her, she'll be fine. We just all have to keep an eye on her. And you, too. You're in pretty bad shape yourself. Just rest. Try not to talk or move. Wastes energy." Carlson sipped at some water that a Marine had brought over a few minutes before. "Ah, hell, my legs hurt. I took a crap-load of shrapnel."

She didn't want to hear that she couldn't have done any more, but deep in her mind she knew that she had done her best and at least Miyuki was still alive, albeit barely. "It feels like my shoulder is on fire."

"Just hang in there, Officer. You did great out there today." Carlson reached over and patted her on the shoulder. "Made me and the other Americans real proud."

Tsujimoto managed a faint smile before she drifted off again.

"I sure as hell hope that neither of them had their femoral or radial arteries hit, because they both got hit right in those two areas," quipped Carlson to Stevens in English. They hoped that none of the three Japanese nearby spoke English so as not to alarm them.

"They'd be able to tell from the amount of bleeding, right?" responded Stevens, trying to sit up.

"Not necessarily. Could be internal."

Chris Stevens propped himself up on the table. "God, I hope not. Those two were great out there."

"Yeah." Steve

Ken Nakajima and Kachou continued to hold one of the ends of corridor East-15 with a small group of Americans. Both were using AK-74 rifles commandeered from the cache found several days before the siege of the station began. They had reloaded their stock of ammo from the bodies of terrorists who happened to also be using AKs.

Some concrete fragments rained down on Ken's head as several bullets impacted on the wall across from him. He was in cover but the enemy was still shooting suppressive fire, and their shots were kicking debris up all over the place. "We keep running low on ammo. When are they going to run low?" he said over the noise to Kachou.

"Probably not soon. They have tons of the stuff upstairs in their vehicles. Plus they can take all they want from all the dead bodies around the station. Plenty of ammunition there." Kachou stuck his rifle around the corner and fired a burst blindly back at the enemies.

"Give up, Americans! We won't hurt you! We just want the building! You will be treated fairly!" shouted a voice from down the hall.

"Bullshit!" yelled Nakajima, firing his own AK-74 blindly.

"Ah! Japanese police! Join us! Don't fight for the Americans! They are just using you for their own agenda!"

Kachou reloaded his AK after another burst of fire. "Like you wouldn't?" He turned to Nakajima. "Who the hell do these guys think they are?"

"No idea. Don't care, either, Chief. They're shooting at me, that's all I know."

Next to them, one of the Marines asked what was going on since he couldn't understand Japanese. Kachou explained to the Americans what had just happened.

"'We won't hurt you,' huh? How many times has that been said in history right before they shove the gun barrel down your throat?" The Marine Private, First Class just shook his head and smiled. "American agenda. I love it. Makes me feel important."

The stalemate continued on for some time. Neither side made any moves for over an hour. Just bursts of fire were traded. The lull in fierce fighting from earlier gave the medics a chance to catch up on all the casualties that had come in. It was also a great chance for the defenders to reorganize and spread everyone back out evenly. The western edge of the defense was terribly thinned out from the assaults on it. Where Miyuki and Natsumi had been was actually the better off part of the team.

Around 0600 the enemy began to assault again, but they found that the defenders had regrouped. It was their own stupidity costing them the battle. The enemy had had more than enough troops to overrun the station hours and hours earlier, but they chose to keep stopping and starting, regrouping themselves, but also letting the defenders regroup. The key to any attack was to not let up on the defense.

Nakajima batted another grenade away from the corner while a Marine leaned over him, firing his M-16A2 at the enemy. Some RPK machine gun rounds reached out at him, but PFC Clark ducked back around the corner before the enemy gunner could walk his fire into the target. Nakajima sprayed more fire down the hall blindly while Clark reloaded his rifle.

"Romo, take Schippins with you and go get some ammo. We're running low again. Beg, borrow, and steal anything you can from the wounded." Clark pulled the charging lever back and chambered a round. "Ooh-rah." Another burst sent some enemies scurrying for cover in the halls. It fell quiet again, with only a few more shots being fired singly.

"Okay, be right back." PFC Romolusa, known to his buddies as Romo, came up from his crouch and moved back down to the cafeteria with Private Schippins. Along the way they passed other teams holding the halls. They arrived at the cafeteria just in time to see Sergeant Lennox leaving with two belts of machine gun ammo draped over his arms.

"Where the hell are you two going?" Lennox deadpanned. "Get back to the line before I tell the L-T to court martial you."

"S-Sarge, C-Clark sent us to get more a-ammo. We're running low out on the line." Romo stuttered out. He, along with just about everyone else in the 3rd Platoon, was scared to death of Lennox.

Sergeant Dale Lennox didn't seem to believe them at first, but he smiled, eventually. "I was just kidding. Lighten up, son." Lennox walked off, yelling and raising hell, just for the fun of it. "Do not back down, Marines! Don't let these Army jackasses show you up!" A few Army troopers flipped Lennox the middle finger as he chortled, still carrying the ammo belts.

"That guy has issues," mentioned Schippins to Romo as he went over to a pile of bandoleers and picked out several magazines of M-16A2 ammo. He also found a couple grenades and took them. "Here, Romo. I am going to trade my M-16 in for this S.A.W." Surprisingly, there was an M249 buried under all the ammo hauled over by the medics, taken from the wounded. He hefted the light machine gun and all the ammo boxes he could find, which was only two full and the one used one in the gun already. "Now I've got some firepower."

The two quickly returned to their position and forked over some of the ammo to Clark. "Hey, I'm a PFC, too. Why did I have to go get the ammo?" asked Romo as he helped Clark put M-16 magazines into Clark's ammo pouches.

"I joined before you, that's why. I'm up for Lance Corporal, you know."

"Oh, really? Sucks for you."

"Why?"

"Why? Because of the responsibility. You? Responsibility? Hah." Romo quickly leaned around the corner and fired a couple of three-round bursts before Clark could respond. "I'd love to see you try and lead a squad."

"Shut up."

Kachou looked over at Ken while the Marines continued to bicker. "Hey, I am going to go get some more ammo for us, too. I'll be right back."

"Okay, Chief." Ken nodded and resumed his stance near the corner, ready to fire another burst.

The Chief walked into the cafeteria and looked around for any AK ammo. He found some over near where the Americans had their ammo. Some other police officers had managed to strip AK ammo from dead terrorists when they were pulling back. There were only six magazines, but it would sustain the two officers for some while longer, at least one more major push by the enemy. Then they would have to start using American weapons the wounded weren't using. Just as he was about to leave, he spotted Yoriko and Aoi over by the wall. He decided to check up on them, since he hadn't physically checked on them in hours. "Yoriko! Aoi! How is everything going? Are you all right?" When he got closer, his heart skipped a beat. "Oh my God." The sight of Natsumi and Miyuki on the table almost made him fall over. "What happened to them?"

Yoriko looked up and said in a weak, monotonous voice, "They were both shot. The American medic said they are stable, but they need more medical attention soon. He said Miyuki lost a lot of blood. They used the last blood plasma they had on her. She hasn't woken up since they brought her in here."

"And what about Tsujimoto?"

"She's been awake off and on, Chief," replied Aoi. "They're both very weak. They both need rest and blood transfusions. And there is shrapnel in them, so they need to get that removed."

The Chief had to prop himself up on a nearby table. He could remember talking to both of them only a few hours before, telling them how much it would crush him if they were hurt. Their acknowledgements of understanding resonated through his head. Slowly, he stood back up and backed away.

Yoriko raised her eyebrow. "Chief, are you all right? You look terrible."

"Yes, Yoriko, I'm fine. I just need to get back to the line." He gulped and grabbed a canteen from a table. Unscrewing the cap, he chugged as much as he could. "I can't tell Ken about this. It will kill him faster than the enemy will." Kachou took some more canteens from the table and made his way silently out of the cafeteria to his position. Along the way, he tried to compose himself. 'Can't tell him. Can't tell him.' When he got back, he said, "Ken, Miyuki got shot twice. She's unconscious." After he finished, he realized that his mouth had just worked independently of his brain. 'Oh, hell.'

"What!" shouted Ken. He slumped back against the wall as Clark and Schippins fired their rifles down the hall at random intervals. "How? Is she okay?"

He knew now that he'd have to say everything. "She's unconscious. Apparently, she lost a lot of blood. They got some plasma into her, but she needs medical treatment soon." Kachou sighed as he tossed some magazines to Nakajima along with a canteen. "Natsumi is out, too. They're both in bad shape. Aoi and Yoriko are with them." He handed the Marines the remaining canteens. They were all pretty low on water.

Ken just sat, stunned, against the wall with his AK resting on his knees. "Chief, can I do check on her, please? I just need to do it to keep myself from going nuts."

"Go ahead, Nakajima." The Chief knew that Ken cared with his entire heart for Miyuki. No matter how much he denied it, everyone knew. "Do what you have to do."

"Thank you, Chief."

Across the east half of the first lower level, Officer Hideki Honda woke up. Squinting, he looked around in the darkness. He could just make out the shape of some other bodies lining the wall. He figured that he must have been moved by the terrorists or JSDF to clear the hall. Honda slowly craned his neck to look back down the hallway. It seemed clear. Just then, a JSDF soldier came down the stairs and began walking towards him. Honda quickly shut his eyes and tried to remain perfectly still. The sound of footsteps got closer and closer until they were right next to him. Then they stopped.

Something fell to the floor right beside Honda's face. A gloved hand brushed his nose, causing it to twitch. 'Oh no! Don't sneeze! Not now!' With all his willpower, he tried to keep from sneezing. He won out. The walking never restarted, though. 'Damn, did he still notice me?' Slowly opening his eye closer to the ground, he looked out from the slit in his eyelid. The JSDF soldier was just standing there. From the way his feet were oriented, Honda judged that he was probably looking somewhere else. Then he heard the sound of a lighter being struck. Opening his other eye, Honda rolled his eyes up and saw the soldier trying to light a cigarette. 'Whew.'

A terrorist came down the stairs a few moments later, the JSDF officer still smoking in the hallway. Honda remained perfectly still as the other footsteps got closer. They stopped farther away this time. Hideki heard the click of a rifle's fire-mode selector switch. 'What's going on?' he thought.

All of the sudden, a shot rang on in the hallway. The JSDF soldier spun around and saw the terrorist standing over the body of one of the Marines. The Type-89's barrel was still smoking. "What the hell did you just do that for?" blurted out the JSDF soldier.

"I have steam to blow off," replied the terrorist icily. He shuffled to his right and fired once more, into another dead American. "And I don't have anyone to shoot at."

"Well then go to the line, jackass! I may not have a problem killing them, but, damnit, don't do that to their bodies!" The JSDF soldier snuffed out his cigarette on the wall and took a step towards the terrorist. "Stop."

"Make me." And the terrorist shot the next body.

Hideki realized that he was just one body away from being shot himself. Opening his eyes a bit, he saw that the JSDF soldier had his back to Hideki. 'I have to make a move or I'll die.'

The terrorist moved to the next body, right beside Honda, and shot. "I don't want to go to the line. It's worthless. They're dug in. But the Americans are attacking towards the station with armor. When we're defending, we'll slaughter them. I'll have plenty of targets. They started attacking ten minutes ago. They should be here in a couple hours. Until then, I have to work off some anger."

Just as the terrorist was about to come to Hideki, he thrust himself back with his legs and slid in-between the terrorist's legs. The terrorist yelped in surprise, and before he could react, Honda snatched the shoulder strap of his rifle and pulled it to the side, bringing it in to line with the stunned JSDF soldier. The terrorist fired out of reflex, even though the rifle wasn't aimed where it should've been. He put three rounds into the JSDF soldier's chest, sending him flying back into the wall. Honda kicked the terrorist's left leg out from under him and ripped the rifle away. Springing to his knees, Honda flipped the rifle over to automatic and pumped several rounds into the terrorist.

Hideki quickly removed the JSDF soldiers bandoleer and put in on himself. Behind him, he heard some shouting and a flashlight beam playing across the stairwell as feet rumbled down the stairs. He spun around and fired the rest of the magazine into the stairwell. A dead terrorist was flung back into the two JSDF soldiers behind him. Using the confusion to his advantage, Honda quickly reversed himself and ran around the corner while reloading the rifle. Up ahead, two JSDF soldiers were rounding another corner, coming to check out the gunfire. The sight of Honda rushing them froze them just long enough for him to bring up the rifle and spray them with several rounds each. He rushed past their bodies and down the hall. He figured that the defenders would be holding the cafeteria last, if there was anyone left at all. The sound of gunfire became louder as he moved towards the cafeteria, confirming his thoughts.

A small group of terrorists were trying to fix a broken selector lever on an AK when Honda bolted around the corner, almost into one of the terrorists. He skidded to a halt too close to them to aim properly with the rifle. Their faces were shocked as Honda brought the rifle's butt up into the chin of the nearest terrorist while spinning and kicking the second closest one in the stomach. Opening fire, he swept the rifle across the first man's chest and down across the lower body of the second man. The third man with the broken AK rushed him, but Hideki spun out of the way, firing four times into the man's back. He reloaded the rifle and pressed on towards the cafeteria, just a short hallway away. Through the smoke hovering in the hall, he saw three JSDF troops and a terrorist firing down a hall. Two of them were reloading a light machine gun while the other two covered. American medium machine gun fire and rifle fire cratered the wall near them.

Hideki got to his knees to support the rifle better, took aim, and opened fire. The two reloading the machine gun were defenseless and died quickly from Hideki's fire being walked towards them. However, the other two dove for cover and began returning fire. Hideki set himself behind some debris in the hallway and put the rifle over it, firing a burst blindly. The shouting behind him told Hideki Honda that there were also enemies closing in on him from the rear. He couldn't afford to get caught between the two groups. Deciding that two was better than an unknown number, he fired wildly, pushed himself up, and took off towards the corner in a dead run. The two remaining JSDF troops both ran dry of ammo at the same time. The first one tried to reload, but a burst from Hideki hit him in the head, killing him instantly. The other backpedaled, trying to reload, as Hideki's rifle ran out of ammo. Before the JSDF trooper could pull back the charging handle, Honda tackled him and sent them flying back. They hit the floor hard and slid out into the hall the Americans were defending.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" yelled Army Staff Sergeant Swiatowski. "That guy's police!" Sweet jumped to his feet and rushed forward to the brawling individuals. Behind Sweet, Lennox and another Marine followed. As he approached, Sweet saw that the JSDF soldier had rolled on top of Hideki and was trying to stab him, but Hideki was fiercely grappling the man's arm, holding it back. The burly Staff Sergeant swung the big M240 machine gun into the enemy's side, sending him rolling away in a ball.

Lennox rushed past Sweet and drew his pistol. He shot the JSDF trooper three times in the chest with his Colt .45. He immediately spun back around and dropped down beside Sweet. Both began pouring fire down the hallway with their M240's on the bi-pods. Round after round of 7.62mm fire lanced down the hall, striking debris and sending it flying and nailing the enemies, who had been chasing down Hideki. The other Marine helped Hideki to his feet before they both began adding their own rifle fire to the mix. Enemies ducked and covered from the sudden onslaught of defensive fire. They retreated back down the hallway, trying to regroup. Most were cut down before they ever made it.

Hideki was reloading while Swiatowski and Lennox were feeding new belts into their medium machine guns. "Thanks for the help," Hideki said in English. He rubbed a spot on his face where the JSDF trooper had punched him. It stung a bit, but it was nothing big.

"Not a problem, buddy," replied the Marine in Japanese. "How did you get through here? That took a lot of nerve."

Officer Hideki Honda shrugged before replying. "They thought I was just a dead body. Scared the hell out of two guys before I took one of their rifles and got them, then I just ran for the cafeteria and killed anyone in my way. I figured that everyone would be defending this place last."

"Good thing the Sergeant noticed that you were a cop or we would've shot you."

The Japanese police officer smiled. "Yeah, that is a good thing." He nodded to Sweet. Just then, he remembered what the terrorist had been saying. In English, he said, "One said the Americans are coming with, uh," He couldn't think of the English word.

"Tanks?" replied Marine Corporal Josh Kagiri. He was another Japanese-American solider in Alpha Company.

"Yes, that's the word. Tanks."

Sweet and Lennox looked at each other before they replied in unison. "About damn time!" Down the hall, a JSDF soldier stuck his head out to see if the Americans were still there. The two Sergeants sprayed fire at his quickly retreating form.

"Finally, they got their attack under way. Shouldn't be too long before they get here," said Lennox. He shifted positions to take advantage of the cover the debris in the hallway provided while a few other American soldiers trotted up to reinforce the small defense team.

"Hey, guys, this officer just said that we've got armor on the way!" said Corporal Kagiri jubilantly.

Amongst the "right ons," Hoo-ahs," and "Ooh-rahs," Hideki grew a big smile. 'I can't believe I made it. Woohoo! Oh, man, I made it. What a rush.' Just as he finished that though, pain blossomed in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw a pool of red liquid coming from his stomach area. "Holy shit! I got shot!" he yelled. Honda had been on such an adrenaline high, that he didn't even notice that one of the JSDF troopers had landed a shot on him when he was rushing.

Kagiri looked down at Hideki, who was sitting against a wall. "Damn!" He slung his rifle over his shoulder and grabbed Honda. "Hey, he got shot! Someone help me get him to the aid station!" Kagiri took Hideki's right arm and shoulder while an Army trooper got the left side.

Hideki was muttering to himself the whole way to the aid station in the cafeteria. "Wow, I can't believe I didn't notice that I'd been shot." Despite the pain he felt, he was feeling good. "At least I'm not dead. Yet."

"Don't say that," replied Kagiri. "You'll be fine."

The three entered the cafeteria just in time for Navy Corpsman Williams to look in their direction. "You are kidding me." Williams shook his head and grabbed the torn t-shirts. "Okay, time to wrap some more holes in people."

Rivera arrived at the stairwell he had come up earlier while being chased by the enemies. "Hey guys, have to go upstairs. Give me some space."

An Army 25th Infantry Division trooper blocking the stairs just looked up at him. "Sorry, Lieutenant. The stairs above are collapsed. Can't walk on them without falling through back down to here." The PFC pointed up to a hole in the stairs above caused by some grenades the defenders had dropped earlier when the breaching of the outer wall had been done.

"Ouch, that sucks." He grimaced and looked back down the hall behind him. "Guess I have to find another way up." Rivera made his way back to the aid station. He couldn't use the outside hallway. It was surely covered by enemy APCs. "Thanks for telling me the stairs were gone, guys," he said to the three Deltas who had come to help Ryker and himself.

"No problem, L-T." Jones snickered after his response.

Arleigh rolled his eyes. "Right. Anyway, since I'm back here to use the many holes in the walls around here to find another stairwell, Smith, Anderson, come with me. Jones, stay here with Ryker."

"Aw, don't make me baby-sit Al, sir." Jones huffed.

"Too bad, Jonesy," quipped Ryker. "Besides, I like it when you're here."

Horrified, Jones backed away from his fellow Delta Force operative. "Oh hell no."

The Lieutenant just laughed. "You two work out your love problems. Smith, Anderson, let's go."

"Roger that," replied Anderson.

The two Deltas fell in behind Rivera as he went through a hole in the wall across the room and into another room. They crossed to another hole and entered an inner hallway. As they walked, Rivera thought he heard something above the sounds of battle a few kilometers from the station. "Uh, what was that?" All three Operators stopped as Rivera listened. "What is that sound?"

"What sound, L-T?" asked Delta Sergeant Dave Smith.

A slight ripping sound radiated from the floor. "That sound."

"Huh? I don't hear anything." Anderson gave the Lieutenant a quizzical look.

Arleigh looked down and saw several cracks forming around his feat. "Uh oh." The floor gave out from beneath their feet and collapsed down to the first floor in a thunderous crash. All three landed in a heap, tangled together. Rivera flailed around a bit before the floor of the first floor gave out, too, sending them tumbling down to the first basement level. "Ah, bloody hell," said Rivera, staring at the ceiling, not moving.

Smith groaned out, "My head hurts. Ow," while Anderson just winced in pain and rolled onto his side, clutching his left arm.

Around them, five stunned enemies just stared while the Americans tried to recuperate. All their training went right out the window as they tried to figure out how three Americans had just fallen two stories right in front of them. All one enemy could do was to walk over to the Americans and look up at the two huge holes in the ceilings above. "Wow. That must have hurt."

Arleigh heard the Japanese voice and froze. With his back to the enemies, he tried to reach for his rifle without drawing any attention. Slowly, he pushed his hand forward towards the grip of his M4A1. 'Just a little bit more. Crap.' It was just out of reach. He'd have to move and draw attention. 'Oh, to hell with this. What am I worried about? I just stole a tank and rushed through a building of enemies with four guys. This is a piece of cake.' Arleigh lunged for his rifle, grabbed it, twisted around, and opened fire just as Anderson swung around, doing the same.

The two Deltas caught the enemies by surprise. They had no idea that the Americans were capable of even moving after such a fall. Anderson and Rivera sprayed the two nearest ones with rifle fire, killing them instantly. The other three tried to bring up their weapons, but Smith got to his rifle finally and played it across them, dropping two while Anderson and Rivera got the third.

They all slowly stood themselves up, despite the pain. "I can hardly walk," squeaked Smith.

"My ass hurts," said Anderson. He reloaded his M4A1 and rubbed just above his pelvis. "Damnit."

"Hell." Arleigh started to walk away when he heard Japanese voice. 'Oh, yeah. Enemies.' "Stay alert! Come on!" He grabbed Anderson and Smith and pushed them along the hall. They quickly oriented themselves. "Where are we?" Arleigh looked at the hall to try and recognize it. "Uh, cafeteria this way." He pointed to the right at the corner.

Turning the corner, they came face to face with three terrorists coming to investigate. The Deltas reacted first, killing all three with bursts from their rifles. All three half walked, half limped towards the cafeteria with their guns raised. Anderson covered the rear while Smith and Rivera watched ahead.

A couple more JSDF troops rounded the corner, but Smith cut them down quickly.

"Nice shootin', Dave."

"Thanks."

They continued towards the cafeteria when all of the sudden, gunfire erupted with a major intensity just around the corner. It was so loud that the Deltas thought it was being directed at them, and they all dove for cover. Rivera stuck his head up when he realized that it wasn't coming at him. "What the hell?" Behind him, Anderson fired his rifle into some enemies who had come from the rear.

"We have to move, sir! All the friendlies should be at the cafeteria!" yelled Anderson as he fired more. Smith joined in. A large group of enemies had come from behind them after discovering the dead bodies of the terrorists and JSDF troops.

"I know! Come on!" All three bolted down the hall, firing behind them. Rounding the corner, Arleigh caught sight of a JSDF machine gunner turning another corner. Smith stopped, turned, and provided rear covering fire as Anderson and Rivera ran to the next corner. Rivera peered around the corner and saw a group of JSDF troops battling it out with Americans. His head snapped back around the corner when he noticed that American fire was going past the JSDF and hitting the wall opposite him. "We're trapped! If we move out, friendly fire'll hit us. Can't go back, either."

Anderson swore and took a peek for himself. "Yup. Can't do that."

Back at the other corner, Smith yelled, "Hey! I could use some help over here!" Anderson quickly charged back and helped Smith defend the corner.

Arleigh just stayed where he was, and took another peek around the corner. 'To hell with this.' He raced down the hall towards the JSDF with their backs to him and began firing. All of the sudden, the American fire coming the opposite direction stopped. Arleigh ran even faster, killing two JSDF while the other four turned around in horror. Arleigh shot one in the head with a single shot as he slowed to a halt. "Get your goddamn hands up! Get 'em up! Drop your weapons, damnit!" he screamed at the JSDF troops. They didn't know he was out of ammunition and was trying to bluff them. "Get your hands up!"

The three terrified JSDF troops dropped their rifles and raised their hands above their heads as the defenders rushed forward. Ken and Kachou noticed that it was Arleigh. "Arleigh! Hey! Over here!" shouted Ken as he came up. The other defenders shoved their weapons in the JSDF soldiers' faces, keeping them at bay.

Just as Arleigh was about to respond, Smith and Anderson sprinted around the corner yelling that the enemy was coming. They hurtled over debris and enemy bodies in the hall as they rushed towards the defenders, the prisoners, and Arleigh. "Move it!" yelled Anderson.

The defenders pushed past Arleigh and set up behind debris, providing covering fire as the Deltas blew by. They came up to the prisoners and almost toppled over them. Smith quickly regained his balance and pushed one prisoner forward. "Move!"

Kachou twisted around and yelled, "Get them back to the cafeteria! We'll hold them here!"

Arleigh nodded as he reloaded his rifle, much to the dismay of the prisoners, who realized they had surrendered to a defenseless man. With a reloaded rifle, Arleigh pushed a JSDF officer forward. "Move it! Come on!" The three Deltas pushed the three prisoners around the corner as Ken, Kachou, and the Marines covered.

JSDF Captain Hiroaki Kagawa stumbled forward as U.S. Lieutenant Arleigh Rivera pushed him. While the group moved forward, several defenders cheered at seeing the prisoners. Hiroaki looked up and saw the words on the wall "Corridor East-15." 'I can't believe it. If I could've just have got here, it would've all been over.' He trudged forward, passing the point he had memorized on the floor plans. A lump formed in his stomach. 'It was just a few meters more. Damn.'

Arleigh pushed him into the cafeteria while Smith and Anderson filed their prisoners in. He pointed to two police officers with pistols on their belts. "You two, get over here." They shuffled over to the American officer. "Guard these prisoners. Don't let them move." Arleigh patted the prisoners down first before turning them over to the police. He took all their weapons and ammo off of them. "Guard them well."

The officer spun around and walked away. Behind him, Anderson said, "Hey, Arleigh, aren't you going to interrogate them?"

"After I go get some water, yeah. I'm out." He walked over to a table and grabbed a canteen. After chugging a whole canteen, he set it down and wiped his mouth. Looking himself over, he realized he looked like hell. "That fall. Ouch. I'm going to feel that tomorrow." Just as he turned around, he spotted two familiar people sitting by a nearby table. "Hey Aoi and Yoriko!" And just as Kachou before him, he saw the bodies. Arleigh stopped dead in his tracks. "Mother of God." He stumbled over to them. "W-What happened?"

"They were shot, Arleigh," Aoi said. "They're both getting worse every minute. Miyuki has lost a lot of blood. She's worse off." She sat dejectedly on a chair next to her friends. "Natsumi has been unconscious for a long time. She had been fading in and out. And the medics down here are all out of medical supplies. They can't give either of them any plasma."

Arleigh slumped onto another table. "Oh my God..."

Carlson and Stevens got up from their seats a few tables over and walked over to their commander. "Sir, I just want you to know, that these two girls fought extremely hard."

Arleigh didn't even notice that it was Carlson's voice for a few moments. Then he looked up suddenly. "Chris! AJ! Oh my God! You're alive! I thought you two were dead." He jumped up and hugged the two Deltas.

"Yeah, we're fine, L-T," responded Sergeant, First Class Stevens, prying himself away from Rivera. "But they really need help, sir. If they don't get medical help fast they could, well, you know."

Rivera's elation at seeing his two Deltas alive immediately faded and he sunk back onto the table. He couldn't take seeing their paper-white skin under all the dirt and grime. "The rescue force is still over an hour and a half away. What if they don't make it in time?" He wondered if Ken knew about Miyuki. 'He has to know.' Seeing Natsumi unconscious was enough to make him cry. Seeing both of them unconscious did make him cry. "Oh my God. Please don't take them from me." He slowly got up and held both of their hands. "Please don't."

Aoi, Yoriko, Stevens, and Carlson just looked on in silence as the combat-veteran Lieutenant and Medal of Honor winner broke down in tears. They'd never seen him do that before. Stevens put his hand on Rivera's shoulder. "Sir, they're going to get help in time. They'll be fine. God is not going to take these two women today."

Rivera didn't even hear him. His mind raced at a thousand words a second. 'If only I had seen this coming, if only I had taken the command structure down months ago, none of this shit would've happened and they wouldn't be in danger of drying. This is all my fault. No!' Arleigh let out a painful shriek of emotional pain and spun on his heels. He marched determinedly back to where the prisoners were being held. Arleigh walked right up to Anderson and shoved him out of the way.

Arleigh drew his pistol and pistol-whipped the JSDF Captain in the head. "What the hell is this all about you son of a bitch! Look what you've done! Look at all these people that you've killed or wounded! I might lose my two best friends because of you! Tell me! What the hell is this goddamn battle all about! I want to know! Tell me or he dies!" Arleigh grabbed one of the terrified JSDF enlisted soldier's BDU collar and dragged him over. He put his pistol right against the soldier's head. "What is this all about, goddamnit!"

"Hey, L-T! Calm down, damnit!" Anderson tried to reach for Arleigh's arm but the Lieutenant spun around and punched the Master Sergeant in the jaw.

"Get off of me!" Arleigh yelled. He turned back to the prisoners. "Answer me!"

The horrified Captain fell back on his elbows. "Revenge! It was about Revenge!"

"Revenge for what?"

"Revenge for... Revenge for... Revenge for the death's of the Colonel's family! His family was killed by Americans! He wanted revenge against the Americans! He wanted the plans hidden in this building so the terrorist group could take down America and make Japan the only superpower!" Hiroaki crawled backwards on his hands and feet, away from Arleigh.

"Where is he! Where!" Arleigh cocked the hammer back on his pistol and shoved it against the JSDF soldier's head.

"I think his headquarters is by the Sumida River! I don't know where exactly, though! Please don't kill him! He's just a kid! Please!"

"Yeah? All those dead Americans in this building? They're just kids. Most of 'em probably aren't over 20. Guess that doesn't mean much to your forces." Arleigh pulled the trigger on his Beretta M9. The slide shot back and locked open. The magazine was empty. He spun around and walked away from the prisoners, leaving the JSDF Captain speechless and the JSDF trooper whimpering in fear. The other JSDF soldier just sat comatose, oblivious to what happened. Smith, Anderson, and just about everyone in the cafeteria watched Arleigh as he walked across the cafeteria and back to the table where Natsumi and Miyuki lied together, unconscious and near death.

Yoriko hadn't said anything for over an hour, and she hadn't even noticed Arleigh's outburst. She silently changed the bandages on Miyuki and Natsumi when Arleigh walked over. Arleigh just watched her carefully wrap the wounds with clean strips of cloth. They continued to lose blood despite the bandages. The fragment wounds were more serious then anyone had thought. Carlson, Stevens, and even McCray were better off. McCray had regained consciousness some time earlier was resting at the other end of the cafeteria with some other bad, but stable, casualties.

For a while, Arleigh sat in silence. He just held the two officers' hands. 'My God, what has this battle done to them.' The fighting outside the cafeteria intensified every now and then and a couple more casualties trickled in, but for the most part, no one said anything or made any noise after Arleigh's outburst.

Anderson and Smith quietly talked with Carlson and Stevens. Anderson made a radio call up to the other Deltas saying that Carlson and Stevens were still alive, but wounded. They'd be out of action for a little while until the rescue force arrived. He also radioed up what happened with Arleigh and the prisoners. The Deltas upstairs radioed down that the rescue forces were getting closer. It wouldn't be too long until the fight was on the station's doorstep.

Natsumi's hand returned Arleigh's grip and he shot bolt upright in his seat. "Natsumi!" Arleigh jumped up and shuffled around the table to her side. "Natsumi, please say something!"

Her eyes were barely open and her voice was extremely weak. "Ar-Ar-Arleigh?"

"Natsumi! I'm right here. I'm right here. Don't worry." He took off his gloves and caressed her cheek. "Please stay with me. Don't die on me."

She managed a faint smirk. "No one can... No one can kill me, Arleigh. I'm too strong for th-that." Natsumi coughed a little bit after stuttering her words. "Don't you worry."

Arleigh let a tear roll down his face. "I'd die if I lost you, Natsumi. Hang on just a bit longer. We'll get you help."

"That won't happen." Natsumi asked for a drink and Arleigh put the canteen to her lips. He carefully poured some into her mouth and she swallowed weakly, coughing a bit. "I'll be fine. I'm worried about Miyuki." Her voice was barely loud enough to hear over the commotion outside.

The other four Deltas stood behind Arleigh, watching him talk with Natsumi. No one said a word while Natsumi was conscious.

"You're going to be okay. You both will. We're going to get you both evacuated as soon as the rescue force gets here. They're almost here, Natsumi; they're almost here. I can feel it." He meant that literally.

The ground shook from the battle raging in the streets above. American armor and JSDF armor clashed just a few hundred meters from the station. The JSDF troops and terrorists were locked in battle with elements of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Coming from the Miyamura Drive approach were the Army's 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment attached to the 25th Infantry Division [Light] and elements of the 1st Brigade "Lancers" of the same division. From the opposite side, elements of the 3rd Marine Regiment pressed on to the station.

American Stryker light armored vehicles, M2 Bradley Infantry-Fighting-Vehicles, M3 Cavalry-Fighting-Vehicles, and M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks crushed Japanese resistance of Type-90 MBTs and Type-89 IFVs. The air-defense units were slaughtered by naval gunfire in Tokyo Bay leaving the American AH-64-D Longbow Apaches gunships, AH-1W Super Cobras gunships, and F-15-E Strike Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons, and F-14 Tomcat fighter-bombers above free to strike Japanese positions all throughout the Sumida Ward. What JSDF troops and terrorists left fled into buildings for cover.

At the station, American and police forces struck out at the enemies hastily trying to prepare a defense for the rescue force coming in. The enemy had nowhere to go but up, so they began attacking up towards the Americans and police above. Valiantly, the defenders held back against the enemy force, which still outnumbered them almost 3 to 1. Running low on ammo, medical supplies, and most of all, manpower, the defenders couldn't hold forever.

Natsumi winced as another wave of pain hit her legs and back. "Arleigh. Do what you have to do. You're no good standing here." The enemy was making one last, grand push for the cafeteria outside. All able-bodied troops had left to hold them back. Just the medics and the wounded unable to walk or carry a weapon remained.

Arleigh was stunned. "But, Natsumi, I am not going to leave you."

"Now, Arleigh, you know you have to go. Just g-g-go." Natsumi's voice weakened again and she mouthed the words "I love you" to Arleigh. She smiled and let go of his hand. "Go."

He just looked down at her. 'She's right. I have to go. They need me out there. I can't do anything for her except get her medical help, and the way to medical help is through those enemies.' Arleigh bent down and kissed Natsumi on the lips. "I'll be back with help, don't you worry. I love you so much." With that, he spun around and sprinted from the room.

Arleigh landed heavily next to Anderson and Smith, who were firing from covered positions along with a group of Army troopers, Marines, and police officers. "Glad to have you back, L-T!" shouted Smith over the noise of Lennox's and Swiatowski's M240s. Ken and Kachou were across the hall firing from another position. It was the widest hallway in the basement, leading directly to the cafeteria.

"Hoo-ah, Smith!" Arleigh sprayed a burst from his M4A1 at a JSDF soldier trying to throw a grenade at the defenders. "Everyone keep firing! Don't let up! If it moves, shoot it!"

Bullets crisscrossed in the air. So much lead was in the air at one time that it seemed to block views of people. The defenders were running low on ammo, but they fought on just the same. "We will not lose, damnit!" yelled Lennox. "Anyone not fighting will answer to me!" His body vibrated back and forth from the recoil of the M240 machine gun striking his shoulder.

"Sweet" Swiatowski ran out of M240 ammo and was taking pot shots with his pistol at the targets down the hall. "Here they come again! Take 'em out!"

Anderson, Smith, Kagiri, Clark, Romo, and Rivera were all out of rifle ammo a few minutes later. Schippins was down to his last 20 rounds for the S.A.W. and was firing off two round bursts only when he got a clean shot.

Arleigh reloaded his Beretta just in time to see a new surge of enemies round the corner. In a blink he counted ten JSDF troopers and eight terrorists. 'Oh hell no!' Next to him, Schippins and Clark were hit in the upper-torso areas; rifle fire walking up their bodies. They both fell over, dead before they hit the ground. Romo screamed and dove for their bodies. "No!" Taking them by their BDU collars, he strained to drag them back into cover, despite knowing that they were already gone.

Kagiri took a bullet to the upper chest. He grunted and fell to the ground in pain. From behind him, Hideki rushed up and grabbed the Marine, despite being wounded himself. "You did the same for me!" he yelled when Josh Kagiri tried to protest and push him back. Hideki used his own body to shield Kagiri as they made their way back to cover.

Swiatowski and Lennox jumped up together and charged towards the wave of attacks with their pistols and knives. The others screamed for them to stay down, but neither heard the protests. The big, tough Army and Marine Sergeants tackled the first line of JSDF troops and began shooting them point-blank and stabbing at others. Arleigh hurtled a mound of debris and charged after them with his pistol. Smith and Anderson quickly followed. The enemy and friendly charges met head on in a huge brawl. It was a free-for-all. Anderson stabbed at a JSDF soldier's chest with his K-Bar only to have it knocked away by Smith's arm stabbing at another terrorist.

After shooting a terrorist in the chest several times with the last of his pistol rounds, Arleigh looked up and saw another wave of JSDF troopers approaching, firing at the group. He heard Swiatowski grunt in pain and slump over next to him, and then Lennox got hit, too. Arleigh didn't know if they were dead, but neither moved. Arleigh groped around for a rifle and brought up a JSDF soldier's Type-89. He fired the rifle until the magazine ran dry. Smith fell on top of him, blood coming from a gunshot wound to the stomach. Anderson wasn't moving, either. Blood was seeping from his under his helmet. Ken and Kachou were somewhere in the fray. He didn't know how they were.

The enemies ran up to the defenders and began screaming for them to surrender. Arleigh felt a JSDF trooper slam his rifle into Arleigh's back. 'Damnit! We were so close! If we could've just held on a little longer. I'm so sorry, Natsumi, Miyuki, everyone.' Just as he gave up hope, the air behind the enemies lit up with explosions and gunfire. The enemies trying to capture Arleigh turned in horror as the troops at the end of the hall screamed and hollered in pain.

Dark figures appeared at the end of the hall firing their weapons on automatic. Enemies fell dead left and right. Arleigh looked up and through the smoke and debris saw hope restored as the figures began rushing down the hall. He saw the familiar outlines of American helmets and weapons.

"U.S. Army! 2/14th Cav! Are any of you guys still alive?" screamed a big Staff Sergeant. He had 'Taylor' stenciled on his breast pocket name-box. In the low light of the hallway, Arleigh could see the black NCO [non-commissioned-officer] leading a pack of troops with their rifles and machine guns at the ready.

Arleigh lifted his hand up and managed to bark out, "First Lieutenant Rivera! I'm still alive!" A medic pushed past the other Cav troops. He came to Arleigh. "No! No! Check the others first! I'm okay! Check them!" Arleigh got himself up, waving off help from the other "Blues" [nickname for Cavalry infantry]. "Boy, are you sure a sight for sore eyes!"

"Cavalry always comes to the rescue, sir!" shouted Staff Sergeant Robert Taylor. He shouted because there were still some Cav troops fighting the last of the enemies in the halls that the Cav had either bypassed or because the Blues had not gone through those halls originally.

"Hoo-ah!" shouted Arleigh. Immediately he turned and beckoned the Cav Blues to follow. "Come on! We've got real critical casualties back here!" Arleigh realized he was relatively unharmed.

Too his amazement, all of the wounded around him waved off the medical treatment, even the heavily wounded Smith and Swiatowski. They both yelled "No!" at the medics and shoved them away.

Smith held his bleeding stomach with his hands tightly. "Go into that goddamned cafeteria! There are two female police officers dying in there! I swear, if you don't take them first I will kill you!" Smith took one hand away and grabbed a pistol on the floor near him. "Now!"

Arleigh just looked at his fellow Delta. "Smith! You take medical treatment! That's a direct order! All of you! This is an order!" But he did grab one of the medics. "Come with me. I've got two badly hurt friends. They're probably our most critical casualties. They need an evac now!"

"Sir, I was told to take only U.S. casualties first, then Japanese." The medic gulped when all the defenders around him grabbed the nearest weapons. "Uh, take me to them, sir."

Arleigh led the Cav medic into the cafeteria and straight to Miyuki and Natsumi. "These two! Do you have any blood plasma?"

"Holy shit! They look dead!" blurted the Cav medic as he fumbled to take his medical pack off of his back and put it on the table.

"SpecFour, do you have any blood plasma?"

"Y-yeah! I'll start them both now!" Specialist, Fourth Class Chris Ferrari quickly opened his medical kit and dug out his bottles of plasma. "Hold these while I get the needles and tubes." Within a minute, he had both women on plasma IVs. "Shit, sir, they are bad."

"Specialist, you stay with these women. Make sure they receive your full attention until I get back." Arleigh rushed into the hallway and quickly found Taylor. "Is the route back to the surface safe? I need to make a priority call to find out when the evac choppers are getting here."

"Yes, sir. We cleared the route back. The rest of the Lancers are holding it. There's still some fighting going on upstairs, but you can get back. And a company is already clearing the parking lot across the street for med-evac."

"Okay, thanks. I am heading up there. Take over things down here. Make sure all the wounded are taken care of. If any of my guys resist, tell them it's an order to get help." Arleigh sprinted the whole way back to stairs. He bounded up three steps at a time and came burst out of the station so fast that 25th ID troops reacted to him as if he was an enemy. Arleigh grabbed the nearest radio operator, commandeering him from a platoon leader, and dialed in a command frequency. "Delta Five-One to Zama. I need an immediate update on the ETA of the med-evac choppers! I've got extremely critical casualties that need an evac now! Over."

"Five-One, 25th Aviation and 160th SOAR are already inbound with two Chinooks and four UH-60s and MH-60s along with their armed escorts. They'll be inbound as soon as the landing area is cleared. On-scene ground commanders have the air support frequencies. Over."

"Roger that, Five-One out." Arleigh quickly asked for the needed frequency and typed it in. "Angel Two-Two, Delta Five-One. ETA to Objective Alpha? Over." Through all the smoke and dust, he could see the two M1A1s and several M3 CFVs of the 2/14th Cav using their power to batter burned out hulks of enemy equipment and civilians cars out of the way to clear the parking lot. It would be the primary LZ for the choppers coming in.

"Five-One, we are ten mikes outside of the objective. Ready to receive casualties as soon as landing area is clear. Over." Some fighting was still going on across the other side of the station where 1st Brigade troops and the defenders were trying to eliminate the last pockets of resistance in the station. In a span of only twenty-five minutes, all the enemies in the station had either fled, been killed, or were captured. Nearby, a group of soldiers were guarding about ten prisoners.

"Roger that! I'll be waiting! Five-One out." The Lieutenant replaced the handset and shouted over the noise still around the station, "I need medics and stretchers now! Any medics and anyone with a stretcher, come with me!" Rivera led a small group of medical personnel from a medical-evac Stryker that had come in with the Army team. They weaved through the halls and down to the cafeteria where the Cav Blues were tending to the wounded. Arleigh directed all but two of the personnel to go tend to the worst-off wounded. He took the remaining two to where the Cav medic was still pumping plasma into Natsumi and Miyuki. "Specialist! Got you some help."

"We've got to hurry, sir! They need to be evaced now! I can't sustain them much longer like this. They need a field hospital, now!" The medic was changing out the bottle of plasma on Miyuki as he spoke.

"Okay, break out the two stretchers, guys. Hurry!" Arleigh helped the two 1st Brigade medics expand the stretchers they had on their backs. "Careful, careful."

Natsumi had her eyes partly open as Arleigh helped the medics. "Arleigh."

"Natsumi!" He turned back around and held her hand. "The med-evacs are on their way! You're going to be fine! Hang in there! But you have to be strong, we're going to move you. The choppers are almost here!"

She nodded and slowly closed her eyes, feeling another wave of pain wash over her. "Hurry, please. Miyuki is hurting."

First they loaded Natsumi by sliding her off the end of the table onto the stretcher that they were holding level with the tabletop. Then they id the same for Miyuki, since she was farther in on the table. "Let's move!" The Cav medic and Arleigh took Natsumi's stretcher while the 1st Brigade medics took Miyuki. As they moved to the door, Kachou and Ken ran over. Both had slash wounds from the fight earlier.

"Let us help, Arleigh!" said Ken. He looked anxiously at Miyuki's pale form.

"Yeah, sure, take the stretcher end from one of the medics with Miyuki." He shifted back to English. "Let him carry that end. You hold up the plasma and keep pressure on her wounds." Arleigh told the Cav medic to do the same, giving Kachou the other end. "Come on!"

They all moved as quickly as they could through the halls. Behind them, some of the walking wounded followed, giving words of encouragement to the wounded ladies.

"Hang in there, girls! You did great! Just a little bit more and you'll be fine!" Smith trailed behind them the closest. He held his stomach with one hand while a wounded Army trooper propped up his other side. "Hang in there!" Behind them, Lennox and Swiatowski supported each other, fending off medics as they went, despite Rivera's orders. Kagiri and Hideki, despite their own grievous wounds helped carry Anderson's stretcher. He had been shot in the head, but the bullet had just grazed his skull. It knocked him unconscious and he was losing some blood, but the medic said that he would be fine if they got him to the field hospital quickly. Carlson, Stevens, and McCray were all helping each other limp along with their wounds. Williams, completely restocked from the Army medics with supplies, was still in the cafeteria tending to a few minor wounds that Cav Blues had sustained. Taylor and his men were policing the dead enemies and guarding a few prisoners.

The group carefully moved up the stairs, making sure not to jostle any of the stretcher-bound wounded too much. They arrived on the surface just in time to see a 25th AVN CH-47 Chinook medium-lift chopper landing followed by two MH-60s from the 160th SOAR. Another Chinook and two UH-60s hovered above before troops on the ground cleared out and they all landed on the streets around the station. Arleigh, Kachou, Ken, and the medics tottered over to the nearest chopper, one of the MH-60s, and hailed the crew chief.

"Donches! Hey! We need some help over here!" shouted Arleigh.

Mike Donches, the Crew Chief for Black Widow, hopped out of the MH-60 Blackhawk chopper, the rotors still running. "Holy shit, they look bad!" he yelled upon seeing the two female police officers. "All right, hurry up, get them onboard!"

But before they could, an Army medic jumped out of the chopper, too. He was the in-flight medical person for the MH-60, since it wasn't a dedicated med-evac chopper, like the 25th AVN UH-60s were. "Hey! We're only supposed to take military personnel first! I don't have authorization to take them!" None of the defenders said anything as they pushed past the medic and put the stretchers down in the choppers. "Hey! Get them out of there!"

Arleigh turned around and pushed the medic against the chopper roughly. "Guess what, you are taking them. You are going to treat them. You are going to get them to the field hospital right away. And if you don't, I will kill you."

"I can report you for this, sir! You'll be court-martialed." The medic stood firm despite the protests from the other people standing around. "No!"

Master Sergeant Mike Donches yelled at the medic. "This ain't your chopper, buddy! You can't tell me what goes on and what doesn't. We're taking them!"

Just then, Captain Surai pushed past the men ringing around the obstinate medic. "Now look here you little son of a bitch, I don't care who the hell issued your orders. You're treating them." Surai grabbed the medic by the collar and shoved him onto the chopper. "Sergeant Donches, get this chopper airborne and to the field hospital."

"Yes, sir!" Donches got back on the chopper, keeping an eye on the medic to make sure he wasn't trying to get off. "Okay, we're clear to go," said Donches. But Arleigh stopped him.

"Wait!" Arleigh leaned in and kissed Natsumi's hand. "Hold on, Natsumi! You're almost home free!" He went to the side of the cockpit and banged twice on the door, signaling the all clear to lift-off. Arleigh gave Donches the thumbs-up and backed away, shielding his eyes. The MH-60's rotors bit into the air deeper and lifted off. Everyone around watched as it went straight up before turning 180 degrees and pulling away. Two AH-64 gunships swooped in to guard the chopper as it lifted off.

Everyone present who had served alongside Miyuki and Natsumi at any point during the siege of the station cheered as the 160th Special-Operations-Aviation-Regiment chopper faded into the distance, carrying two of the hardest-working and fighting members of the defense to the field hospital at Tokyo Airport.

There was still work to be done, though.

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