Slayer Hunting
Part 3 Of Visionary
by Chaoseternus
Chapter 11: Ground War II
Jarod had long ago guessed he had at some point become subject to the Ancient Chinese curse, May You Live In interesting Times. Now, he knew it.
Still, he had been a year on Pretend with the Initiative and he had realised long ago he had no intention of leaving, the Centre had been found guilty of consorting with demons against humanity almost six months ago now and the clean up may still be ongoing but the key players were imprisoned in the deepest darkest hellhole the US Government could find.
Jarod had a suspicious felling they had been gated to a world without a DHD from what he had ahem', overheard' of Finn's comments on the matter.
He had a job to do; he was made at home his oddities not even considered comment-worthy by troops that regularly used witches and even some of the more friendly species of Demon in their operations.
He glanced up as the slowly darkening night sky lit up brilliantly, the slowly raining debris of the days battles, of satellites destroyed by EMP burning as they drifted into the atmosphere was overshadowed momentarily as a ship died, its reactor going critical.
From the ground, the Pretender couldn't tell which one.
A slight sound made Jarod stiffen, his P-90 raised warily.
He flicked a hand at the rest of his team, stationed to cover the left flank of the hasty Fort that had been thrown together on the Cleveland Hellmouth, gesturing them that he was checking something out.
They rose wearily, weapons clattering lightly as they carefully checked them one last time, making sure they made as little noise as possible. They wouldn't want their forward hide to be discovered after all.
Jarod carefully, slowly slipped forward his movements reeking not only of learned Spec Ops skilled, but of experience, the most valuable teacher.
It didn't take long for him to stumble on the source and he stiffened cursing, before diving back more hastily towards his teams bunker, where he grabbed the Field Radio.
"Captain Jarod at Charlie-Lima-Foxtrot-Delta, We have a formation of supersoldiers forming, no sign of Tango One, but Sierra One they had Dawnie"
The result of Jarod's words reaching the various Command Centres was predictable.
Chaos.
They might not know why, but they did know Dawn had been singled out for capture by Anubis and therefore her remaining in Anubis's hands was not a good thing. Never was killing her for the safety of the human race', Snipers could have done that easily enough, hopefully ending her usefulness to Anubis and removing an unknown threat but no-one was willing to give the order.
Somebody had leaked the fact that an Allied Commander aboard one of the Warships defending Earth was Dawn's sister and it had sensibly been decided that no effort was to be spared to rescue the teen.
It is worth noting however that had the Politicians given the order, they would have died at the hands of the very snipers they tasked to kill Dawn. Elite Troops, be they SAS, Force Recon, Delta or one of the thousand other groups out there all had honour, of a sort. They would cheerfully wipe out an entire town of people if necessary but if anyone had their back then the bulk would never double cross them.
And killing the sister of Enerina, the Commander who was covering their backs from space assault, who had successfully dealt with major threat to their operations was out of the question. Their Honour would not let them contemplate it.
For that matter, neither did their intelligence. They weren't stupid enough to do anything that would turn a valuable ally with a spaceship into an enemy.
All over the world, word reached the various groups stationed at each hellmouth, each one tasked with one specific objective, rescue the Sister of an Allied Fleet Commander and each group went to full alert.
But before they would reposition and deploy, they needed one thing.
Confirmation.
StarGate Commands instructions had been specific, ensure that it was the genuine article before redeploying; the enemy has the ability to project false images holographically.
Word was quick to come back, confirmed by witches employed by both the Council of Slayers and the Initiative.
It was Dawnie.
Utilising hastily set up ground based Ring transporters, relayed through the shattered fleet in orbit, Special Forces groups from across the world redeployed into Cleveland, joined swiftly by more normal Army units to help defend the Hellmoth.
Dawn was here, meaning in all likelihood Anubis was too and with his ships destroyed Anubis would not be able to redeploy his forces and himself to the fallen African hellmouth. He would have to make this his primary point of attack.
The Special Forces groups were to rescue Dawn and cause as much disruption as possible. They had no issue with that, in fact for many, as they watched the debris of ships both friendly and enemy rain into the atmosphere; it had become a Debt of Honour.
But by the time they arrived, Jarrod's position had already been overrun and the Supersoldiers were heading direct for the Hellmouth itself.
Jarrod cursed, ignoring the pin in his leg as he dived into another rear trench position, brilliant bolts of energy spitting overhead from the supersoldiers weapons.
He didn't plan on staying here, he knew they would overrun this position soon enough. They just hadn't been given the equipment to deal with the Supersoldiers, whatever gun they used; it just bounced off the supersoldiers armour.
Christ, he had seen one take a direct hit from a 15'' rocket and just walk on as if it never happened. No, something serious was needed to deal with these guys and Jarrod had a pretty good idea that whatever it took
He blinked; the young ladies at the end of the trench may just have it.
He resisted the urge to draw up a chair and break out some MRE's to eat while he watched the entertainment. This was after all, a game in which the audience would get a bad review too.
"By the Power of Three we banish thee,
By the Power of Three we Command thee,
Leave this place, leave this plane,
Never to return again"
A brilliant burst of white light engulfed the supersoldiers, followed by several clunks as their armour hit the ground, minus their occupants. Jarrod's jaw dropped, joined by the few soldiers who had managed to survive the collapse of an entire segment of the defences.
As one, they turned to face the three sisters who know sat, visibly struggling not to fall asleep from exhaustion on the trenches ramparts.
"See that Phoebes?"
"Yeah never did that before"
"Didn't think so"
Jarrod blinked then glanced at the growing crowd of Soldiers, "did anyone else find that encouraging?"
Muffled chuckles filled the air, as the soldiers began to position themselves along the trench, just waiting for reinforcements so they could move back into the main trenches again