AN: One thing of note, consider AI tech in the Modern Warfare Universe to be at least ten years ahead of what we have now due to weapons like the M5 Sentry Gun existing. Additionally, this is war, buildings will suffer damage in this, hell in Modern Warfare 2, the Federal Reserve Building is leveled; thus...yeah. Also note, the situation is developing extremely rapidly here, thus if everything seems rushed, that's because it is and is an intentional decision on my part to try and capture the frantic early hours and days of the Russian Invasion of the United States in the Northeast.
Thalia groaned as she came around, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn't in Manchester, indeed she was in a forested area with several tents of the kind used by the Hunters around her. Where was she? It didn't take her long to figure out that she was dreaming. Mostly because her Lady, Artemis was standing in front of her with clear amusement in her silvery-yellow eyes.
"Got yourself knocked out again? That's twice in one year." Artemis teased gently, ever since Jason had died, it seemed that his curse of taking heavy blows to the head had fallen to her. Which meant she usually got knocked out cold once a year.
Thalia scowled, but Artemis' expression was playful and as always, she found it hard to stay mad at her. "Yeah, I did," she admitted, rubbing the back of her head, "I think it was a rocket that did it this time."
Artemis frowned deeply. "Alright, where are you? Everything's sort of gone, to borrow an expression from Harriet 'to hell in a handbasket'." she said and the Lieutenant grimaced.
"Manchester, we're close to tracking down that minotaur but with this invasion. I don't know though what he's going to do, for all I know he could decide to make an all you can smash buffett out of the mortals. Ah Styx," Thalia said, swearing as she realized something.
Artemis cocked her head, her auburn ponytail swishing with the motion. "What is it?"
Thalia moaned. "Me getting knocked out by that rocket...it means my hunters will probably have to answer some rather awkward questions asked by mortal soldiers. To make matters worse, Sanya is in no shape to move, we got ambushed prior to me getting knocked out, she has a sucking chest wound thanks to a bullet."
The Goddess of the Hunt let out a low groan. "And a sucking chest wound makes teleportation an extremely risky proposition."
Great, how would Apollo put this? A Catch-88 maybe? Ugh. "So we're stuck and if I know mortal soldiers, they'll freak out upon seeing a sucking chest wound. The only way this can get worse is if there's a prophecy attached to this whole thing."
Artemis paled. "I really hope not. I am having a hard enough time keeping the few children of Ares and Mars that are part of the hunt from going off to fight the Russians."
That made the Lieutenant of the Hunt nod in agreement. "What I don't get is that the Russians are being indiscriminate in their targets. They were indiscriminately attacking civilians and probably military targets. It didn't matter what it was, it seemed to have a target painted on it."
Artemis looked uncomfortable at that revelation which made Thalia uneasy. "I learned from Ares since I asked him the same thing. A year ago, there was a Massacre at a Russian airport. They used American weapons, spoke English, and one person who partook in the massacre was killed and was identified as American, making it look like the United States sanctioned the whole thing. The United States government promptly denied the allegations, stating that they don't even negotiate with terrorists. But Russia wasn't having any of this, their population cried out for war, there's a saying that they were using Khleb za khleb, Krov za krov. It means Bread for bread, blood for blood; they want fifty thousand Americans dead for every victim of the massacre, of which there were hundreds. Like it or not, we're in what's probably going to be a very vicious conflict. What's worse is that Zeus doesn't know what to do, the only decision he's made thus far is having the Hunters split up to cover both Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter just in case we have to deal with Russian demigods."
Thalia gaped at Artemis, this wasn't good at all. "I feel like I am going to be sick." she moaned, all of this was just horrifying. A war that seemingly shouldn't have happened, being waged between mortals with the Demigods caught in the middle.
Artemis nodded in sympathy. "What should I do then milady?" Thalia asked, very nervous and unsure of herself.
The goddess took her hand. "Try and get to Camp Half Blood, we'll go from there."
That made Thalia feel much better, it gave her an objective that she could work with and strive for. If she could get her team of hunters to safety and now that she knew that said safety was Camp Half Blood, well that just made things easier. "Right, what about the mortal soldiers we'll probably end up working with?"
Artemis smiled faintly. "As much as I dislike men, you'll find no one braver whether they'd be a mortal or a demigod than a soldier. But that's because war tends to be like journeying through Tartarus. You can trust them, besides I'll visit them in their dreams just to be certain."
That made Thalia blink. "Even the mortals?" she asked, confused.
Her goddess shrugged. "I'll work with Hypnos on that, but if anything I am only going to be doing it just because of how serious things are."
Alright that explained a few things and it really made sense. That's when she noticed the forest around her getting lighter and lighter. "I must be waking up, I really hope I wasn't out for the better part of a weekend like last time." Thalia said, her tone turning into an irritated grumble. She hadn't expected the woman that the Chimera was disguised as to throw a rock at her head, she had expected it to transform and fight them.
The last thing she heard before she woke up was amused laughter from Artemis.
ARRGH! Was the first thing that came to mind as her eyes fluttered open and she was greeted with an LED flashlight shining in her face. "Oh good you're awake," a male voice said and then a shape in her vision turned to face something, "El-tee, our sleeping angel has woken up." he called.
There was a pause and another voice answered. "Alright, maybe she can explain a few things because I am rather confused right now!"
That couldn't be good, a mortal who had Clearsight maybe? Yay, she couldn't wait to explain that. She blinked her eyes and her vision became focused.
"Can you do me a favor and get that flashlight out of my face?" Thalia growled out angrily, she really wasn't in the mood for this.
"Sure ma'am." the man said and the light flicked off, it took her vision a moment to adjust to the changed light conditions but it appeared they were inside a McDonalds. The man looming over was a medic if the white cuff with a red cross on his sleeve was anything to go by. "
"I have to admit," he continued, "you are the luckiest lady alive. According to your friends, you took a nasty blow to the head and yet, no signs of a concussion or even memory loss."
Alright, she knew that was because she was a demigod, but too a mortal. That would seem damn lucky all things considered. "Thanks," she grunted and pulled herself up. She'd been laying down in a booth, "how's Sanya?"
The medic frowned. "Your Russian friend? We're prepping her for CASEVAC, it's a race against time right now. If she doesn't get to a hospital to receive proper treatment soon and her lung tissue starts necrotising, she could lose it."
Alright, that sounds decidedly unpleasant. I don't think nectar and ambrosia can fix that at all. Thalia thought as she pulled herself to the edge of the booth. Her bow and quiver were missing, probably removed for her comfort. At least she still had her coin which she could feel in her pocket and her hunting knife on her belt. "Right, where's this 'el-tee'?" she asked, not really sure what the slang meant.
"Over by the cashier counter." The medic replied.
She had to admit, he was quite a pleasant chap and she stood up then looked around. There were dozens of soldiers milling about, their rifles were a dull tan color with green fatigues. Their armor seemed to be part fabric, but from what she could tell from their movements likely had plates inside the fabric. One thing that all of the soldiers had on their sleeves was an olive drab and black tag of sorts that said 'Ranger' on it and below it was another tab that said '75th Ranger Regiment', she really truly wondered what they meant.
"So you're telling me Sergeant that the majority of the myths are real and the fine ladies we rescued are the closest thing on the planet we got to supersoldiers?" A rather angry sounding voice demanded.
"Yessir, I must say that I wouldn't be surprised if we got a few in our Regiment though. Remember last year, how a guy wearing a skull ski mask blew through The Pit with nothing but an M1911 in eighteen-point-two-eight seconds?" A man, a sergeant, answered.
"Hard not too, that man made our D-Boys not only look like they were going in slow motion but also rather pathetic." the Lieutenant answered, clearly remembering.
There was a snort from the other man. "I'd bet a paycheck that guy was a demigod, a son of a god. My guess would be either Ares or Apollo or maybe their Roman counterparts judging by how accurate he was with that pistol, hell I think even General Shepherd was probably of the same lineage, it might explain how he could go through The Pit in roughly twenty-three seconds flat using a Smith and Wesson Twenty-Nine."
Finally she came up to the cashier counter. It had been cleared of the electronic cashiers and was now being used as a de facto command center. There was what looked like an iPad set on the table that had a map app active, it was displaying symbols she didn't recognize. The men surrounding said iPad all had a patch on their sleeve that had at minimum four stripes, but one had a single silver colored bar. Was the man with a silver bar a leader of some sort?
Then the man with the silver bar on his uniform spoke. "You're right… in order to do something like that, you'd have to be superhuman. Our D-Boys could only manage about 28-seconds at their best. That guy with a mohawk must be one as well."
Then an African-American man with stripes on his uniform answered. "To be frank, Lieutenant, I wouldn't be surprised but I think that the guy with a mohawk may have been a legacy. Basically he's the kid of a demigod, the reason I think that this might be the case is because he didn't exactly have the same sort of fluid grace to his movements that a demigod does."
"Alright Foley, it's just that this is a lot to take in." the Lieutenant said.
One of the other men nodded. "No kidding, who would have thought? Makes me wonder how many of those freak sewer events were really a demigod and a monster or something having a smackdown."
As Foley replied, Thalia got the impression that he too might be a legacy, but she didn't know which camp he was likely from. She cleared her throat as she marched up. "Excuse me sirs." she said respectably.
Foley gave her a smile. "Good to see your awake miss…" he paused, unsure of her name.
"Grace, Thalia Grace."
She didn't notice a man with a ski mask behind her glancing in her direction.
"Interesting name, I am Lieutenant Scott Barrett, commander of Second Platoon, in Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment," the man with the silver bar said, "now I have to ask, what's up with that weird-ass silvery glow?"
For a moment she felt a spike of anger before she reminded herself that it was quite possible that many soldiers would probably be as foulmouthed as the Legionnaires of the Twelfth Legion or any of the Ares kids were in battle. "It's a blessing, to be specific the blessing of Artemis and is a sign of one of her hunters." she explained carefully.
Barrett looked a little confused at that. "Artemis? Goddess of the Hunt? I thought that all of the gods tended to not mess with Earth."
Thalia shook her head. "That's not true actually. I know that my father, Zeus, has a snapchat and according to Magnus, my best friend's cousin, Heimdall is also big on Social Media. Plus well, Demigods are half mortal, half god; thus it stands to reason that they must fall in love with mortals from time to time. Artemis is a bit unique in that she hasn't had any children, so she's a virgin instead her followers are all maidens, doesn't matter if their nymphs, demigods, or mortals. In order to join though you must be a woman and swear off all forms of love, although Artemis does allow family relationships." she explained, it felt weird talking about this to mortals.
One of the soldiers looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "Essh, talk about harsh, swearing off relationships? Most soldiers actually get married because of the fact that they might die in the line of duty, thus you might as well have a family if there's a chance you might die on the job. But after combat with your fellow soldiers, you end up with two families. The one back home and your unit."
Thalia had to admit, that was very much true. She had told her lady once that the Hunters felt like a family, granted a very dysfunctional family but a family nonetheless. It had been something that had made Artemis smile and agree. "True, but the Hunters in a way are a family, granted one with so many quirks it's astounding, but a family nonetheless and I am proud to be a hunter. It's the same way with the Olympians, they are for the most part quite dysfunctional, the only way I can reliably keep in touch with my father, Zeus, is because he has a snapchat." she said.
One of the other soldiers spoke up, making a motion with his hands as if saying 'backup'. "Wait a minute, back up, Zeus is on fucking Snapchat?"
She couldn't help it, she laughed. "Yeah, he is, I follow him too, his handle is TheOGThunderGod. It sort of helps with figuring out the going ons at Olympus. Though be warned, even though he comes off as strict, prim, and serious he does have a charming and witty side, along with a sense of humor."
"Alright, I have to check this out." One of the men said.
"On your own time Sergant Marks, hooah?" Barrett replied.
"Hooah, on my own time sir." Marks replied, the man had fair skin and brown eyes, but due to his helmet Thalia couldn't make out his hair color.
"Right, so the big question right now is what to do with you. We've found a couple of Russians riddled with arrows, I am assuming that's your handiwork?" Barrett asked in a curious tone.
Thalia nodded, clenching her fists. "Isn't it illegal for soldiers to target civilians?" she growled, the air turning electric around her, the stench of ozone filling her nose.
Lieutenant Barrett looked unamused, Foley didn't even flinch, and the other three slowly leaned back, but they didn't step back. It made Thalia admit that they were made of much sterner stuff than she thought they were. Then she noticed the angry scowls that her statement had brought. "Civilians aren't targets, in this day and age even an off target airstrike can bring all sorts of hell down on the nation that did it. So yes, it's illegal." Barrett replied, there was a growl in his voice that Thalia mused made Zeus look like a mewling kitten in how filled with rage it was. Mostly because it wasn't a shout or a bellow.
Lightning rippled across the sky and thunder boomed, reminding them all that Zeus was indeed paying attention. A couple of the soldiers glanced up, but most just said a few things under their breath.
"The Russians made this personal, we saw the results of a bomb hitting the seawall, saw civilians ripped to shreds by shrapnel and flying concrete in the Manchester's Table. With respect sir, the moment they did that, they made an enemy out of me and I want to fight." Thalia growled, getting her anger under control, but the stench of ozone remained.
There was a pause and the various soldiers looked at each other then at her, before Foley took over. "I think we should take them in, split them up for one hunter per squad?"
Barrett shook his head. "No, we don't know these hunters like Ms. Grace does. Foley, what's your squad strength?"
"Half sir."
Thalia suddenly didn't like where this was going. Me and my big mouth. She thought bitterly as she realized that she may have just gotten her hunters conscripted. Joy. Artemis likely wasn't going to be happy to say the least.
"That makes things easier, alright we don't have time to get you fitted with armor and weapons. Well, you can have weapons from the dead. We suffered about a dozen casualties clearing the courthouse, but armor, until things settle down you're going to have to do without." Barrett said with a sigh.
Alright, she wanted to call bullshit on the whole armor thing. But she knew that if armor wasn't fitted for you, that it could actually be a detriment rather than a help. She wasn't really surprised to find out that mortal body armor was the same way. "I understand sir." she replied.
Barrett looked over at Foley. "Alright, I am placing them under your command. Have someone show them the ropes, hooah?"
"Hooah sir." Foley replied.
There was a chime from the tablet computer and Barrett swore sharply. "Well that's just dandy, apparently the universe hates us. We just got marching orders, a VIP helicopter carrying a man with the codename of Raptor has been confirmed to have gone down near the Richmond Airport. We're the closest unit that can get to the crash site and extract Raptor. These orders apply for the entirety of Hunter Company, but we're the closest platoon and will be the first to the AO." Barrett said as marks that she didn't recognize popped up on the map, the Lieutenant glared at those marks. Though the glare softened as additional icons flashed on the map.
"What sort of support do we get sir? For all we know, that could be way behind enemy lines." another man, his nametag reading 'Banks', asked.
Barrett shook his head. "We have air support assigned, the Wyvern Team Warlord."
Thalia didn't know what a Wyvern Team was, but judging how everyone said something about small mercies she figured it was a good thing. Then Barrett continued. "Additionally, we got a full infantry platoon from the 8th Armored Division, 156th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, callsign Badger-Three that's enroute to provide further support. But at the moment they're expected to arrive if we move now and barring unpleasant surprises, about ninety minutes after we do."
Talk about a lot of support, still, Thalia didn't like this. The situation was developing extremely rapidly and now she couldn't think of a way to barter her way out. Crap… well it looks like Artemis was probably going to be visiting the mortals sooner than she thought judging by the looks they were casting at the tablet. They didn't like this. Why was that?
She looked at the map and nearly swore to herself, the area that they needed to go was in Montrose, near the Elementary School roughly five miles away. But even the quickest route took them through Richmond proper and they would have to pray that the road wasn't blocked with vehicle crashes and that there weren't roving bands of Russians waiting for them. It was entirely likely that the road was blocked. This meant that they would likely have to backtrack.
"How the hell are we supposed to even get across the river without dying? The river is way too deep for Humvees to fjord across in this area and going through the rapids would be suicide, at best those are Class II and it wouldn't take much to sweep a JTLV or a Humvee away and doom everyone inside. If we take the roads, they'll more than likely be blocked, which means we can't take a direct route which means we'd have to backtrack to the 895, that's miles out of our way." Marks was complaining, his voice hot with anger.
That was something that Thalia had to agree...wait, could they use that? "Sir," she spoke up, not quite sure what she was doing. "I think I see a route that we can use. But it's risky."
Five heads turned to look at her in unison. Barrett spoke up. "Well Ms. Grace, if it's better than what we got I am all ears."
She honestly hadn't been expecting that, but it was good to hear that the Lieutenant was open to suggestions. "Alright, so it's likely that dock street is completely blocked in a number of places. But," she pointed to the map and drew her finger across the tablet, a route forming as she drew it, "if we do this and cross the James River using the South 14th Street Bridge but before we get to the seawall, if we turn here," she pointed to a parking area just off South 14th, "we can then use this service road until we get to East Byrd Street and then we follow it to its terminus on this road and then we follow the trail, it should be wide enough for a vehicle due to maintenance purposes and the like," she continued drawing her finger across the trail until they approached a railroad bridge, "when we get here, we get off the foot trail and then get across the bridge following the railroad so we can get across the canal and then Dock Street is right there. It's fairly wooded so we'll have some cover. Could it work?"
Barrett looked at the tablet as did everyone else and the route she'd drawn out. Foley grunted. "It might be our best bet to get there in anything less than an hour. But this route is frankly outrageous and it's really our only option."
Everyone nodded, even the Lieutenant who said. "Agreed, even I didn't see that as a possible route, but that's because I am concerned about the few humvees we have getting across that railroad bridge, the JTLVs should be able to do it though. We should just about have enough clearance, but a single screw up while driving and we're boned."
That was something she admittedly hadn't considered. Dammit, if Kelp Head had been here they could easily fjord across the river. But it was the best she could do to reduce the possibility of all of them dying horribly.
Marks spoke up. "Sir, I agree with Ms. Grace, we're the closest unit and well, this is a time sensitive assignment. If we got a possible route that increases the chances of all of us getting there. We should take it."
"Sir, before we move out? What about the wounded?" Another man, his name tag read Banks, asked.
"Have the walking wounded accompany us. I know that the medic that the Hunters have has been lending a little aid here and there, though only at the insistence of someone else in their group." Barrett said and all Thalia could think of was that Reyna must have played a role in this, the Roman Praetor side of her shining through.
"Alright, I guess we should get going then?" Marks asked.
Barrett grunted. "Indeed," he said before speaking up, "heads up everyone, we're moving out in twenty minutes! I want equipment checks completed five minutes prior!"
The men who were milling around exploded into motion, the squad leaders upon a single nod from the lieutenant went around their business gathering their squads. Foley looked at her. "Ms. Grace, come with me." he said and he led her through the controlled chaos.
"Ramirez!" The sergeant boomed loudly and a man with a ski mask wrapped around the lower part of his face turned, the tactical goggles he wore over his eyes gleamed in the afternoon sun.
"Yes sergeant?" Ramirez asked.
"Gather the hunters, give them the four-one-one on how to use the SCAR-H and make sure they have some webbing as well. Also, give them tacgogs and a helmet." The sergeant ordered and Ramirez nodded briskly.
He then fixed Thalia with a look, she could tell it was casual just due to the body language, but with the helmet, ski mask, and tacgogs he looked pretty intimidating. "Yes sir." he said and then made a 'follow me' gesture before striding out of the McDonalds.
Thalia reluctantly followed, it felt weird not being in command. But she felt that she could command her hunters effectively, yet being wired into a complex command and control setup was decidedly odd.
The hunters were all gathered around an imposing looking vehicle, it wasn't a hummer, maybe one of those JTLVs that she'd heard about? The vehicle had what looked like a 30mm cannon in a strange looking mount but she wasn't entirely sure. Erica looked uneasy at the whole situation, Febe looked decidedly upset about it, and Reyna had this weird vibe of 'been here, done that'.
Once they got closer, Thalia saw Febe glaring at her but even she could tell that they were probably in over there heads. "Took you long enough Thalia, what are we doing?" the much older Hunter asked, there was clear anger in her voice.
Thalia sighed. "For the moment we're sticking with the Rangers. Arrow count?" she asked, hunters carried six quivers each containing thirty arrows; thanks to magic it wasn't particularly heavy and they were typically disguised as a tin of mints. But even a hundred eighty arrows could run out surprisingly quickly if you weren't careful. Thankfully they'd managed to recover some arrows so everyone had nearly a full load still.
Then Ramirez said something that blew her mind. "Never knew hunters carried that many arrows and I've fought alongside you before."
"Alright, who the fuck are you?" Erica growled defensively, she'd been at the Battle of Manhattan and should had been able to recognize Ramirez's voice. But, then again he was older and wearing a covering over his mouth.
Febe snorted. "Battle of Manhattan?" she half-asked, half said, recognizing Ramirez's voice.
The man, Ramirez, nodded. "James Ramirez, son of Ares though I think that I have a bit of Athena blood in me as well. We fought together during the Battle of Manhattan. Right now though," he picked up one of the SCARs that was laying on the hood of the jeep, "I am going to show you your new friend, the SCAR-H; as fancy as your bows are, they're virtually useless against modern ballistic inserts thus you need more knockdown power."
Reyna nodded but her lips were in a tight line. "We don't have training on the SCAR."
"I know that, which is why I am giving you a brief four-one-one on it." The Ranger replied.
And so it went, they learned about the magazine release, the fire selector, and a dozen other things. It was all so confusing, made even more apparent by the fact that the rest of the men seemed to be scrambling for something. Thalia knew the reason and she spoke up after Febe had asked why they needed this. "Until further notice we're going to be working with them, I saw Artemis when I was knocked out. Our objective is Camp Half Blood, should we get there," she saw the hunters nervously shift from foot to foot, "look, I know that we're not all going to make it. The Battle of Manhattan taught me that," they'd started with thirty, by the end of three days only ten were still alive and only six could still move, "but I'll be damned if I don't try and get you all home."
"Will you swear it on the Styx?" Erica stammered in shock.
"No, she won't," Reyna said, there was a weariness in her eyes, the weariness of a war veteran, "Erica, you must understand, it's almost impossible for a promise like that to be kept in war. I can assure you that not everyone will make it and that if they do, it will be a miracle worthy enough to be recorded in legend. Need I remind you that we haven't even been in this mortal war for naught even a day and Sanya's already fighting for her life?"
Thalia sighed, Reyna had a solid point. But the mortal medics knew more about how to treat Sanya's injury than Febe did and had made her quite comfortable. She tugged the webbing she wore tighter as a guitar playing reached her ears followed by a foot drum pounding out a beat.
She ignored the lyrics of the song although Erica and Febe paled upon hearing "This is the perfect day to die, wipe the blood out of our eyes." Which she honestly could believe, though she was surprised to hear Reyna humming along to the tune.
That's when Ramirez came back and quickly explained that they were moving out. As Thalia trudged towards the JLTVs, her aerokinetic senses picked up something big, hammering its way through the sky towards them. Probably that air support, but as she was climbing into the vehicle, a voice she never expected to hear came through the speaker of the radio. "Hunter Two Actual, this is Wyvern Team Warlord, we're on station 0+120 mikes of loiter time. Payload is six GBU-54s, five AIM-120 Scorpions, eight AIM-9X Sidewinders, six hundred rounds of forty mike mike. Give me something to shoot and we'll exterminate it." came the guttural growl of Clarisse La Rue.
There was a pause before Lieutenant Barrett answered. "Good to have you, Team Warlord, think you can keep the Fullbacks and Frogfeet off of us?"
There was a dark laugh over the link. "I've already blasted three Fullbacks out of the sky and made a Fulcrum run away like a terrified puppy that just ran into a dog the size of a tank. So the Fullbacks won't show unless they have Fandances or Felons escorting them, but Ivan seems to be winding down right now. Airstrikes are probably returning to their bases, be advised I might get called away to assist Nimitz against the Northern Fleet."
There was an edge of anger, honest righteous anger in the voice, but when she mentioned this 'Nimitz' she seemed honestly worried. It was a tone she had used only a few times to her knowledge, the daughter of Ares was worried for someone she considered family.
She pushed those thoughts aside as the driver of the vehicle activated something and put it on the dash of the M-ATV.
40,000 feet above Dinwiddie, Virginia
Leo Valdez and Jake Mason had once described the leadship of the Argo II class trireme as a 'spankin' hot war machine' and up until she'd joined the Navy and become an Echocat Driver, she'd been inclined to agree. Then she got her hands on a mortal war machine and well, it was no contest, give her an Echocat and she could smoke something like Argo II from well beyond its ability to fight back with trivial ease.
More than that, she doubted that Argo II's Celestial Bronze hull could survive more than a couple of hits from the sort of weaponry that mortals tended to throw around. For some reason she absolutely enjoyed the idea of whacking an Argo II class with a big bomb.
Of course that had been when she had been an Echocat driver, but now she flew a XF-02 Wyvern, commonly referred to as the Drake. This beast could stomp a squadron of Echocats flat, single handed, something that she'd been on the receiving end of a few times during RED FLAGs. Indeed, it was the most advanced and capable fighter on the face of the planet, a Generation 6 aircraft with Pulse Detonation Turbofan Engines, a new design of RAM Coating, 360-degree AESA Radar, datalink capability, onboard AI, etc.
"Three contacts, closing, range eighty miles. Ares, I think we got Fandances, Delta-Models judging by their sensors." Her WSO, callsign Hellhound, said she could feel impressions from him thanks to the COFFIN System that they were using. Still, finally, a decent challenge, after clearing out trash earlier today she was anxious to kill something that might stand a chance of killing her.
"Keep us passive Hellhound, they know that a Drake is in the area thanks to the Fulcrum we scared off. But they wouldn't know where we are until we go live with our set," Clarisse replied in a guttural growl.
"You're the boss Ares, keeping us passive. Lemme guess, you want to scare the shit out of them in a dogfight?" Hellhound asked, she could feel his excitement through the link that they shared.
A wolfish grin spread upon Clarisse's features. "Why yes Hellhound, that's exactly the point. Plus who knows, we can cause some chaos and anarchy in the Russian Battle Net," she paused before addressing the AI, "Warlord, any flags yet in the battle network regarding us?"
A simulated image seemingly materialized in her mind, an image similar to Doomfist from Overwatch, if Doomfist had decided to also wear Ancient Greek style battle armor in addition to wielding traditional African weaponry. It made for an odd appearance. (Negative ma'am, at the moment they currently think that we're a Grand Raptor pair.)
Clarisse didn't laugh, but she wanted to do so, the Grand Raptor was a new version of the Raptor, similar avionics and engines to the Drake she currently flew but nowhere near as lethal. A trio of Delta Model Fandances could be a threat to an inexperienced Grand Raptor pilot, but, against a Wyvern? They were mere chaff before the scythe.
She keyed her radio. "Be advised Hunter Two Actual, three Fandance-Ds are inbound. Probably looking for their dead friends, with what we've been seeing from Fandances today, it's unlikely that they're hauling mud."
"Affirmative Warlord, take them down before they figure out you're here." The man, Lieutenant Barrett replied. Great, just to ruin her fun, but she had to admit that the Ranger was correct, the last thing that the Rangers likely wanted was a dogfight over there heads.
"Roger, Hunter Two Actual, engaging the enemy," she growled like an earthquake before continuing with a single phrase to her WSO, "Go live."
The response was immediate, the powerful AESA radar in the nose of the Wyvern went from Passive Search to Active Tracking. The Fandances panicked and broke formation at supersonic speeds, dropping flares and chaff all over the sky. It probably would have saved them against a Grand Raptor or Raptor but against a Wyvern, it was pointless. A tone warbled in her ears. "Warlord, Fox Three, Fox Three!" She called as she hit the triggers, the forward centerline bay snapped open, revealing the rotary launcher and three AIM-120 AMRAAMs were kicked clear a half second apart, their motors engaged and they screamed towards the Russian Fandances which were a mere fifty miles away, thanks to active data link with Warlord monitoring it, there was nothing they could do.
(Clarisse, just so you know, the entirety of the Russian Battle Network just went berserk along the Eastern Seaboard. I think we succeeded in getting their attention.) Warlord 'chimed' in, naturally, the AI was monitoring the Battle Network and a Wyvern going live was just about anyone's worst nightmare.
{Noted Warlord, let us know if anything nasty rears its ugly head} Clarisse 'replied' to the AI, she'd become a Wyvern driver only about three months ago after flying Echocats for years and she was still getting used to the near invisibility that a Wyvern offered compared to the Pseudo-Stealth that an Echocat had. Just a few months ago, the idea of facing Fandances or Felons scared her shitless and she knew that it shouldn't scare her shitless but she was still thinking as if she was an Echocat driver.
Gods, it was times like this that she wished she was back at Camp Half Blood, back then it was so simple. Although she had fought in a few wars already and yet even those seemed like a lifetime ago and they were nothing compared to the wanton devastation that mortal war could bring.
On the display screen, the Fandances winked out. "Splash six." she called over the radio, not even a day of sortieing and she was an ace. It was more than a little intimidating and it said a lot about how nasty the Wyvern was.
Through the Electro-optical system of the Wyvern she could see the vehicles of Hunter Two winding their way towards the objective. The Infrared Strobes winked brilliantly on the Black Hot thermal image clearly marking them as they ground down a peninsula and then carefully crept over a railroad bridge. Then they sped down the road at high speed, racing towards their objective.
(An alert just came over the friendly battle network, Norfolk has been secured but due to enemy airstrikes anything that was tied to a pier is either disabled or sinking at a cost of forty-two Russian aircraft. Furthermore the Delmarva Peninsula is confirmed to be under enemy occupation, large swaths of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are also confirmed to be under occupation and we have reports of Russian forces pressing towards New York City.) Warlord 'said' suddenly, pushing a report on the situation through, it had only been a few hours since all hell had broken loose and the Russians had already made that much in terms of progress? This was getting worse by the hour in a literal sense.
{Status on D.C.?} Hellhound 'asked' of the AI.
(Being evacuated, it's believed that the Russians will attempt to take the city after they've finished securing Baltimore which is under attack right now from Black Guards and VDV, the city is projected to fall within a day or so; the police are putting up a valiant but doomed effort.) Warlord 'replied' and Clarisse felt the urge to swear viciously in Ancient Greek and Latin; how much worse could this really get? She'd been in bad battles, but she'd never seen a situation go to Tartarus this quickly. Not even the Battle against Gaea had gone this sourly this quickly.
She suppressed a shudder at that multi-hour long brawl at Half Blood Hill. {Fucking lovely, guess we know what we're going to be doing within a day, maybe two.} Hellhound 'said' angrily through the link that they shared.
{Yep.} Clarisse agreed bitterly, the Capital of the United States of America was going to burn once again. That thought filled her with dread, hitting targets within the American Capital. That hit far too close to home for her liking, more than the idea of Russians invading New York City for some reason.
That had probably changed after she had become a member of the United States Armed Forces, probably the Ares side of her speaking now that she thought about it. But still, it felt wrong dropping ordnance on American Soil when it wasn't an exercise.
The humvees and JLTVs of Hunter Two were just now beginning to turn onto Williamsburg Road when from a treeline, something dark hot streaked out and impacted the lead Humvee. It exploded into fire and twisted shrapnel, the remains of the vehicle swerved violently off the road as a voice blared in her ears. "Hunter Two-Two, down!"
Another, wait, was that Thalia shouted "Ambush!" As dark bolts streaked across the display, they had found Russians alright, probably a footmobile squad. She didn't see any BMDs but still not good.
The Rangers retaliated with their vehicle mounted weaponry. A minigun stitched the treeline from where the RPG had come from. A literal laser beam of bullets blasted from the weapon. Trees shook violently and some of the smaller ones were felled by the weapon. She could only imagine the sort of hell that was to have a minigun shooting at you.
More rounds streaked across the display. It was infuriating to watch like this, if they could just call her in, then she could end the resistance. But the Rangers were determined to push through the ambush, their RAVENs, Miniguns, Brownings, and Automatic Grenade Launchers were tearing away at anything that so much as looked hostile in that treeline.
The combat ended almost as quickly as it had begun. But if Clarisse knew her tactics, that unlucky squad had been a tripwire. She pulled the image back to scan for enemies. Sure enough the Electro-optics spotted movement running out of the community center, she could tell they were soldiers because of the weapons they held which still had some heat from recent discharge. "Hunter Two Actual, be advised, dropping ordnance on the Powhatan Community Center and a grouping of trees nearby, hold position until runs are completed." She figured that the community center was likely a rally point for at minimum a VDV Company, maybe even a Battalion if they were lucky. They could decapitate the whole unit in one fell swoop and render it basically combat ineffective. As for the treeline, the area she was planning on targeting was at a Y-Shaped intersection and offered a commanding view of Williamsburg Road headed to Richmond.
There was a pause. "Affirmative Warlord, you're cleared hot! Give them hell!"
The daughter of Ares muttered a quick prayer to Persephone, Demeter, and Artemis so they wouldn't hate her for the wanton destruction of nature that she was about to commit.
Coordinating the strike and where the bombs would fall took precisely five seconds thanks to the onboard AI and the fact that she shared a mental link with her WSO. With the coordinates for the bombs set, all she needed to do was start her run. "Warlord, starting our run." she growled.
"LJDAMs on your trigger!" Her WSO said several moments,
(Thirty seconds till optimum release point.) Warlord chimed in through the link.
Soon she could unleash hell on the Russians, a vicious bit of payback that was certainly well deserved. Still, it didn't feel right targeting civilian structures even if they were commandeered by the enemy. She just hoped nobody had been in the playground or at the community center when the Russians dropped in. She remembered the Ultranationalist declaration of war and it sickened her.
(Fifteen seconds till optimum release point.)
She pulled back on the throttles and deployed the airbrake, the fighter shuddered as it transitioned from supersonic to subsonic flight. If she was going to be spending as much time loitering near here as she thought she would be. Then she wanted to be as maneuverable as feasibly possible, that meant going slow.
Though, part of her mind mused, 'slow' was a relative thing, she was still going a solid five hundred fifty miles per hour, at this velocity her Drake was covering eight hundred six feet or two hundred forty five metres every second.
(Five… four… three… two… one… release!) Warlord 'said' into her mind.
She hit the trigger, calling over the radio "Bombs out!" as Warlord leaped upwards, a literal ton lighter as two five hundred pound bombs were ejected from their weapon station that was attached to the aft rotary launcher.
Some seconds later, the Community Center burst asunder followed almost immediately after by a blast lighting up the treeline where she believed the Russians would be waiting in ambush.
"Targets destroyed Hunter Two Actual, you're clear to advance."
"Roger!"
The blasts had caught Thalia by surprise, she had been expecting to hear a whistle like in the movies. But there hadn't been such a thing one moment she'd been watching the treeline that had been indicated, waiting for the whistle even as she sensed the bombs falling. But there hadn't been any sort of herald like that, just a very faint clicking. Then the blasts had erupted, shattering trees and felling dozens of them as the 500-pounder carved a crater into the ground and sent a whirlwind of splinters and shrapnel flying through the air while nearby a massive cloud of dust and smoke rose into the sky.
Just like that, death had struck from the skies. There was a brief exchange of words and then came the order to move on. This really was nothing like the wars she had previously experienced.
The radio squawked. "How are you holding up Ms. Grace?" Foley asked, she had to admit that she didn't like how they'd been essentially drafted, but like the Lieutenant had said. They would sort things out later.
"About as well as you can imagine sir." Thalia replied honestly, in the rear passenger seat, she heard Reyna make a sound of agreement.
Five men had died when that rocket had struck the Humvee, to see lives snuffed out so callously and so easily made her a little sick. Naturally the retaliation had been swift and harsh. It had completely changed a portion of the treeline, she hoped Artemis wasn't too mad at the chaos that had been wrought. Although Sanya had gotten a little too enthusiastic with the M2 Browning and it had taken a lot of willpower to not have a panic attack.
The howl of jet engines told her that there air support was likely nearby. It had probably been the thing that had caused those blasts.
Ahead of them the convoy ground into motion, the driver hit the gas and the M-ATV growled into motion, the heavy vehicle snarling as its engine reeved. As Thalia understood it, the Ranger Company technically weren't supposed to have them but if anything their CO, a Captain, was a resourceful man who had managed to get his hands on a few of the powerful vehicles.
As she waited for them to roll up on their objective. She began perusing the radio channels, she didn't dare transmit but immediately one line caught her attention.
"Goliath, this is 3-2 Echo. We are in sector, gunner up scanning with thermals. Break. I have visual on enemy armor in the vicinity of the MSR. How copy? Over." A female voice answered, in the background she could hear an engine rumbling.
Another voice, deep and masculine answered. "Roger 3-2. Goliath copies all, go ahead."
Then came the first voice, the engine was growling viciously in the background. "Roger. Uhh... We have a BMP-2 at map grid: Three-One-Five-Two-Niner-Eight. Target is surrounded by multiple personnel carrying small arms, uhh... entering what appears to be a residential area. Uhhh...Requesting permission to engage. Over."
There was a pause before this man, Goliath, replied. "Uhh, negative 3-2. The ROE for that area prohibits engaging enemies in close proximity to civilian dwellings at this time. Out."
Sectors? MSRs? Map grids? ROEs? Okay, she listened to one conversation over the radio and she was now really confused. Her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what all of this meant. Maybe Reyna would know?
She cast a glance into the back seat and could tell that her hunters were on edge. Sanya still had that chestline jutting from her chest and was nibbling on a large piece of ambrosia; she knew that the Hunters of Artemis could consume more in one-go without having to worry about burning up compared to demigods, but you had to be careful. "Don't overdo it on Ambrosia, Sanya." she said.
Sanya bobbed her head in response. "I won't, Thalia, I know how much I can eat without having to worry about self-immolation. Though, admittedly I am pushing that limit."
The driver of the M-ATV cast an alarmed look. "You eat too much of that stuff you can literally combust?"
Thalia nodded. "Yep, though we're all taught that so we don't go through that particularly grisly fate. We tend to know we're at our limit when we literally begin steaming, which is an admittedly helpful sign. Though little more than a half dozen drops of nectar or a few tiny bites can kill a mortal."
"So no miracle healing food for us then. Well that sucks, guess we'll have to make do with whatever we got." The driver grumped angrily.
Thalia glanced at the GPS on the dash, they were coming up on a five-way intersection. There was a gas station and a couple of food places just beyond it. She really wasn't worried, why would she be?
After all, Wyvern Team Warlord had just blasted apart what had to have been the only way for the Russians to truly warn their friends that they were coming. That's why they had destroyed the community center and eviscerated a copse of trees. So it should be smooth sailing from here, right?
She would later learn that the mortals had a saying for what she just did, 'tempting Murphy'.
Up ahead, there was an explosion, fire shot into the sky. Almost immediately the all too familiar roar of AKS-74s and their machine gun variant rent the air, the dry wood snapping of their discharge filling the air. But there was another very faint sound that her extremely sensitive hearing picked up, a series of thumps. Immediately her aerokinetic senses sensed objects in the air, they flew upwards in an astoundingly high arc and then they started to descend. Faster and faster they fell.
A quartet of explosions rocked the area, fiery blasts rending the air. "Ambush! All squads dismount and engage the enemy! Vehicles go loud!"
"Out!" The driver shouted as the Rangers began to rally and various weapons began to roar. There were the thuds of grenade launchers, that terrible racket from Brownings, the strange roar from the 'RAVEN' guns. It all clashed with the dry wood snapping of enemy weapons.
"You heard him, everyone but Sanya out!" Thalia ordered before leaping out of the M-ATV. Her new SCAR-H coming up, the heavy pops of the rifles were joining the sounds of the lighter cracks of the AKs. Battle was being joined.
More explosions tore through the area, a nearby JLTV blew apart in a whirling holocaust of metal. "CHRIST!" Erica shouted as the M-ATV advanced with a snarl, it's RWS was searching for targets.
Thalia's radio buzzed. "Hunter 2-4 here, we're pinned by mortars and an enemy infantry squad!" That was Banks's voice.
"Hunter 2-3 here, we're pinned by a damn automatic grenade launcher," there was a brief burst of fire and the sound of rounds exploding, "Actual, I hate to say it but this is officially, a shit show."
Febe shot Thalia a vicious glare. "For the record Thalia, this is probably gonna suck."
That was something that Thalia was inclined to agree with. This truly was getting worse by the second. She keyed her radio. "Sergeant, what do you want us to do?"
"Try and flank around! Hunter 2-3 and 2-4 are pinned, what was left of Hunter 2-2 is gone, ATGM team! Our vehicles can't advance with that thing there, it can kill tanks, using it on light vehicles is overkill. Take it out, it's located in the same building as Krispies Fried Chicken!" Sergeant Foley barked sharply, the roar of weaponry was all around.
Gods upon Olympus, this was worse than the Battle of Manhattan in terms of sheer chaos. The shouted commands seemed to be drowned out by the roar of weapons fire, occasionally she heard a shriek followed by a boom as the mortars rained death upon them. But she now had her orders, but now she needed to do it.
"Roger, we'll try and flank around-" Thalia said but was cut off by a roar like thunder as an aircraft shrieked overhead, it had forward swept wings and tiny wings just behind the cockpit. Something kicked clear of the aircraft and it pulled up, its engines roaring like an enraged Drakon.
The building they had been ordered to clear of the 'ATGMs' blew apart in an explosion of fire, smoke, and dust. The shattered remnants crumpled inwards in a roar of noise. Well that solves that problem. Thalia thought grimly and she paused for a moment, closing her eyes and carefully examining the way that the air was being displaced by the bullets that were streaking through the air. Along with the odd rocket, those things were stopping them from using their vehicles effectively.
Okay, they were taking heavy fire from a BP up on the corner of Williamsburg Road and Parker Street, another building across Williamsburg Road from the BP, a two storey white building that was nestled in between Darbytown Road and Williamsburg Road, a complex of buildings that was Salem Street, and sporadic fire from a brick building located at the corner of Darbytown Road and Parker Street. Several vehicles were burning up ahead with another nearby and the Rangers were arrayed in a loose semicircle up ahead, returning fire wherever they could, but they were effectively pinned down.
She opened her eyes. "Sergeant Foley, I am going to take my hunters and flank around, clear out the Church that's giving us grief on Darbytown Road." she said.
There was a pause as Foley contemplated those words as more mortar bombs fell down upon them, nearby an entire tree was completely uprooted by a blast and toppled with a crash. The rippling roar of gunfire was all around them. She shuddered, this was easily the worst combat situation she'd been in since the Battle of Manhattan at Lincoln Tunnel.
Finally Foley came back. "Permission granted, let's get this turned around!"
Alright, now she can get to work. "Let's move hunters!" she shouted and they sprinted through a side yard and then through someone's back garden as fast as olympic sprinters. They crossed a gravel path and entered the backyard of a white house that was across the street from what appeared to be a church, the gunfire was deafening now. The thumps of the mortars and the thuds of the automatic grenade launchers were deafening now.
She gazed at the Church and raised her SCAR. It felt wrong to shoot at this place. It was in many ways sacred ground, but those Rangers, she didn't even know all of them… and yet several of them seemed to explicitly trust her and hunters already. More than that they were counting on them in this rapidly developing situation. It was one thing to have her fellow Hunters trust upon her to bail them out of a tight situation, but these were mortals and given what Sergeant Marks had said, many of them had families. These were fathers, brothers, sons, possibly even mothers and daughters.
Muzzle flashes were strobing from multiple windows, thirteen of them in fact. A harsh boom got her attention, on the roof was another man with a long rifle. He was pumping out a steady stream of rounds, one every twenty or thirty seconds it seemed, a sniper. He needed to go. She glanced back at her hunters. This suddenly seemed a lot more complicated than she thought it was going to be.
She pushed that thought aside. "Febe, take Reyna and get around to the other side of this house. I want you guys on my signal to neutralize the mo-" she cut herself off, "Russians, on the top floor, myself and Erica will take the bottom floor." Thalia said.
"What's the signal?" Febe asked as with a snap-whoosh, a rocket screamed out of one of the windows. There was a harsh explosion an instant later and Thalia had to resist the urge to clutch her head, her aerokinesis was starting to give her a headache with everything that was flying through the air.
Thalia gestured to the sniper. "Go live once he's dead."
A moment after she said that, there was a new sound. A heavy slam slam slam followed by a series of rippling detonations like firecrackers then that jet screamed overhead. This time she got a good look at it, the craft certainly had a non-standard paint job, it was painted a dark red, with the nose, wingtips, and stabilizer tips painted baby blue, with a white stripe running down its centerline. She made a note to ask Foley about it later.
"Holy shit, that's the Wyvern Warlord." Erica shouted to be heard over the feral scream of its engines.
"You recognize that plane?" Febe asked, clearly confused.
Erica nodded. "I do, all of the Wyverns in service due to how lethal they are, their crews are allowed to have non-standard livery on their aircraft after said design has been approved. Although it varies from Wyvern to Wyvern, some have a paint scheme that helps keep a low profile, others have a paint scheme that screams 'here I am'."
Thalia made a mental note to really ask about how lethal these Wyverns were. Then she refocused on the battle at hand, that sniper needed to go. "Right, disperse. Remember the signal?" she asked and everyone nodded. "Good, go!"
The hunters dispersed like ghosts and the Lieutenant of the Hunt waited, she waited for thirty seconds and then she brought the SCAR-H to bear, bringing the holographic sight onto the Russian sniper who let another shot fly from his rifle.
Thalia pulled the trigger and fire blasted from the muzzle of the SCAR-H, the remains of the man's helmet tumbled away from his ruined head. The weapon's discharge had been utterly deafening, her ears were now lightly buzzing. She could still hear gunfire but she made a note to get some hearing protection.
The hearty reports of other SCARs that her Hunters had sounded. Something flashed in her direction and then there was a noise like a bee that zipped past her ear. She dove to the ground as more rounds slashed through the air. She brought her rifle up and commenced firing, the weapon dug into her shoulder.
Her sensitive ears heard something across the street, just over the buzzing in her ears go thud as if something heavy had fallen to the floor. Find the next window. She shifted her aim. Steady your breath like you would when shooting with a bow. She exhaled, emptying her lungs. Find the rhythm of your heart and let it fly between beats. Fire blasted from the muzzle of the SCAR-H.
Immediately she could tell they had an effect, because a Humvee just a few moments after we started shooting, growled into the parking lot, its Grenade Launcher promptly went berserk on part of the building that was up the street from us. High-velocity grenades pounded into the structure which shook and shuddered as blasts began ripping it apart. She realized that she could faintly hear screaming coming from inside that part of the Church as the Humvee continued to lay into it with the grenade launcher.
Then a rocket hit the vehicle and shrapnel went everywhere, fire billowing from the back half. Immediately she could see the gunner haul himself out of the hatch and then dive off the top of the vehicle. Flames began shooting through the passenger compartment.
The mortal soldier looked at the Humvee and saw that the driver was slumped over, he wrenched open the passenger door and began to drag the man out. Gunfire was slamming into the burning humvee and yet the soldier didn't care. He succeeded in pulling the man out of the dead vehicle and began dragging him towards a building as flames fully engulfed the passenger compartment.
Moments later the ammunition started cooking off in a rabid daisy chain of blasts. "Clear that building!" Thalia snapped and she dashed across the street.
Ramirez noticed the weight of fire decreasing almost immediately and then he saw the Humvee take it's chance and dart into the parking lot of the Neighborhood Resource Center and begin to unload its Mk 19 into part of the Church. It caused the Ranger to groan, given that the Greek and Roman Gods were around, who knew if God was around, if so, he hoped that he wouldn't be too mad about the damage.
Maybe he could get Annabeth to draw up a design for the replacement building? Yeah. He could work with that.
"Ramirez, take Wells and clear out the funeral home, there's an automatic grenade launcher in there that's raining hell down upon us! Morgan and I will cover you!" Foley shouted and finally they could start making some progress against these well dug-in Russians!
"Yes sir!" He shouted and fired his grenade in order to punch a 'mouse hole' into the building. The 40mm grenade flew across the distance and detonated, masonry burst apart and glass shattered as a neat little hole was blasted into the building big enough for a man to slip through.
"Go!" Ramirez shouted upon seeing the hole, Foley and Morgan turned their SCAR-H and M240L upon the building. Their weapons roared, sending bullets sheeting into the structure.
"Come on Simon!" Ramirez shouted as he leaped to his feet and dashed towards the building.
"Right behind you!" Simon replied, he could faintly hear the hammering of the other man's feet on the ground over the chaos of battle. Bullets shrieked through the air, from the direction of the church, he could hear the muffled sounds of combat coming from inside the building and despite the situation, under his ski mask he cracked a grin.
Russians vs. hunters in close quarters combat, if they were Spetsnaz then he would be worried for the Hunters due to the fact that Spetsnaz has ballistic knives, but these were VDV. He honestly felt sorry for the poor sorry bastards who had to face the probably nonexistent mercy of the Hunters of Artemis.
Then he burst into the funeral home through the hole his grenade had punched into the building. There was a man waiting in the lobby with an AKS-74U, he and Ramirez fired at the same time. Ramirez grunted as three bullets impacted his armor and pain rippled through his torso, yep he was going to bruise. The dilatant soaked kevlar and interlocking ceramic plates covering his torso had stopped the bullets cold.
The Russian wasn't so lucky, he ended up in a twitching heap on the floor, blood liberally splattered upon the wall behind him and beginning to pool upon the floor. Oh how he loved the SCAR-H and its amazing killing power. "Clear!" he called and Wells said the same thing.
"Go!" They proceeded down the hall, he could hear the grenade launcher thudding away. The Russians manning it probably hadn't heard the battle cry of the SCAR-H over the racket of their own weapon.
He heard the howl of Warlord's engines followed by the heavy slam slam slam of its 40mm cannons going to work outside. Again the amount of fire happening outside decreased. They were beginning to turn this around.
The first room that faced the rangers beyond the lobby was empty. But Ramirez could hear in the second one that damn grenade launcher, pounding away at his friends. Up stairs he heard a snap-whoosh of an RPG firing followed by an explosion. Right, they had an RPG team up stairs that they needed to take out as well.
As silently as he could with Simon at his back they trudged down the hallway to the door of the room where the grenade launcher was. Ramirez pulled out a frag grenade, pulled the pin, flicked the spoon away and then tossed it inside. The device exploded with a mighty wham and the walls shook in sympathy from the blast, the thudding of the grenade launcher stopped.
"Up stairs!" He ordered and they quickly found the stairs.
Simon dashed up the stairs and he was two steps behind him, just as Simon got to the top, his head exploded and he crumpled without a sound. The snapping report of an AKS-74U was distinctive. Swearing in Ancient Greek, Ramirez pulled out another frag, pulled the pin and strong armed it.
There was an alarmed shout, the grenade detonated causing the building to quiver and he stormed up the stairs. He heard whimpering up ahead and he strode up to where it was. There was the Russian, he was whimpering and clearly in pain but he was also just a kid, who just had his legs shredded by an M67 Frag. He raised his hands in surrender.
He heard footsteps and the other member of the RPG team fired at him. The AKS-74 roared, a set of rounds thudded into his armor and he was knocked clean off his feet. The assistant grenadier started to level his rifle at him in order to finish him off. Ramirez was quicker, pulling his HK 23 out of its holster, flicking the safety off, sighting the target, and firing a double tap in one lightning fast smooth motion. The first bullet shattered the man's lower jaw, the second blew the back of his skull out.
If I hadn't been a demigod, I would have been dead. Ramirez thought bitterly as he stood up, the kid had willingly tried to surrender to get him to lower his guard. The bastard had essentially gotten him into a trap, hidden behind his ski mask, he sneered and shot the grenadier dead with his pistol. Then he flicked the safety back on and holstered the weapon before retrieving his SCAR-H. "Sergeant, the Funeral Home's cleared out, we lost Simon in the process."
There was a pause followed by a reply from Foley. "Dammit, alright, good work Ramirez. The VDV seems to be disengaging for now, the Lieutenant wants us to regroup. I want you to gather the hunters." his sergeant ordered.
Ramirez nodded to himself. "What about Simon sir?"
"Police his ammunition and grenades, grab his dog tags too." Foley replied after a substantial pause.
Ramirez sighed deeply. "Understood sir." he said and then he trudged to where Simon's body was. His head was simply mangled wreckage, blood, bone, and brain matter was everywhere. He gingerly policed the fallen Ranger's ammunition and grenades, grabbed Simon's dog tags, closed the man's eyes, and then keyed his radio.
"Grace, come in." he said after pausing for a moment.
There was a fairly long pause before Thalia replied. "Here James, what's the matter?" she sounded winded.
"The Lieutenant wants us to regroup at the BP, what's your status?" he asked, a little worried for the status of the Lieutenant of the Hunt.
"We're green, had a close encounter with what I think was a Russian demigod or regional equivalent, not entirely sure. Whatever he was, it managed to knock me on my can before Febe succeeded in dispatching it. But we're moving towards the gas station, we have just a few more rooms to clear out." Thalia replied after taking a deep breath over the link.
"Right see you there."
With that the son of Ares marched out of the funeral home and towards the British Petroleum station. As he did so, he heard a mounting roar and over the radio he heard a string of rapid fire profanity from the pilot of Warlord followed by "Hunter Two Actual, you have six Vulture-Cs inbound! Flying low, ETA two mikes! I can't get them all, take cover right now!" the pilot, his cousin, bellowed.
"EVERYONE COVER!" Lieutenant Barrett shouted over the comms.
Ramirez scrambled and he dove back behind the Funeral Home, the sounds of running feet followed by Thalia yelling "DOWN!" told him that she'd led the hunters straight to his position.
The unearthly howl of the engines that the Russian UCAVs continued to build until it was practically deafening. Then the ground bucked, a massive roar swept over him along with a wave of heat.