Authors' note and disclaimer: This is a collab fic with SirStonewall. SAO and its characters don't belong to us but to Reki Kawahara. We are merely playing in the world he created. Stonewall and his crew belong to SirStonewall while the crew of "La Montréalaise" belong to me.
Clarifications on War-Torn. Essentially, the starting system of this game serves to make sure that older players interact with newer players, and help increase the amount of possibilities available to the player. It also allows players to play exactly how they want to play this by allowing them to mix and match gear to their playstyle and preferences, as well as not locking the player into a certain 'class' for the entirety of their game experience. Buffs are proportional to the amount of kit used from one nation. This, combined with the majority of players wanting to play as historically accurate as possible, means that most will stick to a single nation for their kit however.
Thanks to all those who reviewed our first chapter.
We hope you have as much fun reading this chapter as we had writing it.
Chapter 2: To The Front!
"Alright people. We're about fifteen minutes early. Gather 'round." Stonewall orders once they pull into a defensive position with their weapons slung to them. The group is currently in the northern part of Aachen. Around them are battle scarred ruins that are still smoking, evidence of recent battle. Craters litter the streets while fallen rubble and man-made obstacles occupy every street corner. Their tanks are sheltered behind destroyed houses and piles of debris while their commanders and their support infantry in the nearby backyard of a ruined house. The midday sun was hidden behind a cloudy sky. Other players and NPC patrol the surrounding areas with weapons in hand and weary eyes. Some bear bandages on them, indicating recent and constant battles with little rest.
"Here's the deal. We're obviously on the front line, but let me help you understand the bigger picture. Way down in the south, start at Bordeaux, then draw a line up to Orléans. Then Chaumont, up to Luxembourg, and then Aachen, where we are now. Further to the north, up to Eindhoven, then Amsterdam. That's the front lines. Any further east from those points, and you'll hit hard contact."
"Okay… what about here? Do you have a map of Aachen?" Sinon asks, holding her Springfield by her side.
"I do." Stonewall responds, shuffling his maps around. "The enemy counterattack is expected to come from the northeast and southeast. We've got engineers laying mines along those approaches, and there's already mines in the forest to the east. I understand you see yourself as a sniper, but stay out of the church bell tower. That'll be the first thing they hit."
Nguyen snorts at this remark.
"Church towers tend to be the first thing they obliterate if they can."
Sinon simply nods with a steely, knowing gaze.
"Alright, anything else we should know?" Kirito asks, scrutinizing the map.
"Yeah. If this defensive line falls you might as well get out of town. We've got a gun battery in position to the west. Meet up with them if we get knocked out, or just head to Liege."
"So where should we deploy?"
"Around our two tanks. If we need to go somewhere else in a hurry I can't be running around trying to find you. Find places with good solid cover, and get dug in, especially you Agil. Any other questions?" Stonewall replies, looking around before nodding in satisfaction. "Good. Let's give 'em hell!"
As the briefing ends, everyone enthusiastically yell their excitement, Nguyen nods in approval but he quickly notices something as he looks at the new party.
"Hey, what's your dog's name again?" he asks Silica politely.
"Pina, why?" she answers with a smile while playing with her familiar. The Canadian's eyes seem to shift as he slowly realizes something.
"You do know that Pina has skills that she can level up right?" he says with a hand on his chin. The other tank commander looks at the girl and her dog with an idea in his head, "Players with dog handling skills are rare as hell."
"Hey Silica, open up Pina's skills menu. I've only ever seen one dog like that before…"
The girl does as she is told and her face lights up with smile. She sees a rather elaborate menu appear with various skills and stats.
"Whoa, look at all this," she says enthusiastically, "Pina has so many skills unlocked!"
Stonewall looks over her shoulder and stiffens. "Jesus Christ! Almost everything is level seven!"
His friend's jaw drops and his eyes widen at this.
"Wait what?!" he exclaims, "How long have you had her before getting here?"
The former ALO players look at their new friends in curiosity.
"Over two years," she shyly replies as Pina barks.
The two tank commanders stare at the dog and Silica in awe.
"A companion dog with almost level seven is nearly unheard of in here," Stonewall exclaims as he moves to pet Pina while Silica looks proudly at her companion.
"It's been a year and almost no-one has a companion that skilled," the other tank commander adds, "Most people don't even bother with dog handling despite the insane buffs."
Kirito and Asuna look at the two North Americans with a serious look and their arms crossed.
"What kind of buffs are we talking about here?" the swordsman asks seriously.
Their friends turn their attention to them.
"Well for starters, it's mainly detection buffs," Nguyen explains enthusiastically as he claps his hands, "Essentially, it means we can detect sneaky bastards crawling around in bushes or traps and mines easier. Night penalties hit us less hard as well. More importantly, we have a better chance finding infiltrators."
Agil gets a surprised look upon hearing this last tidbit.
"Infiltrators? As in players masquerading as your allies?" he asks seriously, "Is that a skill?"
"Yeah. There's some hostile players that love to do that and sabotage vehicles 'n' shit along with ambushing players. One time during the second siege of Paris they got behind our lines and held a crossroad, denying us any access to that part of the front. Not to mention everyone's always a bit more… jumpy." Stonewall answers, "But with Silica and Pina here, it'll make things a bit easier for us."
Klein cracks his knuckles.
"Well, that'll make things interesting," he chuckles cockily, "Don't you think guys?"
The others simply nod in agreement.
From the M36, Aria sticks her head up and yells back at them. "Hey! Forwards scouts just reported they're moving! Fifteen minutes!"
Everyone from ALO gasps and feels excitement as they hear this. This was going to be their first battle! Nguyen quickly scrambles back to La Montréalaise and gets inside his hatch.
"Well, might as well get that fully-fed bonus." suggests Stonewall as he gets on the engine deck of his tank destroyer, "Alright, gang grab your K-rations. It's an easy experience bonus and stamina boost, so dig in."
Sitting down on anything they can find, the players open their inventory and quickly scroll through their items before selecting the K-ration. Appearing in their hands are simple brown boxes with "US Army Field Ration K, Dinner" written on them which they activate. The boxes transform into crackers, a small metal can, a few small boxes, small square aluminium packages and various little pouches. The group start opening the various ingredient packs and hastily prepare the food.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Sinon yells as she tries some, "This is disgusting!"
At the same time, Pina sniffs her handler's ration and whines in disgust before turning away. Silica bites into the food and swallows before going ''Yuk'' and sticking out her tongue.
''How are we supposed to eat this all the time in game?'' she finally asks.
Kirito has a pained look after he bites into a cracker with canned cheese on it and almost spits out his bite.
"This is even worse than the food in SAO!" he exclaims, "There's no taste at all!" Suddenly a bayonet is shoved under his nose.
"What did you say about my cooking in SAO?!" a red-faced Asuna screeches as she points the bayonet at his neck, "I thought you liked it dummy!"
Her boyfriend quickly backpedals and almost falls off the rubble he's sitting on.
"Yours was good… I meant the basic food that everyone else had and sold!" Kirito answers with sweat on his forehead. Asuna looks at him with smug satisfaction before putting away her bayonet.
"I thought you could eat anything nii-san," Leafa dryly remarks as she swallows the last bite of her ration before grimacing.
"Yeah… when it tastes like something!" Kirito argues while holding a cracker, "This doesn't taste anything at all!"
The ALO players all share various looks of disgust after their first taste of K-rations. Stonewall lights up a cigarette and eats his ration with a bemused look.
"Y'all went through that SAO clusterfuck?" He asks curiously.
"I don't think we should ask'em about that!" Nguyen shouts from the top of his turret, bits of his food falling from his mouth, "Don't think we need to know about that in detail. If they want to tell, it's up to them. Not us asking them."
"Yeah no shit! I don't mean to pry, I just… knew someone." Stonewall sighs, looking away from them. "Forget I said anything. I was rude for asking."
Klein has somehow finished eating and lights up a cigarette before replying.
"Don't worry about it. You didn't know."
Meanwhile, Asuna is hastily scrolling through her skills menu with a determined look.
"Wait a minute, there's a cooking skill in this game!" she finally exclaims happily as she sees that her level was still maxed out, "I'm never eating these things again if I can help it." Everyone else from ALO seems to be relieved at hearing this while the War-Torn veterans have impressed looks on their faces.
"I'll never take your cooking for granted after this," Kirito states. He's still amazed that he finished the K-ration but notices a small blue square with a knife and fork in the corner of his screen. Selecting it, it shows that it's a buff indicator.
"When we'll have the time and requisition," Nguyen says, "Can we get some ingredients so that you can whip up something a bit more edible than the ration packs? I heard fresh food give stronger bonuses."
Asuna nods with a smile while her old friends from ALO all share looks of approval.
"Hey Liz! C'mere for a second! I've got an idea!" Aria suddenly yells from her tank destroyer's turret, waving at the engineer, who painfully swallows the last piece of her rations. The brunette briskly walks over with a smile while humming.
"If you take down this wall on that house there you'll all have a perfect fighting position right next to us." she suggests while pointing a nearby damaged house across the street from her tank destroyer, "You've got TNT blocks, right?"
Liz opens her inventory and begins scrolling through the list. Finally reaching the item asked, she finds the six she requisitioned in Brussels. Selecting them, one of the block appears in her hands.
"Yeah got some," she answers back with a mischievous smile.
"Awesome. Let me help you- Stonewall! You've got gun for a minute! Leafa, you're with us!"
"Right!" answers the blond riflewoman as she stands up from the ground.
"Yes dear." Stonewall mutters, climbing up into the tank and sitting in the gunner's seat, patiently puffing on a cigarette.
The two brunettes and the blonde move over to the building, and Aria shows Liz how to prime one of the charges, having the engineer pull a roll of wire out of her inventory, which she promptly connects to the blasting cap and starts reeling out, taking cover behind the tank destroyer. Meanwhile, a standing Leafa follows them back while keeping her rifle pointing towards the outside of the city.
"Hey Leafa, crouch down, you're a smaller target that way." Stonewall instructs, looking out over the top of the turret. She quickly crouches down after hearing his advice.
"Alright, you hook the positive up to this terminal, and the negative to this terminal." Aria instructs, watching Liz who's holding a detonator and the wires. Once the two are connected she stands up. "FIRE IN THE HOLE! Blow it."
Liz gives a twist of the detonator, and the block of explosives detonates, sending the weak brick wall crashing down into the street. A small message at the bottom of her screen tells her that she gained a small amount of exp and requisition points.
"Awesome!" The engineer shouts as she jumps in glee. Her first handiwork in this new game falls and does a line of cover across the street and blocks it. Suddenly, the sound of barking and whining can be heard. Turning to the source, the players see Silica trying to calm Pina down.
"What is it Pina?" she asks with worry, "Was it the explosion?"
She hugs the dog and pets her head, trying to comfort her but to no avail. A small pop up appears. Silica reads the ominous message aloud.
Pina hears incoming whistling.
"Tabarnak!" Nguyen shouts as he hears this, "INCOMING ARTILLERY!"
He barely finishes yelling before loud whistling breaks the relative peace of the town. The other players and NPC's patrolling begin running to prepared positions while his group springs into action.
"Take cover!" Stonewall yells, motioning towards some craters in the road. The infantry players dash towards the cover before leaping in. Agil deploys his MG-42's bipod while everyone except Sinon hits the ground and point their rifles at the road before them. The sniper vanishes in the nearby ruined buildings.
A loud blast resonates through the group's ears. Looking back at the source, they can see that the first shell obliterates the nearest belltower.
Hidden behind a ruined piece of furniture in an abandoned attic with a damaged roof overlooking the northern road, Sinon merely looks at the ruined tower with indifference.
'A true sniper knows how to use every cover to her advantage. That would've been too predictable anyways.'
Other explosions soon rock Aachen and the comms are filled with reports of the artillery barrage. Shouting can be heard as well while players and NPC's brace themselves for the imminent assault. The sound of breaking walls and falling masonry mix themselves in the cacophony. Sometimes, screams of pain and cries for medics and help can be heard as well.
"Baker one-alpha, this is Baker one-one, Aachen is under preparatory barrage right now! How copy?!" Stonewall yells into a headset, listening to the other person for a moment before grinning. "Roger that, godspeed! One-one out!"
The whistling and shelling ends as suddenly as it came. Opening his eyes, Kirito looks around him. His friends and their tanks are covered in fine dust as they get back to their senses. Leafa and Silica cough a bit. More craters have appeared and some nearby buildings have collapsed.
'This is a new kind of intensity,' he thinks, 'The battle hasn't fully started yet and I'm already on edge.'
He is snapped out of his thoughts by someone yelling next to him.
"IS ANYONE INJURED!" Asuna shouts worriedly as she pokes her head around to looked for wounded. A chorus of "I'm fine" from familiar voices answers her question. So far, no one in her group got hit. She lets out a sigh of relief before lowering her head back to cover.
Meanwhile, the tank commanders bring up their binoculars to scan for targets coming up the road. Nguyen briefly lowers his binoculars and looks at the infantry players.
"Get behind that line of rubble that the girls made earlier!" he bellows before getting back to his binoculars. Grabbing his handset, he contacts Stonewall.
"Got any contacts man?! I don't have visual on anything yet."
{Movement, 800 yards, in the treeline. Armor, likely a Panzer. Twelve-thirty.}
"Understood," he answers confidently before turning his head down and shouting orders, "Loader, AP! Gunner traverse 0-2-0! Tank 800!"
The Canadian looks through his binoculars once more at the area his platoon commander called out. Scanning the brush, he mutters a few curse words before exclaiming.
"Tank spotted!" he yells before correcting the gunner. Once Roscoe confirms the changes…
"Fire!" orders Nguyen. The thunder of La Montréalaise's75mm gun is heard and the projectile streaks out the barrel. Kirito and his friends cover their ears for a moment out of surprise.
"Woah man! Shit's getting real!" Agil shouts from his cover before laughing. Kirito can't help but agree mentally. A plume of flame burst from the woods where the friendly tank shot followed by a large explosion and flying shrapnel.
"Good shot there boys!" Nguyen praises as he keeps looking for more nearby targets. The sound of a tank gun being reloaded can be heard as Tony loads another round. Next to him, Roscoe scans for any targets.
"I think they got something big!" exclaims Klein in awe from behind a piece of rubble. Before anyone could say anything, flashes light up the tree line and explosions resonate around them. Tracer fire fills the air as streaks of light fly around them.
"Woah!" yells Kirito as smoke and dust fill his view before a bullet whistles near him and hits the ground behind him, "That was way too close!"
"I'll say!" Leafa yells with a closed eye as she tries to shield herself from the enemy's fire by pressing herself against a wall. Agil's MG-42 roars to life as he sees silhouettes emerging from the treeline while the tanks continue trading fire with their enemy. The sound of tank shells hitting rubble and dirt mix with the increasingly louder sound of small arms fire. Bullets impact the cover behind which the ALO players with growing ferocity.
"Ahhhh!" shouts Silica with tears in her eyes as she huddles behind a fallen piece of wall, "This is way scarier than I thought!" Pina licks her face to comfort her while she clutches her M1 Carbine.
"Don't worry Silica," Agil shouts between bursts with a confident voice, "We're all here with you!"
"We're all in this together!" Asuna adds warmly. Silica smiles a bit after hearing these words and peers out to fire.
Very soon, the others peer over the rubble and open fire as well. The enemy players and NPCs' launch their assault on Aachen.
"Here they come!" Klein shouts enthusiastically as he opens fire with his Thompson. His first shots miss, but once he gets a better feel for the recoil his second burst cuts down a player in a faded Soviet uniform that had gotten too close. The surprised player collapses to the ground before disappearing in a shard of pixels.
"Alright my first kill!" he boasts as he sees a small text at the bottom of his HUD telling him about experience and requisition gain. A burst of fire hits the cover in front of the red haired player, prompting him to cover his face with his left arm before ducking behind cover. "Too close," he grunts before peering out again.
"Just how badly do they want this town?!" Kirito yells from behind cover as he fires at incoming hostiles, "They're throwing a lot of players and NPC at us". He hears another bullet hitting near him.
"It's one of the biggest crossroads in the area, so about as much as we want it!" Stonewall yells from his tank destroyer before getting back to the task of leading his crew.
"Bring it on," mutters Kirito with a smile as he opens fire from cover.
From the abandoned attic where she took position earlier, Sinon carefully looks around. The brown haired sniper doesn't want to waste bullets on targets her friends can dispatch easily. Instead, she looks for an enemy sniper or something as valuable. Her sharp eyes suddenly notices something. A dozen players pulling a pair of wheeled mortars into position in a nearby empty field. It doesn't seem that her team is aware of this. Her mind races. 'I have to act now!'
"This is not good," she mutters calmly as she sets herself up to fire. Looking through her scope, she watches the group set up their weapon, trying to find the best opening to do the most damage. Her gut kept telling her it was too soon to fire even as the enemy finishes setting his weapons. Sinon then sees her chance and holds her breath.
As the mortarman loads the first shell into his mortar, he doesn't hear the distant gunshot. The sound of metal impacting metal briefly catches his attention before an explosion engulfs him and two of his six-men crew. The other mortar team can only stare for a brief moment as they see their comrades and their weapon disappear in a trail of pixels. The surprise is brief but one of them slides a shell down his tube. The player doesn't register the mistake he's made as his team suffers the same fate that his comrades did as Sinon shoots exactly as the mortar shell shoots back up the tube.
The sniper barely celebrates her first kills as she swiftly relocates to a new spot. A small notification appears in the corner of her screen. Opening it quickly as she moves, its message tells her that she just won extra experience and requisition for two multikills. She quickly runs down the ruined stairs of the house, skillfully avoiding the scattered debris inside and dashes out the front door to another key building she had noticed earlier.
"HE, five hundred yards! Target is a truck at bearing zero-eight-zero!" Stonewall yells, watching through his binoculars as a truck drives up the road, loaded with players.
"On target, come to mama!" Aria smirks, looking through the gunsight as the AI loader slams a 90mm High-Explosive shell into the breech,
"Loading complete!"
"Fire!" Stonewall yells, just before Aria stomps down on the foot trigger, and the 90mm gun makes its presence known, slinging its payload into the driver's compartment of the truck as well as rocking slightly the tank. The Opel Blitz explodes in a maelstrom of shrapnel and pixelated shards, and so do the dozen or so players inside before they can get out.
"Good shot babe!" Stonewall cheers, patting Aria on the shoulder before there's a distant thundering and a shell screams overhead, smashing into the building behind the tank destroyer. The commander raises his binoculars and looks at the far treeline, spotting a familiar, boxy shape.
"One thousand yards, Tiger! Bearing zero-three-six! Load HVAP!"
"I've got him in my sights! That's your average Tiger!" Aria yells, looking into the gunsight.
"Driver, start up!" Stonewall orders, just as the gun of the enemy tank flashes again. Stonewall ducks just in time, the shell taking off the .50 caliber mounted on the turret.
"Loading complete!" The loader yells, grabbing an AP round and holding it, ready to load the next round.
'Please God don't miss, HVAP is expensive!'
"Fire!"
The gun roars again, and a shower of sparks erupts on the front slope of the enemy tank, seconds later hatches open and the crew starts climbing out hurriedly of their crippled vehicle. Smoke rises from the vehicle, indicating it as inactive.
"Loader, HE!" Aria yells, slowly tracking the fleeing crew members in her gunsight. The AI loader puts the AP round back in the hollow bustle rack and pulls out a high-explosive round, shoving it into the breach.
"Gun loaded!"
Stonewall doesn't get the chance to give the order to fire. The gun fires, rocking the tank gently before the shell lands amidst the five man crew, killing all of them.
"Hell yes! I collected a bounty!" Aria cheers as a little pop up appears on her screen, "Maybe now we can get the armored roof!"
Meanwhile, the crew of La Montréalaise are still exchanging shots with the enemy tanks. The rubble in front of their tank has a few shells marks denting it while a large scratches scar the right side of the turret. Nguyen sweats as he keeps coordinating his crew in the swirling maelstrom battle. By now, his head is barely sticking out of the hatch. Earlier, a stray bullet had flown a little too close to him.
"LOADED!" yells Tony as the breech locks into place. His commander nods before issuing the order to fire. The shot misses the Panzer IV and kicks up the dirt next to it instead, the AP round bouncing and careening off into the forest. The Sherman's gun raises for a moment for the crew to reload.
''Missed! Adjust 5 degrees right!'' he shouts frantically to his gunner who traverses slightly the turret. At the same time, Tony swiftly reloads the gun with another AP round.
''Ready up!''
"Fire!"
A burst flame rises from where the Panzer IV was. The crew briefly blow a sigh of relief.
{Baker one-one, this is Panther 402. Our flank has collapsed! There's a swarm of players and monsters coming your way!} Stonewall's radio crackles to life, filled with the panicked voice of the Panther tank radio operator.
"Roger that, How did they get through?!" The tank commander yells into his headset.
{They've got a pair of IS-2's that knocked out our Tigers! I think it's the ones with the bounties! There's a mob of Soviet players too!}
"Roger that. There's a trio of Door Knockers from the Ninth that are ready to fire at any coordinates you give them!"
Stonewall waits for a reply, holding the headset to his ear while Aria fires the gun, knocking out a Panzer IV. When only silence ensues he cues his microphone again. "402, do you copy?"
Only a slight static is the response, and he swears before having his radio operator select another channel.
"Charlie Niner, come in, over!"
{Charlie Niner, go ahead Baker.}
"Charlie, I need a barrage, King-Red, zero-three-four, eight-two-six, how copy?!"
{Readback, King-Red, zero-three-four, eight-two-six. That's directly on the location of the Fifth Panzers, I can't fire on that location without their approval.}
"There isn't anyone left to approve of it! Just fire on those coordinates! I'll take the fall for it!"
{Rrrrroger that. Fifteen rounds, HE, on the way. Charlie out.}
Stonewall readies his Garand and peeks over the edge of his turret, catching the attention of Kirito with a wave. "HEY! Our right flank just collapsed! Keep an eye out!"
Mere seconds after he yells that there's a shower of sparks that erupt from the front of the tank destroyer. Inside the hull, the AI crewmen yell out as their HP drops to zero nearly instantly, and they disappear in a burst of pixelated shards. The loader collapses in the hull, and Aria screams out as hull spalling shreds her legs. Jackson grabs her and pulls her out of her seat, out over the rear of the turret and onto the engine deck, ducking back behind the turret when machinegun rounds plink off the gun mantlet.
"Aria's hit! Medic!" He yells, lifting her up and jumping off, laying the woman down behind the tank before climbing back up onto it and retrieving their weapons. Klein, Leafa and Kirito switch their fire to cover Asuna. The medic jumps out of cover and runs over, setting about treating her, fumbling with the satchel full of medical supplies as Stonewall starts coordinating the defense.
"This isn't like a healing spell," Asuna mutters furiously as she goes through the various supplies which includes various bandages, packages and syringes, "Or a health potion." Luckily small pop-ups appear to tell what each item does and how to use them. Finally, she finds the right bandages and begins patching up Aria's injuries who are losing pixels. Taking a quick look at the gunner's health bar, she sees that it's already half-empty. Asuna works faster.
"Don't worry, I'm here! You'll be alright," she says with a reassuring tone as she pulls another item from her pouch, this time a pin, "I used to be a healer in ALO so you should be fine."
"It's different from magic though, and it's far more complex than a healing potion." Aria half-heartedly chuckles while wincing in pain. "I can walk you through it I think."
"Thanks but I think I got the hang of this," answers Asuna with a warm smile, "Correct if I do something wrong though," She takes a breath to steady herself. The sound of battle still echoes behind them as the medic continued her work.
Running over to Agil, Stonewall kneels beside him, directing his fire, then once the MG42 is firing on the groups of infantry he runs over to Nguyen's tank. "Hey! Things are getting too hot! Back up and cover our rear!"
"What about the Panzer IV's?!" The commander asks.
"We'll take care of them! Get out of here, there's two IS-2's on our flank!"
"Roger that!" The Canadian nervously throws Stonewall a salute before ordering his driver to back up, just as a burst of automatic fire sends the American scrambling for cover.
"Targets right!" Stonewall yells, raising his rifle and firing once, dropping the engineer that was shooting at him, just as a half dozen Kobolds emerge from the buildings on his left, forcing him to change his priorities to killing the monsters. Smoke shells starting dropping on their right flank, blanketing the zone in thick white smoke. At the same time, Silica and Liz redirect their fire when Pina starts barking in La Montréalaise's direction.
"Oh no!" shouts the younger player followed by a yell from Liz. Silhouettes begin forming in the smoke and draw closer.
"Look out Nguyen! There's enemy players on your right!" The engineer yells, but the tank commander is too engrossed by the battle to hear her.
In that time, the tank commander is still focused on the enemy in front of him. A flicker of flame catches his attention out of the corner of his eye.
By then, it's too late; The first Molotov cocktail has already left the thrower's hand and flies towards. The bottle impacts on the turret's back and breaks, dousing the commander and the interior of the tank with its flammable contents before the flaming rag sets it alight. Liz and Silica freeze for a moment as they witness the terrifying scene.
"AHHHHH! TABARNAK! I'M ON FIRE!" he screams in agony as his uniform and turret roof burst into flames, "EVERYONE OUT!" His health bar starts falling quickly as he pulls himself off the turret's left side. At the same time, the loader's hatch pops open with Tony jumping out and clutching his Grease gun with some of the flames igniting his clothing. Pixels start rising from his uniform as it's consumed by the fire. He lands flat on his stomach and starts rolling on the ground with Tony next to him whose uniform suffers the same fate. Pings resound as gunshots hit the tank.
The burning fuel falls into the open hatch onto Roscoe's uniform causing the gunner to howl in pain and swear as he pulls himself out of the turret and does exactly the same as the rest of his turret crew.
Very quickly, another Molotov hits the engine deck of the tank and sets it alight. The front hatches pop open with Lou and Dick emerging unscathed. Both roar in anger as they leap out with their weapons in hand. Dick carries a shotgun while Lou holds a Thompson in his hands. Both are firing as they hit the ground to avenge their comrades. Bullets whiz by their bodies as they crouch behind their burning tank and run over to their burning friends whose howls fill their ears. Thinking quickly, they materialize fire extinguishers from their inventories and douse their comrades, swiftly putting out the flames and slowing their health drain. Unfortunately, Nguyen's health bar has dropped to 30% and he lies immobile on the ground. Pixel shards still rise slowly from his body.
"Assholes!" Stonewall yells, firing at the thrower of the firebombs. The Soviet uniform-clad player crumples like a doll with its strings cut, and then disappears in a burst of pixelated shards. At the same time, the rest of his team have changed positions to cover the stricken tank. The sound of Kirito, Klein and Leafa's weapons ring out as they engage the incoming assault on their right flank. Their fire joins Agil, Liz and Silica's. Meanwhile Asuna shakily finishes bandaging Aria's injured legs behind cover, stopping the health loss.
"Yo cover us man!" shouts Dick as he starts dragging Nguyen away from their stricken tank and across the rubble, "Lou! Grab Tony and Roscoe!"
"Are you serious man?!" the assistant driver shouts back from between the two casualties who are longer burning but still losing health points at a slower rate.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP MAN! GET IT DONE!" barks back Dick.
Another enemy player sounds rounds the corner of the burning tank. The driver drops his commander for a second as he pumps the shotgun. Pulling back on the trigger, he hits the unfortunate player dead center, causing him to throw his gun in the air. The unfortunate player spirals to the ground before disappearing.
"Hey! Cover fire!" Stonewall yells at Agil, motioning at the building the enemy players keep emerging from. The rest of the group follow his command as well, buying time for Lou and Dick to pull Nguyen and Tony.
"Cover me guys!" shouts Kirito before dropping his carbine. He dashes forward towards Roscoe.
"No party member dies on my watch!" he yells as he gets to the injured gunner lying on the ground and trying to get up. The player weakly smiles and raises a thumb as Kirito reaches him.
"Thanks man," he croaks out.
Suddenly a shout is heard. Kirito's eyes rises and sees another player armed with a long rifle about to shoot him. Without thinking, he roars and lunges at the rifleman, drawing his katana. A swift slash hits the player in the chest and leaves a large red gash from where pixels emerge. Another swing from Kirito makes contact with the player's neck, causing his health bar to drop to zero. The rifleman disintegrates into pixels, and Kirito puts the katana back in its scabbard in one swift motion before grabbing Roscoe and dragging him over to Asuna. The medic is tending to the injured turret crew of "La Montréalaise" while Aria's legs are both bandaged up by now. Nguyen is still unresponsive on the ground while Tony is getting his right arm patched up. Roscoe clutches a burnt shoulder and his back is also scorched. The sound of battle rages around them. Blasts are heard in the distance while bullets whiz around them.
"I'm almost out of medical supplies!" Asuna reports urgently as she uses her last burn kit on Roscoe's back.
"They're coming too fast," shouts Leafa worriedly as she eliminates another player with her rifle before reloading, "What are we gonna do!? I don't think we can hold them here."
Silica and Pina are by her side, doing their best to hold back the tide of Soviet-styled players.
"Everyone get ready to move! We can't hold this position without the tanks!" Stonewall yells over a burst of SMG fire from Klein. The latter nods in approval
"Right, what's the plan Stonewall!" shouts Kirito as he fires his M1A1 Carbine. Next to him, Leafa reloads her rifle and begins firing at the incoming enemy.
"If we can hold out on the west side of town, we've got an entire battalion worth of players on the way! I'll carry Aria, but we've gotta move soon or those IS-2's will block our escape!"
"I've stabilized Nguyen and Roscoe!" reports Asuna as she ties up the last bandage on Roscoe, "Nguyen's stunned while Roscoe can walk."
"We're almost out of ammo!" shouts Liz as she's firing at a submachine gunner rushing her, dropping him before he gets too close, "We better get out of here fast before we run out."
Leafa and Silica nod in approval as well.
"Right, follow me!" shouts Stonewall as he gets up and moves over to pick up his girlfriend. Lou picks up Nguyen who's still out cold and slings him over his shoulder. The group begins moving out through the streets, climbing over rubble and moving through buildings as the sound of weapons fire grow distant behind them, only a few gunshots ringing out now and then as the other players and NPCs fall back into Aachen. Some players are carrying their wounded friends either on their backs or on stretchers. Others run as fast as they can, discarding their weapons. Damaged tanks also roll down the streets, bearing scars of their recent fight with the enemy. The streets also show sign of battle as new craters have appeared while more building lay collapsed on them. Explosions and gunfire still echo in the distance as certain players still hold the line. The question was how long would they hold?
"Where's Sinonon!?" Asuna suddenly exclaims with worry. "We haven't seen her since the battle started."
"She's been following us. Don't worry." Stonewall groans, climbing up a pile of rubble. Even if it is the virtual world, Aria still weighs something and the tank commander is running out of breath carrying her. The group continue running when shells start falling around them, their blasts shaking the ground.
"Knowing Sinon," Kirito adds with a smile, "She's probably been having a blast wreaking havoc on the other team."
Stonewall grins at this, but as he rounds the corner of a ruined cafe, he blanches and quickly backpedals, hiding from something. "Stop, don't go out there." he barks with a nervous face. The rest of the group stop running upon hearing this.
"What? Why?" Asuna asks in surprise.
"There's an IS-2 out there. It'll blow us to kingdom come if it spots us."
"What's an IS-2 exactly? You've been talking about those for awhile now" Leafa says with worry as she catches her breath, "It sounds pretty scary."
Silica, Pina and Liz are leaning on the cafe's wall, breathing heavily while Lou puts Nguyen down and leans him against the wall.
"Those big German tanks you saw earlier? It was designed to kill those. It's got a big ass gun and lots of armor." Stonewall explains hurriedly, "If it shoots at you… you don't exist anymore."
"Don't worry guys, I'll get it." Klein says with a grin, pulling out his recoilless rifle. Lou promptly proposes his help to reload the weapon.
"Don't bother. It won't do anything except piss off the crew." Stonewall sighs, putting down Aria.
"What are you planning?" Aria asks with a raised eyebrow.
Stonewall smiles in response, opening his inventory. "Remember St-Lo?"
"Oh god not again…"
Stonewall finds what he's looking for and materializes a block of TNT, which has a fuse stuck in it, then he looks at the ALO players and grins. "Cover me? I'm gonna try something stupid."
"Sure thing my man," Agil responds with a confident smile as he checks his machine gun and racks the bolt. Kirito gets a smile.
"Mind if I come with you?" he asks enthusiastically, "I like reckless ideas."
He cracks a shoulder before walking towards the tank commander.
"Be careful nee-san!" Leafa sternly warns Kirito.
Stonewall chuckles and leans his rifle against the wall. "Sure, just stay close."
The American draws an old-fashioned Colt Army revolver from a holster on his hip and grins maliciously before running around the corner, with Kirito close behind.
As the gunner inside the heavy tank slowly traverses the turret towards the left, searching for targets, Stonewall and Kirito take cover behind a pile of rubble as the long barrel aims their direction. Several tense seconds pass before the gun moves along.
"Klein! Hit the tracks!" Stonewall yells, pulling a zippo lighter out of his pocket.
The ex-Samurai kneels at the corner and aims at the tank as Lou loads a round in the launcher, tapping Klein on the helmet once it's loaded. The gunner can't help but feel dread and awe at seeing the massive war machine. The first shot goes but hits the right side of the turret instead with a deafening clang, leaving a scorched dent on the side of the turret. There's no reaction for a few seconds but it starts turning ominously towards Klein and Lou.
"Shit man!" swears Lou as he hurriedly shoves another shell into the M18's breech. It is a swift reload but time slows for Klein as he watches the massive barrel of the IS-2 turn towards him. Sweat forms on his forehead. He snaps out of his daze when his loader taps his helmet. He also hears Lou
"Don't fuck it up motherfucker!" he rudely barks in a guttural voice.
Taking a deep breath, Klein aims again at the monstrous tank. When he finally fires again, the shell strikes the idler wheel, blowing it off and immobilizing the tank. Once Klein ducks back around the corner, Stonewall jams his pistol in his holster and jumps up, sprinting over to the tank and lighting the fuze on the TNT before slapping it on the engine deck. Meanwhile, Kirito keeps his rifle trained on the turret hatches in case someone pokes out. Then he runs back to where him and Kirito were hiding and takes cover.
A blast resonates and the IS-2 is crippled for good, the fuel lines having been destroyed along with the roof of the engine compartment. The crew proceeds to abandon their stricken vehicle, only to get cut down by Agil and Kirito's weapons.
Stonewall jumps up and runs back grinning to where the others are waiting for him, picking up Aria and his rifle. "Let's get going."
"Hey!" A voice hisses, causing everyone to turn towards the source with their weapons raised. A player in a British uniform waves at them from a second story window across the street. "Four coming out!"
The player disappears, and a few seconds later the door opens. Four players file out, Lee Enfield's and Sten's at the ready. They run across the street and kneel down in front of the Cafe, most bearing bandages.
"You guys with the Twelfth Scots?" Stonewall asks. One of them nods in confirmation before answering.
"Yeah. Sapper section, at your service. Aren't you from Baker, Third Armored?"
"Yep. We're falling back. Both flanks have collapsed, and our tanks got taken out."
The apparent section leader winces. "Hate to break it to you, but the road out of here got captured during the initial counterattack. We're surrounded."
"Ah…. fuck."
Author's note: Well… things got a little sticky here. Talk about a memorable first time for Kirito and co. huh?
As always, if you read this chapter, please read and review! It encourages us and gives us pointers on to improve our writing.