Chapter 7: A Change Of Scenery!
K2-Black-Panther, my man. Thanks for the enthusiastic review on chapter six. You'll get your Firefly's soon, I promise. A major thanks to everyone else that reviewed the last chapter. Keep the reviews rolling, and as always I hope you enjoy the chapter! - SirStonewall
To all our reviewers… you guys rock! Feel free to send us ideas in your reviews. Enjoy this new chapter of War-Torn - Goodalwayswins98
Real Life,
1146,
War-Torn Studios,
Hood River, Oregon.
"Hey Jackson! Good to see you!"
"Hello Maria. Been awhile. Good to see you too." Stonewall replies to the desk clerk as he wheels himself into the front lobby. Much like his in-game avatar, the American sports a well-kept head of red hair, with a goatee under his chin being the first major difference. The other being the simple wheelchair he uses to push himself around.
"Here for the meeting?" The brunette woman asks with a friendly tone, opening the door to the office cubicles.
"That I am. Aria should be in pretty soon, she's talking with Alice." He responds while wheeling himself through the doorway.
"Okay! I'll keep an eye out for them. The meeting is in the lunchroom."
"Thanks again."
Pushing himself down the hall over the multi-colored carpet he smiles, waving at some of the people he passes until he reaches the break room. There, he pushes the door open and wheels himself through to people laughing.
"Holy shit! If it isn't the cripple himself!" A guy yells from across the table, acting surprised.
"Fuck off Mikey, I ain't a cripple."
"Bro, you are literally sentenced to a wheelchair for the rest of your life."
"I'll say again. I'm not a cripple." Stonewall says seriously as he pushes himself forward to an empty spot at the table.
"Whatever…"
"Are you two done having a bromance?" A redheaded woman asks with her arms crossed.
"Oh shit? Alice when the hell did you get in here?" Stonewall asks.
"Before you did. Your fiance's getting the map from Adam's office, since he's sicker than hell today."
"Oh. Okay."
The door opens a few seconds later and a man that could best be described as a lumberjack steps in, a laptop under one arm. "Alright people! Down to business."
Stonewall looks over his shoulder and extends his arm up above his head, earning a high-five while the authority figure walks past. "Hey bossman."
"Hey Jackson, good to see you- first up, we've gotta figure out how to break this stalemate. Let's hear ideas."
"Dex, I got one." Alice says as she raises her hand.
"Go ahead."
"How about we start an NPC bombing campaign for Alliance against Pact? Make escorting the planes a daily quest."
Dex sits down at the head of the table and opens his laptop, quickly typing in it. "It's an idea to consider. Anybody else?"
"I've got one." A scrawny intern says as he raises his hand.
"Go ahead."
"What if we make quests at opposite ends of the front for opposite factions? Say Pact has a goal of capturing Brussels, and Alliance has a goal of capturing Marseille?"
Dex smiles and types on his computer, then looks around. "Third option anyone?"
Stonewall raises his hand. "Dexter, I've got a good one for you."
"Let's hear it."
"What if we encourage the players to open up a new front in either Norway or Italy?"
"And how would we encourage them?"
"Dungeon bonuses, regional XP and credit bonuses."
"That's a good idea, but . . . we couldn't get enough players for a new front, much less an invasion."
"Give those that do sign up for the mission enough support to make a beachhead and others will follow. They'd need NPC's for defense, but other than that it would take minimal effort on our part."
"We can't spawn anymore defensive AI without buying another server. It's barely supporting the current Malta offensive. Italy is not possible." Mikey informs.
"Plus, those are high difficulty regions. Players won't want to fight there." One of the moderators says.
"Not that it matters anyways because the servers can't support anymore defensive AI." Alice sighs.
"You motherfuckers-" Stonewall growls, wheeling his chair back a foot or so before reaching down and undoing the clamps holding his feet in place on the footrests. Some of the people at the table give him strange looks, then quickly get up to try and help him when he grabs the armrests and starts to lift himself out of the wheelchair.
"Getchyer goddamn mitts off me!" He snarls, pushing himself up so he's leaning on the table. With a grunt of effort he locks his knees before standing up straight, looking around the table. "If I hear any of you lot say we can't do something one more time, I'm gonna try walking next! Now, let's hear solutions!"
"Finance, do we have the funds to upgrade the servers?" Dex asks quickly.
"We do, but we'd have to postpone development for Hell-Bound."
"How long?"
"Two weeks."
"That's perfect. We all need a break from development, and the servers need to be upgraded anyways. Mike, how soon can we have them upgraded?"
"Provided our shipping company doesn't drop the ball, we can have it done by next Friday with a couple hours of downtime to transfer files."
"Get it done. There, Jackson please for the love of God sit down." Dex pleads.
Stonewall grins and falls back into his wheelchair, pushing the chair back up to the table before setting about re-securing his feet to the footrests. "See? Now that wasn't so hard."
"You are one crazy sunnuva bitch, man." Mikey sighs.
"Maybe, but if I recall, y'all hired me and invite me to these meetings 'cuz I know how to get results. Well, I just got results. Hell, I'll personally spearhead the landings too."
A silence falls upon for room for a moment before Dex coughs into his fist and looks up from his computer. "Well uh…. Since Hell-Bound is being laid off temporarily, this meeting is concluded."
Xx-xX
"Bring it back a little more! Little more! Liiittle mo- Woah!" Stonewall yells as he guides a truck back towards the snow covered tent tucked back in the trees. The truck lurches to a halt and the driver shuts off the engine while the tank commander steps into the tent and slides around Rift, who is carrying a radio set out the open tent flap. "Everyone get the radios 'nd shit loaded into the truck! Who's pulling guard duty on the tanks?"
"Seth and his boys!" Someone grunts back as they lift up a radio set.
"Good. Has anyone seen Nguyen and his boys?"
"Uh… try the salvage yard Sir." Rift's Gunner says with uncertainty.
"Try Paris." Aria jokes, drawing a laugh out of everyone.
"I'm here girls- hey where'd everyone go?" Rift jokes with a nasal tone.
"Shit, that Recon kid is getting to be better than Nguyen. You hear what he did during the airfield raid?"
"Yeah. The little shit ran up to a KV-2 and put a satchel charge under the overhang of the turret. Crazy little bastard, but he learns quick."
"Hey, stow that shit. Nguyen's got his moments sure, but we all do." Stonewall snaps. "Plus he's more reliable on attendance than any of you bastards. If he says he's going to be there, he's going to be there."
"Hey guys!" Nguyen yells, "How's everyone doing?"
Appearing almost out of thin air is 'La Montréalaise' and its crew rumble around the corner into town.
"Well shit, speak of the devil himself." Stonewall mumbles, walking out of the tent while the crew parks their tank just inside the treeline. "Hey! Need you to help get everything packed up and ready to roll!"
"No worries, we'll give you guys a hand," Tony says as he climbs off the tank.
"Tent needs to be taken down, radio antenna needs to be collapsed, and the ammunition trucks need to be guarded, so take your pick." Stonewall instructs before quickly jogging off.
"I'll go grab the radio antenna," Lou suggests, "What about you Dick?"
"I'll work on the tent," he answers flatly as he makes his way to the tent.
"I'll give a hand at the ammo trucks," Roscoe says, equipping his Thompson.
"Coming with you Roscoe," Tony adds, equipping his Grease gun.
"Nguyen!" Aria calls, waving the Canadian over to where she's leaning on a table.
As Nguyen walks over, a Fallschirmjager Lieutenant jogs up to Aria and salutes her. "Good day ma'am. Where can I find Stonewall?"
"Euh he's somewhere around here... " She responds after returning the salute. "Try looking over by Warbreaker. If he's not there, ask around."
"Thank you." The Lieutenant huffs before jogging off towards the long line of tanks tucked back in the trees.
"What's up Aria?" Nguyen asks, looking at the map laid out on the table.
"We're repositioning to get ready to spearhead an assault. I need to know if you want to be in the first wave with us. If not you'll be following up and rejoining us once we've broken through enemy lines."
"We heading to Italy next right?" Nguyen checks, "We'll be in the first wave if possible."
"Awesome. Next stop, Palermo. Make sure you've got a full load of ammunition when we load on the LST's, that means extra machine-gun ammunition and main gun rounds if you can fit it on the engine deck." She sighs and stretches. "Cologne is an easy difficulty area, but Sicily is a hard difficulty area, so make sure you and your guys are on your game. Any questions?"
"What's the weather like over there? Sunny Italy I hope?" Nguyen asks, "If we're coming off landing ships, I'd rather do it in good weather."
"Wouldn't we all. It's supposed to be sunny when we make our landing, but we both know how the weather generation system can be sometimes."
Nguyen shakes his head.
"Good weather means not the storm of the century. As long as the ship ain't rocking back and forth or sinking because of big waves, it's good enough."
"There's no guarantees, but we're making our landing on next Saturday, storm of the century or not. We've for sure got the hardasses from the 10th Mountain Division landing with us, but we've got no air cover, and from what I'm hearing there's only a couple ships to cover the landings. This stays hush-hush until we're on the ships. Compris?"
The Canadian winks and smiles. "Cette conversation n'a jamais eu lieu."
"Good man. Thanks. Get fueled and loaded up with ammo when your boys are done helping. We've got to take our own ammunition with us, and we don't get a supply depot until we've got a solid beachhead developed."
"Right, I'll go fetch some more ammo for the tank," Nguyen replies as he exits the tent, "Kirito and his gang'll be here soon from what he told me."
Making his way towards the supply depot, Nguyen can see the familiar faces of Baker busying themselves. Tents are being disassembled and crates are being packed. Some players inspect vehicles and equipment while others leave the town. He can see his crew give a helping hand to players who need it. Dick is pulling out tent posts while Lou is loading radios into a truck. Meanwhile, Roscoe is checking player ID's near an ammo truck while Tony is carrying around crates of ammo. Trucks and cars are driving up and down the roads, filled with various equipment and players. Through this busy hive of activity, Nguyen arrives at the supply depot.
"Hello there!" he says as he reaches the supply clerk's desk after a short wait in line. The sitting British clerk stands up, a mug of coffee steaming next to a pile of papers and some clipboards.
"How can I help you today sir?" the NPC asks as a list appears next to him. Nguyen scrolls quickly through the list.
"I'll need 4 cases of .50cal, 4 cases of .30cal, 4 Jerry cans of fuel," he replies paying before the necessary Requisition points. Opening up his inventory, the tanker checks to see how many shells his tank has left as well as the ammo for his Thompson. He also materializes a small notepad and a pencil before calculating.
"Thompson's gonna need 60 rounds to top it off," he mutters, "Dammit, what are we facing over there?"
Picking ammunition for the main gun is a bit more problematic as tankers usually tried to pick just the right mix of shells for the battle. The 76mm gun on his Sherman had quite a few picks of ammo. It takes him a few moments as he tries to figure out what loadout to have.
"Hmm, 40 M62, 20 M93, 6 M88 and 5 M42A1 should do the trick." he mumbles to himself before ordering what was necessary to top off his inventory, "Let's hope Italy's worth it."
Making his way back to where his friends were, he spots some familiar faces spawn.
"Hey guys!" he shouts as he sees Kirito and his friends appear.
"Hey Nguyen!" Kirito shouts back as well as the rest of the ALO crew. After some quick greetings, the ALO players notice the activity around them.
"What's going on exactly?" Asuna asks as she watches trucks pass by her with players on them, "Is it because of the "Showdown in Sicily" Event?"
"Yup," Nguyen replies, "Ever since the devs announced the Double EXP and Double Requisition as well as 1.5 times more loot drops, everyone's shifting to Sunny Italy. It'll get us out of this cold weather so everyone wants to go."
Sinon looks thoughtfully as she hears Nguyen's briefing.
"Italy, there's gonna be a lot of mountains right?" she asks while she tried to remember the dev diaries she had read on War-Torn. Nguyen nods in confirmation before gesturing them to start walking.
"I remember that one of the devs wrote that the Italian theater has tougher AI and monsters. Not to mention that the terrain is horrible to navigate in," Sinon adds, "Lots of rivers, muddy roads and valleys."
"That's the case," Nguyen answers, "There's also more interesting dungeons in Italy according to scouts and rumours. Unfortunately, said dungeons are also filled with tougher critters."
Silica looks up in worry while holding Pina's leash.
"What kind of monsters exactly?" she squeaks out with worry.
"Eh good question there," Nguyen admits, "I've only heard rumours but there's stuff like trolls though the wackier rumours mention ghosts in certain dungeons and places. Doesn't make sense though-"
He's interrupted by a gasp. Asuna stops and pales.
"Ggg-hhosts?!" she blurts out, her face clearly showing nervosity.
"Yup… as I was saying though, that doesn't make sense at all… I mean how are we supposed to kill ghosts with our guns?" Nguyen says before noticing Asuna's change in disposition, "Euh you afraid of ghosts?"
"I'm not afraid of ghosts!" she retorts haughtily, hands on her hips, "I just don't like them!"
A sly grin appears on Liz's face.
"Shut up! You're totally afraid of ghosts," she remarks while snickering, "Never thought I'd see the day when the Berserk Healer would be scared of something."
Asuna glares at Liz, a thousand daggers forming in her eyes.
"For your information, I am not afraid of ghosts!" the medic retorts dryly, "I just happen to have a very strong dislike of them."
The rest of the ALO crew start grinning and Klein starts snickering at their medic's predicament.
"I still remember that sleepover on Halloween," Liz continues, "You weren't so brave. I'll never forget that scream."
Even Kirito can't hold in his smile.
"Shut up!" Asuna screeches, glaring at Liz.
Nguyen gets a slightly awkward look on his face before clearing his throat.
"Euh well, we're not really sure if there's really ghosts there. It's a rumour but the scouts in Italy never confirmed it. If no one confirmed it then it ain't real for me."
"Besides that, aren't you guys bummed about moving to another theater?" Asuna asks, trying to change the conversation.
"Not really, I just liked fighting here cause I'm more familiar with the map of Western Europe than Italy."
"Don't you guys have a player home?" the medic asks, "Wouldn't it be far to go from Italy to here?"
"Speaking of player home," Leafa asks, "Can we visit your place one of these day?"
Nguyen stops and looks at her in curiosity.
"My place?"
"Yeah, your player home? Like those Italian guys we fought," Leafa says.
There's a glint of realization in the tanker's eyes.
"We don't have actually a player home if you don't count that tent we usually brief you guys in," he answers sheepishly.
"I'm not really surprised," Asuna remarks snarkily, "Considering your bad taste in food, I didn't expect you to have a player home."
Nguyen crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.
"I don't have bad taste-"
*WHACK!*
"Yes you do, you're still using a Sherman." Stonewall interrupts the Canadian by smacking him on the helmet. "Hey y'all."
Nguyen merely groans in annoyance.
"Don't talk shit on my tank ok- What the hell?"
The Canadian's rant is interrupted by the sound of a dog growling.
"What's going on Silica?" Kirito asks, looking around for anything unusual. The small girl looks up.
"There's an enemy player around here!"
The group all tense up, looking for anything unusual as they follow Silica and Pina through the base.
By the truck with the radios being loaded in the back, Aria is talking with a player in a tanker uniform. She stops her conversation and looks at Pina, seeing the dog with its hackles raised and its lip curled while it growls at the tanker in front of her, then looks back at him just as he pulls a bayonet and lunges at her, seeing other players nearby grabbing weapons while looking directly at him. The petite gunner jumps back and takes three more steps backward before drawing the TT-33 on her hip and firing four times from the hip, downing him before taking another step back and firing the last four while aiming down the sights. As she swaps the magazine in her pistol, the infiltrator disappears in a flurry of pixels, and she quickly holsters the weapon before quietly cursing. The sound of a crate falling is followed by yelling.
"HEY TABARNAK! DA FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!" Dick roars as he runs over with Lou at his side. Both have their weapons drawn. Tony and Roscoe arrive soon after from their post.
"It's a fucking infiltrator that tried to assassinate Aria," Lou spits, "You ok boss?"
"That scared the shit outta me, but yeah I'm fine." Aria huffs, running her fingers through her hair.
"Thank god Silica and Pina were around eh?" Nguyen remarks, his Thompson drawn and his eyes darting around for any sign of trouble.
"Is everything ok Silica?" Kirito asks, "Does Pina know something else is wrong?"
Silica shakes her head.
"I think we're ok."
"Phew," Nguyen breathes a sigh of relief, "That's enough thrills for today."
"Hey… Sinon you okay?" Stonewall asks, looking at the sniper, who has a slightly wild look in her eyes and stumbled a few steps backwards. She starts breathing heavily and shaking, mumbling something under her breath that's barely audible. The sniper suddenly drops to the ground.
"Sinonon?!" Asuna asks in shock as she and the rest of the ALO gang run over to their friend, "What's going on?"
"Looks kinda like she's having some sort of flashback. Might be PTSD." Aria mutters as she quickly jogs over, putting an arm across Sinon's back and rubbing her shoulders.
"Get her out of here! There's a tent that's still up over there!" Nguyen barks as he points a nearby empty tent, "We'll make sure no one pokes their nose inside. Right les boys?"
The crew of La Montrealaise all nod before they take up positions around the group.
Kirito suddenly straightens up as he has a realization.
"Aria, unequip your pistol! Just do it." he orders with an urgent tone, "I think I know what happened."
"Huh? Okay." Aria mutters, swapping the Tokarev out for a Smith & Wesson model 10. Sinon starts to calm down a bit. The whole group, by now, has gotten inside the tent with Dick and Lou guarding the entrance and making sure no one enters. Aria manages to get Sinon to an empty cot while everyone else is standing around her with worried looks.
"Hey, Sinon? It's okay. You're safe, nothing's happening. Look at me here, hey." Aria talks to the sniper quietly with a soothing motherly tone, finally getting her attention. "What happened back there?"
Nguyen pulls off his helmet and looks at Sinon in the eyes before materializing a chocolate bar from his inventory.
"Here, eat this," he gently orders, "It'll help."
The sniper doesn't respond, her eyes still fixed in terror. Nguyen awkwardly pulls back his hand.
"I don't like using this technique. Somebody, canteen please." Aria mutters, looking around. Roscoe materializes his canteen before shaking it a bit.
"Here, it's full." he says as he hands the metal container to Aria.
The gunner screws off the cap and gently shakes Sinon one more time before sighing and splashing her in the face with some water.
"GAH!" Sinon shrieks before panting and frantically looking around. Besides the inside of the tent and its cots, she only sees the worried faces of her friends.
"Sinon, hey, what happened?" Aria asks, screwing the cap back onto the canteen and passing it behind her back to Roscoe. The sniper shivers as she struggles to form a sentence.
"Th-that gun."
Nguyen turns his head towards the ALO crew with a serious look.
"Did something like this ever happen to Sinon?" he asks with worry.
Leafa lowers her head in sadness.
"We weren't there but Kirito was," she answers, "Asuna, Agil, Liz and him know the full story about Sinon's condition."
Kirito nods his head as Pina whines, moving towards Sinon and putting her head on the sniper's lap.
"I saw her once panic like this," Kirito replies sadly. "Me, Asuna, Liz and Agil know exactly why."
"Mind sharing? I've got training for this kind of thing, but that doesn't help if I don't know what happened." Aria points out, looking back at Kirito.
"I'm not sure if Sinon wants me to…" he answers nervously, "It's very delicate for her."
"I have an idea," Nguyen says looking at Sinon, "Can he tell us if you can't?"
She merely nods at this before opening her mouth again.
"Yes."
"Thank god," Nguyen mutters before turning to Kirito and Asuna, "So what euh exactly happened with her?"
"Sinonon had a traumatic incident when she was a child," Asuna soberly explains, "She was caught in a robbery at a post office with her mother-"
"Good lord!" Nguyen exclaims. His mind runs wild with what possibly happened. The possibilities aren't pleasant to imagine.
"Nguyen, if you don't have anything helpful or constructive to add to the conversation, please take your boys outside and guard the trucks." Aria sternly instructs, her tone brooking no argument.
"Sorry! Go on Asuna."
"There was a fight," Kirito adds, "Somehow Sinon gets a hold of the robber's gun while trying to protect her mother-."
He's interrupted by Sinon.
"I killed him," she mutters while rocking back and forth, "I murdered him… with that gun."
"Oh," Nguyen says in realization. He pieces back the events and remembers when Kirito told Aria to stow away her TT-33. Was the gun that she used?
At this point, Stonewall politely nudges his way through the group and crouches down beside Aria in front of the sniper, placing a hand on Sinon's shoulder.
"Hey, listen." He gently instructs, looking her in the eyes. "You did what was necessary to survive, and quite frankly it's amazing you took action. It's much better that you killed him instead of the other way around, yeah?"
Nguyen on the other hand struggles to keep quiet as he squirms around trying to say something intelligent.
"Well fuck," he says pompously, "You're not a fucking murderer Sinon! Did you kill that fucker for fun? Do you feel that you can do it again?"
She vigorously shakes her head.
"Then you ain't a fucking murderer. I'd be wondering things if you started nodding-OW!"
Stonewall kicks Nguyen in the shin to shut him up before turning his attention back to Sinon while Roscoe and Tony snicker in the background.
"I know it was a hard experience for you, and that's why we're having this whole conversation, but it's because of that hard experience that we can have this conversation. So I'd like to say one thing, from the bottom of my heart." Stonewall moves himself so he's directly in her line of sight, and looks her in the eyes. "Thank you, for doing what was necessary for you to survive."
Sinon looks up tearfully, a smile shyly appearing on her face.
"Do you mean that?" she asks between sniffles.
"He means it and I think we all think the same way here eh guys?" Nguyen says, looking at his crew. Roscoe and Tony nod in agreement while a grunt from Dick confirms.
"Of course I mean that. Why wouldn't I?" Stonewall says, offering Sinon a warm smile.
"Ahem, if isn't too indiscreet," Nguyen asks, nervously scratching the back of his head, "But why the hell do you think you're a murderer?"
"I'm going to guess that's what you got called a lot, right?" Aria asks, giving Nguyen a discrete motion to stop.
Sinon looks at them in surprise but nods at Aria.
"I killed someone."
"In self defense." Stonewall adds. Nguyen runs his hand on his chin.
"So did my dad when he was a soldier in '75," he replies, "No one except retards called him a murderer." He briefly pauses, "Honestly, you're a fucking hero."
"It's different in Japan dumbass." Stonewall snips, then looks at the ALO gang. "Right?"
They all sigh before Agil answers.
"Yeah, over here, people don't see it the same way as you guys do. For us, there's no way a child could do terrible things like taking a life except if that child was already evil. So people saw Sinon was a monster."
Nguyen's jaw drops.
"That's fucking retarded man-ack!"
Stonewall quickly stands up and smacks Nguyen upside the head. "Remember what Aria said about being constructive?"
"Sorry about that!" he blurts, "But for us over here, that's amazing that you saved a life and sad that you had to do it the way you did. Also, in some parts of the US, you'd have gotten a parade for that."
"I don't know about a parade, but at least a free meal." Stonewall sighs, opening his menu. "I'm gon' log out real quick. Be back in a few."
"Are you calling A-erm… sassy?" Aria asks.
"Yeah." Stonewall replies before logging out, disappearing in a shimmer of light.
"Alright…. Let's get things wrapped up and ready to roll. Sinon, if you'd like, you can go wait on Warbreaker while we get this tent taken down." Aria offers.
Sinon nods and stands up.
"If you need anything," Nguyen proposes, "Don't hesitate to give us a holler." He then turns to Aria, "Now that's over… how can we help?"
Xx-xX
"Twenty minutes until we're due to start." Stonewall mutters as he lounges on the engine deck of Warbreaker.
"The ships should open fire soon." Aria responds, feeling the ship shudder.
"Is every invasion like this?" Kirito asks from his seat atop the turret. He and the rest of the ALO crew are sitting around various places on the tank.
"Pretty much. Hurry up and wait. This one's different though, no air cover is gonna make the approach and the beach a complete bitch."
"Not to mention the pillboxes and bunker system that's set up." Rift grumbles.
"I wouldn't worry about that." The voice of a female player purrs from beside the tank, catching the attention of Stonewall.
"Hey there Sister. How ya' doin'?" He asks the tall brunette woman dressed in US GI fatigues, a pair of large cylinders on her back and only a pistol as her immediately evident weapon.
"I'm alright, ignoring the usual. I see you traded in your rustbucket."
"Damn straight. Climb on up here and sit down, meet the group that've been rolling with us." Stonewall offers his hand, and she grabs his wrist before pulling herself up onto the engine deck, looking around at everyone. As she sits down it becomes evident that the M1911A1 on her hip isn't her only weapon, because she takes off the pack frame holding the cylinders, revealing the object to be a M2-2 flamethrower.
"Everyone, please meet SassyLassie, also known as Amy. She's our local pyrophiliac." Stonewall says with a teasing grin, motioning towards the tall woman before she smacks him upside the head playfully.
"I just find the flamethrower challenging. It's nice to meet everyone." She says with a warm smile, giving a friendly little wave.
Kirito sits up and introduces everyone one by one, finishing with Pina. The soft-spoken girl smiles and nods respectfully to everyone, even leaning forward to scratch behind one of Pina's ears before looking at the entire crew, her gaze settling on Klein.
"You look familiar… but I can't put my finger on where I've seen you before…." She scowls at him for a few more moments, then shrugs and looks around at the group again. "So how'd you guys all meet?"
"Hey there gang!" Nguyen exclaims as he makes his way from the back of the LST where 'La Montréalaise' is parked. The Canadian looks slightly greenish as the ship rocks back and forth. He and his boys are wearing the era-appropriate 'Mae West' life jackets.
"Hey Frenchie, how's life?" Amy asks, leaning over and offering a fist to him. He bumps her fist and braces himself against Warbreaker.
"Urgh, now I remember why I don't like being on ships IRL," he answers before putting his hand in front of his mouth, "Otherwise I'm doing great."
"Pff," Lou scoffs at Nguyen, "Softy. I'm doing great", he answers before high-fiving Amy, "Still didn't get blown up with those fuel tanks on your back?"
Roscoe rolls his eyes.
"Lou, I think she knows how to use that thing properly," he comments.
"Think we can get one of those Nguyen?" Tony asks in amazement, "We could get Dick to carry one considering how he likes danger."
"Could be fu-," the tank commander replies before being interrupted.
"Fuck you man! I'm not carrying a bomb on my back!" Dick barks back, "Do it yourself you wuss!"
Some of the others chuckle at this remark.
"It's less a bomb and more a pressure-cooker. I have been blown up a couple times. Mostly snipers and the like." Amy answers with a shrug. "The downsides of lugging this thing almost makes me wish I still had my sword elemental skills."
Both Liz and Sinon perk up in curiosity.
"Say, can you tell more about your flamethrower?" Liz asks, "It looks interesting to use."
"Short range, short use, and heavier than a fifteen year old. Engineers get an extra two seconds of use and a decreased detonation chance. That's pretty much all I care about."
"Oh so are you an engineer too?" Liz says enthusiastically.
"I am. Most of my skills are offensive-based though."
"Oh nice, I got some good repair skills and quite a few offensive skills," Liz compares as she opens up her skills menu.
"Amy, if you ever need someone to cover your back from snipers," Sinon suggests, "I can give you a hand." The sniper winks before holding out her hand for a handshake.
"It'd be much appreciated." Amy grabs her hand and shakes it firmly before Stonewall growls in frustration, followed by a bunch of pixels rising from his hand.
"Hey firebug, got a light? My lighter just broke."
Amy sighs and grabs the nozzle for her flamethrower, holding it over by the tank commander and pulling the front trigger, exposing a small flame for the player to happily light his cigarette. The sound of vomiting suddenly gets everyone's attention. Turning their heads over, they see Nguyen bent over a puddle of red pixels.
Roscoe sighs before facepalming.
"Nguyen… I told you not to eat before getting on the ship." he groans while Dick, Tony and Lou snigger. The gunner produces a handkerchief and hands to Nguyen.
"Urgh gross," Tony exclaims while pinching his nose. Asuna scowls at the tank crew's antics before rummaging through her medical pack and producing a box of pills.
"You could try and help your friend you know?" she says as she makes her way to Nguyen, "Here take these pills. They'll help with the seasickness."
Scarfing them down quickly, the tank commander thanks her.
"Going back on your question of how we all met," Kirito starts, looking at Amy. "All of us except for Sinon met on Sword Art Online."
Amy sits up a little straighter and looks at Klein. "Oh…. I guess that's where I've seen you before…"
"Eh?"
"You were always with your friends on floor 19."
"Floor 19?!" Klein blurts out.
"In that bar a block from the town square. I was the armored-up samurai your buddies were always hitting on."
Klein reddens like a tomato at this, earning some chuckles from everyone else.
"Oh, euh, oups."
As the laughter tapers off, the quiet rumbling of the interior of the LST is quickly shattered by a thundering of guns, followed by the staccato rattling and thudding of anti-aircraft weaponry.
"Sounds like it's showtime. We'll finish this chat later, eh?" Stonewall says as he gets up and stretches, feeling the vibrations of the ship's engines increase.
"We'll get back to our tank, right guys?" Nguyen declares before his crew nod in agreement, "What's the ETA by the way?"
"'Bout seven minutes. We start up on two." Rift responds.
"Right ladies and gents! Let's kick ass!" he boasts before turning towards the back of the ship and walking. An explosion shakes the LST, causing everyone to grab something nearby to avoid falling down. Silica and Pina are holding each other in fear while Asuna and Agil are trying to comfort them.
"I hope we make it to the shore soon!" Liz shouts, "I don't think they'll miss the next shot!"
"It'll really suck if our ship gets hit now," Klein adds, picking himself off the ground.
"OI! Shut the fuck up with that shit! You jinx us and I'm poking a hole in your Mae West!"
"Sorry man!" Klein replies. At the same time, pinging resonates through the hold of the LST.
"Those asshole are strafing us dammit!" Nguyen shouts before pausing and taking a look at his watch, "Can't this fucking ship move faster?!"
"Quit bitching and get your ass in the tank!" Stonewall yells back.
'I'm already in my tank man!" Nguyen shouts back, "Hell Dick's ready to start driving any second now!"
"Good for him!"
A quiet wail starts from above as the ventilation hatches overhead are opened, allowing more light into the vehicle bay as the anti-aircraft effort on deck doubles, followed by someone yelling. "Shit that one's coming for us!"
Through the ventilation hatch there's a flash of orange, followed by the wail of the Stuka's sirens getting quieter, ending in a splash.
{Vehicle bay prepare for landing. Vehicle bay prepare for landing.} The LST's announcement system warns after a few tense minutes of listening to the dive bombers make attacks.
The sound of engines fill the bay as tank after tanks roar to life one by one, the Ford GAA engine of Stonewall's Super Pershing making the air practically vibrate inside the enclosed space.
{Baker-one-actual, this is Baker-one-two. Comms check!}
"One-Actual here, good check. One-Three, Sound off."
{Right! Thank god we got that new radio the other day eh? Thing works like a charm.}
{One-Two avoid unnecessary chatter please. One-Three checking in.}
"One-Four bitched out on us, comms check complete." Stonewall sighs before looking back at those sitting on his tank, getting a thumbs-up from Amy.
"Fucking wuss," Nguyen mutters to himself as he sits in his cupola, "You guys ready to go?"
His crew all answer in the affirmative just as the ship abruptly lurches to a halt. Seconds later, a klaxon sounds as the bow of the ship starts to open up, the ramp abruptly dropping onto the sandy beach.
{Baker let's fucking roll! Get off the beach and regroup at the rally point!} Stonewall orders as Warbreaker starts forward, rattling down the ramp and powering up the gentle sandy slope while Aria traverses the turret to the front.
"Punch it Dick!" Nguyen calls into his tank's intercom. He's answered by a grunt as the tank picks up speed. Raising his binoculars, the tank commander scans the seawall and the town beyond it, "So far, so good," he mutters before turning on his intercom, "Try not to hit every bump in the road eh?"
"Uh uh," Dick replies, "Ground's kind of soft though."
"Can't wait to see how Italy is," Roscoe comments while scrutinizing through his optics, "Looks nicer than snow-filled Belgium."
The Canadian crew continues chatting and monitoring the area around them. Meanwhile on Warbreaker, Kirito and his friends are chatting with Stonewall.
"So Stonewall, is Amy really your sister?!" Kirito yells over the sound of the engine as they claw their way up the beach.
"Nah! But we've known each other for so long that I consider her my sister!"
"If I was his sister I might have to knock him around a little more!" Amy jokes as they drive past a burned-out M38 Wolfhound at the head of the beach. The heavy Super Pershing claws its way up a break in the seawall and onto the narrow streets as infantry emerge from the semi-ruined buildings and wave at them.
"Contact front, friendlies. It's Scott and his boys." Stonewall informs the other tanks before checking the .30 caliber in front of him, making sure it's loaded. Warbreaker rolls to a stop and Stonewall pulls himself halfway out of his hatch, looking at Scott. "What's crackin'?!"
"We figured we'd wait for you guys! It's bad guy country from this point on!"
"Roger that!" Stonewall says with a thumbs-up before looking back at everyone riding on the engine deck. "Alrighty, everyone off!"
Warbreaker's radio cracks to life.
{Baker-One-Actual, this is Baker-One-Two. I suggest you keep an eye out once you get into town. I got a bad feeling about this. Also, what happened to Scotty's M38?}
"Roger that One-Two, I wasn't really planning on doing much else. I don't know what happened to his M38, you can ask him once we take a break." Stonewall replies with a roll of his eyes as everyone jumps off the tank and moves to the sides of the road, listening to Scotty's instructions.
"Keep plenty of spacing, stay to the sides of the road, and check where you're watching every once in a while. We already lost one guy to a booby trap."
"I'll stay towards the middle of the column. People like to single me out if I'm up front." Amy tells Kirito, putting her helmet on.
{Baker-One-Actual, this is leading the way?}
"That's affirmative. We've got the armor in case something pops up in front of us." The American responds before ordering his driver forwards, making the ground shake as the track links slowly pound the ground one by one.
{Roger that! Over!}
Meanwhile on La Montréalaise, Nguyen and his crew close their hatches. It didn't hurt to be prepared. The early morning sunrays filtered through the vision slits between the clouds of rising smoke, making some areas darker than others.
"It's way too fucking quiet," Roscoe remarks tersely, scanning through his vision block.
"Bah well, considering that Scott and his gang didn't get shot," Tony replies confidently, "There's probably no one here."
Lou and Dick snort before shaking their heads.
"It'll be nice and calm and then fucking Stonewall'll get hit cause fuck us!" Dick grunts as their tank enters the town of Palermo. The streets are empty save for their tanks. Unlike Belgium, the streets are unscarred from battle, still pristine. Instead of ruined buildings and debris filled roads, there are intact houses, shops and various stands with wares in them. The tanks make their way through the empty streets, their crews and accompanying infantry carefully scanning for hostile presence and cautiously turn corners, making sure that nothing nasty waits for them.
"Shut up dude! You'll just fucking jinx us," Nguyen retorts as he rolls his eyes, "No need to make things worse."
{One-Two, -ive u-ome-} Stonewall crackles over the radio, the transmission coming in broken and heavily laden with static.
"Baker-One-Actual, you might want to get that radio checked," Nguyen comments, "I have trouble hearing you."
{One-Two,-y-ain?}
"Negative, I hear fuckall." Nguyen replies, annoyed before muttering to himself, "Should have gotten a new radio."
"You gotta admit that I got lucky eh?" Tony remarks with a grin, "Improved radio as loot."
"Yeah."
In Warbreaker's turret, Stonewall growls in irritation as he closes his hatch and reaches back to the radio, checking the positions of the dials and knobs. "Of all the fucking times for the radio to start tweaking out… Aria, does the intercom still work?"
{Sure does. I've got you loud and clear.}
"What the fuck…" Stonewall practically snarls, reaching back and slamming his fist down on the top of the radio before clicking on his handset. "One-Two this is One-Actual, comms check, over."
{-aker One-ctual, your radio is-}
"Fucking piece of shit!" Stonewall snarls, continuing to tinker with the radio as Warbreaker slowly approaches a T intersection in the road. The long gun jutting out in front of the tank sweeps back and forth watching the street in front of them while Aria's foot hovers above the triggers, but she doesn't report the intersection to Stonewall, thinking he already sees it.
As the tank passes through the intersection, it suddenly lurches to the side with a shower of sparks, and quickly rolls to a halt.
{The engine's hit!} The NPC driver reports.
"What the fuck?!" Stonewall yells, looking through the vision blocks down the intersection to see a pair of bay doors partially open, with a muzzle brake sticking out between them. "Target right! Three o'clock! AT gun!"
Aria makes use of the small add-on auxiliary generator and traverses the turret to the right as fast as the motor will allow, only getting the gun to the 1 o'clock position before it hits a building, halting its motion. Seconds later the NPC loader screams in pain and disappears as a jet of hot metal pierces the side of the turret, splattering around inside the tank as small-arms fire erupts outside. Stonewall recovers from the stunning effect in a couple seconds, as does Aria, just in time to hear the NPC assistant driver yell without the intercom.
"The ammunition is on fire!"
Without a moment's hesitation he unlatches his hatch and throws it open, hearing the loud boom of the first propellant charge cooking off as he pulls himself part way out of the hatch.
Visible to Nguyen and everyone else, Stonewall gets halfway out of the hatch before the ammunition fully starts cooking off, sending a jet of flame out the open hatch that fully engulfs him.
Yelling in pain, the tank commander pulls himself all the way out of the hatch and rolls off the turret of Warbreaker, falling to the street in flames and flailing around for a brief second before pulling out his revolver and shooting himself, disappearing in a burst of pixelated shards.
"Ahh tabarnak!" Nguyen shouts, "Stonewall just got his ass kicked! Fuck!"
Grabbing his radio's handset, he begins immediately to issue orders.
"This is Baker-One-Two, Baker-One-Actual is out. I'm taking over command! What's your situation Baker-One-Three!?"
{One-Three is all green, on your six. Suggesting we fall back and wait for the main force.} Rift responds calmly, his Centurion chewing up the second floor windows of a building with its coaxial machine-gun as Aria scrambles out from underneath the burning Super Pershing and stumbles her way back towards Nguyen's tank.
"Kirito, get Aria and Asuna to cover!" he shouts, "Asuna, try and patch Aria up! The rest of yo-"
A gunshot barely misses him and ricochets off the top of the turret. "Calisse de tabarnak!" he swears before diving inside his tank for a quick moment.
"SNIPER!" Sinon shouts as she takes cover behind a stand and begins scanning for any signs of the shooter.
{One-Two get your head down. This might ring a little.} Rift warns while the gun elevates to fire at the building beside the Sherman. Sinon shoots at one of the windows, hitting the enemy sniper in the arm as he darts to cover.
"Roger that!" Nguyen replies, closing his hatch.
{. . . . One-Two disregard. The firebug's gonna get it.}
Carefully opening his hatch, the Canadian tank commander hears the familiar 'whoosh' of a flamethrower as the second story of the building to his two o'clock erupts in flames, followed by screaming that quickly ends.
"If anything comes out of that building, eliminate it with extreme prejudice!" Nguyen orders before tapping on Roscoe's shoulder, "Put a shell in that building's second floor."
"Fuck that sniper?"
"Fuck that sniper!"
He gets a thumbs up from Klein and Kirito who train their weapons on the burning house's door as Aria jumps up onto the front slope and climbs onto the turret, ignoring the bullets plinking off the steel. At the same time, an explosion disintegrates part of the building's second floor.
As the masonry from the building falls to the street, Liz looks up from her cover behind a fruit stall. Taking a glance at a apartment on the side of Nguyen's tank, she notices a silhouettes darting around in the windows, some about to peer out. Acting quickly, she swings her rifle at the nearest window and fires a few rounds that sends some of the players back into cover.
"Leafa, Silica! Fire on that building!" she yells as she reloads her Garand. The two other girls nod and begin pouring fire on the windows. Leafa fires a grenade into one of the windows which explodes and eliminates a player. The engineer suddenly has a plan.
"Cover me girls!" Liz shouts as she dashes from her cover. Quickly equipping a satchel charge, she sets the timer as she takes cover behind some boxes next to the apartment building, quickly tossing her satchel charge before running back across the street. A loud explosion rocks the street as the building collapses and rains masonry, wood, and glass onto the street. Multiple pixel trails rise from the fallen building while a multikill announcement appears on her screen.
"Good job girls!" Nguyen barks after he sees the building collapse. Liz waves quickly before she starts firing again. The Canadian turns his attention to Aria. "Think we should pull the fuck out?"
"There's no point in staying here!" Aria orders as she stands on the engine deck and fires the M2.
"My thoughts exactly Aria!" he answers back, quickly relaying the order to Rift and Dick, "You told the rest of the infantry about that?"
"Scott already knows!"
"Right!'
"Pack it up folks! We're getting out of here!" Scott yells as he runs from cover to cover, ignoring the maelstrom of bullets that rips through the street. "Fall back behind the tanks and cover them as they back up!"
One by one Scott's group start to fall back out of the killzone, throwing a trio of smoke grenades down the road towards the burning Warbreaker and waiting for the white cloud to billow before making a run for it. Kirito and the ALO crew run after them, with Amy lagging behind them due to the weight of her flamethrower.
"Come on firebug! Move your ass!" Aria yells, firing short five round bursts at movement on the edge of the smoke cloud, the M2 thundering right next to Nguyen's head. All the while, the .30 caliber coaxial machine gun starts laying down more covering fire for Amy.
"Lou! Fucking shoot!" Aria yells as the M2 runs out of ammo. The bow machine gun roars to life as well. She grabs the empty ammo can and flings it out of the way onto the street, grabbing another from the engine deck and hefting it into the holder and opening the feed tray. "Reloading!"
Nguyen and Aria become so focused on the fight they don't notice the friendly Fallschirmjager squad run up behind them until two MG-34's open up from prone positions on the sides of the road, firing into the smoke as more Fallschirmjager line up on the road in front of the reversing Sherman, firing at the shapes in the dissipating smoke.
"Sorry we're late! You guys head on back to the beachhead, the 10th Mountain's are waiting for you there!" The Lieutenant yells up at Aria and Nguyen, giving the prior a salute before continuing to command his troops, his MP40 hanging by its sling on his shoulder.
Aria slows down reloading the M2, slamming the feed cover down before relaxing slightly, sitting on the turret roof, watching a pair of Panzer II Luchs wait for the Sherman to get out of the road so they can advance. Once the Medium is out of the way, the two reconnaissance tanks accelerate down the road, in a hurry to help the Fallschirmjager. After turning a street corner, La Montréalaise loads up the ALO players on its engine deck before heading to the beach.
Xx-xX
"Woah…" Klein mutters as he looks out over the beach. Already four more LST's have landed, and their vehicles offloaded onto the beach. Infantry file out of two of the large ships, with jeeps and trucks out of another. Troops find their units and rally up near the seawall while the tanks roll up off the sand onto the cobblestone roads, accompanied by infantry walking alongside or riding on top.
Aria jogs down onto the beach and ducks into a medical halftrack for a moment before coming back out, fully healed. She waves at a group of roughly thirty US-garbed players, and they all jog over while the rest of the ALO crew gawks at the view before them. Battleships sit only a couple miles offshore with their guns aimed at the island, and cruisers fill in the gaps between the battleships while a small group of boats race parallel to the shore. Large balloons float above the LST's on shore, while anti-aircraft guns aboard the large ships scan the skies vigilantly and more anti-aircraft guns are being set up on the beachhead.
"No kidding." Agil mutters while Nguyen and Rift set out with their crews to restock on what ammunition they used during the ambush.
"Hey, any y'all need ammo?" A player in US gear asks as he and his group walks past, offering a satchel with a bandolier hanging out of it. "If you need any, take it. I don't need the extra weight. Pass it around."
Kirito reaches out and takes the satchel, nodding in thanks to the player as someone in the group of players starts to sing, starting the song out slowly.
"Come along get you ready wear your bran', bran' new gown.
For there's gonna be a meeting, in that good, good old town.
Where you know everybody, and they all know you.
And you've got a rabbit's foot, to keep away the hoo-doo."
By now the entire company is singing as they march past, speeding up to a slightly slowed-down ragtime tune.
"When you hear that the preaching does begin!
Bend down low for to drive away your sin!
And when you get religion, you want to shout and sing!
There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight! My baby,
When you hear, them a bells go ding-a-ling!
All join 'round, and sweetly you must sing!
And when the verse is through, in the chorus all join in!
There'll be a hot time! In the old town! Tonight!"
The singing of the group fades out as they get further away, and Aria saunters over to the ALO players, bouncing on her feet and humming the song with a map in her hand and a smile on her face, sitting on the seawall. Their singing having a rather soothing effect on the group's frazzled nerves.
"The 89th is almost always singing while they march; Bunch of historians and music enthusiasts in that unit. Anyways, gather 'round everyone! We've got our game plan!"
The ALO crew gathers around while she lays the map in her lap, and once nearly everyone can see it she pulls a pencil from her breast pocket, using it to point at spots on the map. "We're here in Palermo, accompanied by a company from the 10th Mountain division. Our objective, as decided by the NPC commander, is Belmonte Mezzagno, a town to our south-east in the high ground. It's confirmed that there is a large monster garrison there, so be careful once we get inside the town. There's a small NPC infantry garrison there as well, most likely Italian infantry, with attached tankettes and definitely some anti-tank guns. It's going to be a bloody tough fight, but once Stonewall gets here with another tank I'm confident we'll have enough firepower and numbers to blast through anything that gets in our way. Any questions?"
"Are we going to be fighting all the way there?" Leafa asks.
"Not all the way, but past Ciaculli is enemy territory. We would be there already if it hadn't been for that ambush."
Nguyen sighs from the back of the group, having resupplied. His crew had also made their way over and drop on the ground, resting.
"Well, the dev diaries were right about Italy being a bigger pain in the ass," he groans, "They just had to get one of our heavy tanks."
"Target of opportunity." Aria replies as she folds up the map. "Stonewall's getting another Super Pershing as we speak, but he can't teleport for another five minutes."
"I suggest we take a few minutes to catch our breath," Nguyen proposes as he sits down, legs outstretched.
"Good idea Nguyen," Kirito says as he lays down, "Gotta admit we got lucky though. We haven't lost anyone besides Stonewall."
"Yeah, you guys did good back there," Nguyen compliments, "Pretty happy we picked you up back in Antwerp eh."
"You didn't do too bad either Nguyen," Asuna adds as she lays down besides Kirito.
"Thanks!"
"Hey y'all! Sorry I'm late!" A commander of a M19 yells as it parks behind Rift's Centurion.
"Looks like reinforcements are here," Nguyen mutters as he dusts himself off and gets up, "I was starting to get comfy too."
"You aren't just late! You missed the fight already, when we could've actually bloody used you!" Aria yells back.
"Excuse the hell outta me! I was busy!"
Aria grumbles quietly and ignores the commander as he voices his excuse, rolling her eyes and relaxing on the seawall until another up-armored M26E4 rolls up off the beach. Stonewall climbs out as the engine shuts off, and takes his time lighting a cigarette before making his way over, looking somewhat irritated.
"This campaign better pay up well, because I just completely raped my wallet getting an upgraded radio and all that nice shit."
"Bro, you didn't have to shoot yourself eh?" Nguyen says, rather irritated, "We'd gotten to you in time you know?"
"Uh, news flash in case you've forgotten. I play hardcore mode. Flames, shrapnel, and all that shit that you hardly ever deal with? All that shit hurts."
"Oh right, forgot about that," the Canadian replies sheepishly, "Anyhow, happy to see you amongst us again."
"Thanks. Glad to be back. We ready to rumble?"
Kirito looks at the other ALO players before nodding.
"We got a quick ammo refill. Everyone's health is at 100%. We should be able to head out."
Nguyen shakes his head as he takes a quick glance at La Montréalaise.
"After that FUBAR'ed radio of yours, I think I should inspect my tank one last time," he reports, "If the rest of Italy is like this, I don't want any bad surprises like that."
"Make it quick. We're already behind schedule." Stonewall orders, taking command again, "Everyone else, mount up. We've got Baker Two coming with us."
"Think you can give us a hand man?" the Canadian asks, "An extra pair of hands can help make things faster."
Liz's perks up at this.
"If you want, I can give you guys a hand," she proposes with an excited smile, "I got some tank maintenance-related skills and I haven't used them in a while."
Nguyen nods and gives her a thumbs up.
"Right, follow me then!"
Xx-xX
"Thanks again Liz!" Nguyen exclaims with a grin as the engineer hops off the engine deck. She flashes a smile.
"It was fun," she says, "If you ever need a hand-"
"I'll know who to ask!" he answers back as he gets into his tank. The rest of his crew do the same. Running through the start-up procedure, La Montrealaise hums to life.
"Load up!" Stonewall yells from atop his new Super Pershing, also named Warbreaker. "Let's make 'em holler!"
{Baker Two to Baker One-Actual. Comms check, over.}
"Baker Two, I've gotcha loud and clear." Stonewall replies. "Baker One elements, sound off for comms check."
As the tanks go through their radio checks, the ALO players mount up on Warbreaker and Miss Moody, Rift's Centurion having gotten a name during the brief R&R. Players from the Mountain troops also climb onto the heavier vehicles, and mingle in with the less experienced players.
"Baker One-Two, you're up front. I just sent you the route." Stonewall says with a wicked grin.
{Baker One-Two to Baker One-Actual. Quoi? You kidding me?}
"Thaaaat's a negative One-Two. It's your turn to take point. So unless you can bribe one of Baker Two's boys, I recommend you get your ass in front."
{Baker One-Two to Baker One-Actual. Ok-}
{Baker One-Two this is Baker Two-One, don't worry about it. Baker Two-Three already volunteered to take lead.}
A M4A3(75) with a bulldozer blade rumbles past and slows to a halt in front of Rift's Centurion, with Scott and some of his troops riding on it. Stonewall grunts and clicks on his handset again.
"One-Three, you're behind Two-Three. Baker, let's roll out."
{Two-Three on the move.}
One by one the tanks start forward and rumble through the narrow Italian streets until they break out into lush open farmland. Rift sits on the turret roof of his tank with his legs hanging into his hatch and chats casually with some of the players riding on his tank, while also keeping an eye on his surroundings. Stonewall is sitting in a similar fashion, with Aria relaxing half out of the hatch.
"Hey Stonewall, I've got a question." Klein says from the engine deck, leaning against the back of the turret.
"'Sup?" The American replies, looking back at him.
"You think I'd have a chance with Amy?"
Stonewall looks wide-eyed at him for a moment, then chuckles and looks up at the sky. "Possibly, I mean, you don't know unless you try."
"How can I impress her?"
"Flamethrower. You work with her, keep her covered, and you get good at using a flamethrower? She'll be impressed. Once we get a solid beachhead secured they'll bring in a supply depot. I'll help you get set up. She needs somebody to work alongside."
"Eh? Why do you say that?"
"Well… ever since she lost her sister she's been a solo player. The only time she really interacts with other players is in combat."
"Lost her… oh"
Realization dawned on Klein. Amy's sister was another victim of Kayaba's madness.
Memories came trickling back to him of that bar on floor 19, the pair of female samurai who always sat in the same booth in the corner, their helmets on the seat beside them while they chatted.
Then randomly one day there was just one samurai, sitting in a booth on the complete opposite end of the bar with her helmet on the table. It was so blatantly obvious, and yet none of them picked up on it.
"Yeah. When the game finally ended and she got out, she was different. Wouldn't touch VR with a ten foot pole, hardly ever laughed anymore, and she said she didn't want to go to Japan anymore. Then I got hired for War-Torn and told her about the game. She practically jumped at the chance to get the dev build."
"What changed?"
Stonewall merely shakes his head and shrugs, looking at the road behind them and watching as five Type 97 Chi-Ha's pass them.
"Awe those tanks are kinda cute! What nation are they from?" Asuna asks Rift, causing the stocky tank commander to turn around.
"Oh, those are Japanese tanks. There's a Japanese unit as part of the advance force."
"Are those tanks any good?"
"Depends on your standards." Rift replies with a shrug. "Compared to what we have in Baker, everything we have outclasses them in terms of armor and weaponry, but those are smaller, and it's debatable if they're better for infantry support. On the other hand though, those tanks are smaller, so they're more cramped, and it's kinda limited who can fit inside."
Asuna nods in understanding as the Chi-Ha's disappear from sight, and two long lines of infantry on either side of the road slowly emerged from the fading dust cloud. On the right side, Commonwealth troops. On the left, US troops.
"Oh, here's the 89th again!" Aria exclaims excitedly before noticing the shoulder patch on the Commonwealth troops, "Oh my God it's the 2/13th!"
"There's your people darlin'." Stonewall chuckles.
{Baker-One-Two here, the 89th's always a blast to be around eh?}
"No kidding One-Two."
{Yup, anything unusual on your side?}
"Negative, nothing. Keep on the lookout though." Stonewall replies as the sound of the two infantry groups singing gets progressively louder.
"They were only playing leapfrog!
They were only playing leapfrog!
They were only playing leapfrog!
When one staff officer jumped right over the other staff officers' backs!"
One by one those in the tank column that knew the relatively easy lyrics began singing along, grinning and sitting up from their relaxed positions. The ALO players look around in awe as the tense-looking group start singing louder than those walking. Not to be outdone, those walking start singing louder, grinning and continuing their march with more enthusiasm.
"They were only playing leapfrog!
They were only playing leapfrog!
They were only playing leapfrog!
When one staff officer jumped right over the other staff officers' backs!"
As everyone starts the song back over, Sinon looks at Stonewall and yells over the singing.
"Why do they sing when they march?!"
"Lots of reasons! Morale and to keep time mostly!"
{Baker-One-Two here, think I can start singing over the comms-ack-fuck you tabarnak!}
The sound of a braking tank can be heard coming from where 'La Montréalaise', followed by all the other tanks, accompanied by a chorus of cursing from the embarked infantry. Dick and Lou have their heads turned towards Nguyen.
{One-Two, fuck no!} Stonewall snaps over the radio, followed by a long chorus of "No's" on the comms. {You tell your fucking driver that if he slams on the brakes while we're in column again I'm gonna kick his ass!}
{Roger that!}
{Now get your asses moving again! We've got shit to do!}
'La Montréalaise' starts moving again after a few moments.
"What just happened?" Asuna asks, a look of annoyance on her face.
"Just Dick being… well, a dick. He slammed on the brakes to shut Nguyen up. Pissed Stonewall off in the process." Rift replies with a sigh before turning his attention to the road ahead.
"Fucking asshole." Stonewall growls in irritation, sticking a cigarette in his lips and opening his inventory for a lighter. ". . . . Ah shit. Hey Klein, spot me a light?"
"Sure man!" The Fallschirmjager replies as he produces a lighter, "Here you go."
"Cheers mate." Stonewall mutters before passing the lighter back, "Boils my blood when stupid shit like that happens."
"Those guys look like a bunch of goofballs," Klein remarks as he lights up a cigarette of his own. Kirito chuckles along with Leafa.
"They're pretty funny but I think they got a few tricks up their sleeves," Kirito remarks, "Nguyen didn't panic at Palermo."
"Consider me surprised. Wait until the next battle, I'll bet- ah fuck."
His radio comes to life.
{Baker One-Actual, this is Charlie One-Actual. Be advised, we require assistance to hold our location. Think you can send a couple tanks our way?}
Stonewall grabs a map and pans over it, muttering under his breath before giving a sigh and clicking the switch on his handset. "Charlie One-Actual, that's affirmative. How many do you need?"
{One or two at most. Charlie's vehicle strength is currently one times Chaffee and one times Pershing.}
Stonewall looks at the column and growls in irritation. "Copy that, stand-by."
"What's up Stonewall?" Kirito asks.
"SNAFU." The commander sighs. "All Baker elements, convoy halt."
At the lead of the column, the Sherman slows to a halt, followed by Rift's Centurion, and so on down the line.
{One-One, One-Three. What's going on?}
"One-Three I'm giving you operational command of our current objective. Baker One-Actual and One-Two are going to reinforce Charlie One-Actual while the rest of the infantry mounts up on Baker Two." Stonewall replies before looking back at everyone on the engine deck. "Everyone off! Mount up on the Firefly's."
"You heard him! Off!" One of the Mountain Troops yells, followed by all the experienced players quickly jumping off and moving to the three Sherman Firefly's behind the M19.
"We'll meet up with you guys up in Belmonte Mezzagno!" Stonewall yells.
Kirito gives him a thumbs up.
"See you there and good luck!"
Once everyone is off the Super Pershing Stonewall orders his driver out of the column and waits for 'La Montréalaise' to get moving. The two tanks accelerate down the road, leaving the column in their dust while the disembarked infantry mount back up on the other tanks.
"So what exactly happened?" Kirito asks Rift.
"Charlie got their asses kicked trying to get off the beach. They had three Pershing's, four Shermans, and a Chaffee, but they're down to just a Pershing and a Chaffee." Rift responds as the column gets moving again.
"Sounds like Italy is harder than Belgium," Leafa remarks, "Did they really do an event so people would come here?"
"No kidding," Kirito adds, "We ran into an ambush and, from the looks of it, those other guys got beaten badly too."
"The event is to promote an invasion. There's groups from other theaters that wanted another hard area that wasn't jungle or winter. So they opened up Italy for invasion. The South Pacific is harder than this."
"How come?" Sinon says while scanning the horizon with her binoculars.
"Shorter sight lines. A 'home field' buff for defenders. NPC infantry will sometimes surrender in other areas, but the defenders in the South Pacific are fanatical. I was in Burma before I came here." Amy says quietly, barely being heard over the sound of the engine. "Lots of monsters with poison attacks and stuff like that too."
"Sounds… lovely," Klein remarks sarcastically before changing his tone to a friendlier one, "The rewards must be good though."
"It's not bad. Not many players like to fight there because stuff wears out faster. Usually you've gotta call on air support more often. Pilots love it there." Amy hums lightly, not looking at any of them.
"I'd really like to try and fly a plane in this world," Leafa remarks, looking wistfully at the sky, "I heard it's expensive though."
"It can get pretty spendy yeah. I can call in a favor if you want to try it, but be warned it's completely accurate." Rift says as he lowers himself into his hatch. "Especially with Malta captured. You might be able to help us in the air once they get the airfield fixed."
"If they get the airfield fixed." Amy scoffs. "Pact has been bombing the hell out of Malta ever since the Alliance captured it. Day in, day out."
"I can understand why," Sinon says, "When we attacked that airfield, Pact didn't hesitate to bomb it when we almost took it."
"In Burma we took an airfield a couple weeks ago. Found out the hard way that the Pact players had buried five hundred pound bombs along the length of the runway." Amy grumbles.
"Airfields were important back then," Sinon continues, "I can understand why they'd be important in this game. Anyhow, things look pretty quiet so far, but I still have a bad feeling about this place."
"You should. They know we're coming." Rift responds, scanning the mountains to their right with a pair of binoculars. "Especially right now."
"Eh? What do you mean?" Leafa asks, raising her Garand in alarm.
"There's a scouting party on the ridge." Rift calmly reports before ducking into the turret and changing the channel on his radio. Sinon turns her head, taking a look at the ridge with her binoculars prior to nodding to confirm Rift's discovery. "Texas, this is Baker One-Three. Interrogative, are you available for fire missions currently?"
{This is Texas. Affirmative Baker One-Three. What do you have for us?}
"Texas, requesting fire mission. Hostile observation post, grid reference follows."
{Send grid reference.}
Rift double-checks his map and relays the jumble of letters to the battleship offshore, slowing the column momentarily so the ALO players can "watch the fireworks", and so he can confirm the effect of the main gun salvo.
"Here it comes…"
The loud howling overhead of the ship's 14 inch shells signifies an end to the group of infantry on the ridge. Seconds later the ridgeline seems to erupt, dirt and rock flying skyward for a moment before falling back down to earth, the spot where it initially rested now a cratered saddle in the ridge.
"Jesus!" Rift chuckles before getting on the radio as the mountaineers on the Firefly's start cheering. "Texas this is Baker One-Three. Good effect on target, target destroyed. End fire mission. How copy?"
{Good copy Baker One-Three. Texas remaining on-call for Naval fire support, channel nine. Texas out.}
"Amazing," Kirito mutters, wide-eyed, "The devs really outdid themselves with this."
"Man… wouldn't want be the suckers on the receiving end," Agil remarks. Everyone nods save for Sinon who had kept her binoculars pointed at the observation post.
"The battleship took out five players," she reports, lowering her binoculars, "Though I think they managed to get a message out first."
Klein quickly glances at Silica and Pina.
"You two picked anything up?" he asks urgently, "There might be an ambush."
The younger player shakes her head.
"Pina can't sense anything but the tank's smells are blurring things up."
"That's ok Silica," Asuna reassures, "If they wanted to ambush us, we'd already be in trouble."
"If y'all think that's impressive, one of the devs is out there with Musashi. I'll call on them if we need another fire mission." Rift says with a massive grin.
"Musashi?!" Sinon exclaims, "As in the biggest warship the IJN had during World War 2?"
"And as in one of the largest battleships ever constructed with the largest guns ever put on a ship? Yes."
"Now that I gotta see." Liz declares with a grin as the tank column began picking up speed.
"That can be arranged." Rift chuckles. "Eyes up everyone, we're almost at Ciaculli."
In the distance the bunch of half-destroyed buildings that had been slowly getting closer were only a mere thousand yards away. Smoke slowly rose from destroyed trucks, and as they drew closer they pass several burning tankettes in the ditch, their ammo popping occasionally from the heat inside the small vehicles. Ahead, half a dozen players have NPC soldiers lined up against a wall, standing guard with an AC IIIA Thunderbolt parked nearby. Rift gives them a salute as they drive by, and holds a Sten in his hands while they rumble through the town.
"Was this town difficult to take?" Kirito comments, looking at a medic patching up another player.
"Well, they caught them by surprise. All those vehicles that were disabled were probably on their way through town to reinforce Palermo. It certainly wasn't easy, but I don't think it was too difficult either." Rift explains.
"I think that having the big guns on those ships also helps," Klein adds, "They probably flattened half the enemy force by themselves."
"Yeah, you oughta see Bagheria, further to the east. Two players just took their battlecruisers and flattened the entire city."
"Well at least they won't be causing trouble I guess?" Liz says, shrugging.
"That's one way to think of it." Rift chuckles before yelling down into his hatch. "Andrew! Load AP, make ready for a fight!"
"What's going on?" Kirito asks, readying his M2 carbine, "You heard something on the radio?"
"Just getting ready is all. It's hostile territory beyond here."
"Good idea, we don't want to get caught unprepared," Kirito answers back before turning to the other ALO players, "Everyone, keep an eye out. We don't want to end up like Stonewall did in Palermo."
His friends all nod in response.
"Let's see here…. Assigned to our assistance is… okay." Rift mutters to himself before speaking into the radio. "Boise this is Baker One-Three, commence fire on suppression target Able."
{Boise confirms. Engaging target.}
Rift looks back at everyone and smiles. "We've got targets singled out for barrage to cover our approach to Belmonte! Enjoy the fireworks!"
{Baker One-Three, Boise. Shot, over.}
How evil of us to end it like this eh? Hope you enjoyed reading this. Here's more screentime for the ALO crew. Anyone spot the Pearl Harbor reference? -Goodalwayswins98
Stick around y'all, because it's about to go down! - SirStonewall
First song is 'hot time in the old town tonight'
Second song is 'they were only playing leapfrog'