AUTHOR'S NOTES: The Battle of Warsaw begins! And we say hello again to an almost forgotten character in this chapter...

The Ruins of Warsaw, Poland

5 September 2001

12:50 AM Local

Otome Higurashi's command group took up position on a small rise in the ruins, about three blocks from the synagogue. Through the rubble and ruins, they could barely see the blocking position Salem's forces were in between Team Metal and the graveyard. Otome looked through her binoculars and passed them to Yang. "There they are."

Yang peered through them. There were two of the wheeled Sabyrs, boxlike machines with a 23 millimeter autocannon and two wire-guided missiles, and a truck. Around both were armed men and women, some milling around, some pulling rubble into place as a hurried roadblock. They were dressed in a variety of uniforms, armed with the ubiquitous AK-47. It seemed strange to her to see humans and Faunus—there were one or two of the latter—standing next to GRIMM without fear, without the GRIMM instantly trying to kill them. Yang handed back the binoculars. "Think I need to call in air support?"

"Have them stand by, but we should be fine."

Yang pulled the headset off the radio pack. "Suds to Blizzard. How read?"

There was a brief pause, and Yang heard Winter's voice. "Suds, Blizzard. Five-by."

"Sitrep?" Yang asked.

"Scope clean. Ace and Reaper on station."

"Roger. Hold for now." Yang nodded to Otome. "You've got air if you need it."

"Thanks." Otome made one last look. "Wraith, Princess. Kill the GRIMM first. Send it."

It never ceased to amaze Yang how fast ground battles started—they did in the air as well, but except for the noise of warnings and one's breathing in an oxygen mask, air battles were largely silent. Ground battles were noisy. One moment, the ruins of Warsaw were quiet, except for the wind coming out of the east and rattling through the wreckage of the city; the next, there was the briefest flash of smoke from two of the ruined buildings ahead of her, and both Sabyrs exploded from the impact of the LAW rockets. Wraith's snipers went to work next, targeting anyone that looked like they might be giving orders. Their rifles were almost silent, even as the survivors started firing their AKs—but without knowing where the sniper fire was coming from, they were firing blindly and randomly.

"Soap, Princess. Engage front." Now Salem's force came under fire from Soap and Huma's force, firing their M4s, moving forward from cover to cover in short sprints. The cacophony of gunfire rose in intensity. The enemy force put up a fight, even as they were shot down; anyone who tried to rally them or move them back to better positions was killed by Wraith's snipers. Still, Yang had to compliment Salem's people for their bravery: they didn't run, but sought cover. Now they were being more disciplined about their fire, but they lacked the night vision goggles of the Delta operators.

Otome scanned the battlefield. "Chaser, Princess..." She paused. "...now."

From the east, suddenly more gunfire erupted as Salem's force was hit in their left flank by Chaser's men and women, who had used the cover of Wraith and Soap's attack to mask their own movement forward. Yang didn't have Ruby's eyesight or Otome's binoculars, but even she could tell that Salem's people were taken by surprise and badly shaken by the sudden appearance of a new threat. When their truck exploded from the hit of another LAW, that was it: the enemy turned and fled to the west, firing wildly as they did so. The firing died off to the occasional sound of Wraith's sniper fire engaging targets of opportunity. Yang checked her watch: the entire skirmish had taken only five minutes.

Otome gave a nod and stowed her binoculars. "Princess to Metal elements. Bravo Zulu. Move to LZ. Blaze, what's happening behind us?"

"Princess, Blaze, enemy force is across the river, coming up Wawelska Street. Proceeding slowly."

"Blaze, rejoin the main force." She got to her feet and grinned at Yang. "Salem's still not sure what hit her. Another day at the office, huh? Let's call in the choppers and get the hell out of here."

Zagan Airfield

12:50 AM Local

"You're an idiot for doing this," Rissa Arashikaze told Ruby Rose. "You've probably got a concussion, and you're going to fly?"

"Admittedly," Weiss said, "Ruby usually flies like she has a concussion."

Ruby ignored her. "My sister is in Warsaw, ma'am. I can't just sit in Weiss' big house and sip tea!"

Arashikaze sighed. "Fair enough, though your sister is also an idiot for going in with Team Metal. Otome Higurashi needs her head examined." Then she gave a wry chuckle. "Though the biggest idiot is me, having Arthur Watts stolen right out from under my nose."

"The attack on the manor was a diversion?" Blake asked.

"Looks that way. I don't think that team knew they were going to run into any opposition. Hit Schnee Manor, kill everyone, force my reaction force out there while they sneak in and get Watts." She smacked the steering wheel of the SUV in frustration. "Their plan went to hell and they still managed to get him." She took a left turn onto the airfield. "Well, that's my problem, not yours. Best of luck. I'll talk to Ironwood about the Commando Solo." Arashikaze turned to Weiss as she parked. "You sure you can leave this evacuation plan to your brother and mother?"

"My mother is good at planning...when she's sober." Weiss smiled. "Though I think she's seen enough tonight to scare her into sobriety."

"Or make her drink more. I know I could use a gin and tonic right now." Arashikaze opened the door, and nodded to them. "Good luck, Ruby Flight."

"Thanks." Ruby, Weiss and Blake piled out of the SUV and walked briskly towards the airfield's command post. All of them glanced up at the sky more than once. Far in the distance, the mushroom cloud from Belchanow still loomed malevolently over the horizon, almost invisible in the darkness, but still there as it blotted out the stars, occasionally illuminated by lightning shooting through the cloud. They wondered if, even now, radiation was raining down on them, invisibly entering skin and bone. Arashikaze said we were out of the really bad fallout zone, Ruby thought, but what if she's wrong? She remembered Maria Calavera talking about losing friends to radiation, and how the fallout had changed her eyes from brown to silver.

"Captain?" The man that waited for her at the door of the command post wore the shoulder boards of a Polish Air Force lieutenant. A gas mask hung awkwardly from his neck. "We got your call. You can change in there." He pointed to the women's bathroom. "We brought your helmets in."

"Thanks." Ruby looked past him, out the windows to the flightline, where her F-16, Weiss' Typhoon, Blake's F-14, and May Marigold's Harrier waited. A little further down was an ancient-looking Antonov An-2 biplane transport. "Hey, where did the An-2 come from?" Weiss and Blake exchanged a smile. If Ruby was asking about airplanes, she was fine.

"The enemy strike force came in that. We didn't know...but they did not get close to your aircraft, Captain," the lieutenant insisted.

"Have you been able to load them?" Blake wanted to know. Ruby had called the airfield from the manor, telling them to load the F-16 and Typhoon with air to ground ordnance, and the F-14 with air to air.

"As much as we could. We took some from the Harrier for the Tomcat. The Huntress woman will not be joining us?" Ruby shook her head. "I am sorry to hear that." He pointed to the two aircraft. "This is only used as an emergency airfield, so we do not have much. We were able to reload the gun on the F-16 and F-14, but not the Typhoon. All have been refueled as well. We had some Sidewinders, so that was not an issue, but...very little air to ground ordnance."

"What did you have?" Weiss asked.

The lieutenant looked apologetic. "Only some iron bombs and rocket pods."

"That'll work," Ruby said. "Let's kick the tire, girls." They followed Ruby into the women's bathroom, where a female sergeant waited, and changed back into flight suits. G-suits, survival vests, and helmets followed next. Then it was a short dash onto the flightline.

Ruby did an abbreviated preflight, checking the intake and exhaust. Crescent Rose was loaded with two Sidewinders on the wingtips, and two rocket pods and two 750-pound bombs on the underwing hardpoints. Myrtenaster had the same, though with two extra Sidewinders. By cannibalizing May's Harrier and whatever the others had left, Gambol Shroud was equipped with four Sidewinders and four AMRAAM. An enlisted man, his gas mask on tight, held the ladder for her as she scrambled up into the cockpit; luckily the canopies had been closed until the pilots were ready to board, so any radioactivity in the cockpit would be minor at best. Ruby shut the canopy quickly and twirled her fingers as she switched on the inertial navigation system and started the engine. The chocks were pulled moments later, and a minute after that, Ruby Flight was in the air.

Ruins of Warsaw

1:00 AM Local

Yang looked around the cemetery. It had once been covered in forest, the gravestones close together. The nuclear blast that had destroyed Warsaw had taken care of the trees: most had been torn out of the ground by the roots, annihilated in an instant, leaving only torn up ground, but a few had amazingly survived the blast. Their naked branches stretched out as if in supplication to the sky. The gravestones had mostly survived, though the names were obscured by decades of dirt, dust, and scorched by the fireball. Evidently, the locals had cleared some of the graveyard of the stones, which were piled up in a rubble pile to the east, and begun the process of tilling the ground for food production. This had created a fairly large landing zone, while the remaining headstones provided ready made cover for any defending force.

And we might need it, Yang thought to herself. The problem was, to avoid tipping their hand to Salem, the helicopters that would pick up Team Metal had to wait until the success code was radioed. It had been, and they were on their way, but they would get to the cemetery around the same time that Salem's reaction force would. Salem was not going to simply let Team Metal fly off with JINN without a fight.

Then again, Yang considered, that old bitch better have brought a lot of friends. Otome and Soap wasted no time when Team Metal rallied in the graveyard, having taken no casualties in destroying the blocking force. The team had three light machine guns—M240s—and set two of them at the southern corners of the graveyard, where they could sweep the front and sides; the third covered the rear. The rest of the team was spaced out among the headstones and rubble mounds. They only had a few LAWs left, but that was where Yang came in. Above them orbited Ace and Reaper Flights: Ace's four F-35s, plus Winter Schnee's Typhoon, Ren's J-10, and Pyrrha's F-22.

Otome had placed her command group at the edge of the LZ, in slightly raised ground. Wraith's snipers were distributed around to wherever they could find good spots; Shogun, Chaser and Soap commanded the forces to the south, with Huma covering the rear. Trix stood with Otome, JINN strapped to her back now; Benedykta, the Polish girl, stood next to her, an AK-47 scavenged from the dead in her hands, while Emerald, her hands still bound, sat with her back to a headstone. Oscar sat next to her, sound asleep, his head hanging to his chest.

They were ready, Yang supposed, but it was time to thin the herd a bit.

"Blizzard, Suds." Yang spread a photograph of Warsaw out in front of her, a red-lensed penlight stuck in between her right ear and her hair illuminating it. "See that broad boulevard running north-south, north of the railroad tracks?"

"Blizzard, roger that," Winter acknowledged.

"Okay, that's where the bad guys are. We should have some GRIMM there."

"Roger, GRIMM in sight," Winter replied. "Looks like one Centinel, four Sabyrs...and two other vehicles, possibly BTR-152s, along with a few trucks." Yang could not see her from the ground, but Winter was flying upside down, staring down through her canopy with a pair of night-vision binoculars.

"That's them, Blizzard. Can you make them go away?"

"Use proper radio procedure, Suds," Winter replied coldly. "Ace Lead, Ace Three, make your run north to south. Suds, do not see strobes."

Oops, forgot about that. Yang put her hand over the receiver. "Otome, do your folks have their strobes on?"

Otome did not reply, but spoke into her own mouthpiece. "All Delta elements, strobes on now."

"Strobes on, Blizzard." Each Delta operator had an infrared strobe attached to their packs or helmets; it would be invisible to the eye, but the IR sensors on the aircraft would pick it up. "Anything south of the cemetery is bad guys."

"Suds, Ace Lead, understood." Vine Zeki sounded bored. "Ace Lead is in, north to south; Ace Three, follow in trail."

Yang heard the F-35 before she saw it. The aircraft came over her like a ghost, but low enough that she could see the weapons bays open. A second later, Rockeye cluster bombs tumbled from the bays, even as Vine climbed away, flares suddenly turning the sky bright in his wake. A cloud of tracers reached up from the ground as seemingly Salem's entire force opened fire with everything from small arms to the booming report of the Centinel's main gun. There was too much rubble and wreckage between Yang and the boulevard, but she heard the popping reports of dozens of bomblets as they detonated. The tracers followed the F-35, and the people who fired them never saw Elm Elderne.

Yang instinctively ducked as the F-35 roared in even lower than Vine had, then popped up into a climb. In the half light of Vine's descending flares, Yang saw objects detach from the hardpoints on Elm's wings, then the blue glow of her afterburner as she climbed, leaving more flares behind her.

Then the ground shook, causing Yang's penlight to fall, Otome to grab a headstone, and Oscar to wake up. Elm had toss-bombed four Mark 82 750-pound bombs, and they fell into a tight pattern. Fireballs shot into the air, and the ground shook again with secondary explosions. "Shit hot!" Yang yelled. "You got 'em, Elm!" She didn't key the radio, but the sentiment was there all the same. "Man, Nora would be proud of that one!"

"Ace Three, Blizzard, that's a shack. One Centinel, two Sabyrs destroyed. Secondaries observed." There was the faintest of praise in Winter's voice, which for her was the equivalent of a raucous cheer.

"Blizzard, Ace Lead. I'm hit." Yang turned and looked where she thought Vine would be, but saw nothing in the darkness—not even the orange glow of a fire. "Ace Two, can you look me over?"

"Roger that, Lead." There was a pause, then Marrow radioed, "Some hits in the lower fuselage and right wing, Lead. No hydraulic, oil or fuel."

"Ace Lead, Blizzard, are you tactical?"

Another pause. "Roger, Blizzard."

"Whew," Yang said. She had never really thought much of Vine one way or the other, but she was glad he was all right.

"Suds, Blizzard," Winter sent. "BDA?"

"Can't see from my pos," Yang replied, "but there's a lot of stuff burning south of me, and we can confirm secondaries." As Winter acknowledged, Yang winked at Otome. "How 'bout that CAS?"

Salem murmured a curse as she walked to the convoy, heedless of the fires that burned, even as ammunition popped off. She was in her black uniform now, her hair left free over her shoulders; she strode forward, knowing she had to set an example. Her GRIMM were unthinking robots; her troops were not, and she knew they were already at a disadvantage against the elite Americans. "Comrade Major!" she yelled.

An officer stumbled over to her. "Yes, ma'am! Still here!"

"Good." She waved north. "Get your people into the side streets. Move quickly and close with the enemy."

"Ma'am?" The major looked confused.

"Get in close to them and they can't use their air cover. Grab them by the belt!" He nodded, understanding. As he started shouting orders, getting people out of cover and back into the fight, she motioned a lieutenant over. He ducked as the Centinel's fuel tank exploded, adding more fire to the night; Salem willed herself to remain motionless. "Are your ZPUs intact?" she asked him.

"Yes, ma'am. Battery A thinks he hit one of the attackers."

"Good for him. Move forward with the infantry, but stop at Leszno Street. I don't want you getting within rocket range of the enemy. Disperse the two BTRs, and hold your fire until something attacks. Not before then, understand? The enemy must not know you are here."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"They will be bringing helicopters to extract their forces. Hold fire until then. Go!" The lieutenant saluted, then ran off. Salem looked to the sky, sighed, and moved off the street, sidestepping the severed upper torso of what had been one of her troops, cut in half by a Rockeye bomblet. "Radioman." A man ran up to her. "Where's the airborne GRIMM?"

"Just took off, Mistress," he replied. "They should be here in five minutes."

"How many?"

"We were able to scramble thirty."

Salem nodded. "Well done." She looked to the air again. NATO doctrine is not to send helicopters into a landing area that does not have air superiority, she thought. The game's not over yet, Ozpin.

Blizzard Lead

Above the Ruins of Warsaw

1:05 AM Local

"Blizzard, Top Hat, bandits, bandits, bullseye, 085 for 30, angels five thousand. Time is 23:05 Zulu." Winter translated that in her head: there were thirty GRIMM headed her way from the northeast at 5000 feet.

"Reaper Lead, Blizzard. You have the intercept. I will backstop. Ace Two, join up on Reaper." Winter radioed.

"Blizzard, Reaper, on the way." Winter saw Pyrrha and Ren peel off and head northeast, quickly joined by Harriet's F-35.

"Blizzard, Top Hat." The AWACS broke in again. "Relay from Ruby Lead: supersonic, heading east, ETA ten minutes. Ruby Three is groomed for MiGs; Ruby Lead and Two have rockets and bombs." Weiss, Winter thought. She felt a brief pang for her sister, wishing for a second she was not here, that she was somewhere safe. Weiss and her friends had been disobedient fools, Winter groused to herself, but Weiss was still her sister. Now that they were on the way, she was going to use them, no matter what they had done.

Besides, Winter mused to herself with a slight smile, she'd been rather disobedient herself. "Roger, Top Hat. Break. Crow 13, execute Option Alpha."

Thirty miles away, Qrow Branwen grinned under his oxygen mask. "Rog, Blizzard." He positioned his F-117 above and behind the group of GRIMM, advanced the throttle slightly, and prepared to engage. The GRIMM, unable to detect the stealthy Nighthawk, had no idea he was there.

And, much to Qrow's amusement, neither did James Ironwood. He had been amusing himself, bouncing a baseball against the wall of his prison cell in the approved Steve McQueen style, when she had unexpectedly shown up and browbeat the guards to let him out, with a forged approval from Ironwood. A hurried few kisses on the way from Spandau to Tegel, a hurried explanation and plan, and they had taken off together—Winter in her personal Typhoon, Qrow in his converted F-117. While she had flown southwest to join Ace and Reaper Flights, Qrow had flown alone, unnoticed by friend or foe, to wait above the Vistula. He knew Winter was well and truly in for it when Ironwood found out, but that was a problem for the future.

Humming slightly to himself, Qrow positioned the IR sensor on the nose of the Nighthawk to track the lead Beowulf, and pulled the trigger. The weapon bay doors opened and discharged a Sidewinder, which tracked flawlessly into the GRIMM. The Beowulf disappeared in an explosion, and the fight was on.

Qrow flew past them and into a slight climb, as the GRIMM formation fell apart, their sensors unable to tell them where the threat had come from. Qrow came back around for another pass, but this time he noticed that not all of the GRIMM were Beowolves, as six broke away from the formation and one headed his way. Oh shit, he thought, Beringals. Their radar was better than the less efficient, older Beowolves; one might have gotten just enough to determine his location.

He shut that from his mind; Qrow knew he had a few seconds before the Beringal could get into range, and that was more than enough time. He lined up one of the Beowolves and dispatched that one with another Sidewinder shot, then shifted left and fired a third missile; a third GRIMM tumbled end over end into a bright fireball. Qrow spared a quick flick of the eyes downward to the rearward camera display, and didn't like what he saw: the Beringal was starting to get close enough to fire.

Qrow broke left and climbed, but to his surprise, the Beringal followed him through the climb, cannon shells streaking past the Nighthawk's stubby wings. He then rolled and dived, going into another hard break, but while Qrow was an expert pilot, the F-117 simply was not a dogfighter. The Beringal was, and it began to pull lead on him, edging closer and closer to ventilating the Nighthawk and ending Qrow's problems forever.

"Reaper Lead, Fox Three on the Beringal."

Qrow reversed his turn, praying that one, the AMRAAM was not going to track on him—which was not likely, but not impossible—and two, Pyrrha was firing at the Beringal that was about to kill him. Luckily, his prayers were answered, and the Beringal was blown apart. "Crow, Reaper Lead, you're clear. Fancy seeing you up here." The F-22 flew past and joined him in the turn.

"I was bored." Qrow spotted another target. "Reaper, two Beowolves passing below us."

"Roger, split-S and take them."

Powazki Cemetery

1:10 AM Local

"Ace Lead is in, east to west." Yang watched as Vine's F-35 came in for another run, this time delivering another set of Rockeyes off his wing stations. She saw the cluster bombs come off the racks, spin, and disintegrate, scattering their lethal cargo across the ground. The night lit up again with sparkles as the bomblets detonated, and she thought she heard screams, but there were no secondary explosions this time.

"Ace Lead, Suds. No joy on BDA; didn't see any secondaries. Sorry about that."

"Suds, Ace, roger." Yang thought she heard pain in Vine's voice, but though there had been scattered small arms tracer, none had come close to the speeding F-35; like many ground troops, the firers had failed to lead their target. For that matter, there hadn't been much in the way of even small arms. Yang wondered if Salem's troops were in retreat, or had enough for the night.

"Suds, Kingpin Three. ETA five mikes, pop flares. Coming in from the north."

Yang laughed out loud: Kingpin was the two MH-53Ms that would extricate Team Metal. "Roger the hell out of that, Kingpin! All aircraft, be advised, Jolly Greens in the area." Technically, she knew, the MH-53Ms were codenamed Pave Low IVs, but she used the fighter pilot nickname for the big helicopters. With a dogfight going on to the east, close air support holding back Salem's forces to the south, and Ruby Flight barreling in from the west, the airspace over Warsaw was getting crowded, and it would be all too easy for a low-flying fighter to collide with one of the helicopters. Yang waved to get Otome's attention. "The Pave Lows are here! Pop flares!"

Otome threw her a thumbs up and gave the order over her mike. Huma's team lit green flares and set them around the landing zone, marking the spot for the MH-53s to land. Yang stepped over a few feet so she was by Oscar. "We're almost out of here, Oscar! Think they'll give us some Army medals?" He smiled back, his eyes bright, exhausted and distant. Oh hell, thinking about my sister, the little perv. Ah well, hell, Yang mentally shrugged, unable to stop smiling, I guess he's earned it.

"Suds, Ace Two. Coming in east to west; saw some triple-A earlier and I'm gonna troll," Marrow radioed.

"Ace Two, wait one; break. Kingpin, distance to LZ?"

"Suds, Kingpin, three miles."

That should be okay, Yang considered, considering distance, time and space. "Ace Two, Suds. Troll away."

"Ace Two, rolling in." Yang watched as the F-35 pitched out over the Vistula, and she couldn't stop a stunned gasp as Marrow did something extremely brave—or extremely stupid. He came over slow, the F-35's nose pitched upwards, almost as if he was doing a show pass for an airshow. Yang had watched with her heart in her throat as Ruby and Blake had both flown low and slow over Roman Torchwick's hideout at Mountain Glenn, but they were nowhere near as slow as Marrow was. He was a perfect target.

Sure enough, he was also an irresistible one. Green tracers—not the randomness of small arms, but aimed antiaircraft cannons—reached out for the F-35. To Yang's surprise, Marrow's audacity actually saved him: these gunners were leading him, but Marrow was going so slow that their shells passed harmlessly in front of him. The Lightning's engine suddenly whined as Marrow shoved the throttle forward, and the fighter accelerated, just as the gunners shifted back to firing directly at him—now the 23mm shells flew behind him. "Well, I'll be damned," Yang breathed. "Ace Two, Suds, damn, son. Ace Lead, got a Zip Gun southeast at about half a click. Need you to get your Rocks off on him."

"Ace Lead, negative...may have a problem here."

Yang wanted to know what was going on with Vine, but that had to wait; she needed to knock out the ZPU. "Roger. Ace Three?"

"Suds, Ace Three. I'm on him; coming around. One minute."

Yang now heard the helicopter behind her; for its huge size, the MH-53 was fairly quiet. The breeze picked up as the rotorwash rolled over them, scattering dirt, leaves and trash over and around the landing zone. Yang turned around and saw the MH-53 coming in over a line of half-ruined apartment buildings and one of the few remaining lines of dead trees. "His angle's off!" Emerald shouted over the noise.

Yang could see that the former thief was right. "Kingpin, Kingpin, Suds!" she shouted, trying to be heard. "Back off a bit, you're too far to the west!" She heard the helicopter pilot acknowledge, then say something else, but over the noise, she couldn't tell what. The MH-53 rose slightly and headed off to the east—then, to Yang's surprise, began turning to the south, to circle around and come in from that direction. To her horror, she saw the helicopter moving almost directly into the path that Elm would take on her run. "Oh shit!" Yang exclaimed. "Ace Three, Ace Three, break off! Break off!" There was a roar audible even over the noise of the MH-53, as Elm's F-35 climbed hard, its afterburner leaving blue shock diamonds in the sky. Luckily, she had seen the helicopter even before Yang had called out the warning.

Then Yang saw something even worse. "Kingpin! Back off to the north! Head off to the north!" There was no answer, and the MH-53 continued to drift to the south as the pilot looked for another way into the LZ. "Kingpin!" Yang shrieked. "Kingpin, stay away from the south! Stay away from the south! That area's too hot!" There was still no reponse. "KINGPIN!"

"Suds, Kingpin, rog—"

Green tracer rose up again, not just from the ZPU Yang had seen fire on Marrow, but another one to the west. Both intersected at the MH-53. The shells chopped into the helicopter, tearing away the engines, then marching across the tailboom, which separated from the aircraft. The MH-53 shuddered, nosed over, spun twice, and exploded when it hit the ground, on the street to the east of the graveyard, narrowly missing the Delta troops deployed there. The fireball rolled into the air, and Yang knew she had just watched seven people die.

"Oh my God," Oscar whispered.

Emerald's eyes were wide in fear. "Now what?"

"Suds, Kingpin Four." It was the other MH-53. "Was that Kingpin Three?"

Yang couldn't make her voice work for a moment. "R-Roger, Kingpin Four. Three is down. No survivors." She couldn't take her eyes away from the burning pyre of the helicopter.

At that moment, bugles sounded from the south, echoing off the rubble and the scorched ruins as Salem launched her attack.