"Hello, Vito – care to dance?"
"You dare to tango with me, Hit Girl?"
"Oh, I dare."
She had one task that night; just one simple task – she was to take down Vito Genevese while everyone else would wipe the Genevese name from the face of the planet. A stark order had gone out making Vito off limits to everyone but her – with the noted exception of Kick-Ass who knew to leave the man to his wife.
Hit Girl could remember like it was yesterday when she first learned about the Genovese during a Sicilian attack in December 2015 at the abandoned Uptown Theatre in Chicago.
+++ excerpt from Chapter 214 of Forsaken +++
Saturday, December 12th, 2015
Jackal entered the room cautiously.
There was a large screen TV, a laptop, and a webcam setup on a table in the otherwise empty room.
"Am I the only one who is confused?" he enquired to Hit Girl.
The screen came to life and they saw a man sitting in shadow. His face was obscured, but he chuckled appreciatively.
"Well done, Hit Girl – I am impressed, but annoyed, to see you still in one piece, let alone walking about!"
"Sorry to disappoint you; I have a tendency towards survival!" Hit Girl growled back, stowing her blade and pistol.
Jackal moved to cover the doorway while Hit Girl's attention was taken by the TV.
"Hit Girl, we are at war..."
"Why?" she enquired.
"You know of the Genovese?" the man continued.
"Should I?" Hit Girl replied, genuinely at a loss.
"The Godfather, my Grandfather, is Vito Genovese..."
"Look, I have not got time for a goddamned history lesson, so cut to the fucking chase!" Hit Girl growled impatiently.
"...And he had a daughter, Angie..."
"Oh, fuck!" Kick-Ass growled as he entered the room, catching the end of the sentence, but it took Jackal a few more seconds to join the dots on a certain family tree.
"Angie D'Amico!" Jackal growled: Chris D'Amico's mother.
"Well done!" The man chuckled.
"The family honour is at stake – we have no choice but to avenge Angie, Frank, Ralph, and young Christopher."
"Why," Hit Girl demanded. "They were all fucking nutcases and they were a cancer on New York and Chicago. Oh, by the way, we never killed Angie."
"That may be, but you were involved, which is enough..."
"Who the fuck are you?"
"I am Anthony Genovese, son of Carlo Genovese, son of Vito Genovese."
Friday, June 16th, 2017
Casa Genovese
01:36 GMT+2 (23:36 GMT June 15th)
The final fight was beginning.
Vito waved off his children, determined to destroy Hit Girl once and for all with his very own hands. Normally, a seventy-three-year-old man facing off against a nineteen-year-old woman would have the expected outcome, but not that night. Vito had the advantages of a healthy Mediterranean diet and living which allowed him to behave more like someone twenty years younger. The man was also highly skilled having taken his first life at the age of twelve, way back in 1956. Since then, he had killed countless men, women, and children with his own hands and ordered the deaths of many, many more. Only one of them would walk away after the fight and Vito was determined for it not to be the upstart female standing before him.
Vito got to his feet without effort and Hit Girl saw that he was a short man, a few inches under six feet and close to her own height. Hit Girl's eyes scoped out the room, searching for anything which could aid her or anything which could aid her enemy. As the two leaders circled one another, Kick-Ass stepped into the room and he grinned beneath his mask as he clocked the enemy and identified each member of the Sicilian crime family. He saw his wife fend off a first strike from a surprisingly agile Vito. He also saw how pent up Shadow was; like a bomb about to explode. Together, their job was to prevent the rest of the family from intervening in Hit Girl's fight. It was also obvious from their body language, that Anthony and his wife were not about to allow Kick-Ass or Shadow to intervene in Vito's fight. So, Kick-Ass advanced on the evil Joseph Valachi and Anthony Genovese while Shadow moved to take on Elena Genovese. That just left Carlo Genovese. He drew Nemesis and La Coccinelle. The remaining members of the combined assault forces were to continue with the attack on Vito's defences.
Kick-Ass had also surmised that Vito's stand was a delaying tactic as his wife was missing, along with the wives of Joseph, and Carlo; Frank was unmarried.
Shadow vs Elena Genovese
Shadow was incredibly pleased to have drawn the evil woman who circled her.
Elena Genovese loved nothing more than to extort pain. She was well known for it and nobody crossed her if they wanted to live a long and healthy life. She was spiteful and nasty at the best of times, and her fighting style was very much the same. For many, that caught them out, as most learned to fight using rules. However, Shadow had been taught by the likes of Splinter and Psyche that underhand fighting may not be sporting but it could keep you very much alive. Therefore, Shadow was in her element has she sidestepped a kick to her left knee which would have incapacitated her early in the fight. One thing she had learned from the likes of Hit Girl and Petra was that leading your enemy on and playing with them was great fun! Another reason for facing off against the woman was that the bitch had escaped form police custody within days of being captured during the Battle of Chicago – now the bitch was going to really pay for everything she had done, and then some.
Elena was still trying to figure out her opponent and the style of fighting which seemed to be a mix of varying disciplines, a dangerous mix. Not that a challenge could ever faze the woman. She was just like her husband; she enjoyed people's suffering and she enjoyed it even more when the suffering was at her own hands. The girl before her appeared to be young but she was skilled and that meant a challenge and Elena preferred a challenge. She enjoyed it when her victims fought back just to make things more interesting. As she wore her victims down, she enjoyed seeing their terror build and their fighting falter as they became more and more desperate to survive. Elena was able to monitor her victim's body language to see how far she could push them before the fight waned. Just to increase the physical and mental torture, Elena would step back and allow her victim to regain a few points before she would then drive them back and then put them down. She so loved to play with her food before she tore it apart.
The vigilante before her was not going to be a pushover, and she knew that. Shadow had a well-deserved reputation for being highly skilled and not an easy put down, so Elena was not about to underestimate her opponent. The first strikes and kicks missed Shadow as expected as Elena gauged her opponent's skills and fighting style. She was more than a little annoyed, but not overly surprised, to learn that Shadow was familiar with a wide variety of disciplines including Taekwondo, Krav Maga, kick-boxing, and defensive martial arts. However, none of that really concerned Elena as she knew that the ultimate takedown of Shadow would be all the greater after a truly challenging fight.
It soon became very apparent that the bitch was wearing body armour, so no early bruising to whittle the bitch down, Shadow considered as she kicked out and found that her kick struck something solid rather than the bitches unprotected skin. That simply meant a switch in tactics to allow for the body armour. Shadow reasoned that as she was a good ten years younger than the Sicilian bitch, she had the edge when it came to stamina. Okay, Shadow thought that her young age made her a better fighter, but she knew her limits and she knew when an opponent was too strong, but right at that moment, she knew that she could take down the bitch.
Failure meant letting down Hit Girl and that could never be allowed.
Kick-Ass vs Joseph Valachi & Anthony Genovese
The fighting was a little more complicated for Kick-Ass as he was facing off against two grown men, both of whom were vicious, and had ridiculously long rap sheets detailing their perceived murders and the many people whom they had been thought to have tortured.
However, Kick-Ass lived for such a fight. He enjoyed pushing his limits – at least he knew where those limits were, unlike his purple counterpart – and he saw each push as a personal challenge to be overcome. His armour could absorb much, not to mention his fucked up nerve endings which meant that he could take almost as much punishment as he gave out. His gauntlets flew with tremendous power and they could take lesser men off their very feet, but both men were large, well-built, seasoned fighters who were not fazed by the masked vigilante who had chosen to take them both on. It would not be the first time that the pair had fought side-by-side and they could fight as a pair without any problems having learned to fight as a team many years earlier. They knew that they would have to harry Kick-Ass and wear him down – a feat which had taken down many great fighters as they had collapsed with exhaustion. It was an old trick from the days of gladiators and Roman amphitheatres. An experienced and deadly gladiator, weighed down with armour and weapons, could be out fought by a fit slave who used speed and manoeuvrability to stay out of reach of the melee weapons carried by the gladiator. Indeed, that was how Hit Girl fought and took down men two or three times her size – all the females of Fusion fought like that, and the method, though thousands of years old, worked flawlessly.
However, Kick-Ass was at the peak of his fitness and just twenty-four years old. His body armour was extremely light for the protection it provided – too heavy for the likes of Hit Girl and Shadow, but perfect for the muscular Kick-Ass. The carbon-fibre and ceramic composite armour was super strong while also being super light – a balancing trick normally impossible to achieve, but Lucius Fox was a master at balancing the impossible to produce the most amazing items, be they sections of body armour, shields, or artificial limbs. That meant that Kick-Ass could fight on a similar level to the two bastards who thought that the armour-clad vigilante would be an easy mark. Kick-Ass ensured that his punches gave both men pause for thought as he sidestepped their return punches and kicks.
Whatever happened Kick-Ass had to ensure that none of the two men interfered in Hit Girl's fight for vengeance.
Nemesis & La Coccinelle vs Carlo Genovese
Carlo Genovese thought he had it easy.
Nemesis and La Coccinelle were in no way easy. The two women could give as good as they got and then some, only Nemesis was not feeling one hundred percent for some reason or other; she had put the nausea off to seasickness and nervousness, then generally filed it away; there were more important things than her upset stomach and she was not about to let anybody down. However, she had learnt a long time before to redirect pain and worry towards an enemy and use that emotion to punch harder and harder, to strike harder and harder. Nemesis knew what the family had done to bring about Hit Girl and it was not just Hit Girl, it was everything else which could be laid at the doorstep of the criminal Sicilian family. Every child who had been indoctrinated into Urban Predator and every child who had ultimately died; they could all be blamed on the Genovese. At least that was how Nemesis rationalised their assault on a foreign country.
Vengeance was what she was all about, and Nemesis wanted nothing more than to take down the large Sicilian. The bastard grinned at the two women, but they were both beyond such tactics and neither considered for a moment that the man would win the fight – yes, he might inflict a lot of pain before he went down, but he was going down, that was for damn certain. La Coccinelle was a perfect partner for Nemesis and they moved swiftly, dodging every attempted strike before then dodging in for a strike at an exposed part of his body. The man was strong and muscular so the jabs from the two women did not cause him much pain, but the attacks were sustained and difficult to predict. Carlo was a veteran of many fights and brawls, and when the fight hinted towards not ending in his favour, he would load the odds. In this case, he drew a large and very nasty machete from a leather sheath on his back.
"The old man has teeth!" Nemesis growled as she drew a 36-inch Wakizashi from her back in response.
"Time to knock 'em the fuck out!" La Coccinelle responded as she drew her 28-inch Shinsakutō sword.
"Bring it on," Carlo breathed as he brought his machete around in a sweeping arc.
La Coccinelle parried the blade with her sword and Nemesis moved in for an attack of her own.
NIGHTSHADE
As the final Panther erupted into a fireball, Scorpion made for the extraction point to the south of Casa Genovese.
On the ground below her, a winking infra-red light identified her landing zone and she could make out three on the ground. One of the three was lying supine, secured into a rescue litter, two of which had been stowed aboard the WMIK, on the ground while the other pair were providing protection until he could be airlifted out. It would be impossible to land, the manoeuvre taking too long, and the giant helicopter would be vulnerable to ground fire. Instead, they would make a single approach and hover sixteen feet off the ground while the pair on the ground would clip the winch hook onto the sling attached to the rescue litter. Chief would then winch the wounded vigilante up into the helicopter which would be free to move the moment the litter left the ground. No matter which way you cut it, it was dangerous, and they would be awfully close to the rocky cliff as they approached.
As Goshawk read out the altitude and the distance to the closest rocks, Scorpion brought the helicopter around and aimed for the landing zone. Aft, Chief was in the starboard doorway with the winch wire already deployed eight feet beneath the helicopter and held in check by his gloved hand. Due to the limited crew on board, all of whom were occupied, Surgeon had unstowed an L22A2 carbine and she was watching out of the door just in case some bastard tried to take a pot shot at them. Twice before the woman had been aboard a helicopter landing at a hot LZ and she had not enjoyed either extraction, but she trusted the expert crew aboard and she knew that Scorpion could handle anything. Goshawk deployed the landing gear as they approached, just in case they were forced to land, and all three check lights illuminated green.
"Gear down and locked," she reported. "Thirty feet altitude. Clear to port and starboard. Tail clear."
"Stand by, crew!" Scorpion ordered.
As she entered the hover, Chief lowered the winch wire until the hook struck the ground, earthing the helicopter so that the winch hook could be safely attached to the stretcher. Then, just as Chief began to reel in the winch wire, the massive helicopter came under fire. Tracer fire ripped out from the east and the three Turbomeca CT7-8E turboshafts roared as Scorpion increased engine power to cause over seventy-five-hundred shaft-horsepower to pass through the gearbox and pull the fourteen-tonne beast away from the ground, even as Tigercat dangled a dozen feet beneath the helicopter. Then the helicopter shook as several bullets struck the port side and Goshawk screamed out as a high-powered bullet smashed through the armoured window beside her and burrowed deep into her left bicep.
"Goshawk, report!" Scorpion ordered.
"I'm . . . I'm okay; just fucking fly!" Goshawk responded as she forced herself to ignore her wound and focus on the screens before her.
Aft of the cockpit, Chief was willing the winch to move faster, even as the rescue litter reached the helicopter and he pulled the seven-foot-long litter into the helicopter. Across the helicopter, Surgeon was returning fire out of the port door with her L22A2 carbine. As they departed the area, Surgeon stowed the weapon and she went to work as what she was, grabbing her medical equipment and unstrapping the unconscious Tigercat. Once Chief was happy that they were no longer under attack, he moved forwards to the cockpit, and he started to treat the wounded Goshawk as the girl struggled to perform her duties.
"Get off me!"
"You're bleeding!" Chief responded pointedly.
"I think it was a through-and-through," Goshawk stated.
"Fucking Predators!" Chief groused.
With a heavy heart, Scorpion turned to the northeast and she made for the sea where they could curve around to the north and then a landing aboard CALICO QUEST with the wounded Tigercat and Goshawk.
Hit Girl vs Vito Genovese
Whatever Mediterranean diet the old man was on, it kept him healthy, Hit Girl considered.
He also had amazing stamina which he used to outsmart Hit Girl. Now, Hit Girl was of two minds. Should she end the fight quickly, or should she relish causing the man extreme pain? It was a damned conundrum to be true. The old man was underhand as he had escalated by producing a vicious-looking sap in one hand and an equally vicious-looking wooden club which appeared to be his own personal weapons. They were crude, but decidedly effective, Hit Girl decided as she was struck repeatedly on her armour. Despite the apparent age and skill gap between the two fighters, Hit Girl had a nagging feeling that she was again on the losing end of a fight, much like she had been with Frank D'Amico.
'Patience!' she told herself.
Impatience had almost been her undoing all those years before at the hands of Frank D'Amico. She had taken on far too much due to her anger and her inexperience. Now she was much older, and she had waited so long to end it that a few minutes more would not hurt, she knew. For the very first time, she started to understand what Dave often told her and she realised that she was the prime definition of impetuous at times. Looking at the fight from outside the box, Hit Girl realised that there was a bigger picture and Vito Genovese had not simply sat down to await her arrival without a plan to escape with all of his family. She thought back to how devious Frank and his brother, Ralph, had been. She had to assume that Vito was at least as devious as them, and Ralph D'Amico had been an extremely hard man to kill.
"You fight well for someone so hasty," Vito commented as they moved in a tight circle.
"Hasty?"
"You brought your entire organisation to take me down," Vito paused to laugh. "I should feel privileged, yes?"
Hit Girl had heard about the helicopters and the reinforcements, and she was certain that Vito had more up his dastardly sleeves; he was trying to distract her, why?
Whiskey One & Yankee One
GREY FOX & ODYSSEY
Down near the ocean, you might have thought that the two small boat crews were having a peaceful night.
At least Spark was hoping that all the danger would just pass her by. Her attention, and that of all the others was drawn to the thunderous roar from NIGHTSHADE as the helicopter passed overhead on the way back to CALICO QUEST. Though the crews were not part of the fight up at the house, they had been treated to an amazing light show as they had watched the fighting unfold from a very safe distance. They also knew that there were wounded which was worrying. But then Spark focussed her eyes on something out to sea. What was it? Something was glistening in the darkness – something white, maybe? Then it struck her like a slap in the face.
"Inbound from offshore!" she yelled out and Astute turned to see Spark pointing out to sea.
"Shit!" the man exclaimed as he hit the starter for the giant diesel engine.
A dozen yards away, Pyrrha had heard the same warning and she was starting her own diesel engine as Doctrina aboard GREY FOX and Ravage aboard ODYSSEY hauled up the anchors and the two Pacific 24 RHIBs gathered headway even as red tracer lanced out from the darkness. Pyrrha and Astute gunned the engines, the directional pump-jets spinning the RHIBs around and pointing their raised bows directly at the unknown enemy. In the bow of GREY FOX, Spark had lowered her NVGs and she could make out two similar RHIBs racing in their direction, the white-water churning beneath their bows having given the game away. The red tracer fire leapt out from a mounted machine gun in the bows of each enemy RHIB. The girl grasped the Minimi machinegun and she pulled back on the charging handle before she squeezed the trigger and a stream of green tracer arced out, causing the closest RHIB to alter course, the incoming bullets striking the water harmlessly to Spark's right. Aboard OSYSSEY, Obsidian squeezed her own trigger and she turned her weapon to follow the other RHIB as it turned on its beam ends to avoid the incoming death.
The four RHIBs twisted and turned as they endeavoured to strike at one another with their mounted machineguns.
Shadow vs Elena Genovese
Hit Girl was not alone with the worrying thoughts.
Shadow had had her own personal involvement with Ralph D'Amico, and she knew exactly how devious he, and by extension the Genovese family, could be when pushed. She had noticed Hit Girl hesitating in her attacks, just as she herself was. Elena appeared so happy, too content. There was no hint that the woman saw things ending badly for her or for her family. They had an ace in the hole, but what could that ace possibly be? Shadow was super intelligent, despite her often-impetuous behaviour, and her mind was racing through options and scenarios as fast as she could assemble the thoughts. She had heard what Vito had said, and he was right about them putting everything they had into the assault that night. It was a trap. Ralph D'Amico had loved to draw Fusion into his elaborate and very nasty traps. Anthony Genovese had drawn Fusion into a trap and Psyche had almost died.
The entire massed forces of Fusion/Vengeance/Honneur had walked into a potential hornet's nest, Shadow realised.
Alpha Two
The Panther helicopters had been able to put fourteen fresh fighters onto the ground before they had all been destroyed.
All fourteen were now engaging Alpha Two which was not fresh by any means. The firefight was increasing in its intensity and bullets were getting through despite Drift's tactics. Their body armour was their saving grace, but their bodies could only take so much bruising and his team was made of from some of the youngest vigilantes who were fighting well, but could not go on indefinitely due to their ages and stamina levels. Indeed, Rogue had already been shot twice, taking the young girl off her feet both times. She was angry at the attack and determined not to let anyone down, despite the sharp pain from the bruises on her torso. Beside Rogue, Glide was sticking with her friend, looking after one another, even as both were overshadowed by Nox and the two Chinese vigilantes: Tao Wu and Tao Tei. They were fighting real mercenaries who knew how to fight and, so far, none had gone down as they all wore high quality body armour.
But there was something strange and it took a few minutes for Petra to cotton onto the fact that none of the attackers were making any effort to advance, but they were effectively keeping the vigilantes pinned down in a set location. Then Petra began to put together several seemingly insignificant events. A short while earlier, she had smelt fuel, but she had put it off to the crashed helicopters and destroyed vehicles, but then she realised that the smell was diesel and not aviation fuel, and far too strong to have resulted from the odd cracked fuel tank. Then there was the strong smell of ammonia – again, she had put the smell off to them being in the countryside. However, her trained mind could easily put two and two together to make four, just as it could put common fertiliser (ammonium nitrate) and diesel fuel together to equal a nasty and decidedly violent explosion waiting to happen.
Then she noticed the liquid rushing past her feet from the slope above her.
Charlie One
CALEDONIA
At a command from Akuma in the Ops Room, a section of the raised forward deck, normally attributed to the sunbeds, moved apart and a sleek vicious weapon rose into the darkness.
"Standby gun action!" Akuma called out to Sleuth and then piped around the otherwise empty vessel.
Alya selected a contact on her radar screen in the Ops Room and she transferred the contact to the Narwhal fire-control system. On cue, the evil-looking weapon turned smartly twelve degrees to starboard and the optical sensor began to track onto the moving target using the infra-red glare from the vessel's hot diesel engine. As the mega yacht's bow rose and fell in the rolling seas, the gun remained fixed on the target, moving smoothly on its gyro-stabilised mount. In the Ops Room, Alya moved to sit before a console with a twenty-four-inch colour screen and an array of buttons which included a large red button and a key switch. Dominating the console were two joysticks, one to each side.
"Deck gun locked on target," Akuma called out. "Request permission for weapon release: Narwhal."
"Command approved for Narwhal engagement," Sleuth responded. "Gun action – shoot!"
Akuma reached and turned a key from 'SAFE' to 'PERMIT' causing a two-tone klaxon on the bow to cut through the sound of the crashing waves. Her right hand seized the right-hand joystick and she readied her forefinger over the trigger for two seconds. Then she squeezed the trigger for just two seconds and the 20-millimetre M621 cannon spat out a stream of two dozen rounds at a muzzle velocity of almost a thousand metres-per-second.
"Target!" Akuma called out as she moved back to the radar screen and she selected another moving target.
The Narwhal weapon system locked onto the next target which was manoeuvring and increasing speed as it raced to escape the fate of its twin.
Whiskey One & Yankee One
GREY FOX & ODYSSEY
The orange tracer fire had come out of nowhere and then the farthest RHIB had burst into flames before it then exploded before their very eyes.
Then they heard the announcement over the radio from Akuma and they were relieved to know that someone had their backs. But then as ODYSSEY came around a little too tightly, the three-ton rigid-hulled inflatable boat was caught by a large wave and the vessel was pushed beyond the point of no return and as the crew scrambled for handholds, Pyrrha screamed as she realised what was about to happen.
Remarkably quickly, the RHIB inverted and crashed down into the waves. The four members of the crew rapidly found themselves in the water with all four under the RHIB in the darkness of the inverted hull. There was the sound of someone screaming, and at first, Pyrrha had thought it to be herself, but no, as she swam forward, she found Scamp screaming and she grasped hold of the young girl and hugged her tightly for a moment to stop the screaming.
"Sound off!" Pyrrha ordered.
"Scamp!"
"Ravage!"
"Obsidian!"
"You all know the drill, get aft, get out from under the hull, and stay close by. DO NOT inflate your lifejackets as they will bring the enemy right to us – understand?" Pyrrha called out.
"Yes!" her crew responded as she pushed Scamp ahead of her.
Scamp was petrified – the inside of the inverted hull was dark and frightening to the youngster and she feared drowning above everything, but her mind kept telling her that she was safe. Surprisingly, everything was quiet. The diesel engine had cut out the moment they had inverted, and the gunfire was inaudible through the hull. After taking a deep breath, Scamp ducked down and she pushed herself out from under the inflatable collar to the outside where she could suddenly hear gunfire from a short distance away as GREY FOX fought against the remaining enemy RHIB. Scamp was rapidly joined by Ravage and then Obsidian with Pyrrha appearing last.
"Get aft, move!" Pyrrha ordered and the four vigilantes swam to the stern of the RHIB and then a few yards beyond, with Scamp, Ravage, and Obsidian holding onto a rope attached to the stern of the RHIB.
Pyrrha swam back to the stern of the RHIB and she held onto the jet propulsor for a moment as she fumbled for the righting line which she then yanked hard before rapidly swimming away. There was the sound of roaring gasses expanding and then amid a cloud of spray the large craft flipped right over and regained its normal arrangement except that above the stern A-frame an enormous grey capsize-reversal inflatable cylinder had exploded out to cause the RHIB to right itself. Quickly, Pyrrha waved her crew to the aluminium ladder situated at the stern and she pushed them aboard ahead of her before she too climbed aboard and rapidly restarted the monstrous diesel engine which caught immediately. By that time, Obsidian was in the bow inspecting the Minimi machinegun and preparing it for action. As for Ravage and Scamp, the pair regained their seating and readied their own weapons. Each carried a P90 which was secured to their webbing over their armoured dry suits and though the weapon was soaked, it would function perfectly despite the unexpected dunking.
Pyrrha pushed the throttle forward and ODYSSEY was once again back into the action as Obsidian re-engaged the enemy RHIB with the Minimi.
..._...
Astute had been genuinely concerned as he had lost sight of ODYSSEY from GREY FOX.
But he knew that the crew knew the drill for a capsize and after just two minutes, he had caught sight of the boat righting itself in a spray of water. A further minute or so later, he was relieved to see the RHIB racing across the waters, heading in their direction, the gun in the bow spitting out deadly tracer rounds. The bullets from both RHIBs found the enemy craft but were not doing enough damage. Then Akuma came over the radio.
"Whiskey One and Yankee One, bear away now!"
"Whiskey One; bearing away!"
"Yankee One; bearing away!"
Once the two RHIBs were suitably clear of the enemy, another streak of orange terminated at the enemy RHIB which promptly blew up, brightening up the dark sea for a fiery moment.
Alpha Two with elements of Bravo One
Petra had it all figured out in an instant and she began to issue orders as fast as she came up with them in a desperate attempt to save as many lives as was humanly possible.
"Alpha Two and Bravo One! Petra! Advance, now! Get close to the enemy and take them down, things are about to get hot – keep your masks on no matter what happens and ensure all exposed skin is covered. Move now!"
It was like a scene from World War I as troops went 'over the top'. In an instant, Alpha Two and the remaining elements of Bravo One swarmed over their defences and out of cover, obeying the order in an instant. Seventeen vigilantes surged forward, weapons firing with Drift and Stripe leading the charge with their heavier armour providing extra cover for the lighter armoured females behind. For the fourteen mercenaries it was totally unexpected and it upset the carefully laid plan as they found themselves coming under heavy counterattack which only became worse as the WMIK hove into view and heavier bullets began to pour in their direction. Necis stood behind the twin Maximi machineguns but she had to cease fire as friendlies entered her fire zone. Annoyed, she pushed her hands down to point the dangerous weapons skyward. She had heard Petra's order over the radio, but it made no sense for her to advance...
All thought ended as the fire zone erupted with an explosion of light and sound. The directed shockwave from the explosion passed up the drive, over the house and rumbled out towards the sea at a forty-degree angle, causing little more than a few cracked windows in the town below. The explosion had been explicitly designed not to take down the stone property, but it had been designed to take down the softer, weaker human body. A vicious cloud of yellow and orange flame billowed upward in a mini mushroom cloud and everything around for several kilometres was lit up like it was day. Necis found herself taken off her feet by the shockwave which shoved the WMIK over onto its left side, spilling the driver, Splinter, out onto the ground. Necis landed atop Custos who was in the perfect position to cushion her fall if not to prevent himself some heavy bruising as he was struck by his armour-clad friend.
However, they had taken the shockwave at a distance, and Noxa was more concerned with those in the fire zone, close to the centre of the explosion, than her friends who were obviously alive.
..._...
As Noxa and Trojan ran down the drive towards the fire zone and the explosive epicentre, they were both appalled to see many prone and supine bodies strewn throughout the fire zone.
The stone flags which formed the drive were severely blackened by the fuel-air explosion derived from the fertiliser fuelled detonation. Trojan knew that there had to be at least fifteen, and probably more, friendlies who had been right there at the very moment of detonation. He dropped to his knees beside the closest body and he recognised the armour of Ajax who lay face down and not moving. Beyond her were other recognisable forms, which included Arbiter, Psyche, Fury, Rogue, and Glide to name but a few. As Noxa moved forwards, her sub-machine gun raised, she carefully stepped around the . . . injured? At least she hoped that they were just injured, but she had to secure the area before she could start to check the bodies. Behind her, Trojan covered her every move. As Noxa passed the fallen bodies of Drift and Stripe, she found the shredded remains of the enemy. Several had died by the bullets of the attacking force, while the rest appeared to have died from or been incapacitated by concussive force as they had been exposed at the moment of the explosion. Noxa fired three bursts at movement, then turned away from the scene of death once she was happy that the enemy were no longer a threat.
Then came the next task of ascertaining who was still alive, if any.
The Fight
Again, and again the punches flew.
Kick-Ass took many punches, some of which almost took him off his feet; his two adversaries were extraordinarily strong. But then a monstrous explosion made the entire building shake and clouds of dust erupted from hidden spaces in the room. Kick-Ass saw Hit Girl look in his direction and neither dared to think about what might have just happened outside. Vito chuckled.
"In a game of chess, this is where I would say, 'check'!" the man grinned as he took the club across Hit Girl's left arm while the veteran was distracted.
As Hit Girl fell backwards, holding her left arm, she glared at Vito.
"What have you done!" she demanded angrily as she struggled to control her emotions.
"Hopefully, I have cut your forces by a third," Vito laughed as he laid into Hit Girl whose mind was full of concern for her family and friends.
Kick-Ass made to support Hit Girl but he found his legs kicked out from under him and a hard blow struck his back, not enough to wound, thanks to his armour, but enough to knock the air from his lungs.