Chapter 4: The Recall
Up to now, Aliprando's predictions had been right, but it did not make them feel better. On the contrary, they felt a not small amount of guilt for not acting to prevent the greater tragedies that took place.
The Recall signal was like a big weight being lifted off their shoulders, as it meant they could finally start intercepting and destroying the Talon teams that carried out the hits and acts of terror.
That being said, they weren't idly sitting around, waiting for the Recall – No, they had slithered their way into multiple large-scale communities, firms and agencies, which were - when necessary - even covered by Sombra.
Said connections enabled them to source weapons, materials, armor and other useful things like vehicles. They even managed to procure an older VTOL Transport, which was really just a replica of a SR-71 Blackbird with 6-man crew capacity and tiltable engines. The obvious trade-off was its signature speed, which was now only Mach 2 instead of Mach 3+.
In the time until the Recall, Dan and Aliprando also caught up with John on their past. They found out multiple, important things:
To start off, John wasn't just the Bloody Legion's armorer like the one back in their world. He had somewhat increased strength and reflexes, as well as a knack for anything mechanical, which was – admittedly - still similar to their John, but this one was very proficient with firearms, preferring a modified SAW light machine gun that fired Plasma bolts, as well as being decent at unarmed Hand-to-hand combat.
Additionally, it turned out that this world's Bloody Legion had worked with Overwatch for a while, before the assassination of the Aliprando and Dan from this world. This would likely make it easier to get former Overwatch agents to cooperate. That was their hope, at least.
On the other hand, concerning Combat prowess, not much had changed from their own world.
Aliprando excelled in Armed CQC, short range armed combat with his sword and SOCOM Mk. 23 as well as piloting any flying vehicle, while Dan specialised in Electronic warfare, with his .50 GI Model 1 as self-defence weapon.
John was adept at just about anything, from medical tasks all the way to disarming IEDs and firing artillery cannons. Thus, his weapons consisted of a fighting knife, the modified SAW and a MP7 that was modified to fire incendiary ammunition.
In addition, John already had - and still possessed - extensive connections thanks to the swiss secret service, giving him access to a vast network of secure channels to the MI6, the KGB and several other secret services which were still mostly unaffiliated with Talon. The last part they found out thanks to Sombra, luckily.
Both John and Aliprando had lost weight, but quickly regained it in Muscle mass during their year of training and readying themselves.
Dan had outfitted the VTOL Transport, which they took to calling the Firefly, with state-of-the-art electronics and avionics, giving the pilot a 360° field of view, as well as reinforcing the airframe to the point that it could take most combat manoeuvring that Aliprando could throw at it.
Additionally, he had added a front-facing GAU 30mm rotary cannon with EMP rounds, so it would be able to provide effective close air support against just about everything.
The Firefly had yet to be tested in actual Combat, but Aliprando was confident in its abilities, as he had been shot at by, and escaped, the German military several times while test flying.
So, the Recall rolled around, paving the way to strike back against Talon. Aliprando, Dan and John decided to close up shop and destroyed what they couldn't take with them, stuffing the rest in the cramped compartment of the Transporter.
They had decided to not immediately join Overwatch, or let their presence be known by them, much to Aliprando's dismay, who was looking forward to meeting the people he only knew as fictional characters.
"Never meet your idols" Dan berated him, "You'll only end up disillusioned."
As answer, Aliprando sighed begrudgingly. "I know, I know. So, what do we do first? My vote is still on seeking out Soldier: 76 and Bastet as the next option."
Aliprando had not told them about the real identities of the two vigilantes. He wasn't quite sure why himself, but his gut feeling was telling him that it wasn't a good idea.
John grunted. "Still not sold on the idea to recruit those two. From what you told us, they are not only stoic, they also assaulted former Overwatch bases and stole weapons from there. Sure, they clashed with Talon, but I'm not keen on splitting up just to go after some people who apparently couldn't care less about Overwatch." The potentially fruitless endeavour was inefficient, which he had pointed out several times.
"Not only that, we don't even know who we're really dealing with." Dan piped up, putting on the Harness strapping him to the Seat in the Transporter.
Aliprando sighed. "Alright, so we'll put that off until either an opportunity arises to get in contact with both of them, or until next year?" he was pinching the bridge of his nose now.
John and Dan looked at each other. "Hell, why not." John said "I'm still the master of procrastination."
Dan chuckled. "Well, that's for sure. But on a serious note, I say we first crush the Talon strike team that you said would be going after Mercy, then make sure Doomfist's gauntlet stays where it should."
He was already swiping around on his holotablet, bringing up maps that they had procured in advance. Aliprando had worked out what Talon's and Overwatch's next moves were, leaning on game lore and his admittedly mediocre ability to judge the reaction of said organisations.
Aliprando huffed. "I already told you, Mercy will be safe, and the Gauntlet will be, too."
Dan wagged his finger at him. "Sure, but they are easy angles to get familiar and close with future and former Overwatch agents. We need to have them trust us if we want to pull this off successfully." He proceeded to pull up a Map of Egypt, a Red dot strobing over the city of Cairo. "And who better than your fellow Countrywoman." He finished with a scheming smirk.
Aliprando and John looked at each other, sighing. "Point taken" Aliprando began, "I'll get us to Kairo. But I am not familiar with what will happen there, so I Implore you to stay vigilant."
"Its Cairo, Ali." John snarkily corrected him, earning an eyeroll from Aliprando.
Roughly a week later, Cairo
She ran a hand trough her blonde hair, sighing. Jack had always been good at rationalizing things.
In his former position, flexibility of thought was vital, and it seemed that it had made its way into his new life.
"I'm getting closer to the truth" he had argued, almost sounding obsessed.
Angela had decided not to answer the Recall, still haunted by the life she was trying to forget, but now was confronted by both Jack Morrison turned Soldier: 76 and Ana Amari under the Alias of Bastet.
The prime figures of said life.
"The truth", she said, unamused.
Jack ranted on about finding the truth to the circumstances leading them up to where they were.
"About everything. That's my new mission." He said.
Angela scoffed. "New. All that is new is the masks on your faces." She remarked, clearly not buying it.
Jack was clearly agitated now. "What would you have me do then? Join Winston at Gibraltar? You really think that those who brought down Overwatch won't bring them down as well?"
Jack was right, of course, and Angela knew it. Just another reason why she did not want to go back.
"Let Winston play hero" Jack continued, "While I do what needs to be done. Reyes, Ogundimu, Maximilien, Vialli, Sombra, O'Deorain and the rest. They will get what is coming for them."
Angela felt a shiver run down her Spine at the mention of Reyes. She'd been there for the burial of the three of them, and now they were back in her life, changed to an almost unrecognizable degree.
"All of us were responsible. Overwatch is gone, and your personal revenge won't change a thing."
Angela argued, knowing it wouldn't matter to Jack. She was right on the mark, of course.
"Someone has to make them pay." Jack rumbled. "I will get Justice."
A knock on the door caused Angela to jump, while Ana and Jack donned their masks within a split second and Aimed their rifles at the door. It opened slowly, revealing Aliprando with raised hands.
"Bad time to make a snarky remark?" he asked, awkwardly smiling.
For a few seconds, none of them moved or spoke. "Who are you?" Jack was the first to ask.
Aliprando blinked, mumbling something unintelligible, dropping his hands, then shook his head "My name is Aliprando de Guerri. I came looking for Dr. Ziegler." He pointed at Angela.
Bastet and Soldier looked at each other, shrugging. "Go on." They said almost at the same time while Angela smoothed her Lab coat.
"How can I help?" She asked, once she was satisfied that she wasn't looking completely dishevelled.
Aliprando sighed. "Well, it's a long story. The good part is that both those old knobheads are already here, so we won't have to comb the globe for them I guess." He said, pointing at Bastet and Soldier: 76, causing them to grow wary at the remark.
Aliprando quickly raised his hands in mock surrender. "Whoa there, not to fight. Not you at least. Just to talk with you three."
Angela suppressed a yawn. "Can it wait? I've been up for almost 48 hours by now, and caffeine only gets you so far."
Aliprando nodded in understanding. "I hear ya. Is tomorrow same time a good idea?" He asked, getting a Nod from the swiss doctor in response. He turned to Bastet and Soldier. "And you two, do you have a moment? I'd like to talk." He asked, hopefully.
Soldier grunted in what Aliprando guessed was affirmation, while Bastet nodded. "Not here, the Doctor needs her sleep." She added, leading Aliprando and Soldier outside of Angela's apartment.
"We better do this somewhere where people can't listen in." Aliprando suggested, "Follow me, please."
Soldier and Bastet grew wary once again, reluctantly following the, to them, unknown man.
He led them to the outskirts of Cairo, approximately 10 minutes walk away from the Apartment, where the trio came upon a large shed. Aliprando swiftly entered, gesturing the two old soldiers to follow with a wave.
They were now thoroughly wary, entering with their weapons at the ready.
Inside they were met with the sight of an Ancient cargo jet, with electrical equipment scattered around its landing gear, Cables connecting the Jet and the equipment. Two more young men were working away at, what the two soldiers guessed to be, armor and weapons.
Aliprando greeted them with a "Guess who I found, shitheads" to which the two raised their heads to look at them.
The taller one with brownish hair looked confused, while the other, Spectacled man, just gave a slack jawed expression.
"Is that-" John started, putting down his tools. "Ali, are you pranking us again? It wasn't funny a week ago, and it isn't funny now." He said, annoyedly pointing at Aliprando.
Dan sighed, putting down his tools as well. "No, he isn't John. They've got heat signatures."
John raised a brow at Dan. "Didn't you say that the HUD contact lenses weren't done yet?"
Dan shrugged at him, walking towards Aliprando and the two Soldiers. "That was Friday. And the only reason I wasn't finished is because Athena insisted on getting her Sat Link installed first." He called over his shoulder.
Both Soldier and Bastet almost imperceptibly flinched at the mention of the AI, though somewhat less vary, convinced that anyone connected to Athena was at least not Talon.
As Dan got close to the three, he pulled out a small satchel from his pocket, holding it towards them.
"Here's your set. They basically work like normal contacts, but they are self cleaning and you won't have to take them out."
Aliprando took the satchel and stuffed it in his pocket. "Not as keen on relying on that as you are. But thanks anyways. Though, do make sure John doesn't get his hands on them, he'll definitely use it to peep on the next best woman."
John mouthed something in protest as Dan turned to the two old soldiers. "Now, how can we help you?" he asked them.
Aliprando shook his head. "We're the ones asking them for help. Well, more like a few pointers." He also turned to face the two, now befuddled, soldiers. "Would that be alright with you?" he asked.
Jack grumbled at them, "We're not here to play hero, and we certainly aren't going to join you." Causing Ana to sigh. "What he means to say, is, you can ask, but don't expect much."
Aliprando started smiling. "Perfect, that's all we really need. So, to start off, I'm not entirely sure why you haven't shown your former teammates that you are still alive. These two," he pointed at Dan and John behind him "don't know who you are beside your Alias' but I do. I won't tell anyone unless you allow or tell me to, just so you know."
Ana and Jack had grown tense as he revealed his knowledge, relaxing just slightly at his promise of secrecy.
Ana replied first. "Well, for me there just wasn't a good opportunity, as working under the guise of being dead was a lot safer at the time." She explained, sighing.
Jack just scoffed. "A dead man won't be looked for. The less they know, the safer they are."
Aliprando felt a twang of annoyance at Jacks reply. "So, you're just gonna leave them in the dark to protect them? But distressing the mostly defenceless Dr. Ziegler was fine, because what? Her self-healing Valkyrie suit?"
Jack only growled in response, while Ana shook her head. "You don't understand, Mr. Guerri. Talon is- "
Aliprando held up his hand to stop her. "I know well about Talon's machinations and habits, Am- Bastet." He shook his head before calling her by her Alias. "But, as you say, I don't see the point. Every single one of you can easily hold their own against them, but only to a certain point. Sure, its harder for them to effectively track you if you're split up, but they eventually can and will track them down to kill them. What you should be doing, is, at least forming smaller groups to gain a strength in numbers. I know there are many that the two of you could ask for help, so why won't you?" He had slowly talked himself into his growing annoyance.
Ana chuckled, her soft voice filling the room, "There's only so many that will help a dead woman. Much less a disgraced Overwatch leader." She patted Jack on his shoulder.
Jack shrugged her off. "This is a waste of time." He grumbled on, but didn't turn to leave.
John squinted. "Are you who I think you are?" He asked, earning an elbow to the side from Dan.
Aliprando sighed, running a hand over his face. "I get your point, but still, why hide from the people you considered Family or brothers and sisters in arms? Wouldn't they be able to help?"
Jack sighed, surprising them with his display of exasperation. "I'm here so they won't get dragged into this. I'm here so they won't have to do what I do. So that what happened, won't happen again."
Aliprando stared at him for a few seconds.
"Alright, what the hell. Look, I understand not wanting to drag those you care about into the line of
fire, but what you are doing is taking vital information away from them and you know it. Yes yes,
I know they can handle themselves, but they aren't invincible. Once Talon gets a bead on them, they will undoubtedly send anything from a strike team to an army after them. Every gun at their side increases their chances of their survival."
Jack put his Pulse rifle on his back and crossed his arms. "So why don't you join them? As you said, every man makes a difference." He shot back.
Aliprando waved at him dismissively "We will join them, just not yet. But right now, we're trying to keep Talon from stopping them before they even begin." He turned away from them, spreading his arms, then let them fall. "That's why we're here. An old acquaintance of Dr. Ziegler has fought off two Talon agents, he is currently heading here, but we do not know why. My guesses are that he is either being followed by a small army from Talon, or that there's a planned attack on Cairo, or that some of the… more dangerous agents are out for Dr. Ziegler. Hell, maybe its all three of them."
He turned to them again as he finished.
Jack unfolded his arms, clenching his fists. "Why are you telling us this?"
Ana seemed lost in thought for a moment. "You said 'some of the more dangerous agents', do you think Reaper is going to appear?"
Aliprando shrugged. "As I said, I don't know, but it is entirely possible. I also thought about warning the Doctor, but I fear that she will just spend more sleepless nights without being able to change anything. Warning the city will not only warn Talon of our presence, but the corrupt Government is likely to come after us, seeing as how they take money from Talon." He dragged a hand across his face. "And honestly, we're gonna have enough on our hands to try and save as many as we can when Talon hits, which should be in roughly two days' time."
Jack shook his head, scoffing. "Angela is going to be more despaired over the dead than over some lost sleep." He started walking out the door but stopped just short of it. He looked over his shoulder. "If what you said is true, there's a lot of work to do. For all of us. Ana and I will make sure the doctor gets a good night's sleep, but I'm expecting you to do your part and save as many as you can. Show me that the Bloody Legion still is what it used to be when I worked with you."
Aliprando grinned as he saluted the old soldier. "Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo."
If I cannot move Heaven, I shall raise hell.
Soldier mentioned Ana to follow him, chuckling at the phrase as they left the Shed.
The last time they had heard it, the Legion had laid down many lives to protect the citizens of Detroit. Aliprando had led the charge against the Omnic waves, yelling their war cry, every time coming back more bruised and battered alongside his comrades, his brothers and sisters in arms.
He had survived the defence, just to be killed in the plane crash a day later alongside most of his friends. Even Jack had felt some amount of grief, tough little did he interact with the man.
After all, it wasn't every day you'd find soldiers, mercenaries no less, that would risk their lives for strangers, not for money, but just for food and lodging.
"What do you say we do?" Ana asked him as they left the Shed. Jack shrugged in response.
"We see what happens. We'll stay here until the attack is over. We have a high chance we encounter Reyes, and we might even save some citizens. Win-Win, no?" he raised an eyebrow, smiling under his mask.
Ana chuckled at him, shaking her head. "I'm starting to think you're hoping he's the Aliprando that you went to the bar with."
Two days later
The sound of explosions woke them. Without skipping a beat, they donned their combat gear and readied their Transporter. Since Aliprando was the only one capable of Piloting it, Dan and John would focus on evacuating and rescuing the civilians from the ruins of the once beautiful city.
They'd perform a Halo manoeuvre, get in, secure a LZ, establish a perimeter, get the Civilians, get out. Easy, right?
They hit the first bump when a kill squad of Talon soldiers caught wind of the LZ and approached.
While Aliprando made short work of them with the GAU 30, it alerted Talon of their presence.
From this point on, the sky was lit up by tracer rounds and Anti-Air missiles. Aliprando managed to dodge most of them until they got three dozen people out.
Then, the Firefly was shot down by Talon. A Missile had exploded below the aircraft, shearing off the engines.
Aliprando had made it out, just far enough from the erupting fireball of the wreckage. He had jumped out the cockpit escape hatch, hoping to grab the ledge of a nearby high rise.
He missed.
With a sickening crunch, he broke his legs as he landed on the rubble. They healed within two minutes, while he waited for the Talon strike team to arrive and start shooting at him.
He retaliated with his Mk. 23, taking two of the five grunts out until his legs had healed fully. He got up, produced his sword and charged at them, a blood curling scream erupting from his throat, making the soldiers take a step back and hesitating.
The first of the three survivors started to charge at him, shotgun at the ready. He never got to fire it, as Aliprando cut it apart horizontally, along the barrel, along with the soldier's head.
He kept charging as the two remaining soldiers turned to run. He shot one in the leg making him drop, then in the head as he passed him, still sprinting after the last one.
As he reached the last one, he tackled him to the ground. After a short scuffle, Aliprando turned the soldier on his back and pointed the pistol at his face. "Talk. Who, when, why." He gruffly said.
The soldier remained quiet; his red visor pointed away from him defiantly. Aliprando shot him in both kneecaps, eliciting a scream from the soldier.
"Oh, so you do have vocal cords. Come on, tell me. I promise I won't rape you if you do." He threatened, with a terrifying smile on his face.
The soldier started stammering. "I-I don't know! They- they tell us nothing! Just to kill the – the civilians! The aircraft was an unknown parameter, so they told us to take it out!" he said with a terrified whimper.
He was quickly silenced with a shot to the head as Aliprando decided he'd get nothing useful out of him.
As he stood up and looked around him, his earpiece crackled to life. "Sword, this is Drone, how copy?" Dan reached out to him, probably concerned after the crash.
Aliprando put a finger up to it as he replied. "Drone, this is Sword, copy 5/5. Proceed with Evac of Civilians. I'll divert OpFor. Over."
Dan replied with a short "affirm" before the comms went quiet again.
Aliprando contemplated about how to grab Talon's attention as he heard a familiar growl nearby.
"Die, Die, DIE!", followed by countless gunshots.
"Well, that's convenient." He said, making his way towards the yelling and gunfire. He pushed the slide of his pistol back halfway, making sure a round was chambered, then pulled the magazine out to check on remaining rounds.
6 rounds left in the gun, three magazines with 12 rounds each on his holster. He'd make do.
He arrived at the scene, witnessing Jack and Ana engaging Reaper in a fierce firefight. Reaper's death blossom had just ended, leaving Ana to heal Jack with her Healing darts. Morrison was immobilized, thus vulnerable to Reaper, who was now slowly walking towards him, a low chuckle emanating from his owl-like mask.
He stopped chuckling as a round from Aliprando's gun found his stomach, cursing as he pressed a gloved hand over the wound.
"Hey, Emo boy! Get away from my daddy!" Aliprando yelled at Reaper, walking towards him with his gun raised and an evil smile on his lips.
Reaper quickly retaliated with his shotguns as he slowly retreated, causing Aliprando to jump behind some rubble for cover.
It had bought Ana and Jack enough time to heal the latter, remobilizing him. They decided to ignore Aliprando's remark as they circled around Reaper, who was now standing straight again, chuckling once more as black smoke kept wafting around him.
Aliprando popped out of cover again, pointing his gun at Reaper once more. "Your Nanobots don't scare us, Gabriel! I've seen Jack's face, it's way scarier!" he quipped again, nodding to Soldier: 76 at the remark.
Jack chuckled at the remark, surprising Ana, but they kept their guns trained at Reaper.
Reaper, however, stopped chuckling. He seemed surprised at the mention of his name.
After a second of seeming lost in thought, he stared at Aliprando. "Didn't I kill you before?" he asked him. "Yes, now I remember. I killed the pilot of the Plane you took to return from an Omnic attack!"
Aliprando tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow "No, that wasn't you. That was before the fall, knobhead. You got to try better than that if ya wanna agitate me, Reyes!" he chuckled, firing three rounds at Reaper's head.
Reaper dodged Aliprando's shots, but was hit by Jack's Helix rockets in the back. He was thrown forward, towards Aliprando, who was now charging him with his longsword. Reaper fired his shotguns at him, hitting him in the left leg and right arm, watching is surprise when the wounds healed as Aliprando hobbled towards him.
"We suffer the same curse, my friend." The latter chuckled, stabbing his sword in the baffled Reaper's chest, just form him to turn into smoke and disappear with another dark chuckle.
Aliprando looked around him, his limbs fully healed once more, sword in hand. "He gone?" he asked Jack and Ana.
The two soldiers looked at each other, "Hell if I know." Jack said. Ana just shrugged, shooting Aliprando with a healing dart, causing the last few wounds to heal completely.
Aliprando awkwardly bent down to pull the syringe out, holding it up with two fingers. "I hate syringes." He muttered, throwing it back at Ana. She caught it and stuffed it in her belt. "But thanks anyways. My healing factor usually only heals mortal or critical wounds." He said as he sheathed his sword, only for it to disintegrate into nothing.
Jack walked up to him, putting a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for the help there, but we'd have managed. How many civilians did you get out?" he asked, still looking around for signs of Reaper.
Aliprando turned his comms back on. "Drone, Makina, this is Sword, how copy?" he asked into the static.
Jack turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "Your callsing is 'Sword'?" he asked incredulously.
Aliprando chuckled and was about to reply as the coms lit up.
"Sword, this is Makina! Copy 5/5! Drone got 30 souls out of the hot zone, but there are two dozen OpFor heading from the LZ towards you! Keep your comms turned on next time!" John replied annoyedly. Aliprando took mental note to heed his advice and keep the receiver on for coming missions. I really was too used to just muting the voice chat on games, he thought, unholstering his pistol again, looking at Ana and Jack.
"We got two patrols of 24 OpFor each heading our way, better get ready." He said to them, but they were preoccupied with their own comms. He tilted his head to the side. "What's wrong?" he asked them, curious.
Ana looked worried. "We just lost contact with Angela." Was all she said before she and Jack sprinted towards the Doctor's last known location.
After a second of realization, Aliprando sprinted after them, swearing under his breath.
He quickly caught up with the two, holstering his pistol again, yelling into his own comms.
"Drone, this is Sword! Ready all UAVs and send them to my location, armed as heavily as you can! Hell, put the HEAT charges on them if you can, as well as two drones with Biotic beams! we need all the firepower we can get and Mercy is likely injured and needs Medevac! We won't be able to hold OpFor back with injured to care for!"
Ana and Jack both shot a sidelong glance at him, somewhat relieved that they'd get at least some form of backup to rescue the injured healer.
Even though they were in full sprint, Aliprando took out the small box they had seen Dan give to him, taking out the contacts and putting them in his eyes, wincing.
"Fuck I hate contacts!" he yelled again, vaulting over a pile of rubble as the HUD booted up.
After a short moment, he blinked and slid to a halt at Mercy's last known location. Jack and Ana came to a halt beside him, incredulously looking at him stare at the ground.
"Come on, where are you…" he mumbled, searching the ground and nearby rubble.
"What are you doing?" Ana asked as Jack scanned the perimeter. "Looking for heat signatures." Aliprando replied, looking at her for a short moment. "It clearly works, so why is there nothing?"
After another few seconds of strained anticipation, he jerked his head towards a particular spot. "There!" he exclaimed, jogging towards it. "Three people! Two children and an Adult with- Wings? Guys, it's her!" He started pulling away massive chunks of rubble as Jack and Ana ran towards him to help.
After a short while, they cleared a path into the building, revealing a battered and bruised Mercy, as well as two children who were barely better off.
Ana immediately readied her healing darts and Jack put down one of his biotic fields, as Aliprando helped the injured Doctor over the rubble that was once the staircase, into the doorway, setting her down in range of the field.
The boy and the girl shied away from the Imposing Soldier:76 and the Masked Vigilante known as Bastet. Aliprando pulled the two old soldiers away, setting them beside Mercy.
They tried to protest as he walked towards the children, hands open and raised to his shoulders.
He put out his arms, showing them his hands. "It's all good, we won't hurt you." He said, as if trying to approach scared animals "We're just trying to help. These two old meanies there – "- he pointed at Jack and Ana, speaking with a sing song voice – "won't hurt you. They are just scary looking."
The children stared at him as he crouched down before them. "Come on," he said softly, "Let's get you out of here." Reaching out a hand towards them.
They slowly inched towards it, grabbing it softly. "I promise I will keep you safe." Aliprando further assured them, slowly standing up again. He led them towards the now clearly healthier looking Doctor, who picked the girl up, setting her on her arm and led the boy by his hand. "Thank you, Mr. Guerri." She said with a tired, but thankful voice.
Aliprando nodded, shooing her in the direction of the Extraction zone. "Yes, yes, thank me later. For now, head for exfil, we've got six Talon squads heading here, and you're definitely not going to approve of my method of getting rid of them."
Of course, after the last comment, she tried to protest, but as Ana and Jack also shooed her, she left with the children just as Dan's drones arrived. Aliprando signalled two of the Combat drones to follow and protect the three.
Two of the medium sized hexacopters broke off the formation and followed them quietly, at roof level.
The rest of the roughly fifty drones formed a massive cloud around the three soldiers, with the two healer drones hovering beside them. Now confident of easily repelling the Talon strike team, they readied their weapons as Ana quickly scaled a building, setting up her sniper position.
The drones started to attach themselves to walls and the insides of buildings, leaving only the two healer drones, with one quietly sitting beside Ana.
The Talon squads started surrounding them shortly after. Aliprando chuckled in response, a wicked smile growing on his lips as he unsheathed his sword and cocked his pistol.
"Drones, music please. Make it… fun." He said with a calm voice. The drones started playing Kickstart my Heart as Aliprando and Soldier lightly chuckled. "Good choice." Jack said to him as the Drums kicked in.
Suddenly, Aliprando sprang forward, screaming "COWABUNGA IT IS, MY BOYS!", almost instantly arriving at the first soldiers, shooting one in the groin and decapitating the soldier next to him, madly grinning all the way.
Jack let loose a barrage of pulse ammunition on any soldier that was unlucky enough to find himself in his crosshairs, trying to cover the erratically moving Aliprando.
Oh, are you ready girls?
Oh, are you ready now?
Ooh, yeah
Kick start my heart, Give it a start
Ooh, yeah, baby Ooh, yeah
Kick start my heart, hope it never stops
Ooh, yeah, baby
Even Jack had a hard time keeping up. Thus, as one lucky, or rather unlucky soldier, got the drop on the swordsman, Jack couldn't keep up. The Soldier raised his rifle, but was interrupted as a Drone sprang off the wall and hit him in the head with its body. A small explosion erupted, spraying a jet of molten copper through the soldier's head, into the ground behind him, the music growing louder.
Jack froze for a second. So that's what he meant. He thought to himself, now focusing on random soldiers, confident that Aliprando wouldn't get stabbed in the back by another lucky soldier.
Skydive naked from an aeroplane
Or a lady with a Body from outer space
My heart, my heart
Kick start my heart
Say I got trouble, Trouble in my eyes
I'm just looking for Another good time
My heart, my heart
Kick start my heart
As Aliprando went around shooting, gutting and decapitating soldiers, more and more drones sacrificed themselves for the protection of the trio. Five protected Ana as a squad and a commander went to hunt her down. They got done in before even reaching her floor.
Another three covered Jack who, for the first time in a while, just let loose and shot and kicked and stabbed anything that got close.
By the end, they had 34 drones left, most of them killing soldiers that came up behind or laid waiting for Aliprando, only to be taken out by said drones.
Jack had five gunshot wounds. Two through his left arm, one per leg and a graze on his back. A soldier had gotten the drop on him as he charged past an alley, peppering him with the high-calibre ammunition of Talon's assault rifles. One drone went down in Jack's protection there.
Ana was mostly unhurt, though tired. "Well done." She patted Jack on the back, making him wince as she hit him where the bullet grazed him.
The music rang out as Aliprando limped towards them.
He was by far the worst off. He had fought with no thought to himself, only reacting to avoid fatal shots to the head and heart. As a result, he had nearly 40 gunshot wounds, though mostly flesh wounds, and bled from his chest and out his mouth.
He was bloodied and battered, making Jack recall the days of Detroit's defence.
Aliprando pointed at Jack, grinning devilishly, saying "Told you. If heaven won't be moved, I will move hell." Before collapsing before them, unconscious.
Ana and Jack moved to help him, watching once more in awe as his wounds closed within seconds.
He stayed unconscious as Ana took his vitals. "Remarkable." She said "I've only ever seen this with Reyes before." They made no move to heal him, instead Jack carried him over his shoulder, all the way back to exfil, the drone swarm surrounding them once more.
They were greeted by John, dressed in army fatigues and armor, carrying a modified SAW LMG, firing plasma bolts at more Talon soldiers. He covered for them as they retreated past the makeshift fortification.
Daniel was inside a tent, yelling at his computer screen as he worked on one of the damaged drones that had made it back. About half of them were destroyed, covering Ana and Jack as they brought Aliprando back.
"- and I don't care, Athena! The only reason I made these is to protect my brothers and sisters of the Legion, I will not use them to outright attack anyone! They lay in wait around my squad, if OpFor gets too close, they spring into action. No more, no less. I won't use them to eliminate Talon from afar, we've got to draw the line somewhere and I refuse to go all 'murica up in here!"
He laid down his tools in frustration, dragging a hand over his distressed face. He sighed, then turned towards the three arrivals before Athena replied. "How bad is it this time?" he asked them flatly.
Jack and Ana looked confused. "What?" they asked in unison.
Dan pointed at Aliprando. "How badly did he get hurt this time? Did he even try to not get shot?" he asked, exasperated.
Jack shrugged. "can't speak for the former, but the latter is definitively a no." he said, putting the still unconscious Aliprando down on a wooden bench nearby.
Ana sighed. "Well, by my count he has almost 40 gunshot wounds, lost about half his blood, and has been unconscious for almost 20 minutes. I'd say he should be dead, if he didn't heal so quickly. He was about two or three shades paler when Jack picked him up, and I can no longer see the entry wounds." She had lifted his bloodied and crusted shirt up, pointing at his stomach. "If not for all the blood and him being unconscious, I'd say he's unhurt."
Dan visibly relaxed. "Oh, that's it? I was worried he had taken a bullet to the spine again." He waved off, crossing his arms. "You can just leave him on that bench, he should wake up in a couple minutes or so." He said as Mercy, still in her battered Valkyrie suit, entered. "Mr. Kessler, you said I could perform- Oh my god is that Mr. Guerri?"
She hurriedly went over to him to examine him, only to find copious amounts of dried blood, but no wounds.
Aliprando wearily opened his eyes as she examined the blood on his stomach.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're checking me out, Ms. Ziegler." He weakly groaned, a mocking smile forming on his face.
She drily waved him off. "I'm sure you can differentiate between a Doctor at work and a woman sizing you up, so save that for later. Is that your blood?" she went on, without skipping a beat.
"I realize that I have to thank you for helping me and those two-" she pointed at Ana and Jack "out and that I really have no say in the matter, but you need to look after yourself."
Aliprando softly pushed her off and stood up, supporting himself against the wall. "You're welcome, yes it's my blood. Mostly at least. And no, you have no say in the matter, I do what I want." He gruffly responded, walking past her and to the workbench that Dan was leaning against.
"So, Dan, what's left? What's next?" he asked Dan, turning around to look at Ana, Jack and Dr. Ziegler. Aliprando was looking healthier by the minute now, only betrayed by the blood soaking his skin and clothes.
Dan looked at the ground, mulling over an answer. After a few moments, he looked back up.
"I managed to make contact with Baptiste via our inside man, in exchange for our current position.
Seems he had the same idea, so we just ended up sharing locations. He's currently headed here, about five hours out. Dr. Ziegler, this Baptiste said he knows you personally and would like to speak with you once he arrives." He looked at Mercy when he mentioned Baptiste.
Mercy looked surprised. "Oh, he's alive? That's great news!" a small smile graced her features as she replied.
Dan nodded at her. "I'll bring him to you once this blows over. He is being hunted by Talon and is not keen on running in on another assault, backup through us or not." He then walked outside, speaking into his comms.
Aliprando sighed, crossing his arms. "Well, that's that. Me and what remains of the Legion are going to move to London in two days' time. Until then we're going to focus on eradicating Talon presence from Cairo. While it won't last, it'll make our departure easier, considering we lost our Transport. If you want to tag along, feel free." With that, he left the Tent as well, leaving Jack, Ana and Mercy alone.
They looked at each other, wordlessly nodding.
Mercy went to the workbench and started pulling off the pieces of armor, with the help of Ana, while Jack stripped his rifle and went to maintain it.
They worked into the evening, later joined by John who propped his LMG up on its bipod on the workbench and let himself drop face first onto the small bed that was hidden in one of the corners of the tent, along more bunkbeds.
They went to rest in the other bunkbeds not long after.