The Ether Conflict
Chapter 3: The Black Wolf
Miho opened her eyes slowly, peering into the relatively dark interior of the crew compartment of the Panzer IV. Rubbing her eyes with her left hand and blinking a few times to focus her eyesight, Miho looked around. She immediately noticed that she was alone inside the tank, the rest of the girls missing. She also noticed that there was complete silence, meaning that the tank's engine was off.
I must have fallen asleep, she thought as she exited through her hatch and climbed down from the tank. Scanning her surroundings, everywhere see looked were trees that were illuminated by the evening sun.
We are in a forest? she thought. If so, where are the others? Rounding the tank, she quickly spotted Saori speaking with Hana, Mako and Annabelle.
"Miporin, you woke up!" Saori said, seeing Miho walking slowly towards them.
"Have you had a good sleep Miho?" Hana asked her friend.
"Yeah, I feel much better now. Uhm, where is Yukari?" Miho asked, looking around for a certain tank-loving individual.
"She is with Odysseus, scouting the edge of the forest," Annabelle said, pointing at the direction, where the edge of the forest was.
"I see. What time is it?"
"Around 7 pm. Though we have been here since 5."
"I have been sleeping for at least two and a half hours? Then why didn't anyone wake me up?" Miho said, a bit surprised at how much she had slept.
"You seemed like you needed some sleep, so we decided to leave you rest up a bit," Hana answered.
"Hey girls!" Before Miho could respond, a loud voice is heard, accompanied by the sound of leafs getting crashed and boots hitting dirt.
"Welcome back Commander. How was your excursion?" Annabelle asked the blonde girl that stood in front of her. A bit behind Odysseus was Yukari, walking towards Miho and the rest of the girls.
"Good evening Miss Nishizumi," Yukari said, waving at Miho.
"Good evening Yukari, how was the scouting?", Miho asked.
"It was fine, we only went until the edge of the forest," she answered back.
"What did you find?"
"The base's perimeter is five meters from the edge of the forest and is only a chain link fence. We didn't see any patrols passing by, which is weird," Odysseus piped up, having overheard Miho's question. "Though it would be better to wait for intel from HQ about the enemy's strength."
"You know, we are the ones that must contact them," Annabelle reminded her commander.
"Oops, I forgot about it. I'll go and contact them now," she said and ran to the tank to contact HQ.
"It's a wonder how she is still alive," Annabelle sighed loudly.
"And you aren't the only one with that question in mind."
"Tyler and Reiji, it seems you made it back just fine."
"It's not like we went out of the bounds of the forest. We also found some interesting things," Tyler said after waving at the rest of the girls.
"It seems that their patrols are very small and scarce. We also found a large cliff that is next to the east side of the base," Reiji said calmly.
"It could provide a very good sniping position," Miho said with a thoughtful expression.
"Hey, I got our infooooo!" Odysseus, having tripped on the root of one of the trees, screamed as she crashed on the ground face first, a loud thud marking her contact with the dirt.
"Seriously, can you not act childish, clumsy or unprofessionally for just a second?" Tyler said, while Annabelle dusted off some of the dirt and leafs that had stuck on Odysseus' face and hair.
"Thanks mom!" Odysseus said with a silly grin, which made the girls giggle a little.
"You never learn, do you?" Annabelle sighed lightly, a smile forming on her face.
Helping her to stand up, Annabelle proceeded to pat her clothes lightly to clean them. "Thanks for helping me," Odysseus said with a sincere smile on her face, before turning to face Miho. "I got the info from HQ."
"I think we should first build a campfire. It will be nightfall soon, so we have to gather some firewood," Reiji suggested and everyone nodded.
"I'll go gather some firewood then!" Odysseus said and bolted deeper into the forest, looking for firewood.
"I'll go help her. I really can't leave her alone," Annabelle said, before following Odysseus.
"They act like mother and child," Mako bluntly said, causing both Reiji and Tyler to laugh.
"That's a first! I never thought about it!" Tyler managed to say between his laughs.
"Indeed. Though I'd say Annabelle wouldn't be too happy about it," Reiji said with a smile.
"How close are they?" Saori asked.
"They are best friends. Though most of the time Annabelle tends to watch over Odysseus to makes sure she won't do anything dumb."
"I think we should help with the campfire," Miho interjected and everyone nodded in agreement.
2 hours later
Night has fallen once more, as the sun has given its position to the moonless sky that is illuminated by the bright stars that adore it. Deep into the forest burns a small campfire, illuminating the surrounding area with much needed light. The light illuminated the right side of the tanks, which had been placed between the light source and the enemy base to make sure the campfire wouldn't be spotted. Around the campfire sat nine people, seven girls and two boys, casually conversing.
"And that's what the UAVs could see," Odysseus said, having told them what information she had gotten from HQ.
"It is troubling. This is supposed to be their main base, why would they have so few forces stationed, it doesn't make any sense," Miho said, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Maybe they have sent them somewhere?" Saori suggested.
"That wouldn't make any sense. Since it is their main base, you'd expect them to leave behind a sizeable force to defend it," Tyler said, throwing some branches in the campfire to keep it lit.
"It could be a trap. Make yourself seem vulnerable and when your target comes, ambush them," Mako said.
"That would be too risky. And these are bandits we are talking about, they are the barbarians of the games," Odysseus said.
"Implying that they are too dumb for such a strategy?" Annabelle asked.
"Exactly!" Odysseus responded with a grin.
"Underestimate the enemy and you will be the one who will be lying six feet under the surface of the Earth," Reiji told his commander with a serious expression.
"I don't think anyone has asked this, but how are we gonna infiltrate their base?" Hana asked.
"Remember the chain link fence we talked about? We can enter from there, all we need are some metal cutters," Odysseus reminded the rest.
"I think I might have one at my backpack," Yukari said.
"What about the sabotage?" Miho asked Odysseus.
"Don't worry about it, we have around 2 kilograms of C-4 in our tank, we can use it to blow up the most important buildings."
"Why do you have 2 kilograms worth of C-4 in your tank?" Miho asked, sweatdropping mentally.
"We stole it from the enemy on our previous mission," Annabelle said.
"Do the information we got indicated which structures we need to sabotage?" Yukari asked.
"Yep. There are three structures that are of extreme importance." Procuring a piece of paper that has a very simplified layout of the enemy base drawn with a marker, Odysseus points at three squares of different sizes. "The first one is their command center that is in the middle of the base. It might be best to target it first, since we could find valuable information about the bandits' movements."
"Next are the watchtowers. There is one at the edge of the forest, one near the cliff and two near the main entrance of the base."
"Finally, there is a SAM site near the first watchtower that must be destroyed at all costs, or the assault force will be decimated," Odysseus finished speaking, tapping at the smallest of the black squares.
"The assault force will be consisted of five helicopters, three Apache Lomgbows and two Blackhawks."
"Can't they just bomb the base or only the SAM site? Why do we have to infiltrate and sabotage them?" Annabelle asked Odysseus, quite confused as to why they had to risk their lives, since they could just bomb the base to oblivion.
"The Director wants the base captured and with the least possible damage," Odysseus answered back.
"And they want us to risk our lives, so that they will be able to just steamroll over the enemy...great," Tyler said with a grumpy face.
"That's our orders, nothing we can do about it," Annabelle said, shrugging at Tyler.
"How will we infiltrate the base?" Reiji asked Odysseus.
"About that," Odysseus begun, explaining with as much details as possible her plan of infiltration. After about two hours of revising and refining, the two tank crews finally managed to come up with a plan of attack, and then called it a day.
Friday
13th of May 2 Y.A.
East of the enemy's base
On the top of the rocky hill that stands east of the base stood two figures, gazing down at the buildings that filled the base.
"It was a nice trek. Though it would be better if it was a bit windy," one of the figures said.
"It would also be nice if we didn't have had to stumble upon a patrol," the other figure complained. "Anyway, enough complaining, let's set up our sniper's nest."
"Reiji, does your commander always forms such dangerous plans?"
"Not always Miss Isuzu. There are times that she will think of a safe plan," Reiji told Hana, still unpacking their equipment.
"Meaning that most of the time, her plans are reckless," Hana said, while setting her sniper rifle.
"Unfortunately, yes. Though she will always ask the others if they do agree with her plans. Also, most of the time, her recklessness does pay off," Reiji responded. Taking his binoculars out of his backpack and laying prone at the edge of the hill, he started scanning the enemy base.
"Reiji, are you in position?", Reiji heard a voice asking through his earpiece.
"Yes commander," he responded back.
"Good, I'll get in touch with you when the time comes. And make sure no one finds out your position."
"Understood commander," he said, before terminating the transmission.
"Everything fine?" Hana asked.
"Yes. Mind if I ask you a question?", Reiji asked, having turned to face Hana.
"What is it?"
"How did you end up becoming mercenaries? You don't have to answer me if you don't want."
"We...kinda found ourselves in a situation where we had to," she said, peering through her sniper rifle's scope and scanning for signs of any patrols, she too laying prone at the edge of the hill.
"I see," he said, returning to scanning the base with his binoculars.
"Mind if I ask you a question?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"How did you meet? You and the rest of your team that is."
"That is a long story and not one of the best moments in my life," Reiji giggled a bit.
"I believe we have plenty of time."
"Indeed we have. Let me start at how I met Tyler. It was about a week after the earthquakes stopped-"
"And I was like, he is cute but what if he wants something more serious? I'm not ready for something like this. I mean, I want to get married and have a family some day, but what if he is not the right one? And if he is, what will happen if he gets injured or worse out there? I am not ready for that either."
Thank God for my sisters' constant gossiping back home or else my mind would have melted by now! Tyler thought, trying to withstand Saori's constant ranting about cute boys and relationships. Father, if you are still alive, I'm gonna bury you myself for giving me your charming skills!
"Why are you looking grumpy?" Saori asked, seeing Tyler's grumpy expression.
"Hm? Oh, nothing, just thinking random stuff," Tyler responded back. "Are we done Miho?"
"Just give me a moment," Miho said, peering through her binoculars at the base.
The three of them were laying prone at the edge of the forest, scouting the base's perimeter to find the best infiltration point. Though they were no patrols passing by, Miho, Saori and Tyler still were hiding behind some big bushes to make sure they wouldn't get spotted.
"We are done checking this point. There are three more to check and then we should return to the tanks." Getting up and patting her uniform lightly, Miho started walking towards the next point they had to check, with Saori and Tyler in tow.
Since it is gonna be at least an hour more until we head back to the tanks, let's make the conversation more interesting, Tyler thought, not wanting to pass the hour by listening to Saori talk about boys and relationships.
"So, from where are you Saori? I am from the United States. More specifically from Los Angeles, California," he said, which earned an awed expression from Saori, who was looking at him with wide eyes. Even Miho turned momentarily, having grown a bit curious from where Tyler is.
"Really?! I mean, your accent is slightly off, but that you would be from the US...oh,right, I am from Ooarai. It is in Ibaraki prefecture," Saori responded, still amazed by the fact that Tyler was from America. As the trio moved to the next point, Saori and Tyler kept conversing, with Saori speaking about Ooarai and how she got into Senshadou.
"So, you were the one who designed the turret?" Yukari asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement. In front of her stood the mysterious Panther of the Antelope team, with its weird turret.
"Pretty much, though we all paid for it," Odysseus answered from the top of the engine deck where she was sitting.
"And in return, we gave it a nickname. Since the turret Odysseus designed was inspired from the IS-3 turret, we gave it the nickname Panther S," Annabelle said, sitting right next to Odysseus.
"Ohhhh, so it was inspired by the IS-3 turret. And what does the S mean? Is it to indicate a variant, like with our own Panzer IV?"
"No. The S stands for Stalin, an inside jock of our team," Odysseus said.
"There is this game Odysseus plays, where you can play with tanks of different nations from WW2. The Soviets have tanks with the worst gun handling the game has, yet these tanks can pull miracle shots some times," Annabelle said.
"And because of that, there was a meme that Stalin guided the shots to the enemy. So we named our tank the Panther S," Odysseus finished Annabelle's sentence.
"I see. Also, from where are you? I noticed that your accents are slightly off, meaning that you are from another country," Yukari said with curiosity.
"Annabelle's from England and I am from Greece. We are, or were, transfer students," Odysseus answered.
"Transfer students? From which-" Yukari tried to ask but was cut short by Odysseus, who raised her hand to motion to her to stop speaking.
"Yes, understood HQ. Over and out," she said, before pressing her earpiece on her left ear once.
"What was it?" Annabelle asked quickly, having spotted Odysseus' serious expression.
"They told me the assault will be happening at 1 am instead of 7," she said, clearly irritated by this turn of events.
"They pushed the assault forward? But why too much?"
"They said they found a spy in Blackout, so they fear that this mission may be compromised."
"So, we abort?"
"No, our orders remain the same. We infiltrate and sabotage the base. It's just gonna be a really close call," Odysseus said, scratching her head in irritation.
"Should we inform the rest?" Mako asked, being next to Yukari this entire time and listening to the conversation.
"We will, when they come back. Anyway, I think it's time to gather our equipment," Odysseus told Yukari, jumping down from the engine deck and making her way towards a metal crate that had arrived via drone at the middle of the previous night.
11:40 pm
North of the enemy base
"So, here is the plan. Me and Yukari will infiltrate the base and place the explosives. We will infiltrate from the northern part of the base. After placing the explosives on the first watchtower, I'll go towards the east and put explosives at the other watchtower, while Yukari will go and put some explosives at the SAM site. After that, she'll go for the command building and see if she can find any information. If everything goes well, we will extract before the assault force arrives." Odysseus spoke as she eyed everyone, her childish behavior completely vanished and replaced by a serious one.
"What happens if you get spotted?" Saori asked with great concern, worried about Yukari's well being.
"We pop out a flare, detonate the explosives and you come to pick us up," she answered back at Saori. "And we have Reiji and Hana to cover us, so it should be fine."
"Yukari, will you be fine?" Miho asked her friend, who was checking her new equipment.
"Yes Miss Nishizumi. After all, it's not the first time I am infiltrating a place," she responded back, checking her suppressed Glock-34.
"This isn't like back then Yukari. You could get injured or worse," Miho said with a worried expression.
"Don't worry Miss Nishizumi, I'll be fine. Believe in me," Yukari said, clasping both of her hands on Miho's.
As much as Miho wanted to protest, she had to believe in her friend's words.
"Ready?" Odysseus asked Yukari, having finished checking her equipment.
"Yes," Yukari simply responded.
The two girls made their way towards the chain link fence as silently as it was possible. Reaching the edge of the forest, both of them slowly scanned their surroundings, before approaching the fence. From the backpack she was carrying with her, she retrieved a bolt cutter and handed it to Odysseus.
"So, how is the uniform?" Odysseus asked while she was cutting the fence slowly, to make sure she wouldn't make too much noise.
"I feel like it is a bit tight," Yukari complained, eyeing the black elastic uniform she wore for the infiltration.
"You tell me. I feel like my chest is going to implode," Odysseus complained. Indeed, it seemed like her uniform was a size too small for her ample chest, which made her feel uncomfortable. "But if they will help us, we just have to put up with it for now."
Cutting a sizable hole in the fence, she gave the bolt cutter back to Yukari, who put it back at the backpack, before rejoining Odysseus at the other side of the fence.
They both made their way towards the first watchtower, making sure to avoid the spotlight that scanned the nearby grounds.
Reaching the base of the watchtower, Odysseus procures a decent amount of C-4 and some detonators, she places the C-4 at each pillar of the watchtower, before setting the detonators at a set frequency.
"This C-4 should be enough for the SAM site and the command center. Also, see if you can find any information about the bandits. After you place the explosives, just get out of here as fast as you can, OK?", Odysseus said, handing Yukari one kilogram of C-4.
"Understood," she said.
"Oh, before I forget it, if you see anything suspicious, just contact me. If you get spotted use your flare immediately."
And with that, the two girls take their own ways, with Odysseus going east, while Yukari goes to the SAM site that is in the west.
Approaching the SAM site, she could clearly make out the shape of a truck. In its back were two rectangular boxes that were tilted at a 45 degrees angle and had multiple holes in the surfaces that looked at the sky and ground. There were three bandits in front of the truck, around an LED lamp. Unholstering her suppressed pistol, she aims at the head of one of the bandits and pulls the trigger. A puff is heard, instantly accompanied by two other puffs. The bandits fall to the ground with a single bullet hole in their heads, three thuds marking their contact with it. Yukari quickly approaches the dead bandits and closes the LED lamp, darkness consuming the space around the truck. Reloading her pistol, she takes out of her backpack some C-4 and after placing it at the holes of the rectangular boxes at the back of the truck, she sets the detonators' frequency and starts making her way to the command center. While making her way to the structure that was in the middle of the base, she notices that there is very little light and almost no guards or patrols. After about ten minutes, she finally makes it at the command center.
Crouching behind some crates, she scans the building for any guards and to her surprise, she finds none. Pressing her earpiece once, she speaks in a low voice, "Odysseus, this is Yukari. I am at the command center and I see no guards. Something's not right."
"I copy you Yukari. Proceed with the mission. If you see anything weird, fire your flare immediately."
"Understood". Pressing her earpiece once, she quickly runs to the command center's door which, again to her surprise, is unlocked. Opening the door, she quickly enters and hides behind a cabinet. There is no one here. Something's definitely wrong. She then proceeds to place C-4 in the most important rooms. After that, she starts walking down the corridor that leads to the command operations room. But as she reaches for the door, it suddenly opens and two men with assault rifles enter the corridor. Thinking quickly, she punches the first man at the center of his chest, forcing him to fall in his knees and gasp for air. She then pivots on her right foot and sidekicks the second man who falls with his back on the ground. Pulling a knife from her right boot, she slits the first man's throat, painting the narrow walls of the corridor red, before throwing the knife at the second man who is lifting his head, the blade piercing his forehead and making his head arch backwards, hitting the floor with a dull thud. She quickly walks to the second man and removes the knife, wiping it with his clothes and sheathing it, before entering the command room. The room was quite small and only had a wooden desk that was littered with various papers and some folding chairs. Walking slowly towards the desk she starts scanning through the various papers quickly, her eyes widening at what she's reading.
Emergency orders from the headquarters. One of our outposts has been compromised and some of the contracted bandits have informed us that the enemy might know your location. Our spy has also informed us that one of Blackout's elite squads is meeting at these coordinates with another squad, in order to formulate a plan of attack probably. You are to ambush them there and silence them. This elite squad known as "Black Wolves" must be destroyed at any costs. Additionally, all of the school ships and their territory is now under our control. The collaborators from the Pravda Girls High School say that the factory our troops are building should finish within the next few days. Also, some girls from the school ships have been taken as hostages to dissuade the rest from trying anything malicious. May Japan return to its former glory. Resurrected Imperial Japanese Army.
Thinking quickly, she snatches the documents and shoves them inside the backpack, before pressing her earpiece once to talk.
But before she opens her mouth to speak, she feels a strong urge to duck and so she flattens herself against the ground mere moments before the butt of a rifle passes millimeters away from her head. Turning her body so she can face upwards, she draws her gun and fires four times at a man that sneaked inside the room to knock her out, hitting him in the abdomen, chest and head. The man's body falls limply on the ground. Quickly standing up, she scans the room with her silenced pistol and after a few tense seconds, she slowly lowers it.
Standing at the left of the body, she notices that the man's clothing isn't the usual clothes bandits wear, but a military uniform that closely resembles the one used by the I.J.A. in WW2.
"Odysseus, can you hear me?" she says, but gets no response.
"Odysseus, do you copy?"
Still no response.
"Can anyone hear me?" she says loudly, but she is greeted by silence.
The enemy must be jamming our communications. Checking her backpack once again, she fishes out a loaded flare gun. Peeking from the side of the door at the corridor, she finds no one, so she quickly traverses it to exit the building. The moment she steps out, the whole base gets flooded with bright white light, temporarily blinding Yukari, who instinctively puts her hands in front of her face to shield her eyes. After a second, she lowers them, only to find at least 5 guys running to her direction, assault rifles raised and aimed at her. Firing the flare in the air, she quickly tosses the now empty flare gun and starts running at the closest building for cover, bullets passing by her and barely missing her body.
Rounding the corner of one of the buildings, she crashes on one of the soldiers, forcing him to drop his assault rifle. Unholstering her own, the man swiftly punches her in the abdomen, causing her grip on the gun to loosen and fall off her hands. Clutching her stomach and taking a few steps back, she gets punched on the face in such a way, that her backpack gets off her back and falls to the ground, just a bit further from where Yukari has fallen. Yukari crawls to the backpack and puts her right hand inside it, desperate to find something to defend herself. The man quickly gets behind Yukari and grabbing her left foot, he drags her closer to him and hunches over her, ready to grab the back of her neck to pin her down.
Yukari spins her whole body and strikes the man's head with the bolt cutter, fracturing his skull instantly. As the man screams in pain from the fracture he just acquired, lying in the ground with his hands over the impact point, Yukari gets up and stands over his head. Raising the bolt cutter, she brings it down like an executioner's axe, hitting the man in the head once again and killing him instantly.
Looking at her back, she finds a man already thrusting his knife towards her face,her eyes widening in fear at the prospect of dying unless she somehow manages to evade the attack.
"Look out!" she hears a voice yelling and feels something pushing her sideways. Losing her balance, she falls to the ground yet again and hears the sound of metal slashing flesh, along with the grunting of a familiar voice. Turning to see to whom the voice belongs, she gasps at the sight in front of her. Odysseus is standing at where she was moments ago, her right hand holding a blade that is lodged deep in the assailant's neck and her left hand holding the man's right hand, with the tip of his blade having pierced her left eye. Removing his blade, Odysseus clenches her teeth as hard as she can, feeling pain all over the left side of her face, blood flowing from the damaged eye at an alarming rate.
Twisting her blade, she lets the now dead man fall to the ground, before herself falls to her knees, clasping her left hand over her destroyed left eye.
"Odysseus!" Yukari yells, running at the side of Odysseus and helping her to stand up. "We need to stop the bleeding, do you have any gauze?!"
"Forget that, we need to get the hell out of here," Odysseus manages to say, panting heavily.
In front of them appears yet another enemy, but before he can raise his weapon and fire at the girls, his head gets blown to pieces, with blood, brain matter, flesh and bone bits splattering everywhere.
"Good shot, his head is history," Reiji says, peering with his binoculars at the headless body and the two girls.
"Four targets closing at them, distance, 800 meters."
Shifting her aim, Hana finds the next targets and fires, the bullet piercing through the chest of one of the soldiers. She shifts her aim yet again and another one falls dead. The other two quickly scramble for any available cover, not wanting to have the same fate as their friends.
"What time is it?" she asks Reiji, taking this opportunity to reload her sniper rifle.
"12:45 am. Just fifteen minutes before the assault force arrives," he says, checking for any other targets near the girls. "I hope Miho and the others noticed the flare, since comms are being jammed. Hm?"
Noticing Odysseus doing some strange moves with her hands, he quickly procures a small detonator that lies next to him.
"What was Odysseus doing?" Hana asks Reiji, having too spotted the strange hand movements.
"She signaled me to detonate the explosives," he answers back, before pressing a small red button.
Explosions shake the base, as all the targets, except for the command center, get obliterated.
"Looks like the calvary's here," he says, seeing two tanks bust through the main gate of the base, the two watchtowers sporting a lifeless body each, courtesy of Hana's sniper rifle.
Men scramble around, as the metal gate gets rammed by the Panzer IV, its bow machine gun raining lead all over the place.
"Mako, don't stop at anything! Run over people if you have to, we need to get at Yukari as soon as possible!" Miho yells from her seat, popping out from her hatch and striking down any enemy she sees with her assault rifle.
"Roger," Mako responds, making her way towards the still standing command center. Behind the Panzer IV was the Panther S, following Miho and the rest closely. Bullets were pinging off the steel plates of the tanks, the sound resembling rain.
"What are the chances of simply raining outside?" Tyler asks jokingly.
"You have better chances winning the lottery mate!" Annabelle says from her seat.
As both tanks reach the center of the base, they spot Yukari, who is still supporting Odysseus, hiding behind some crates to shield themselves against any incoming fire.
"Yukari!" Saori yells, exiting the tank from her hatch and running towards them.
"Mako, shield them with the tank!" Miho tells her driver, having dived back inside to reload her weapon.
As the Panzer IV positions itself in front of the girls to cover them from any incoming bullets, Annabelle moves as close to them as possible, with Tyler exiting the tank to help the rest carry Odysseus at the side of the Panzer IV.
"Wow commander, you look like shit," Tyler says to his commander, taking the place of Yukari to act as Odysseus' support.
Odysseus lets a weak laugh escape her lips, her whole body devoid of any strength. Suddenly, two T-50 light tanks and a T-34 medium tank appear, aiming their guns at the two half-crewed tanks.
"Alright, everyone stop firing!" a loud voice is heard booming and the sounds of weapons discharging instantly seizes, replaced by a very tense silence.
A man with brown hair and eyes, almost as tall as Odysseus, casually walks towards Miho and the rest, donning a very impressive military uniform. Miho can see that he is flanked by two soldiers with the same military uniform as him, though less flashier.
Stopping a good distance away from the Panzer IV, he clears his throat, before speaking. "You must be the commander of these kids here," he says mockingly while eyeing the rest of the girls. "Though I must profess, I never expected a bunch of eighteen years old girls to be one of the elite squads in Blackout."
"How do you know about us?" Miho demands, unfazed by the sight of at least twenty soldiers and three tanks aiming their guns at her.
"We have our sources. Especially for you Miho Nishizumi," he says, causing Miho to be taken aback a little. "Command thinks you will be a wrench at their plans of uniting Japan, so they want you out of the game."
"What is this, a cliche anime plot?" Saori whispers, hiding behind the tanks with the others.
"What do you mean, uniting Japan?" Miho asks, confused by the man's statement.
"I think I told too much. Though let me tell you one final thing," he says with a dark grin. "Tell your sister I send her my regards."
"What?!" she whispers, her eyes widening and cold sweat running down her face.
Before the man can give the order to open fire, the sound of beating rotor blades fill the air, as explosions shake the base once more.
"What is going on?!" the man yells, as chaos ensues, with people running all over the place. By now, the assault force, in the form of three Apache Longbows and two Blackhawks, has arrived, gunning any enemy they see. Multiple screeches are heard as one of the Apaches fires its rocket pods at the tanks, completely decimating them and turning them to twisted pieces of metal and fire. One particular rocket lands really close to the man, who is hurled from the explosion about 5 meters from where he was standing.
"I thought the assault was to be done later...and what happened to the SAM site?" the man grunts as he tries to slowly sit up from the ground, only for his field of vision to be filled by a black blur, before something kicks him on the face, sending him down to the ground again, this time gazing at the black, starless sky.
"How do you know my sister? And what did you mean 'to send her your regards'?" Miho asks in a low voice, yet loud enough to be heard over the gunfire and explosions going off in the background. She stands next to the man, her right foot pinning him on the ground, while her rifle is aimed on his head.
"What could I possibly mean Black Wolf?" he says with a sly smile, which promptly disappears when he looks at Miho's face. Her eyes have changed color from brown to red, with intense killing intent escaping them.
"Y-You are a monster, stay away from me!" he screams, trying to unpin himself, but failing miserably.
"How do you know my sister and where is she!" she yells, silencing the man, who has terror etched all over his face.
"I-I'll tell you, j-just don't kill me," he whispers, his tough act having completely dissolved by Miho's piercing gaze.
Unbeknownst to her however, one of the soldiers has managed to find himself amidst the chaos behind Miho and seizing this opportunity, he raises his rifle to fire at her head. Before he can do that though, a ginger haired girl tackles him on the ground. Landing on his back, the soldier tries to aim his assault rifle at Saori, who grabs the weapon and forcefully rips it off the man's hands, throwing it away. She then mounts him, before throwing a punch at his head. The man blocks the punch and grabs Saori's head with both hands, headbutting her as hard as he can. Saori gets off the man and stumbles a bit backwards, grabbing her head with both hands while trying to fight the pounding pain. The man quickly gets off the ground and unseathes his knife, ready to strike at Saori, who doesn't seem to have noticed what he is holding on his right hand. Saori trips on her own feet and falls to the ground, barely missing the thrusted blade. The man tries to stab Saori at her chest, since she is lying on the ground, but he gets shot from behind once, the bullet hitting his heart and killing him instantly.
"Are you okay?"
Looking up, she finds Tyler with a pistol on his left hand, smoke escaping its barrel.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. How is Miho?" she asks, wincing a bit from the pain she feels.
"Look for yourself."
Standing up and looking at where Miho was last time, she finds her standing next to a body, gunpowder smoke escaping her rifle's barrel.
"Miporin, are you okay?" Saori asks and tries to take a step forward, only to suddenly feel dizzy and lose her balance. Thankfully, Tyler manages to catch her before she crashes to the ground.
"Take it easy there," he says cautiously.
"Saori, are you okay?" Miho says in alarm, dashing at her best friend's side. Of note, her eyes have returned to their normal brown color.
"I'll be fine Miho, I just felt a little dizzy for a moment, that's all," she quickly says to calm down her worried friend.
By now, most of the base's personnel has been dealt with, so the transport helicopters are unloading their passengers, which consist of a total of four squads, who immediately start clearing the buildings of any soldiers. One of the transport helicopters stays on the ground, since it has two medics with it.
"I think you should get checked by the medics," Miho says to Saori.
"I told you already Miporin, I'll be al- woahhh!" Saori cries out, as Tyler lifts her with both of his hands. "Wh-Wh-What do you think you are doing?!" she yells at Tyler, her face as red as Annabelle's hair.
"Obviously taking you to the medics. You are barely able to stand, much less to walk," he responds back, making his way to the landed helicopter.
"What is he, a knight in shining armor carrying a princess?" a voice grumbles.
Looking at her left, she finds Odysseus with a grumpy face, being supported by Annabelle and Yukari.
"What happened to your eye?" Miho asks worryingly, noticing the streaks of dried blood that have formed on the part of her face under her left eye,which is covered by her left hand.
"It is my fault Miss Nishizumi. I left my guard down and nearly got stabbed, but Odysseus took the hit for me," Yukari says, her gaze glued to the ground.
"Oh come on, it's not your fault. I was the one who pushed you out of the way and stood there to take the hit," Odysseus says to Yukari, irritated by her behavior.
"Anyway, we better get you to the medics. At least now you can be a pirate," Annabelle jokes at Odysseus, who mimics a pirate just for the giggles.
As the trio moves at the landed helicopter, Miho sighs loudly, sitting on the ground, her mind already thinking various things. An engine is heard, along with the clattering of treads, as the Panzer IV stops in front of her. Shutting the engine, Mako exits the tank from her hatch and jumps down on the ground.
"Are you okay Miho?," Mako asks, sitting next to Miho.
"Yeah, just thinking some things," she answers back, looking between her legs and on the ground.
"Is it about your sister?" Mako asks, in which Miho nods reluctantly and slowly.
"I'm sure she will be fine Miho. She is your sister after all. Do you know where Saori is?" Mako asks, changing the subject.
"She is in the landed helicopter, getting treated by the medics."
Saying nothing more, Mako gets up and makes her way to the helicopter to see how Saori is.
Looking up at the starless, black sky, Miho wishes that her sister is doing okay, because she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if something were to happen to her.
3 hours later
"Yes, understood," Miho says in one of the squad leaders of the mercenaries that came as reinforcements. After saluting him, she makes her way towards one of the Blackhawks that is already spooling its blades for takeoff. Entering the helicopter, she finds the crews of both tanks sleeping. It has been an exhausting day to say the least. After closing the cabin's door, Miho notices that Saori is sleeping next to Tyler, her head touching the side of Tyler's forearm. Who knows, she thinks with a smile, before sitting between Hana and Yukari. As the helicopter lifts itself and starts heading north, Miho feels her eyelids becoming heavy, exhaustion having once again caught up with her, finally falling asleep.
A/N:There goes chapter 3,finally rewritten. I'd love to write something here, but I am too tired for it, so the notorious copy-pasted message will have to do. Anyway, as always, suggestions, questions, corrections, reviews or PMs are greatly appreciated. Also, English isn't my native tongue, so expect some grammatical errors here and there. If you found the story interesting and had a great time, favorite and follow. Have a nice day/night and until the next chapter, stay safe!
Explanation
Panther S: A Panther with a redesigned turret that resembles an IS-3 turret. It uses the 7.5cm KwK 42 L/70 gun, that was standard to all Panther variants. The S stands for Stalin, an inside joke between the Antelope team's crew. Also, the radio has been moved to the commander's seat, using the space in the radio operator's potision to store extra shells.