The Ether Conflict
Chapter 5: Operation Silver Arrow
Sunday
22nd of May 2 Y.A.
Blackout central base
Conference room 2A
11:58 am
"Why do you think they called us here?"
"Most likely to inform us for the next operation."
"It is most likely connected to what we have uncovered about the R.I.J.A. . That's the only explanation for the number of personnel that has been called today...umm, Saori, why are you grumpy?"
Inside the conference room sit the Anglerfish and Antelope team, along with other tank crew squads, all waiting to be briefed on the upcoming mission. Some of the squads are standing and casually converse about their days or the upcoming operation, while others are already seated. Miho and her friends are sitting in the front row of the seats the conference room has, since they arrived earlier than everyone.
"I can't understand what they find on him that makes them fall head over heels for him," Saori says grumpily as she eyes the small crowd of girls that are around Tyler in the back rows, with Odysseus starting to get annoyed by them, since the only thing she can see are breasts all around her.
"Indeed, I wonder what. Why don't you tell us Saori?" Mako says sarcastically in a deadpan tone.
"Wh-what do you mean Mako?! H-How should I know?!" she stutters back, having been caught off guard by Mako's comment.
"Someone is in love," Hana teases, before giggling.
"St-Stop it! It's not like that!" she cries, her cheeks being as red as heated iron.
"It's okay Saori, we will support you whatever your decision!" Yukari says in a cheerful tone.
"This isn't helping at all Yukari!" Saori says through her hands, having buried her face in them from the sheer embarrassment she is feeling. Miho can only giggle at her friends' behavior.
Odysseus on the other hand is irritated, since she is sitting in the last row of seats, thanks to a sleepy Annabelle and a Tyler that was stopped by a girl every few seconds to be asked out on a date, how was his day or if he wanted to transfer on another squad, which he politely declined every time. Couple it with the small crowd of girls all around her, she is really reaching her limit.
"Hey Annabelle, will you help me over here?" she grumbles, looking at her redhead friend.
"I can't now," she murmurs, having laid her head on Odysseus lap and sleeping.
"Of course you can't, sleepyhead. Then I'll enact Plan G!" she says excitedly with a sly smile.
"Plan G?" Reiji and Tyler wonder aloud, not liking their commander's expression. Finding the girl with the biggest breasts, Odysseus grabs and squeezes them. The girl screams, causing everyone to look at her direction.
"Wh-What do y-you think you are doing?!" she stutters, her face red from embarrassment.
"Hmm, they are definitely fluffy, but there is also a certain firmness," she says like some sort of perverted anime protagonist who is expert on such a subject. All the girls start backing away from the blonde, giving her looks of disgust and some of them even covering their chest area with their arms. The boys on the other hand look more than excited for some odd reason.
"You can't remain idle for a moment, can you Odysseus?" Annabelle deadpans, hitting lightly Odysseus with a karate chop on her head, causing everyone to start laughing. "Do you have to mess with everyone?"
"They wouldn't go away!" she cries like a child.
"Did you even ask them?" Reiji asks.
"I tried, but one of them hissed at me!"
"Their commander is really weird," Saori comments, having witnessed the whole situation.
"She might be attracted to females," Mako blurts out.
"Mako, you can't judge people so quickly!" Saori scolds Mako.
"But she is always with Annabelle. Could they be a couple?" Hana wonders, blushing a bit.
"I think it's too early to come to any conclusions girls," Miho giggles awkwardly.
Suddenly a man enters the conference room and makes his way up to the stage that is a few meters in front of the rows of seats. He seems to be around his late fifties, has black hair and is at least 180 cm tall. He is wearing a green Blackout uniform, as opposed to the black one every personnel are required to wear. Eyeing the figure, everyone stops talking at once and sit on the seats the conference room has. The lights of the room dim and a projector starts projecting images on the wall besides the man.
"Okay everyone, listen well to what I have to say because time is running short and I don't want to repeat what I'm about to tell you!" he says loudly so as to be heard from everyone.
"For anyone that is new, my name is Shimanuki Teruo. I'm also known as the Coordinator, because I have to babysit your asses when you are out on the battlefield, making sure you don't stick your rifles in your butts," the man says and the whole conference room erupts in laughter.
"Fisrt of all, we got hired by the JSDF, or what remains of it, to launch a massive offensive against the Resurrected Imperial Japanese Army or R.I.J.A. for short, that have the school ships under their control. The offensive, named Operation Downfall, will be launched in three phases," he says and the projector changes to an image that shows two different places.
"Phase 1 will be the infiltration of the bases shown in the image, where some girls from the carriers are held prisoners. After securing and extracting them, we will bomb the bases, which is tied with Phase 2." The projector shows an image of the new Japan, with a lot of red Xs marking the places where R.I.J.A. has bases, as well as the school ships.
"Phase 2 will be the direct assault on the school ships, as well as the bases R.I.J.A. has all over Japan. It will begin after securing the prisoners in hopes that the school ships will retaliate against them. You have permission to only shoot anyone affiliated with them; the last thing I want to see are dead highschool girls. I am sure your consciousness agrees with me too."
"Phase 3 will be a direct assault on their stronghold. We haven't discern its location yet, but once we find it, we are to capture it." The projector shows now a blank image.
"Every squad will be briefed based on the phase they will be participating. For the first phase, I want the Anglerfish and the Antelope teams to remain. The rest of you are dismissed."
"Yes sir!" Everyone stands up and salutes, before exiting the room. Silence feels the air, as only the two tank crews remain.
"So, I have heard you volunteered for this phase," Teruo says in his booming voice.
"Yes sir. We were informed by the Director that due to the shortage of necessary personnel, the infiltrations couldn't commence at the same time, so we volunteered," Miho says, standing at attention.
"On the other hand, we were dragged in this by our commander's idiocy," Tyler grumbles silently, not too happy about his current position.
"You know she did it because she wants to help, right?" Reiji whispers back.
"It's because two of the girls are our friends that I volunteered us," Odysseus says.
"Whatever you say, now it's too late to back off anyway," Tyler sighs.
"Too eager to save your friends, huh? Just make sure you don't die out there," he says, before the projector changes to the image that was shown first.
"Let us resume with your briefing. You will be infiltrating the bases under the cover of darkness. Both teams will be accompanied by two special forces soldiers each. Your transport will be a Blackhawk transport helicopter. After securing the HVTs, you will contact the the helicopter for extraction. If your cover gets blown before you have secured the targets, retreat immediately. If it gets blown after securing them, you can request support fire from the helicopter. The first location is known as the Plains of Silence and the second as the Mountain of Guilt. You choose were you deploy, since we don't know which prisoners are held where. Also, if you see these three ladies," the projector changes the image to one that has three girls in it. The first has red short hair, blue eyes and wears glasses, the second has long blonde hair and green eyes and the third has long brown hair tied in a ponytail and brown eyes, "Capture them. The JSDF will give you enough money to live without a care for your next three lives. Or kill them, it's up to you if they live or die. That's all for now, you have about one and a half days before deploying. Time is of the essence, we cannot let the execution happen. You are dismissed."
"Yes sir!", everyone, except for Odysseus, salutes the man, before exiting the conference room.
"So, in which place will you go?" Odysseus asks Miho.
"Uhm...we don't know in which location are who, so maybe we will go at the Plains of Silence?" Miho says reluctantly, not sure which location she should choose to rescue her sister.
"Great, then we will take the mountain! See you in one and a half days, we have preparations too do!" she exclaims running towards the cafeteria.
"Odysseus, get back here right now, you are going to help with the preparations too!" Annabelle yells, running behind the blonde.
"This girl never learns. Excuse us for now, we shall meet again in one and half days," Reiji bows slightly.
"Y-You don't need to bow!" Miho says flustered, flailing her hands a bit.
Mountain of Guilt
R.I.J.A. Base
4th floor
Prisoners' Cell
Inside the cell are six figures, four girls and two men. While the girls wear school uniforms, the men wear WW2 military uniforms.
"This is horrible. Are we really fighting for a future like this?" one of the men says, eyeing the bodies of the girls, which are full of bruises.
"They sure got rough with them, bastards," the man that wear glasses says angrily, checking the bandages of one of the girls.
"Did they do anything else to them?" the one without glasses asks, his voice quivering a little.
"Don't worry, I checked all the girls and they are fine," the man with the glasses says, which causes the other man to sigh in relief. Having checked the bandages and seeing they are fine, the man goes to a girl with short blonde hair and a pair of light blue eyes. She is about 127 cm tall and looks like a small child.
"Do they abduct children now, the man with the glasses murmurs as he goes to check her bandages.
"Katyusha is not a child; she is above all of you," the girl says with a tired voice, barely opening her eyelids.
"Oh, so you are Miss Katyusha of the Pravda Girls High School. Nice to meet you," he says, starting to check Katyusha's bandages.
"Don't mock me. I know you are with these guys, you probably have a plan to do something to me."
"Indeed I have and that is to see if your wounds are healing."
"You are lying. I am sure Nonna and Klara will come to save me and then they'll make you pay."
"I can assure you that I am not trying to do anything malicious to you. Only to check your wounds and nurse you back in full health."
"So, the gnome is still kicking I see," a female voice says and both men that are checking the girls turn to look at the door of the cell. A girl with short red hair and blue eyes stand there, watching Katyusha's state with a sly smile. The man says nothing and goes back at wrapping new bandages on Katyusha's wounds, since the old ones needed to be replaced. The girl's expression changes at an irritated one, since she is ignored by everyone inside the room. Walking quickly to Katyusha, she pins Katyusha's left hand in the ground with her foot, Katyusha screaming from the pain she feels. "In two days you die little wretch, I hope you are as delighted as I am," the redhead grins. The man instantly gets up and punches the redhead, breaking her nose and causing her to fall to the ground.
"I'd suggest you refrain from injuring my patients," the man in glasses says, looking down at the redhead who clasps her hands on her bleeding nose. Getting up, she quickly runs out of the room, a thin trail of blood marking her route.
"I think you went a bit overboard," the other man says casually, having checked and replaced the bandages of the second girl. "All done here."
"I won't let her torture these girls anymore. They have suffered enough," he says as he checks Katyusha's left hand. "I think we should get the girls out of here."
"And how will we do this?" the other man asks in disbelief.
"I'm two days, most of the base's forces will go to the central base. It will be the perfect opportunity to smuggle them out of the base."
"I don't know, it's too risky," the man says contemplating on what to do. "Fine, I'll help you with it. I just hope you know what you are doing.
" Thank you," the man with the glasses bows a little to the other man.
Tuesday
24th of May 2 Y.A.
En route to Mountain of Guilt
Phase 1 of Operation Downfall
Operation Silver Arrow
5 minutes till drop point
00:30 am
Thunder and lightnings filled the sky as the rain hit mercilessly the fuselage of the Blackhawk helicopter, the sound of its spinning rotor blades getting masked by the ongoing storm.
Inside the cabin sit six people, their only source of light a small red light in the cockpit. It has been approximately 2 hours since departure from the base and their trip so far had been uneventful.
Tyler and Reiji are sleeping, Annabelle is gazing out of the small windows the cabin has, looking at the lightnings that fall in the distance and Odysseus is checking her weapon.
"It seems you are pretty experienced with handling weapons," a young woman, that sits opposite of Odysseus, says. Eyeing her, Odysseus only now notices the contrast her platinum dyed hair that are tied in a long ponytail and her black eyes have. She wears a short-sleeved black shirt and over it a black bulletproof vest and military grade black pants.
"Your name's Luminous, right? Why are you using an alias? " Odysseus asks, returning on checking her weapon and dodging the question she was asked.
"I have my reasons. When you are a mercenary that has traveled the world, you tend to make a couple of enemies," she answers, still looking at Odysseus. "You aren't from Japan, are you?"
"Greece. You?"
"Germany. The guy that sits next to me is from good ol' U.S.A.," she answers, pointing to her left. The man has grey hair and brown eyes and is 180cm tall. He also wears a short-sleeved black shirt and a bulletproof vest, though his vest is bigger and thicker than Luminous's. The man says nothing, checking his gear to make sure everything's fine.
"Come on Theodore, at least say a hi or something," Luminous nudges Theodore.
"Name's Theodore. Just do what I and Lumi say to you and you'll make it back alive," he smirks, noticing Luminous' angry pout.
"I've told you never to call me that!" Luminous punches Theodore to his right arm.
"One minute till the drop point!" the pilot says through the comms. Tyler and Reiji wake up from their sleep, checking their gear and Annabelle stops gazing outside, grabbing her weapon that stands between her legs, the barrel pointing upwards.
"Thirty seconds to touchdown!" the pilot says.
"Safeties off!" Luminous says and the sound off safeties clicking fills the cabin. The helicopter shakes a bit, indicating the helicopter has landed.
"Listen well kids, you are not to fire your weapons, unless me or Luminous say to, you got that?" Theodore says, opening the cabin's door. He and Luminous exit first and start scanning their surroundings with their weapons. Finding no hostiles, they signal the rest to come out.
"We will be waiting for you 2 clicks to the west, call us when your excursion is over!" the co-pilot yells from the cabin's door, as the helicopter rises in the air.
"It would be nice if it was an excursion!" Luminous says through the comms, waving at the pilots.
As the helicopter starts flying to the west, the infiltration team enters the forest that is next to the base, to take shelter from the rain.
"All right, everyone listen closely. We are about a kilometer away from the base. We will go through this forest and should be able to find ourselves next to the base. The HVTs are in a cell at the fourth floor of the base, we secure them and then call the helicopter. Also, when we enter the base, I'll turn on this little device here and we will have about 30 minutes before our jets bomb the base out of existence," he says, lifting a black rectangular device that is small enough to fit on his palm. Everyone nods, so the two spec ops start leading the way through the forest.
"Isn't this a bit too early?"
"The quicker we are done with it, the quicker we will be back at the school ship."
"But we agreed that the execution would happen in the morning, not in the middle of the night."
"Whatever, let's just get over with it."
"At least point the gun at her head, not her chest."
"It's not like she'll be able to survive either way. Anyway...dasvidaniya Katyusha."
Crack
"Alright, we will infiltrate from this side, seems it has the least amount of hostiles."
"Won't they notice that a whole checkpoint has gone dark?"
At the edge of the forest stand six figures, weapons raised and aimed, ready to fire. At a distance of fifty meters stands the base's side entrance. It has a steel gate that is opened, a guard room and some sandbags around it. Six armed soldiers guard the entrance from intruders, most standing out despite the heavy rain.
"Don't worry about it. By the time they notice, their whole base will be a flaming wreck," Theodore says at Luminous. Raising his silenced gun, he aims at the head of one of the soldiers.
"Pick a target and wait for me to fire," he says and everyone places their sights on an enemy soldier. Waiting for the perfect moment, a lightning falls nearby and when it thunders, he pulls the trigger. A muffled puff is heard, followed by five other muffled puffs. The soldiers fall down on the muddy road, the storm covering any noises.
"Okay, let's get the bodies out of sight and move up," Luminous says, already walking towards the now devoid of any hostiles entrance, checking with her gun the surrounding area.
"You heard her kids, now move it," Theodore says and exiting the forest, he dashes for the entrance, his steps splashing rain water from the puddles the ground has.
"Hey, we are not kids! We are adults you know!" Odysseus grumbles.
"To my eyes, you are still little kids," Theodore smirks a little.
Frowning but not saying anything else, she and her team follows closely and once they reach the entrance, they help to hide the bodies in the surrounding vegetation, before continuing inside the base.
Reaching their target building with relative ease, Luminous spots a small service door. Opening it, she peeks inside and finding no one, she beckons everyone to go inside, before entering herself, closing and locking the door.
"Thank God, no more rain!" Odysseus sighs in relief, being wet from top to bottom.
"I'm soaking wet; I really hope I don't catch a cold," Annabelle complains, drying her hair from the water they have collected.
"You can keep your complaining for after the mission. Lumi, I'm taking the boys and we will make our way towards the commander's office, see if we can find any information about their main base." Activating the small black cube, he puts it on one of the pockets the vest has. "We only have thirty minutes, so let's split up."
Ok, I'll take the girls and go secure our HVTs. And don't call me Lumi," Lumi grumbles.
Theodore, Tyler and Reiji go towards the left, while Luminous, Annabelle and Odysseus go to the right. When the teams dissappear from view, six green led lights appear for a moment, before vanishing into thin air.
Trudging through the narrow corridors, Luminous leads the girls to where she believes the HVTs are, her weapon raised to her shoulder in case an enemy appears.
"So, you think we will find Orange Pekoe and Assam here?" Odysseus asks Annabelle.
"I hope we will," Annabelle answers back, before adding, "Please don't fight with Assam if she is here."
"I'll try not too, though she is the one that always starts the arguments."
"Because of what you did and you are damn lucky you didn't get banned from participating in Senshadou forever," Annabelle says to Odysseus with a serious face.
"Not that it matters anymore," Odysseus says with a cheeky grin.
"Girls, stop," Luminous whispers, signaling them to stay put.
They are in an intersection, with a hallway meeting the hallway they are now vertically. Peeking from one of the corners, she spots at the end of the hallway a steel door that has two soldiers in front of it, presumably guards. Thankfully, the corridor lacks any proper lighting, with only a small light bulb on top of where the guards are,restricting their vision on how far they can see.
"Girls, come here," she beckons at Odysseus and Annabelle. "You see the guards? One of you take aim at the man on the right and await my signal."
Dashing to the other corner of the hallway, Luminous raises her weapon and aims at the guard on the left.
Steadying her aim, she pulls the trigger and a muffled puff echoes through the hallways. A split second later, another muffled puff is heard. The two guards fall down to the floor, their heads spewing blood from a bullet hole in their forehead. Keeping her weapon raised, Luminous quickly makes it in front of the door.
"Drag them inside," she points at the two bodies. Trying to open the door, she finds it locked, so she searches the bodies for keys, thankfully finding one.
Unlocking the door, she opens it slowly and peers inside. Noticing three girls lying on the ground, she quickly enters, followed by the girls that are dragging the dead guards with them. Luminous closes the door, while Annabelle and Odysseus start checking the girls.
"Pekoe, are you alright?" Annabelle says quickly and putting her weapon on the floor, she raises Orange Pekoe slightly from the ground.
"A-Annabelle? Is that...you?" Orange Pekoe mutters, her voice barely audible.
"We are here to rescue you," Annabelle says softly, giving her a hug.
"Really? Wh-What about Assam?"
"Miho and her team are going to rescue them as we speak."
"Miho? S-So they are all alive."
Orange Pekoe says nothing more, silently crying in Annabelle's shoulder, glad that her suffering has ended.
"Assam's not here. Only Carpaccio and Naomi," Odysseus says with slight anger, eyeing the bruises and bandages on the girls' bodies.
"Some girls...took Katyusha somewhere," Orange Pekoe says worryingly.
"Theodore, come in," Luminous says quickly, pressing her earpiece in her right ear.
"What's up?" Theodore answers, being outside of the commander's office with Reiji and Tyler.
"One of the girls here said that someone took Katyusha somewhere. They might be speeding up the execution," Luminous says quickly.
"Do they know where she has been taken?"
"No."
"Damn. Okay, we'll search the commander's office, maybe we will find where she is."
"Okay, keep me posted if you find anything," Luminous says, terminating the transmission.
"Okay, get ready to enter," Theodore tells the boys, who stand across him. Kicking the door open, he enters with his gun raised and a bullet passes by his head, the gun report indicating a revolver was just fired.
"Don't fire, friendly, friendly!" he quickly and clearly says, eyeing the attacker.
"Wh-Who are you that stand in front of Great Katyusha?!" she says in a quivering voice, aiming a revolver on Theodore's head with trembling hands.
"We were informed by Nonna about an execution concerning you. We are with a PMC that was hired to rescue you," Tyler says slowly. Katyusha lowers a bit the revolver, but still keeps it aimed at Theodore, not fully convinced they speak the truth.
"We have no time for this. Tyler, check that opened door in the wall. Reiji, check the desk for any important documents," Theodore orders.
While Tyler goes to check the opened door that is in the wall behind the commander's desk and Reiji checks the desk for anything of value, Theodore kneels in front of Katyusha,extending his left arm. "Do you mind if you hand me the revolver?"
"F-Fine," Katyusha reluctantly hands him the gun.
"The targets from Pravda are dead," Tyler says to Theodore, exiting the room that is next to the commander's office.
"Did you do it?" Theodore asks Katyusha, still kneeling in front of her.
"No, they killed each other," Katyusha says, having calmed down somewhat. "No, a-actually, I killed one of them," she averts her gaze a little, looking down on the ground.
Standing up, Theodore presses his earpiece on his right hand to speak to Luminous.
"Luminous, we have secured Katyusha," he says, looking down at the short blonde girl that looks more like a child.
"And the girls we are to capture?"
"Dead. They killed each other it seems."
"Did you find any information about their main base?"
"We are looking through some documents now."
"Okay. See what you can find and meet us on our location. We have about 15 minutes before the jets are here," Luminous says, before pressing her earpiece once to cut the transmission.
"Now, mind telling us who you are?" she asks, eyeing two men that are on their knees in front of her. Odysseus and Annabelle are behind them, aiming their guns on their heads.
"We told you, both of us are doctors and we were nursing the wounds of the girls," a man that wears glasses says.
"We were going to smuggle the girls out of the base, but it seems you came here first," a young man next to the one with glasses says.
"And why should we believe you? How do we know you aren't bullshiting us right now?" Odysseus swears, pressing the barrel of her gun on the head of the young man.
"They...are saying the truth..." Orange Peace raises her voice as much as she can so as to be heard, sitting up on the floor, having found enough strength to do so.
"Fine, let them be," Luminous says and the girls lower their firearms, though they keep them in their hands. "Since you wanted to get them out of the base, can you help us with it? We will have a helicopter come and extract us from here."
"Is there a possibility to come with you? We know it might sound suspicious, but we have been thinking of deserting for quite some time," the man in glasses says.
"And atone for anything malicious we may have done," the young man adds.
Before Luminous can respond, the alarm of the base starts blaring.
"What is going on?" Annabelle asks urgently, as her body starts tensing up.
"Theodore, what's going on?" Luminous asks quickly through comms, opening the door of the cell slightly and peeking out on the hallway.
"We have been compromised! Lower floors are crawling with hostiles, we will meet you at the rooftop!" Theodore yells through the sound of gunfire and bullets wheezing past him.
"Copy that!" she says, firing her weapon at some approaching hostiles. "Listen up! Me and Odysseus will cover you, while you carry the girls!"
"Why, what's going on!?" Odysseus yells, sticking to the wall next to the steel door.
"We have been compromised! We will meet the boys on the rooftop for extraction!" Luminous says loudly, exiting the cell and laying suppressive fire. Odysseus, follows closely behind, she too laying suppressive fire. The two men and Annabelle pick a girl each and start following the others.
Reaching the rooftop, Theodore and the rest aim their weapons at the stairs that lead where they are, Katyusha taking cover behind them. By now the rain has stop, the starry sky bathing the whole base with a soft white light.
"They are on the rooftop!" They hear some voices yells and soon enough, enemies start going up the stairs, only to get riddled with bullets.
"There is no end to these guys, how many are they!?" Tyler yells, ejecting his empty magazine and throwing it downstairs, hitting a soldier on his face.
"It is a base after all, you can't expect to only have 20 or 30 people," Reiji says calmly, spraying bullets all over the place to deter anyone from advancing.
Suddenly, the flow of enemy soldiers stops. A few tense moments pass, before Luminous, along with the girls and the two men appear.
"Friendlies!" she yells as she goes up the stairs.
"And the guys carrying the HVTs?" Theodore asks, keeping his gun aimed on them.
"Same. Have you called the helicopter?" she asks. When all of them are on the rooftop, Theodore closes and jams the door that leads on the rooftop.
"Yes, it should be here at any moment."
Small lights can be seen racing between the buildings of the base, presumably flashlights, since it is still the middle of the night.
"This is going to be a problem," Odysseus blurts out, as the lights all converge on the building they are.
"Hey do you hear it?" Annabelle says, hearing a very faint noise.
"Helicopter's here, let's get going!" Theodore says to everyone, as the sound of rotating blades becomes louder and louder.
As the helicopter lands on the rooftop, Theodore slides open the cabin's door. Suddenly, the door that leads to the rooftop starts getting kicked, in a bid to open. Not thinking twice, the young man that was carrying Naomi, puts her on the helicopter and goes to the door, using all of his strength to keep it closed.
"What do you think you are doing!?" Theodore yells at the man.
"I am buying you some time to escape!" he shouts back, becoming increasingly difficult to keep the door closed. The man with the glasses runs to the young man, helping him to keep it from opening.
"Go with them young man!" he shouts.
"What about you?!"
"I am too old for this new world. I have lived my life with a lot of regrets, I want to do something that I'll be proud of for once."
Nodding in understanding, the young man starts running towards the helicopter, which is slowly gaining height.
"Live your life to the fullest young man!" the old man yells. Taking a step back, the door to the rooftop opens and several soldiers with WW2 uniforms swarm out of it. The old man gets impaled by at least five bayonets, vomiting huge amounts of blood.
"This old body may be crumbling, but my soul will never yield!" he roars at his final moments, his eyes filled with determination and his body surging up with power. Grabbing the weapons of several soldiers, the old man takes a step off the edge of the rooftop, dragging several soldiers to their demises.
Luminous, being on the edge of the cabin, notices the young man who is running towards the helicopter, which now hovers about a meter away from the rooftop, so she extends her arm for him.
"Jump!" she yells at him and the man puts all of his strength on his legs, jumping off the roof and grabbing Luminous' hand. Bullets start striking the fuselage of the helicopter, which banks right and starts moving away from the building. Grunting and using all of her strength, Luminous manages to pull up the young man, with Theodore closing the cabin's door.
"Hey, you alright?" Luminous pants, feeling quite exhausted from lifting a 70kg body. The man doesn't respond, lying limply on the ground, his back full of bullet holes.
"I'm sorry," Theodore says to Luminous.
"It's okay, i have seen death too many times for me to get affected by something like this." Turning the body so it's facing upwards, she crosses its arms and closes its eyes, before saying a prayer in German.
As the helicopter gets further from the base, four huge fireballs consume the base, setting everything that isn't blown to bits on fire.
"What was that?" Annabelle asks in awe, gazing on the chaotic, yet majestic sight of the burning base.
"Fuel-air bombs. Quite destructive," Odysseus answers quietly, so that only Annabelle hears her. Katyusha slowly makes her way to the fallen man, a sad expression on her face.
"Though I never learned their names, I shall pay my respects to them by solidifying their existence in this world. Pravda will not forget their actions and valiant sacrifices to make sure we would come out of this endeavor unharmed," she says slowly and salutes the body of the young man, tears forming in her eyes.
A/N:Rewritten at last! More drama than the original, that's for sure. 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!