Hey guys i am back with another chapter after a long hiatus. I got really busy with school and moving so i was unable to write until just this week lol. anyway so this chapter i introduce Hanna Marseille in all her glory to the story and i have a nice little shoot out in it XD. anyway i just wanted to let you know i have added in a few other refernces to other works if you take time to notice them anyway i hope you enjoy this chapter as much as i enjoyed writing it.
Out of the Frying Pan
Fort Campbell USA
Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen
06:29 Local Time
The warm morning air brushed against Eila's face. She was heading up the ramp of the MV-22 that would take them to Washington DC so they could carry out their mission; if all goes well destroying the Russian artillery units could save many innocent lives as they tried to evacuate the city. Eila looked to Gertrude; she could tell that she was still furious at her encounter with the Shadow Company mercenaries. This Mattias character seemed to be a real piece of work; then again he was a mercenary so effectively he was the scum of the earth so this should have been expected. Everyone got into the helicopter and strapped themselves into the seats. A crew chief of some kind walked onto the helicopter and sat by the door apparently to man a M2 which oddly enough was still in service considering the fact that it was created in time to use during the Neuroi War that was going on in her world. Sanya sat next to Eila despite the tense encounter with Mattias she was still practically glowing from last night's… intimate encounter between them. Eila was really surprised by how forward she was with Sanya in fact she didn't know what had come over her; she just acted without thinking. Not to say that she wasn't pleased by the outcome she had been in love with Sanya since the moment she laid eyes on the beautiful Orussian witch; but for years Eila had wanted to confess her feelings to her yet she was unable to. When she was around Sanya she became like a small child before a goddess she was unable to come up with the words she wanted to use to confess her true feelings to the object of her affection. Oddly enough as it turned out she didn't really say much of anything she just acted and god did it work in her favor. The engines on the helicopter started up and the crew chief flipped up the so it was locked in a position out of the way of the closing ramp. The helicopter started to taxi down the runway. Just then over the intercom Eila heard General Shepherd speak to them.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen I have some important news I have to share with you regarding the state of the world. As of three hours ago China invaded Taiwan. I am getting reports of heavy fighting in the capital and the PLA is dropped ballistic missiles on the island like there is no tomorrow. Due to the current conflict with the Ultranationalist we are unable to risk another major land war in Asia so for now we are going to have to leave our allies to fend for themselves as we regroup for a counter attack. I got more bad news the Korean People's Army is beginning to mobilize along the 38th parallel. It is believed that they will launch an attack on South Korea within the week. Finally Saddam Hussein is about to give a speech to Baath Party officials in Baghdad so he can rally support for another invasion of Iran." General Shepherd told the group. This tidbit of information really didn't mean all that much for Eila as she didn't actually know where any of these countries were; all this new information did was reinforce how violent this world was compared to her own. However the news seemed to affect Metal Team a lot more.
"Fuck just because America is busy with its own problems the rest of the world thinks they can do whatever the fuck they want. Sir after we deal with the Russians will we be deployed to Asia again?" Sandman asked General Shepherd.
"Yeah you will be; but remember Sandman; America has lost many allies because of the Zakhaev International Airport Massacre as we are still being blamed for that. Everything we do from now on even if it is in defense of our own country will be looked at under a microscope by the international community so we can't just deploy forces thoughtlessly like we did before. Besides it's not like our current Commander in Chief President Obama would have the backbone to fight a standup war with the Chinese unless he had to." General Shepherd stated to them. Eila thought for a moment why did everyone instantly believe the words of the Ultranationalist with regards to the terror attack in Moscow? Shouldn't the rest of the world know not to trust them? Eila wished she could just tell the world of her vision and inform everyone that Makarov was indeed the person responsible for the massacre. But who would believe her, she would probably just come off as a crazy person considering how magic didn't exist in this world.
"Sir, China has the largest military on the planet what is to stop them from making a move on both Japan and Hawaii?" Frost asked his commander.
"I'd say about ten thousand nuclear weapons. The Chinese aren't stupid they aren't going to risk everything by over extending themselves in a fight on our home turf they know they would lose that fight. Anyway I have to speak to the President in a few minutes and brief him on the situation in Siberia; if all goes well Prisoner 627 could be our ticket to catch Makarov; Shepherd out." With that the line went dead. Grinch shook his head.
"Damn man I never thought I would see the day that the Chinese would make a move on Taiwan has America really gotten that weak over the last decade?" Grinch asked to no one in particular. Truck was the first one to respond.
"Yeah man you know how bad the defense cuts have been; hell if it wasn't for eight years of Obama our military would still be the largest and best equipped force on the planet." Truck said to his partner. Major Sakamoto then spoke.
"So this President Obama he is a bad leader I take it?" She asked the Delta Force members. Truck snorted in disgust.
"You don't know the half of it. Barrack Obama has not only slashed our defense budget countless times, he has also forced us to fight the War on Terror with one hand tied behind our backs. We used to be able to have a little operational freedom while we were hunting targets in Afghanistan while Bush was in office but as soon as that big eared moron got into office we practically had to beg our handlers to take out a target. He gave us some bullshit reasons like we were causing too much collateral damage and we didn't always know who was an innocent civilian and who was a member of Al-Qaeda. Fuck man of course we knew who the bad guys were they wore all black, had ski masks, carried AK-47s and shouted Allah Akbar at us as they shot at us; yet that lily livered fool has the gall to say that we were killing to many innocent civilians and that we should….." Truck was venting before Sandman cut him off.
"Truck that is enough! I don't like him either but he is still our Commander and Chief and we swore to faithfully serve our country and even though we might not like it, the American people voted him into office twice so we have to listen to his orders and obey them when he gives them. Is that clear?" Sandman growled to his team member.
"Yeah I got you, sorry boss; you know how hot tempered I get when it comes to Obama." Truck apologized to his commander.
"Hey its cool Truck we're square just remember that you don't have to respect the man just the office." Sandman told him. Then Yoshika spoke up.
"Well at least your president cares about the people of Afghanistan after all you were originally sent there to rescue them from this Al-Qaeda right?" Yoshika asked them. Frost nodded and spoke.
"Yeah that is true; one of the reasons we went into Afghanistan was to rescue the people from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. But as it turned out quite a number of the people in the country were none too happy with American troops in their country. When I was in the regular army in Kandahar Province Afghanistan a lot of the people we were fighting were disgruntled locals who didn't like the idea of foreigners forcing them to give up some of their traditional values like forcing women to remain uneducated and allowing free elections. Hell half of the men in my brigade that were lost was because they turned their back on a seemingly friendly villager who shot him in the back when he wasn't looking." Frost told them.
"That's horrible why wouldn't they let women go to school?" Lynnette asked Frost who just shrugged.
"Well a lot of the Afghanis proscribed to an ultra conservative strain of Islam. Actually scratch that they basically believed in some perverted form of Islam that cracked down on people's human rights we thought it was mostly the Taliban who was making them follow those laws but apparently there were quite a number of people who genuinely liked them so needless to say they weren't too happy when we had those laws revoked." Frost said. Eila thought of something that she wanted to ask Frost.
"So I know this is off topic Frost but what exactly did you do in the regular army anyway?" Eila asked him. Frost thought for a moment and then spoke.
"Oh I was a member of the elite Stryker Brigade Combat Team. We were a mechanized unit that mostly rolled around in these APCs called Strykers. I was just a rifleman in the Brigade but I did see quite a bit of action during the war." Frost told them; then Gertrude butted in.
"Ah I see so you where a panzergernadier then?" She asked him. Frost nodded.
"Yes that would be a term you could use for what I was." Frost said.
"Very Interesting I would like to hear more about this Stryker Brigade when you have the chance Frost" Gertrude said to him.
"Yes I'm sure Frost's war record is quite impressive but I think we have more pressing questions to ask right not. Gentlemen what more can you tell us about the Ultranationalist they are the people we are going to be fighting now right?" Minna asked the Delta Operators.
"Ah yeah well actually why don't I give you my Ipad5 and it can explain it to you." Sandman said to Minna. Minna cocked an eyebrow.
"Your what pad?" She asked Sandman. He pulled out a slim looking transparent device that looked like it was made of glass.
"This is an Ipad it's a type of personal computer. HAL find an article on the Russian Ultranationalist party." Sandman said into the device. Much to Eila's amazement the device spoke back to him.
"Searching….. Seventy relevant articles bringing up the most detailed now. Would you like me to read the article aloud sir?" the device asked. All of the witches were dumbfounded they had never seen a device such as this before.
"Yes please do." Sandman told it.
"Wow that is so cool Sandman is that thing some kind of robot or something?" Francesca asked the American who shook his head.
"No it's just a computer program it's incapable of independent thought." He told her; this made the device no less amazing to Eila. The Ipad5 began to speak to them.
"The Ultranationalist party can trace its roots back to the 1960s when two Soviet Generals by the names of Dragovich and Kravchenko began to formulate a plan to defy their government's orders and start a third world war by deploying a series of deadly chemical weapons in the continental United States this plan was stopped however by a CIA agent by the name of Alex Mason who…." Eila began to tune the device out; she just had an idea. She wanted to ask her Tarot Cards another question this time a specific question about two different people. When Minna talked to her the previous night she had asked her to not only gather some information on Frost who was easy enough to just simply ask for some basic info on; but also some information on both Vladimir Makarov and General Shepherd. Both men seemed too mysterious to her to just be left unexamined. First she decided that she would ask about General Shepherd since she had actually met him in person. She pulled out her deck and drew her first card. It was a picture of a king sitting on a throne draped in shadows; the Shadow King facing down card. Basically this card meant that the person was one who preferred to work behind the scenes manipulating events from afar rather than actually be upfront with his agenda. However this did not necessarily make him an evil person just very cunning and devious. Eila thought that when she got the chance she would directly ask Frost about what he thought about the General when they got some down time. She then asked the cards about what kind of man Makarov was. Eila's hands trembled as she prepared to draw the next card. She had already seen the things that Makarov had done the last thing she needed to do was to get inside his head. She drew the card; it was a picture of a man in black robes surrounded by burning buildings and carrying a torch, the cards caption read The Inquisitor then she felt the scarily familiar sensation of her consciousness being ripped from her body as she had another vision.
Unknown
Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen
Unknown
She once again saw the clock tower but this time its hands spun backwards at a blinding speed. Then the next thing she knew she was in London England. She was standing on the sidewalk; she looked forward and could see Big Ben in the distance to her left and saw a store of some kind but the window was polished in such a way that she could see her reflection. This time she was herself but she was dressed in civilian clothes and not those of 1940s fashion either. She wore some kind of sweater and a skirt. She looked away from her reflection and looked around. The cars she was seeing looked like none she had seen before in her time so she was able to logically deduce that she was in the current world that she was stuck in. she saw on the other side of the street was a man in a large black trench coat he was looking side to side and walking down the street. Eila followed him. After about a hundred meters Eila crossed the street to the side that he was on. The man in the trench coat turned and headed into a shop. Eila went up to the store some kind of coffee house that had about a dozen or so patrons in it. She saw the man he was near the back of the shop; he turned to face her. The man unbuttoned his jacked revealing a massive vest filled with plastic explosives.
"For Zakhaev!" The man shouted and suddenly he exploded in a ball of fire and shrapnel. For a split second she felt a searing pain all throughout her body; then blackness. Suddenly she was in a concrete bunker; she was near a dozen men dressed in assorted camouflaged uniforms. Makarov was standing in front of them; he was standing in front of a large camera speaking.
"These nations Britain, America and Germany; their Special Forces are responsible for the murder of our hero Imran Zakhaev. I have proof right here in this photograph." He held up a photo "These are the corpses of American and British commandos who killed him. We will not stop the bombings until the remaining men have been brought to justice!" He shouted into the Camera. The other men in the room began to chant.
"Long live the New Russia, Long Live Makarov!" they screamed. Then suddenly everyone stopped. Makarov slowly turned his head and looked Eila right in the eye; he was glaring menacingly at her. All of the other men in the room did the same thing. Eila turned around thinking that something came into the room in the vision but there was nothing just an empty wall behind her. A sense of dread filled her. Eila began to tremble as she got the sensation that someone was standing directly behind her.
"I see you Eila." It was Makarov he was right behind her. She felt his hot breath on the back of her neck as he growled the words right into her ear. Suddenly she was awake.
In transit to DC
Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen
07:10 Local Time
"Eila…. Wake up Eila!" Sanya said as she shook her.
"Huh, uh what happened?" Eila asked everyone.
"You looked at one of your cards and then you passed out." Major Sakamoto told her.
"Oh I see well I am ok I just must have dozed off." Eila told everyone.
"Are you sure you are alright Eila?" Sanya asked her.
"Yeah I can not have you on this mission if you are going to pass out at inopportune times you could easily get killed." Sandman stated to her. Eila nodded her head.
"Yeah I am ok don't worry I will not pass out again I swear that was a onetime thing." Eila told them.
"Alright but if you pass out again I'm taking you out of the field I don't want you getting killed." Sandman said to her.
"I understand." Eila responded. She thought to herself about what happened in her vision nothing like that had ever happened before. Eila really hoped that in her world, the one that wasn't as crazy as this one that they were mounting a rescue effort for them because if they weren't Eila honestly didn't know if they would be able to survive for very long in this world.
Formally the 501st JFW Base
Flight Lieutenant Hanna Justina Marseille
09:52 Local Time One Month after the Event
The Neuroi Hive was like an angry swirling storm over the base. For thirty one days it had hung over the base like a black angry storm cloud spewing lightening into the air and causing the Neuroi to appear randomly in the area. Hanna lit another cigarette; she inhaled a long draw of smoke. Hanna looked into the sky as a B-25 medium bomber descended to the base. On the plane was a Liberion by the name of Colonel Doolittle; a man who had over the course of the war had gained a reputation for balls to the wall craziness. Last she heard he had had launched his bomber off an aircraft carrier to attack a Neuroi Hive in the South Pacific. She grinned he was her kind of crazy well he would be if he was perhaps her age. The bomber landed and the crew began to get out of the aircraft. Hanna finished her cigarette and headed back inside.
"Warning Land type Neuroi detected in Grid Bravo 17. Deploy the 56th Iron Witches to move out and interdict them!" A man over the intercom spoke to them. After the 501st Strike Witches disappeared a month ago and the anomaly occurred high command had deployed any units they could spare to observe and study the anomaly and to more importantly find a way to rescue the 501st from enemy territory. Hanna wasn't surprised when she was approached for this mission; after all she was the famed Star of Afrika. In the building she had stepped in there were a few other witches in it. Sitting at a desk was Geena Preddy a Liberion Witch from the 506th filling out another of her damn crossword puzzles. In the front of the room was Katharine O'Hare playing a game of hangman; she appeared to be losing badly, it was a three letter word the last letters were filled out an A and a T, and she was down to her last two attempts.
"Is the letter Z?" Katharine asked with extreme enthusiasm.
"Oh for god sakes the word is Cat Katharine." Geena said to Katharine who looked like she knew the answer now.
"Oh then the letter is K!" she shouted triumphantly.
"Uh you're such a moron Katharine." Geena said. Hanna walked up behind Geena rested her chin on her shoulder and wrapped her arms around Geena's stomach.
"Hey Geena so how is the crossword going?" Hanna asked her. Geena looked back at her and smirked.
"Oh you know got a few words left. Like this one an eight letter word for idiot I would write Katharine but its one letter over damn. Anyway what's up?" the brunette haired Liberion witch responded to her.
"Oh I was just wondering if you had any of those Havana cigars that you like to smoke." Hanna asked her with a smile on her face.
"Yeah I got one left here." Geena pulled out a cigar from her breast pocket and handed it to Hanna who took the Cigar and smelt it. God the scent of Havana tobacco was the best in the world, but since the war against the Neuroi had begun tobacco production in the small island nation had fallen drastically, causing the price of the vaunted cigars to rise astronomically.
"Thanks sexy I guess I owe you one then." Hanna responded, Geena chuckled a bit and waved dismissively.
"Well just survive this rescue mission and you can buy me another one then." Geena responded.
"Oh sure whatever you say Geena." Hanna said. Just then Erwin Rommel walked into the room. "Officer on Deck!" Geena said; both Geena and Katharine stood at attention and saluted Field Marshal Rommel. Rommel saluted the Liberion witches back and looked at Hanna who was still standing casually in the presences of the Afrika Korp commander.
"Well Hanna are you going to give your commanding officer a salute?" Erwin asked her. She chuckled a little.
"Nah I think I am going to pass on that one Rommey." Hanna replied which elicited a ghost of a smile from the stoic commander.
"Very well then; come with me we need to discuss your mission details." Rommel told her.
"Right well let's go then." Hanna said as they began to walk out of the room.
"Ursula Hartmann is a few hours away from completing the package that you will carry into the Neuroi Hive. The plan is that you will more than likely be transported to the Neuroi's home dimension where we believe the 501st is currently trapped. Once you make contact with the Strike Witches you are to activate the package which in theory should teleport you back to our world; when you and the witches arrive back into our world report to the nearest Allied military base for debriefing." Rommel told her. Hanna pulled out a flask filled with whiskey and took a long pull on the flask.
"Listen Rommey let's cut the bullshit what exactly is this package you are talking about? I don't want to be going into the field blind out there." Hanna said to the Field Marshal who looked away from her.
"I will let Ursula herself tell you that." He replied as they turned the corner and stepped into the libratory where a number a scientists and Erica's twin sister Ursula were working on a mysterious boxy looking device. "Everyone but Ursula clear out now." Rommel ordered the men who quietly exited the room from another doorway.
"Ah Ursula what is it that you got for me?" Hanna asked. Ursula glanced up to look at her for a moment before going back to her work.
"Basically this is a magic teleportation device that I have been prototyping. In theory it should be able to move someone across time and space to the destination desired. Well at least that is the theory I need a few more hours to finish it." Ursula explained to her.
"I hope this thing isn't going to explode on me like that Jet Striker prototype you were building a few months ago." Hanna said to her. Ursula shook her head.
"No it shouldn't I think. Well at least I hope it won't; I'd say you have about a fifty fifty chance of survival." The young scientist told her. Hanna didn't like those odds maybe if she was playing a slot machine in Vegas those odds would have been good but when she was betting her life she wanted considerably better odds. After all how the fuck would she protect people if she was dead.
"Gee you have a real way of inspiring confidence don't you?" Hanna replied sarcastically.
"Thanks." Ursula said. Clearly the sarcasm was lost on the young girl. Then Rommel spoke to her again.
"Listen when you get to their world we have no idea what to expect so be ready for anything. And just to warn you; there will be no second rescue attempt if you don't come out of there we will assume the worst and will not waste the lives of anymore witches trying to pull your ass out of there got it?" Rommel inquired of her. Hanna rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah I hear you so basically it's another fucking Tuesday morning for me." Hanna shot back much to Rommel's annoyance.
"You really have no respect for authority do you Lieutenant Marseille?" Rommel asked her rhetorically. Everyone knew the answer to that. Ever since flight school Hanna had made a point of letting it be known that she hated authority. Hell that was half the reason that she fought so much with Gertrude Barkhorn; well that and she was a foul breathed self righteous bitch.
"Ah you know me to well to even bother asking that. But the important thing is that I will get the job done and ultimately that is all that matter sir." Hanna spat the last word to Rommel who just sighed and shook his head. It didn't matter that he was frustrated with her because she meant what she said, and in a few hours she would bring her fellow witches home and everything will be fine.
Firebase Echo Outskirts of DC
Flight Officer Sanya V. Litvyak
07:59 Local Time
The ramp of the helicopter came down as the witches and the Americans got up from their seats and checked their equipment. Sanya had snagged some type of machine pistol called an M92 Raffica as a backup weapon before she had left Fort Campbell. Sanya looked out across the base. Dozens of Artillery guns hammered in the direction of the city in order to give fire support to the American soldiers desperately fighting for their homeland against the Ultranationalist invaders. Sanya noticed that a group of five men and one woman dressed in American Army uniforms approaching them. Sandman noticed them and spoke to the approaching group's leader.
"Hey Johnny Rico it's been a while since Afghanistan." Sandman said to the approaching man. Johnny a young looking man with fair skin and light brown hair waved to them.
"Ah mister Sandman it truly has been a while since Firebase Phoenix hasn't it. Anyway I am here to give you some information about your mission." Rico told Sandman. Just then Eila put her hand on Sanya's shoulder. She took one look into Eila's eyes and knew something was bothering her.
"Huh Eila's what is the matter?" Sanya asked.
"Something really freaky happened when we were on the helicopter. When we were listening to that Ipad thingy I asked my Tarot cards about Makarov and I had a vision. But this vision was like none that I have ever had before. When I was witnessing an event that happened in the past Makarov in my vision….. he… he noticed me." Eila told her. Sanya was confused what did she mean by that.
"Wait what do you mean he noticed you?" Sanya asked her. Eila had a fearful expression on her face. Now Sanya was really getting scarred she had never seen Eila scarred before not ever. Even when they went into space and fought that super heavy tower Neuroi Eila was not afraid.
"He turned and looked me in the eye and then he said that he saw me." Eila told her.
"Wait what do you mean he said that he saw you? How do you know that he was referring to you and not someone in the vision itself?" Sanya asked her.
"Because he said my name Sanya it was like he somehow got into my vision or he detected my presence or something. Fuck I don't know nothing like this has ever happened to me before I am really fucking freaked out right now." Eila told her.
"Hey it's ok I'm sure it was just your magic acting up there is no way Makarov could have seen you. Not without using black magic anyway and we already know that magic doesn't exist in this world." Sanya told her girlfriend who nodded.
"Yeah maybe it was my fear of Makarov that caused my vision to act up I was really scarred when I asked the cards about him. We have seen what he has done and we know that he is really bad news." Eila said to her. Sanya nodded when they first had visions of this world Sanya had felt the emotions of the people who were dying in the airport; and more horrifying than that she felt the sadistic glee Makarov had felt as he gunned those people down. Up until then she thought idiots like Trevor Maloney were as evil as humans got but so far in the last day she had been in this horrible world she had been proven wrong on more than one occasion. And then there was General Shepherd, she didn't know what to make of him. She could have sworn that he had some type of mental shielding to prevent her from looking in on his thoughts towards them. And then there was that soldier that scanned them; that Marquez she didn't seem like she was an ordinary soldier. Well neither was Metal Team just ordinary soldiers but she didn't mean it like that. No there was something about Marquez that was off. Just then Grinch spoke to them.
"Hey ladies you paying attention to what he said?" Grinch asked them.
"Uh sorry I missed some of that. What did Rico say?" Eila responded. Rico then began to speak again.
"I said that you should go and see Colonel Marshal in his command bunker so he can brief you on the situation on the ground before you move in on the launchers. The bunker is on the way to your target so it shouldn't be out of your way." Rico said to them.
"Come on guys you're better than that you should pay attention during a briefing." Major Sakamoto said to them.
"Yes Ma'am" they responded. Rico then spoke to them again.
"Hey so who are you ladies suppose to be anyway?" He asked them. Sanya was about to respond when Sandman cut them off.
"Sorry Rico that is classified; all you need to know is that they are part of Task Force 141." Rico nodded.
"Right well my unit is going to recon an area near the Capitol Building hopefully we will see you later." Rico said to them as him and his unit turned and began to head away from them.
"Alright people gather around." Sandman said to them. All of the witches and the Delta Force troops gathered in a circle. When Sandman was satisfied that he had everyone's attention he began to speak. "So we are going to mostly be heading along the route that I have highlighted on your tacmaps lets try to take this quietly if we can we don't need to get into any serious gunfights unless we absolutely have to got it?" Sandman asked them.
"Sir Yes Sir!" they all shouted in unison.
"Alright well let's move out people." Sandman said to them. And with that they began to head along the road to their objective.
Washington DC USA
Flight Lieutenant Charlotte "Shirley" Yeager
08:11 Local Time
The group had fanned out to make themselves a harder target for any potential ambushers. The men of Delta took point while Perrine and Erica guarded the flanks as Shirley and Lucchini guarded the rear of the group. Shirley checked her weapon; she had a full thirty round magazine. She was tense about the mission. Before in the mall when she killed those Russian soldiers she did so in self defense; it was a heat of the moment kind of thing kill or be killed. But now she was on a mission with the full intent of killing someone. Granted this was war, but it still felt unsettling to know that she had to kill people. But despite this these people these Americans were her people and they were being slaughtered by these monsters. The further she went into the city the more evidence she saw of the Russian's cruelty. She saw people line up against walls and shot to death, a mutilated U.S. soldier pinned to a door by a bayonet. And several people who had clearly been burned alive by a flamethrower. It was sickening, to see what people could do to one another. Worse yet she couldn't shield Lucchini from these horrors. Shirley had been looking after Francesca for a few years now so she could tell when she was having a hard time dealing with something; and right now it looked like she was on the verge of getting sick to her stomach. But as much as Shirley wanted to she couldn't take time to comfort her they were still in mortal danger as at any moment they could encounter a Russian patrol and get into a firefight. The group was about to make a turn at an intersection when Sandman gave the holdup hand sign.
"Frost go check at what's ahead of us." Sandman ordered. Frost nodded and silently moved up the street and turned right at the intersection. Shirley found Frost to be rather interesting; he was a young man by Delta Force standards apparently and had seen quite a bit of action over the last four years of his life. Yet despite this he seemed to have a cheerful and rather upbeat demeanor. Shirley wondered was it some type of coping method that he was using or was he genuinely able to stay positive in this nightmarish world he lived in. Frankly he was quite similar to Shirley; as she also had to put on a brave face when she was having a hard time of dealing with the stress of combat in her world. Every witch had their own way of dealing with combat, Gertrude trained and sweat out any worries she had, Major Sakamoto practiced her swordsmanship, Erica drank, and Francesca like groping girls with big chests. Shirley however tried to joke a lot and make people around her feel good; well she like to do that and something a little more adult with someone in particular. But that was between herself and her on and off lover. Frost headed back to the group. Despite the heat he was still wearing that black mask he was wearing on the last mission. Why did he do that was it to protect his identity from the enemy?
"Sir we got a Russian strong point up ahead. Two Russian Hinds are landed and being rearmed by some ground crews. We got about a dozen infantry with small arms guarding them; but they are spread out and we got a least two vantage points to provide over watch from, I have marked both of them on our tacmaps." Frost told the group.
"Alright so what is the plan Sandman?" Shirley asked the Delta Force leader. He put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment.
"Grinch, Lynnette and Yoshika take the high ground and provide sniper support." Sandman said to Grinch who nodded.
"Rog." He responded as he headed up to a damaged building and hopped up some debris to get to the next floor. When he got there he helped both Yoshika and Lynette up. Then Sandman continued speaking.
"Truck, Eila, Sanya and Perrine I want you to take the other over watch position and provide fire support if things get dicey." Sandman ordered them.
"Understood boss come on ladies." Truck said to them as the witches followed him to their over watch point.
"Francesca go with Truck and the others and watch their backs." Sandman told Francesca who nodded in response.
"Gotcha mister Sandman!" She said and headed after Truck's Group.
"Hey Francesca stay safe got it?" Shirley told her.
"Ok you two Shirley!" Francesca said enthusiastically to her.
"Gertrude and Charlotte go with Frost and flank to the right. Major Sakamoto, Erica and Commander Wilcke flank to the left with me. Suppressed weapons and knifes only let's not make this louder than we have to." Sandman ordered them. They all nodded back to him. It was time to get to work. Shirley slung her M27 IAR on her back and pulled out her M911A1 which she had put a silencer on and loaded with subsonic ammo to be totally quiet. Gertrude withdrew from her holster her Sig Sauer P226 which was also suppressed, and Frost slung his SCAR-H battle rifle on his back and pulled out a silenced sub machine gun called a Vector.
"Hey you ladies ready for this?" Frost asked them.
"Yes I am ready Frost." Gertrude responded.
"Yeah, let's go take our country back Frost." Shirley told him. He nodded to her and they began to head to their infiltration position.
Washington DC USA
Sergeant Lynnette Bishop
08:38 Local Time
Lynnette, Grinch and Yoshika had gotten to a room where they had a good line of sight on the enemy. They looked well prepared for any possible attack. Lynnette could see that there were at least a dozen heavily armed Russian soldiers standing on some makeshift barricades and around some tables where an officer was talking with his men about battle strategy. Grinch and Lynnette lied on their stomachs and set up the bipods on their rifles. Grinch then pulled out his pistol and put it next to him as he turned to face Yoshika
"Alright Yoshika I know you said you are a pacifist and that is fine, but I need you to guard our rears so if you hear anyone coming up on us warn me and I will take care of them ok?" Grinch said to her.
"Understood." Yoshika said with a bit of hesitation.
"Hey Yoshika there is no shame in not wanting to kill if I could I would rather avoid it myself." Lynnette told her friend.
"Yeah trust me Yoshika it's a heavy burden to take a man's life. I have spent twenty years killing in service to my country and it never gets easier trust me. But I am doing this because I need to in order to save innocent lives such as yourself from the horrors of war." Grinch told her, Yoshika nodded.
"I know but Lynne, I just…. When I looked into the Major's eyes after she killed that man yesterday they were filled with anger… I just don't want your eyes to become like that. I don't want to lose you to this war Lynne." Yoshika confessed to her. Lynnette was touched by her friend's kind words.
"Don't worry Yoshika I will never leave you and this time I will protect you." Lynnette told her
"Ok well I will watch your backs if I and warn you if I hear anything." Yoshika told them. Grinch and Lynnette turned to their rifles they looked through their scopes. They could now see both of the assault groups getting into position to engage the targets.
"Alright Grinch we are at the starting point do you see the men on the barricades we need you to take them out for us ok?" Sandman asked them.
"Rog I see the guys you are talking about hold thirty why we line up the shots." Grinch told his commander.
"Roger that Grinch." Sandman responded.
"Hey Lynnette do you see the men standing on that barricade closest to us, the one smoking the cigarette and the one messing with his helmet?" Grinch asked her. Lynnette looked for a second and found them. They looked like young men in their late twenties, but the look in their eyes frightened Lynnette. They were the eyes of a killer.
"Yeah I see them." Lynnette replied.
"Ok take the one on the right I will get the one on the left." Grinch said to her.
"Understood." She said to him. She aimed for the smokers face. Her hands trembled ad bit she was about to take a human life in cold blood. He wasn't shooting at her or at Yoshika he was just minding his own business.
"Hey Lynnette don't aim for his head. Aim for a part of his uniform, whether it be a patch or a button or a zipper or what just don't aim for his face. Trust me it makes it easier especially on your first mission, you don't want his face haunting your dreams for the rest of your life." Grinch said to her. She just nodded. She saw the Russian flag patch on his sleeve, she aimed for that. She summoned her familiar and it helped steady her aim. "Ok on my mark got it? 1….2…3….. Fire." They fired simultaneously. The bullet from her suppressed M40A5 sniper rifle shot through the air and ripped into her target blowing his arm off at the shoulder causing an explosion of gore. The bullet ripped through his arm and punched into his heart killing him before he hit the floor. The other man also plopped to the floor with the top of his head missing. Lynnette felt sick to her stomach. God did she really do that. "Ok good kill now for the second pair. Do you see the guard facing our guys take him out I will take the one facing away from them." Grinch told her. Lynette pulled the bolt back on her rifle back and lined up her target this time she aimed for the zipper on his vest. "Ok same plan on three ok. 1…..2….3…. Fire." They again fired as one. Her bullet caved in the man's chest in and a bright red burst of blood shot out from a massive exit wound on his back showering the wall behind him with his vital fluids.
"Ok nice shooting guys we are moving up." Sandman said to them. Lynnette watched as the group was moving up. They got behind some cover between them and the main cluster of enemies. Lynnette could see the helicopter mechanics loading spare weapons onto the Russian helicopters. If those things got back in the air who knew how many people they could kill. "Alright you two, I want you to take out the officer and the man with the PKP as we make our assault." Sandman said to them.
"Alright Lynnette you go for the officer and I will go for the guy with the LMG." Grinch said to her.
"Yes sir." Lynnette responded and lined up her next target.
Washington DC USA
Flying Officer Erica Hartmann
08:52 Local Time
Erica checked her rifle one last time. She had screwed a silencer on it when they were told to be quiet when they attacked this position. They were almost ready to attack the main contingent of the Russian troops. Sandman had taken out his silenced pistol and got ready.
"Ok so on my mark Grinch and Lynnette take out the two targets I designated and then we will move in at once and take the rest of these guys out clear?" Sandman whispered to them. Everyone responded with a yes. "Ok 1….2….3…. Now." The Russian Officer blew in half and a Russian with an LMG had his head burst open. Erica and the others stuck out from cover and picked their targets. Erica saw a man raising his rifle up at her. She fired a quick three round burst into his torso throwing him back. Everyone else was firing at the Russians and they began dropping like flies. Erica picked another target this one was diving to cover. She fired two shots both of them connected with his chest and he went down like a sack of bricks. Frost quickly darted to the other side of the helicopter and dispatched two mechanics with his submachine gun before they had a chance to react. In just a few seconds it was all over. There were ten men lying dead on the ground before them. "Excellent work people you handled that like true professionals." Sandman told them as they gathered amongst the dead. "Frost snag a couple of pics of that map the Russkie officer was looking at and send them to high command. Truck and Grinch's groups form up here and we will discuss our next moves. Oh and Frost when your done taking pictures plant C4 on both of the helicopters." Sandman was telling them. Erica was heading over to where Sandman was standing when suddenly she heard and angry yell from her left. It was the man she shot as he was diving for cover she must have just wounded him. He leapt at her reaching for her throat. Out of pure instinct he reacted and grabbed his outstretched arm and used his momentum to toss him to the ground. By reflex her hand was on her knife and she planted a knee on his chest as she thrust the knife into his right eye socket. He barely had enough time to scream as the knife came down on him. She pulled it out and stabbed him again getting blood all over her grey uniform. She kept stabbing him whether it was by fear or adrenaline she didn't know she just kept turning his face into red mush until someone grabbed her knife hand. It was Minna.
"That is enough Hartmann he is dead you can stop now." She said to her. She looked to the man's corpse; his face was hardly recognizable it was just a bloody mass of torn flesh now. Shit she had practiced hand to hand combat during basic but she never thought she would ever have to actually use it in combat.
"Damn Erica I didn't think you had it in you." Sandman said to her. Just then Yoshika appeared with Grinch and Lynnette.
"Erica! Oh my God, are you alright? you are covered in blood." Just then Yoshika noticed the body she was kneeling over. "Did you….. Did you do that Erica?" Yoshika asked her with a tremble in her voice.
"He snuck up on me I didn't have time to react properly it just sorta happened." Erica explained. Yoshika still looked horrified.
"God what is happening to us?" Yoshika asked rhetorically.
"Ladies take a good long hard fucking look at this. This is what war really is this is what we were trying to protect you from. War isn't fucking pretty it is ugly and horrible and shit like this is a common occurrence. So if you don't think you can get used to this then now is the time to go home got it?" Sandman spat. Everyone was silent no one knew what to say.
Formally the 501st JFW Base
Flight Lieutenant Hanna Justina Marseille
12:01 Local Time
Ursula was finishing up on her teleportation device as Hanna had finished preparing her striker unit for the mission. Just then the door to the hanger swung open and Hanna U. Rudel stormed into the hanger.
"This is not fair Marseille you shouldn't be going on this mission, I should not you." Hanna growled to her.
"Oh really and why is that do you need a little more glory before you retire? Please you are just a washed up old dog who should just retire already." Hanna told her. Rudel practically fumed with rage.
"No I should be going on this mission because unlike you I actually care about some of the witches that I would be rescuing." Rudel shot back to her.
"Screw you, you fucking cripple you don't think I care about those witches. Sure I mean I don't give a shit about Barkhorn but I do have Erica Hartmann that I want to rescue. Besides I can't let her die because I still have to settle my rivalry with her." Hanna said smugly to her counterpart who looked like she wanted to strike Hanna.
"See that is what I mean you piece of shit you only care about yourself if you knew you were better than this Erica Hartmann you wouldn't care about her at all would you?" Rudel spat.
"That isn't true and I would advise you shut your damn mouth Rudel before I shut it for you." Hanna replied just then Erwin Rommel appeared.
"Enough both of you. Rudel take five; I need to speak with Hanna." Rommel said to them. Rudel glared at Hanna and didn't say a word as she left. "Hanna this is getting ridiculous I can understand your dislike of officers that is fine but I cannot have you fighting with other witches all of the time. If you don't learn how to get along I will have no choice but to remove you from the field, understand?" Rommel asked her. Hanna rolled her eyes.
"Yeah whatever; is the device ready yet?" Hanna inquired.
"Yes we just finished it." Rommel responded as a few scientists and Ursula came through the door carrying the device. It was a bulky device for sure she wouldn't be able to hold onto it and her weapons at the same time. "Here take this photo of the witches so you know who you are looking for." Rommel told her; she gave him a sideways look.
"You know I don't think there will be many other human beings in their universe so I doubt that I will be having to shift through that many other people to find them." Hanna replied smugly.
"I know that; it is motivation for you to find them. Call it a reminder of what you are searching for." He said. She took the photo folded it and put it in her breast pocket.
"Whatever you say Rommey." She replied. Then Ursula walked over to her.
"To trigger the device press this button right here and make sure that everyone is completely standing within the circle of magic. You have a ten second charge time from when the button is pressed so remember that." Ursula told her.
"Yeah whatever." Hanna said as she grabbed the device. She walked over to her striker unit and stepped in. Magic coursed through her body as the engines started up.
"Hey Hanna." Someone said. Hanna looked up to see Colonel Doolittle standing over her.
"Oh Yankee Doolittle what is up?" Hanna asked him. He held up a belt that had a holster and a scabbard on it. He tossed it to her.
"You might want to use this." He told her. She inspected it. Inside the holster was a Walther P38 and in the scabbard was a long curved knife.
"What am I going to use this for?" Hanna asked him, he shrugged.
"You never know." He said, and then he turned and walked away. She put on the belt and then started her engines to prepare for takeoff.
"Hanna Marseille taking off!" She said as she roared out of the hanger. She rapidly ascended and began to head into the hive. The dark clouds were pitch black in the center she had no idea what she would find when she got inside there. She entered the outer edge of the hive, and her vision began to get darker. She continued on and suddenly her striker engine gave out and the weight of the teleportation device went way. She began to feel a spinning sensation and suddenly she was out of the hive falling. She was able to perceive that the sky was filled with gunfire and tracers from AAA and that she had lost her striker unit. She hit a roof or something and fell straight through to the floor then she fell through that floor as well. It hurt like hell. She was in a room and she heard some people talking in Orussian. She looked to her left and saw five black, red and brown camouflaged men beating on a wounded man in some kind of grey and white military uniform. They noticed her and began to aim their rifles at her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you boys." She warned them to no avail they fired at her but she just in time raised her shield to block the incoming fire. Hanna quickly drew her pistol and fired two shots at the nearest man one of them catching him in the chest the other in the forehead. She fired another shot this one went through the next man's neck. She fired a fourth shot and it went through the third man's eye. She then fired another shot at the fourth man pricing his chest and finally she fired one more round which hit the fifth man at the bridge of his nose. She got up and walked to the man she shot in the neck. He was bleeding out clutching his wound and staring up at her. "You should have stayed home today." She said to him and fired her last shot through his forehead. She walked over to the man they were beating on. He was in a large room with five other similarly dressed soldiers. She knelt down to him to see his dog tags. On his uniform was written J. RICO U.S. ARMY. In big bold letters; so he was a Liberion that much was clear. But what was with his uniform she had never seen one like it before and the rifle that was near him it was way to advanced looking to be standard issue. She thought he was dead but when she went for his tags he groaned. She slapped his face lightly. "Hey Yankee Doodle wake up." She said to him in Britanish.
"Huh what?" he groaned. He looked disorientated and on the verge of death he was beaten pretty badly and he had been shot in the stomach.
"Hey I need to ask you something have you seen these girls before?" she pulled out the picture of the 501st.
he nodded.
"Yes they were part of some Special Forces unit they were with Metal Team." He told her. Special Forces what was that suppose to mean.
"Ok good do you know where they are?" She asked him.
"They were going to see Colonel Marshal at his command bunker." He replied. He then pointed in the vague direction of where the bunk might be and then his head fell back and he was dead.
"Shit." Hanna said. She closed his eyes and stood up. She grabbed his rifle it was a black colored weapon with the Britanish words FN SCAR-L written on it. The assault rifle had two scopes mounted on top the rear one was some kind of magnifier which could swing out and the forward one was a smaller boxy scope obviously meant for close encounters. She saw that it had a second magazine strapped to the current one loaded in. after she made sure the rifle was loaded and familiarized herself with it she walked over to another dead Liberion this one was a woman much to her surprise and pulled off her a shot gun of unknown designation. She made sure it was loaded and put five other shells on a side mounted shell holder. She slung the shot gun on her back and looked out of a hole in the building. In the distance she saw a familiar building. It was the U.S. Capitol building and it was on fire. Shit how the hell did she end up here. No matter she had a mission to complete. So she set out to find this command bunker with Colonel Marshal in it maybe then she could get some answers.
Washington DC USA
Flying Officer Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen
09:32 Local Time
The group had been silent since they had taken out the Russian soldiers by the landed helicopters. No one really knew what to say. Sandman's protest of them coming along on this mission became all the more clear after the incident. The group was heading up a street scanning the rooftops and windows for any sign of the enemy; so far they had gotten lucky and hadn't encountered anyone. They began to hear the clatter of an approaching vehicle of some kind, and judging by the noise it had to be a tank of some type.
"Get to cover now!" Sandman ordered them. Everyone dove behind cars or hid behind walls in the alley ways. Eila was hiding behind a blue pickup truck with Sanya waiting for the enemy to pass. She saw the tank it was a boxy looking tan colored tank that was much larger than even Karlsland's vaunted Tiger tank. Behind it came two tan colored eight wheeled vehicles with smaller turrets on them; and between the vehicles where about two dozen soldiers in similar camouflage to the American Army but this time it was a light tan color. "Friendly coming out from the West!" Sandman shouted some of the soldiers by the vehicles noticed him steeping from cover and waved to him. "Relax ladies these are US Marines their on our side."
"Marines I heard of these guys back in our world apparently they are some of Liberion's best troops I wonder if these guys are the same here?" Sanya said to Eila.
"I hope so we could use all the firepower we can on this mission. " Eila replied. Sandman went up to one of the approaching marines.
"What is your name and unit soldier?" Sandman inquired.
"Staff Sergeant Willis Huntley of the 115th Marine Reservist Armored Battalion do you mind if I ask what unit you are from sir?" The marine responded.
"Yeah we are from Task Force 141 Charlie Team; we have a mission to take out some Red arty that has been pounding the evacuation units." Sandman told the marine who nodded in response.
"Ah good we need someone to get rid of that artillery it has been smacking the shit out of our boys there. Anyway what do you need sir?" The marine queried.
"We are trying to make our way to Colonel Marshal's command bunker can you give us a hand?" Sandman asked the marine.
"Yeah we are heading that way now to link up with the units guarding the Evac route. We will give you cover until you arrive near the bunker then you are on your own for the last block or two. Sorry orders are orders sir." The marine told him.
"It's fine Sergeant Huntley we can make it the rest of the way on our own we just need your unit to….." A loud cracking noise could be heard an instant before Staff Sergeant Huntley's head exploded. Sandman dove to the deck and everyone raised their weapons in alert.
"Sniper get your heads down!" Another Marine shouted. As if they materialized from thin air about thirty Russian soldiers appeared from the buildings up the street firing wildly at them. The tank and the other armored vehicles open fire on the exposed Russians. The tank's massive cannon fired a high explosive shell in the midst of about five bunched up enemy soldiers obliterating them. The armored vehicles opened up on the Reds with their auto cannons blowing several of them apart. Eila raised her UMP.45 to her shoulder and looked down her EOTech Holographic sight. She picked a Russian soldier carrying a shotgun and fired a five round burst. Forty five caliber rounds smacked into him sweeping his legs out from under him and causing him to fall back. The other witches opened fire as well. Sanya fired a grenade from her XM25 exploding between two Russian soldiers blowing them into bloody chunks of charred flesh. Eila fired at another Russian soldier this time her rounds impacted his head ripping through his skull and splattering brain matter on the man behind him, which she also dispatch with a quick burst of gunfire. Eila and Sanya got behind the cover of a parked car and steadied their weapons on the hood and trunk of the car respectively. Eila could see that Gertrude put her shield up as she was firing her rifle at the enemy; Eila could see the sparks of rounds impacting her shield as the enemy concentrated their fire on her. From the rooftops more Russians appeared one of them fired a rocket launcher at one of the armored vehicles ripping it to pieces cutting down three marines that were using it for cover. Eila saw three other Marines go down from gunshots as well.
"Shit we have to take out those guys with the RPGs Frost, Gertrude and Shirley watch the rooftops and take those guys out!" Sandman order the three of them. Frost fired a grenade from his under slung launcher and it went straight into a window that Eila had noticed a muzzle flash from. The explosion ripped the side of the building open. "Alright Marines advance use the tank and the LAV for cover!" Sandman shouted. The Tank and the LAV began to move forward. In the turrets of the vehicles the commanders sat firing their pintle mounted HMG at the Russian troops on the rooftops. Eila and Sanya began to advance from cover and head closer to the now moving American vehicles. Eila picked another target a Russian with an LMG fire at her from behind a car. Eila fired a quick ten round in his direction unsure if she hit him. Eila reloaded her gun then threw a fragmentation grenade over the car that he was hiding just to be sure. The resulting explosion from the grenade blew the car apart and sent shrapnel everywhere killing another unfortunate solider who got caught in the explosion. Minna covered Mio with her carbine as she advanced on a Russian soldier at street level armed with an RPG. Mio drew her sword and cut the man's head off. Eila then instinctively got the sensation that she should dodge to the left to avoid an incoming threat. No sooner had she ducked out of the way a sniper round cracked past her head. Sanya fired a grenade in the direction of the sniper. The grenade entered the room he was in and exploded mid air killing him. Eila then looked to see how the rest of the group was doing.
Washington DC USA
Staff Sergeant Derek Westbrook "Frost"
09:55 Local Time
Derek reloaded his rifle and popped out from behind the wall he was hiding. He spotted a VDV trooper and fired three rounds semi auto in his direction. The bullets slammed into him blowing his right arm off. Frost looked to the witches he was amazed at what they were able to do. Perrine had a Russian soldier fire at her with his AK-74U only for her to deflect the shots with her shields then she shouted some spell and lightening shot out from her fingertips frying the soldier to a crisp. Perrine then without missing a beat fired off a whole clip from her MP5 into another advancing Russian ripping him apart. Frost looked up to the rooftops and saw another RPG gunner lining up a shot on the M1 Abrams tank. He sighted up the Russian in an instant and fired a single shot which blew his head off. Shirley the bunny girl rushed from one side of the street to the other in a fraction of the time it would have taken another person. She quickly fired a ten round burst at a sniper on a second floor balcony who collapsed in a heap of blood and body parts. They must have run into a company sized force of soldiers or something because their just seemed to be no end to them.
"Gertrude cover me while I move to that damaged Hummvee!" Frost shouted to her.
"Got you!" She shouted and fired her G36 at a few Russians hiding in a store. Frost dashed to the damaged American vehicle and hid behind its thick armored frame. Frost could feel the vehicle shake as bullets impacted the other side of it. The M1 fired its main gun at the rooftops of a department store tearing a big hole in it. Debris rained down on some Russians below. Frost took advantage of the situation and fired an under slung HEMP grenade at the stunned Reds. The explosion blew all four of them to bloody chunks. Shirley rushed over to the Hummvee Frost was hiding behind.
"Hey it looks like we ran into a little bit of a scuffle doesn't it?" She asked sarcastically. Frost rolled his eyes.
"No you think. Just cover me I am going to run to that store over there and clear it out." Frost said to her. She nodded and fired an entire magazine at some Russians in cover. Frost switched from his SCAR to his Vector TDI and sprinted into the store. He jumped through a broken window and rolled to cover. He heard men speaking in Russian he leaned out from behind a shelf and spotted two Russians heading towards them. He fired a quick twenty rounds and cut the first one in half at the waist. The other enemy soldier was too quick and he dove on the other end of the isle from Frost. He tossed a frag grenade at him Frost kicked it away and hit the deck. The explosion rattled his teeth and showered him in some light debris. Frost flipped over on his back as the Russian came to see if he was still alive. Frost raised his Vector as the man was rounding the corner he was carrying a G36KV an export variant of the G36C. Frost fired five round at his head which exploded into red mist under the impact of the heavy slugs from his SMG. He got up and did a quick check to see if there was anyone else in the store when he was satisfied that there wasn't he got back into the street. The tank and LAV had passed and the few remaining marines were hanging back letting the armor and the witches do most the dirty work for them. He switched back to his main weapon the SCAR-H and ran to cover near Commander Wilcke and Major Sakamoto. He patted Minna on the shoulder who was in the process of reloading her MK18, she turned to look at him.
"Hey what is it?" She asked him.
"What is the situation look like?" He replied her.
"Well we are making steady progress but the Russians are coming out of the woodworks here. If they don't stop coming we will blow through all of our ammo." She told him. Just then the Marines ran past them and caught up to the tank which was about to cross an intersection. Suddenly the M1 exploded in a violent fireball. "Shit what the hell was that!?" Minna shouted. A T-80U rounded the corner aiming at the LAV-25 and fired a second round which blew the lightly armored vehicle to pieces.
"Shit everyone get to cover!" Major Sakamoto shouted to the members of the 141. The T-80's commander manned the Dshk MG killing the remaining Marines. If it wasn't for the witches' shields they would have been killed as well. Six Russian soldiers followed the tank using it as cover. "Minna, Frost cover me I will take out that tank!" Mio said to them.
"Wait what are you insane? That is fucking tank!" Frost shouted to her. But to no avail in her left hand she drew her sword and dashed out form cover.
Washington DC USA
Major Mio Sakamoto
10:22 Local Time
"Damn it Mio you are going to get yourself killed!" Minna said as she ran out into the open. Mio had lifted up her eye patch so she could use her magical eye to see the best route for her to take to get to the tank. Mio fired her PDR one handed at some Russian soldiers killing three of them in the twenty rounds she fired. The Russian Tank Commander noticed her approaching and aimed his machine gun at her she quickly side stepped a burst of fire. She leapt up onto a car near the tank and used it as a spring board to leap onto its turret. She swiped her sword through the top of the Commander's head cutting it clean off. She then quickly pulled out a grenade from her vest and pulled the pin. She kicked the man's corpse down the hatch and dropped the grenade down with him. She jumped off the armored vehicle as the explosion roared up from the tank. The enemy vehicle ceased movement. She was about to relax when out of the corner of her eye she saw a Russian raising his gun towards her. She was out of bullets and was too far away to attack him with her sword she was going to die because of her foolhardiness. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes in anticipation for the bullet but when she heard the crack of a gunshot she was fine. She opened her eyes to see Minna aiming her rifle at the now dead Russian. Mio smiled at her.
"Thank you for saving my life Minna." She said but as she approached Minna she frowned and grabbed her vest.
"What the hell was that Mio you could have gotten yourself killed with that stunt. Damn it I can't lose you not now not ever so please for the love of god don't do something that crazy again, that is an order." Minna said to her with fear and anger in her eyes. Mio shook her head.
"Minna remember I said I would protect you with my life if I had to so if you are in danger I can't promise that I won't put myself in harm's way for you but trust me I don't intend on dying now that you have given me something to live for." Mio replied to her lover. Minna teared up but managed to smile a bit.
"Ok just stay with me please." Minna pleaded to her.
"I will Minna, I will always stay by your side." Mio replied. She fought the temptation to kiss her right then in their but she knew that not only were the other witches watching but worse yet the men of Delta Forces could also see them.
Washington DC USA
Derek Westbrook "Frost"
10:28 Local time
Derek looked at both Minna and Mio talking to each other. Something about it struck him as odd. He couldn't hear what they were saying because his ears were still ringing but because of how close they were standing to each other and how they had their eyes locked towards one another. Frost at first could swear that it was more than just simple camaraderie but it couldn't be after all that would violate Don't Ask Don't Tell plus they were in the same unit and to make matters worse Mio was Minna's second in command. Frost must have been just misinterpreting the signals they were putting off. Just then Perrine Clostermann walked up next to him.
"Hey Frost can you….. uh….. hear what they are saying to each other?" Perrine asked him; Frost shook his head.
"No but it is probably just Commander Wilcke telling Major Sakamoto to be less reckless next time. I mean god the stunt she just pulled it was like out of an action movie or something. Perrine is the Major like that all the time?" Frost inquired, Perrine nodded.
"Yes Major Sakamoto is the bravest woman I have ever met. That bravery is…. What I admire most about her. She inspires me to be a better soldier; no not just a soldier but a warrior of Gallia." Perrine responded.
"Gallia huh, that is your home country isn't it?" Frost asked.
"Yes I believe in your world you call it the French Republic." Perrine responded.
"So what is the situation like for your country like back in your world?" Frost queried.
"Just recently we liberated the western portion of the country from the Neuroi but there is still much reconstruction to be done before people can live there again. And it doesn't help that there are so many orphans because of the war." Perrine told him.
"Huh, you don't say." Was all Frost could think to say. Then Sandman spoke to the group.
"Alright people let's get a move on no time to waste." He told them. Everyone got their equipment ready again and began to follow Sandman. During the fight they had advanced up at least three or four blocks towards their ultimate objective. Frost saw that Shirley was talking to Francesca seeing if she was ok and Lynnette was talking to Yoshika to see how she was holding up.
"Well should we get a move on Perrine." Frost said to her. The bespectacled witch nodded to him.
"Yes we should." Perrine responded as they began to head after the rest of the group.
Washington DC USA
Flight Lieutenant Gertrude "Trudy" Barkhorn
10:37 Local Time
They were according to Sandman anyway closing on their objective. They had about another two blocks after they reached this next intersection. She was still wound up from the firefight with the Russian's earlier it was unlike anything she had ever experienced before so much gunfire directed at her and how easily she was able to take someone's life when she felt threatened honestly it frightened her a little. They were about to reach the intersection when suddenly from the third floor of an apartment building heavy weapons fire erupted at them.
"Shit get to cover!" She said to everyone. They dove behind some debris that was large enough for the whole group to hide behind.
"Frost do you have any more grenades left for the grenade launcher?" Grinch asked Frost.
"Yeah I got one left, Sanya do you have any ammo left in the XM25?" Frost asked her.
"No I used all my ammo in the last fight?" Sanya replied. A piece of concrete hit her shoulder. It looked like the bullets from the Russian heavy weapons were breaking through the cover they were hiding behind.
"Ok everyone on three provide covering fire for me to rush up and fire my last grenade." Frost said to them. Everyone confirmed they heard him." 1….2….3… Now!" Frost shouted. As one they raised their weapons and began to fire. When Gertrude got a good look at what they were up against she saw that there was at least two HMG on the third floor and four other guys with regular weapons firing at them. Shit the only way this could get any worse is if Hanna Marseille showed up. Gertrude thought to herself.
Washington DC USA
Flight Lieutenant Hanna Justina Marseille
10:42 Local Time
Hanna was able to hear gunfire nearby her. It was heavy weapons by the sound of it, and judging by how clearly she could hear it, the gunfire must have been coming from the building she was in. Hanna looked out the window of the building she was in and looked onto the street below she saw four men in grayish tan uniforms below and with them much to her surprise were some female soldiers. She looked a little harder and noticed that one of the women had a short bob cut of blonde hair. It was Erica Hartmann and as she looked harder Hanna noticed that the other women were the witches of the 501st. What the hell are they doing in those strange grey and black uniforms? Hanna watched as one of the men in the grayish tan uniforms and wearing a solid black ski mask ran out from cover and hid behind some fallen masonry. He raised the rifle over his shoulder and fired a single round from the larger barrel under the smaller barrel and there was an explosion that racked the building she was in. despite this gunfire still raked his position. He had some balls she would give him that and maybe a little crazy in the good kind of way to risk his life against that much enemy fire. She started to head further down the hallway in the building from where the gunfire was coming from. Hanna pulled out her knife and leaned around the corner. She saw a couple of those presumably Orussian soldiers in the strange red and brown camouflage. She walked up to the soldier that was nearest to her and grabbed him by the chin and slit his throat. She gently set him down and went to the next man. She quickly put her hand over his mouth and stabbed him in the back then pulled the knife out and stabbed him again in the heart. Then she moved to the third man and silently and stabbed him through his helmet killing him instantly. They still hadn't noticed her yet they were too focused on killing the witches and what she could assume were Liberion soldiers they were with. One of the two remaining men was using a MG and the other had an LMG rested against a windowsill. Hanna went past the gaping hole in the building and pieces of a person blown up by the explosion. She tossed her knife at the man with the LMG hitting him in the back. She then took out her shotgun and crept up on the man on the . She was within two meters of him.
"Hey Ivan turn around." She said to him. He looked back to her with fear in his eyes as he starred down the barrel of her shotgun. She pulled the trigger and a deafening boom erupted from her gun sending twelve pellets of buckshot straight throw his head. To Hanna's surprise the shotgun cocked the next shell for her. The gunfire from below stopped and she stood close to the window. "Hey you can stop shooting now; it's clear up her!" She yelled to them.
"What!?" Someone yelled from down there. It was the masked man.
"Listen I'm coming down there alright?" She yelled and she got ready to jump down to the street.
Washington DC USA
Commander Minna Dietlinde-Wilcke
10:47 Local Time
"Oh no." Gertrude said randomly. Minna lifted her head from cover to look at the building they were taking fire from. From one of the windows she saw the figure of a young woman looking out on them. Minna noticed that on her head were the wings of an eagle. She was a witch but who was she. Then she remembered who she was. The witch jumped down and a gust of wind cushioned her fall when she reached the ground.
"Oh god not, another one." Sandman said to no one in particular.
"Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to introduce you to the Star of Afrika Hanna Justina Marseille." Minna told to everyone.
"Wow so cool." Yoshika said with a look of amazement on her face. Hanna looked to her and smiled.
"Thanks little kitten but I don't do autographs." Hanna said to her. Then she noticed Erica. "Hartmann oh my god it's been so long. How have you been since you left JG52? Do you remember that bitch of a commander we had? You know with the bad breath?" Hanna asked her. Gertrude fumed.
"Uh hi there Hanna; long time no see." Erica said with more than a little disappointment.
"I see you are as disrespectful as always Hanna." Gertrude spat to her. Hanna looked over to her and sneered.
"Oh hello Barkhorn; it is so good to see you again." Hanna said with a grin. Gertrude glared at her.
"So what are you doing here, and more importantly how did you get here?" Minna asked her.
"Well it's been a month since you left and high command gave me a teleportation device and sent me into the hive to rescue you. But I have to say this isn't what I expected the Neuroi world would look like." Hanna told them. Then Truck spoke to her.
"That is because it is not the Neuroi's world." He said to her. Hanna turned to him and gave him a sideways look.
"And who are you suppose to be?" Hanna asked him.
"These men are the men of the United States Army's Special Operations Unit know as Delta Force. That man is codenamed Truck, the man with the baseball cap is Grinch, the one with the ballistic glasses is Sandman and the guy with the mask is named Frost. We have been working with them on a way to get home. We struck a deal with their commander we help repel the Russian invasion and he will help us get back to our world." Minna said to Hanna who just shrugged.
"Well it looks like we will need their help because when I got here the teleportation device disappeared when I entered the Neuroi hive." Hanna told them.
"Wait did your striker unit also disappear?" Mio asked her. Hanna nodded.
"Yeah it did what about your units did they disappear as well?" Hanna inquired.
"Yes they did which gives me a theory as to what might have happened. Both the striker units and the teleportation device were basically devices made of pure magic. And in this world it appears that our magic is about working at half strength so it appears that a device of pure magic wouldn't make it through the transition process." Mio theorized.
"Huh, I guess that is a decent theory as any. Well what the hell is actually going on here, and what is this Russian that you speak of don't you mean Orussia that is the language that these people were speaking." Hanna said to Mio.
"Well we don't have time to explain here but the short story is that this is an alternate world. Anyway we are heading to some kind of command bunker in the city we will explain everything there." Minna told her.
"Oh right to speak to that Colonel Marshal right?" Hanna said to her. Then Sandman spoke.
"Wait how do you know that?" Sandman asked her.
"Oh I spoke with some Liberion soldier named J. Rico." Hanna said to him.
"Really where did you see him?" He asked her. She shrugged.
"When I got here I landed in the same room he was in and he was being beaten to death by some of the Orussians. And I am sorry but he is dead now." Hanna just said to him.
"Huh, why am I not surprised." Sandman said to her.
"Listen Uncle Sam; I did what I could. He was beyond saving when I found him." Hanna replied to him. He turned away and then spoke.
"Right well let's go to the bunker then we will explain everything there." Sandman replied and then they began to head for Colonel Marshal's command bunker.
OOOH that was an exciting chapter wasnt it. the plot has deffinantly thickened after Eila's vision. anyway i just wanted to let you know since i recently got another job my writing will be done at a slower pace then usual but i have some good news. i decided to change the ending of this story from what i had originally planned to something that paves the way for a sequel story which is currently tilted Strike Witches: The Day After so if you are a fan of this story i am sure you will be pleased. oh and with this story i will take it to some pretty dark places but the sequel well it will be extremely dark XD anyway until next time. Oh also i wanted to say that if anyone wants to PM me and ask me about my story, or strike witches or COD or really anything nerd related feel free to PM me i will usually respond pretty quickly to any questions or comments just make sure to add in the subject line what you are asking about. Ok another Update so i noticed a few spelling mistakes while rereading this chapter i tried to fix some of them to make the story flow better. again so sorry for any mistakes i do write this story late at night because of how busy i am during the day so i usually am pretty tired hence the mistakes. however i will try to fix them ASAP when i notice them. also as for the Obama comments its not so much that i am pro republicans as i am of the mindset that "Everyone in the government who is not wearing a uniform will be a complete moron" and i will try to show this in my story trust me i will have some pretty vicious jabs at a few well known republicans later on anyway srry if i offended you. anyway i will update the next chapter as soon as i can which hopefully will be at the start of next month