Chapter CX: Kicking Over The Anthill

1 Nov 0738 KST

Gangdong District, Seoul, South Korea

While Bremer and his men were trying to clear him a path forward Vargas was tearing into Gangdong District to stir up a spiders nest. The aliens had indeed withdrawn from parts of Songpa district and in doing so cloistered together in large groups along the fringes of Gangdong and Gwanjin Districts. Large numbers of aliens were amassed on the north side of the river to guard their valuable assets while the humans effectively slaughtered each other. Surely the numbers Vargas needed for his plan were present north of the Han though the aliens' willingness and Vargas' capability were not. Crossing the river to draw them out would not be a viable option. South of the river where Vargas and indeed all of the known human survivors in Seoul were confined appeared deserted; not a single alien or machine in sight. The scattered bands of vassals and subjects to the Empire hid themselves away and hoped for the troubles to simply pass them by. They were bound by fear not loyalty; they were not willing to spill blood to keep their masters in power but by the same token they would not spill their blood to raise arms against them. They only wanted to survive, to endure, to exist. In the quiet stillness the sound of Vargas' squads' motorcycles were like thunder. The engines of the beat up truck which he rode in and the lone Humvee covering the rear were practically as loud as an atom bomb going off by comparison. Under this rumbling and roaring Vargas could feel his own pulse quickening. He was looking for the very thing he had become accustomed to avoiding. Seeking out the aliens was a fool's errand, only undertake by those with a serious death wish. Vargas had seen too many people perish by inadvertently bumping into the occupiers, how much worse would it be to charge straight into their arms. He heard stories of those who simply gave up on fighting, gave up on life and walked out into the city alone in which they inevitably encountered the Earth's new tenants and met their desired end. That method of surrender had become more common among the smaller survivor groups they encountered and even among the ranks of the 4th than Vargas would like to admit. Finding aliens was easy and they cut out all the hard work and second guessing when it came to offing one's self when the world and the future appeared more hopeless than ever. Even the majority of them who wanted to survive, to fight, to endure as long as it takes had extreme difficulty in not meeting their enemy when going out for the most basic of reasons. Finding an alien today however would not be so easily achieved.

"I've never seen these roads so clear." Vargas softly remarked.

The entire trip across Songpa District he saw nothing; the district was like a ghost town. He usually had to be obscenely careful in order to travel anywhere in Seoul without running afoul of alien intervention. Today when he was actually out looking for them there wasn't one skitter to be found. If only it could be like this when he was making supply runs. Every shop, every warehouse left standing was refreshingly ET-free right now. If he didn't have such a vital function to perform right now he could have easily restocked the supply chests of every division of the 4th Korea's operation with what was laid out for the taking there. Granted much if not all of these goods were marked with the Empire's territorial pissing. It was not like Vargas gave a flying fuck what they claimed; if something was out in the open unguarded it was considered fair game for the taking. Ironic wasn't it thought Vargas that he was being the more charitable one compared to the Emperor who claimed to be all about the little guy. Vargas wasn't taking stuff from anyone when he foraged for the 4th. That's how he reconciled it to himself at that moment. The Empire had no more claim to what remained of what civilization left behind than anyone else. The rightful owners of all this stuff were long gone, dead or fled with their lives to a world that was never coming back; even if it did it would never be the same. To be honest Vargas had never thought about the ethics of what they had to do to survive until now. Regardless if he approved or disapproved they would still continue to have to do it. Their first duty was to survive, that was the most important task when facing extermination. Next was to fight back and do so in a manner becoming of their humanity lest they become monsters indistinguishable from the ones they were fighting. The Empire had proven how easily and how quickly the most basic aspects of human decency could be lost against such peril so the fight to retain their humanity was just as great as the desperate fight to reclaim their planet.

The signs of strategy were apparent to Vargas; the aliens had evolved their understanding of human behavior it seemed. They were most certainly wise to what was going on between the human factions. However Vargas was quite confident that the aliens, no matter how cautious, opportunistic and intelligent they were would not cease their operations in Seoul. They must have simply redirected them; somewhere they were still chugging along full force. Vargas just had to find where the bugs were digging a new anthill and knock it down. He knew they still had to retain some presence south of the Han in order to escort the overland shipments of raw materials and zombified children he and other teams had observed the aliens moving from the outer suburbs into central Seoul. They would certainly divert these shipments but Vargas knew they would not cease. He also had cause to believe that the aliens still regarded the human threat as too insignificant to justify so extreme of a reroute as to avoid the city completely; nor would they encumber their operation by sending these bulk movements by air. After the first hundred hours following the invasion the alien air power was reduced dramatically and continued to diminish every day since. In spite of construction facilities Vargas had seen from a distance pumping out additional fighter craft and mechs they never seemed to contribute to the enemy presence detected on the battlefield so it was assumed the aliens were sending them off world, back to their home planet perhaps or being amassed against the next vulnerable world in the aliens path of conquest. Vargas' suspicions were indeed correct; In actuality less than 0.000125% of the ships that came with the invasion force remained in the Sol System and but a hundredth of those were committed to the Earth, the rest guarded off-world facilities on Mars, the asteroid belt, the moons and upper atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and stationed on battle stations under construction in the outer solar system. Knowing what he knew and believing what he believed about his inhuman adversaries Vargas surmised they still had to be operating nearby.

They would be lurking somewhere, somewhere along the fringes of the territory contested by the 4th and the Empire. This is where he was headed; he was going as close to the river as possible. In the process he hoped to run straight into their supply lines or whatever it was they were guarding and when he got there he would unload upon them, doing particular damage to any alien constructs in the area but sparing more or less the enemy armies. The alien soldiers were necessary for their plans against the Empire, the devices, facilities and weapons they were building over the ruins of Seoul were not. Vargas was determined to maximize the outcome of every mission he partook in, to capitalize on every advantage he could seize; this mission was no different. These alien implements of war would remain a threat even after the Empire was vanquished.

Vargas would not get that chance however. The nearest alien facilities were at the water's edge in northwest Gangdong District and he would encounter significant opposition before he managed to come within sight of his secondary targets. His stomach tensed as the flattened wastes gave way to a hodge-podge of still standing structures and clearer roads that were less littered with misshapen rocks and burnt out hunks of debris. He could not see anything yet but he had that peculiar feeling in his gut that he was being watched; he could feel the inhuman stares fixed upon his form from locations yet unseen. The small hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end and he suppressed the trembling in his muscles to give the illusion of calm as he focused his fear into heightening his senses in preparation for the imminent attack. Down the road to the north he approached an underpass surrounded by crumbling roads and buildings. Piles of pounded out fragments of stone and concrete buttressed still intact stretches of highway beneath which formed cave like passes cloaked in shadows. There in these shadows he could make out multiple alien forms hiding beneath the deformed roadway. The buildings beyond the road also gave signs of movement from behind their windows and blown out sections in their walls.

While the landscape had drastically changed since the latest bombardment this area felt familiar to Vargas; more so than just being a recognizable locale this area held a special place in his memory. Indeed Vargas was close to where it all had begun for him; the starting point for this terrible journey the day the bomb dropped on Seoul. Only a few blocks north would be whatever remained of his MRAP assuming the Empire or others hadn't carted it off by now. Vargas turned and motioned for his men to assume attack formation, be on guard and await further orders. He slowed down as he drew closer to the underpass telegraphing to the aliens that they had been spotted, hoping to elicit an aggressive response from them. The aliens did not take the bait. They sent one massed rank of skitters outside each of the underpasses as well as spreading out large numbers of them across the highway, mounds of rubble and outside the various buildings, upon the roofs and walls in an effort to intimidate the small cadre of humans into retreating. Several squads of standard mechs also crawled out from behind the rubble and took position on the eastern and western fringes of the revealed alien army. There were between two and three hundred revealed aliens on display in front of Vargas with likely five to ten times that number still in hiding across the length of the highway separating alien occupied territory from that which they had cleared out to enable the human resistance to destroy itself within. Vargas continued to advance and still the aliens would go no further. Drawing closer the brown and silver forms revealed increasing detail, individual arms and legs could be made out, the elongated individual fingers and claws could then be discerned apart from the hands. He could practically see their beady little eyes by the time he ordered his formation to stop. The aliens moved, much as people or animals would be in a sense of discomfort, fidgeting around uneasily. It was clear they wanted to act but couldn't. However these things communicated with each other there had been very stern orders issued from whichever of these things were in charge for the others to hold their ground no matter what. Vargas was fortunate on the fact the aliens still had not been issued guns, directed energy devices or any manner of ranged weapons. If they had their job of holding the line would be a whole lot easier and Vargas' chances of drawing them out into an engagement would be severely diminished. Vargas could understand the possible reasoning for disarming their shock troops when the aliens were on the offensive as they appeared to want to take the humans alive but in certain situations such as this it seemed strange to the First Sergeant that they were not better equipped. To the left and the right of Vargas' group fractional brick and mortar wall sections that had once been standing structures obscured a direct line of sight between the mechs on the distant fringes of the alien line and his own unit. A single solid round pillar stood ahead of one of the wall sections on Vargas' right side. They waited only for a moment while the alien lines swayed yet held steady ahead of them. The temptation to strike and wipe out such a small band of resistance fighters had to be great for them Vargas assumed; their obedience to their orders had to be even greater as the aliens did not take one step towards them without immediately walking it back.

It didn't take long for Vargas to see it was clear they didn't want to come after his unit so he had to give them an incentive. He had to piss them off just enough for them to give chase. Vargas motioned to one of the bikers on his near right flank who carried an RPG launcher on his back. The biker nodded, shouldered the loaded launcher and fired into a nest of skitters directly ahead of them. The rocket flew above the heads of front rank of skitters and smashed into an unseen alien in the midst of those still hiding in the shadows. The explosion shook the road overhead and tore through the packed in masses of aliens within its blast radius. Even the front rank was knocked down by the blast though they survived and got back up again. In retaliation the mechs on the alien flanks opened fire upon Vargas' position. The heavy bullets pulverized the free standing walls and pillars causing them to crumble down. Some of the opening salvo ripped straight through the bricks and concrete and whizzed around Vargas' troops. As the pillar near Vargas was blasted away as if a high powered jackhammer was chipping away at it on fast-forward Vargas immediately ordered his squads forward to make an attack run before their cover completely turned to dust. A mech round ripped through the lower side panel of Vargas' truck piercing straight through the skin of the vehicle and striking several inches into the pavement beneath it. The bullet also severed the fuel lines causing the truck to lose power as its fuel reserves were depleted rapidly. Nearby a couple mech rounds struck a motorcycle rider, one of which went straight through his right arm into the side of his chest, through his body and out the side of the abdomen on the other side before pounding the into the ground bursting all the internal organs within the soldier in its path. The rider laid down the bike as death came quickly and slid along the ground until the vehicle came to a rest. Vargas and the driver of his truck abandoned the vehicle and made a run for the bike while mech bullets crashed all around them. Several rounds peppered the truck eventually triggering sparks which ignited the fuel vapors spilling from beneath it. The flames and smoke actually aided Vargas and his driver reach the bike by dulling the mechs optical and heat sensors capabilities momentarily until they managed to adapt. A few seconds were all they needed however. The driver pulled the dead biker off his motorcycle and Vargas then stood the bike back up and revved the engine to make sure it still ran. Vargas mounted the bike and the driver climbed on behind him and held on tight.

Vargas zipped away to catch up with the rest of his unit. The Humvee turned its mounted .50 caliber machine gun towards the mechs on the east end of the enemy line and sprayed the area with bullets. The barrage managed to poke a few holes in at least three of the mechs though all of them remained fully operational. A rocket landed behind the Humvee which narrowly escaped destruction although a few holes were punched into the exterior by mech bullets, one of which went through the hand of one of the soldiers inside. The other motorcycles swung in front of the skitters just out of reach as they swiped for the riders, taunting the aliens to come after them. When that didn't work the riders pulled out their weapons and opened fire, wounding and killing several skitters. They still would not budge as they absorbed their dead as if they meant nothing. The bikers pulled away from the main line when the mechs diverted their fire from Vargas and the stragglers towards those skirting the alien line. This only acted as a temporary deterrent forcing the bikers to make a loop between some partially erect structures soon to be demolished by mech fire and back down the road from whence they originally came to make a second pass down the skitters' line. This time they were joined by Vargas and the Humvee which managed now to do enough damage to render one of the mechs inoperable through an intense barrage directed at its central core.

This was enough to prompt the enemy to send for reinforcements. Before the mech hit the fractured field of bricks and stone which had been beneath its feet a heavy patrol mech crawled over the artificial hill of manmade materials shaking it with its thunderous footsteps.

"We've got a T-Rex on our six Sergeant!" the soldier holding on to Vargas reported upon seeing the heavy patrol walker.

"Bomb the line! Force them out of their holes or let them die inside!" Vargas shouted out orders

Each of the bikers along with Vargas took grenades off their belts, pockets or jackets and tossed them into the underpasses behind the skitter lines. Meanwhile the heavy walker fired energy pulses that vaporized one bike and rider together leaving behind mingled slag, smoke and ash behind. The other pulses liquefied pools of asphalt where they struck the ground the heat from one of which caused the front tire of another bike to rupture and launch its rider forward. The rider in mid-flight was struck with another energy blast which immediately turned the man into a smoking tuft of ash which spread out and fell to earth like flakes of black snow. Moments before the grenades went off in a well-choreographed symphony of destruction Vargas' squad turned sharply south through one of the few pairs of buildings left standing between the two groups of mechs. Mech bullets pulverized and pounded the structures on one side while energy pulses sheared straight through the remnants of buildings on the other side of the fleeing squad. One of the pulses after losing some of its potency slicing through three walls grazed the left shoulder of a biker shearing his arm off save only for a narrow band of skin and burnt muscle around the armpit. The biker did not even feel any pain from his injury as it happened so fast and the heat was so intense that it instantly fried all the nerve endings in the exposed portion of the arm. It took several seconds before the lesser burns around the stub were recognized by the soldier's brain and the corresponding painful burning sensations were felt. The rider sped away with the squad with his loose arm flapping limp in the wind until it was pulled the rest of the way off and tumbled down the road behind him.

When the grenades went off Vargas had at last achieved his desired result flushing the skitters out of their hiding places. The invisible hand that had been holding them back had now been withdrawn and the flood gates released a veritable tsunami of skitters after Vargas' squad. Vargas now accelerated to full speed joining all the other bikers before overtaking them and leading the way towards the Imperial base. The Humvee remained in the rear with a growing gap between it and the bikers as it shifted its gun back and forth between the two groups of mechs converging upon them. The lumbering heavy mech was soon abandoned by the legion of skitters flowing out of their hiding places like a raging river. It held its fire as it crept along, holding its strength in reserve for when Vargas' unit was again pinned down by terrain or their own hostile actions. The far more agile standard mechs sprinted ahead of the skitter horde sporadically sending bursts of gunfire in their direction. One of these bursts killed the Humvee's gunner and further riddled that vehicle with holes. Blood leaked down from the gunners perch and soon after the soldiers riding beneath it pulled their slain comrade inside and another man took up his position. With assistance he reloaded the mounted weapon and resumed efforts to keep the advancing walkers at bay. Bullets pinged into the mechs, causing them to slow down and even stop for a while on occasion. Very rarely would one end up disabled or destroyed but that was not the intent; the intent was to keep each flank of walkers off the bikers so they could be led into the Imperial camp and unleashed upon the unsuspecting Emperor's forces. To do so the mechs had to arrive on target alive; it wasn't as if the Humvee had enough bullets to bring down a fraction of the mechs following them and Vargas' team only had a couple rockets left anyways.

Vargas continued to lead the alien horde through Songpa District and crossed over into Gangnam District taking a small number of losses along the way. If the present rate of attrition kept up he feared they might not make it to the rendezvous point with Ji-hwan. He saw the Humvee go up in flames from the impact of a mech rocket striking it and saw yet another motorcycle tire blown out from gunfire leaving the rider to be run over by the flaming wreck of the Humvee as it slid to a stop.

"Damn it people! Watch yourselves!" Vargas shouted back to his men.

Immediately he swerved sideways to evade a burst of mech fire while the remaining bikers fanned out and weaved around disabled or destroyed vehicles in the devastated streets. A single beamer swooped in and strafed the ground ahead of Vargas' dwindling team forcing them to loop to the south before proceeding onward to the final approach towards the Imperial compound.

Meanwhile Ji-hwan waited patiently with the sounds of gunfire and explosions echoing both in front of him and behind him. Since taking the gateway the 4th was now locked in a standstill gun battle with reinforcements sent out from the main compound. The Empire had yet to field its full might holding a good portion of their men in reserve waiting for the 4th to expose itself in a position of weakness before they would more fully commit. The 4th also refused to make a costly advance into the open lot where the Imperial vehicles were arrayed and supported by foot soldiers and snipers in the rearranged rubble forming structures above and around the underground mall complex. Instead both sides dug in expecting to wear down the other army. The Empire was better supplied and expected the 4th to run low on ammo and eventually be forced to withdraw. This would be true if Vargas took too long to arrive with the expected third party to the conflict. They could not simply hold their fire for every time they did in order to conserve rounds the Imperial forces would attempt to advance and get into a more advantageous position against them. So the 4th had to push the Empire back with every salient thrust they attempted. They were strategic about their ammo expenditure and conserved their bullets as best they could but nonetheless they were required to expend rounds. Likewise the Empire was forced to utilize suppressive fire from small arms when making these salient thrusts in order to give them a chance to succeed or at the very least force the 4th to be more careless with their ammo expenditure. The Empire wasn't too bold in their offensives, they only gave the impression they were being more aggressive than they were. They didn't intend to buy the 4th's bullets with their blood. While they had them on hand the Empire did not use their mortars, rockets, grenades or artillery either as they felt they could simply outlast the 4th and force them to withdraw to a base that if Sang-hoon's operation went as planned the 4th would find in ashes, littered with the mutilated corpses of their friends, loved ones and brothers and sisters in arms.

The stalemate continued up until Ji-hwan saw Vargas' bike turn the corner in the distance and begin his final approach along the broad street leading into the Imperial west gate. He sent up two flares which alerted Bremer to seek cover and order his men to fall back and hide out of sight. This action led to the Empire's forces advancing upon them and filling the main street while the 4th held their ground further down the side streets. This apparent gain by the Empire had placed them and them alone in the path of hundreds of skitters and dozens of mechs still obscured in the flames, smoke and the chaotic fog of war incited by the continuing clashes between the two human factions.

As Vargas approached Ji-hwan and his bikers were positioned further back from the main column so the skitters could not see the 4th's army when they would take over the chase thereby leading the aliens to believe they were the full extent of Vargas' reinforcements. When Vargas zipped by under fire Ji-hwan ordered a portion of his forces to screen Vargas' retreat. This first waves zoomed past the mechs and did a hasty U-turn in front of the leading battalion of skitters while spraying bullets in their general direction.

"Don't screw around! Get the fuck out of there!" Ji-hwan shouted to the motorcyclists swinging in close to the column of skitters.

They listened, it would be foolish and suicidal not to, and raced back towards Ji-hwan who now sprang out with the rest of his forces. He then fired his grenade launched multiple times into the throng of aliens until it was empty in order to draw them away from those screening Vargas' group. His attack gave his first wave the opening they needed to pass through the leading charge of mechs and divert their alien eyes away from Vargas's crew who now ditched their bikes on one of the side streets and hid until a path was cleared through the Imperial lines for them to rejoin Bremer and Min-ho's units. Ji-hwan continued to batter the mechanized alien units his launcher ran dry. When the aliens turned their attention towards Ji-hwan he cast aside the grenade launcher and bolted just seconds before a mech rocket collided into the side of the building by which he was hiding. Ji-hwan and his men charged head on towards the Empire's vanguard with a gathering storm of alien fury nipping at their heels. Amidst a flurry of human based gunfire Ji-hwan's unit began suffering significant casualties. These were compounded by those dealt by the mechs. Before they could be wiped out any further the bikers parted to the north and the south leaving the Empire's forces bare before the advancing alien tide. The ceaseless barrage meant for Ji-hwan and the 4th's motorcycle mounted cavalrymen now struck a phalanx of skitters and mechs firmly establishing the Empire as the most pressing target for the aliens to eliminate now. Ji-hwan waited along with Vargas now for a clear path forward. Eventually he would have to lead the aliens up to the front door of the mall as was intended to flush out the Empire in its entirety. For now he was content in using the aliens as a hammer to smash the Imperial vanguard. The Empire might even do him a favor of sending in reinforcements to deplete the strength of both of the 4th's enemies.

Oblivious or unconcerned about Ji-hwan's withdrawal the alien horde surged ahead down the main road. The smoldering wreck of the Empire's west gate lay before them. The 4th could breathe easily for but a moment but by no means relax. Vargas had succeeded in bringing the aliens into the fray; the proverbial cavalry had arrived. For just this once the 4th and the aliens would be fighting on the same side.