Act Four: Operation Vanguard
The colonel congratulates me on my successive mission but I'm still pissed off that there was a decoy. And also, what was Justin doing there as well. He's not at control at the moment because of his injuries, so they carted him off to the medical centre.
"Listen up, private!" Hoffman yells. "Your new mission is to secure a former COG base of defence that was captured by the Locust not too long ago. They've probably got hostages."
"Locust don't take hostages, sir," Dom says.
"Oh really, cut the crap. Listen, we can't get you boys close enough the base because Troika guards are expecting company so they'll destroy a chopper within the vicinity in seconds."
"Then how the fuck do we get close then?" I bellow.
"Don't use that tone of voice with me, private. Your mother, god rest her soul, didn't want an inbreed piece of crap, but your certainly acting like one now. Think outside of the box for once."
"That's a bit harsh, sir," Dom inquires.
"Huh, never mind. You'll be going in by that Junker you recently found. Our best mechanics are working on it now to tweak the speed and remove the light ray on it to lose some weight. That way, it'll move faster. As for weapons, we're giving you both Hammer of Dawn guns. These things blast a laser ray that is targeted from a satellite. However, there's a twist. It will only work if your outside and the satellite have to be online. The lovely Anya will keep in contact with you."
"You said she would last time," I state.
"Yes, but next time, remember to bring you bloody EARPIECE!" His face turned purple through all the shouting.
"Sorry, sir. I must've forgotten it."
"Anyway, back to your equipment. Of course, you'll be issued a standard snub pistol as always but this time, no chainsaw bayoneted Lancers.
"WHAT?!" me and Dom bellowed in unison.
"This is a new prototype Lancer, the mark II if you want to be fancy. Our weapons expert informed
us that the bayonet would have to be removed to accelerate the speed of fire."
With that, we are handed our new weapons and told to get into the newly improved Junker. Dom seems pissed off with the Lancer-II and so am I, but we need to use what we're given in the battlefield. I'm also interested to see what this 'Hammer of Dawn' is like. Hopefully we'll get to test it out soon.
After about six miles of non-stop driving, Dom pulls over by an abandoned gas station to refill the Junker. While he's gone, I have to stand guard in case any Locust come. I'm so bored right now and the air inside my helmet is picking up the temperature.
A couple of minutes later, Dom returns with the gas pump and juices up the Junker. We then begin to set off again.
We eventually reach a Stranded outpost. There is no sign of happiness here. Everywhere I look, hopeless faces gaze back at me. I wonder what occurred here. Dom starts to feel spooked out by their expressions and orders me to haul ass and get
back in the Junker, so I comply his suggestion and clamber into the Junker.
We eventually reach the heavily guarded fortress. Mine and Dom's face must look like some picture because our jaws are at the floor.
"Five troikas," Dom begins to say, "five fucking troikas. We were not equipped for this kind of thing. Carmine, pass me your earpiece. I'm telling Hoffman about this."
He goes off to inform the colonel of what we're up against here. There's even wretches' fumbling around the front court. I head back into the Junker to find my sniper rifle. When I return outside, Dom is sitting on a boulder.
"So what'd he say?" I ask nervously.
"We've got reinforcements coming in by chopper soon, but until then we're on our own."
"Shit, shit, shit. I'm not cut out for this. I've barely got the skills to fight wretches."
"That's it, I'm going in," he announces.
"Dom, wait. I'm coming too."
Our first objective is to retake the control room. Dom tells me there are probably Boomers on the site too. Boomers are massive Locust which carry round Boomshots, which are effectively the Locust version of a rocket launcher.
Also, our friends the Theron Guards are present, each of them holding a new type of weapon, shaped like a crossbow. Dom decides that we're not waiting for the back-up to arrive and we must deal with this using brain over brawn. I happily oblige, instantly knowing that Dom is not in the mood for an argument with me. Abruptly, the radio goes off.
"Bravo Two, this is Delta," the voice says from the other end. "We're coming soon, hold out: ETA 4 minutes."
"Negative, Delta!" Dom yells. "There's far too many troika gun placements."
"Come again, Bravo Two. You're breaking up."
"Listen, don't come yet. Fall back!" It is made obvious that they've lost contact with us because of the continuous fuzzy noises. Dom's becoming irritated.
"Ah shit. There's nothing we can do now. Carmine, get you guns and take care of those troikas."
"What about you?" I ask curiously.
"I'm gonna take care of the Therons," he answers.
I approach the courtyard carefully, staying out of sight. If the Locust spot me, I'm buzzard food. Dom is making fine progress with hiding as well. It's all about to kick off when...the helicopters arrive.