Berlin Karlsland 13:00 Local Time
"Grandma, Oma!" Katline shouted excitedly as she saw both of her grandmothers waiting for her on the patio to her small two bedroom home. Kate embraced Shirley and nestled her face into the sixty two year old woman's bosom.
"Hey kiddo it is great to see you." The former witch ace replied to her beloved granddaughter. Despite her age Charlotte E. Yeager was as beautiful as she was the day she soared in the skies of the second Neuroi war. Her long grey hair flowed in the slight breeze and her skin was as tight and smooth as when she was a teenager, time had been exceptionally kind to the old former witch. The voice of an older and slightly more haggard woman then spoke.
"Settle down you two." Gertrud Yeager told them as Kate withdrew from Charlotte's breasts to see her other grandmother looking sternly at both of them. Seconds later the frown on Gertrud's face turned to a smile as she held her arms open and spoke again. "You weren't going to forget giving your Oma a hug were you?" She asked Kate who smiled and embraced her biological grandmother. While time had been generous to Shirley, it had been a little less kind to Gertrud, her age showed more than her wife with; Gertrud had a perpetual tired look on her face even at her most energetic. However to Charlotte her old squadron mate was still the knockout she was in 1945.
"Hi Oma, I am so glad to see both of you." Kate cooed to Trudy who smiled as she rubbed the auburn haired witch. Kate pulled away and looked to her Grandmother before speaking. "Oma… how bad is it?" Kate asked Gertrud whose smile turned to a frown again.
"It's… It's bad Kataline." Gertrud began; Shirley gave her a dirty look before speaking.
"Geez, Trudy you don't have to scare the poor girl. It's not like she has to face anything more than we did at her age." Shirley stated with clear disappointment in Gertrud who looked at her wife before speaking.
"But we're not doing her any favors by sugar coating the situation either." Gertrud shot back to Shirley who growled at first, before sighing.
"Eh, you got me, I guess you are right, but could you have least told her that in a nicer way?" Shirley inquired to Gertrud who nodded her head then looked back at Kataline.
"I know the Neuroi aren't anything that witches can't handle Kataline… but it is going to be a tough fight for you and the others." Gertrud explained to the eighteen year old witch who nodded her head.
"Ok Oma; what do we need to do to stop them?" Kate asked her grandmother who thought for a moment.
"A lot of firepower and a lot of time." She simply replied to Kate who thought for a moment.
"The U.S. and Orussians are sending a combined fleet to the Persian Gulf to face off against the Neuroi in Baghdad. Do you think that will be enough firepower?" Kate inquired to Gertrud who shook her head. "Well then what do we need to face the Neuroi then?" Kate demanded of her grandmother.
"I don't know Kataline." Gertrud then thought for a moment before a look of realization appeared on her tired face. "But I know someone who would know." Gertrud informed Kate who looked at her quizzically.
"Huh… who Oma?" Kate asked the old Karlsland ace who with a smirk looked to Shirley.
"Liberion, how fast do you think you can get us to Donitz?" Gertrud asked Shirley who got a sly grin and pulled out a pair of keys from her breast pocket. Kate could see the Romagna car company Ferrari emblazoned on the chain.
"Oh are we going to go see who I think we are going to see?" Shirley asked Trude who with a smirk nodded her head before turning back to Kate.
"Come on Kataline, I think it's time for us to introduce you to your Great Aunt Erica Hartmann." Gertrud informed the young witch Colonel. Kate's eyes widen as she realized she was about to meet the best ace to ever fly in the skies of the Second Neuroi War.
ORS Kiev in route to Persian Gulf 06:23 local time
Anastasia Polenski sat up in bed rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her head pounded the result of a nasty hangover from the previous night. Around her waist was a slender feminine arm, skin as white as the Orussian winter. The cool ocean breeze danced across Anastasia's nude body as she brushed the arm aside and stood up from bed. She heard a groan from her equally undressed companion who just began to wake up, roused from her slumber from Anastasia's movements.
"Hmm, why are you up so early Anna?" Lidya, her lover for the night inquired. Anastasia ignored the younger witch as she searched for her panties and uniform. Sleep still blurred her vision and the pain behind her eyes from the vodka further complicated her search. After some searching Anna found her white panties and white button up undershirt, reaching for her panties, she slipped into them and put her shirt on. "Anna, are you sleep walking?" Lidya asked Anastasia who walked over to the sink and slashed some water into her eyes and hair.
"No, I am going back to my room; I need to get dressed for the day." Anastasia told Lidya who rubbed her eyes to try and wake herself up. Anna looked at herself in the mirror her dark purple eyes seemed nearly lifeless and her long white hair was messy. Anna quickly combed her hair with her hand trying to look half way presentable. If you looked at the eighteen year old witch from her left side she would appear to be a beautiful goddess, however if you saw her from the right you would see the nasty burn mark on her right cheek ascending just below her right eye; a relic from nine years ago the day her magic awoken.
"Well do you want to get some breakfast first?" Lidya inquired doing her best to sound sensual despite the lack of sleep. Anna turned to face Lidya and walked over to her. Lidya smiled at the scared witch as Anna bent down getting closer to eye level with Lidya who leaned forward to kiss Anna, she pressed her lips together and closed her eyes only to receive nothing in return. When Lidya opened them she saw Anna holding a half empty bottle of vodka pulling the cap off and taking a swig.
"Breakfast." Anna simply stated as she turned to leave Lidya's room placing the bottle of Vodka on a nightstand. Anastasia left the room and began walking down the corridor back to her room when she heard a door slam open.
"You're a piece of shit, you know that!?" Lidya shouted after Anna who turned to face her fellow Orussian witch with a hollow look in her eyes. The nude brunette witch stood there with fire in her eyes. "Someone goes out of their way to show how much they care about you, and what do you do?" Lidya began, pausing to see if Anastasia would reply; seeing no reaction from the white haired girl she began speaking again. "You get drunk, and use them for the night and toss them aside when you are finished!" Lidya screamed with tears in her eyes, the sting of betrayal burning inside her. "I… I gave you myself… my first… and you treat me like I don't even matter." Lidya explained as the tears flowed freely.
"So?" Anastasia replied unmoved by the display from the young witch whose eyes once again filled with anger mixed with sorrow.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Lidya screamed to Anastasia who was unfazed by the outburst.
"More than you can imagine Lidya." Anastasia replied in a monotone voice. Just then one of the doors swung open, a semi-nude woman stood in the doorway glaring at both of them.
"What the hell is this racket about?" Maria the flight commander growled to two of the witches under her command. Another door opened revealing another witch named Nikki.
"Why is everyone shouting, is something wrong?" Nikki asked to no one in particular. Lidya clenched her fist and closed her eyes.
"It was nothing ma'am… it was just a stupid mistake on my part." Lidya explained tears still wetting her cheeks. Anastasia turned to face her commander and spoke.
"It is nothing to be concerned about ma'am." Anastasia told her commander who sighed in frustration scratching the back of her head.
"Ah, yeah why am I not surprised that you did something, or rather someone you shouldn't… whatever clean yourself up, get dressed, get some chow and meet in the briefing room we are going to start the briefing at 07:30." Maria explained to Anastasia and the other witches. Anna nodded and headed into the shower.
Arriving at the small locker room below deck, Anna undressed and turned on the water. The warm water flowed over her naked form as she rested her hand against the wall. Staring at the blank white tiled wall she began to think about the exchange with Lidya. If she didn't want it, she should have just said no. She should have known that I don't want to get close to anyone…
"You went too far this time Anna." Anastasia was woken from her trance looking back to see her commander stepping into the shower. Anna raised an eyebrow at her commander.
"What do you mean?" Anna simply asked her commander who scowled and furrowed her eyebrows starring daggers into the white haired witch.
"Don't play dumb Anna; you know exactly what you did to Lidya." Maria exclaimed to Anna who simply went back to washing her body.
"It was consensual, I did nothing wrong Commander." Anna stated calmly as she rubbed soap onto her body.
"It doesn't matter; you still took advantage of Lidya. How can you possibly think it is ok to use people like that? Don't you see how much that poor girl cared for you and wanted to help you through whatever shit you are going through. But no, you decide that she is just another pair of fingers and a tongue to be pleasured by." Maria stated with clear scorn in her voice. Anna paid it no mind it really didn't concern her. "Frankly now I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to frag your ass, and frankly I wouldn't blame her." Maria stated to Anna who turned the water off and began walking out of the showers.
"I really don't care; she can think what she wants, it makes no difference to me." Anastasia replied to her commander who gritted her teeth in rage.
"I want you out of my flight… no out of my squadron. Hell if possible I want you out of my air division. After this battle is done I want your ass on a one way flight back to Moscow." Maria growled in rage at Anna who turned to face her commander and approached her. Maria pressed her back against the wall as Anna slammed the palm of her hand against the wall with enough force to crack tile. Anna pressed her body up against Maria's and moved her face to within centimeters of her red haired commander's.
"I don't care if I am not part of your squadron, I don't care if I am part of this air division, hell I don't care if I am even part of the Orussian Army Air Force." Anna explained to her commander who stared into Anna's eyes. "However, there is one thing I do care about, and that is killing Neuroi. Do not interfere with this and we won't have any further issues." Anna explained before removing her hand from the wall and turned away from her commander walking back to where she had left her panties and shirt retrieving them and leaving to her room.
A half hour later she was in the briefing room in her BDUs Anastasia sat with the two other witches in her flight both of them glaring at her. Anna paid them no mind as Maria stood in front of the white board with their CAP assignments written on the board. She seemed unfazed by the earlier encounter with Anastasia less than an hour before.
"Ladies…" Maria began making sure she had the three witches attention. "In three hours we will link up with the U.S. Seventh Fleet and set sail for the Persian Gulf. The plan is for a joint Liberion and Orussian naval fleet to attack the main hive over Baghdad. We will be flying CAP for the main strike group which will be led by the Liberion VAW-198 Bold Witches. They will fly within twenty kilometers of the Neuroi hive and deploy short range nuclear cruise missiles and strike the hive. The Liberions will also deploy VF-134 Siren Witches to sweep for fighters and try and clear a path for us." Mariah explained the plan to her girls who took notes.
"Our unit call sign will be Jack Knife, the Bold Witches will be call sign Nightmare, and the Siren Witches will be Clear Sky." Maria informed the witches. She looked to her girls and spoke again. "I know we are army witches and working off of carriers isn't what we were trained to do but I am confident you will do well in the face of the enemy. Does anyone have any questions on your assignments?" Maria asked them. When she was met with silence she began once again.
"Alright, I will now assign CAP routes for today's sorties." Maria began as she began to detail plans for the four witches CAP routes. Anastasia clenched her fists, tomorrow would be the day, the day she would have her revenge against the Neuroi. Mama…Papa… I will kill them all.
Skies over Baghdad 03:27 local time
The black skies of the moonlight desert filled Haruka Tanaka's vision, as she sped towards her target, a Neuroi command Spire that had recently been constructed in the depopulated city. The sky turned green as Haruka flicked on her MHUD magical heads up display. She could see in the distance the target surrounded by Neuroi gunships. The Spire towered over the destroyed city at over a hundred meters tall an impressive black and crimson monument to the Neuroi's power. She was at approximately ten thousand meters in altitude and her IAS read 950kph; two thousand meters above her was the Neuroi Super Hive disgorging more and more Neuroi every minute.
Two kilometers to her right Haruka could see the delta winged Neuroi fighters on CAP oblivious to her presence. If it wasn't for the F-1117 stealth striker she wore she would have easily been shot down by now. Loaded within the two pocket dimensions located in her striker were two bunker busting magic guided bombs that she would have to optically guide towards her target in order to ensure a hit.
Haruka huffed as she closed in on Baghdad. This wasn't the first time she had flown solo combat missions for the USAF. A former Fuso Air Defense Force Witch she had been selected for a joint Liberion/Fuso project to develop a specialized undetectable striker unit. Due to her unique magic she had been selected as the test pilot. During her time stateside she fell in love with a Liberion man named Jack, got married planned on having kids with him in the near future. Her Husband in order to stay close to her joined the USAF and became a radar operator on an AWACs, so he could guide the skies that she flew in on. Then this war began and both of their lives were put on hold. Her husband was out there in these deep black skies guiding pilots and witches into battle.
However now was not the time to be contemplating such things as her target came within weapons range. Haruka lined up the Command Spire and dropped both bunker busters. The earth penetrating weapons shot towards their target guided by a concentrated invisible beam of magic from her MHUD. Even in the dead of night Haruka saw both bombs strike the target, followed by a muted explosion as the bombs detonated inside the Neuroi structure shattering its core and sending the Neuroi around Baghdad into disarray.
A Neuroi fighter spotted her and turned to intercept, Haruka focused her magic and activated her inherent ability, turning herself invisible to the Neuroi. The fighter shot past her completely missing its intended target. Haruka looked back to see the aircraft begin flying in large circles scanning for her, now completely losing her presences. Haruka began to egress out of Baghdad airspace her mission complete.
Explosions and lasers lit the sky as anti-aircraft guns fired in a vain attempt to kill the lone witch that had struck such a lethal blow.
"This is Ninja target destroyed, RTB." Haruka informed a nearby AWACs who would then give the order to conventional aircraft and ships to fire a volley of cruise missiles at Baghdad; with the eyes and ears of the Neuroi over the city gone, even if only momentarily, the chances for the missile strike's success greatly increased.
"Roger that Ninja good kills." A familiar voice said over the radio.
"Jack-chan?" Haruka asked the voice over the radio who took a moment before he replied.
"Yes… Haruka-chan, I am here. Are you safe my love?" Jack asked the nineteen year old witch who smiled warmly. Her magical radar turning pink as she blushed hearing her husband's voice.
"Yes I am safe Jack; are you?" She inquired which elicited a warm chuckle.
"I am Haruka-chan, I have an entire flight of F-16s with me, and we should be well out of the Neuroi's range of operation. We will be safe don't worry about us Haruka-chan… I will see you soon." He replied with affection in his voice. Haruka used her magic to sense where the radio waves were coming from. To the north… she thought to herself as she banked to head in the direction of the AWACs her husband was onboard.
"I am heading to you Jack… I want to escort you until the operation is complete and I know you are safe." Haruka told him much to his surprise.
"Haruka-chan what about your fuel?" Jack inquired concern in his voice. Haruka checked her fuel on her MHUD.
"I have enough to last until morning, and if I need to on the way back I can hitch a ride on a witch carrier." Haruka informed her husband who huffed a bit.
"We will be ok Haruka-chan you don't need to worry about us so much you can get some rest back at base you have earned it." Jack told her in a warm loving voice filled with affection towards her.
"I know Jack-chan I just want to be close to you." Haruka replied eliciting a laugh from him.
"You know there isn't any windows on this aircraft you won't be able to see me." Jack informed her. She smiled and blushed a bit before replying.
"I know… I just want to be close to you." She simply stated.
"Ok Haruka-chan… I will be here waiting for you." He told her. She shot off towards his AWACS making sure to scan for Neuroi, she was unable to detect any in her immediate radius; although one hundred kilometers in front of her heading towards the AWACS she sensed another witch. Strange she had a Persian IFF but there weren't supposed to be any witches from that country operating in this sector.
"Unidentified witch, this is Zulu-1 can you please state your intentions?" The voice of what Haruka imagine was one of the F-16 pilots. There was a moment of silence before the pilot reissued his ident-request; again he was met with silence.
"Jack, do you know what is going on?" Haruka asked her husband who took a moment to reply.
"I don't know, but she is increasing speed and gaining altitude. If I didn't know any better I would say that she was on an intercept vector." Jack explained to his wife. Haruka tracked the witch on radar indeed she was picking up speed and gaining altitude. "Wait we are being painted…" Jack explained; a long pause and silence filled the air, then Haruka sensed something terrible… Neuroi! "Shit incoming!" Jack shouted as the witch fired upon the AWACs with an AIM-54W long range missile. Haruka pushed her striker to its limit dumping every ounce of magic into speed to try and close the distance on the hostile witch and the Neuroi.
The F-16s broke formation and turned on their radars locking up both the witch and the Neuroi before firing a volley of AIM-7 sparrows at the hostiles. The E-3 Sentry AWACS popped chaff and banked hard into the missile from the missile. The hostile witch went Mach two and performed evasive maneuvers trying to dodge the semi-active radar guided missiles. The sparrows closed in the witch reversed her direction and fired her LMG shooting down the missiles. Damn it is like something out of Macross! Haruka thought as the missiles were shot out of the skies.
The witch fired another Phoenix, this time at an F-16 the, beleaguered Viper driver popped chaff and desperately tried to evade the missile to no avail. In the distance a bright orange flash could be heard as the missile struck home destroying the fighter.
The F-16s closed to within visual range and fired sidewinders at the hostile witch. Again the witch went evasive and dodged the missiles, the maneuverability of an air infantry witch far exceeded that of a conventional fighter.
"Damn, that isn't a witch, it is a fucking Neuroi!" Shouted one of the pilots as he turned to engage the Neuroi witch in gun combat. The witch turned to face the fighter and blasted him with her MG3 tearing through the fuselage and cockpit killing the pilot and causing another cherry blossom of death to appear in the night sky. Haruka was almost in range she could see in the distance the afterburners and tracers. The hostile witch fired another salvo of missiles sidewinders this time. Flares lit the skies as the remaining two fighters desperately tried to avoid the magically enhanced missiles heading for their aircraft.
"AHHHH!" One of the pilots shouted as his aircraft erupted in the night sky, struck down by the sidewinder fired at him. The remaining pilot turned to face the Neuroi witch and fired his last missile hoping that it would strike home. The Neuroi witch fired a burst of MG3 fire and blasted both the missile and the remaining aircraft out of the sky.
Haruka pulled the charging handle on her Colt Carbine as she closed to within weapons range. She raised the rifle to her shoulder and fired a long ten round burst hoping to hit the Neuroi witch. The wings on the Neuroi striker swept forward as she pulled a hard maneuver to avoid the incoming rounds. Haruka spotted the second Neuroi, another human shaped Neuroi with what appeared to be two strange x shaped objects in its hands. It pulled on the x shaped objects making the witch Neuroi reel back before turning to face the AWACS jack was aboard.
"Oh no you don't!" Haruka shouted as she fired the remains of her ammo into the Neuroi witch who dodged the incoming rounds. The other Neuroi turned to her firing off lasers. Haruka first put up her shield blocking the incoming lasers before activating her magic causing the Neuroi to lose sight of her. The Neuroi fired blinding into the dark trying to hit a target that was no longer there. Haruka closed in on the witch Neuroi and tossed her Colt Carbine aside and drew a shortened katana and dove on the Neuroi slashing at its back.
The blade struck home carving into the creature causing it to fall to the ground. The creature then turned to face Haruka aiming its MG3 at her. It fired a long burst, Haruka put up her shield, but the bullets went wide. Haruka looked up to see the E-3, bullet holes filled the underside of the AWACS and its left wing came loose, sending the aircraft spiraling towards the ground in flames.
"JACK!" She screamed in agony as she was powerless to stop the aircraft carrying her husband from crashing into the ground. She saw the desert below illuminated by her husband's funeral pyre; rage filled her heart as she turned to the remaining Neuroi. She howled in rage as she charged the Neuroi giving off a thunderous battle cry. The Neuroi pulled hard again on the x shaped devices and the Neuroi witch appeared in front of the creature as if to shield it. The witch had her weapon raised and aimed at Haruka who rolled hard left and sliced through both the barrel of her MG and the left arm of the witch. She charged toward the Neuroi with the x shaped devices and stabbed it through the chest causing the creature to convulse before turning into bright white shards.
Adrenaline pumping through her veins she turned to face the witch Neuroi who had both its hands on its head and seemed to be in utter agony. Haruka sheathed sword and grabbed the Neuroi by the throat slamming her fist into its head. Haruka put every ounce of the F-117s thrust into pushing the creature to the ground the desert filling her vision as she slammed into the sand. She let out a roar as she repeatedly punched the Neuroi with all her might straddling the witch Neuroi as she did so. Her first became bloody as the head of the Neuroi was caved in with each strike.
"How dare you, how dare you, how dare you!" Haruka screamed as she felt the Neuroi's skull cave in. Haruka pulled her sword out of its sheath and held it above her head prepared to give the death blow to the wretched creature. Just then, the Neuroi's chest opened, revealing a purple core. The chest of the Neuroi moved open in down almost as if the creature was breathing. Haruka despite her rage was dumbstruck. Neuroi had red cores why was this one purple? Haruka sheathed her sword; she contemplated for a moment before grabbing the core with both her hands and pulling with all her might. The screams of the Neuroi echoed through the night.
A/N: And so another glorious chapter of the Thunder Witches is out for everyone's viewing pleasure. This time we got to see two more of the witches that will eventually be a part of the titular Thunder Witches. I am trying to take the story at a slower pace so it will be a few more chapters before the Thunder Witches Proper show up and get to kick ass and take names. Anyways as some of you already know I am writing another story, a Gate and COD MW3 crossover. For clarification I am still writing both stories and plan on a two chapters one story two chapters for another. I am going to take a week or so off writing because I have a big interview I am planning on doing next week so wish me luck. Anyways see you soon.