Welcome to Search and Destroy IV! After making contact with M16A1 and learning of the other AR Team members' status, M4A1 reports her findings to the Commander and gets a rescue mission authorized to go after them.
Lost internet and power for a day, so that shit bites, and I instead put my focus in doing ADL's fourth chapter, so it wasn't all too bad. In that same vein, it was weird as fuck going back to COD after playing Battlefield for so long. Do you know how much it hurts to see a wounded teammate and not be able to toss a medkit to them? That, and not having to contend with actual recoil by firing in two-to-three round bursts was weird.
I also finally got 50 favorites on this story, too, so thank you all for reading and enjoying this. Here's to reaching 100 faves by the next year at least! (I'm also very close to reaching 20,000 views this month, or at least within two months.)
Similarly, I'm still running a poll on my profile, so please check it out and leave a vote if you want, your feedback is always helpful. I also have a forum on my profile, so please check it out if you want.
About the geography, Seredyna-Buda is not a big city full of skyscrapers like I origjnally thought, because I looked at it through Google Maps and it's actually much smaller. However, given that the White Zones in GFL are essentially all big-ass cities with everyone building up to conserve living space, I can let it slide.
For some reason the site isn't loading any views past February 26, so either people stopped looking at my stories all of a sudden or there's a bug of sorts going around (Edit: I think it's a bug, 'cuz Be a Hopeless Romantic is suffering from the same phenomenon.)
To Paranoid Android 64: Chu~ *insert kissing sound* That should make her happy.
To CCTReconli: And here's one for M4— Chu~ *insert kissing noises*
En Route to Station 794, Sector 09
Ukraine, Neo-Soviet Union
July 12, 2062
Commander Ian Becker
"So you're saying you got in touch with AR Team?"
"Just M16, but she says AR-15 and SOP-II are hiding in a safe house somewhere in Seredyna-Buda's eastern districts."
After leaving the military training facility, Ian had fully expected to just have to write some paperwork and maybe deal with IDW making a mess and FNC raiding the chocolate supply before he would be able to retreat to his room and maybe play some games with M4A1, but given the fact that he had terrible luck, he shouldn't have expected such an outcome.
"Fuck, we both know that's a hotbed of Sangvis activity, so why'd they go there?" he muttered, facepalming at M4A1's response to him while everyone else was simply chatting amongst themselves.
"Griffin often operates there, so they may have figured they'd encounter a rescue team there..." the girl replied timidly.
"Or they're looking for Hunter like we're gonna be doing."
Another thing he burdened himself with was both a contract to eliminate a vicious Sangvis Ringleader and a contract to shut down a major production facility owned by the Skynet wannabes, both of which could potentially take weeks to do and cost him a lot of resources and manpower if anything went wrong.
"Yeah... What are you going to do, Commander?" the brunette then asked.
"Organize a rescue op, but send two Echelons to minimize the chance of failure. It'd be best if I stayed behind and actually did my job as an officer, you know, but I'll pass on useful advice and intel as you go through the city."
M4A1 nodded in response, looking out the window towards the ground below with a concerned expression, likely still thinking of her sisters and what their current status may be. Leaving her to do so, Ian simply sighed and looked towards the rest of Echelon One, already planning the upcoming mission the best he could in his mind.
An Hour Later, Station 794 Command Room
After reaching the Command Room when they got back to base Ian immediately rallied Echelons One and Two to it and brought up a map of Seredyna-Buda, the holographic map lighting the room up in a blue light as the eleven Dolls (courtesy of M4A1) stood at attention.
Much like Echelon One, Echelon Two was reorganized a little to make it more combat-effective in the long run, with Springfield still its leader, G36 acting as the second-in-command, P38 acting as a spotter, M1895 also acting as a forward scout, and G3 in place for fire support.
As for the other units in his roster, Sten was now in an Echelon with Skorpion, PPSh-41, and IDW, with M500 and her two friends making up its other members. On top of that, Helian sent the other Griffin Dolls that were rescued from the smugglers' den to his base, but they weren't going to arrive until after he'd sent his units to Seredyna-Buda, so it wouldn' be in time to add them to the mission roster.
"Alright, is everyone present?" he called out, wanting to be sure as the two leaders shouted affirmatives to him.
"Good. The gist is this: about two hours ago, M4A1 made contact with one of her teammates, who informed her that the AR Team members M4 SOPMOD II and ST AR-15 were hiding out somewhere in Seredyna-Buda's eastern districts. However, despite the fact that they might be long gone by now, we're still gonna investigate the area for evidence of their whereabouts."
Highlighting the eastern districts of the Ukrainian city in gold, he then started to lay out a plan for his troops.
"Echelon One, you'll be deploying into the city via Blackhawk at precisely 1525 hours, while Echelon Two will be following in Luka's Humvee, since it has an MG on it. Once you reach the AO, the teams will split up to cover more ground and increase our chances of finding the VIPs, while I'll provide whatever intel I can to you in the meantime. Be warned though, the last sattellite scan I did on the place showed at least a battalion's worth of SF, so don't engage the enemy unless there's no other alternative. Any questions?"
M4A1 raised her hand tentatively.
"Yes?"
"Could we maybe get aid from the other frontline bases...?" she asked carefully.
"Maybe, depends if they're running any missions or not. Anything else?"
Nobody had anything to say this time.
"Good. Good luck and godspeed." he told them all, causing the Dolls to leave the Command Room to prepare for the mission, then he activated the intercom and addressed Kalina. "Kalina, report to the Command Room immediately."
Tactical Doll M4A1
Station 794 Armory
Now standing in the armory, M4A1 was busy loading her gear up as the others chatted amongst themselves, still wearing her camoflague uniform to keep herself a bit hard to recognize by Sangvis along with her personal IFF scrambler. Likewise, the other Echelon One Dolls had elected to stay in uniform as well, seeing no reason to ditch them at the moment as the garments were made for combat.
"So what do the VIPs look like, M4?" M1911 asked as she loaded .45 ACP bullets into a magazine atop a crate.
"Mmm... M4 SOPMOD II has pale pink hair with red strips in it, with red eyes and a black jacket with a red armband. She also has a headset with asymmetrical attenae on it that look like horns and SF-made clawed hands for CQC and ripping parts out of dead Sangvis for souveniers or extra modifications..." she replied a bit uneasily, fully aware that her temporary team might get scared of SOPMOD despite her actually being very sweet to her allies. "ST AR-15 also has pink hair, but it's a darker pink with an indigo strip and indigo eyes. She's the most petite member of the team, and she wears a blue jacket over a somewhat short white dress with an indigo armband..."
"Thanks, that'll help." the HG told her before storing a magazine into an ammo pouch.
"Uh, you're welcome."
Loading her own magazine, she consulted the tactical map in her Neural Cloud for additional information, the 3D holographic map spreading out across ths armory and leaving her alone in a sea of blue buildings, with red dots indicating SF units' positions since the last sattellite scan and gold areas where AR-15 and SOPMOD were likely to be.
Looking through the map, she immediately began searching for the best way and place to infiltrate Seredyna-Buda from, as well as the best paths to take to avoid encirclement, buildings that could serve as safe houses, etcettera, etcettera.
Looks like the enemy left a blindspot in the southern approach, since there's nowhere near enough units to cover it completely... Assuming we bring enough ammo, we could kill those units and breach into the city properly, but that would bring the risk of alerting Sangvis to our presence, and the last thing the Commander needs is for M1911 or Springfield to die again...
In that regard, it might be best to airdrop straight into the midst of them all, and let Echelon Two draw them away from us. Of course, that could result in their deaths and a destroyed Humvee, so that's not an option...
Haah, what would the Commander do...?
"Oy, you alright, M4?" someone called out to her, causing the elite to shut the map off and turn to M1911, who had gotten her attention.
"I'm fine, just trying to plan ahead, that's all..." she replied truthfully.
"That's good, thought you were glitching out for a second." the HG joked, returning to her equipment loading.
"Right..."
Suddenly remembering something, M4A1 chose to give a warning to the two teams.
"Oh, um, be careful out there, because I don't doubt for a second that Sangvis'll send another Ringleader to capture my sisters, and I don't want a repeat of that mission." she advised.
"Got it, M4, we won't do anything dumb." AK-47 replied, slotting one last magazine into a pouch before heading to the armory door. "I'll see you at the helipad."
As she left the room M4A1 pulled the map of Seredyna-Buda up one last time, quickly looking through it to find a good way to insert themselves into the AO without drawing attention to themselves— and soon finding an office building directly within the gold zone but with no hostile presence, its roof clear enough to deploy on top of.
And as everyone else filed out of the room to begin the operation, M4A1 marked that building and closed the map, quickly following suit.
Tactical Doll G36
Riding along in a Humvee behind Echelon One's Blackhawk, G36 and her team talked amongst themselves about the mission they were about to conduct, G3 and Springfield quiet while M1895 and P38 were a bit more talkative, the maid herself speaking with M1911 about their plan as they approached the city.
"So you plan to land on the rooftops within the target area?" she asked her old friend.
"Just one. M4 looked at the place with a sattellite scan and found no hostiles in the building, so we're gonna land on top of an empty office building and get a birds' eye view of the area." M1911 replied on the other end.
"I see. Be careful over there." the maid warned.
"Will do. 1911 out."
As the comms link was cut, G36 turned to G3 as she and Springfield looked over a more physical map of the area, known enemy positions marked with a red marker held by the motherly Rifle.
"Based on the last sattellite scan, it would be best if we deployed through here, where their guard is weakest, and slip by them while they're not looking our way..." the German said, pointing to a path through the southern sections of the city.
"We should scan it again so we're sure the formations haven't changed." Springfield advised, opening a comms link to the Commander and requesting a sattellite scan, getting a reply only a monent later.
"Have they changed?" G3 asked after she cut the link, leaning in slightly.
"They're closing in on a location in the east side of the district, but the southern formation is still the weakest part of their force."
"Good, that means we can still use that route." G36 said, looking out the window to MP41, who was there specifically to man the M2HB. "See anything strange, MP41?"
"Nein, but the weather's very nice, Fraülein!" the SMG replied from her position in the gunners' position. "Also, from what I can see, Echelon One has successfully reached the target area!"
Nodding in response, she looked to Springfield as she marked the new enemy positions on the map, her face grim as she did so. Meanwhile, G3 was relaying the Echelon leader's plan to the HGs as they listened intently, and the Humvee soon drove into the city proper, traces of Sangvis presence already present in the form of footprints and small tire tracks.
"Be advised, you've got an enemy patrol due northwest of your position. I advise you change routes before you're compromised." the Commander advised, and a new path was highlighted in gold in front of them.
"Understood, Commander. Luka, turn right and go around the building." Springfield advised.
Nodding in response, the Russian driver took the requested turn and cleanly avoided the enemy patrol that passed by to rendevous with the main force, going down a clear road with only some dead bodies adorning it and taking a left turn as soon as they passed the threshold of the tall building to their left.
"Has M1911's team deployed yet?" G36 asked from her seat.
"Almost, the pilot says there's a battle raging on down below so they think the VIPs are indeed present." Springfield replied, circling a location in the northeast with a gold-colored marker. "As for us, we're approaching the southern formation, so check your gear and get ready to get out."
"Affirmative!"
While everyone complied with the order the maid couldn't help but feel that something bad would happen in the current operation but she swallowed those feeling away as they finally reached the AO, instead focusing on the job at hand.
Tactical Doll M4A1
Even as they opened the helicopter door to fast-rope onto the rooftop of the office building M4A1 could tell that there wasn't much time, especially thanks to the mass of hostiles converging on an apartment building about half a kilometer away from their position.
Marking the building for the others the AR Team leader watched as M1911 tossed a rope down to the rooftop before giving it a tug, ensuring the bracket holding the rope wouldn't break from her weight before grabbing hold of it and slipping down the rope, soon landing on the ground and looking back up to give her a thumbs-up.
As her allies followed M1911's example and started rappeling out of the Blackhawk M4A1 tossed her own rope down, grabbed hold of it, and slipped down the cable to thr ground, too familiar with the action to have any misgivings with it as her feet hit the rooftop and she tugged the rope down to free it from the helicopter, her allies following suit to let the aerial vehicle to move freely again.
"Commander, we've successfully deployed!" M4A1 notified over the radio.
"Good. Careful though, you're near the stronger parts of the enemy's forces, so don't do anything stupid." the Commander warned on his end.
"Okay, looks like our cables are long enough to reach the ground, so hook them up to something sturdy and drop down on my mark!" M1911 called out, wrapping her cable around a railing and securing it in place.
"Yes, ma'am!" one of the others replied, and she watched as AK-47 wrapped her cable around another railing just like her leader did, tugging on it before she assisted the others with securing their cables and advised the newer Dolls on how to safely rappel down, returning to her own cable and grabbing hold of it.
Following suit M4A1 tied her cable to a railing next to M1911's and took hold of it, perfectly poised to start moving on the HG's signal.
"Is everyone set?!" she called out, ready to jump down as well.
"Affirmative!"
"Okay, jump!"
At once M4A1 flipped around to where she faced the building and without an iota of hesitation she jumped off the edge.
The wind cold against her frame as she fell down the tall building, her grip on the cable tight as she descended down the building and swung her body weight forwards and kicked her legs out, her feet soon hitting the wall safely and leaving a slight crack in it before she hopped down again and fell about ten or so feet before swinging forward again and making contact with the wall, then one last time she kicked off and descended again, falling down the building before she swung herself to the wall again and stopped her descent, the ground mere feet away now.
This time, all she did was slide down the cable, her feet soon making contact with the concrete below as her allies landed safely as well, then the elite grabbed her carbine from its sling and flipped its fire selector to semi, turning away from the building and beginning to move out.
"Howa, M4, scan the area." M1911 ordered, and both Dolls activated their survey gear, scanning the area for hostiles (or the VIPs.)
While Howa 64 sent out her module's signature golden wave M4A1 instead switched her mode to Level 2, her analysis systems working overtime to provide up-to-date information as every last speck of land was analyzed for hostile presence.
After finding nothing within a fifty meter radius she increased the scan range to 200 meters and set it to only scan the direction her head was facing, making the analysis cone narrow but ensuring she'd still get a good look at whatever was ahead of them— soon detecting a mass of enemies about a hundred-fifty meters and more away.
"We've got at least thirty-five enemies between us and the area they're attacking, but that doesn't count their other formations or amyone beyond my scanner's range." M4A1 reported once she left Level 2.
"Got it. Form up!"
After everyone complied, the team immediately started their trek to the target area as the telltale sounds of battle resounded ahead of them, the occasionally-oppressive concrete jungle of Seredyna-Buda at least clear of threats as they made their way through the dead Ukrainian city.
Even then they didn't dare take their eyes off their surroundings in the case that they missed a target or trap in their scans, the overcast skies only adding to the oppressive nature of their location as they passed by dead bodies and wrecked cars of numerous different kinds, dried blood splattered across the streets from the initial genocide of the city.
"Echelon One, we've successfully reached the target area but we're having trouble locating the VIPs with all the fighting." Springfield suddenly reported ofer the radio.
"I'll see if I can call them, Miss Springfield..." M4A1 replied, opening a public channel to try and contact anyone who may have been in the area Sangvis was attacking. "To anyone within Sangvis' encirclement this is M4A1 of the AR Team. If you can hear me, please respond!"
"M4. what the hell are you doing here?!" the currently-irritable voice of AR-15 yelled over the radio a moment later, the sound then punctuated by suppressed gunfire.
"Trying to save you!" she replied quickly, breaking into a run to cover more ground.
"I don't think you'll get here in time! Go for SOP-II—!"
An explosion suddenly sounded off in the distance and static briefly washed over the radio's signal before it was restored.
"AR-15, what happened over there?!"
"I'm not messing around, just get SOP-II like I told you to!"
"Where is she?!"
"Escaped the encirclement from the west to try and draw the enemy away from me!" AR-15 yelled. "I can take care of myself just fine, so get your ass in gear and go! AR-15 out!"
"AR-15, wait—!"
Before she could say anything else the comms link was cut, stopping her from speaking with AR-15 any more but giving her a new goal.
"Springfield, you need to break that encirclememt somehow so AR-15 can escape!" she told the Echelon Two leader after swapping back to her frequency.
"Understood, I'll come up with a plan, but what about SOPMOD?"
"We've got her, just hurry!"
Springfield then cut the comms link, leaving the team alone as they changed directions to continue the mission.
"Please be okay, AR-15..." the AR Team leader muttered to herself as she now ran towards the southwestern sectors of the city with Echelon One in tow in order for her to find SOPMOD, the battle AR-15 was undoubtedly fighting not letting up one bit.
Tactical Doll Springfield
The situation did not look good.
SF had almost all of their forces firing at a decrepid building near a park directly within the search zone, dead Sangvis scattered across the grounds and explosive pockmarks showing that the VIP was at least fighting back against her attackers. However, there were still quite a few Sangvis units remaining, and it was likely that AR-15 was running low on ammunition.
"Scheiße, that's a lot of Sangvis Dolls..." G3 remarked with a rare curse, looking at the battlefield with a pair of binoculars. "What is your plan, Fraü Springfield?"
"Mmm... I think it'd be best if we made some sort of distraction, or found and destroyed the Command Post directing orders to these units." the Rifle replied from her perch in a two-storey building, watching a Ripper team get demolished by a C4 explosive planted in the grassy areas ahead of the safe house. "Of course, it could be a Ringleader in charge of these Dolls, and that could lead to very painful deaths for all of us, but we can't take those hostiles head-on."
"Ask the Kommandant about it then." G36 told her, using her weapon's optics to scan the environment for vulnerabilities in the enemy's formation.
"Commander, we've reached AR-15's position but she's surrounded by hostiles, what can we do to draw them away from her?"
"I can't see any Command Posts to blow up on the map, but I can have Luka and MP41 strafe one of the enemy detachments and leave before they can shoot at them." the Conmander replied.
"Do it, we don't have much time. Springfield out."
Cutting the comms link the markswoman quickly marked a group of hostiles for MP41 and Luka to attack, then she quickly calculated a route through the east to go around the enemy and allow them to extract AR-15 safely before timing the arrival of their Humvee.
Soon, the rumble of said Humvee's engine resounded throughout the battlefield and it quickly tore through the battlefield from the west of their building, ramming into a Vespid like a thunderbolt before the M2HB atop it let loose into the other hostiles, cutting through them like butter and startling the survivors thoroughly.
"Okay, the enemy's relocating to cover their left flank, go now!" the Commander ordered, and Springfield quickly jumped down from her perch and made her move, rallying her team behind her as she ran along the roads to the east of the park, watching as Sangvis' forces reacted to both their target's traps and the Humvee that punched a hole into their left flank before returning her attention to the objective, darting past more dead Sangvis and whacking a live one upside the head with her buttstock as she led her team to the objective.
As the SF ahead of them turned to fire G36 and G3 destroyed them with well-aimed headshots and continued running with their leader, more SF taking notice and attempting to stop them as well with a ton of suppressive fire.
Ducking below the shots the Rifle primed a hand grenade and threw it at a cluster of hostiles before sliding behind a car's engine block to fire at them from behind it, her team taking cover as well to do the same.
"Don't let them get near that safe house!" Springfield yelled, opening fire on a Vespid and perforating her head before working the bolt again to fire on another target, the sheer amount of hostiles onsite meaning every round fired scored a kill.
G36 and G3 were also in a similar situation, firing suppressive shots at the enemy to immobilize them or killing them with concentrated fire to their heads. P38 and M1895 were also hiding behind a truck, throwing grenades and taking potshots at whoever was dumb enough to enter their sightline. AR-15 though was still in the safe house, taking carefully-aimed shots at the targets that got too close for comfort and tossing C4 charges out at larger clusters of Sangvis in regular intervals.
"Be advised, a powerful enemy signal just appeared about fifty meters west of your— hold up, it just disappeared from the map entirely, watch out!" the Commander warned, causing Springfield to poke her head out and see a monochrome blur shoot past her and nearly take her head off with a volley of green plasma shots before she ducked into cover again.
"Did anyone get a bead on that hostile?!" she yelled, poppng out of cover to shoot at a Vespid and try to relocate the bogey.
"Nein!" G36 replied from behind her cover, attempting to do the same.
"AR-15, you've got a potential Ringleader headed straight towards you!" the Rifle warned over an open Zener channel, unwilling to waste the time to pick up her radio as she killed another Sangvis Doll.
Despite the warning it was seemingly too late to stop the bogey, and after an explosion reduced the front of the safe house to rubble and a tense seven seconds passed the monochrome figure escaped from the building, with an unconscious pink-haired girl hauled over her shoulder as she escaped the building relatively unharmed.
Of course, she still couldn't get a bead on the target's apperance due to her speed but the two things she could discern were white hair and a monochrome leotard under a black jacket as the figure darted around the building to escape, a few rounds sent her way by G3 and G36 as they tried to immobilize the hostile and free her captive.
"Don't shoot at her, you might hit the VIP!" Springfield ordered as the hostile unit reached the rooftops and escaped with AR-15 in tow. "Commander, AR-15 just got captured by a Ringleader and we couldn't stop her!"
"Fuck!" the Commander yelled in response, seemingly slamming his fist into the holotable. "Rejoin Echelon One and stop Sangvis from taking SOPMOD!"
"Yes, sir! P38, we need a diversion!"
Nodding wordlessly P38 drew a flare gun and pointed it a bit upwards before firing it, the bright red flare flying over the battlefield as its bright red light drew the infantry units' eyes, creating an opening for them to leave the park.
"Everyone on me!" the sniper called out before darting towards where the Ringleader went, her steps quick and decisive as she and her team crossed the distance between them and the end of thd building as the HGs darted ahead of her thanks to their speed.
"G3, what's the distance between us and Echelon One?!" she requested as they escaped the area and the Sangvis started heading west.
"About two hundred and seventy-two meters west, but they're bogged down by enemy forces!" the soft-spoken AR replied.
"Get Luka to come pick us up, we don't have time to waste!"
"Ja, gnädige Frau!"
Going ahead and marking a pickup zone for the Humvee driver, Springfield thought back to the Ringleader that captured AR-15 and tried to remember her appearance the best that she could so she could potentially ID her in Griffin's database, then to where she'd most likely hold her at— the first possibility noted being the production facility deep within Sector 09, then she thought back to the present as they stopped at the pickup zone and a certain Humvee drove up in front of the Echelon.
"Get in!" Luka beckoned as he opened the passenger door, pulling Springfield into the seat as her subordinates entered the backseats. "Where to?"
"An intersection two hundred twenty-one meters to the west!" the Rifle rellied urgently as she shut the door just in time for the Humvee to roar to life and roll out of the clearing, taking a hard U-turn as they headed towards Echelon One to hopefully save at least one VIP.
Tactical Doll M4A1
"Be advised, you've got about sixty fresh troops inbound northeast of your position, over!"
"Careful, they've got a mortar crew seventy meters to the northwest, atop a gas station!"
"Does anyone have visual on the VIP?!"
Much like with Echelon Two prior, Echelon One had landed themselves in a sticky situation, pinned down in a small storefront on the southwestern side of the city, where it hadn't been renovated so much and there was a lot of open space between them and their attackers.
Crouched behind a food counter M4A1 fired in semi-auto to save ammo and ensure she'd hit more shots, striking down a Vespid and causing it to topple to the ground from a small auto parts store's rooftop, dead. Numerous other Sangvis Dolls met the same fate as they tried to take the Griffin team out.
In that regard M1911 had resigned herself to spotting duties, pointing out different hostiles for her allies to shoot and tossing grenades at anyone who got too close, AK-47 and Howa 64 were right beside M4A1 firing suppressive shots at the enemy, FN-49 was taking care of snipers from on top of their building, while MP5 was drawing the enemy's fire as per her main role, darting around each shot with the grace of a ballerina and striking back like a fierce thunderstorm.
Concerning SOPMOD, they'd yet to find a trace of her, and given their current situation she couldn't help but get worried over the excitable girl, especially since they were pinned down by so many hostiles.
Said hostiles were proving to be a very serious problem, especially when a Jaguar's mortar blast forced FN-49 off of the rooftops to escape it and opened her up to enemy fire.
"Commander, is there any way we can get rid of those Jaguars?!" M4A1 yelled into her radio as a Jaeger's shot flew over her cover and nearly disabled her had she not moved— the Doll not shooting to kill for obvious reasons.
"Echelon Two's coming up on their flank, but I've got a weird signal on the map..." he replied. "Scrambled like yours, but different..."
"Tell Echelon Two to hurry!" she yelled in response, throwing a grenade out of the store. "M4A1 out!"
Putting her radio away she quickly fired on a pair of Rippers that were getting too close for comfort, then shifted her fire towards a Jaeger as she tried to reach a perch to snipe from, her frail frame easily breaking from the rounds impacting it.
Another explosion soon impacted the top of the store, punching a hole through the roof and causing AK-47 to roll out of the way to avoid it, plasma bolts nearly hitting her as a result when Sangvis decided to capitalize on her distraction.
"Eat a grenade, you bastards!" M1911 yelled as she tossed an RGO impact grenade at the enemy, landing it in the midst of numerous Rippers and destroying them with the resulting explosion.
"I have visual on enemy reinforcements, coming in from the enemy's flank!" Howa 64 called out, returning fire again.
"Got it, looks like four squads of Rippers and two squads of Vespids!" FN-49 called out from a new perch, her position unknown to M4A1 but the lack of a strain to her voice or labored breathing meant she was unhurt, to her relief.
Firing at the new arrivals as they rounded the corner M4A1 was annoyed to hear her weapon click and fail to fire, a quick glance at her ejection port pointing to an empty magazine, and she immediately reentered cover to reload.
"Cover me, I'm reloading!" she yelled as she ejected the old magazine and put a fresh one in, soon pressing the bolt release and reemerging from the counter, dropping the lead unit in a squad of Vespids with a pair of shots to the head.
"Nice shot, kiddo!" M1911 called to her as she tossed an M67 frag grenade, landing it behind a car with Sangvis behind it and forcing the hostile out of cover— the action earning her a .45 ACP to the head as the grenade exploded and sent a Ripper flying across the parking lot.
"Thanks...!"
Ducking into cover as a volley of plasma bolts flew towards her, the elite barely avoided them and retaliated with a grenade— an "oh crap" leaving her lips as it flew shorter than she wanted it to and landed near M1911's position, a glance revealing it to be an EMP.
"Oh, FUCK—!" the HG grunted out as the device went off and disabled her temporarily, her form slumping to the ground as a trio of Rippers close to her position were disabled mid-sprint and crashed into the ground from their momentum.
"Sorry...!" she apologized hurriedly as she executed the EMP'd Rippers and returned to firing at the reinforcements, taking note of a glob of hot plasma shooting up from the gas station. "Incoming artillery!"
Leaving her cover with a vaulting motion, she quickly closed the distance between her and M1911 and slid to a stop in front of her, picking the Doll up in a fireman's carry and quickly heading back inside even as the enemy forces fired at her nigh-relentlessly, the Jaguar shot halfway to its target as she reentered the building and straight-lined to the bathrooms, a soot-covered AK-47 ceasing fire as she passed by.
"W-Wow, didn't think you'd come for me... with all those guys shooting at you..." the Doll murmured as she rebooted, her lower specs meaning her rebooting process was slower than others.
As M4A1 went to reply the mortar impacted the store, the ground shaking beneath them but no roofing crashing down on them.
"Can you fight yet?" she asked instead.
"Give me a moment, my specs are pretty old, you know..." the blonde grumbled as she regained her motion, sitting up in a slow, somewhat groggy manner.
"M4-san, we need you back out here!" Howa 64 called for her from within the rest of the store.
"I have to go, stay safe, will ya...?" she murmured to her rescuee before turning around and running out of the bathroom to rejoin the fight, bashing the head of an invading Ripper in with her buttstock before taking cover and withdrawing her radio.
"Miss Springfield, where are you?!" she all but screamed into it, wincing as another mortar hit the building and showered her with rubble as she dodged the debris.
"Less than a minute away from your position, we had to pick up one of the VIPs on the way." the Rifle replied tensely. "And said VIP seems to want nothing more tham to tear the enemy's spines out with her bare hands..."
That comment alone was enough to ID the passenger, an exhale of relief leaving the AR Team leader as she fired her rifle one-handedly, the other hand holding her radio.
"You found SOP-II? Thank God..." she murmured as her shots landed in a Ripper pair's legs, immobilizing them as another wave of Rippers deployed— SF's human wave tactics seemingly in full play.
"Where are you holed up at, M4?"
"A small convienience store across from a gas station with a Jaguar crew on top of it." she replied, looking tot he gas station in question. "Tell SOP-II that I want her to get rid of those Jaguars."
"Will do, tell everyone else there to keep their heads down, we have visual on your location! Springfield out!"
As the radio link was cut M4A1 immediately dropped to the ground as low as possible, ensuring she wouldn't fall victim to the M2HB when it stared firing.
"Everyone get down, now!" she yelled sharply as the telltale sound of burning rubber became audible, and everyone immediately flattened themselves against the floor just as a team of Sangvis got into the store— only for the thunderous roar of an M2HB to sound and a volley of .50 BMG to cut them down with ridiculous ease.
Keeping herself utterly flattened against the floor she could feel the heavy rounds tearing through the air and slaughter every last Sangvis that dared to fire on them in the first place, the sickening crunch of metal ripping through artificial tissue and the puncturing of the small building's walls as prevalent as the report of her allies' MG.
"W-What's going on?!" MP5 screamed from her own hiding place, wherever it was.
"They're dropping the hand of God on these motherfuckers!" M1911 replied relievedly from the bathrooms.
Despite the relief she stayed as low to the ground as possible, electing to wait until every last Sangvis was pulverized before she efen dared to get up again, a faint-sounding series of explosions sounding off in the distance.
"Alright, area's clear!" Springfield reported after almost a minute of nonstop firing. Only God knew how hot that MG's barrel was.
With the all-clear given M4A1 hesitantly rose to her feet and looked up to see Springfield and her team exiting the Humvee, doing a damage assessment on the area as a black-clothed figure escaped from the burning wreck that the gas station was reduced to.
"Are you alright, M4?" the motherly Rifle asked when she saw the elite exiting the store.
"I'm fine, and if I'm not mistaken, the rest of us are as well."
"How I didn't get hit dodging that fucking debris, I dunno..." AK-47 murmured as she got up alongside Howa 64, who was covered in dust but fine like her fellow AR.
"I'm glad to hear that, M4." Springfield said with a giggle before pointing towards the black-clothed figure with her thumb. "Anyways, I think someone wants to see you."
"Huh—?"
"M4, YOU'RE OKAY!"
M4A1 barely had time to react before a short pink-haired girl slammed into her, nearly crushing her with the hug she was giving and constantly blabbering in joy about seeing her again after so long.
"S-Soppo, isn't this a bit much...?" she said hesitantly as the girl jumped off of her and she was able to see her properly.
Bearing pale-pink hair that hung to her waist with multiple red strips in it, expressive bloodred eyes, and an ecstatic grin that showed off a cute little fang in place of a normal tooth, M4 SOPMOD II was certainly one of the most unique members of AR Team. Standing at four-foot-ten with a somewhat slim figure, she wore a black raincoat with the zipper undone enough to reveal some of her somewhat mild cleavage, a scarf with the stylized lower parts of a canine's skull (in a mirror of M4A1's scarf,) a red armband with a Sangvis Ferri logo next to the Anti-Rain logo, a short, pleated black skirt with black and yellow strips in a criss-cross pattern on the front, a grey sash with a red hem on her left hip, a grenade-carrying bag on her right hip along with a black sash with ammo pouches on it, black tights with red stripes around the upper-thighs, black and red shoes like M4A1's, a black attenae-bearing headset that looked like a devil's horns, a cybernetic right hand like M4A1's, and a Sangvis Ferri-made left hand with claws on it, the blackish-purple coolants coating the Doll's body telling of the carnage she'd conducted while she was looking for aid. As for her rifle, it was a Flat-Dark-Earth-painted M4A1 SOPMOD Block II with an EOTech, a laser sight, and an M203 grenade launcher on the forend.
"So this is SOPMOD..." M1911 murmured as she left the building, her movement a bit groggy as she approached SOPMOD. "Pleased to meet you..."
"Nice to meet you too!" she greeted in kind, running up and shaking the HG's hand enthusiastically for a moment before letting go and going to M4A1 again, likely preparing to berrate her with questions bwfore she held her free hand up to silence her.
"I know you've probably got a lot of questions to ask me, but can they wait until we get back to base?" the more responsible girl asked, causing SOPMOD to nod and allowing her to pull her radio up to contact the Commander. "Commander, SOP-II's secure and we're awaiting extraction at a convinience store next to a destroyed gas station."
"Got it, sending your pilot back over now. Good job, by the way." the officer replied.
"Thank you, sir. M4A1 out."
Cutting the link and putting her radio up she turned to SOPMOD and pulled her into a hug of her own, feeling the girl instantly melt into it despite whatever surprise she may have felt in the moment.
"Guess you were really glad to see me, huh?"
"Yeah. Wait, where's AR-15?" the dark-haired Doll asked concernedly, causing her sister's expression to shift drastically.
"I dunno, I was sent away by her to buy us some time to be saved..." she replied uneasily.
"Before you ask, she was captured, I'm afraid." Springfield added grimly. "Looked like a Ringleader, but she was too fast for me to get a good look at her."
"I see..." the elite muttered, looking down towards the ground in a forlorn manner and sighing ruefully.
"Oh no..." SOPMOD muttered, breaking away from M4A1 as their helo approached their position, its rotors filling the air with a steady thumping as it closed the distance between them and soon came into view, its dark frame hard to miss against the cloudy sky.
"We're down here!" M1911 called out loudly upon seeing the aerial vehicle, waving her arms to let the pilot see her.
"Yeah, I see ya." he responded over the comms as he landed his Blackhawk, its rotors casting powerful gusts of wind in a 360-degree arc around the vehicle. "Hurry up and get back on, will ya? The boss sounded a bit impatient when he sent me back here."
Nodding in understanding M4A1 and the others ran towards the Blackhawk as the doors opened, allowing them to climb into the helicopter's dark interior and buckling up one-by-one, the dark-haired elite pulling her sister into the cabin and shutting the door on them, somewhat darkening the cabin a bit.
"If you don't mind me asking, SOP-II, what were you and AR-15 doing in Seredyna-Buda, a well-known Sangvis hotspot?" she asked her as she sat down besides M1911 and buckled up, the helo lifting off the ground a moment later.
"Well, we were trying to get information on the area's local Ringleader but we stumbled on a pretty big group of Sangvis troops that were gathering up for something big, as if they were going to attack a major Griffin base somewhere, but since 601 was too far away for them to be prepping a force like that in the city and 737 was way too fortified, it left us with only one potential target: 794."
Instantly every Doll in the helo turned to look at the grenadier with varying levels of visible concern.
"Please tell me you're kidding." AK-47 told her, face hardened.
"I wish I was, but AR-15 tapped into the enemy's comms and they all but confirmed that 794 was the target." SOPMOD replied dreadfully. "We were gonna try and hijack a Command Post to warn him but Sangvis found us somehow, probably through tapping our call with M16 a couple days ago, and they chased us to a park area and forced us into an old Avrora's restaraunt, so I got sent away to lure them away from AR-15 so they made a mistake but they just kept going for AR-15—"
"And that's when that Ringleader got ahold of her." M4A1 finished, remembering Springfield's words. "SOP-II, do you know when they're carrying out this attack?"
The pink-haired girl merely shook her head in response to the question.
"No, but I think it might be in the nighttime. Just get me to your Commander and I'll explain everything I know." she replied firmly.
Nodding in response M4A1 looked out the window and processed everything her sister had told her, particularly about the upcoming attack on her new home. Sure, she'd only been there a couple days and she hadn't had enough time to bond with the other Dolls, but she rather liked it there, and the Commander had been nothing but supporting and friendly to her, so the news that Sangvis wanted to destroy the frontline base again set a fire in her heart that she didn't feel often if at all, a desire to fight and defend her home and her new allies to the last breath, even if all seemed lost and they were at the Gates of Hell.
And despite that news, the fire lit within her was enough to keep her at least somewhat confident as the Blackhawk flew towards Station 794 again, the knowledge that they'd be in for a grueling fight barely fazing her at all despite her previous experiences against such odds and only emboldening her resolve for the time being.
So turns out, I haven't updated this story since February 20, so it's been thirteen days since my last upload. Doesn't help that my views stopped showing past February 26, though.
Alternatively, I made a new Reddit account to post from, called u/Cmdr_Be_an_1an, and numerous new fanarts were posted on it, so please go check the account out if you want.
Also, since it's been a good long while since I've posted, and since it's the thirty-first chapter of the Recollection I'm posting, I'm going to give you a sneak peek at GFL: War's first chapter, so I can hopefully get advice on how to progress it further.
I'll see you at the next chapter...
Tallahassee Green Zone
Florida, United States
February 17, 2048
Ian Becker
1424 Hours
"Before you embark on a journey for revenge, you must first dig two graves." - Confucius
Time seemed to fly by in an instant for the citizens of the United States. While it had only been two (almost three) years since World War 3 had begun and a massive worldwide attempt by the superpowers of the Earth to bomb the others into oblivion occurred, and only a few months ago that the fighting gravitated to ground-based combat and the enlistment age for the military had been slightly lowered, it almost seemed like it all happened yesterday to them.
Of course, the past seventeen years had been the toughest ones the Land of the Free had ever experienced, thanks to a worldwide catastrophe, the return of the Soviet Union, the rise of a new political ideaology, and the constant dwindling of inhabitable land, but everything only got worse when US and Soviet troops were provoked by an unknown event and fired on each other in Germany on May 2, 2045. When the two war machines began to march, the last two years had mainly consisted of near-constant air raids and drills to survive said air raids if they were conducted by the Soviets on their soil— the sheer effectiveness of countermeasures against ICBMs and nukes as well the "rifles behind every blade of grass" and the entire West side of the nation being irradiated and walled off making conventional bombings the only somewhat reliable way to inflict damage upon the US.
Unfortunately, while advanced anti-air weapons and intrepid sailors kept most of the enemy bombers away from the coast, it was impossible to prevent all of them from passing through their defensive web, and for a tall, somewhat lanky fourteen-year-old boy with messy brown hair and sharp green eyes, he was one of the ones who paid dearly for it.
He currently stood at a pair of gravestones with a boquet of flowers in his hands and unshed tears in his eyes, unsure of what to say to the dearly departed as he stood there, the overcast sky and looming stormclouds matching his somber mood perfectly.
"Hey, it's me again..." he said quietly, crouching down in front of the graves. "Uh, it might've just been a couple days to you, but me, on the other hand? It already feels like an eternity..."
No sound reached his ears but the gentle rustling of tree branches, but he had expected this. The dead never spoke, after all.
"Anyways, uh, so far, Nikki's still missing. I've been trying to find her for days, but between the air-raid drills and the fact that most of the city's still rubble, it's been a pain. As for everything else, people are enlisting left and right to get revenge for Tallahasse, NATO's doing jack and shit to help us, and there's traces of Collapse radiation getting into some of the other states the Soviets bombed."
As the dark-haired boy listed off everything that had occured since February 14, thunder rumbled in the distance and the wind blew a little harder, but it didn't bother him one bit.
"So yeah, it's not letting up anytime soon, but at the very least I found people who can look after me for now..." he sighed, closing his eyes and attempting to come up with something to say next.
"Look... I'm sorry about everything I said to you that day. I was just so... angry, and I wasn't thinking straight, so I was essentially saying whatever came to mind. If I could take it all back, I would gladly do so. I know it's probably useless saying it here, but I'm sure you can hear me from up there, you know?"
He looked skyward, hoping that somewhere in the heavens, his loved ones could hear him, but when he naturally got no answer and the first of the rainfall impacted his jacket, he looked back down and carefully set his bouquet down between the gravestones and stood up.
"Hey, Becker!"
In response to the voice, he turned around to see a family of three standing at the entrance of the cemetery, their reddish hair standing out against the greys and green of the environment around him as they waved him down.
"I don't mean to intrude on a private moment, but the storm's about to hit and we don't want you catching a cold!" the father yelled, as if the nasty thunderclaps and rainfall weren't enough of an indicator.
"I'll be there in a second!"
Looking back at the grave, he gently rubbed them with his hand and bade the dearly departed farewell before leaving, and in the end, he was sure of only one thing: Henry and Vanessa Becker would never walk the earth again.