The Stakes Raise
Answers to some reviews:
edboy4926: No, it's just a question. The leader of ONI since the events of Halo 4 is still Serin Osman.
downyawood: Mind telling me why you seems to be afraid at the mention of the Library?
As for your question, Neuroi laser is based on the Sentinel beam.
August 22, 1945 (Local Calendar)
Pescara, Duchy of Romagna
It's been only an hour or two since midnight. Most of the members of the 501st JFW are still sleeping with few exception. It's not because they don't want to sleep, but because they have some business to take care of. The first is almost obviously Sanya who is on a night patrol of her own. The second is the CO of the 501st, Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke.
Inside her office, Minna is currently working on the paperwork. While most of the 501st jobs had been transferred back to the 504th JFW, there are still some jobs for her to do. The official reason is that the higher-ups are making sure that the 504th have completely restored since Operation Trajanus. The unofficial reason is because they don't want to leave 501st jobless when they can still use them.
"Seriously, can they think of a better excuse?" Muttered Minna as she signs a paper.
"Well, you know how the brass work; they're making sure that everyone have a job or two." Said Mio as she places a cup of coffee.
Thanks for no longer having her magic, Mio reassigned herself to a desk work for most of the time. There isn't anyone to be taught and she doesn't like doing nothing while everyone else do something. Mio also no longer wearing her eye patch.
"Huh. Sometimes, I really wish that paperwork was never invented." Commented Minna
Mio laughs a little when she heard that. Suddenly, the phone on Minna's desk rings. She picks it up and answer the call.
"This is…"
"IS THIS 501st BASE?!"
Minna almost throw the phone away in shock. She manages to calm herself though and replies the call.
"Yes, sir. Though…"
"GOOD! I need your girls to be here at Camp Tattaglia ASAP!"
"Sir, I need you to…"
"I don't have time for protocol! You must… No, NO, STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
BANG BANG
Minna is shocked when she heard the gunshots at the other side. She then tries to call the man back, but receive no response. She puts the phone back and looks at Mio, who has a face that indicates she knows what to do.
"Wake everyone up!" Ordered Minna.
15 minutes later…
Romagna Airspace
After the call, almost all members of the 501st – except Sanya and Mio – are flying towards Camp Tattaglia, one of the Romagna military bases responsible for the security on Pescara and the surrounding regions.
"Hey, hey, so what actually happened at Camp Tattaglia?" Asked Francesca.
"That's what we're going to find out." Said Minna.
"Eh? We don't know the reason?" Asked Erica a little surprised.
"The camp requested our help for some reason. But before they can explain the reason, we lost contact with them."
"So we're heading to God-knows-what." Commented Shirley.
During the rest of the flight, the witches remain silence except for few yawns. Make sense since they were taken from their sleep.
The fighter wing finally reach Camp Tattaglia. All light on the base are out, much to Minna's concern. They land just few feet outside of the camp.
"Shouldn't we land somewhere inside?" Asked Yoshika.
"No, we don't know what's inside. Better outside." Replied Minna.
After making sure that their strikers will be fine, the witches start walking towards the camp with their weapons ready. At the entrance, they see that there are two guards; one is inside an outpost while the other is lying at a bar. Both of them are not in good positions, the kind that will make your body uncomfortable.
Yoshika and Gertrud approach each of the soldiers. Yoshika checks the one at a bar and when she realizes there's no pulse, she looks at the other witches with a sad face and shakes her head. Gertrud checks the pulse of the soldier inside the outpost and receives the same result.
"Who could have killed them?" Asked Eila.
"Considering that the base remains intact, I guess that it wasn't Neuroi." Replied Erica.
"Well, better not stand here all night and start looking for survivor." Said Minna as she goes deeper into the base.
As the witches walk through the camp, they see that almost every corner and nook have a corpse of soldier or two. They can see that there's a wound at either the neck or the chest.
"My God." Commented Yoshika as they keep walking.
"For this scale of death to go unnoticed…" Muttered Lynette.
"Something is going in here and we're going to find out about that." Stated Minna.
The witches finally reach the command post. When Gertrud tries to push the door open, she realizes that something is blocking it. She uses her magic a little and gives a big push to the door. It opens and falls off its hinges. When they look inside, Gertrud realizes that it was a body of an officer that blocks the door. She approaches the officer and puts him in a more respectful position before closing both of his eyes.
"All of you, stay here! I'll check the office!" Ordered Minna as she opens a door.
As she walks inside, Minna turns on a flashlight and looks around. She sees some bullet holes on the wall, a dead officer with a revolver on his right hand, and the disorganized condition of the office. She looks around the room for a minute but find nothing that could help her. Sighing, Minna turns off the flashlight and exits the office.
"Did you find anything?" Asked Gertrud.
"Unfortunately no, Barkhorn. Except the dead officer inside. When we get back, we better contact the main base." Replied Minna.
The witches exit the command post and walks a few feet before Erica says something.
"You know, at least we don't find any Neuroi."
Suddenly, they can hear a footstep that doesn't belong to them. Then another one. And another one. All of them turn on their flashlight and put it under the barrels of their weapons. When they look at the source, they see a tiger with Neuroi pattern on its body. Then they find more as they point their weapons at many directions.
"'No Neuroi'? You had to open your mouth!" Exclaimed Gertrud.
Just right after she said that, one of the tiger runs towards Gertrud. Minna immediately guns it down and the tiger soon shattered.
"They're Neuroi." Shouted Eila as she begins shooting.
"But why they look like a tiger?" Asked Yoshika.
"It matters later. For now, keep firing." Stated Minna.
The witches are now firing at the tigers that try to kill them. They're quite an easy targets if not for one single fact; most of the ones they fight are decoys. Two tigers managed to reach the roof of the command post undetected. They then jump off and try to strike Lynette. Yoshika however manages to see it.
"Lynne, watch out!" Said Yoshika as she erects a barrier to protect Lynette.
The tigers try to pass through it, but the shield manages to protect the two witches. However, Yoshika can't handle the force of two tigers and falls to the ground, her shield disappear. Before they can use the chance, Perrine and Francesca destroy both of them.
"Just how many of these tigers exist?!" Commented Erica.
"Maybe next time you should try not to tempt fate." Replied Gertrud.
"How should I know…"
Before Erica can finish her words, Eila immediately push her aside. It prevent her from being pounded by one of the Neuroi. Gertrud immediately strikes it with the stock of her MG, thus destroying the tiger.
The witches keep firing non-stop until they're sure that all tigers are destroyed. Lynette sees one and shoots it, destroying the last Neuroi.
"Well, that's the last of them." Said Erica.
"What did I said about tempting fate?" Said Gertrud quite angry.
"Damn it, Trude. I am not an idiot, okay? I am sure it's fine by now!"
After Erica said that, Eila suddenly sees something in the future. After seeing it, she immediately pushes Erica and Gertrud. In the process, it creates a domino and pushes the other witches as well.
"What do you think you're doing, Eila?!" Exclaimed Perrine.
Suddenly, something big landed where the witches were. Very big. When they look at it, their faces become pale. Standing at least three and a half meters tall is the biggest spider they ever see. Though the appearance indicates that it's a Neuroi as well. It has four legs instead of eight, and a visible head and neck as well. On the "head", there are two pieces of red eyes.
"Open fire!" Shouted Minna.
All witches fire their weapons at the Neuroi. However, Shirley notices that something is not right.
"Everyone, hold fire!" Shouted Shirley with Gertrud, Minna, and Perrine still shooting. "I said hold it!"
"What's wrong, Liberion?! We should defeat the Neuroi as soon as…"
"Silence, Trude. See something wrong with it?"
Gertrud looks closely and the Neuroi and realizes what's wrong with it; despite their intense fire, there's not even a scratch on the thing. There's also the fact that the Neuroi doesn't move as well.
"What? How?" Shouted Francesca.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Said Shirley. "Lynne, shoot it."
"Eh, right." Replied Lynette as she shoots the Neuroi.
When the bullet leaves the anti-tank rifle and hits the Neuroi, a light appears, surrounding the Neuroi like a second skin. When she looks at the place where the bullet hit, Shirley becomes even paler than before.
"Oh God, IT HAS A SHIELD!" Exclaimed Shirley.
The Neuroi lets out an ear-piercing scream before charging towards the witches. Despite having their ears hurt, all of them manage to dodge and shoot at it, only for the shield to protect the Neuroi.
"Neuroi with shield? Now that's new!" Stated Francesca.
"This is not the time to feel excited!" Retorted Minna.
The witches are still shooting at the Neuroi, since it's better than do nothing. There's also the fact that they hope that the constant fire barrage will finally take down the shield. The Neuroi fires a pair of laser from its eyes. Yoshika and Erica – its targets – raise their shields and block the attack. However, the Neuroi raises both of its front legs and smashes it at both witches direction. It causes a small tremor that makes both Yoshika and Erica lose their balance and fall.
The Neuroi is about to charge to both of them when it suddenly gets hit by an explosion. It then receives a rain of leads from the sky. When the witches look up, they see that Takei Junko, Dominica S. Gentile, Jane T. Godfrey, and Angela Salas Larrazabal of the 504th JFW have arrived.
"The Ardor Witches…" Said Minna surprised.
"Hello there, Wing Commander Wilcke. Looks like Sakamoto decision to call us had a good result." Said Takei.
"Sakamoto?" Said Yoshika.
"That's right. Oh, and looks like the Romagnan military have arrived as well." Said Dominica as, just like she said, a reinforcement arrived.
"Call them back!" Shouted Minna.
"W-what?" Said Takei surprised.
"This Neuroi is different! This one has a shield!"
"Neuroi…with shield?" Said Jane quite unsure.
The Neuroi, when seeing the reinforcement, charges towards them. The witches and the main forces shoot at it, but only hitting the shield.
"Holy cow, that really is a shield!" Commented Dominica.
The Neuroi raises one of its leg and stab through a Fiat M13/40. It stabs the tank with another leg before splitting it apart. The Neuroi then fires at two other Fiats, destroying them. The infantries tries to damage the Neuroi, but their weapons proved insufficient at dealing with the shield. Some of them are then killed when the Neuroi stomps them, with the witches unable to do anything.
"Damn it, we can't let this continue!" Stated Francesca.
"What do you think we're trying to do?!" Retorted a pissed Perrine.
Well, considering their enemy, it's not a surprise.
The witches keep firing their weapons until when Yoshika hits it, the Neuroi now shows some damage.
"The shield is down!" Shouted Jane.
"Good work, girls! Now hit it hard!" Ordered Minna.
When the 501st fire their weapons, they only able to fire some rounds before realizing a very serious problem; they run out of ammo. To make thing worse, it appears that the Neuroi knows about it and decides to charges at them. The Strike Witches can only do one thing; run like a little girl! Some are tempted to raise their shield, but right now they don't want to risk their shield falling apart. Defending against Neuroi laser and being stomped are two different things.
"Well, looks like it's up to us now!" Said Dominica.
"Everyone, tear that Neuroi apart ASAP!" Shouted Takei.
Seeing that the witches can now damage the Neuroi, the remaining Romagnan infantries fire their weapons as well. It however – despite damaged – is still capable of fighting back and fires its laser at the infantries and then the 504th. The witches raise their shields and block the attack. Not so much for the former as there are only half of the previous reinforcement and without armor support.
Finally, constant fire barrage took its toll; the Neuroi starts walking limply before finally falls to the ground. Just to be sure, the witches keep firing their weapons for a minute before stopping. They wait for a minute or two and see that the Neuroi doesn't disintegrate into a glass-like substances.
"What's wrong?"
"Is it dead?"
"Of course not, fool. Look at it! It doesn't become a glass!"
"Somebody check it."
After few minutes, a brave Romagnan soldier slowly walks to the downed Neuroi. Once close, he pokes it with his rifle. Seeing that there's no response, he carefully rubs the outer skin.
"I don't think we need to worry about this. As far as I can tell, this Neuroi is…"
Before he can finish his sentence, the Neuroi explodes, killing him. The explosion also send shrapnel to all direction. The witches raise their shield to protect themselves with the infantries try to take cover behind a building or the tank wrecks. Some of them got killed and others wounded.
Yoshika and Lynette immediately approach the wounded soldiers to heal them. Meanwhile, the other witches takes some rest with Minna and Takei having a conversation.
"Correct me if I am wrong, but Neuroi didn't explode when they're destroyed, right?" Said Takei.
"That is correct. Each time a Neuroi is destroyed, it will become a glass without an explosion." Replied Minna.
"And yet this one did."
"There's also the fact that the Neuroi has a shield. That's the first."
Minna can't help but sigh at the thought. They run out of ammo just to take down the shield. Sure, they spent a large amount of bullets on the Neuroi tigers. But, that's not the most important part. Minna feels a quite terrified at the thought of these kinds of Neuroi. The tigers were capable of killing a large amount of soldiers without setting of the alarm and the spider-like one has a shield.
The normal military forces can barely defeat a standard Neuroi. If those two kinds become common, than the military might possibly depend entirely on the witches. Minna dreaded the day that day come.
Then, there's one thing that's important as well. Neuroi fought by firing laser. So why these two have a melee attack? Is the Neuroi trying to upgrade their forces with them being almost defeated?
Minna really hopes that they can defeat the Neuroi before they decide to make their forces even stronger than this.
Unknown Location
Berlin feels a little bit annoyed when one of his experimental unit was destroyed. That thing need quite a large amount of resources as well as time to be made. Thankfully, the battle shows that the unit is not suitable as common unit.
On the other hand, the other experimental units while a success, will no longer as effective as they were previously. The humans will surely adapted so that they can have a tactic to counter both type of units.
The hologram of Berlin Hive disappear. When it disappear, it is revealed that there's someone in the room. Whoever that is, it has a humanoid shape. It's wearing some sort of black armor that look futuristic compared to the humans of this Earth. On the face, there are two completely blue eyes.
The figure then grabs a futuristic looking pistol – again, by the humans of this Earth standard – and checks it. It turns around to look at half a dozen figures with the same armor, carrying a futuristic rifles. The first figure lets out a high frequency noise as it move, followed by the other figures.
And another chapter is done.
If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.
Review please.