Chapter Three: Battle of Bravo Hill

Introductions Arc

Bright was the sun as it shone upon Caspian Border. Blue were the skies that engulfed all beyond yonder. The trees rustled as the light breeze blew and carried the smell of nature and its tranquility.

"PHOTONOUS GET DOWN, GET DOWN!"

Destruction as it was as bullets flew. Death as it reeked as soldiers bled.

"MEDIIIC!"

The flag of the United States of America fluttered high and proudly. With it, people that defended with nigh fanaticism.

"Over there! THERE!"

Determined were those that went against them… but determined are those that wanted to repel them.

"ENEMY TANK! ENEMY TANK!"

Welcome to the battlefield.

"DEV, I THINK THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!" Photonous shouted as bullets chipped and deflected off of what little cover he had.

Their squad made it to point Bravo by shooting their way through the backs of their enemies. Supposedly, twenty-four soldiers were now defending Bravo. In reality, only fifteen were alive.

"PEW!"

"ACK!"

Fourteen.

"SHIT! CLEAR! CLEAR!"

"BZZT!"

…and back to fifteen.

The other squads were frantically defending point Bravo. They were all ranked higher than even DeviantOne, with a Colonel Five leading the fray.

"Defend the eastern flank! We got enemies swarming in from point Delta!" The Colonel bellowed those orders at DeviantOne as soon as they offered assistance.

"WELCOME TO THE BATTLEFIELD, ENSIGN!" DeviantOne shouted back. He was using a large rock as cover.

Photonous had doubts whether point Bravo was worth it at all. Already two squads were completely wiped out. No reinforcements would be coming as their commander wanted to use Bravo as a flytrap: keep the enemy glued to Bravo as they take the surrounding points.

It was a brilliant plan on paper; it was a douche idea for those who actually had to hold the line.

"THAT DOUCHEBAG!" A soldier spat, his rank was slightly higher than DeviantOne's, "HE AIN'T EVEN A LEGIT COMMANDER!"

That was true. Currently in battles, commanders were only de facto. No formal post exists. Yet there had to be one person leading. The enemy obviously had a commander of their own.

"IF I SEE HIM AGAIN DURING THE BRIEFING, I'M GONNA-"

"PEW!"

The soldier's head blew into bits as a bullet found its way into his skull. Perhaps he was a bit… too excited.

"CLEAR!"

"BZZT!"

An Assault class revived the ranting soldier with his defibrillators.

"-SHOVE A FUCKING C-"

"PEW!"

"CLEAR!"

"BZZT!"

"-4 UP HIS ASS AND-"

"TATATATA!"

"…CLEAR!"

"BZZT!"

"-BLOW HIS SHI-"

"…"

The Assault soldier glanced at Photonous. He responded with a light nod.

"CLEAR!"

"BZZT!"

"HEY WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!"

The situation was grim for the defenders at point Bravo. No air support… no armor support… just pure manpower.

"Heads up hostile jet coming in!"

Photonous raised his head under the cover he was in and saw a jet in the distance beginning to unleash another round of rockets onto them. At least two other Engineers had what appeared to be Stingers…

"AW I'M OUT!" One of them shouted.

The other Engineer fired his Stinger. As the rocked flew true towards its target, the jet did not attempt to dodge. It didn't need to… it had flares.

His eyes widened as the jet went straight at him, unleashing its payload.

"JOEL!" He yelled, "NOOOOOOOOO-"

The explosion muffled his cries as Joel's body flew into the air and down the cliffs… unreachable by the revivers.

"FUCK! NO! JOEL!" He screamed.

"ARGH! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

He glared at Photonous, and a flashing bullet icon suddenly popped above him.

"AMMO!"

"What?"

"I NEED AMMO!"

"Uh…"

"Ensign! Your kit comes with an ammo box!" DeviantOne yelled over at his own cover.

"It does?!"

"GIVE ME AMMO!"

Photonous fumbled through his own equipment before finding a box with a bullet icon matching the blip shown above the Engineer's head. He reflexively threw it on the ground after thinking about deploying it.

The Engineer immediately sprinted towards the ammo box, and went about his own business in avenging his lost friend.

"Could've said thanks…" Photonous muttered.

Corporal Higgins was busy destroying the T-90 tank that was pounding them with canister rounds that came from the western flank. Already four men fell to the armored beast. Higgins assumed that it even had reactive armor due to the fact that the three SMAW rockets he had recently fired had little effect.

"Another volley! FIRE!" The Colonel Five ordered.

Three rockets flew at the tank, yet only a hint of smoke began to emerge from its engines.

In a matter of seconds… that smoke was gone.

"BANG!"

The tungsten pellets flew out of the tank and killed one of the Engineers. The soldier standing by to revive him had heavy wounds though that did not stop him from doing his job.

"CLE-"

"BANG!"

Unfortunately, that did.

"Ah shit… DO WE NOT HAVE A JAV?!" he yelled once more.

"They were all in Hotel squad sir!"

The entirety of Hotel squad was wiped out in the first rocket barrage.

"Well that's just fuckin' great! Jager!"

"SIR!" A Support class soldier responded.

"I WANT YOU TO RUN UP TO THAT TANK AND C4 HIS ASS!"

"SIR, YES SIR!"

With nerves of steel, Jager of Charlie squad sprinted towards the tank with C4 in his hands. Higgins and the rest of the soldiers defending the flank began to unleash all their explosive ordnance they had at it to distract it.

One person was even mooning it.

To any average tank driver, seeing a man carrying C4 running at them would entice them to pull back and attempt to kill the suicidal soldier with the main cannon.

But that wasn't any average tank driver.

Instead of pulling back, the tank surged forwards.

"Oh what the hel-"

Jager's corpse was crushed underneath the tank treads as it forced its way up the ramp.

"AH SHIT WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR AT MINES?!"

"They were destroyed in the rocket barrages sir!"

"FUCK! CAN'T YOU GUYS DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!"

Higgins, already knowing the ultimate result of the situation, turned and sprinted back to where DeviantOne and Photonous were.

Suddenly, a helicopter flew in low and turned its nose towards the eastern flank.

"Ahhhh shit! PHOTONOUS! DEV-"

The attack helicopter released its payload.

And the western flank was destroyed in a manner of minutes.

While the eastern flank, in a manner of seconds.

Ensign Photonous couldn't breathe. His head felt heavy… and… was someone calling his name?

He couldn't tell. All he knew that this was the end. His end.

Yet he was so young. So new. So full of potential and vigor. So full of youth and rigor.

But the battlefield doesn't care.

It doesn't matter if you're the nicest person in your team. It doesn't matter if you're the meanest and the most jackass person in your team.

The battlefield doesn't care.

It doesn't matter if you happened to be the one saving lives with your defibrillators. It doesn't matter if you're the one running around chucking medkits at soldiers who really need them.

The battlefield doesn't care.

Ensign Photonous realized this as he floated inside his own mind. In space. Away from reality.

He was going to die.

Because the battlefield doesn't care.

...

But someone did.

"CLEAR! BZZT!"

"Cough… ugh… cough..."

"GET UP! COME ON WE HAVE TO MOVE!"

"What…"

"WE. HAVE. TO. MOVE!"

Photonous found himself on the ground with DeviantOne frantically shaking his shoulders. Everything around him was in confusion and chaos; bodies were littered here and there, wounded soldiers struggled to stand, and a T-90 tank was just joining in.

"COME ON!"

Staggering, he stood as DeviantOne began sprinting towards a nearby rock while frantically beckoning him to follow.

"What… what happened?" Photonous asked in a phlegmatic voice as he stumbled beside the sergeant.

"Another rocket barrage from an attack heli," he deployed a medkit before continuing, "you almost died."

And you too. Photonous thought. DeviantOne looked simply horrid; blood dripped from his sleeves and mouth while wounds and cuts were seen on his face. The medkit however, a magnificent invention that could cure anything if one stands near it, began closing those wounds.

"DEV! PHOTONOUS!" a voice called out to them over the sounds of gunfire and screams.

"GUYS?!"

"Corporal Higgins!" DeviantOne shouted, "over here! HERE!"

Higgins saw the two hiding behind a rock and sprinted towards them. Photonous saw that even he was quite injured.

"How goes the western flank?" DeviantOne asked.

"LOST! BROKEN! Look Dev we can't keep defending this point!"

"BANG!"

The T-90 tank muscled its way towards the flag while firing its main cannon at seemingly random targets. Whole squads of hostiles were swarming in, finishing off the wounded and killing the stragglers.

"We can't just abandon this place!" Photonous tersely remarked.

"LOOK. We need to fall back," he stared at DeviantOne in placation, "NOW."

The sergeant lowered his head in thought, swore, and for once agreed with him.

"Colonel! COLONEL!" He called in the team radio. But no response came. He took a peek over the rock and saw to his disgust wounded and helpless men being finished off with their dogtags taken.

"AAARGHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The remonstrance was met with an Engineer sprinting towards the T-90 tank holding nothing but… C4?

"THIS IS FOR JOEL YOU BASTARDS!"

He tossed three satchels into the air as bullets shredded his torso. The man fell to his knees and with a sardonic smile, pulled the trigger.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

Like thunderclap, the explosion sent soldiers flying and staggering. A black crater was the only thing remaining of the friend of Joel.

"Damn," Photonous whispered, "shit we aren't the only ones left are we?"

They where the only ones left.

"TATATATATATAATATATATATATATATATATATA"

"AH SHIT!"

Bullets ricocheted off of their cover as an unbelievable amount of firepower was unleashed at them. But their rock held. The tank fired its tungsten pellets at them, for one shot would've killed them all. But their rock held.

"GOD DAMN IT WE'RE SO BONED!" Photonous cried, "WHOSE SHITTY IDEA WAS THIS!"

And then an explosion. Another explosion. And another. And another. Point Bravo was under a hail of rockets, but it wasn't intended for them. The T-90 tank was ablaze and hostile forces scattered to avoid the barrage.

An attack helicopter flew overhead, turned, and began making a second strafe.

"tzzzzzzzzzzzzch YOURS!"

The pilot was Niners.

The helicopter that nearly killed Photonous was hovering overhead before turning and facing the new enemy. Its gunner fired the heavy machine gun mounted beneath the nose, hoping to deny the sudden air support.

But remember. The pilot was Niners.

He fired another rocket barrage at point Bravo before guiding the helicopter directly at its hostile counterpart.

"TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA"

The gunner frantically fired before realizing to his horror, saw the enemy pilot eject. The empty hulk of metal was still flying straight towards them.

Before the pilot could realize what the other man just did, it was already too late to press the ejection button.

"Well played…" he whispered.

"BOOM!"

With their jaws hanging, Photonous, DeviantOne, and Higgins saw the two helicopters collide and explode in a ball of fire.

"Did he just…"

"Yes."

"The crazy bastard."

"WOOOOOHOOOOOO!"

Niners managed to guide his parachute towards where they were before landing.

"THAT WAS AWWWWWWWESO-"

"TATATATATA BOOM BAM BAM BAM TATATATATA!"

"Okay we gotta run! NOW!" DeviantOne screamed.

With renewed vigor, their enemies began to shoot them after recovering from Niners' stunt. A sniper bullet missed Photonous' head by a single centimeter when he turned and ran down a steep hill leading to a shallow river.

"TATATATAAAAA TATATAAAA PHHHHHHEW BAM!"

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" he screamed.

Photonous was lagging behind as his squad sprinted past the river and into the dense forests near point Charlie. The sound of gunfire echoed in the distance behind them before stopping completely.

They were still alive.

Leaning against a tree, DeviantOne rested while shooting a glare at Niners.

"Where the hell were you?"

[END CHAPTER]