Chapter Four: His Story
Introductions Arc
"Hey that was pretty badass, Higgins! I saw that stunt you pulled all the way from here!"
Corporal Niners was situated on top of a cliff overlooking Charlie. What remained of the T-90 tank was but a flaming husk.
"So what's the plan now?"
"tzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzch"
"Hello?"
"tzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzch"
"Guys?"
Niners tapped his radio but the only sound he received was static. He knew at that moment DeviantOne would be pissed at him, but usually the radio was always clear.
What is going on? He thought.
"No one's here."
The voice startled him as he turned and saw four men gathering around the flagpole of Echo. All Assault classes.
SHIT.
"You two, check around the cliffs. Jay, stay here near the flag. I'll check the road."
AW SHIIIIIIIIIT.
For all intents and purposes, Niners' close combat capabilities were non-existent. The sniper rifle he carried wouldn't help against four enemy soldiers carrying assault rifles. Fighting them was out of the question; he'd have to escape.
He then saw the Growler that his squad left behind, and had an idea.
"Nothing to report, Captain," a man said in a monotonous tone, "seems they're all at point Bravo."
"Excellent," the other person responded. He had a British accent and brandished an AUG A3 with foregrip, holographic scope, and heavy barrel attachments. The man held an aurora of nobility, for the way he walked was that of a high-class gentleman (or an asshole if you want to look at it that way).
"It's all going according to plan," he continued, "the Commander wasn't such a snob as I thought he'd be."
"Sir?"
"No, nothing. Numbers! Nova!" he called out over the two soldiers searching the rocky hills, "how goes the search?"
A figure appeared over the rocks with the name "13524678123" highlighted in green and made a horizontal cut with his left hand. Another, with the name "Instantsupernova" responded, "we've got nothing over here, sir."
"Good, good, good."
The Captain watched the flag of the United States of America descend and change into the flag of the Russian Federation. His job wasn't hard, really. In fact he didn't understand why that Commander wanted him to do such a simple task: take point Echo and hold it until further orders.
"We should be helping our comrades at point Bravo," the man beside him responded in a disgruntled tone.
"No Jay, the Commander assigned us this task and we will follow."
Lieutenant JayUber2 was a man of honor. Wielding the AK-74M, he preferred fighting without any attachments. He even refused to use squad boons, much to the confusion of his Captain.
"That Commander of ours is a damn incompetent."
"Watch your language Jay. I do not tolerate such use of vulgar words."
Jay gave a rude snort before turning around towards the flag. It had already deemed its allegiance to them, though staying and defending would be such a bore.
That was when he thought he saw something move behind a bush.
DON'T MOVE. DON'T MOVE. DON'T FUCKING MOVE.
Corporal Niners was dead still when a man looked directly at where he was hiding. Sneaking wasn't exactly his forte, but neither was providing good tactical intel…
Did he notice me. Did he notice me?!
Niners slowly pulled out his grenade, ready to throw it if need be. That was his second plan; use the grenade to distract the enemy squad and rush towards the Growler. His first plan? To use the two items he deployed to distract them and stealth is way to the Growler.
The man slowly walked towards him, an AK-74M without any attachments.
Well shit.
He readied himself to pull the pin until…
"Captain! Captain! We got something here you may want to see!"
"What's this?"
"This, Private Instantsupernova, is known as a Spawn Beacon. A hostile one at that."
"Ohhhhhh… and that?"
"That is known as a TUGS."
"TUGs? But there's only one."
"No. T-U-G-S. TUGS. It stands for Tactical Unattended Ground Sensor. It detects enemy movements around a small radius."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh."
Silence.
"So what are we going to do with it?"
"Simple." The Captain drew out his G18.
"TATATATATATATATATATATATA BAM BAM"
The Spawn Beacon and TUGS exploded after he fired a full magazine into the two devices.
"Whenever you see these two things with red highlights on them, Private, you destroy them on sight. They provide valuable tactical assets to the enemy."
He glimpsed at Numbers and Jay.
"Now, let us head bac-," the Captain abruptly stopped his statement before looking into the distance.
"Sir…?" Jay worryingly asked.
He narrowed his eyes while grinding his teeth in response, "get our VDV. NOW."
Confused, Jay and Nova made their way to the parked VDV to oblige the orders of their now pissed-off squad leader.
"Numbers, stay here and guard the flag."
A silent salute was what came in response.
"Vrrrrrrrrrrroooom."
"Sir!" Jay proclaimed, "the VDV, as ordered!"
"Good. We're going after him."
The Captain pointed into the distance towards Charlie, which apparently was under enemy control. Jay couldn't see it at first as it was a small figure, though he realized immediately what it was by observing the dust trail.
It was a Growler ITV.
Niners pulled the Growler over near the flag post of Charlie. Four dead bodies were splayed near it, but even more were scattered around the trees and cliffs. He could hear the sounds of explosions and cries in the distance.
Must be coming from Bravo.
He emerged from the driver seat before running towards the path that led to his destination.
"THUMP!"
"Huh?"
"BAM BOOM!"
In a ball of fire the Growler ITV exploded, knocking Niners to the ground as the impact shook his head.
"Argh…"
Attempting to stand, he staggered as someone kicked his knee and pinned their foot upon Niners' chest.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here."
The accent was obviously British. In fact it sounded like British nobility to Niners.
"A Recon class? Someone like you shouldn't be so close to the fight… my what is this?"
He picked up the sniper rifle Niners gripped weakly in his right hand.
"An Mk eleven? With only an eight times powered scope. Personally I believe the weapon denotes the status of its user. And you…"
Reaching for his waist belt, he pulled out a combat knife that had an orange handle.
"Seem like a lowly soldier with absolutely crap equipment."
The knife was now but a millimeter away from touching Niners' neck. He could feel the cold steel blade actually touching his skin and imagined what it must be like to have his throat slit. The thought sent shivers down his spine.
"Look I'm just Corporal…" Niners weakly remarked.
The man gave Niners a sarcastic smile before pulling the knife back.
"Well lucky for you, Corporal," he said the rank with a dissonance, "I have orders to take a prisoner back alive for interrogation."
He threw the sniper rifle away before two other men approached him. All Assault classes.
Damn it! Those bastards followed me here?
"Which means! We don't need to sit our arses defending some flag." The man pulled Niners up, holding him by the front collar.
As he talked, the flag in Charlie changed owners due to the presence of three men as opposed to one.
"Argh… PFFT!"
Without much thought, Niners spat at the douche. The man recoiled in surprise by the sudden disgustful act as the spit splattered onto his face.
"ARGH EWWWWWWWWWWW, MY GOODNESS!"
Frantically wiping his visor, the man pulled out his sidearm and aimed it at the prisoner's head.
"WHAT AN OUTRIGHT SHAMEFUL ACT! PERHAPS I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU BEING LUC-"
"…"
His gun wasn't pointing at any head.
Frankly, his gun wasn't pointing at anything but the dirt ground.
"PANT PANT HUH HUHHHH PANT WHEEEEEEEZE HUHHHHH"
Niners sprinted as fast as his legs would allow him. He didn't know where he was going, but he couldn't just keep running. It was either Bravo, or hide. And at the current situation, hiding was best.
Stopping by a small hill composed of cliffs, Niners could hear the sound of an engine screaming and the call of an extremely angry person. The former halted any idea of running completely, while the latter made him hide inside a small rock crevice.
"I WANT THAT MAN'S HEAD!"
The VDV stormed out of the forests and began to circle Charlie. They knew their condemned prisoner couldn't have run off far; he must be hiding.
"WHY DID YOU GRUNTS NOT STOP HIM?!"
"Well it was kinda funny when he did that reall-SLAP"
"LIEUTENANT JAY?"
"Sir! No excuse sir!"
"FIND. HIM."
The VDV sped past the rock crevice and came to an abrupt halt. All three of them emerged from their seats.
"YOU! STAY HERE. WATCH THE VDV. JAY, WITH ME."
He sure sounds pissed. Niners gave a small smirk. He had a hobby for pissing people off and he found it quite enjoyable.
As the two soldiers walked away, the man left guarding the VDV looked inexperienced and new.
Just like that Photonous.
Slowly, he emerged from the crevice and crept towards the VDV.
"Hmhmhmmmhmhmmmhm, hmhmhmmmhmhmmmhmhm"
Nursing his reddened cheek, Private Instantsupernova was humming a six-beat tune. Personally, it was his favorite tune. He'd hum it whenever boredom took over.
"Hmhmmmhmmmhmhmhmm- VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM"
The sudden sound of engines startled him before he turned around and realized that the VDV was gone.
Rather, stolen.
"Fuck."
Can't go to Bravo on foot… the Spawn Point must have something! Niners formulated a plan. He can't get to his squad by land… he must do it by air.
Speeding his way towards the United States Spawn Point, he found it devoid of anyone but two men near an attack helicopter discussing plans.
An attack helicopter eh?
"Listen if we just go around that point and provide air support from here, we'll be able to give them a window to run."
"But what about that AA? I don't want to get shot down without even firing a single shot."
"Well-"
"VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
The engines of the attack helicopter awakened as its rudders began to rapidly spin, readying itself for take off.
"HEY ASSHOLE! THAT'S OUR HELI! GET IN LINE!"
"DUDE! WHAT THE FUCK MAN!"
"Heh, sorry!"
With that, Niners took off.
It took mere seconds for the helicopter to reach Bravo, though it took a bit longer for him to reestablish contact with his squad.
"GOD DAMN IT WE'RE SO BONED!" He heard a cry.
"WHOSE SHITTY IDEA WAS THIS!"
Photonous.
"YOURS!" He angrily yelled into his radio before pulling the trigger on the joystick. One, two, three, ten, twelve rockets surged out of their pods and towards the ground of Bravo. He saw men that looked like small ants scatter, and he saw three other people huddling behind a rock.
"Beep beep beep Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep"
Niners saw the "LOCK" sign on his heads-up display before realizing that another attack helicopter had him targeted. Its gunner was also firing at him.
"Tch," he snorted, "I was never good at flying anyway."
Carelessly, he steered the nose of the helicopter towards its hostile counterpart, and ejected.
"And that's what happened."
Photonous was busy wolfing down his own military rations while Higgins and DeviantOne looked at him with incertitude.
"That sounds… like an interesting story," Higgins speculatively responded.
They were all at the Spawn Point, along with other squads that have survived the onslaught of their enemy.
"So… what now?" Niners asked.
"We wait for orders from the Commander. He's busy in that small building with the other higher ups." DeviantOne pointed at a concrete warehouse which had two Assault classes guarding the door. Whoever the Commander is, he must be one important person.
"For now though, we take a break."
Photonous swallowed the last of his rations before affirming with a slight nod. He peaked at his tactical map out of whim, before realizing their current situation.
All flag points were color coded red. And their reinforcements were dwindling.
[END CHAPTER, END OF INTRODUCTIONS ARC]