A/N: I'm back with a new chapter for the story. I really have to thank everyone who has submitted a character and reviewed, the OC's will mainly come in this chapter. I also have to thank DarkNinja24k for letting me use his name for the aliens. I recommend his story Counter Attack also. Also, New-Classic22's story for Battle: LA, The Art of War, is also very good and I recommend that as well. Any ways, here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything involving Battle: LA, only my characters, any refrence to a mainstream item on a market I also don't own.
The streets and buildings of New York were much worse than they did when we were observing the city before our assault. Bodies littered the ground, many of them dismembered. The side buildings of Manhattan were either obliterated or had so much debris in them it was inaccessible. In one case there was an SUV launched through a window of a Mexican restaurant. Everything was destroyed, the signs of war escaping nothing, not even the civilian populace. The worst and most disturbing thing we saw, was that the aliens must have executed some civilians for there were bodies lined up, each of them with a large hole where there face would have been. The incendiary bullets they used burned through the flesh, utterly destroying the man, woman or child's identity. They were re-enacting the horrors of world war two when the Japanese invaded Nanjing. Everything was ravaged.
So that was what we called them, the Ravagers, not a Latin name as the other species on earth were classified, but they weren't from Earth, and we weren't scientists, we were soldiers.
I stepped over another civilians body, trying to hug the wall of what remained of a skyscraper. Rogers and I moved forward of the Bradley to make sure that the way was cleared. We would also check the bodies that weren't completely eviscerated for a pulse. We had no luck so far.
"Rogers, I'm going to go check out that last building, and then we should be ok for the Bradley." I said, gesturing towards a bank on the corner of a street. It had a large hole in the side of it on our side of the street.
"Roger, I'll follow as soon as you get in, well clear the building then check for survivors." I nodded and pulled myself into the building. I was greeted with a smack to the face of some sort of object, what kind didn't matter, it hurt, a lot. I fell back out of the hole and hit the concrete, falling on a piece of metal that scratched my leg. I could hear Rogers screaming that everything was okay and to not shoot, followed by other voices I didn't recognize.
I sat up groaning and rubbing my forehead, my vision was blurry but I could see other humans surrounding me, making sure I was alright. When my vision cleared I could see three figures on the ground in front of me, one was Rogers, the other two were two young women.
The first woman was obviously military, she was wearing a helicopter pilot's uniform and was holding an M9 Beretta pistol. She had short, regulation cut strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. Although the flight suit hid her body's physique, I assumed that she was fit since she had a patch on her outfit signaling she was an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter pilot.
The second one looked to be around eighteen or nineteen years of age with lightly tanned skin with black hair tied up in a pony tail. She had green eyes and stood at around five foot two or five foot three and possessed what appeared to be a fairly fit body and wore a tank top and blue jeans. I was assuming she was the one that hit me since she was holding a large piece of plywood in her right arm. She was stronger than she appeared.
"Well, that certainly was a warm greeting for a fellow human," I said standing to my feet and dusting myself off.
"Sorry but you could have been an alien, we were trying to protect ourselves and the other civilians inside," the gunship pilot said. "I'm Selena Valentine by the way, I'm a Chief Warrant Officer for the Army's air wing." She said introducing herself and shaking first Rogers then my hands.
"Gunnery Sergeant Tim Rogers, United States Marine Corps, and this is Robert Mcgrew, he's a civilian but he can fight very well, we gave him a rank of private to make it safe."
"Nice to meet you," I said, "and who would you be?" I asked gesturing towards my former attacker, she seemed… off, and she didn't talk or introduce herself. It seemed like she wanted to stay scarce and stand off to side.
"I'm Robin Alexander, sorry about the bump, but you're a tough guy, you can walk it off." She said with a smirk. I smiled back and we shook hands.
"You said you had other civilians? Where are they?" Rogers said, looking around.
"We're right here, happy that you guys made it to help." The voice came from the large hole, standing there were three people. The first, the one who talked, was your stereotypical surfer dude, shaggy sandy blonde hair, tan skin and blue eyes, this guy must have walked out of a movie. He had a muscley build and stood at about six foot three, about my height. He was also carrying a Glock 21. He obviously didn't know how to use it because the slide was open and there was no magazine inserted.
The next one was a black man that stood at around five foot nine. He had black hair and hazel eyes and didn't seem all that fit or strong. The most eye-grabbing feature of this man was that his right arm was amputated from the elbow down, leaving a long stub-like appendage. He was standing behind the surfer dude and had a sheepish look on his face, suggesting he was afraid.
Standing behind him and clutching onto his leg was a very young girl, no older than three or four. She looked almost exactly like her dad but her hair was longer and her eyes were an abnormal shade of green.
"Daddy, are they here to stop the monsters?" The young girl asked, looking to her father for assurance that she would be okay.
"Don't worry Abby, these men are here to help and keep us safe." The father said, leaning down to stroke his daughters face with his good arm.
"Gunny, what the hell is taking you two so long! Did you find a corner to jack off in or-" Rogers quickly shut off the radio and walked away to answer Lieutenant Colemans transmission. I heard him say that we had civilians and that we needed a pick up. The buzz of Coleman's response came shortly after and I saw the veteran soldier scowl.
" Coleman says that the Bradley is full, Frederick is taking up to much space, so we need to find an alternate form of transportation for the civvies'. Coleman can take three civilians, Frankie is willing to help us out here and one of you can take her spot in the IFV."
"Hi, I'm Ferdinand Carter, I won't be able to do much out here, so can me and my daughter Abigail here go into your tank thing? I can navigate the streets easily so I might be able to help you guys get around quicker." The amputee picked up his daughter in one arm and moved towards Rogers as he spoke.
"Alright, you two can go in the Bradley." Rogers said. He then looked between the remaining two civilians and seemed to be weighing the difference between the two in his head. "You," he said, pointing towards Robin, "You're going in the Bradley."
"Fuck you, what makes you think I'll listen to you?" she said, glaring at the Gunnery Sergeant. Rogers didn't seem to be good at questioning peoples abilities, the same thing happened with Gordon yesterday.
"Just go, trust me you won't want to be exposed in the open, plus you will most likely be called upon to fight sooner or later, we are down a soldier." I said, "Plus you're not in the best clothing to be going around shooting at the moment. It would be beneficial to all of us if you got your ass in the vehicle." I said, staring her down, she obviously did not like taking orders, especially the person she just recently wacked in the head. As I finished my sentence, the Bradley came around the corner and pulled up next to us, its doors opening to allow the Carter's in.
"How considerate of you to put we civilians before yourself. You might just be my knight in shining armor." She said, sarcasm very heavy in her voice as she walked to the Bradley doors and got in. She was immediately replaced by Crash, our previously only female companion. I gave her a high-five as she walked over to us and she handed rifles to Selena and the surfer dude who had not introduced himself yet.
As Crash handed him his rifle, he must have took an immediate liking to her because he got a big cocky grin on his face. Frankie raised her eyebrows and shoved a couple of magazines into his arms, saying, "I hope you know how to use it."
"Well couldn't you teach me? I'm a very fast learner, and we could get to know each other better. I'll start, I'm Angelo DiAntonio, and you are?" Oh, so he was Italian.
"I'm Frankie Gordon, just call me Crash though."
"Will do Crash" he said smiling. I rolled my eyes and hit him over the head with my hand.
"Hey, stop ogling, you'll get yourself shot, pay attention to her and load your rifle."
"OW! Was that necessary?" he said rubbing his head.
"No, but you can consider it a gift from Robin to me, which I simply passed on to you."
"Will you cut it out Mickey? We have to move, Carter said that he saw an abandoned Humvee few blocks north, Infantry is taking point while everyone else is in the vehicle, you ready?" I really hated that nickname, he didn't even grab one for my first name he had to go for my last name. "Ya, who do you want on lead?" I asked, checking my rifle to make sure it was okay.
He looked at Angelo and Crash and their pathetic excuse for a "lesson," they seemed to be getting nowhere. He once again scowled then shifted his gaze towards Valentine who was expertly loading her M16 and checking to make sure the sights were adapted to her eyes. I guess he made up his mind.
"I want you and Army girl on point, let the two idiots take middle and I'll take the rear."
"Oorah," I said in confirmation, "hey, Selena, were going to take point." I looked down at her adjusting the zoom setting on her ACOG sight and said "I guess you know how to use that?"
She looked up and said quietly, "My father used to take me hunting, I got real good at maintain his guns." She looked down her sights one more time and, being satisfied, stood up.
"Ready?" she asked, I nodded and I gestured to the Bradley that we were moving out. We then began creeping up along the deserted streets of New York, moving up in a staggered two by two movement. I would run up while the rest of the fire team would cover me, then Selena would sprint quickly to where I was and get behind me, we would secure the area while the rest of the group would fall in behind us. This process repeated until we reached the Humveee that Carter had pointed out.
The Humvee was turned on its side but aside from that seemed absolutely fine. "Fuckin Ravagers must have shot a concussive weapon, blew it on its side." I said, examining the black scorch marks on the side of the vehicle.
"Ravagers?" Selena asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Ya, that's we call 'em, look at what they did." I said gesturing around the street at all the dead bodies and destroyed cars. I was also looking for a way to upright the vehicle but to no avail.
"Good name for them," she said looking around, she then looked back at me as I began looking in the back of the Humvee for a jack we could use. "Um, why don't we just use the winch on the front bar and use that to flip it? Would that work?" She asked shyly, not sure why, she was the older Army officer.
"Good idea, now you made me look like an idiot, get on the controls inside, I'll tie it to those construction poles over there," I proceeded to grab the hook on the winch and brought it to where the belly of the Humvee was facing. I then secured the hook to a construction scaffold and gave the thumbs up. Selena activated the winch and the Humvee began to turn upwards. That's when I realized that the poles that it was tied to started to bend. I ran away from there as the scaffolding collapsed on top of the winch. The Humvee was flipped but a loud noise was generated by the collapse.
"Awww crap," I said as two of the Ravager aliens came around the corner ahead of us, about fifty yards away. They turned the way they came from and pointed towards us and we heard some faint clicking noises from where they were. I shoulder my rifle and took aim at one, pulled the trigger twice and dropped it to the ground. I was going to aim at the other but it was already dead, Valentine had shot it. "My dad also taught me how to shoot good." She said slyly.
The rest of the infantry rushed up to us and piled into the Humvee, Rogers got on the M2 Browning machine gun and loaded the current belt. DiAntonio got into the driver seat and Frankie the passenger. Three more aliens came around the corner and Rogers lit them up with the Fifty Cal, mowing them down. I grabbed Selena's hand and pulled her towards the Humvee but Angelo pulled away to get it turned around. I cursed then pulled both of us down as a rocket soared past us. Selena landed on top of me and I pushed her off. I then began to return fire at the oncoming enemy presence. Which had grew to over thirty infantry units in under twenty seconds. Also, there appeared to be some kind of mech that the aliens had brought to the playing field. It was a bipedal machine that had a single operator and two crew men next to it.
"That's the thing that took out my chopper!" Selena screamed, "We have to move NOW!" She pulled me up and we ran to the Humvee where the back was open and Rogers was opening up on the enemy. All of a sudden, however I hear a loud humming and then a large bang. Next thing I know I'm flying through the air into Rogers as he gets knocked down by my body. He groans go and Selena jumps in at the last minute as we move towards where the Bradley had begun opening fire on the enemy positions. I was lowered into the Humvee cabin as we followed the Bradley out of the combat zone.
I opened my eyes and was flipped onto my side where I could see Selena leaning over me treating what appeared to be a severe wound on my left shoulder. I guess I was in shock because I blacked out. Next thing I know its night time, we're out of the city and I can see a bridge burning and falling into a river. I try to lie on my back but when I land I feel immense pain and instinctively sit up. I look to my left where Angelo, my brother and Selena are looking to see if I'm okay.
"Sorry about pulling out before you guys could get in, I didn't know you were coming and I was panicking." Angelo said, sincere concern in his voice,
"No problem, it's just a flesh wound, and we're still alive so that's all that matters. Although don't you think this was a little overkill for payback when I hit you in the head?"
I smiled and he chuckled, "glad to see that you really can't keep a Marine down." He said walking away towards where Gordon, Matt and Robin were sitting.
I looked at my brother and said, "So, how was hiding in the IFV? You can't do much in there you idiot." I said, sharing an inside joke from when we got the game Homefront last year.
"Shut up, you know I'm a priority threat." He said walking away towards Sean who was looking at the Humvee's suspension.
I turned towards Selena and said "Thank you for helping me out back there," I gestured towards the burning city. "I could not have made it had you not told me to run. Also, thank you for your handiwork here." I said, pointing to the bandaging that surrounded my left shoulder.
"Not a problem, I had to learn how to do that medical stuff in survival school when I said I wanted to become a pilot."
"So, how long were you in the army before you became an officer and started flying?" I said curious to know more.
"I joined the army's air wing as a technical student where I worked on the mechanics and engineering of several different helicopters. That's where I fell in love with the Apache. I joined officer training school and was quickly promoted to a Chief Warrant Officer when they realized they liked my flying skills."
"Well, I'm glad we have you here to help us out, were gonna need as much talent as possible and you've got plenty of it. Now let me sleep." She smiled then walked away towards some other part of the camp. I smiled in my sleep, thankful that I was alive as well as thankful for the new friends I made. I must've been on a morphine high because I was very droopy and fell asleep immediately.
A/N: That's that, anyways I got everyone's character who has so far submitted one. If you are reading the story, please leave a review and leave a character submission if you'd like. See ya next time.