Location: Somewhere along Pennsylvania Ave., Washington D.C., May 25th, 3:30 pm:

Jenifer, her entire body wracked in fear, walked back towards the second story window in her house. Two massive explosions had sent her scrambling for cover just seconds before.

The power had been out for some time now, ever since the air raid sirens had gone off.

She remembered how the Droids had come. They marched down the famous avenue, indifferent about who they shot running in fear from them.

Then groups had peeled off from the columns, going door to door, knocking them down one at a time.

She was still trying to get the screams out of her head, the last thing she'd heard from her neighbors. She couldn't really comprehend what was going on, the Droids were just like the ones in the movies. For some unknown reason, they had skipped her house completely.

Her husband, Garret, a Department of Defense contractor, had come home early, warning of the imminent invasion. They had rushed their kids, Katie and Zach into the basement, the safest place in the multi-story house.

As several smaller explosions shook the house, Jenifer slowly pushed aside the curtains revealing the avenue turned battlefield. Red and blue lit up the road. Men, soldiers, not machines to her relief, were fighting back against the invaders. Then something caught her eye. Looking closely, she put her hand up to her mouth as the blood drained from her face.

"Jen, the kids! They're gone!" Garret cried out, running up the stairs to the second story. Seeing his wife at the window, he slowed down, the look on her face said it all.

"Honey, what... what's the matter, what is it?"

Jenifer shook her head in disbelief. Garret rushed over and looked out. At first he was overwhelmed by the scene of carnage; their peaceful avenue reduced to utter chaos. Droids retreating, men in white and blue advancing, the United States army fighting alongside them.

Then he saw what his wife had seen, their two kids, across the wide avenue, being picked up by one of the soldiers in white as he carried another on his back.

Garret watched for only a few seconds more, enough to see the soldier dart out into the battle with his kids.

"Stay here!" he yelled, running to the back of the house to his gun safe.

Jenifer watched as the soldier weaved in between obstacles, dead bodies and blaster fire, trying in vain to make it to the other side.

She watched in horror as the soldier carrying her children took a red bolt to the arm before stumbling to the ground.

"NO!" Jenifer screamed as she raced downstairs. There was no sound other than her heart pounding as she took off. She had to get to her kids, no matter what.

3:31 pm:

"Kriffing, shabla fekking piece of osik tin can droids..." Mixer mumbled through pain as he fell down, trying his best to take the brunt of the fall.

He was glad the bolt had hit him and not his overly exposed cargo.

Luckily, he fell into an asphalt crater from an artillery strike; sheltering them all. Getting everyone back on board and ignoring the searing pain shooting through his arm, Mixer looked for Coric. The medic had moved farther down the road behind the remnant of the brick buildings helping more wounded, but he was also closer to the main battle.

"Ah Fek!" he muttered as he grunted under the weight of his cargo.

Mixer knew Coric's location wasn't safe for two kids, but he also knew his brother was dying and needed medical help urgently. Mustering all his strength Mixer let out a loud yell as he lifted himself to his feet. Jostling the weight to steady himself, he took off at a fast pace. His objective, the medic and the only tangible piece of cover remaining in the street not occupied by soldiers actively fighting.

Making it across the road, Mixer turned darting down the sidewalk along the battered and damaged buildings, jumping over bodies and overturned benches. No one noticed the man in white carrying more than twice his body weight, a child dangling from under one arm.

"Coric, I got a critically wounded vod, coming to you now."

Coric, safely behind a large section of the fallen building, looked up in surprise as the trooper came barreling towards him. Denal who was providing covering fire for the medic, turned to watch as Mixer came to a stop next to Coric, offloading his brother and the two kid's.

"Mixer, those are children! This is not a safe place for..." Denal started as Coric immediately began working on Redeye.

Mixer sighed, holding the children close to the wall, "kids... yeah, yeah I know Denal, but Redeye needed the help and I couldn't just leave them there."

As Coric began triaging Redeye, Mixer knelt by the kids, blocking their line of sight. However for the two small children, the damage had been done. They'd now seen the consequences of War, in all its undignified glory.

"Hey, it's okay, everything's going to be alright, we'll get you back home soon OK? We'll get you back to your parents, don't worry," he finished holding both the children's small hands, the boy had tears in their eyes but it was the young girls silence that unsettled Mixer, he'd seen brothers with that same distant look.

Suddenly Mixer heard a scream, looking in his 360 degree HUD he watched a women running towards them fall to the ground, getting hit by two stray red bolts. She was over a hundred meters away.

Coric cursed under his breath, he saw the same thing, "Mixer, I can't leave Redeye, bring her over here!"

"Mommy! Mommy!"

Mixer immediately grabbed the two kids keeping them from running out into the open, "Fek! Denal, help?"

Denal quickly filled in for Mixer as the trooper ran off to the injured woman.

As Mixer approached he could tell even from a few meters away she was in deep osik; not having any armor she was down.

"Coric, I'm not sure if I can move her, she's hurt, sending you live feed."

The medic cursed as a live image from Mixer's HUD showed the extent of the injuries.

"Don't move her, I need you to try to stabilize... FEK!"

"Coric, get your shebs over there now and help her out! We're here to protect the civvies, move it trooper!" Captain Rex had been slowly taking interest in the events unfolding behind him. He was leading the charge once again but the droids had brought in a particularly troublesome AAT that didn't want to blow up.

"Sir, I'm working on Redeye, he won't make it if I leave him."

Rex scowled, "Haran! I understand Coric, but your orders stand. Have Mixer take over for you."

A few more choice words escaped the medic's mouth, "Mixer, come back, you'll need to keep the pressure on Redeye's wound, Denal come with me, I'll need someone to cover my shebs out there... Hey kids, I need you to stay here, okay, no matter what, don't move from this spot. Okay?"

The kids nodded and with that, Coric and Denal darted forward as they switched places with Mixer.

Arriving safely back at the rubble pile, Mixer immediately put pressure on Redeye's chest wound with one hand while he prepared to dress it with his other. He tried to ignore the blood from the freshly cleaned flesh. Redeye gazed absently towards the kids, smiling, "They're beautiful aren't they? Kids... I wonder if we'll ever have any... eh Mix?"

Mixer felt a lump forming in his throat as he finished wrapping the wound continuing to apply pressure as Coric had instructed him to do. To his dread he felt a warm liquid seeping through the freshly applied bandages.

Looking over to Coric and Denal a hundred meters away he cursed, 'Fek Coric, how long are you going to be! He's dying!'

#

Coric's brows furrowed behind his helmet as he worked on the young woman, she'd been hit in the chest and thigh.

Denal, providing covering fire for the medic and woman, couldn't help but watch as Coric performed his magic, quickly and effortlessly bandaging her up.

"Jenifer!"

Both Coric and Denal looked up, down the road to a man who'd just stepped out of one of the brick houses. He held a handgun, pointing it directly at Coric.

"Leave my wife alone!"

Pop! pop… pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop… pop!

Denal automatically stepped in front of his brother and the civvie offering his body as a human shield without a second thought.

Of the ten shots fired, six hit their target, each shattering the plastoid and embedding deep in his flesh. He'd never been shot by projectile ammo before.

Blood trickled down Denal's forehead from a head shot, another hit the side of his neck while the rest impacted across his chest. He was a dead man standing.

Denal, feeling weird, watched through his cracked visor as a group of nearby US soldiers surrounded the man, guns pointed at him before tackling him to the ground.

"Fek, Denal! Denal! I'm here, vod, Denal... D e. n.. a... l..."

Time slowed for Denal as he sunk to his knees, before falling back on his heels. Rushing forward Coric managed to grab his torso and guide him towards the dirt. With the seal of Denal's bucket broken, the medic effortlessly lifted it off his head, gasping at the sight.

The clones had never encountered projectile ammunition before and Coric was shocked by the gaping holes the bullets left in their wake. Rolling his brother onto his back he knew Denal wasn't long for it. As his total blood volume diminished with each beat of his heart, all Coric could do was comfort a brother that had sacrificed his life to save him.

"Hey Denal that was a fekking stupid thing to do vod, now I have you to patch up as well... fek, you didn't have to..." Coric said quietly as he hopelessly applied pressure to the carotid artery oozing blood.

Denal's blood stained lips curled slightly into a smile, his eyes focusing on a sudden break in the storm clouds behind his brother's head, the gold of the midafternoon sun contrasting against the dark grey of the sky.

'I'm glad you're safe, ner vod. Take c.. a...'

For Denal, everything was cold before a sudden sensation of warmth overtook his entire being as the overhead sunlight filled his vision. Then nothing.

Holding Denal, Coric watched his brother go, bleeding out from his multiple injuries. The Medic had seen it so often on the battlefield; the light dimming in Denal's eyes as he died.

Barely composing himself, the medic closed the Trooper's eyelids, easing Denal's body out of his arms while placing his brother's head down gently on the blood wetted asphalt.

"Coric, what happened? Report..."

"Denal's... dead, sir, I've secured the civvie, coming back to assist Redeye," he stated coldly turning from his brother to the wounded woman. He looked down at his blood soaked hands and armor, a dull ach filling his stomach as a small sob escaped his lips inadvertently.

As a medic, Coric had one of the best and worst jobs in the GAR, but at the moment, he would give anything to have his brother back by his side.

A/N: Hi all, hope you enjoyed the update. Okay, so I'm feeling really bad starting off the New Year with a rather depressing chapter... but that's how the dice fell in writing the story. I've decided to keep the updates shorter, between 2 and 4K. This is the second in a long string of chapters that will make up the Battle Arc.

I start Winter Quarter for college this week, so I can't promise updates every weekend. I'll try my hardest to do so, but getting good grades is important too. : )

Hoping everyone has a great start to the New Year. What excitement will 2014 bring? Lots I hope...

Please review...

-Sly

(Btw, official music for this chapter is Bleeding Out, by Imagine Dragons, cause it fits and at the moment I can't get it out of my head. : )