Chapter 36:
War of Attrition
"Twenty seconds..." Sullivan announced.
Raymond glanced at his watch before observing the target's location through his binoculars. The target for the incoming airstrike was a radio station and commercial complex now used as a Forward Operating Base for the Imperials. Destroying it will severely cripple their communications and supply lines.
"Ten seconds..."
In the distance, the sound of passing jets echoed loudly in the sky. Then in less than a second, three attack jets flew just overhead the target building, the radio tower collapsed on the side as a large cloud of smoke rose up. Finally came the thunderous sound of the explosion, prompting Marines and soldiers to cheer and applaud at the attack jets.
Raymond tore his eyes off the binoculars and turned to Sullivan, who had a small smile on his face.
"Let's get to work, lieutenant,"
"Aye, captain,"
"We're moving out! Get in the vehicles! Double time, Marines!" Bellowed Dukeman at the top of his lungs.
The men and women hurried to embark on the vehicles while the tanks drove forward, leading the convoy.
The second IDDF offensive has begun and the Imperials will fight much harder this time, inflicting as much damage as they can in a day.
"Keep your eyes open, gents, " Sergeant Flamedramon warned, pulling his rifle's charging handle.
The physically scarred digimon readjusted his plate carrier and huffed. Lance Corporal Guilmon was manning the turret, as per usual. Sparks's health status is still unknown to First platoon, and so Staff Sergeant Angelos Morgan will be their platoon leader.
He looked to the side through the window, the silence was unnerving. Radio chatters from other units intefered and caught in their radio. A Little Bird flew just over their vehicle, kicking up dust and smoke around itself and the convoy.
Then a distinct snap ripped the silence.
"Contact! Foot mobiles, a hundred meters!" One of the tanks stated.
"Hostiles in the building!"
"Oh fuck, get ready, boys!" Flamedramon announced as the vehicle reached a crossroad.
The roars of the Browning M2 signalled him that they were taking enemy fire. The two tanks spread out to the side, letting the convoy spread out and form a defensive perimeter at the roundabout. His windshield cracked suddenly, both he and the driver flinched in surprise.
Once the perimeter was formed, the Marines and soldiers disembarked from the vehicles and engaged the enemy on all sides, in the buildings, on the rooftops, in the streets and alleyways.
Raymond bent down as incoming rounds hissed by him. He took a quick look at his men and assets on the battlefield. The enemy has the upper hand: they were pinned and hammered by foot mobiles and light armour.
"Darrack!" He called out to the radio operator, "Get me CAS ASAP!"
"Copy!"
Dukeman came up to him from behind, using his sidearm instead of his primary weapon. Raymond gave him a questioning look before the NCO replied with:
"Weapon got shot," Showing the hole that struck the carbine's upper receiver, "What's the plan, skipper?"
"I'm going to clear ourselves a path out of this kill box!"
"ROCKET!"
Both of them hit the ground before the high explosive ammunation hit the side of an AAV, launching two Marines in the air and burning a paratrooper. Raymond got back to his feet and ran towards the nearest wounded Marine.
The Corporal was covered in his own blood, his left leg loosely hung to the thigh by a string of flesh and peppered bones. Several fragments were lodged in his plate carrier, ribcage and left arm. Raspy breaths came out of the man's mouth, still in shock to fully register the pain.
"Corpsman! Eugene!"
Corpsman Eugene dashed across the roundabout and slid near the captain and wounded Marine. He took out a tourniquet and a syringe of morphine while he called for a stretcher.
"Hang in there, Marine, we're getting you out of here," The combat medic softly assured.
"Captain!" Darrack handed the radio to Raymond.
"Warlord, this is Alpha Actual, requesting CAS near my position at sector Echo-4, I need them to clear to rooftops so we can push forward, over."
"Copy that, Alpha Actual, Raptors are inbound in ten minutes, callsign 8-1, over."
"Roger that. Ten minutes until air support arrives," He told Dukeman loudly.
"We won't be here in ten minutes!" The senior NCO pointed out in frustration.
"I know! But we'll just have to stand our ground!"
"Hostile cavalry! East side!" A Marine shouted.
"Oh fuck... that's a whole cohort..." Sullivan said with dread.
Grouped in a tight square formation, the cohort of cavalry was made up of KnightChessmon, Assaultmon, Centalmon, Pajiramon, Lighdramon and Sagittarimon, all lead by a veteran Zanbamon.
The half-demon, half-beast samurai lifted their greatsword, the zanbato, in the air, letting out a gruff war cry before pointing the blade at the convoy. The cavalrymen roared and charged forward.
"Focus fire on the leader! Aim for the legs for the others!" Raymond instructed as the Marines, Paratroopers and Japanese soldiers opened fire, letting out a storm of bullets.
Heavy machine gun fire and large caliber shells spat out from the armoured vehicles, inflicting massive damage to the charging cavalry line but it wasn't enough to halt them. Arrows, javelins and other special projectiles flew back at the humans, inflicting further casualties as they were being fired upon from the infantry on the rooftops.
The cohort was closing in on them quickly, some of the men and women were beginning to get nervous and panic. One of the rookies of Third Recon unit cursed and dropped his rifle in panic and spun around to run away.
Kuribayashi stepped in front of him and forcefully shoved the young private against a M-ATV while under heavy enemy fire.
"Just what do YOU think you're doing, private Ayama?!" The petite woman asked furiously and sternly, "Grab your rifle and fire! Don't you dare falter again!" She ordered as she threw the private next to his rifle.
The private nodded numbly and grabbed his assault rifle shakingly, unable to think clearly. Kuribayashi kept a watchful eye on him while providing cover fire.
"Come on, Ayama! On your feet and fire your weapon!"
"Y-yes M-master-Sergeant!" He yelled in reply as he finally got his grip and nerve back.
"Keep it up, troopers! Let them have it!" Itami shouted in encouragement at his platoon, "Make them bleed! For our homeland!"
"RYOUKAI!"
"Two hundred meters!" A Paratrooper warned urgently, "They just keep coming!"
"Then keep firing, damn it!" Captain Graham yelled in response while reloading the M4A1 carbine.
"Incoming! Take cover!" Someone yelled frantically as arrows and javelins rained down from above.
The humans hit themselves close against the vehicles to minimise the exposure from the lethal rain of projectiles. An arrow struck Graham's right shoulder, the Chrome Digizoid tip of the arrow lodged deeply into his flesh and bone. The officer yelled in pain as he ran to join his men at the vehicles. He nearly got impaled by an oversized dart that struck the ground next to him before he threw himself at a group of soldiers.
"Son of a bitch..." He muttered angrily and dryly, "Fuckers got me..."
A combat medic was already inspecting his wound, "Looks like you got your ticket home, captain," He joked wryly.
"Gee thanks, Gabe, that's what I was hoping for," Graham shot back sarcastically before gritting his teeth in pain.
A series of foreign explosions caught his attention as he looked behind him. The cavalry charge has finally being halted by several missile strikes of unknown origin. The legionaire formation was in disarray, the digimon were unable to locate the foreign and hostile artillery battery.
"Friendlies on the rooftop! West side!"
Marine squads appeared on the rooftops and opened fire at the adjacent and nearby hostile rooftops while several others in the buildings fired down on the cavalry legionaires. Some of the troops in the convoy sighed in relief as reinforcements finally came. Bursting out from the alley and striking from air were digimon of the UAF, circling and fighting the legionaires on the ground head-on. Riding proudly on top of Dorulumon was Shoutmon, brandishing his mic – acting also as his weapon - to the cluster of imperials.
"Attack!" He shouted with an authoritative voice.
He leapt off the canine's back, somersaulting in the air and swung his weapon hard against an Assaultmon's face before landing on his feet, in the thick of battle.
"Watch your fire, Marines! Friendlies ahead of us, aim for the rooftops and any nearby hostiles!" Raymond commanded loudly, "Pour it on them!"
With additional numbers and firepower, the troops in the convoy formation were able to focus fire and relieve some of the pressure off the convoy. Coming from the East side of the highway was Bravo company's convoy, their presence already changing the tide of battle.
"Fiery Fastball!" A fireball in the shape of an eighth note launched out of the mic and slammed hard against the Pajiramon.
The goat beast yelped in pain and anger, they aimed their crossbow at the relatively small digimon.
"Bao Gong!" The crossbow shot out arrows like an assault rifle.
Shoutmon dashed towards his foe avoiding the shower of rapid bolts with speed and agility or deflecting them with his staff. Getting closer the Ultimate level digimon, he charges up his next attack, feeling a blazing emotion swirling in his chest. Missing a bolt by sliding to the side, he used the momentum to push himself off ground and leaping high enough above his enemy. He wielded the staff over his head, flames started to come of his mouth and staff.
"Soul crusher!"
A powerful ball of raw energy shot out of the McField brand mic, Pajiramon's eyes widened in fear and panic, the attack engulfed them burning their skin and flesh as well as their Digicore. They let out one last cry of agony before they exploded into data particles.
"Shoutmon!" The mentionned digimon turned around and glared at the centurion Zanbamon, "So the leader of the rebellion finally shows himself, it'll be an honour to paint this street with your blood!" He said with a sadistic and crooked grin, "Meet your end, little lizard!"
The samurai demon lunged at his target, his swords drawn to slice the small digimon to pieces. Shoutmon took a fighting stance and rigidly stood his ground, grasping his staff firmly, his eyes narrowing at his opponent.
"Uchikubi Gokumon!"
The red dragon leapt to the left just in time, he felt the tip of the zanbato scratching his chestplate. Though a miss, Zanbamon had already swung the gigantic sword towards him, he had no choice but the deflect the attack and hope for the best. And it seemed to answer his prayers.
"Uchikubi – OOF!"
A 40mm round slammed itself against Zanbamon lightly armoured side armour, the sudden force crushing his ribcage and lung. The demon digimon staggered almost tripping on himself as he tries to steady himself.
"Arm bunker!"
Surging behind Zanbamon was Ballistamon, the robotic digimon punched his lower body, the explosive punch sent the beast meters away on the ground. Shoutmon looked to his right, spotting the human that timely saved him.
"Thanks!" He gratefully said much to the paratrooper's perplexed face.
"But that was an accident..." He muttered under his breath and shrugged nonchalantly.
Zanbamon growled as he got on his feet, he was internally bleeding, his crushed bones punctured his lungs and organs. With a dying breath he lifted his swords and prepared himself to face his foe, the small digimon calmly walking towards him in the middle of the battle.
"Surrender now, Zanbamon, you've lost and your troops are beaten," Shoutmon stated, hoping the beast samurai would make the right choice.
"Over my dead body, you're coming with me to the Dark Area!" Zanbamon bellowed before making a final and suicidal charge at Shoutmon.
The charge stopped abruptly as multiple large rounds penetrated his entire body, punching his body to a bloody pulp and gore, pieces of flesh and organs and blood spat out of his peppered corpse. Shoutmon immediately looked away in grimace while Ballistamon stood motionlessly and silenlty. Once the carnage was over, the body riddled in large bullet holes and with missing organs and body parts slumped on the ground with a sickening wet sound. That's when the heavy robotic digimon threw up petrol on the ground, the gore was too much for the robot.
The small battle ended shortly after, the entire cavalry cohort was destroyed to the last digimon while the few surviving imperial infantrymen fled the scene and chased away by the attack helicopters.
The commander of the UAF solemnly watched as the humans took care of their wounded while the dead were put in body bags, a chaplain gave a quick prayer to the deceased. He felt the approaching presence of his right hand digimon, Dorulumon.
"Is everything all right, your Highness?" His loyal and stoic friend asked with a hint of concern.
"Yes, Doru, I'm fine," He answered with a smirk, "It's just... I wish this was the end of it, the end of the war, the end of bloodshed but... we seem to spill more as we progress further to our goal." Dorulumon remained quiet as Shoutmon ponders and struggles with his mind and morals, "Are... are we doing the right thing? I feel like we've aggravated the situation, making it worst,"
"Hmm... it may seem like it but sadly this is war, war is hell and ugly, especially with the humans, we've seen what they're capable of," Dorulumon spoke sincerely.
"That's the thing, they came here to help us... right?"
"Only time will tell, Shoutmon, the Royal Knights trust them, so maybe we should. Humans, eventhough I do not know much about them, can be unpredictable,"
"Looks like we'll have to wait for the future then," Shoutmon sighed and looked at the human soldiers as they board in their armoured vehicles, "Come on, gather the troops and get ready to take the FOB,"
"Yes, your Highness." Dorulumon bowed his head respectfully and took off to assemble the troops.
Blackhawk crash site.
"Spartan 2, this is Chief, new mission update for you. Overlord wants us to support German and British units at the Ministry complex with Spartan 3, an HVT is located in the area, two Rks are on their way there."
Renamon hissed as a bullet scraped her left shoulder, small driplets of blood tainted her dirty yellow fur.
"2 to Chief, you want us to abandon our position now?"She asked incredously, questionning command's sense of timing.
"Affirmative, it is of upmost priority to capture or kill the HVT and right now they're killing friendlies as we speak." Colbert replied over the radio.
Renamon shook her head, not believing her current situation, "Roger that, Spartan 2's moving out to new objective point," She reported after a groan, "Alright, squad! We're moving out to the Ministry complex,"
"Now?! In the middle of the fight?" Roach asked, "Why?"
"Command wants us to support friendlies there, there is an HVT that the Royal Knights want to take out. We gotta egress now and fast. Double time!"
A collective groan was her response as the Recon Marines picked up their weapons and gear. They exited to the alleyway through the apartment's back door, the sound of gunfire muffled behind them by the tall and large buildings. Renamon brought her left hand up and swung it forward three times, signalling her squad to pick up their pace as they move through the narrow alleyways.
A couple of minutes later, Spartan 2 reached their destination from the West side. The complex featured two buildings surrounded by a medium sized concrete wall with barbed wire on top. The smaller building was the security post, located on the East side not far from the South entry gate and main courtyard where the British and German forces were. The second building was much larger in size, it was a three storey palace built in the middle of the complex featuring a rooptop and two underground levels for storages and parking lots for vehicle-type digimon. The West side of the building had three entry points: one leads to the underground levels, not far from it was a metal door that leads to a small office room and the third is the office's main entry with two glass sliding doors and metal detectors.
The Force Recon Marines ran towards the wall. They grouped up and place C4 charges on one spot of the wall. They backed away silently counting down before the detonation. The explosion blasted through the thin concrete wall, the squad rushed in and formed a semi circle perimeter.
"East courtyard secured. Coal, Roach on me to the door, Rookie and Graves, overwatch from the main entry, you may shoot on sight," Her squad nodded in response and moved to position. Renamon grabbed her headset's mic and activated it, "Spartan 3, this is Spartan 2, we're at the objective point, we're clearing a path for you, what's your ETA?"
"3 to Spartan 2, ETA five mikes,"
"Copy, 2 proceeding breach and clear, over and out,"
Roach discreetly opened the door, the small fireteam followed closely behind him. It was the break room, two vending machines, three comfy chairs and two coffee tables, basically the standard break room of any office. Connecting the office and the break room was a small dimly lit corridor.
The three-man team heard gunshots from the other side, Graves and Rookie were engaging a squad of imperials. Rapid footsteps and shouts were near them. Stacked up at the end of the corridor, Roach briefly peered into the office. It was a medium sized room with a space dedicated to work, with office cubicles, computers and a copy/scannning machine. The main hallway can either lead directly to the palace's lobby area to the left or to a hallway farther ahead, with one path branching to the right that leads to the main entry.
Several hostile troops ran across the hallway, not noticing Roach as they piled up to repel enemy attacks. Roach looked behind him and reported ten armed tangoes a couple of meters away from their position, through hand signals.
Renamon instructed to cook a frag and toss it as far as possible, while Coal watches the left side, Roach and her will take out the hostiles. Sergeant Sanderson prepared a frag grenade, pulled the pin and counted to three before he tossed it at the very end of the hallway.
The three Marines took cover behind the office cubicles and took their designated position. The hand grenade detonated, two Commandramon fell on the ground, one dead, the other severely wounded. The imperials looked around in shock and before they could register what was happening, a shower of hot lead annihilated the rest of the squad, streams of blood bursted out of their body and splashed all over the wall.
Silence hung in the hallway.
"Hallway clear!" Roach announced as quietly as possible, "Friendlies coming out,"
Renamon's team grouped up with Graves and Rookie. Shortly after, Spartan 3 arrived as a seven-man squad. They agreed to split into two teams: Team 1, consisting of Renamon's squad and two others - Corporal "Dust", the SAW gunner and Sergeant Lynn, the Breacher – will secure the first floor while Team 2 will draw enemy fire from the lobby area.
Adam "Rookie" Blade volunteered to take the lead. The group silently walked down the corridor. The doors on the left leading to the lobby area had been blocked, losing a quick access to the first floor and surprise the enemy just below their noses. On the right side were two staircases and an elevator that led to the underground level. The Marines reached the other side of the corridor, another office area awaited them.
Rookie halted the group and peeked out of cover. There were some vending machines, office cubicles, benches and decorative pots of plants. At the right hand corner of the room was a staircase leading to the first floor. Surveying the area one last time, he turned to his squad leader and gave the all-clear signal. The Marines continued on and headed for the staircase. On the first floor, they approached an open entry way leading to the indoor balcony overviewing the lobby area. Two Marines prepared their frag grenades. They pulled the pin, waited three seconds and threw the hand grenades in the balcony. The floor trembled as the grenades detonated, the combined explosions wiped out the whole imperial machine gun squad on the balcony, some of them were thrown off by the blasts. Team 1 rushed in and finished off the few survivors coldly.
The looby area was large, featuring four large, tall and pristinely decorated pillars, supporting the rooftop with a wide square window that shined down on the area with the sunlight. Soft crimson carpet was layered all across the ground with black incricate motives on them. More exotic plants decorated corners of the lobby. On both sides of the indoor balcony were large staircases and just below it was the reception desk.
"Balcony clear!" Renamon shouted to the team below them.
She heard Spartan 3's squad leader, Staff Sergeant Jacob Neeson, contacting the commanders of the British and German soldiers outside the palace. Minutes later, infantrymen of both nations arrived in the palace, branching out into squads and secured the ground floor. Renamon met up with Neeson and the British and German platoon leaders, Lieutenant John Paddy and Leutnant Frank Völlmer.
"Thanks for easing the pressure off our shoulders, mates," Paddy said with a grateful smile, "Völlmer here almost lost his head in the firefight," He added with a laugh, the German officer lightly chuckled.
"Jä, die Kugel zischte einfach an meinem Kopf," Völlmer confirmed while imitating with his index a bullet flying pass his head.
"Glad we came in time, although we've been informed that there's an HVT in the area, is that true?" Neeson asked concernly.
The British officer frowned while the Germam barely understood the American, "We saw him moments before you arrived," He began with a grim sigh, "We were supposed to help out a Jap unit but they got wiped out," He pointed at the scattered corpses of JSDF soldiers outside the palace, "There were no survivors,"
"Then if the HVT haven't fled the area, then he's stuck here with us," Neeson stated confidently but after a glance towards Paddy and Renamon, he began to doubt.
"Oh no, we're stuck here with him. If the Royal Knights don't arrive here soon, we might end up like our friends just outside," Paddy told them ominously.
Suddenly, Renamon's senses peaked up, she felt a powerful presence near them and it was getting stronger, closer. Roach picked up on her sudden change in body language and directly assumed the worst.
"Get to cover! He's coming!" He yelled.
They heard screams and frantic gunshots followed by a serie of explosions coming from the corridor at the back. German soldiers ran out in the lobby area, fear in their faces as they ran away from something that chased them.
"Los! Los! Lassen Sie uns hier verschwinden!" One of them shouted in hurry.
Three dark orbs bursted through the wooden doors and engulfed the nearest unfortunate soldiers, consuming and reducing them into a pile of burnt flesh and organs. Renamon took cover behind a pillar and aimed her carbine at the doorway, her squadmates did the same while the allied soldiers regrouped and repositioned for the upcoming fight. The lights in the building died, the ceiling lights popped and shattered above the IDDF troops.
"Shadow Shockwave!" A heavy voice boomed from the dark corridor.
A powerful shockwave swept across the ground floor, Renamon timely held onto the pillar as the invisible wave forced her to the ground. Surprised gasps and grunts resonated from the soldiers. Marines and troopers on the balcony quietly took their position and readied themselves to attack the HVT from above.
However it didn't end here.
Renamon's ears twitched again, sensing multiple enemy presences. Her eyes flashed and gazed upwards, a faint shadow was spotted running along the ceiling window.
"Hostiles from above!" She warned hurriedly.
The ceiling window shattered, large pieces of glass rained on the soldiers and Recon Marines. A dozen of ropes were thrown in the lobby area, imperial troopers started to rappel down while others provided cover fire.
"Contact!"
Renamon's sharp senses and snappy accuracy helped her eliminate a handful of legionaires, dropping from above like dead bugs; the harder they fall...
A Sealsdramon slammed hard against the floor, a cracked voice escaped their mouth before they fell unconscious. A German trooper had his brains plastered all over the ground as a round penetrated his kevlar helmet and skull. It was an absolute chaotic carnage. And soon it will worsen.
"Seven Hells!"
Black spheres shot out of the dark corridor and struck down their targets like heat seeking missiles. A black mist twirled above the lobby area out of nowhere, the humans stared on with dread and fear.
"Here he comes!" Paddy shouted dreadfully.
The mist dissipated and BlackSeraphimon appeared, hovering above his new preys. Renamon glared at the Fallen Angel. She brought her sniper rifle and sharply took aim for the head. Not sparing any time, she pulled the trigger and loaded a new round in the chamber. The first shot bounced off BlackSeraphimon's faceless helmet. The Recon Marines shifted their focus on him, releasing a storm of lead from their rifles and machine guns.
Rookie load up a 40mm round in the M203. He peered out of cover and aimed carefully at his target hovering in the air. His left index lightly touched the trigger, hesitance halted his decision to fire.
"Fire your weapon, Blade, now!" Coal urged him from above.
Without a second thought, the high explosive round shot out of the tube and hurled towards the HVT's back. The round slammed against his back, denting the armour. BlackSeraphimon felt a burning sting and turned behind him, glaring at the human.
"Oh fu-" A dark orb hurled back at him. He dashed out of cover and slid behind a rectangular plant pot. The orb hit the ground, releasing a hiss as its energy slowly burned a patch of the carpet.
He lifted his armoured forearms to protect his face, the bullets bounced off the armour harmlessly. BlackSeraphimon smirked behind his helmet. He launched towards the balcony and slammed his fist on the ground. The might of his fist sent a powerful shockwave around him as the floor cracked. Two humans were thrown out of balcony, their surprised screams followed by heavy thuds rung in his ears like a melody. He loved causing chaos.
He got up and glided to the nearest soldier, grabbing them by the throat with his right hand while shooting seven orbs out of his left hand. Four out of seven hit their mark, the soldiers screamed in panic and agony as the dark purple flames consumed them. The man caught in his strong grasp struggled desperately for air, his fruitless attempt on getting free amused the demon. He brought his left palm against the human's body armour and shot at point blank range an orb, the projectile simply chewed throung the armour and flesh, leaving a large hole on the chest as blood poured out on the floor.
Renamon watched in horror as BlackSeraphimon threw the dead and mangled Recon Marine across the lobby area. Her cold eyes narrowed as adrenaline and anger boils from within, a sensation foreign to her. With a growl, she took her carbine and sprinted towards her target.
"Rookie, Roach on me!" She ordered after taking out three enemy troops in hand-to-hand combat, "Focus your fire on the HVT!"
Coal groaned in pain as he recovered from falling from the first flight of stairs. He sat against the wall and grabbed his M4A1 carbine. He glanced at the mag, still full, and racked the charging handle. He looked up at the balcony and saw a corpse of a British trooper lying on the steps, his eyes were wide open in terror. He could vaguely see the tall silhouette of the high value target. Grunting with effort, he stood up and opened fire. The spray of bullets bounced off the armour, inflicting only minimum damage to the wings.
BlackSeraphimon glowered at the injured human, he cracked his armoured knuckles and brought a hand up.
"Seven Hel-"
Furious bullets hit his shoulder plate followed by a storm of sharpened diamonds, piercing his side armour. He hissed as he looked down on the Renamon running across the lobby area towards him. He smirked and readied himself to attack. He lunged forward in the blink of an eye, his right fist retracted backwards and ready to strike a blow at the unsuspecting vulpine digimon.
Thanks to her superior senses and reflexes, she disappeared from sight and reappeared behind, her arms extended out as a glow began to form around her.
"Diamond storm!" The attack pierced the demon's back, sticking deep into his flesh.
BlackSeraphimon growled through gritted teeth and spun around with a roundhouse kick. Once again, Renamon dodged the kick and reappeared on the stairs, firing a burst from her carbine before swiftly relocating. Although she was just a Rookie-level, the Renamon-specie is reputated to take down any foe and if he wasn't careful, she could knock him out.
Drawing his attention to her, Renamon was buying enough time for Roach to recover Coal while Rookie preps a grenade in the M203. Reaching the balcony, she glanced around her, mangled and disfigured corpses of allied troops scattered on the floor, their blood painting the wall around her. BlackSeraphimon launched two orbs at her. She dived for cover, the corner barely held together as the projectiles exploded near her.
Marching back up the steps, BlackSeraphimon cackled lowly as he spots his prey cowering behind a small piece of wall.
"Time to die..." He murmured as he summons his longsword from thin air.
Then she disappeared, just like that. He cocked an eyebrow up in perplexion. He knew her abilities but now he was weary for her next move. Until something else caught his attention. A whistle came from behind him. He turned around and a solid projectile punched his face on impact before releasing a thick smoke cloud. Roach picked Coal up with Renamon providing cover fire while Rookie loads an H.E up. Spartan 3 Marines suppressed the HVT while the British and Germans began to evacuate their wounded from the dying firefight.
BlackSeraphimon cursed loudly, he was sure that his nose was broken evident by the fact he could feel and taste blood dripping out of his nose under his helmet. He swept away the cloud with his damaged wings, coughing lightly as the smoke dissipates. Looking down on the lobby area, he could see the humans dragging their dead and wounded out while a few of them began to open fire at him, covering their retreat. He lifted his forearms up to deflect the incoming bullets. Another explosive round hit him, the blast pushed him but he was still on his feet.
Blade swore under his breath and searched for a new H.E round. He soon realised that that was his last round. Swearing, he loads another smoke round. The underbarrel grenade launcher popped as the smoke round flew out of the tube, arching upwards before impacting on BlackSeraphimon. Now suppressed, Rookie egressed back to cover with the others.
"Shouldn't the Royal Knights be here by NOW?!" Graves asked in frustration.
BlackSeraphimon flew out of the smoke and hovered in the middle of the lobby area, hurling dark projectiles at the soldiers. Renamon saw a projectile soaring towards Roach. She dashed across the lobby and lunged herself at him, tackling the man meters away from the blast radius. The projectile tore a chunk of the pillar seconds where Roach once stood.
"T-thanks, guess I owe you one now, huh," Renamon smirked at her friend and shook her head.
"On your feet, Marine," She ordered him with a casual tone.
"Damn it!" They heard BlackSeraphimon shout as he spots two Royal Knights coming towards the palace.
UlforceVeedramon and Omegamon along with two Strike Force members, a ShineGreymon and a Miragegaogamon. The four digimon watched on as the humans pull out of the palace with the wounded and their dead. The bodies of dead Japanese soldiers sent shivers down Shinegreymon's spine. The humans paid no acknowledgement to the digimon.
"Miragegagaomon, check the left wing, Shinegreymon, you'll check the right wing, make sure no hostiles get in the palace. Regroup with us once you're done," Omegamon instructed flatly. The two Strike Force members nodded and went to their designated area. "Ready?" He asked the cobalt Royal Knight.
"Always," Ulforceveedramon replied with thumbs up and a confident grin.
The white knight gazed at BlackSeraphimon, whom stared back at them in silence, waiting for them. Their target is trapped in the palace and although the lobby area is large it isn't wide enough for air manoeuvres, limiting the movement in the air and their ranged attacks. If they let him out, he could fly away and fall back to enemy line.
"We need to keep him in the building, we can't let him out and escape," He informed his fellow knight.
"Or cause more damage," Ulforceveedramon added grimly, "I think he had done quite enough,"
Nodding in agreement, Omegamon hovered a couple of feet ahead, his gaze levelling with BlackSeraphimon's faceless helmet.
"BlackSeraphimon! We're offering you one last chance to surrender. It's over, you're outnumbered and surrounded. Give up while you still can!" He announced diplomatically.
"How about you tell these humans to fuck off and then we can talk!" The fallen angel retorted.
"Come on, that's our cue," Renamon instructed as she helped a fellow Recon Marine up on his feet. The Recon Marines vacated the area, glacing back and forth between the Royal Knights and BlackSeraphimon, some were confused while others were pissed off, wanting the HVT dead than negociating with him.
BlackSeraphimon laughed lowly at the Royal Knights.
"What's so funny? Mind to share with us your hilarious joke?" Ulforceveedramon demanded sarcastically and mildly annoyed. Although he's been a Royal Knight for well over two decades, he's still far less cool-headed and mature than Omegamon, whom had been with the Order eversince their creation three centuries ago.
"I can't believe you're still depending on these wasteful humans," The demon began, "I mean, seriously, seeking their help to take us down? That's pretty weak coming from the Royal Knights, the protectors of the Network,"
Both Royal Knights slowly prepared themselves for a fight. Omegamon's cold eyes bore on his opponent as he analyses him, observing him and looking out for any subtle movements.
"Unless... it is for another agenda?" He asked rhetorically, prompting the white knight to gaze at him with curiosity, "You and I are not so different actually, we all have the same end goals, conquering the Real World..."
"What?" Ulforceveedramon murmured.
"We've got your files, we know of your upcoming "prophecy", Yggdrasil's new world order. You're just using the humans as cannon fodder, diminish their military so they can't fight back when the time to strike is right... Haha, cunning of you."
BlackSeraphimon descended from the air, his feet lightly landed on the ground, "We're all puppets with strings on us. In a couple of years, only one percent of the Digimon population would live while the gods destroy and reset the world." He scoffed irritatedly, "There's a reason why I "rebelled" against God. Branded as a traitor by blind and fanatical digimon. We're doing the world a favour, saving and protecting those under our rule-"
"A life without freedom isn't doing the world a favour," Ulforceveedramon shot back, his red eyes narrowing as he and Omegamon carefully approached him.
"Freedom isn't free! You should know that! Without control, there's anarchy; how can you protect the Network when there's no stability? That's why there's order in this world! We're programmed by humans, created by them. Not God, not the Four Holy Beast, not even Yggdrasil! And you had to seek their help, ruining everything,"
Seven dark spheres summoned around him, a menacing sensation hung in the air around him. Both Royal Knight could sense it, negociation was over.
"Seven Hells!"
The spheres shot forwards, flying towards the two knights. The cobalt knight's left V Bracelet glowed as he flew in front of his companion.
"Tense great Shield!" The energy shield engulfed just in time as the orbs slammed onto it, the Royal Knight grinded his teeth as the force of the attack pushed him backwards.
Omegamon flew above UlforceVeedramon and suppress BlackSeraphimon with a volley of energy projectiles. The cobalt knight pressed forward, closing the distance between them. Two energy blades sprung out of his V Bracelets as he readied to slash his opponent. BlackSeraphimon jumped back gaining some distance in the air , he summoned a longsword made from steel digizoid and parried the Royal Knight's second attack.
Fortunately UlforceVeedramon had quick reflexes, stepping sideways before the blade could hack into his right shoulder. The corrupted Seraphimon had his sides exposed a second too late, receiving a painful cut from the knight, the energy blade dug deep into his armour and flesh. He snarled and headbutted the knight, much to his chagrin as more pain shot through his whole broken face. Both warriors stumbled backwards from the blow, UlforceVeedramon recovered sooner than the dark angel.
UlforceVeedramon steadied himself and puffed out his chest, the golden V on his chestplate glowed brightly as energy began to surged in.
"Shining V Force!"
A ray of energy shot out of his armour, slamming onto BlackSeraphimon and sent him flying across the lobby area, crashing into the farthest wall. BlackSeraphimon dropped to his knees, laboured breaths escaped his mouth, his left hand clutched onto his wound that bled profusely. Grabbing the longsword with a shaking right hand, he slowly stood back up, his body beaten up and too weak to lift the weapon over his shoulder.
Omegamon along with Shinegreymon joined UlforceVeedramon and pointed their weapons at the HVT, the white knight was ready to give him one last chance. Before he could spoke up, BlackSeraphimon growled menacingly after choking on his own blood.
"I won't give up, Omegamon, forget it! I'll rather die a warrior's death than rot in jail or in the Dark Area!"
"As you-"
"Fuck you!"
BlackSeraphimon suddenly shot his longsword out to Shinegreymon. Having no time to react, the longsword penetrated the cyborg digimon's lower torso, a pained gasp escaped his mouth by the unexpected attack.
"Seven Hells!" BlackSeraphimon launched his seven orbs at point blank range, hoping to get all three targets so he can escape.
UlforceVeedramon pushed Omegamon out of the way of three orbs and took the brunt of it, intense pain covered his entire body before he fell to his knees. Omegamon reflexively brought his Garuru Cannon up and fired a high caliber round at him before jumping back to dodge one of the orbs.
BlackSeraphimon leaned to his left and narrowly avoided the bullet. He began to flap his wings and focused on getting out of here. A couple of feet above ground and three powerful rounds struck through him, three gaping and bloody holes appeared through him on his chest, his own blood bursted out from the back and covered a wide area of the wall behind him. The corrupted angel fell on the ground limply, a pool of blood slowly formed around him.
"T-target e-eliminated..." Shinegreymon reported through raspy breaths, "... D-damn, this hurts a lot..." He added dryly, standing back up while holding onto his wound, the blade still lodged in his body.
"Are you alright, Sergeant?" Omegamon asked concernly for the Strike Force operator.
"Still alive, sire, but it'll... hurt... a lot..." He replied through laboured breaths.
UlforceVeedramon slowly got back up, his armour had large burn marks and holes, small driplets of blood flowed out of his armour. MirageGaogamon shortly arrived in time to support Shinegreymon out while Omegamon helped UlforceVeedramon.
The Recon Marines regrouped and ran back into the palace with extra ammunation on them while the British and German soldiers quickly gathered their wounded and dead as they prepared for a Medevac to come. Omegamon watched them with curiosity and confusion in his mind.
"Excuse me, trooper," He called out to a German trooper.
"Jä?"
"What is going on?" The trooper tilted his head to the side and shrugged his shoulders, not understanding the digimon, "Was ist lost?"
"Wir evakuieren die Verwundeten, die Amerikaner werden den Feind angreifen," He informed them before he jogged off.
"What's the sitrep?" UlforceVeedramon weakly asked.
"They're evacuating while the Marines hold the enemy off,"
"Damn... aren't they outnumbered for that task?"
"That's what I think so," Omegamon sighed solemnly, "We need to get you two to the physicians and report the others of BlackSeraphimon's death,"
Ministry Complex, North Entrance.
The Northern courtyard was filled with smoke clouds, the imperials had been covering their advances when the Force Recon units started to open fire. The north part of the palace was the entrance hall, exclusive only for the owner's guests and parties. It was a wide area, featuring golden and expensive chandeliers, white marble covered the surface, bordered against the wall by black marble. A large rectangular carpet was displayed in the middle of the hall, with comfy and expensive furnitures neatly arranged around it and sofas along the walls. Along the walls were portraits of Imperial generals, politicians and diplomats with the owner's portrait being the largest: MetalEtemon, a filthy rich digimon, businessmon and an important asset to the Imperium, finacially and diplomatically helping the Imperium and their war machine while profiting on the war, they didn't cared about allegiance or morals, they just want to win money.
As of now, MetalEtemon is long gone, hiding somewhere in the DigiWorld with no penalty thanks to his wealth and influence on the Digimon stock market.
Like the lobby area at the southern part of the palace, the hall had an indoor balcony, overwatching the entire area. Two large staircases branched out from the sides in a 'Z' pattern with tiled treads, double railings and an intermediate landing each. Below it and between the massive staircases was a glass double door at the end of the hall. Semi-circle sandbag walls were installed on the ground floor, in front of the entrance and on the staircases' landings, put up by the imperials prior their arrival.
The Recon Marines were posted on the balcony and on the intermediate landings; anything beyond their perimeter will be their killzone. The Marine operators waited patiently for the enemy to come out of the smoke. SAW gunners had only fired short bursts before the imperials deployed smoke outside.
Renamon brought up her sniper rifle, her carbine only had three more mags left before she needed to fight with her sidearm. She sensed the enemy approaching them, they only had one access into the palace and that is through them.
The Force Recon units had been alerted by MirageGaogamon that a company of light infantry were coming from the North. But she felt more than a company, probably a whole battalion was trying to recapture the palace. Not that is mattered for the IDDF, the British were planning to bomb everything past the palace on the Northern end, the Recon Marines just need to buy them enough time.
Faint silhouettes were coming closer, the Marines prepared themselves for the fight. Renamon brought her sniper rifle on the balcony's waist high wall and peered into the scope, adjusting her aim before holding her breath. A Sealsdramon came out of the smoke cloud, a battle rifle in hand and composure in high alert. They scanned the area ahead of their comrades, whom soon revealved themselves, their body language tense and cautious. The other Marines hid behind their cover, letting a handful of Imperials in before they wipe them out in the "kill-box". Setting foot in the hall, their metallic boots echoed around the area, their armour clattering and breath moderated and composed. The Sealsdramon at the lead lifted their left fist then pointed two fingers to the left then to the right. The legionaires followed their commands and split up.
That's when a sudden roar shattered the tense silence that hung in the hall.
A bullet struck the Sealsdramon through the armour, piercing their Digicore. The commando fell on the ground lifelessly and soon the Force Recon Marines showed themselves, their weapons barking, quickly eliminating a dozen hostiles. The other legionaires from outside rushed in as the sound of gunfire rang from the entrance hall.
The hall was soon riddled in bullet holes, the strong smell of gun powder present in the air while a light smoke cloud began to form in the area. Imperial officers shouted at the grunts as they push them in to the storm of bullets with minimum cover, pushing them to their death like a meat grinder. The Imperials were being mowed down once they set foot in the hall, having no other way to escape death other than towards it and hope for the best.
Grenades soon rained at the enemy. Multiple blasts blew Imperials to pieces, dismembering them or tearing them apart. Hot metal fragments shot out of the hand grenades, puncturing light armour and flesh, burning and molding in their victim's body. Cries of help and agony were muffled by the louder barks and roars of machine guns and rifles, like a variety of Chinese firecrackers. Metallic whistles whizzed and zapped at every direction, compared to an angry swarm of bees.
Casualties were taken on both sides, though the Imperials have the most losses. Two Marines from Spartan 3 were evacuating their SAW gunner out of harm's way while the team on the balcony provided cover fire.
"I don't think we have the ammo for this task!" One of them pointed out in frustration.
Evidently this was the case for them. The ammunation they've salvaged from the British and German convoys was nearly enough for the size of the opposition force. There were simply too many hostiles for the operators to handle. They were greatly outnumbered and they were low on ammo, at this point the line would crumble and the Marines have to fall back.
Renamon's M40A5 clicked, she pulled the bolt opened and there wasn't a single round chambered in, the magazine was empty. She searched through her plate carrier for any spare ammo, unfortunately, that was her spare mag, indicated by the red tape around the magazine. She scoffed and brought her carbine up, firing in quick and precise successions, sparing maximum two rounds for each target.
"Blade! How many H.E do you have left?" She asked across the staircase.
"Two rounds, Staff Sergeant!" He replied shortly after, "Should I use them?"
"Affirmative! Give them hell!"
"Roger that!"
A light pop was heard near her, then a loud explosion erupted near the entrance, blowing apart legionaires. Dust fell from the ceiling, the chandeliers rocked sideways by the strong shockwave, the windows cracked and broke to pieces.
"Second round up!" Rookie warned before he fired again, this time a little ways ahead of the first blast, "Launcher's dry!"
"Renamon! I'm pulling away a fireteam with me, we're setting the explosives in case we retreat." Neeson told her before he picked his guys and moved out, "Call me when you start to pull out."
"Copy!"
A round exploded on impact on the balcony, pieces of stone shot out, almost blinding the Marines behind it. Roach quickly ducked his head down. The Imperials were pouring in the hall faster than the Marines could eliminate them. It felt like they were fighting an endless wave of enemies.
Renamon felt a hot stinging pain shooting across her left arm. She almost fell behind before retaking her footing and ducked behind cover, her right hand instinctively grasping her left arm. Warm red liquid stained her white and yellow fur. She hissed as soon as pain was registered through her entire body. She looked at her arm and winced, the bullet tore deep into her left upper arm, oozing out driplets of blood through her white fingers.
"I'm hit!" She called out. Roach came up to her and inspected her wound, but she lightly pushed him way, "I'll be fine, fire your weapon!" Roach quietly nodded and did as ordered.
The vixen took her first aid kit out and proceeded to nurse her wound, as per trained and drilled to do. She bit open the pouch and applied the field dressing on the wound, wincing before sighing, feeling a bit at ease due to the analgesic effect. She wrapped up the dressing with roll of bandage. When done and sure that the dressing was tied thightly, she grabbed her MK18 MOD 0 carbine and shouldered it, her left paw weakly holding onto the foregrip.
"Frag out!" Graves called out as he tossed the grenade in the middle of the hall, where a group of Imperials were bunched up behind the couches.
The explosion ripped and tore through them and the furnitures, the carpet was beyond recognizable, patches had been burnt or ruined by bullet holes. The once expensive and heavily decorated hall had been destroyed beyong repair, disfigured by the firefight in a matter of seconds.
"Grenade!" The fireteam on the left landing ran back up the stairs to the balcony, narrowly escaping the grenade's blast zone.
"We need to pull back, we're getting overwhelmed here!" Roach urged his squad leader.
"Fire team 3, pull back with Fire team 1! The rest of you cover fire!" Renamon commanded sternly, groaning after reloading her carbine.
The fire team on the right landing retreated up the stairs and ran towards the corridor at the back. Once the coast was clear, fire team 4 began their retreat, leaving fire team 2, Renamon's squad, to hold the Imperials a few more seconds.
"Go!" She ordered, the squad backed away, returning fire and suppressing enemy troops.
Renamon tossed out a grenade at the balcony before making her escape. Legionaires were about to shoot her until they saw the grenade rolling on the floor.
"Grena-!"
The vixen digimon jumped just over a thin trip wire and regrouped with the rest of the unit. Three Marines were posted in the corridor, covering their exits. She arrived in the office area where the wounded and the spare ammunation were set up. Renamon leaned against the wall and breathed heavily, sweat poured out of her body, mixed with her own blood and dirt.
"Renamon, we need you to hold the ground floor, hostiles are breaching in as we speak," Neeson informed her with a hint of urgency in his voice, "We'll handle it from here,"
The digimon replied with a nod after recuperating her breath. She coughed and leaned her head sideways, her muscles popping satisfyingly.
"My guys on me!" She commanded in an authoritative tone.
"Oorah..." They responded tiredly.
Taking the stairwell to the ground floor, the squad of Force Recon Marines cautiously made their way down in silence. Slowly and as quietly as possible, Rookie pushed opened the metal door, the hinges creaked painfully loud, causing him to wince while trying his best to be silent.
"Someone should lubricate that door," Roach murmured humourously.
The corridor was dimly lit. Military and civilian equipment lay scattered on the floor, some of the access points were blocked or barricaded by the previous imperials. One end of the corridor leads to a large sized lounge, the other leads to another access point to the lobby area. It is up to five Marines to hold this line on their own against, probably, a couple dozens of hostiles.
The lounge featured a bar, dining tables, couches and an upper deck to welcome more guests. The floor were made of dark and squeaky clean wooden planks, the walls were covered in a soft velvet material with warm lights hanging from the black ceiling, setting up a particular mood in the room.
"Is this a strip club?" Sergeant Adam Blade asked half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Renamon let a giggle slip by her mouth as she shook her head at his naïve question, while the rest of the squad either snorted or held a stiffled laugh in response.
"Bro, do you see any strip poles around here?" Graves asked him with a sly grin. The youngest Marine of the platoon shook his head silently, "Then no, this isn't a strip club, it's a lounge, there's literally a sign on our way in and beside you!"
Confirming his statement, Blade looked to his right and indeed, there it was, a sign that read in bold black: lounge area 2. He blushed in embarrassment and faked a cough, heading up the upper deck with Coal.
A loud crash followed by rapid, metallic, footfalls echoed from outside the lounge. They're here and they were coming. The squad quickly took their positions and armed themselves for the fight. Weapon's locked and loaded, mag's full and mind and instinct prepared for this precise moment. A rush of adrenaline coursed through the body of each warrior, each fighter.
The black tinted glass doors slammed open, hot lead struck the first unlucky soldier, their body riddled with bullet holes, blood spewed out on all direction. The soldier behind them wasn't lucky either. Two rounds struck their helmeted head, jerking it backwards as blood and brain matter bursted out of their skull.
Time seemed to slow down. The two dead Imperials fell on the floor while the others rushed in the lounge, indiscriminately stepping on their corpses as they try to get to cover and return fire.
Having the vantage point, Coal and Rookie gunned down the enemy mercilessly, the bodies were starting to pile up before they could turn into data particles. A roundish object soared out of an Imperial's dying hand, bouncing off the wooden floor with a metallic thud before it rolled slowly near the bar.
"Grenade!" Roach yelled as he lunged for the hand grenade.
He swiftly picked it up under enemy fire and tossed it back as far as possible, a round struck his plate carrier in return, forcing him painfully to the ground. One of the legionaires screamed in horror as the frag grenade flew back at them. The whole lounge was silenced as the grenade detonated, blowing up the entrance doors to the lounge and everyone near it.
Renamon coughed dryly after she groggily sat up, her senses all blurred and disoriented. The room was filled with a light mist of smoke and dust, the smell of gunpowder hung heavily in the air. A familiar sharp pain assaulted her left arm, instinctively grasping her injured arm, she gazed at it and scoffed irritatedly, the field dressing tore up, letting blood to drip down along her arm.
Her ears twitched at the faint sound of footfalls. She spun around and wiped out her sidearm, weapon's barrel aimed at the direction of the sound. A lone WereGarurumon steadily rose back on their feet, clutching their lower torso while looking around dazily. The vixen digimon coldly shot them three times to the chest, the body fell back without a sound, it was already disolving into a data cloud.
"Are you alright, Staff Sergeant?" Asked Coal from behind.
"Yeah..." She groaned out.
At the corner of her right eye, she noticed Roach getting up while carefully supporting Graves up on his feet, the latter had his right knee shattered by a fragment. Graves hissed and grunted through gritted teeth, he occasionally spat out a curse word as more pain shot through him.
The Staff Sergeant was about to speak up when all of the sudden a projectile dangerously flew just above her head.
"Contact!"
She immediately bent down and hid behind a couch. She glanced back to see Roach and Graves wobbling out of the lounge while Coal ran down the staircase from the upper deck with Rookie providing cover fire. She propped out of cover and fired two shots down the dark corridor, hearing a shout of agony. More enemy rounds whizzed by them, snapping loudly near them. Her senses picked up the many footfalls, angry voices and armour clatters of the enemy, they were coming for them with a larger force, the explosion must've caught their attention and they called in back up. Lots of it.
Popping out of cover, she took aim and accurately eliminated three more tangos before she ducked down and reloaded her pistol. The handgun clicked as the mag slid in, the side snapped close sharply, a round chambered in the barrel.
"I'm loading!" Rookie told her.
"Covering!" She replied and propped up behind cover, pistol already set to fire.
The small caliber weapon jolted backwards in quick successions, three bullets spat out of the muzzle, soared across the lounge and struck their target on impact. Her right arm rested on top of the couch for better recoil control. A couple of shots hit after and her sidearm clicked. She ducked down and reloaded her last pistol mag.
"Loading!"
"Covering!"
"Get down, Blade, we're pulling back!" Coal said after bursting through the back, his carbine angrily barking as it spat more hot lead out of the muzzle.
"I'm moving!" Rookie announced before running down the staircase, backing away while his weapon was aimed at the door.
The Imperials were gaining ground on them, angrily pursuing their preys like a pack of hounds. Renamon fired the remaining rounds of her sidearm before she ran back towards her squadmates. Coal closed the door behind them, rounds shot through the obstacle. He took his last frag grenade, pulled the pin and swiftly lobbed the grenade in.
"Spartan 3 to Spartan 2, we're egressing back to the lobby! Be advised, numerous foot mobiles are present on the ground floor!" Renamon warned the other squad before she and her men jogged their way towards the lobby area.
The doors bursted open as the Force Recon Marines quickly regrouped with the British soldiers in the lobby area, positioned and ready to shoot at anything coming out of the doors. Two soldiers hurried over to the wounded Graves and quickly carried him to their combat medic.
Renamon slid behind a pillar, breathing heavily and painfully. Her entire body screamed in agony, begging her to stop but her steely mind and nature shushed these cries of pain and forced her body to work 120% more than it could. She wasn't letting anyone down and she won't give up without a fight.
"I'm dry! I need a pistol mag!"
"Here!" Roach tossed her a spare mag. She gratefully thanked him and pushed the mag in her P226's magazine feed, "That's my last, make each shot count!"
"Here they come! Light 'em up, lads!" A British NCO ordered sternly, their bullpup rifles roared to life as it brought death and destruction to the enemy.
Carefully picking her targets, Renamon made sure that each shot counts, she cannot spare a missed shot. She fired once, wounding an enemy before they were finished off by the other soldiers. Aiming with one hand was uncomfortable for her, her aim started to shake as her body threatens to collapsed at a moment's notice, not used to be pushed over its limits; and that's saying from a Renamon, a human would've collapsed two hours ago after going over their limits.
Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours as the intense and chaotic firefight dragged on, seemingly endless for the exhausted and fewer human soldiers.
"DCD Bomb!" Shouted a Commandramon, firing out a grenade from their underbarrel launcher.
Renamon rolled to the side, escaping the grenade's destructive blast, however the shockwave threw her off her feet, crushing her muscles and lungs. She hit the ground to a skidding stop, her body went numb from the intense pain. She felt her body burning from within, her eyes threatened to close shut and rest for a awhile. But once again her mind – the Marine part of her mind – told her subconscious to fuck off and yelled at her to stand up and grow a pair.
Almost as if on command, she wordlessly sat up and dragged herself away from the firefight. Her rational thoughts were going awry, she had one goal: find cover and fight back.
An intense pain struck her from the side, her body fell on the left as she screamed in pain, for the first time in years did she felt this much pain becoming too unbearable for her. She rolled to her back and weakly lifted sidearm up, her hand uncontrollably trembling and her vision started to blur. Rounds were flying around her.
Another round struck her, this time it dug deep into her right shin.
"Aaah fuuuck!" She cried with hot tears, "Fuck you!"
Roach slid to a stop next to her and quickly grabbed onto her plate carrier's shoulder straps. He heaved and dragged her backwards, taking a huge risk in the middle of the firefight, making him and his dear friend and squad leader easy targets for the enemy to pick on. Fortunately, their squadmates and the British focused on providing cover fire, unrelentlessly mowing the enemy with everything they've got.
"Don't let these fuckers get pass us!"
Renamon looked up at Gary hazily, her vision blurring and distorted yet his face was the only image that remained clear, his soft and worried voice clear despite the loud gunfire.
"Come on! Stay with me! Stay with me, Renamon! You'll be fine, Rena, you're going to make it through this!" He reassured with a determined voice. It was the first that he used a nickname for her.
"Keep your eyes on m-"
Blood rained on her after Gary was gone in the blink of an eye. She felt the abrupt stop and her head slapped against the concrete ground. She hissed and averted her gaze around her, looking for her friend.
"Medic! Medic!" An unfamiliar voice called out near her.
Grunting in pain, she propped her self up on her right arm, the limb pushing her torso up. Her eyes snapped wide open in horror while blood ran cold and paled away from her face, her breath taken away suddenly.
Beside her lied a severely wounded Gary "Roach" Sanderson, the Force Recon Marine whimpering and coughing blood out of his mouth, his chest and throat profusely bled on the ground, quickly forming a pool of the thick crimson liquid.
Immediately, Renamon crawled her way to him and held his trembling right hand, grasping it tightly with her paw, tears unconsciously streamed down her cheeks and small droplets fell on the man's bullet riddled plate carrier. Her mouth quivered but no words came out, her throat dry and heart painfully throbbing in her chest.
Gary offered her a weak, sad smile, his face slowly drained from colour as he felt colder by the second, almost ready to embrace the fact.
"Y-you...l-look... beautiful..." He croaked out, his smile widening somehow, "… t-thank you for b-b-being my friend..."
The pressure around her paw loosened, his eyes remained open but the irises widened into lifeless black, empty dots.
"N-n-o! No!"
Renamon tightened her grasp on his lifeless hand as she bent down and rested her head on his forehead, sobbing quietly. She held their intertwined hands close to her chest. She didn't care anymore, she had lost too many and now she had lost a very dear friend. Right in front of her very eyes. She didn't care about her pride or her reputation, she didn't care if her action was unnatural or shameful of her specie. She didn't care and damned the world around her.
Her mourning came to an abrupt stop as she felt hands grabbing her shoulder and lightly pulling away from his body. She allowed them without a protest, her watery eyes staring solemnly at him while being surrounded by a team of medics.
She was carried farther away from the ongoing firefight and lied down by Coal and Rookie, looking her with concern and sadness. A German medic came to her and began to nurse her wounds. She stared up at the sky blankly, she was exhausted, depressed and in pain.
She finally let her eyes close, wanting to escape reality and embraced the familiar empty void of her deep unconsciousness.
Author's Note: Well it has been a year now, I didn't expect it to last this long and it is almost over for this story (close but still far from it) before I move on to the sequels and prequel. So I want to thank everyone who read the story this far, it means a lot to me :D ... Welp that's all I have to say for now... um, I plan on finishing this story in February or early March. As always, à la prochaine!