The Aces of Razgriz

by Blaze118

Becoming a pilot was a dream for Antonio "Blaze" Castillo ever since he was young, and then it became an obsession when his father died during a mysterious attack on an air show when he was eight. With his goal of becoming a pilot completed, Antonio must fight a war that no one saw coming while fighting to keep his humanity and other dark secrets intact.

21. The Great Escape Part I

Chapter 20 – The Great Escape Part I

Fun fact: While writing the dogfight between Wardog and the enemy fighters, I couldn't stop thinking about the song that plays when you're fighting Pixy from Ace Combat Zero. While reading over what I wrote while editing this chapter, I had that song playing on my phone and it just really seemed to fit, but that's just me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

December 6, 2010 1609hrs Vladimir Mountains, Yuktobania

The Fortress was finally captured and we were finally headed back towards Sand Island for the day. We had enough fuel to make the return trip but Command wanted us to rendezvous with a tanked to refuel just in case. The mountains down below reminded me of the mountains I had visited to learn about spirituality from Shaolin Monks when I was twelve. It was one of the first steps I had to take in order for me to regain a sense of humanity. I didn't agree with everything the monks partook in, but I gained a new respect for them. They had a lot of discipline and I doubted that I'd ever be able to be as calm as those monks. We flew to the rally point in silence because there wasn't really much to say. I wanted to get out of the sky ASAP because I felt like Kei's and Grimm's planes were going to start falling apart and I knew they wouldn't survive if they had to bail out over these mountains. Erica had fallen asleep because her job was pretty much done for the day. According to my estimates, we'd be back at Sand Island late into the night, like around 0030hrs. At least I can enjoy the sunset from up here. It felt great flying in peace for once and I was honestly looking forward to the journey home, but I wished that Chopper was here to complain about it.

"Wardog squadron, this is Thunderhead. Fly to the tanker of refueling. There's an allied squadron to the east of your position. They'll guide you to the tanker for air refueling," said Thunderhead.

"Roger that, Thunderhead, pass word onto Command that Cruik Fortress has been successfully captured," I said.

"Good work, people. We're one step closer to the enemy's capitol. We can win this as you're with us. I can feel it," Thunderhead boasted.

"Unless we decide to retire before then," I mumbled to myself.

"Those enemy pilots we fought today… I can't imagine how wonderful it would be to fly with them in peace time," said Kei compassionately.

"Yeah," agreed Grimm and I nodded.

Those pilots were some of the best that I've flow against. The way they flew was so amazing and I felt like I could learn from them, given the chance. My hatred for this war had me hoping that the victory at Cruik Fortress would end the war within the next week, but that was just wishful thinking. Most of the things I hoped for during this time of war were just wishful thinking.

"Wardog," said a familiar voice over the radio. I perked my head and I knew right away that something was about to become totally FUBAR. "This is the 8492nd squadron, can you see us? It'll be an honor for us to escort you heroes. Let's go home."

By 'home', do you mean our graves? I flipped on the master arm switch on my remaining weapons and told the others to do the same, even though I don't think they heard me or realized the gravity of our situation.

"…Yeah… But I'm still wondering what Captain Chopper was doing when…" said Grimm but a missile warning cut him off.

I looked ahead and saw a small white ball of smoke coming towards me. I didn't realize it was a missile until the last second when I snap rolled to the right and dodged it. My radar was going nuts and the 8492nd squadron's IFF had disappeared. That's right run away you pieces of shit! My missile warning started to go off again and I snap rolled to the left. Where's the attack coming from?

"Enemy ECM!" shouted Grimm. "Wait, that escort plane….Oh no!"

"The 8492nd squadron doesn't exist," cried Kei in realization.

I looked up at my HUD and saw a ton of new IFF signatures appear and they weren't friendly. We were being hunted and they were going to try and kill us like they did back in November City.

"Someone in the Army's trying to lead us into a trap! Just like back at the stadium," said Grimm.

"We're not going to die like this," I said

"Thunderhead," called out Kei, but he didn't answer. "Thunderhead, respond!"

"Multiple unmarked fighters inbound… Hey, is that their voice on the radio?" asked Grimm.

"You must destroy them! We can't let them end this war."

"Roger! We'll surround them and attack from all directions."

We were closing in on the enemy planes and I saw that they were Su-47s. "Both of you, stay glued to me," I ordered but we were quickly surrounded with the enemy fighters making diving passes at us. We couldn't maneuver anywhere because we were boxed in. The only way we were able to dodge the enemy attacks was to snap roll out of the way.

"The 8492nd aren't Yuktobanian spies?" asked Kei.

"No, they wouldn't have attacked their own civilians if they were," I said and I tried leading Kei and Grimm through the enemy barrier.

"What's going on?" shouted Erica.

"8492, 8492, 8492… I, I know I've heard that somewhere before…" said Grimm.

"We met them over Akerson Hill, Grimm," I said as I rolled to the left to avoid an enemy attack.

"That's right! When we were helping the President's emergency landing, it was the 8492nd that took our place."

"Yeah… You're right," said Kei.

"They got the President too, so that's what escalated the war?" asked Grimm.

"It has to be. There's no way that President Harling would've decided to invade Yuktobania," I said.

"We've got to tell people about this, but how? We're completely surrounded," cried Grimm.

"So we'll break through," said Kei.

"Edge, I hate to be negative but how in the hell are we going to break through all of these enemy fighters?" asked Erica.

I took a look around to see that the enemy pilots had formed a circle around us and they continued to attack from above. These guys were well coordinated and I had to think of something so that we could escape. Their advantages were their superior numbers, while ours were just our skills. Think, Castillo. What do you know about the Su-47? They can't maintain high speeds for very long without the wings becoming over stressed and they didn't have stealth capabilities. We could out run them, but we need to break through first.

"I'm breaking through their curtain," shouted Grimm and I saw his F-18 go into a dive as he attempted to escape.

"Grimm, wait!" I shouted, but it was too late. Two of the Su-47 dove out of the circle after him and lined Grimm up in their sights. I quickly dove after them, leaving Kei alone and totally exposed. I acquired a missile lock on one of the enemy fighters and fired. The missile buried itself into the Su-47 and I quickly lined up the other in my gun sight. A short burst of lead in the Su-47's wing was enough to make the aircraft break apart and go tumbling into the mountains. "Grimm, head east and get the hell out of here!"

"Sir, what about Captain Nagase?" he asked.

"I'll help her. Just try and make it back to Sand Island. Try contacting Thunderhead and get us some help over here if you can!" I shouted and I turned to go and help Kei. I looked behind me and saw one enemy fighter on my tail, but I looked at my radar and saw that there were two of them. I couldn't see the other enemy plane and that made me rather nervous. Just deal with the one you see for now. The other will reveal himself soon afterwards. I pulled into a hard left turn and the enemy Su-47 closed in on me. I then reversed my direction to bring him even closer and as soon as he was close enough, I snapped the stick back and to the left after I cut back on the throttle and lowered my flap while applying full bottom rudder and I watched as the enemy pilot flew right by me. I didn't think that he'd fall for that. I was on the tail of the enemy plane but I immediately broke off my engagement to help Kei.

"Sweetheart, listen. I'm going to punch a hole in the enemy barricade and as soon as you see an opening, we're both going to make a run for it," I said and Kei acknowledged.

I was going to use the stealth capabilities of my Raptor to its fullest potential to get me and my team out of here. I climbed above the five remaining enemy fighters that were circling Kei and I watched as they each made passes at her with their guns. Kei was easily dodging their attack by rolling out of the way but I knew she was getting tired. Now she knows how I felt when I was fighting against Yellow squadron. Once I was high enough, I singled out one of the Su-47s that was climbing up to rejoin the enemy formation so that he could go in for another attack run, but I didn't let him. He was towards my nine o' clock low and I dove on him and fired my gun into his cockpit. I dove pass the other fighters and pulled up into another climb to attack another enemy plane from below. There was a gap between two of the remaining four Su-47s and I targeted the last of the three in the circle. I came up from underneath from his nine o' clock. Once I was in gun range, I fired a stream of bullets that ran along the length of the aircraft and watched it fall out of the sky.

"You're clear, MOVE!" I ordered and Kei made a run for it.

One of the Su-47s was speeding towards me and fired a missile when he was in range. I jettisoned a set of flares and nosed over into a dive in an attempt to escape. He chased me for a little bit before he broke off and joined the others of his squad, but something wasn't right. If they were this bent on trying to kill us, why would they give up now?

"Birdy, has Edge met up with you yet?" I asked over the radio.

"She's almost reached us but… Hans, ten o'clock high!" shouted Erica.

"WHOA!" Grimm exclaimed and I saw missile contrails and tracers off in the distance.

"What's going on?!" I shouted.

"There's another formation of enemy fighters here."

"Keep heading east! I'll take care of them," I said and I accelerated towards them.

I spotted the next enemy formation gunning for Kei and I saw Grimm off in the distance. I gunned my engines to close the gap and catch up with them. I switched over to my AMRAAMs and locked onto one of the Su-47s. With all the radar interference going on, I wasn't sure if my missile would track without any problems. I launched the missile and watched as it made a beeline towards its target. The enemy pilot didn't know where the attack was coming from and he flew into the missile's path. Four enemy fighters were still chasing Kei and I quickly moved in. I wasn't going to let anyone else from my team die and I kept that in my mind the whole time. I lined up one of the four enemy fighters in my sights and squeezed off a bust into his engine. Once he peeled away I line up the next enemy and sent another burst from my gun into his left wing. He spiraled out of control towards the ground and the other two Su-47s broke off from Kei. The stealth advantage of my F-22 was the only thing that was keeping them from finding me so easily. I latched onto the flight lead and he tried going into a descending spiral towards the mountains. I lag rolled outside the spiral and he countered my maneuver by quickly reversing his direction to escape. I continued chasing him but when I got within gun range, I couldn't see an aircraft in the targeting reticule. Something is generating these false signatures, just like when we shot down all those transport planes. I looked back over towards Kei and saw that she was being reengaged by the other Su-47. I was about to turn back and clear her six again, but she managed to perform Pugachev's Cobra and get behind her attacker. I honestly didn't think she could pull that off in her F-15, but she did. Once she was behind her target, she let loose a sidewinder on him and blew him to hell.

"Grimm, I'm coming up on your left wing. We have to help Blaze," said Kei.

"Archer, I'm reading more enemy radar signature on scope and they keep fading in and out," said Erica.

"Captain Nagase, one o' clock high!" shouted Grimm.

I gunned my engines again to catch up with them and I saw the new formation of enemy fighters that Grimm called out. I was about to lock onto the new enemy formation with my remaining AMRAAMs but a glint of light caught my eye at high altitude. I pulled out my binoculars and saw that the glint of light came from an enemy E-767. There you are, you son of a bitch.

"Edge, Archer, keep evading those enemy attacks. Fight if you have to but keep egressing out of the area," I said as I climbed up to meet the jammer aircraft and I checked to make sure I was clear. I saw that I wasn't being targeted at all and I proceeded to attack the E-767. I lined up the aircraft's right engine in my gun sight and I fired into it. The explosion was enough to rip the whole wing off, along with the radar dish. I looked at my radar and saw it clear up a little, but not all the way. There has to be another jammer in the area, but where is it?

"It's a trap! We fell right into it," cried Grimm.

"Captain, where are you?" shouted Erica.

"Hang on you guys. I'm on my way," I said and I dove for speed to catch up with the others. I was heading towards the others at 890mph and my speed was increasing as I continued to dive for the deck. I saw the enemy planes on radar and I saw Kei and Grimm executing the Thatch Weave to provide cover for each other as they tried to escape. What the hell? They should be able to out run Su-47s, so why are they executing this evasive maneuver? I looked through my binoculars again and started scanning for the enemy aircraft that were targeting them. I was shocked to see a formation of YF-23 Black Widow IIs flying in a straight line as they waited for Kei and Grimm to screw up. Where the hell did those come from? I carefully selected my targets so that way I didn't target any false signatures. I locked up four of my targets but they broke my lock with chaff and flares and turned their attention towards me.

"Captain, we've got to make it back! Even if we have to turn our backs to the enemy, right?!" asked Grimm.

"We can't run from these guys. They're too fast," I said as I evaded the attacks of the enemy fighters.

"You're not thinking about defeating all these enemies before returning? That's insane!" screamed Kei.

"We can't out run them and at this rate, we'll run out of fuel before we can make it back to Sand Island."

"But…"

"We don't have any other options. You have to trust me on this one."

"Captain, she's just worried about you…"

"I know, but I'm worried about the three of you. I'll get you out of here, I promise."

There was a moment of silence among them and I barrel rolled over one of my attackers and filled his plane with lead. I looked at their aircraft and I could see some new battle damage that they've received from the enemy planes. I'd be lying if I told them I wasn't scared, because I was. The others were just as scared and if they told me otherwise, they'd be lying.

"Alright, what do you suggest?" said Kei.

"I need you to draw their attention while I thin them out. If you see an opportunity, engage them. Otherwise keep heading east," I ordered and Kei and Grimm circled back to clear my attackers of my tail while I engaged the other enemy aircraft that were chasing them. We were all coming head on towards each other at high speed and just before we blew through each other's formation, I pulled off Pugachev's Cobra and watched my attackers overshoot and scatter as they tried looking for me.

"Alright, you two, draw them away and I'll take care of them," I said.

"Antonio, are you sure about this?" asked Kei fearfully.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you, I swear."

"Kei, he'll get us out alive. I know he will," said Erica.

I heard Kei grunt in agreement and she latched onto the tail of one of the enemy planes and shot it down after she broke hard right and barrel rolled over her attacker as he tried to match her turn. That's my girl. Grimm managed to shoot two of the enemies down in rapid succession when he performed a rolling scissors over one and shot him down with his gun. He then fired a sidewinder at another enemy YF-23 that was climbing up to meet him from head on. I was able to escape the fur ball as Grimm and Kei got the enemy's attention and proceeded into another Thatch Weave. Alright assholes, let's see if you have what it takes to keep up with me. As they chased Grimm and Kei through their maneuver, I remained undetected as I climbed above the enemy formation. I waited for one of my wingmen to give me an opening for me to attack, but Grimm screwed up. He took a turn too wide and one of the YF-23 pilots saw it and pounced. I dove after the attacker as he fired his gun at Grimm and hit his left wing a couple of time. I acquired a missile lock on the enemy pilot and he tried to snap roll to the right in an attempt to break the lock but he positioned himself for me to shoot him down with my gun. My bullets ripped off his rear stabilizer and he lost control of his bird. I quickly climbed back into the sun so that the other enemy pilots couldn't find me and I waited for the next opportunity to strike.

"Grimm, are you okay?" asked Kei.

"We need another way to get away from these guys. We could lose them in the clouds, but it's too dangerous," replied Grimm.

"If that's what it takes, then go for it. Just be careful," I said.

"Captain, I don't think I can."

"Hans, listen to me, I'm not saying that you have to, but if there's no other way for you to get away, then I suggest you use the terrain for cover. I know it's dangerous but I know you can do it," I said trying to boost his confidence.

"Alright, sir, I'll do what I have too."

I looked over at Kei's F-15 and saw that she was weaving through the mountain tops trying to throw off the enemy attacks. She had two bandits on her tail and there were three others flying above her in case Grimm tried clearing her six or if she tried clawing for altitude. I dove on them first, causing them to scatter and then I dove for the other two. I lined the trailing YF-23 up in my gun sight, fired a burst from my gun, and watched as my bullets sailed over his canopy. I've dealt with some pretty stupid ass pilots in all my hours of flying combat missions, but this guy took the top spot when he tried diving away and slammed into the side of the mountain. The last enemy fighter bugged out and I dove into the valley to get out of sight. My reflexes were sharper than ever when I tried flying through the mountains and I cut back on the throttle so that way I had more time to react. After a few seconds of flying through the mountains, I pulled up and began to gain altitude again. I couldn't see any more of the enemy fighters and I frantically started to search for them. I opened the wideband radio channel and started to listen in on the enemy communications.

"Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know. That asshole keeps popping in and out like a fucking weasel."

"Isn't that Mobius 1?"

"It can't be, he's just some wanna be."

"We'll he's clearly making asses out of all of us. Hurry up and waste that son of a bitch!"

Oh-ho-ho, I know you just did not call my mother a bitch. I saw six remaining YF-23s and five more Su-47s holding off at a distance from Kei and Grimm. I dove on them out of sheer rage and I shot down one of each plane on the first pass.

"There he is! All units, engage that F-22!"

Perfect. "Archer, Edge, you're both clear. They're all focusing on me now. Keep heading back to Sand Island and I'll catch up," I said.

"I'm not leaving you here to die, Blaze," said Kei.

"I'll be alright, just get out of here!"

"No! I'm not going to lose you!"

"Kei, I'm not going to let you leave Grimm and Erica totally exposed! I told you that I'd get all of you out of here and I kept my promise. Now believe me when I tell you that I promise I'll see you again!" I said trying to be firm but compassionate at the same time.

"But then you'll be left alone and I won't leave you here to die!"

"Who says I'm going to die?" I said trying to stay positive. "Haven't you forgotten that I've done this before?" I could hear Kei chocking up over the radio and I wanted to embrace her in case this was the last time that I would ever see… No, I was going to her again. I AM going to see her again. I made a promise and I always kept my promises. I wasn't going to die here, not today. "Kei, I know that you know how stubborn we are. I've always came back for you and this time isn't going to be any different. I'll catch up with you."

"I love you, Antonio," said Kei through her tears.

"I love you too," I replied and I watched as Grimm and Kei turned to head east. I felt my heart sink when I saw their planes vanish from sight but at the same time, I felt relieved knowing that they were safe. I grasped my necklace in my hand and took a deep breath before I turned to engage the rest of the enemy fighters. They all locked onto me and sent a wall of missiles my way. I launched a set of flares and broke right to make a run for it, but the YF-23s kept pace with me. I was banking hard to the left and right so that they couldn't get a lock. This forced them to get in closer so that they could try and finish me off with their guns. Once they were close enough, I executed a Super Kulbit and watched as all five of them shot past under me. I quickly locked onto all of them with my remaining AMRAAMs and fired as soon as all of them were locked. They were too close to react in time and I watched as they were all engulfed in flames as I banked to my left. I looked towards my nine o' clock to see the Su-47s closing in on me. The sides of their cockpits were engulfed in flames as they fired their guns directly in front of my flight path. I applied full bottom rudder and pushed the stick even further to the left to enter a dive towards the ground. I started flying through the mountains again and I would pull up over them to gain an awareness of what was ahead so that I didn't slam into a mountain by mistake. These pilots were determined to shoot me down and they stuck to me like ticks. They were all firing wildly and I figured that the excitement or the frustration of the chase had finally gotten to them and I decided that now was the best time for me to make my move. I started to pull up over a mountain and I rolled upside down over a rather large clearing. The enemy pilots were expecting me to dive while I was upside down and they dove to try and gain lead on me with their guns, but I threw them off by pushing forward on the stick. I had a height advantage over them and I used it to dive on the enemy planes. I had all four of the Su-47s in front of me and I started to wish that I had more missiles. I dove on the formation and out of desperation; one of the pilots tried rolling away and slammed into his squad mate. Okay, either these guys are just plain stupid or maybe they weren't trained as well as they should've been. With only two more enemy fighters left to go, I quickly dispatched the lead plane. His wingman knew that I was coming after him next and he went into a climbing left turn as I dove on him from his eight o' clock high. His maneuver forced me to overshoot and we both quickly reversed direction to try and gain the upper hand. As he continued his right bank towards me, I lag rolled to position myself behind him. I wasted no time in filling his plane full with 20mm cannon shells once he was in my sights and I watched as his plane ripped in half after my bullets buried themselves inside both of his engines. I did it, I actually did it. I had lost track of how many enemy planes that I had shot down and I had managed to save my team. I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed as the cold air seeped into my cockpit from the bullet holes that were created in my canopy from when we attacked the fortress. My gloves were soaked in perspiration and I took them off to wipe the sweat off of my forehead.

I started laughing to myself for some reason and I didn't know why, but then, my slap happy moment was interrupted by the sound of my missile warning going off. No fucking way! I looked towards my twelve o' clock high to see another barrage of missiles headed straight for me. I launched my last set of flares and watched as their missiles scatter in confusion. The odds were stack against me with multiple radar signatures closing in from all directions now. Some signatures were fading in and out while others were scattering like roaches in light. I quickly stuffed my gloves under my leg so that they wouldn't fly around inside the cockpit while I flew for my life. I quickly got ready to fight and I dove to make a run for it. I looked behind me as my lock on warning started to go off and saw six YF-23s closing in on me. They all launched their missiles and I broke hard left to evade them. The six fighter shot past me and zoomed in climbing turns to the right. I hit the afterburners and rolled back to the right, turning after the six enemy fighters with all the speed my Raptor could give me. I had to even the odds and I had to bag these guys if I had any hope of escaping. I closed the distance with the trailing YF-23. I was fifty yards away when I opened up with my gun, watching the shells move up the fuselage and disappear inside the cockpit. The Black Widow started Dutch Rolling before it nosed over and headed for the mountains. But now, I had more enemy fighters on my tail. I didn't want to fight and I knew I couldn't run. I wearily accepted the fact that I had to face these long odds, but I was exhausted. I knew that if I slipped up once with the stick, rudder pedals, or the throttle, it would spell certain doom for me. I wanted time to catch my breath but there wasn't any time. I tried diving away one last time, but these YF-23s were so fast! I snapped back into a tight left turn. The maneuver startled the enemy pilots as I climbed at them from below, swinging into a spiral. I was surprised the enemy formation didn't scatter. The lead fighter responded with an equal spiral, matching my maneuver perfectly. I spiraled again and he drew even closer to me. The other enemy fighters refused to loosen up at all. This was something that I had never encountered before. The other pilots that I've fought before wouldn't have been able to keep up with me so easily but these pilots were more experienced. Something was very wrong and I now realized that my odds of making out of here alive were even longer. I came out of my spiral into a trap. I looked around me to see even more enemy fighters join the fray and I counted a total of twelve YF-23s circling me and I was circling in the center of it. I didn't have enough time to curse myself over my bad luck before four of the enemy fighters dove on me and I rolled out of the way too easily. I thought it was a simple evasion but I quickly realized that I had set myself up for another attack when a second quartet of YF-23s dove on me. I didn't have any other options except for me to run. I hit the afterburners to get out of gun range, but the four attacking planes weren't the slightest bit concerned. They climbed back up from their dive and got above me within a matter of seconds, diving on me again. I stomped on the left rudder pedal and snapped the stick over to the left, rolling sharply. An YF-23's tracers slipped underneath my right wing, followed by their owner's plane. I came out of the roll in a tight turn with another fighter right behind me. I barrel rolled over a missile he launched at me and I started to lose my temper. I was trapped and all of this reminded me of when I escaped from Pitbull. I pictured every one of these pilots as one of the guards that I fought through and I dove after the last enemy that I evaded. He was in my sights for less than two seconds before I turned his plane into a flaming coffin. How do you like that you son of a bitch! Another YF-23 tried to dive on me while firing his gun directly in front of me. I pulled into a Super Kulbit and dove on him with more fighters on my tail. They were closing on me too fast for me to line up my target. I barrel rolled over my pursuers and I quickly sped back up to get away. I thought the stealth capabilities of my F-22 would help me escape, but there were too many eyes on me. I had to break their line of sight somehow. I zoomed into a cloud with the enemy fighters following me closely with guns blazing. I broke hard right to evade the streams of lead and as I reversed my direction. The YF-23s weren't able to match all of my turns and I realized that they weren't as agile as my F-22. I latched onto one of the enemy planes and followed him into a descending left spiral. Thank you, Lockheed, for thrust vectoring nozzles. I quickly pulled lead while the other enemy fighters tried getting into position behind me, but they weren't quick enough.

"Get him off of me!"

"We can't get an angle on him. Pull out of that spiral and go into a split S. Well take care of him."

I watched my target roll over and dive, but I didn't follow him. I pulled out of the descending spiral but kept on pulling the left turn. The enemy pilots still weren't able to match it and I kept pulling the turn. However, I was starting to feel the physical effects of all the stress my body was under. The cold air that seeped into my cockpit was starting to make my hands cramp and I felt myself becoming more and more tired. My left arm was starting to go numb from all the maneuvering to the left. Come on, Antonio. Wake up. You have to make it back alive. You promised Kei you'd see her again. I shook off the fatigue and strengthened my resolve. I have to force these guys to screw up somehow. I barrel rolled into the enemy formation that was chasing me and they seemed surprised that I was flying wingtip to wingtip with them. I smiled as I flipped them both birds and laughed. Wait for it… wait for it. I held formation with them until one of them decided to break off. I broke out of the enemy formation after him and quickly shot him down with my gun. One enemy fighter fired a missile at me but I broke right to avoid it and the enemy pilot tried to match it, but he couldn't keep up. I took a couple quick breaths before I reversed my direction and shot him down. That's three down and now only nine more to go. The remaining enemy fighters regrouped and quickly surrounded me. I'm surrounded… that simplifies the problem. I gathered all my strength for a desperate maneuver. I climbed up towards one of the surrounding enemy planes and got behind it. I was well aware of the enemy plane that was behind me and I ignored him for the moment when I shot down my target by sending a quick burst from my gun into his right engine. Now I had to worry about the enemy behind me. He fired a missile and I broke hard left and quickly reversed my direction by lag rolling into position above and behind him. I dove on him and fired into both of the YF-23's engines and performed a high G barrel roll behind the next enemy fighter that was behind me. After I filled his cockpit full of holes, I dove for the deck and I felt myself becoming even more exhausted. I sacrificed too much speed shooting down those three enemy fighters and my stamina was fading rapidly. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take.

Come on, Kid. I know you have more fight left in you.

"I'm not sure if I can go on, Chopper," I said to myself.

Yes you can. You now have a reason to fight, two reasons, actually. You promised Nagase that you'd see her again and you were right when you said that there's more to this war. That has to be worth fighting for.

"Dammit, Davenport, I wish you were here right now."

I know, man. But right now you have to dig deep and keep going. There's only six more of these bastard and I know you can take them. Show them why the Yukes called us the Demons of Razgriz.

I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the remaining six YF-23s diving on me at full speed. Tracers and missiles shot past my canopy as I snapped the stick to the left. I dove into the mountains one last time at full speed. I was hugging the sides of the mountains as I made my way east with bullets and missiles exploding all around me. That's right, try and hit me. You'll miss every time. My mind was focused only on the cliff faces while the enemy fighters continued to press their attack. The gaps between the mountains were starting to become even narrower but the enemy planes just kept coming after me. Eventually I ran out of room and the enemy fighters had given me a wide berth so I couldn't maneuver behind them. I was still trying to catch my breath as I flew through the mountain. My palms were all sweaty and the skin on my hands was starting to become chapped. Both of these factors made it hard to grip the controls and I couldn't do anything about it. I was pushing my physical limits and I really needed a break from all of this. You have to keep moving, Antonio. Just hold on! I pulled back as hard as I could on the stick and pulled up into a near vertical spiral. My attackers were still following me but they had difficulty trying to match my maneuver. I could've out turned them all day if I wasn't so tired and I had to muster every bit of strength I could to make my next move. I continued spiraling as I nosed my plane over and dove for the ground again. I saw that two of the enemy fighters had peeled off to the right while the other four stuck to me. As I went into a tight descending spiral, I applied full bottom rudder and put my Raptor into a controlled flat spin stall and I watched as my attackers pulled into a wide loop over me as they tried to line me up in their sights, but they couldn't pull the maneuver tight enough. With the entire formation trying to regroup, I quickly pulled my gloves out from under my leg and put them on. They were still soaked in my sweat but I was finally able to grip my controls better. Righteous, let's get to work. I nosed my plane over to end the flat spin stall and spotted the two enemy fighters that broke right turning back to engage me. I knew I wouldn't be able to hit them from head on so I climbed into the sun to get away. I looked back to see all six of them regroup and they flew in my general direction in an attempt to find me. I had finally broken their line of sight on me and I decided to just head back to Sand Island, but they weren't done with me yet. As I started to head back east, my missile warning went off and I looked back to see a missile heading my way. I broke left as the missile shot towards me from my nine o'clock and barrel rolled over it. These bastards are smarter than I thought. I was flushed from cover and they all started gunning for me again. My flight path was perpendicular to theirs and they all had clear shots with their missiles. I turned into them and came head on with all six enemy fighters. They all launched another barrage of missiles my way and I went into a shallow dive as the missiles continued to track me. At the last possible moment, I pulled up and rolled over the enemy formation and I pulled a nine G Split S to get behind them. I yelled to help keep myself conscious through the maneuver. I've had it with all this running. I'm going home to expose the truth to everyone about this war. I latched onto one of the remaining YF-23s and quickly filled his plane full of lead. He was trailing fire and thick black smoke as his entire right wing became engulfed in flames. I wasted no time in switching targets and latched onto another one of the enemy planes. I continued yelling in frustration as my finger close around the trigger and sent another deadly volley of 20mm cannon shells towards my target. My missile warning went off again and I instinctively broke right and reversed my direction two more time to lead my pursuer into a scissors maneuver. All four of them tried to follow me through but I eventually got behind all of them. I pulled lead on another enemy plane and fired my gun into the cockpit of my target before my gun fell silent. Shit, I'm dry. I only had one sidewinder left and I sank my teeth into another one of the enemy fighters. However, when I tried to pull lead on my target, I felt the wings of my Raptor buckle from all the stress my maneuvering had put on the airframe. NO! NOT NOW! I couldn't keep my target in my sights without further damaging my plane's structural integrity. I tried diving for speed but I could hear my F-22's groans as I nosed it over. I was beaten. I was out of options and it looked like I wasn't going to be able to keep my promise to Kei after all. I felt like I had lied to her and it tore me up inside. I'd never be able to see her beautiful smile again nor would I ever be able to tell her that I loved her again. I wanted to embrace her one last time before I died and tell her how much she meant to me. I thought about this until tears ran down my cheeks and sobbed as I waited for these guys to finish me off.

"Kei…" I said over the radio. "I don't know if you can still hear me but… It looks like I won't be keeping my promise to you. Believe me when I say that I tried, but my best wasn't good enough. As long as I know that you, Grimm, and Boldman made it home, then I know my death wasn't meaningless. " I watched as all three of the remaining enemy planes regrouped and made a wide left bank to get behind me. "I would've loved to have a future with you, and I wanted to…. I wanted to tell you one last time how amazing you are and that the next guy you meet is the next luckiest guy in the world." The three enemy fighters were finally positioned behind me and I listened to the alarm that warned me that I was being spiked by enemy radar. I took on last deep breath and prepared myself to die. "I love you Kei," I whispered into my radio and I clenched my fist in anger. I heard the missile warnings go off and I saw them closing in as I looked into my rear view mirror. Here I come, dad.

"I love you too, Antonio"

I thought I was imagining things when I heard Kei's voice and the tears began to flow even harder. I closed my eyes as the missiles closed in on me, but then I heard something that sounded very familiar. I kept my eyes closed as the familiar sound grew louder and my missile warning suddenly stopped after I heard a loud explosion. I didn't feel my plane shudder or buck from the impact of the missiles nor did I feel my plane spiraling out of control. I opened one eye and nervously peeked at my HUD to see that I was still flying level at eight thousand feet. I looked behind me to see that the enemy YF-23s heading for the ground in flames and I saw Grimm's F-18 diving for the deck and pulling back up into a climb and form up on my right wing.

"Grimm…" I said trying to catch my breath.

"It's alright, Captain. We're here," he said.

I looked ahead and saw Kei's F-15 headed right for us. She pulled up into a climb and pulled a Split S to position herself on my left wing. I looked over towards her through watery eyes and I could barely make out her face. My breathing relaxed and I wiped the tears away from my eyes. I didn't know what I should've said first. Should I tell her that I love her again? Should I tell her 'thank you' or should I yell at her for coming back for me?

"You should know better than to fly in a straight line, Blaze," said Kei.

I let out a slight laugh as l leaned back in my seat and I undid my oxygen mask. I was breathing heavily and I sounded like I was crying and laughing at the same time. "You three are a sight for sore eyes," I sighed.

"Is your plane alright?" asked Erica.

"She's not maneuvering too well."

"We have to land soon. Where's the nearest airfield?" asked Kei.

"Why, are you low on fuel?" I asked.

"No, we have to get you out of the air ASAP."

"Then let's hurry up and get back to Sand Island. We have to let someone know about all of this," said Erica.

"We don't have the fuel to make the trip back to Sand Island. We have to find a closer base," argued Kei.

I was worried that my F-22 wouldn't hold together long enough for us to make it back and we also had to worry about our fuel situation. I quickly did the math in my head and determined that we didn't have enough fuel to make it back to Sand Island, and chances were that we'd be grounded for the day if we landed somewhere other than Sand Island. My mind was racing with thoughts about what we should do. I needed to get back to Sand Island to warn the others of Wardog squadron and my sister. If we were being targeted, then so were they. We had to get back to Sand Island, but we couldn't make it, unless…

"How far is the Jet Stream from our current position?" I asked.

"I can't tell something's still interfering with our radar," said Erica.

The other Jammer! "Keep your eyes peeled for jammer aircraft."

I pulled out my binoculars one last time and started scanning the sky. I couldn't see anything and neither could the others. Where the hell are you? I looked at the radar and saw that there weren't any signatures on screen; real or false. I figured that someone was trying to sneak up on us and I looked behind me. I couldn't get a good view of anything. I unstrapped myself from my seat so that way I could get a better view behind me and sure enough, we were being followed by one last enemy plane. It was a Tornado ECR trailing us and I signaled the others using hand signals. I deduced that this guy was transmitting our position to another squadron of enemy fighters.

"Grimm, go high and see if you can get a better view of the area. Edge, keep me covered," I ordered over the radio but she knew I meant for her to keep whichever one of us the enemy pilot attacked, covered. Grimm broke out of formation and climbed into the sun while we watched him closely. I looked in my rear view mirror to see the Tornado holding position at our seven o' clock low. Grimm saw this and looped behind the enemy plane and lined him up for a shot, but the Tornado pilot broke off and Grimm gave chase. The enemy pilot was handling his plane rather well and Grimm looked like he was having trouble staying on his tail, but I was wrong. It's difficult for me to describe how good Grimm's flying was. I had to admit that it did seem like he was dancing with the enemy pilot as they looped up, over, and around each other. Grimm didn't focus on attacking from behind as much as I did. He attacked from every possible angle there was and it amazed me just how he was able to do it. The enemy pilot had just come out of a high G loop and Grimm had performed a loop that allowed him to intercept his target from three o'clock, but the pilot had led him into a trap. When Grimm opened fire with his gun, the enemy pilot snap rolled over him and had somehow managed to make a ninety degree left turn so that he was now on Grimm's tail. I was about to order Kei to help him but Grimm amazed the hell out of me with his next maneuver. He started it off by pulling off Pugachev's Cobra, only he didn't pull out of it when he approached stalling speed. Grimm then hit full right rudder as he applied full throttle, causing his F-18 to yaw clockwise violently while he pushed forward on the stick. His F-18 went from facing east while flying sideways, to facing north as he rolled into position behind the enemy Tornado. That was bloody amazing! The Tornado pilot must've been even more surprised than I was because he didn't move when Grimm launched a sidewinder at him and blew the enemy plane away. Our radar had finally cleared up and we now had to find our way back home.

"Grimm… That was awesome," I said as Grimm formed up on my left wing.

"Oh… well thank you, sir. That means a lot coming from you," he replied.

"Anyways, Boldman, how far are we from the Subtropical Jet Stream?"

"Uh…let's see…..about three hundred and fifty miles directly south of our current location," said Erica.

"Sand Island's almost fifteen hundred miles from here and we only have nine hundred miles of fuel left. We're not going to make it back like this. We should refuel at one of the closest allied controlled airfields," said Kei.

It was a long shot if we were going to try for Sand Island, but then I remembered Thunderhead. "Thunderhead, come in," I hailed over the radio, but all I got was static in return. I hailed him several more time before Kei said that it was no use. "Shit," I muttered.

"So I assume we're headed for the closest airfield then?" asked Kei.

"No, everyone gain as much altitude as you can. We're going to glide towards the jet stream as much as possible and ride it the whole way towards Sand Island. Let's get moving."

We all turned south and gained as much altitude as we could. I had to go easy on the angle that I climbed because I didn't want to put my plane under any more stress. It took some time, but we all eventually made it to our aircraft's service ceiling. We then shut off our engines and glided towards our way point. It felt strange to fly without the engines wailing and I took advantage of the quiet and took off my helmet to whip off all the sweat from my head. The sun was still shining brightly and I put on my aviators so that I could see. I kept my oxygen mask on so that I could breathe and communicate with the others if they needed something.

"So who were those guys that attacked us?" asked Grimm.

"I don't know. But whoever it is benefiting from this war somehow," said Erica.

"What countries do you know fly Su-47s and YF-23s?"

"Well, theirs the Independent States, Erusea, and…"

"Belka," I muttered, cutting off Erica.

"What are Belkan pilots doing here?" asked Kei as she came to the same conclusion.

"I think the real question is what their involvement in this war is."

"Do you think they're trying to help Yuktobania?" asked Grimm.

"I don't think so. If Yuktobania invaded Osea, more than likely South Belka would've been invaded too," I said.

"How did they know where to find us?" asked Kei.

"Someone has to be working with them," said Erica. "It has to be someone within our military, but whom?"

I was already creating a list of suspects in my head but as I tried narrowing it down, I realized that it had to be someone who had to know what we were up to all the time. "Thunderhead…"

"What?"

Thunderhead was with us from the very beginning and he was also the one who ordered us to hold fire against those enemy planes that were trying to kill us when I first flew with Wardog. The Osean Rules of Engagement allowed us to defend ourselves but Thunderhead sure did try hard to get us in trouble for trying to keep ourselves alive. There was also the time when the Kestrel was trying to regroup with the other two carriers and he didn't call out those enemy fighters until we noticed it on our radar. He also knew our exact position when we got word that the 8492 attacked the engineering college but he still doubted our innocence when we were accused of the attack. When November City was under attack, he also called back the allied reinforcements when he heard that we had shot down the enemy stealth bombers, leaving us die. If those allied fighters hadn't gone against orders, we'd all be with Chopper. Now Thunderhead wasn't responding for God know what reason and that made me suspect him even more. We all continued discussing this whole conspiracy while we glided our way towards the Jet Stream. It was an amazing sight when we reached it. We could see a huge column of clouds floating from west to east, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was only the second natural phenomenon that I've seen in my life but it wasn't as amazing as the auroras I saw when I was flying as Mobius 1. Once we reached the Jet Stream, we turned our engines back on and slipped in with the clouds so that we could fly back towards Sand Island with the of the wind pushing us along. The more we talked about all of this, the more questions we had than answers but we were able to connect the dots of some things like 'The President's' escalation of the war. I knew by now that Genette was closing in on the same discovery. We now knew for sure that there was more to this war than we originally thought and we now had a reason to fight. I was going to get to the bottom of it, but first we had to let the public know about it.

December 7, 0112hrs Sand Island AFB

"So who do we tell first," I asked as we came in to land.

"There's no point in talking to that blockhead Commander. He treated our President like an idiot, just because he wanted peace," said Kei.

"What about his Adjutant, Captain Hamilton?" suggested Grimm.

"Roger that. The Captain and I will go see him. Grimm, you let Genette and Pops know."

"Right, be careful."

"What about me? What should I do," asked Erica.

"Find Rockford and Nelms and tell them to meet us in the crew room. See if you can find my sister too," I said.

We all parked our planes on the flight line and we headed off in all directions to do what needed to be done. I could tell Kei was anxious to talk to Captain Hamilton by the way she dropped all of her flight gear in the hanger. She ran ahead of me while I walked like I was hesitant about telling Hamilton.

"What's wrong," asked Kei.

"You ever get the feeling when you know something isn't right?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why, do you have that feeling right now?"

"Yeah, I get the feeling that we should tread carefully," I said and Kei nodded as she turned to head towards Hamilton's office. "Kei, wait."

Kei stopped and turned towards me again. I gazed at her as she stood there wondering what I was going to say next, or rather do next. I walked up to her and pulled her closely to me. She didn't hug me back right away because she had no idea why I had embraced her like this. "Thank you for saving me," I said softly and Kei slowly wrapped her hands around me. I never really feared for my own life, but I realized that the only time I was afraid to die was when I had everything to lose. I fought as hard as I could to make it back but if it hadn't been for the others, I'd be dead. I let go of Kei and tried to say something, but she slapped me as hard as she could. I held my cheek and my face twisted in pain. Kei stared at me until I lowered my hand from my face.

"Ouch," I said nonchalantly.

"Fight harder next time or I'll kick your ass," growled Kei and she turned to walk off.

Yeah, good luck. "Yes, ma'am," I said.

We started to make our way towards Captain Hamilton's office but we got harassed by base security because we didn't return our side arms to the armory. I wanted to incapacitate them but then I'd be drawing suspicion towards us. We quickly made our way to the armory and gave them our side arms, but I kept my KA-BAR. Kei and I hauled ass towards Hamilton's office. We entered the building where Hamilton's office was located and started running down the hallway. Colonel Perrault's office was two floors above us, but we knew there was no point in talking to him. One of the few guards who were performing his rounds in the building started eye balling us and he tried stopping me because he saw that I was still carrying my knife around my right thigh. Base security never harassed me about it before and I knew something was up. I also noticed that I had never seen this guard in particular around Sand Island since I got here four months ago.

"I'm gonna have to take that from you, Captain," said the guard.

"Try it and I'll knock your ass out," I said with an evil glare and he back off.

I heard him mumble something as I walked by him and I thought he called me an 'asshole' or something like that so I didn't pay much attention to it. Kei and I kept running down the corridors, trying to get to Hamilton's office, but as we rounded the second to last corner, we saw him walking towards us with both hands behind his back. His head was down and the brim of his cover obstructed my view of his eyes. I was about to call him Captain when I noticed that he now had a Major's insignia his shoulder. Under normal circumstances, we would've saluted him but Kei had already called out to him. The way he walked towards us made me suspect that something was wrong. He knew that Kei and I were here to see him and I realized that he was expecting us.

"Major, we need to talk to you about something urgent," she said as he closed the distance between us.

"Yes, but first I need to do something important," said Hamilton and he looked up at us with an evil grin.

Oh crap! I grabbed Kei by the shoulder and pulled her back while I walked on ahead. I continued to approach Hamilton and once he got within arm's reach of me, he swung his right hand out from around his back to reveal a knife, aimed for my abdomen. I threw my hips back and leaned back in time for me to dodge an upward swipe that he aimed for my chest. I leaned back too far and I fell backwards, but I back flipped in order to recover in time to see Hamilton trying to heel kick me. I pushed his leg out of the way and he tried to stab me with the knife. I grabbed Hamilton's arm and flipped him over my shoulder so that he landed in front of Kei who then kicked him in the head, dazing him heavily. I pulled the knife out of Hamilton's hand and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Why do you want us dead?" I shouted.

"I'm not telling you anything," said Hamilton.

His response was proof that he was involved in some kind of conspiracy. He knew what was going on and I was sure that he put that hit on us over Yuktobania. I pulled Hamilton to his feet as I grabbed him by the throat and forced him against the wall. The more he tried struggling, the tighter my grip became around his neck.

"I'm only going to ask you one more time before shit starts to get ugly, why does Belka want us dead," I growled.

"Fuck you," he strained to say.

"Have it your way," I said. I asked Kei to keep a look out for me while I started interrogating Hamilton. I struck him the gut with my knee, slammed his head back into the wall while he was bent over, and I punched him hard enough so that his head bounced off the wall. I quickly put my hand back on his throat and asked him the same question again. He responded by spitting in my face and I replied back by walking him over to a fire extinguisher case on the wall. I grabbed the back of Hamilton's neck and ran his head through the glass door, pulled him back out, kneed him in the gut again, and slammed his head on top of the fire extinguisher case. I pulled Hamilton back up to his feet again and pulled out my knife. "Keep it up, you'll have to pay for sex when I'm through with you," I said.

"You're supposed to be dead!" said Hamilton.

"Why?" I growled.

"So Osea doesn't win this war," said Hamilton.

"What does Yuktobania gain from this?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he said. I was about to stab Hamilton in the leg but Kei warned me that someone was coming. While I was looking at her, Hamilton managed to get loose and punch me. I was dazed and I didn't see his next hit coming. I quickly shook it off and started fighting back. The guard that we saw earlier came running with back up and Kei ran towards them. She jumped on the lead guard so that his head was between her thighs and then she proceeded to fling her upper body back so that the guard was thrown out of the way. Kei then quickly rolled out of the way and swung her leg around to knock another guard off of his feet. Another guard tried to draw his gun but Kei quickly jumped and ran her knee into the guy's jaw, knocking him two feet into the air. I wanted to see how she dealt with the other guards but I had to focus on Hamilton. His true fighting prowess became clear and I had to stay sharp as he made every single move. I was able to drop kick him once and he had somehow managed to get a hold of his knife when he got back up. Hamilton charged at me one last time, but he wasn't expecting me to end the fight so quickly. He tried stabbing down at me from above and I quickly cut his wrist. I then grabbed his knife with my left hand, spun around, stabbed him in his right leg, and punched him as hard as I could in his forehead. He staggered backwards and quickly regained his balance. He whipped the blood off the corner of his mouth and forehead before he looked at me and smiled.

"You're good, I'll give you that. I never thought you'd hinder our plans this long," said Hamilton. "But your skills won't be enough to save you, your friends, or your family."

My eyes widened when I realized that he was already two steps ahead of me in trying to frame us. Hamilton ordered the 8492nd squadron to attack the Yuktobanian College when he knew that we were operating near that area and I was right to suspect him when he mentioned the minor details that occurred during our mission that day before we left for Oured. He was also the one who fed the Yukes our battle plans at the beginning of the war, which was why the Yukes knew exactly when and where to hit us. The fact that he already had plans set in motion to deal with my friends and family wasn't the slightest bit comforting. I felt myself go numb with rage when I connected all the dots. I gripped my knife tightly as Hamilton charged at me and he tried to hit me with a flying kick. I stepped to the side just enough for him to miss and I caught his leg while he was still in the air. I quickly swung Hamilton around and slammed him into the wall. I grabbed him by the hair and placed my knife on his throat. The fear in Hamilton's eyes made me smile and it continued to grow at the thought of me killing him. Antonio, no! Don't do it! Not like this! The sound of my mother's voice snapped me out of my stupor.

"What's wrong, Castillo? Can't you kill me?" Hamilton mocked.

Hamilton smiled at me and I felt myself looking into his eyes. They weren't the ones that haunted me and I wished that they were. I wanted this guy dead just as much as Green and I couldn't bring myself to kill him yet. I needed to know what his plans were for dealing with the people closest to me and what Belka's future plans for the war were. I needed everything this bastard knew if we were going to reveal the truth. I pulled my blade away from Hamilton's neck and grabbed his throat again.

"You're going to tell me…" I began.

"Blaze," shouted Kei as she ran towards me. I looked behind her to see five armed soldiers dressed in tactical gear, with SMGs and assault rifles equipped with suppressors, frag and flash grenades, and night vision goggles. Kei ran past me after she ran her fist through Hamilton's jaw. His head twisted violently as blood and saliva flew out of his mouth and I watched as he hit the ground hard. If Hamilton wasn't hurt before, he sure as shit was incapacitated after what Kei did. I quickly grabbed Hamilton's limp body, lifted him up in front of me, and charged towards the armed guards. I was using his body as a meat shield and I knew then that these men were under Hamilton's command because they weren't shooting at me. When I was close enough, I threw Hamilton at one of the guards and grabbed another guard's weapon. I quickly heel kicked him and blindly fired at the other guards who tried ducking out of the way. I ejected the mag and threw it at one of the other guards' head. He was totally confused as to what just happened and I hit him as hard as I could with the gun. I grabbed him and brought him between me and another guard who opened fire on me. The guard's vest took most of the punishment but a few stray bullets to his head killed him. The guard who tried shooting me tried to reload, which gave me enough time to grab his arm, flip him over my shoulder, throw my knife at another guard's leg, and twist the guard's arm that I flipped over my shoulder so that it broke while he was on the ground. The guard I threw Hamilton at was starting to get up off the floor and I quickly drew the suppressed pistol from the guard whose arm I broke, and shot him in the head. The other guard that I threw my knife at tried to bring up his MP5 and I shot him before he could shoot. I got up off the ground and Kei walked up to me to take stock of what I did.

"Do you notice anything odd about these guys?"

"Uh, they were trying to kill us?" Kei replied sarcastically.

"No, those guys were a wet squad. They're going to kill us because Hamilton ordered them to."

"Well, we did just beat the hell out of Hamilton."

"He's going to try and frame us like he did during Hammer Blow."

Kei brought her hand to her head and pulled her hair in frustration. "Dammit, we're so screwed," muttered Kei.

"Nobody screws us," I said, trying to think. "Except for each other," I added trying to be funny and Kei looked at me totally annoyed.

"Do have any bright ideas?" asked Kei.

"Just one, but we have to find the others, fast," I said as I retrieved my knife out of the guard's leg. I also took the rest of his pistol ammo, a grenade, and his radio. Kei took a pistol off of one of the other guards and we headed back down the hallway and I caught sight of a closet that held the main power conduit for the entire building. I pulled the pin out from the grenade I was carrying and tossed it inside the closet. I quickly shut the door behind us and we headed towards the building exit as the grenade exploded and knocked out power to the entire building. That should let us slip out of here more easily. Kei and I quickly headed for the door and we ran into Pops, Grimm, and Genette as they came dashing down the adjacent hallway.

"What's going on?" asked Grimm.

"No time to explain, we have to go," I said and we all ran out of the building.

MP buggies were approaching from all directions and I told everyone to follow me as we made our way to the garages at the end of the main hanger. We hugged the shadows as much as possible while trying to avoid spotlights and armed guards. The radio I took was a great help with determining where the guards were most concentrated at Kei and I had to incapacitate a number of them before we could continue to make our way towards safety and I managed to get my hands on one of their MP5 submachine guns. We weren't sneaky enough for Kirk because he found us with no problem. The hiding spot we ended up at was Kei and I's make out point and we were lucky that no one else was around. I asked Grimm if he could go and scout out the hangers to see if we could use our planes to get the hell out of dodge. He ran off while the rest of us waited for him to get back.

"Everyone on Sand Island was pretty much turned against us. We should've gone to Perrault first," I said.

"Hamilton's got the base commander deceived too," said Genette.

"I punched that guy's lights out. That bastard was wearing a Major's insignia on his shoulder," said Kei.

"Perrault probably promoted him after he convinced him that we betrayed Osea. That was a hell of a right hook by the way" I said and saw Kei crack a slight smile.

"I don't know who it is, but someone's trying to keep this war going," said Genette. "If Osea continues to win, then the war would be over."

"And they're after us to prevent that? You're kidding," said Kei in disbelief.

"You people are the pillar of moral for the entire Osean Army now," said Genette.

"But there's no way the Brass would believe that we're traitors after all we've done for our allies, which reminds me, were you able to find the President?" I asked Genette.

"No, no one in the capitol has seen him in nearly two months."

"So they did get him," I muttered.

"And now you know something that you were better off not knowing; the President's disappearance," said Pops.

"Listen Pops, who exactly are you?" asked Genette.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I brought myself up off the wall I was leaning on. But before I could get an answer, I noticed Kirk turn his head towards the other end of the ally and the sound of footsteps coming towards us became apparent. Kei and I both readied our weapons as we waited for whoever it was. I had my finger poised on the trigger of the MP5 that I had taken from the guard, but relaxed when I saw that it was Grimm. He was bent over trying to catch his breath so that he could tell us about our way out of here.

"It's no good, they seized our planes in the hangers," he exclaimed.

Dammit, there's got to be some way for us to get out of here. I thought about stealing a boat and riding it away from Sand Island, but there was no way for us to make it anywhere without being stranded in the middle of the ocean with no fuel. Our only way off the base was by air but with no way to reach our planes safely, we were stuck here.

"Hanger C in the rear probably isn't so heavily guarded," said Pops somewhat optimistically.

"Yeah, but…over there, there's nothing but…"

"We'll escape with my training jets," interrupted Pops. "Good thing I maintain all my planes well, eh? Let's try it. Genette you'll take the seat behind me."

"You guys go on ahead," I said.

"What are you going to do?" asked Kei.

"I'm not leaving the others here so that they can rot in prison, or worse."

"But Blaze, there's no way you'll be able to reach them without getting caught," said Genette.

"I'm not leaving them," I said stubbornly.

"We can't do anything for them. We have to leave without them," said Pops.

"So, after everything you've said to me, you expect me to abandon your friends when I know I can save them?" I asked Pops. After all the words of wisdom he's given me since I first met him, I lost a great deal of respect for Pops when he told me to leave without the others. "I thought you of all people would understand, Pops."

Pops looked away from me because he knew he was being hypocritical. I knew it was dangerous to go and find them, but they were still my responsibility. I also made myself a promise to make sure nothing happened to them after Chopper died.

"Shouldn't I go with you if you're going to try and bust the out of custody?" asked Kei.

"It would help but I don't want anything happening to them in case you guys become compromised while you head towards the hangers," I said.

"Will you be okay? You must be exhausted."

"Yeah, I am. I'll be alright though."

Kei gave me a worried look and placed her hand on my cheek. She had the right to be worried but she knew this was something I could do. I hugged her one last time before she left to lead the others towards Hanger C. It was going to be a very long night and I was already beat from flying for my life earlier. I had to keep myself awake somehow but I couldn't think of anything. All I could do was shake my head and bounce a little to keep my blood flowing. I checked my weapon to make sure that it was good to go and stood facing the search light that kept passing over the garages. Just hang tight, guys. I'm coming for you.