Ch. 10 – Operation Vega Dawn Pt. 2
I do not own RWBY, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum (R.I.P.) nor do I own any media that may appear in the story. I only own the OCs, Enjoy! Remember to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review.
Everyone slowly entered the room and came to a stop as they stared at the woman with an explosive vest strapped to her body. Grullo swung his LMG and let it hang on his back before he lowered himself down closer to the floor as time slowed around him, he pushed off the floor with his right leg as he sprinted toward the woman and closed his hands around hers as the flow of time resumed its normal pace.
"It's gonna be alright, we're here." Grullo said in a soothing tone that seemed to comfort the scared girl. He slowly took the detonator from the girl's hand as the others locked down the situation "Crimson, Grizz, Sweets! Cover that door. Keppel, Duke, Nightshade! Secure the room. Phantom and Aero, on me." Carmine yelled as he and Onyx approached the woman strapped with the vest.
"Alright, find the power source." Carmine said as he traced wires down the woman's side. Keppel's ears twitched as the sound of boots echoed from down a corridor that Crimson, Grizz, and Sweets were covering. "Aero, do you see anything?" Carmine asked as he pulled his gas mask off and clipped it to his side, he unsheathed his Ka-Bar and placed it between his teeth as he traced another wire. Aero shook his head "Negative, all I see is her body heat." Aero said as his eyes turned from mint green back to hazel. "Alright, idea number two." Carmine said as he stood up and slowly slid his knife under the vest straps and cut them carefully as to not damage the wires.
Onyx unsheathed his Ka-Bar and followed suit, Aero and Phantom slowly lifted the vest off the girl while Grullo held the detonator. "Stop." Aero said as the vest was halfway off her body, they all looked at Aero as the sound of gunfire echoed through the small corridor. "Duke! Come here!" Carmine yelled to the Devil leader who sprinted over to the rifleman. "Turn your light on and shine it here." Aero said as he pointed at a place on the vest, Duke clicked his shoulder light and illuminated the designated spot.
The light hit the vest and illuminated a secondary detonator that was triggered by pressure release. "Shit." Everyone said simultaneously. Aero had a thought and fumbled around in his pocket until he pulled out a paperclip. "You just have one of those on you?" Carmine asked confused, Aero chuckled "Well, sometimes it's better to pick the lock than blow the entire wall up." Aero said as he slid the paperclip into a slit between the button and the detonator housing, the wedge kept the depressed.
"Alright, that should suffice for now." Aero said before they resumed the removal process and completely removed the vest from the girl's body. As the vest left her body, her knees gave way and dropped to the floor as Aero and Phantom slowly carried the vest away from her with Grullo in tow.
"Sweets! Get her out of here!" Duke yelled as Phantom ran to take Sweets' place next to Grizz. Sweets grabbed a sheet that was on the ground that he used to wrap around the girl before he picked up her and bolted out of the room toward the FOB. Carmine looked around the room curiously but was brought back to reality when a bullet whizzed past his face, "Right, war." Carmine said to himself as he withdrew his rifle and joined the frontline next to Crimson with Onyx and Nightshade in tow. Grullo pulled a roll of duct tape out and taped the dead man's switch down after he had activated his semblance to slow time.
As Carmine fired down range at the Reapers, a grenade flew and bounced onto the floor in front of the barricade they were behind. Carmine leaped over the barricade as he placed his rifle onto his back, he slid across the floor and grabbed the grenade before he hurled back down the hallway it came from, the grenade exploded two seconds later and filled the room with fire. "Go! Go! Go!" The Reapers yelled as they tried to push the advance, Carmine pulled a grenade from his vest and ripped the pin out, he squeezed the spoon down and tossed it down the hall where the Reapers were.
He quickly pulled his gas mask back on as the grenade exploded and eviscerated two Reaper insurgents, Carmine withdrew his rifle before he leaned out from behind cover and fired down the hallway at the other Reapers. Carmine closed one eye as he aimed down the ACOG sight and fired, one of the rounds screamed through the air and ripped through the knee of a Reaper. The man dropped to the ground in screaming agony before another round ripped through his head and silenced his screams permanently.
"Swapping mags!" Carmine yelled as he dropped the empty magazine from his rifle and replaced it with a fresh magazine, he placed the empty mag back into his pouch before he closed it again. Grullo worked steadily as he lifted the cover off the detonator and clipped the ground wire which deactivated it. "Done." Grullo said as he exhaled a sigh of relief. Aero walked over to the vest and inspected the explosive vest as bullets hit the wall behind him, Carmine leaped back over the barricade as a round nearly hit him.
Onyx and Duke raised their rifles and returned fire as Carmine pulled the bolt back on the receiver and ejected a spent shell. Grullo lifted his LMG and walked over to the barricade where he deployed the bipod and rested it on the barricade before he squeezed the trigger. The barrel spit fire as bullets spewed from the LMG and shredded the remaining Reapers down the hall, three bodies hit the wall and slumped to the ground as blood leaked from their bodies, eventually pooling around them while four others dropped like a sack of bricks with an audible thud.
Grullo dropped behind cover and reloaded his LMG, the JSO had stopped firing when they noticed a lack of return fire. "Carmine, go check it out." Onyx said in a hushed tone as he knelt next to Carmine and Grullo. Carmine stood up slowly and quickly vaulted over the barricade and quickly pushed himself up against the cold concrete wall, he looked back at the other mercenaries who all gave him a nod to proceed.
Carmine tightened his grip on the foregrip of his rifle before he moved out from behind cover, the corridor was filled with smoke and the lights were flickering as the circuitry struggled to function. Carmine quickly knelt on one knee as he clicked the light on the end of his rifle on, before he could stand up, his earpiece buzzed as a southern Mistralian voice came through. "Alright boys be advised; I brought some friends to liven up this fiesta. Yee yee!" Titus said loudly over the radio. Carmine stood up and continued down the corridor slowly, a light fixture dangled from the roof that spun slowly as it flickered on and off. Carmine held his left hand up and grabbed the fixture before he illuminated the corridor that opened into a larger room.
As Carmine stepped into the main room, he was ambushed by a Reaper who had survived Grullo's barrage. The Reaper grabbed the barrel of his Scar and jerked it forward before he slammed his elbow down into Carmine's right forearm, the sudden attack caused Carmine's grip to loosen and the Reaper ripped the rifle from his hands. Carmine recoiled back before he dashed forward drove his knee into the Reapers gut, he then slammed his boot down onto the Reaper's ankle that emitted an audible snap. The Reaper howled in pain as he dropped the rifle, Carmine withdrew his Ka-Bar and thrusted it into the Reaper's gut upward of twelve times. Carmine placed his hand on the Reaper's mouth to muffle his screaming, the rifleman held up a single finger on the hand that held the bloody knife as he shushed the Reaper before he stabbed him in the throat. The man's body slid down the wall and slumped against the wall as the Reaper gurgled on his own blood as life left his eyes, Carmine wiped the blood off his Ka-Bar on the Reaper's shirt before he sheathed it and picked up his rifle, he shined the light around to count the confirmed kills.
"Clear!" Carmine called down the corridor to the rest of the JSO, one by one, they vaulted over the barricade and made their way to Carmine's position. Onyx walked up and looked over at the body of the Reaper as blood leaked from his throat, "Damn little bro, you okay? Need to talk about something?" Onyx asked genuinely concerned, Carmine shook his head "Nah, I just want to go home. These fuckers get no sympathy from me, except you Phantom, you're cool." Carmine said as he looked at the ex-Reaper who smiled uneasily back at him.
"Got a door here!" Grizz yelled as he stood next to a pair of double doors. "Alright, everybody stack up for breach. Grizz and Nightshade, you're up." Onyx said as he stacked up behind Carmine who was behind Crimson. Duke, Grullo, Keppel, and Aero were stacked up on the other wall, Phantom took his place behind Onyx as Grizz and Nightshade blew the doors off with two breaching charges, the doors flew in and crashed into a wall. The two teams charged in and cleared the room in a matter of seconds as they all fanned out, Crimson searched the wall and eventually found a light switch that he flipped on to illuminate the large room.
"Barracks?" Duke asked as he looked around the large room, but Phantom shook his head "Junction point. There are hallways that spider out and probably down." Phantom said as he looked around the large room. "Aero, what did you learn about that vest?" Onyx asked as he held his rifle with the barrel pointed toward the floor, Aero shook his head "Definitely the handiwork of Astaroth. Titus took good care of him, but… have you heard the myth of the Hydra? Cut off one head, two more take its place. Well, that's how Astaroth commanded his insurgents, he had a series of fail-safes and backup plans in place should something happen to him, such as secondary leaders. So, if he died for whatever reason, someone would take his place and that would most likely be Abraxas, his second-in-command." Aero said as he explained Astaroth's hierarchy of leadership.
"And how does Abraxas lead? How does he fight?" Onyx asked, Phantom shook his head as he shuddered a little bit. "A war on two fronts." Phantom said as an alarm sounded, and lights flashed. Carmine looked over at a door that had black smoke and suddenly daylight shining through, Carmine took off toward the door and threw it open before he put down two insurgents. He ran out into a large garage that had the door smashed open and a large semi was speeding down a dirt road. "Guys! It's the Mammoth!" Carmine yelled as the others followed him into the garage. "Fuck!" Onyx and Crimson yelled at the same time. Suddenly Titus sped by in a roofless Humvee and slammed the vehicle to a stop, Carmine looked up at the vehicle and saw Sweets on the M2 and another Merc in the backseat.
"Get in, chuckle fuck!" Titus yelled to Carmine who didn't hesitate to run and board the Humvee. Titus slammed his foot on the pedal and tore off down the road behind the Mammoth, Carmine looked up and saw multiple fighter jets engaging unknown targets. "Alright, when we get close, you're gonna jump off and take over this hunk of shit!" Titus yelled as they neared the tanker that sped down the road.
As they got closer, they watched as the top opened and two large quad barreled HMGs came out of the top of the tanker trailer along with two missile pods that were pointed upward, the back opened as a large pipe came out of the back. Suddenly, a huge plume of fire erupted from the pipe and coated the ground in a blazing fluid that burned intensely. Titus sped up to get to the side of the Mammoth but were met by the barrels of four M134 Miniguns that fired at the Humvee. Carmine climbed up to the top of the Humvee and leaped off the speeding vehicle to grab a handle on the side of the vehicle, he grabbed a hold of the bar as bullets ripped into the side of the Humvee. Sweets climbed out of the turret seat to jump across, but he was ripped apart by the miniguns on the side, his bullet riddled corpse flopped through the air and slammed into the dirt as his body was mangled by the impact. "Sweets! Fuck!" Carmine yelled as the Humvee slammed on the brakes and disappeared in the distance.
Carmine pulled himself up onto the tanker as the side guns went silent, he looked around but found nobody manning the weapons. He found a hatch on the roof and opened it slowly but found the tanker trailer empty aside from the M134s and ammo reservoirs. "What the fuck?" Carmine said confused as he looked down the road where the Mammoth was heading, he moved past the rocket pods and was directly behind the cab of the Mammoth when he saw the entrance to a small city in the distance. As it got closer, he read a sign that read 'Eastview' on it, the sound of metal gears clanking got Carmine's attention, he turned around and watched as the mounted munitions moved into position as a laser on the quad HMG clicked on and the missile pods rose up slowly before the covers opened on them.
Carmine spun back around and climbed onto the roof of the semi as it hit a large bump, the Mammoth slammed into the ground as it sped on and steadily switched gear. Carmine grabbed onto one of the exhaust stacks but found it burning his hand through the Kevlar gloves, he clenched his teeth as he lowered himself onto the passenger side and shattered the with his fist. He quickly reached in and unlocked the door to pull himself in as the driver tried to ram him into a tree, Carmine pulled himself into the cab as a tree ripped the door from the semi body. The rifleman quickly grabbed the Reaper by the back of the head and slammed his face into the steering wheel repeatedly before he pushed him out of the driver's seat and into a pine tree that mangled the Reaper's body. Carmine pulled himself behind the bloody steering wheel as the Mammoth broke through the tree line, Carmine attempted to slam on the brakes but found that the brake pedal was gone, and the accelerator was welded to the floor. "Guys! This thing ain't gonna stop easily! No brakes!" Carmine yelled into his throat mic as the Mammoth roared into Eastview, the Mammoth had two giant metal sheets welded to the front of the semi that plowed through a parked car and tossed it into a storefront. "Carmine! We're on our way? What's the situation?" Onyx asked through the mic, Carmine gulped "It's about to get very bad." Carmine said as he pulled the air horn cord that dangled from the roof.
Carmine searched the dash as he tried to fine something to stop it, he opened a cover that had a single button that said 'press me' so he pressed it, he looked around but saw nothing happen but he heard the sound of a piano blare outward from the Mammoth.
Don't Stop Me Now – Queen
Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time I feel alive and the world, I'll turn it inside out, yeah, I'm floating around in ecstasy. So, don't stop me now. Don't stop me, 'Cause I'm having a good time, having a good time.
As the music's tempo started to increase dramatically, a red light on the dash turned green as the Mammoth neared the more densely populated area of Eastview. Carmine looked at the driver's side-view mirror, he watched as the minigun barrels came back out and spun up. "Oh no." Carmine said as the first verse came on.
I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity. I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva, I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me.
The miniguns erupted with gunfire that ripped through the people who had gathered nearby out of curiosity, the bullets shredded their bodies as it turned vehicles into swiss cheese and peppered building fronts. The quad HMGs jerked about as they fired at multiple targets in a quick succession, two missiles erupted out of the back and flew across the sky before they took a nose dive and slammed into a car that tried to escape, the vehicle was rendered into a smoldering hunk of metal that slid across the ground.
I'm burning through the sky, yeah. Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit. I'm travelling at the speed of light, I wanna make a supersonic man outta you. Don't stop me now! I'm having such a good time; I'm having a ball. Don't stop me now if you wanna have a good time, just give me a call. Don't stop me now, 'cause I'm having a good time. Don't stop me now, yes, I'm having a good time, I don't wanna stop at all, yeah.
Civilians ran in multiple directions as the Mammoth plowed into the crowd, men and women were crushed beneath the tanker as the flamethrower ignited people that the plow missed. Four more missiles erupted from the missile pod and screamed through the sky before they impacted storefronts and apartment buildings, leaving massive craters behind as flames erupted from the point of impact. Two men were ripped apart by the .50 BMG rounds that rained down from the top of the tanker trailer, the miniguns ripped others in half as they fired sporadically.
Carmine gripped the steering wheel harder as he tried to break the fixed guidance that seemed to be welded into axles, he reached down under the dash and quickly decoupled an inhibitor that was wired into the steering wheel. He gripped the wheel and with a quick motion, jerked the wheel from right to left and broke the bracket that was spot welded to the steering joint. Carmine gripped the wheel tighter before he jerked it from right to left again, this time, the semi turned sharply as the speedometer was red lined at almost one hundred mph.
The Mammoth turned sharply and jack-knifed as the front axle ripped into the brick road beneath as the trailer was launched into the air as the Mammoth rolled and slammed into the ground repeatedly. The top guns were sheared off as concrete ripped into the trailer and the cab slammed into a large building that ate the semi cab, the trailer continued to flip and roll before it slammed into a concrete pillar and exploded into a massive plume of fire and smoke.
Carmine slowly opened his eyes to the sound of alarms and sirens going off as he slowly regained consciousness, as he moved slowly, his entire body shook in agony as he pulled himself out of the cab but fell from the semi and landed head first on a pile of bricks. As he tried to pull himself up, he looked over and saw a frightened woman hiding in closet. He lifted his hand slowly as he pleaded with her "Please… Help me…" Carmine said weakly, the woman opened the door slowly before a teenager ran out with broken piece of lumber and slammed it down into Carmine's abdomen "Fuck you!" The teen yelled before he spat onto Carmine's cracked visor.
Carmine faded in and out of consciousness as a crowd started to form around the wreckage, four men ran in and grabbed Carmine by the ankles before they dragged him out of the wreckage and began to wail on him some punching and others kicking him. Carmine tried to drag himself away from them but as he reached his hand to grab the brick road, someone stepped on his hand and applied pressure. "Suffer you piece of shit!" A man yelled as he kicked the rifleman hard in the side. "Feed him to the Grimm!" A female voice called from within the crowd which got them riled up.
"Yeah! Get him!" A man said in agreement as two men grabbed him and dragged him backwards. 'So, this is how it ends? I'm sorry Sapphire, I couldn't keep my promise.' Carmine thought to himself as his popped against the damaged brick road. The angry mob dragged the rifleman across the ground but came to a stop when four BTR-4s cut them off and members of the JSO exited with their weapons raised. "What in the hell do you people think you're doing!?" Titus yelled in extreme anger. "We're taking care of the monster who caused all this." A large man said before he kicked Carmine in the ribs. Onyx walked up to the man and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt "That man tried to stop all this. You people have no idea what is really going on." Onyx said before he pushed the man out of the way, Crimson and Grullo ran up with their weapons raised as they forced the crowd away from Carmine.
"It's alright Carmine, we're here. Bubba!" Onyx yelled as he held Carmine's hand. Bubba and woman in a molle vest ran up "Get his gear off of him!" Bubba yelled as he pulled the broken gas mask off and tossed it to the side, Carmine looked over at the woman weakly and read her name tag to himself. 'Diamond, huh.' Carmine thought to himself as he closed his eyes. "Carmine! Carmine, stay with us!" Onyx yelled as he lightly slapped the side of Carmine's face. Diamond and Bubba unfastened his IBA and pulled it off, followed by his pants.
"Diamond, check for bleeds." Bubba said as he searched the rifleman's abdomen. Diamond searched lower but found no bleeds, Diamond placed her hands on his lower abdomen and his right thigh while Bubba placed his hand on the rifleman's chest and forehead. "Alright, ready? On three. One. Two. Three." Bubba said before they both activated their semblances, Carmine's body started to glow a light pink. As they combined their aura, Carmine's own aura started to glow red around his body. Onyx held up his scroll as he watched the rifleman's aura level recovering at a steady pace, 40%. 60%. 80%. "Alright, that's enough." Onyx said as he tapped Bubba on the shoulder, Bubba and Diamond took their hands off the rifleman as the crowd grew silent with anticipation.
Carmine's eyes shot open and he took a deep breath in, he exhaled and coughed roughly as he tried to get up, but Bubba kept him down. "Guys, why are my pants gone?" Carmine asked confused, the JSO chuckled as Diamond pulled them back up for him. "I think the Mammoth had an automatic targeting system, it fired all by itself. There was a resistor wired to the steering column and a bracket that was spot welded in place." Carmine said as he closed his eyes. "You don't think…?" Crimson asked before Aero finished his thought "Someone was controlling it remotely? It's possible but they would have to be close by." Aero said as Bubba and Diamond helped Carmine to his feet.
Carmine grabbed his arm and rolled his shoulder, the joints cracked as it rolled back into place "Well, that's gonna be a thing now." Carmine said in a deadpan manner. He turned around and faced the crowd that stood behind him "Seriously, y'all attack a guy before you know who is behind the attack. What the fuck?!" Carmine yelled as he walked toward the crowd that separated to allow him to walk through toward the wreckage. As he walked into the destroyed building, the same teenager ran at him with the broken 4x4 but Carmine caught it and detonated a small Supernova, the small blast eviscerated the wooden beam.
"I am not your fucking enemy, kid. Sorry that I couldn't avoid hitting your house." Carmine said as he pulled his bag from the cab of the Mammoth, he pulled his Scar out of the floorboard before he walked back toward the JSO. "Who are you?!" The teenager yelled at the rifleman, Carmine turned around and looked at the teen whose mother stood behind him. "Titan." Carmine said as he turned back around to regroup with his team.
Carmine handed his Scar to Crimson as he pulled his gear back on, Nightshade and Keppel put the Heavy IBA on over his shoulders as he zipped up the front while they fastened the sides tightly. One of the townspeople had picked up Carmine's gas mask and held her hand on broken visor, she closed her eyes as it started to glow a faint yellow. She removed her hand and examined the gas mask, its condition significantly better than before the chase. She moved through the crowd and approached Carmine with it in her hand "I'm a craftsmen and my semblance allows me to turn objects back to the condition they were before, up to about twelve hours." The woman said as she handed the mask back to Carmine, he took it from her gently and inspected it closely. "I greatly appreciate this, but you didn't have to do this." Carmine said gratefully, she shook her head.
"It's the least I could do after these brutes beat you savagely. Shame on you." The woman said as she scolded the men of the once angry mob. One of the men approached the JSO "We're are extremely sorry, is there anything we can do?" He asked, Onyx stepped forward and looked at the crowd. "You want to right this wrong? Then spread the truth. The people responsible for this attack was The Grimm Reapers, not the Wolf Pack, The Devil's Disciples, The Viper Legion, or the 184th Mistral Militia. The Grimm Reapers are the terrorists behind this. Another thing you need to do is seek shelter in the coming days because a war is coming, and it'll be one that's extremely violent." Onyx said to the crowd as he advised them on how to proceed.
Carmine pulled his gas mask back on and adjusted the strap in the back before he tested the purge valve that let out an audible hiss. "Alright, where to now?" Carmine asked as two M88 Hercules pulled up slowly, their tracks crushing the bricks beneath them as two CH-47 Chinooks flew overhead. One circled back and lowered two large winch magnets that attached to the wreckage of the Mammoth's trailer, the two M88s attached two winches to the other half of the Mammoth before the two recovery vehicles pulled it from wrecked building. Carmine looked back at the building but didn't see the teen or his mother.
"Stop! Stop!" Carmine yelled as he took off toward the wrecked building, the tanks came to an immediate stop as the Mammoth was halfway out. Carmine ran into the wreckage and looked around the building "Kid! Where are you?!" Carmine yelled before he kicked open a closet door and found them hiding, the mother holding a small child. "You have to get out now, this whole place is about to collapse." Carmine said as he extended his hand to them, the family were hesitant at first but slowly took his hand. He guided them out of the wreckage moments before the area they were hiding in was crushed by the upper part of building.
The tanks continued and pulled the rest of the Mammoth out of the wreckage before the Chinook lowered a winch down and hooked it, it slowly lifted the modified semi off the ground before it carried it off to an unknown destination. "I'm sorry about your house but you need to seek shelter, it's about to get a whole lot worse." Carmine said before he took off toward the JSO who had boarded the BTR-4s. Carmine climbed onto the side and banged his fist onto the roof, the BTR bucked as it took off slowly and followed a convoy behind the other three BTRs and the two M88s behind them. As the convoy drove back toward the bunker, they passed the mayhem that the Mammoth inflicted; men and women cried over their loved ones, shop owners looked at their crushed dreams, survivors in agony, and EMTs doing their best to save others.
"Oh god." Carmine said to himself as he lowered himself into the BTR and closed the hatch behind him. He dropped his head and cradled it in his hands, Titus patted him on the back as he tried to find the words to say. "You did everything you could, think about it like this. If you hadn't done anything, hundreds of thousands of people could have been killed." Titus said as he leaned back in his seat. After a couple minutes of driving, the convoy came to a stop in front of the smashed doors that housed the Mammoth. The JSO exfiled from the BTRs and fanned out before they moved into the bunker again, Carmine looked around as he watched Disciples and 184th Militants run around the bunker as they gathered evidence and information.
"Well, morning sunshine. You kill that fat bastard?" Duke asked as he lit up a cigar, Carmine shook his head. "Kill is a bit of a stretch, more like flipped it into a building. The weapons had an automatic targeting system that fired when it the camera identified a person, most likely a thermal targeting system." Carmine said as he looked around the garage. "Phantom!" Carmine called into the bunker, seconds later, a plume of black smoke formed in front of him before Phantom stepped out. "You rang?" Phantom asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah, where can we find Abraxas?" Carmine asked as he crossed his arms, Phantom thought to himself for a moment as he paced back and forth. "I got a feeling he might still be in the bunker, probably on one of the lower levels." Phantom said, the JSO went dead silent. "Lower levels?" Onyx asked confused. Phantom nodded "Yeah, I found a blueprint of the bunker and it has six levels." Phantom said which caused everyone to go pale. "Alright fuck it. We're not going down, we're going through. Duke, bring me Nightwalker." Carmine said to the Disciple's leader.
Duke nodded before his pressed his radio, Carmine and Phantom walked back into the main atrium of the bunker and looked around the room before they looked at the blueprints. Carmine took a couple steps and stomped his foot "This is the exact center of the bunker, yes?" Carmine asked the ex- Reaper who nodded in return. He looked up as Nightwalker jogged in "You wanted to see me, sir?" Nightwalker asked, Carmine smirked within his gas mask. "Get all the explosives you can carry." Carmine said, Nightwalker smiled before he took off back outside, he returned minutes later with two Disciples and two 184th Militants that carried multiple crates.
Carmine pulled out a can of spray paint from the boxes and sprayed multiple dots in a circle on the floor. "Bore here and place explosive charges. Enough to get through the floor but not enough to destabilize the entire bunker." Carmine said as he stepped away from the spray spots. Nightwalker pulled out a large diamond tip drill and slowly started to bore holes into the concrete floor, another Disciple slid explosive charges into the bore holes as Nightwalker finished each one.
"Hunter, cross these wires and splice these two together." Nightwalker said to a younger looking Disciple mercenary. "I take it he's one of the new recruits. I see he doesn't have any ink on him." Carmine said as he gestured to the skull with horns tattooed on the side of Nightwalker's neck. "Oh no sir, I've earned my horns. I'm just allergic to the ink they use for tattoos." Hunter said as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a skull with devil horns that had been branded into his skin, time had turned it into a nice scar. "Damn, that's pretty gnarly." Carmine said as he took a closer look.
"Alright, it's ready." Nightwalker said as he held an electronic detonator box. "JSO breaching party of twelve, your table is ready." Carmine said over the radio as he pressed his throat comms. "Overlord, how do you read us visually?" Carmine asked as he pressed his earpiece. The white noise buzzed for a moment before a voice came through. "Hi sweetheart, are you okay?" Sapphire's silk voice came through the comms and sent chills down Carmine's spine which stirred something in both his heart and his BDUs. "H-hey sweetie, your voice is such a pleasant surprise, it actually got me 'excited'." Carmine said over the long-range intercom. Sapphire giggled "Well, save it for me, won't you, big boy?" Sapphire asked in a seductive tone.
Carmine smiled inside his mask but looked up when he heard a series of whoops and whistles "I guess the boys heard all that." Carmine said with a chuckle. "Well, they're gonna hear a whole lot more when I get my hands on your sexy ass." Sapphire said to Carmine which received more whoops and whistles from the boys as they entered the atrium. "Alright baby, I gotta get back to work. Can you put Harley on? I love you." Carmine said to the love of his life, she giggled on the other of the comms. "I love you too, here she is." Sapphire said before she gave the comms to Harlequin. "Talk to me Titan." Harley said over the comms.
"Overlord, how do you copy our visual feed?" Carmine asked, there was a momentary pause before Harley responded "Green across the board. We got the entire Mammoth interception on camera as well. Those things are extremely durable, like can survive being shot, blown up, and being submerged for quite a long time." Harley stated as she noted their status update.
"Roger Overlord, JSO breaching to secondary level." Onyx said as he pressed his earpiece. The comm feed buzzed for few seconds before Harley responded, "Roger that, stay frosty, JSO." Harley said before the feed cut off. Everyone backed up as Nightwalker and Hunter attached wires to the electronic detonator, Nightwalker flipped a few switches, flipped up a cover, and pressed a red button. The charges switched from red to green before the explosives gave off a two-stage detonation, the charges gave off a small ring of explosions before the main charges exploded and blew a hole through the floor.
Nightshade, Crimson, and Aero pulled out white glow sticks and cracked them in half, shook them up, and tossed them into the hole. Keppel and Aero leaped into the hole as the others stepped closer to it, gunshots rang out as the sound of blows landing as they met their target. "Any other Faunus here?" Carmine called out to a couple dozen mercenaries who stood by the garage, a few raised their hand before they walked over to toward the breach in the floor. "Alright, go down and secure the floor with Keppel and Aero." Duke said as he dropped his cigar and stomped it out. The mercenaries jumped into the hole one by one before JSO followed them into the breach.
The human mercenaries turned on their flashlights that were attached to their weapons, the flashlights illuminated the dark areas as the mercenaries fanned out and secured the second level. "Can we get some light?" Titus asked, one of the Faunus searched along the wall until he found a circuit box and lifted the lever. The lights shot to life as the bright lights illuminated the second level.
"Got a few doors over here!" Grizz said as he sized up a metal door. "Hunter! We need some strip charges." Duke said up through the breach hole. Seconds later, a small box fell through the hole and into Duke's grasp. He opened the lid and tossed a strip charge to Grizz who caught it and immediately molded it to the wall where the hinges were bolted to the door. Grizz backed up behind a corner before he twisted the detonator, the charge activated and ignited a thermite charge that ripped through the metal.
The door broke free from the wall and collapsed to the floor, Grizz pulled a flashbang out and ripped out the pin before he tossed it into the newly breached hall. The flashbang exploded into a brilliant flash of light, Nightshade and Crimson rounded the corner with their weapons raised as Carmine, Grullo, Onyx, Keppel, and Phantom stacked up behind them. Duke applied the thermite charge to another door opposite to the one that was just breached and activated the charge, the exothermic charge quickly ripped through the metal and separated the door from the wall. "Duke, you take some mercs and go clear out that sector, we'll clear this one. Radio us if you encounter any type of problem." Onyx said before the Wolf Pack pushed into the brightly lit hallway.
"Alright, we can cut the lights off. Save them for an emergency." Onyx said as he clicked his flashlight off, the other wolves followed suit and darkened the light on the end of their weapons. The wolves moved down the hall slowly and methodically until they came up to their first door, the metallic door had a slot for windows but was clearly absent of them. Grullo moved to the head of the group and lined himself up with the door, he took a few steps back before he ran full speed and threw his shoulder into the door, but he bounced off the metal door. Crimson rolled his shoulders and limbered himself up "Grullo, hit me in the stomach so…" Crimson started to say before Grullo drove his knee up into Crimson's gut, the blow knocked the air out of the infantryman who fell to the floor. "Dick." Crimson said as he slowly pushed himself off the floor.
Crimson steadied himself against the wall before he lined himself up with the door, his body started to swell in a dark red aura as he backed himself up and ran full speed into the door, when his body connected with the door; his semblance emitted the stored kinetic energy in the form of one large pulse that blew the door inward. Crimson walked into the room and looked around the room until he found a large rectangular crate, he walked up to it and unlatched the sides before he pushed the lid off.
Crimson clicked a flashlight on the side of his helmet on and illuminated the contents of the crate, he pulled a cover back and revealed a crate full of artillery shells. "Overlord, are you seeing this?" Crimson said as he leaned closer to the crate. The rest of the Wolf Pack filled into the room and illuminated the rest of the room, one by one, they opened more crates and uncovered large boxes of munitions. "10-4, Wolf Pack. Can you carefully pull one out and rotate it carefully?" Overlord asked, Crimson and Carmine slowly grabbed the tip and neck of the shell and lifted it slowly out of the crate.
As the light hit the shell, a yellow powdery substance slowly brushed off the side of the shell and fell to the floor. "Wolf Pack! Hold it!" Overlord yelled through their earpieces which caused them to stop mid motion, seconds later, Nightwalker and Aero ran in. "Overlord radioed us. What's up?" Nightwalker asked as he walked into the room. Nightwalker and Aero froze when they came face to face with the crate of artillery shells.
"Shit, Ragbone! Your services are needed!" Nightwalker yelled back down the hall, minutes later, a large man in a gas mask with a tank of oxygen strapped to his back. "Alright ladies, clear the fuck out of here." Ragbone said as he slowly took the shell from Crimson and Carmine. The Wolf Pack quickly backed out of the room as another person in a full hazmat suit passed them "Yeah, they found the same thing. Disciple's chemical specialists are on it." The man said as he carried a briefcase and entered the room.
"Alright, Nightwalker, we need to hurry this up. Setup a single bore charge and blow this motherfucker." Duke said he walked back into the roof in a huff. Hunter started to bore a large hole as Nightwalker compounded a large Semtex charge, Nightwalker slid the charge into the bore hole and wired it to a timed detonation. "Thirty seconds, ladies! Scatter!" Nightwalker yelled as everyone ran for cover. Seconds later, the charge exploded and blew through two levels of the bunker. "Go! Go! Go!" Duke yelled as he leaped in and landed on the next floor before he quickly ran in and kicked in a door.
"Grizz, find the stairwell or something to descend this fucking bunker." Titus said before he leaped into the hole in the floor. Carmine, Crimson, Onyx, and Nightshade followed him in and ran after Duke who had gunned down any Reaper that stood in his way. "I found the packages!" Duke yelled as he put down the last Reaper. Carmine and the rest of the Mercs filled into the room, they looked around and saw women bound and gagged with fear plastered on their faces. "Oh fuck! How do we get out of here?" Titus asked as he looked around the room, when suddenly part of the wall slammed open and Grizz stumbled out. "Found the stairs." Grizz said as he panted heavily.
Carmine turned around and watched as multiple Disciples and Militants ran down the stairs as others repelled down the hole in the roof. "Alright, Ross, lock this shit down and get these girls out of here." Duke said as he handed over command to one of his Disciples. "Yes sir, we radioed the Vale police force and called for multiple EMTs." Ross said as Disciples and Militants ran past him to secure the hostages.
"Wolf Pack, Titus, Grizz; let's go. We got a lot of work to do." Duke said before the mercenaries sprinted up the stairs and out to the first floor, they bolted out through the open garage door. They came to a stop outside the bunker and looked around as mercenaries with varying patches worked with each other as they secured the bunker at the newly setup base of operations. "Duke, the BTRs took off to secure the perimeter and take out any fleeing Reapers. Harley sent for two Venoms for you guys." Carp said as he walked out from under the tent, they all shifted their gaze to the right as two men stood ten feet apart from each other and held their arms out.
Slowly, the ground started to rumble as the trees slowly slid apart to create a perfectly flat clearing, suddenly massive bolts of lightning erupted from the ground and eviscerated the trees that had moved, blowing them into chunks and splinters of wood. A large man in an all-black tactical attire walked out of the smoke that was billowing up from where the trees were standing, Duke and the Wolves looked at each other confused "He with you?" They asked each other simultaneously, Titus laughed loudly in a hearty southern Mistralian accent. "He's with me, boys. Meet Archimedes." Titus said as Archimedes arched lightning between his hands.
"Schön, Sie kennenzulernen. Ich habe viel über Sie gehört." Archimedes said in an unknown language, the Wolves looked at one another confused. "I'm sorry? What did you say?" Onyx asked confused, Titus spoke up "Archimedes, bitte englisch." Titus said to the Militant. Archimedes chuckled to himself "A thousand pardons, it's nice to meet you guys, I've heard a lot about you." Archimedes said as he walked up to the mercenaries and shook their hands. "What language was that?" Onyx asked as he turned to look at Titus. "That's old Northern Mistralian. He comes from a long line of Mistralian soldiers and generals, he's also a fantastic panzer division commander." Titus explained as Archimedes stood at attention. Archimedes held his hand up with his fingers spread apart as electricity arched between each finger, "So, what is your Semblance?" Crimson asked as he crossed his arms, Archimedes held both his hands out as electricity arched off his fingers onto the ground. "Ion Manipulation." Archimedes said as the arches of lightning dissipated.
"Look alive, evac has arrived." Duke said as two Osprey VTOLs landed in the freshly made clearing. "Let's move! We gotta regroup with Overlord." Titus said before they made their way to the VTOLs as the backs opened. The Wolves, Duke, and a few other Disciples boarded one of the VTOLs while Titus and other members of the 184th Militia piled into the other VTOL. "Overlord, this is Brimstone. We're making our way back to Vale to get ready for our special guests." Duke said through his comms set.
The line crackled for a moment before Harley came through the line "Change of plan, boys. Titus and Duke, you will fortify the defenses. Some of my bombers are giving them hell and slowing them down via aerial dropped AT mines. It should be enough to slow them down for now, but I will say that they are leaving a wake of destruction in their path." Harley said as the mercenaries' scrolls went off as they all received a file from Jay and Harlequin that had multiple photos in it.
The photos depicted burnt out buildings, walls riddled with bullet holes, bullet riddled corpses, and a massive impact crater. Other photos showed the Reapers moving on foot and in armored vehicles. In the background of a photo depicting two M3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicles, a massive object nearly blocked out the sun. "Harley, that shadow… is that the Iron Hammer?" Carmine asked as he looked at the image, there was a pause that seemed to go on forever before Harlequin answered "Yes, everything you saw in that first picture is because of the Iron Hammer and the Reapers." Harley said in a somber tone.
"What's the plan, Harley?" Onyx asked as he pressed the comms button on his throat, the feed crackled for a moment before Harlequin spoke again. "When the Ospreys land in Vale, I need you guys to haul ass back to the Wolves' Den for an emergency briefing." Harley said before the comms shut off. There was a long silence within the fuselage of the VTOL before Crimson spoke up "Uhh… Is it me or did that seem really cryptic?" Crimson asked as he broke the silence. "Hella." Carmine replied before he cracked his knuckles.
"Uhh, guys… I hate to break up the impromptu meeting, but we got company. Someone better man the door gun." The pilot yelled before something slammed into the side of the Osprey, Crimson and Nightshade shot up from their seats and sprinted toward the front of the VTOL. They threw the side windows open and raised the mounted M2s that were bolted to the roof by a hydraulic swivel arm, Crimson and Nightshade pulled back the bolts on the mounted .50 Cal HMGs and aimed them out the sides of the Osprey.
"What do you see?!" Duke yelled as the sound of wind rushing into the VTOL muffled everything. The comms clicked before Crimson's voice came through their earpieces "Yeah, I don't see shit over here." Crimson said as he peered out the side of the airship, suddenly a large craft appeared from the clouds above and slowly descended from the sky above. "What in the H-E-double fuck is that?" Crimson asked as he glared at the aircraft that flew through the sky slowly. Duke gazed through the window at the craft and studied it slowly "Well, I'll be a son of a bitch. That's an LZ-74 R-Class airship, it was an experimental airship design for the Mistralian Guard, but they ended up with a more flying ship design, so the LZ-74 plan was scrapped, which I guess they got a hold of the plans." Duke explained as the bottom of the airship slowly opened before four large domes lowered out of the bottom of the airship and three rose out of the top of the airship. The domes opened slowly before two long barrels came out of each of the domes and slowly rotated. "Pilot! Evasive action, now!" Duke yelled before the domes on the LZ-74 opened fire, the Osprey banked to the right and took a quick nosedive.
"Harley! Come in, Overlord! We got some company!" Onyx yelled into the comms; the comms feed buzzed for a few moments before it clicked again. "We see it, Titus already brought in some air defenses for Vale, so they're lining up as we speak. Just a few more minutes." Jay said as the Osprey continued to evade the LZ-74s gunfire. "Who the fuck is on that airship?" Carmine asked as he gripped the handle on the roof to stabilize himself.
"That would be Abigar, one of Abraxas's knights. I imagine that one of the prince's has a research and development team that have been building all these Atlesian experimental designs that were deemed too dangerous or inefficient to exist." Phantom said as Crimson returned fire at the LZ-74. "I guarantee that these were scrapped in favor of the airships they have now, since these could probably be taken out with a well-placed Sabot shell." Duke stated as he held onto one of the straps that dangled from the roof to balance himself as the Osprey took evasive action.
Suddenly, the hail of gunfire seemed to stop instantly as did Crimson's counter-fire which raised everyone's level of concern. "Uhh guys!? It's gone, it just disappeared." Crimson said as he scanned the clouds as the Osprey evened out and flew straight. Everyone seemed to relax slightly as the Ospreys finally reached the air docks of Vale and slowly landed onto the concrete below. The loading ramp slowly opened and lowered itself until it firmly rested against the cool concrete landing pad, the members of the JSO quickly exited the Osprey where they regrouped and booked it toward the Wolves' Den. "What do you think came up that Harley called for an emergency meeting?" Onyx asked as he huffed slightly as they sprinted through the marketplace and weaved through the crowd of people.
"I couldn't tell you, brother." Carmine said as he ran down the brick sidewalk. As they ran, their combined boots hitting the brick road sounded like a thunderous roar of an army charging into battle. As they rounded the corner, they watched as the door to the Den opened and Harley stepped out to wave them into the building "Let's go! We're on barrowed time!" Harley yelled as the mercenaries piled into the Wolves' Den one after another.
"Where's the fire?" Titus asked as he took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, Harley shook her head as she paced back and forth "Paimon's 2nd in command has taken over where he left off and tonight, a lot of girls are gonna be sold into sex slavery. Unless we do something; unless the Wolves do something." Harley said as Jay displayed a map of Remnant and zoomed in on an island between Vale and Mistral.
"The Wolves will HALO jump in and land in this wooded area on the western most side of the island before they push inward. Your target is Abdiel, Paimon's Duke, and personal confidant. From what you gathered at the bunker outside Eastview, the convention goers weren't taken to the bunker, but to the island that Paimon dubbed… 'Orgasm Oasis'." Jay said before he shuddered after uttering the name of the island.
"What are our Rules of Engagement (ROE's)?" Grullo asked as he crossed his arms, Jay scratched the side of his head as he moved the Holo-map over the rest of the island "So your target destination is this mansion and most likely, beneath it. ROE's and Objectives are as followed: 1. Eliminate HVT and confirm identity. 2. Eliminate any armed personnel with extreme hostility. 3. Secure a beachhead for landing crafts, the 184th will be there upon notice via signal flare. 4. Eliminate any HVTs on the list that will be sent to your scrolls shortly." Jay said as he labeled the Objectives and ROE's on a small whiteboard.
Carmine quickly raised his hand "Since everyone there can be assumed to be there to purchase people for their own sick fantasies, can we rule them open season?" Carmine asked, Harley chuckled "Go wild, kid. Just don't get them innocent civilians hurt, alright. Keep the explosives to a minimum, alright Titan?" Harley said before Sapphire rounded a corner and lit up when she saw Carmine.
"Babe! You're back!" Sapphire squealed excitedly as she jumped into his arms, she buried her face into his chest and savored his warmth before she let go of him "Don't worry, Harley already informed me about the situation. I'll be watching." Sapphire said with a playful wink. The Wolves quickly moved to change and prep their gear, they changed out spent magazines for fresh ones and changed loud rifles for suppressed weapons, Keppel put the M2010 ESR back onto the rack and picked up 'Charon' that sat on the table, propped up on its bipod.
Keppel grabbed a set of channel locks and used them to grip the muzzle break on the end of the barrel, he twisted it slowly before he removed the muzzle break and replaced it with a silencer, he tightened the suppressor before he pulled back the bolt of the side of the rifle, the rifle chambered a .50 BMG round from the magazine to the chamber as the bolt carrier pushed the round into place.
The air in the room was tense as everyone prepped their gear in near silence, Carmine swapped the muzzle breaks on his weapons for suppressors; transforming them to their melee form and back to their ranged form. The suppressors broke down normally and incorporated themselves into their melee forms and back into their ranged form without an issue "So, I take it that Mindaro's weapons have a takeover effect?" Carmine asked as he placed his weapons back into their holsters. Onyx chuckled "Yeah, that's what I love the most about his weapons. No matter what attachment you add to it, when you transform it to its melee form, it builds itself into it." Onyx said before he slapped a fresh mag into an AK-12 that had a suppressor, red dot sight, foregrip, and a green laser mounted on the side rail.
As they finished prepping their gear, Onyx moved so that he was in the middle of the room before he pulled the bolt back and chambered a round into the receiver. "Alright fuckers, it's time to nut up or shut up!" Onyx said as he rested his rifle on his shoulder.
A/N: Oh sweet fuck, this took too long to finish. Yay, now I can start the new chapter of Titan Rising that hopefully won't take eight months to finish. This one took me extra time to write since I kept writing myself into a corner. Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review, and as always, this is Nightmare 6-4, signing off.