1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 10 klicks southeast of Italica, April 4th, 2021 (0950)
Artillery rumbles in the distance, bombarding Italica. Apache and Viper attack helicopters fly just above the tree top, firing Hydra rockets and their guns into the city. Fighter jets and bombers fly high in the sky, carrying hundred of thousands pounds worth of bombs, missiles and other munitions, bombing the city and it's surroundings - a single sortie leveling an entire city block.
Black smoke rises from the city, followed by the horrific screams of everyday Italicans, as they run as fast as they can towards the rubbles, desperately searching for their relatives. For the luckier ones, they might find their relatives unharmed, with just a couple of scratches, whilst for those out of luck, they might find their relatives in a state of unscheduled disrepair - multiple body parts missing, heads blown clean off by shrapnel from Marine 155mm HE salvoes from their M777 batteries.
Despite the bombardment of Italica happening less than 10km away from their position, the Marines of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, parked beside a massive column of tanks and other vehicles from 1st Marine Division, are lazing off. Everyone is taking a rest, shitting or pissing, jerking off, cleaning their guns and other chores that Marines had to do. They feel secure, knowing there's thousands of armored vehicles parked besides them, as they prepare to assault the city.
Evan and Doc Clancy are sleeping under their Humvee, sharing the same poncho liner and sleeping bag thanks to Evan leaving his at the roadblock the day before - cuddling in an attempt to warm themselves in the chilly morning. Kirito is on the turret reading a book while the Traveler, sensitive to the sunlight, just stays inside the Humvee writing letters to his girlfriend. Simon meanwhile, is taking a shit at nearby fields. Taking a shit is a serious business in war - traveling too far being dangerous with the possibility that they might get lost.
Dow and his team are standing under the sunlight, angrily cursing at the garbage on the fields, as they try to clean the garbage that Marines from 1st Marine Division dumped on the fields, ruining their position, as it now smells and looks like a garbage dump.
"Motherfucker…" Dow mutters under his breath, as he digs a hole, trying to dump all the garbage there. To their right is a cluster of small houses, their occupants oblivious to the battle unfolding just a few kilometers away from their homes.
"This is some bullshit, we went to Italica to kill some knights in shiny fucking armor, not to be glorified garbage collectors!" Nathan angrily curses as he kicks a pile of garbage towards the hole he just dug.
"No matter where we go, someone always tries to make life harder for us, huh? Fucking RCT-5 retards." Allie joins in, cursing at men of the 1st Marine Division, who are sharing the same field as 1st Recon, sleeping with them on the same field. He then sits down on a pile of garbage, taking a drink from his canteen.
"Bro, this place looks less like a warzone, and more like a fucking garbage dump." Dow says, kicking a pile of garbage into a hole, before grabbing his shovel and burying it.
"Bruh, can you imagine if these Romans actually manage to conquer us and start shitting in people's suburban yards and hoods?" Allie remarked as he pointed towards the cluster of houses in the fields, whose occupants are oblivious to the presence of Marines outside, shitting, pissing and jerking off in their front yard while their vehicles are a couple of meters behind them.
"Not really bro." Dow meekly replied, as he continue burying the garbage.
Around them, Marines from 1st Recon and other units are lazing off, sleeping or just sitting around in the empty field on the outskirts of Italica, doing nothing, as they don't know what to do. Their last orders tell them to stop here, but nothing else was explained.
Due to this, the Marines are busy lounging around, eating, sleeping, jerking off, sunning, shitting, not knowing what to do. It looks like some weird combat version of an outdoor party, as the mood is festive and relaxed.
Simon, who is returning towards his Humvee, passes by Dow, waving at him. Seeing this, Dow shouts at him.
"Hey! Help me out you fucking white cunt!" He said, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, continuing to kick a pile of garbage.
"Nah, I got a team to take care of, go ask Hitman 2-2 or something!" Simon counters, smiling, before heading back to his Humvee, which is right behind the 4 tanks of Centurion-1, their turrets turning left and right, searching for any enemy that might try to attack their position.
As he arrives at his Humvee, he looked up towards Kirito, asking him with a puzzled tone, "Hey, where the fuck is Evan and Doc?" Simon asked, scratching his head, not knowing where Evan and Clancy were.
"Under the Humvee, sleeping and cuddling." Kirito immediately replied, not looking at his team leader, as he is too busy reading his book, occasionally munching on his MRE crackers.
Hearing this, Simon immediately crouches and drops down, suppressing a snicker, as he finally finds Evan and Clancy, still sleeping. Simon then softly kicks them both, trying to wake them up
"Wake up you two, it's like 10 in the fucking morning." Simon exclaimed, moving his driver's arm softly, who responded by letting out a grunt.
"What the fuck is it man? Ughhhhh, I was trying to fucking sleep after the whole traffic jam clusterfuck." Evan replied as he tried to crawl out from below the Humvee, rubbing his eyes in the process.
"Doc's still sleeping?" Simon asks Evan as he peeked down to take a look at the corpsman riding in his Humvee, soundly sleeping.
"Yeah no shit, he's still sleeping." Evan responded to his obvious question, yawning in the process, while also trying to fix his LBV Vest.
He then peeked down to wake up his red-haired friend, who is still sleeping in his sleeping bag under the Humvee, thinking on how to get him to wake up, deciding to just give a light kick to his shoulder.
"Wake the fuck up pretty boy~" Evan said softly, as his right leg are moving Clancy's shoulder, startling him, prompting him wake up and hit his head on the Humvee, clutching it in pain.
Seeing this, Simon and Evan burst into laughter, smiling at Clancy's panicked attempt to wake up.
"What the fuck was that for man?" Clancy asked, holding his head who just hit the axle of the Humvee.
"Jesus dude, ask that yourself, you're the one that woke up like the world is going to end like 2012 or some shit." Evan immediately answered, giving him a smile as a sign that he's sorry, Clancy simply smiled back in return as he crawled outside.
"Alright go wash up or something, I don't want my driver and corpsman to look like a fucking zombie." The stern voice of their team leader can be heard, poking fun at their tired expression. Evan responds by taking a Rip-It from his seat and chugging it in one go, trying to get the energy needed for the day.
"Like this?" Evan jokingly asks his team leader, giving him a shit-eating grin.
"Yeah, just don't go overboard and start rambling about how the Clinton Foundation and Jeffrey Epstein are connected to the Gate opening and the whole thing about the Empire lacking quality pussy with your fucking whiskey tango cousin-fucking buck-toothed trailer park accent." Simon shot back, his voice deadpanned, making fun at the fact that Evan came from Mississippi, one of the poorest states in America.
Doc Clancy and the Traveler break out laughing, not expecting Simon to respond to his question with that friendly insult, the latter writing it in his notebook, while Evan just smiles, shaking his head at how accurate his insult is, not even mad.
"Roger that Sergeant!" Evan responded in a teasing voice, winking at his team leader before climbing into his driver seat to take another can of Rip-Its.
"Good." Simon simply replied, before heading off, his M4A1's grip firmly in his right hand without his left hand holding the barrel, carrying it as if it's a broom..
Now that both of his team members have woken up, Simon heads to Sergeant Sutherby, the team leader of Hitman 2-2 and Sebastian, his driver and conveniently, his sniper, with him being the spotter, both of whom are crouching on a slope hidden by tall grasses, couple of meters away from the 1st Recon convoy parked on the empty fields behind them. They're looking at the city through their M40 sniper scope and the thermal spotting device, scanning for any HVTs, both of them being the platoon's scout sniper.
Simon crouched down so he won't reveal their position, slowly crouching towards their position before dropping down to their level as he finally reaches them, looking at them with a curious face.
"Oi, what are you two doing here?" Simon asks, crawling next to Sutherby, who turned his head at him for a second before going back to spotting HVTs for his sniper. Sutherby didn't answer his question.
"We are scanning the fields, what kind of fuckshit do you think we doing?" Sebastian answers his question, his eyes fixed on the fields outside Italica's wall. On them are the Marines and tanks of RCT-5 and RCT-7, trying to take out the defenders on the walls, adventurers siding with the defenders taking shots at them with their magic and arrows, to which they responded by raining down a hail of 120mm shells from their Abrams together with LAV's 25mm autocannon, turning the defenders into nothing but pink mists.
The trio just whistled at the battle they're seeing right now, grinning as the Marines began blowing up the defenders with their tank guns and autocannons, eviscerating them in seconds. To rub salt on the wound, JDAMs land dangerously close to the Marine's position, obliterating the wall and burying the defenders alive; some parts of the wall however, still stand, albeit appearing as if it would collapse at any second.
Evan, who has just arrived at the trio's position, grins at the scene in excitement.
"Look at how we fucking lit them up!" He exclaimed cheerfully, using his thermal scope on his M4A1 to look at the aftermath of the combined attack, muttering only "wow".
"That was fuckin' cool, man." Evan said, putting down his thermal scope, turning his head towards the trio, who are also grinning.
"One less problem to deal with when we storm the city." Simon simply remarked, as he stares at the maimed corpse of a dead defender, intestines strewn around the fields just 600 meters in front of them - just one of the many bodies or body parts strewn around grassy fields as a result of RCT-5's and RCT-7's attack from the previous night, the assault on the wall being the current phase.
He shakes his head at the scene, a body looking no older than 15 on the fields, perhaps a civilian caught in the crossfire. He sighs as he tries to look away from the aftermath.
"Sutherby, you got anything?" Sebastian asks, scanning the field in front of them with his sniper scope.
"Nothing." A reply came from his spotter, Sergeant Sutherby.
Suddenly, a voice rang out behind them. It's their platoon commander.
"What the fuck are you guys doing here? Why is nobody on the fucking turrets?" Lt. Mistral spoke up, pointing his fingers at his platoon, lazing off, not being on the turret. Hearing this, the sniper and spotter duo immediately head back to their team, Hitman 2-2, gesturing towards their fellow team members to get ready and man the turrets.
Lt. Mistral walked up to Evan and Simon, Doc Clancy joining them because of the commotion earlier.
"Sai, we got orders to move towards the city's southern gate to support the division's assault there." Lt Mistral says, his voice emanating an unusual urgency, his face, usually smiling, now disapprovingly frowning, lending credibility to the seriousness of his statement.
"But sir, aren't we supposed to assault the city the next day? What the fuck happened to the original orders?" Simon asks his superior, tilting his head in confusion.
"Yeah, what the fuck happened to the original order?" Clancy adds, looking at his superior with a puzzled face.
Lt. Mistral sighs as he rubs his forehead in frustration, looking at the ground as he tries forming up a response, before looking back up and answering their question.
"It got changed, Godfather wants us to support the division's attack, not assault the city itself, the order was supposed to be passed down but someone fucked it up, I had to come down to tell you guys myself, battalion is at REDCON-1." He explains grimly, before patting the shoulder of his team leader, gesturing towards him to gear up and get ready to move.
"Fuckin' supply POG retards." Evan angrily curses, as now his rest is ruined, at least if the orders get passed down, he'll have time to prepare, but now he has to prepare at the last moment.
They walked back towards their Humvee behind 4 tanks of Centurion-1. Behind their Humvee is the rest of their platoon together with the rest of 1st Recon's eighty vehicle column.
Everyone is gearing up, fixing their helmet, brass-checking their weapons and loading their guns, the gas turbine engine of Centurion-1's tanks roared to life, disturbing the quiet atmosphere before with their unholy shriek. The mood had quickly changed from festive to tense. Dow's team, who's been busy cleaning the fields before, is now climbing towards their Humvee, loading their M4A1s and M249s, their training kicking in as they prepare to move out.
Doc Clancy approaches the Traveler, fixing his kevlar vest in midst of the increased activity in the area, around them, everyone is running back to their vehicles, getting on the turret.
"What the fuck are you doing?" He asks while approaching him, trying to help him fix his vest, currently partially open.
"Trying to fix my kevlar." The Traveler simply replied, trying to fix it as fast as he could, not wanting to get left behind as everyone is preparing to move out.
"You're trying to fix him up? Aww, how nice, being caring as always I guess?" Evan jokingly asks from the driver seat with a smile on his face, his head leaning outside, looking at them.
"Don't even think about getting a fucking blowjob from me because of that, but thanks for the compliment." Clancy immediately responds to his question sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his friend's attempt to tease him, earning a laugh from Evan.
"Gee, how evil." Evan jokingly replied to his answer, giving him a wink before taking his head back inside.
Finally done fixing the Traveler's kevlar vest, he then pats him on his right shoulder who in turn, nodded, telling him he's done as he walks back towards his seat, opening the doors and getting on his seat before closing the door, in front of him is Evan, trying to make sure the radios are working with a can of Rip-Its in his left hand. His M4A1 meanwhile, is seated on the dashboard, not using it as he is the driver of the vehicle.
Simon opens the door of his seat, entering the vehicle as he closes the door, turning his head towards his team to make sure they're all accounted for, all while checking his radio headset with the microphone extending from his left ear, trying to ensure it won't be having any problems on their next, albeit rushed, mission.
"What's the matter?" Simon asks as he turns his head towards his driver, who also happens to be his RTO, wanting to know what he is doing with the radio.
Evan, who has been busy plugging and unplugging the radio in an attempt to fix it, immediately responds to his question.
"I'm trying to fucking find the right frequency and channels, some retards changed it this morning without passing it down on us, probably busy jerking off to fucking pictures of Kim Kardanshian to even bother to pass it down, now I can't even hear our platoon commander or Lt. Richman's autistic fuckin' rambling." Evan angrily replies to his team leader's question, taking a moment to spit outside in frustration, before finally fixing the radio, breathing a sigh of relief with the radio chatter of their platoon commander speaking indicating that he has found the correct frequency and channels.
"Calm the fuck down Evan, it's fixed now, alright?" Simon stares at his driver, giving him a reassuring smile as he tries to calm him down, his left hand holding Evan's shoulder, making eye contact with him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll shut up and calm down." Evan immediately obeys his team leader's order, gulping down M&Ms in the process before taking a sip from a can of Rip-Its, trying to calm down.
"All Hitman-2 Victors, this is Hitman-2 Actual, head back and mount up on your victors, we are moving out in 5 mikes, over." Lt. Mistral finally speaks on the radio, his radio message just reinforcing the seriousness of their current situation, as everyone enters their combat mode - the Marines who were lazing around just a few minutes ago, now running around, carrying ammunition for their mission.
Viper attack helicopters fly overhead, en-route to the bombed out city. The Marines grin seeing this, the heavy sounds of their rotors filling the air, as they fly towards the city, like eagles in the sky looking for their prey.
Dow turns his head towards his team, making sure they're all in the vehicle, his eyes darting left and right, not one to allow his team members to get left behind. Satisfied that everyone is in the vehicle, he finally spoke up.
"Alright gents, ROE been changed by the LT, they told us to shoot everyone with a weapon, no exceptions. RCT-5's guys have been hit non-stop by militias, if you see any motherfucker holding a sword about to attack us, fucking cap his ass." Dow said with a stern voice similar to a teacher.
"But you gotta make sure that someone is actually holding a weapon. If you shoot a nigga sweeping his balcony 'cause you thought he's holding a weapon, it's all on us,
aight?" Dow continues, before turning his head towards his driver.
"Start the vehicle." He flatly orders, as he affixes his desert goggles over his eyes. Allie, hearing this, immediately starts the vehicle, his hands gripping the steering wheel.
At the front, Hitman 2-1's Humvee roared to life, as Evan started the engine, the only thing left for them is to wait for the explicit orders by their Company Commander telling them to move.
His prayers were soon answered, as the radio crackled, an indication someone is about to speak.
"All Hitman Victors, this is Hitman Actual, we're Oscar Mike, we're moving out, over." The voice of Captain Walt can be heard on the radio, as Evan turns his head towards his team leader, who immediately responds by saying.
"Move." Simon blankly orders, before turning his head to the right, gazing out at the fields with his hands firmly gripping his M4A1 pointed outside, as he tries to stay focused on alert and lookout for any militiamen that might ambush them.
"Roger that!" Evan immediately replied, his legs stepping on the gas of the Humvee, causing it to jerk forward as he swerved the vehicle to the left onto the road, followed by the rest of the convoy. In front of them, 4 tanks of Centurion-1 are spearheading the convoy as they move towards Italica.
Helicopters fly over them firing rockets into Italica, jets shrieked high in the heavens, as they swooped down low to bomb the city, sending dirt and shrapnel in every direction as the bombs exploded, duly obliterating any defenders in the blast. To their right are tanks and vehicles of the 1st Marine Division, as they too begin moving, heading towards the city.
"This is nuts sending us over to the city in open-top Humvees! We could die because of this! They could use their magic against us!" Lt. Richman screamed on the radio, panicking yet again, to which the Marines responded by rolling their eyes at the message.
"Jesus, what the fuck are those Romans from wish websites gonna do to us? Use their magic straight out of fuckin' games or some shit and blow us sky high? Fucking retard! They couldn't even manage to scratch us at Alnus." Evan angrily rants as he drives, shaking his head at the radio message, taking a sip from his Rip-Its.
"At this rate, I just fucking wished that you didn't fix the radio earlier. At least we wouldn't have to hear his fucking autism on display in all it's glory on the comms if you kept the radio broken." Simon says with an exasperated voice, rolling his eyes as response to the panicked transmission whilst gazing out to the open fields, littered with dead bodies and a disturbed harvest.
"You know, it's like those fucknuts on internet forums like spacebattle or some other shit, talking about how we are gonna get our asses kicked by this fucking Roman knock-off and their magic shit, fuck man! We are 4 days into the war and they didn't even manage to scratch us yet, who's the fucking retard now? It's those fucking paranoid fucks on the internet talking about how magic are powerful or some shit, bitch-asses." Evan continues his rant as he drives the vehicles, swerving left and right to avoid dead bodies as he tries to find the correct route towards Italica's southern gate.
Everyone in the Humvee quiets down as they continue their journey towards Italica, occasionally looking up to see Vipers and Apaches assaulting the city, followed by fighter jets high in the sky. Plumes of smoke from the explosion can be seen from the convoy.
They drive past a wagon riddled with bullet holes to their left, blood dripping from the shredded wooden door as the bodies of civilians can be seen inside the wagon, their viscera carelessly thrown about with fresh intestines barely hanging out the door. The horse meanwhile, lies dead on the roadside, it's neck suddenly ending from a head blown off by a LAV's 25mm, mistaken for enemy scouts.
Everyone in the Humvee just stares at the wagon in horror, shaking their heads at the sheer brutality of what they're seeing right now, holding off from puking at the sight. Kirito, on the Mark-19 turret, stares at the wagon with a horrified expression.
"This is 2-1 Bravo, I see no weapons inside the wagon, over." Dow spoke up on the radio, his voice calm, despite the horror of what he saw.
"This is Hitman 2-2, we can confirm, no weapons inside the wagon." Sergeant Sutherby confirms what Dow saw, no visible weapons within the red stained wagon as he turns his head away from the sight.
"Christ….. We aren't even in the city yet." Clancy remarked as he tries to hold his breakfast in, which was trying to jump out from his stomach, turning his head away in disgust.
"All Hitman-2 Victors, be advised, we will be moving until we reach the vicinity of the walls, then we will stop 300 meters away, over." Lt. Mistral tells his platoon on the radio about their plan, trying to make it as clear as possible for his team leaders.
Southern Gate of Italica (1300)
Peering through his binoculars, Captain Jeremy Wileman, the CO of Alpha Company, 1st Recon, witnesses firsthand artillery landing dangerously close to his men, sending dirt and smoke high into the air each time they land, the shell succeeded in blowing up a Imperial position, sending limbs and heads high to the heavens as it explodes.
Next to him is his Company First Sergeant, Ian Goodson, firing his M4A1 at the wall, occasionally letting off 2 or 3 rounds bursts towards the enemy position, hiding behind the half collapsed wall. Arrows fly around, hitting the vehicles and bouncing off harmlessly, his Marines responded to their pitiful attempts at attacking them by savagely and mercilessly laying down heavy fire on the Imperials and Italican positions with their .50 cal, 40mm, and 120mm rounds from the Abrams tanks of Centurion-1 supporting Alpha, blowing them to smithereens.
An arrow narrowly misses his head, striking the hood of his Humvee instead, despite being mocked relentlessly for his medium build and deep crimson-hair, though the former came in handy in situations like this, as assorted projectiles whiz by, narrowly missing his men and himself.
He crouches as he moves towards his Humvee, trying to keep as low as possible to not catch any stray arrows or perhaps, even more dangerously, bullets from friendly Marines.
A hundred meters to his left are Marines from RCT-5 assaulting the walls, as they try to clear the walls before going into the city, their M1A1 tanks, firing once in a while, each blowing a large, yet only surface damaging, hole in the wall when they land.
Captain Wileman then grabs a pack of half opened Skittles, opening it as he gulps down multiple Skittles, all while under fire. He then grabs the radio that was on the dashboard of the Humvee, about to call in a potentially danger close strike, deciding to play the gamble to destroy enemy positions; an artillery mission, all while gulping down a pack of Skittles like it's nothing, staying calm in the heat of the battle.
"Hellfire, this is Ajax, Fire Mission, over. Captain Wileman calmly said on the radio, as he continuously gulps down his Skittles, keeping an eye on the target he is going to send to the afterlife.
Bravo Company's position, 210 meters behind Alpha Company's position, Italica's Southern Gate (1320)
Simon watches through his ACOG, as multiple artillery rounds rain upon the Italican defenders, called in by Captain Wileman. The artillery rounds continues to impact the Italican positions, sending brick and wood as high as 50 meters into the air, turning once simple building material into deadly shrapnels.
One shell lands dangerously close to Captain Williams's position, another almost hitting his position, sending shrapnels towards him. Luckily, it hits nothing besides the windshield of his Humvee, breaking it after sending a rock towards the window at high speed.
"Damn! That was fuckin' awesome, looks like Ajax collapsed the wall entirely. They fucking painted the town red!" Evan commented as he peeks through his binoculars towards the target area, turned into nothing but craters and dead bodies missing body parts and organs.
"I guess it actually means something if you have the correct grid, unlike our dear Lt. Superman." Clancy joins in as everyone reminisces over the time Lt. Richman tried calling in artillery, only for it to be denied due to him using the wrong coordinates.
Everyone laughs remembering it, shaking their heads at how much of an incompetent officer he is.
Simon turns his head towards Lt Mistral, crouched to his right, also watching the fireworks display by Alpha Company, whistling as he peered through his binoculars.
"Sir, may I ask what are we doing here sitting in the middle of this field, being shot at by arrows and stones while RCT-5 and Alpha get to shoot at the enemy?" Simon asks, his voice sounding almost disappointed by the lack of action, as his superior, who has put down his binoculars to look at Simon, grimly smiles at him.
"Yeah, how come Alpha gets to shoot at some Romans and we don't?" Evan complains, agreeing with his team leader on how they haven't got to fire their weapons yet.
"Well gents, our mission right now is to stay behind Alpha to act as QRF if RCT-5 needs CASEVAC for wounded Marines." Lt Mistral explains, as he pulls out his map, pointing his gloved fingers at their position, Alpha Company's and RCT-5's with RCT-5 being foremost on the map.
"I'm pretty sure Alpha and Centurion-1 already blew up the walls together with guys from RCT-5." Simon grimly says as his eyeballs turn to the M1A1 tanks of Centurion-1, firing at enemy positions with their M1028 Anti-Personnel Canister round.
"We'll get to shoot once we got the orders to push through this fucking shithole." Lt Mistral responds to his statement, giving his team leader a reassuring smile, before going back to watching the artillery show.
"That sucks, considering that even Doc doesn't have a wounded Marine to treat." Evan adds, turning his head towards Doc Clancy, busy sitting with his legs crossed, leaning against the driver's door of Hitman 2-1's Humvee and eating his MRE M&Ms.
"What?" Clancy asks, looking at Evan with a goofy smile, his mouth full of M&Ms, making Evan laugh a bit.
Just then, they hear a loud shriek coming from the air, everyone in the platoon snaps their head towards it, squinting their eyes in the sunny afternoon sun of Falmart to look for the source.
They finally saw it, a duo of A-10 Warthog attack jets, flying around in the sky, swooping low to attack Italican defenders. The Marines seeing this, cheerfully shouts at them, grinning as they knew that the knock-off Romans won't have known what hit them.
Doc Clancy, Evan and Simon eyed the duo suspiciously, following their movements as they flew just above the position of their company, not participating in the cheerful and pumped-up shouting of the other Marines. The Traveler meanwhile, just takes a picture of it.
Suddenly, the A-10s begin to fire their powerful 30mm gun, taking the Marines by surprise and startling them. Seeing this, Evan, Doc Clancy and Simon immediately shouts in the hail of gunfire, desperately trying to get their message across.
"GET DOWN! EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" The trio yelled at the top of their lungs, three of them dropping low to the ground as the result of A-10's gun run, kicking up dirt high, before firing their missiles, hitting a target that Simon can't see, thanks to his face planted against the ground as he holds his helmet, trying not to get hit by the gun run. Kirito meanwhile, jumps out from his turret position towards an artillery crater, accidentally hitting the Traveler as they both roll to the ground.
Marines immediately run to cover, as multiple 30mm rounds begin to rain on their position, kicking up dirt and narrowly missing Hitman 2-3 Humvee, whose occupants jumped into a ditch in an effort to not get hit.
Evan immediately drags Allie into a crater, trying to prevent the A-10 from shredding him to pieces, at the same time trying to not make themselves a bigger target.
"Thank you for dragging me down bruh." Allie flatly says, as he tries to take a peek at the flying Warthog.
"You're welcome, now shut the fuck up and keep your heads low." Evan immediately responded, his once goofy and cheerful attitude has been replaced by a serious and concerned facade, not wanting to get his friends killed, as the iconic "Brrrtttt" sound of the A-10's 30mm gun continues, instead of hitting the enemy position hitting Marine position.
As several minutes pass, everyone gets up immediately as the A-10s finally ends their gun run. Through some miracle no Marines in 1st Recon were hit by friendly fire.
"What the fuck was that?" Kirito asks with a puzzled expression, as he tries to take a peek at his surroundings, still worried.
"It was a fucking brrrrrttard zoomie, trigger happy fucking retards." Evan answered his question immediately in an angry tone, as he tries to get up, pushing dirts away from his FLC Vest.
"Oh fuck, oh shit, shit! Lieutenant! We have a blue on blue, a fucking friendly casualty, those motherfuckers hit the guys from RCT-5!" Dow yelled towards Lt Mistral, his face shocked as he points towards an AAV from RCT-5, 210 meters ahead of them. Hearing this, everyone snapped their head towards it, eyes widening and mouths agape in realization at what just happened.
The Marines of Hitman-2 watch in horror as they see an Amtrac, full of Marines from RCT-5 near the city's gate, engulfed in a massive explosion, burning them alive. They were hit by the A-10's gun run, one of the 30mm rounds striking an ammo compartment in the armored vehicle, setting off a chain of explosions in the Amtrac, roasting the Marines inside alive.
Then the screams, the blood-curdling screams of the RCT-5's Marines hit by the A-10's gun run can be heard, slowly melting away in the face of the burning AAV they're in, desperately climbing through the hatches to escape whilst flapping their hands like birds in an effort to put the down the fire. Seeing this, Marines from Alpha Company immediately rushed to help their burning comrades, while the unluckier Marines in the AAV continues to burn alive as another explosion from the ammo compartment sends body chunks and meats from the Marines trapped inside the Amtrac, their dying screams still heard by the men of Hitman-2, vibrating in the air of the chilly yet sunny day.
Note :
Fire Mission - Calling in artillery.
Blue on blue - another word for friendly fire.
QRF - Quick Reaction Force
Danger close - like what it says, artillery mission close to friendly unit, 600 meters within friendly position.
AAV - same thing as Amtrac.
CASEVAC - Casualty Evacuation, evacuating wounded troops.
HVT - High Value Target, for example, enemy leaders.
Zoomie - What Marines calls an air force pilot.
RTO - Radio Telephone Operator.
ROE - Rules of Engagement, basically rules on what to shoot and what not to shoot.
Special thanks to CapitalistPaintrPyro/lunaticthatreads for proofreading.