Important Author's Note : I made a mistake, as it turns out, Marines used FLC [Fighting Load Carrier] Vest instead of LBVs, so yeah, all mentions of LBVs vest is now replaced with FLC.
Main Italican Road, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion and Regimental Combat Team-5's Convoy, April 4th 2021 (1610)
Arrows, fire magic and other projectiles fly out of the seemingly empty windows as they hit Marine vehicles in the convoy, bouncing off harmlessly and making audible "clack!" sounds as they land on their intended targets, to which the Marines respond by raining down a solid wall of fire on the nearby buildings along the main road. Tracer rounds flew in the sky gracefully as they create multiple streaks of lights, riddling the buildings full of holes, their rounds maiming or killing the defenders taking refuge inside as each sliced through the brick, stone and wooden walls of the buildings like a hot knife through a butter before finally hitting the Italicans, penetrating into their bodies and sending organs all over the floor.
Artillery lands hundred of meters to their right and left, destroying buildings in one hit, some rounds however, explode mid-air, sending hundreds of metal shards at the ground, the explosion ripping apart an entire formation of Italican defenders. DPICM and airburst artillery rounds continue to land in the city, bombarding enemy formations non-stop, clearing the way for the convoy to pass through. Rubble filled the main road as the Marines' solid wall of lead hit more buildings along the road, their heavy weapons causing the buildings to collapse as they let out a wall of 40mm grenades, 120mm shells and 25mm shells at the ambushers awaiting them, only for their consciousness to turn pitch black as invisible explosive arrows began exploding near them, ripping apart their limbs from the pressure of HEAT explosion, detaching multiple body parts of the defenders, sending it flying at high speed as a result of a M1A1 Tank of Centurion-1 firing its main gun.
Kirito steadily let loose a 10 round burst of 40mm grenade from his Mark-19 at a building, it's occupants occasionally peeking their heads out as they try to fire at the convoy, only to stare in horror as their arrows and fire magic bounce harmlessly off the M1A1 tanks and other vehicles of the convoy. Kirito, seeing the horrified defenders, seized the opportunity and began rotating the turrets towards them, stabilizing himself before firing his Mark-19 and letting off a long burst at the building, sending shrapnel and limbs of the Italicans everywhere, indicating an accurate hit as a smile crept on his face hidden under his tinted goggles and tan-colored balaclava in an attempt to avoid dusts and shrapnel from hitting his face, now smiling under the balaclava knowing that he just collapsed a balcony.
A lone Viper flies high in the sky making chopping noises as it fires 2 Hellfire missiles onto a building rooftop 200 meters in front of the convoy, collapsing half of the building together with its defenders, as the last thing they saw was a strange dragonfly letting loose 2 streaks of lights as their consciousness turned into dark void of nothingness after being vaporized by the explosion. The Viper ends its attack by firing its rotary cannon at a wooden building, as the ambushers rush to take refuge in it from the strange dragonfly. The massive 20mm bullet sliced through the roof with ease, turning the unfortunate Italican defenders in the building into chunks of meat.
"Jesus Christ man, these adventurers are so fucking annoying, can't these absolute braindead retards stop taking part in every war they see for bunch of funny-looking coins or some shit and just let us finish our business with this goddamned autistic copy of Roman Empire?!" Breaking the silence in the Humvee is Evan, angrily asking no one in particular, annoyed by the constant rain of harmless arrows bouncing off their Humvee, the noise getting on his nerve, who's busy driving directly behind the Abrams of Centurion-1, trying not to ram into their tracks, making loud noises as they ran over multiple obstacles on the road, paving the way for the rest of the convoy to pass through as they occasionally turned their behemoth of a turret at buildings to their left and right before leveling it with a single, precise shot of a HEAT round, the force of the explosion enough to rupture the organs of the adventurers hiding in the building.
"Well, their name is literally 'adventurers', what's a better adventure than getting shot to fucking pieces in a war and losing all of your loved ones!" Sarcastically answering his question is Doc Clancy, not letting go of his gazing at the alleys to their left, letting off 2 round burst at an elven girl, trying to summon a magic spell in an attempt to stop the invaders, to which she earned 2 rounds of 5.56 in her chest for the trouble, instantly killing her before she could even complete her spell, before earning another 1 round on her head, sending blood and brain matter all over the alley.
"Will you two shut the fuck up and stay focused?" Simon flatly orders them both, which both of them immediately obeyed by stopping their chatter in the middle of the ambush, only the sound of gunfire can be heard now. Simon watches through his ACOG at the alleys to the right; he already killed 2 Italican defenders and 1 Adventurer that is unfortunate enough to be in his sight. Continuing to scan his sector for any enemy that might pop out.
Pop out they did, as a young, red-haired girl in what can be only described as royal knight armor popped out from a dark alley with a bow in her hand, leading a group of men behind her. Seeing this, he immediately squeezed the trigger of his M4A1 2 times at the girl, the 2 round burst of 5.56 slicing through her armor like a hot knife through a butter, before firing another 2 round burst at her head, sending her "minds" all over the men behind her, whose face are horrified at the death of their leader at the hands of a certain other-worlder covering them with bloods and brain matters of the red-haired girl in armor.
However, Simon isn't done as his left hand immediately drifted down to his FLC vest, grabbing a fresh 40mm grenade, a smirk began creeping on his face as he loads the grenade into his M203 underbarrel grenade launcher on his gun, steadily aiming it at the said alley as he fired the grenade, making a "pop" sound, before finally finding their target, blowing it up as it sends rocks and stones flying due to the shockwave and pressure together with intestines of the men in the alley, flying high in the air before landing on Hitman 2-2's Humvee, the occupants not caring there's intestines on the hood of their Humvee, the resulting explosion leaving behind a bloodied alley full of dead bodies. Simon takes a final look at the alley, the maimed bodies of the red-haired girl in knight armor and the men earlier indicating he killed them all, satisfied, he adjusted his M4A1 couple of inches to his left, nonchalantly firing another 2 round burst at another adventurer in front of their Humvee of which were shot to death with an almost eerie accuracy.
Everybody stayed silent, busy shooting at the enemy, the look on everybody's face is calm to the point of being serene, the usually talkative Evan has quieten down as he tries to focus driving the Humvee, avoiding dead bodies and obstacles on the roads as a result of 1st Recon and RCT-5's rain of small arm bullets, 40mm and 120mm guns, collapsing some building and killing multiple Italicans, including innocent civilians caught in the ambush's crossfire. For the Marines who has been doing nothing besides jerking off, singing songs during Humvee rides, dealing with general boredom, and waiting ever since the war started, being ambushed in Italica is like an answered prayer, their facial expression looking serene even in the face of death, shooting and killing any ambushers with surgical precision.
The Traveler, despite being a young civilian journalist with no prior combat experience, maintained his emotions while arrows continued hitting the door of his seat, making loud noises as they landed. Ignoring the rain of arrows and fire magic not 10 meters away from the Humvee, he calmly takes a bite from a kit-kat bar, watching the firefight unfold while occasionally taking pictures of the battle as he keep a mental note on what to write on his notebook after the convoy finally gets out of the ambush site, securing their objective at the bridge over Roma River, to his left is Clancy, preoccupied with shooting at ambushers in the alley, calmly and mechanically firing his M4A1 once in a while with a short burst, not a hint of fear on his face as he quickly takes the life of a city knight hiding behind a overturned wagon with a quick, 2 round burst to the center-mass.
At the front passenger seat, Simon's left hand fumbled over his FLC vest, searching for unknown item, not letting go of his steely gaze at the alleys, firing multiple short bursts every few seconds as he continued searching for his intended item, before finally speaking up, it looks like he did not found his intended item as shown by his frowning face.
"I need a 203! 203!" Turns out, the item he's searching for is a 40mm grenade, indicated by Simon's request for a new round, all of the rounds on his FLC rucksack had ran out, all of which are used against enemy hiding inside alleys as he gestures at the Traveler to give him the rounds. Hearing his request, the Traveler immediately leaped into action, as he immediately turned around, grabbing three rounds from a box labeled "40mm M203", before turning his back towards the front as gives Simon the grenade rounds, who immediately loaded it into the chamber of his M203 underbarrel launcher under his M4A1. He carefully takes aim with the leaf sight of the grenade launcher, his green eyes not letting go the target off his line of sight before calmly firing the grenade with a "pop!" sound, barely audible in the sea of gunfire around them.
The target, a small building made of primitive bricks immediately went up in a explosion as the round hit its target, the plume of smoke indicating a direct hit as the force of the explosion turns the wooden door of the wooden house into wooden splinters and sawdust, sending shrapnels that instantly killed anyone standing behind it and maiming anyone near them. The arrow fire from the small house immediately stopped, followed by blood-curdling screams of the archers inside, injured as a result of Simon's accurate grenade fire, unfortunately for them, no one will come to their rescue as they continue to bleed to death, with the sounds of gunfire accompanying them in the background as they slowly lose their consciousness
Behind Simon's Humvee is 2-1 Bravo, riding in their open-top Humvee, continue to lay down fire at building to their left and right with mechanical efficiency, their training and muscle memory kicking in as they continue to fire accurately, even as arrows fly inches away from their head as a result of the Humvee missing its roof, miraculously, none of the arrows manages hit anyone in Dow's team as they continue firing their service weapon at the enemy, taking time to aim before accurately letting loose 2 or 3 rounds at the enemy.
One down
Dow quietly mutters after putting down an archer in the rooftop of a building under his beige balaclava and tinted goggles, as he continue to fire his M4A1 at the hidden enemy with an almost perfect accuracy, his left hand gripping his underbarrel M203 launcher, trying to stabilize his aim before squeezing the trigger 2 times yet again, as he finally finds his next victim who happens to be an adventurer hiding behind a medieval-looking stall, the 2 rounds quickly blowing his head off, killing the man.
Two down
He stares at the lifeless body of the adventurer he just killed seconds earlier, pitying him as he is just defending his city from other-worlder's invasion, before snapping out of the thoughts and continuing to fire his gun at any hostiles on the sidewalk along the road with perfect hits, eerily similar back when he used to be a thug in Boston Hood, doing drive-bys with illegal guns. To him, the similarity between the old memory of drive-by shootings and the current ambush in Italica is uncanny, both of the time, he's shooting at people on the sidewalk in a speeding vehicle. Although, this time, he's in an active warzone with machine gun and arrow fires all around him.
Next to Dow is his driver, Allie, his eyes shielded by the standard issue tinted goggles, as he calmly drives through the shit and piss-filled streets, courtesy of Marine M777 artillery salvoes blowing up the sewers, causing human waste to accumulate on the main Italican road as the sewage storing them is leaking. He silently recites the "Hail Mary" chant, hoping to not get killed by the rain of arrows all around him, barely missing him and his fellow teammates.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women
and blest is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of death.
Amen.
Despite the calm facade he puts on, the sense of fear is still there, driving through an ambush in a open top Humvee, in a city full of hostiles, despite all that he still maintains his emotion as a result of adrenaline rush as he calmly steered the vehicle left and right, trying to avoid rubbles and overturned wagons on the road, directly following 2-1 Alpha's Humvee movement in front of them, which unlike their Humvee, 2-1 Alpha's Humvee actually has a roof protecting them. Behind him is Cortez, manning the M2 machine gun as he let loose a long, furious burst of 50 cal rounds at a medieval stall selling vegetables who just happens to provide a hidden ambush position for the city's defender, the massive bullets cuts through the vegetables as it sends chunks of green leaves all over the place, before finally hitting the Imperial archers hiding inside it, ripping apart the man's body at speed of sound as hundreds of 50 cal rounds begin entering the man's chest and guts, destroying his insides alongside his friends as intestines, kidneys and other organs started flying alongside the vegetables in the stall.
2 Viper attack helicopters fly right above the convoy, the logo on the tail featuring a black spade with the word "anytime, anywhere" making it painfully obvious the helicopters belonged to the HMLA-267 "Stingers", as the duo fly high in the sky, looking for its prey before swooping down for a gun run, firing its deadly 20mm rotary cannon at a obstacle set up by the defenders to block the tanks of Centurion-1 leading the convoy, which were immediately destroyed by the hail of cannon fire from the two hunters in the sky.
The mages of the adventurers that sided with the Italican tries to shoot it down with combined magic, as they chanted all while keeping an eye on their target, before releasing a streak of light towards the duo, narrowly missing it if it weren't for the quick reflexes of the pilots, the mages stares in shock as the two dragonfly avoids their exhausting spell, mouth agape. Not pleased by their attempt at shooting them down, both of the attack helicopters began firing their rotary cannon and Hydra rockets at the adventurers on the rooftop of the building, the combined use of 20mm rotary cannons and Hydra rockets caused the roof to collapse, killing anyone standing on the roof who wasn't vaporized immediately by the explosion earlier, soon enough, the duo continues their journey, firing at targets of opportunity along the road used by the convoy with their guns and rockets.
"Hell yeah, Stingers! Get some motherfuckers!" Evan gleefully shouts, hunching the Humvee's steering wheel, looking through the dirty windshield in front of him as he gazes at the duo of Vipers flying all while keeping an eye on the road. Despite his joyful smile and initial statement, he stays silent, the only thing differentiating his behavior in combat and during boring times is that in the former, he isn't jokingly rambling about how Clinton Foundation opened the Gate to recapture Jeffrey Epstein and his elven harem after he killed himself to escape the Clintons, only to be isekai'd to Falmart or some other conspiracy theorist retard that bothers him.
He purposely rams the Humvee into a stall, moved in the middle of the road by an imperial ogre in an attempt to stop the convoy, destroying it almost immediately, the weight of the vehicle crushing it with ease as Evan continues driving right behind Centurion 1-3, an Abrams tank under Centurion- 1 who in turn, runs over the ogre as it crushes the creature under its track, the dying screams drowned in the sea of fire as the crews of the M1A1 tank continues driving, crushing the ogre to death, spraying green liquid, presumably its blood under the tank whose crews paid no mind to the strange liquid as it sticks to the dark green woodland camouflage under their tank.
The tank, Centurion 1-3, turned it's turret left as the Abrams continues to move forward at fast pace, before firing the gun at a two-storey building, the 120mm HEAT shell penetrating the walls with ease before exploding as it sends shockwaves that ripped apart the entire building, vaporizing any enemy that might be unfortunate enough to be in its sight. The foundation of the building crumbles under its own weight as the stone pillars inside the building holding it together falls apart, collapsing the entire building downwards instead of onto the road, kicking up a large cloud of dust that envelops the convoy, who continues to speed through the road with no regards given to the dust cloud.
Another group of Vipers fly high in the sky as it fires the main 20mm cannon at the combined group of Italicans defenders and Imperial knights on a rooftop, the hot bullet brass however, lands on the convoy of Marines traveling below them, dropping onto the turret gunners and open top Humvees occupants like a hail of used brass, who in turns lets out an audible "ack!" in pain, as the brass continues to rain down on them, trying to stay focused amid the unfortunate incident.
Kirito shrieked in pain as hundreds of used brass lands on his turret, the clanking noises indicating it hit the roof and the turret as hot brasses continues to rain down on the convoy like a strong torrential rain, before it finally stopped due to the Vipers ending their gun run.
"What the fuck was that dude?" First to ask about the noise is Evan, his voice sounding annoyed as he tries to focus on the road in front of him, hunching over his steering wheel while arrows hit the windshield right in front of his eyes, making small, insignificant cracks that can be fixed later.
"Hot brasses from the Vipers, we have no comms with them." The answer came from his right, as Simon immediately replied to his question, not turning his head towards him as he continued gazing outside at the ruined sidewalks, filled with rubbles, sawdust and wooden splinters as a result of Marines using their heavy weapons. He fires a round of 5.56 towards an archer behind a wagon, he watched as the round traveled at speed of sound before hitting the girl in the head, busting her head off and spreading her brain matter all over the place.
"That'll explain." Evan blankly said as he stares ahead, his left hand holding the map of the city as he tries to see if the convoy is going the right way, not wanting a Black Hawk Down situation to happen, the tanks in front of them seemed to be using the right route, satisfied with the route, he puts down his map as he grabs a can of Rip-Its, chugging it amid the firefight before throwing it outside, mocking the defenders.
"Kirito, are you good up there?" Worried about the plummeting rate of fire of their Mark-19, Simon asked his gunner to see if he's doing fine up there in the turret as he intently studies the alleyways with his ACOG, trying to find any silhouette of hostile forces.
Silence, no reply came.
"Kirito?" Simon asked yet again, turning his head this time, his voice tone changing from emotionless to worried as he shook the leg of his friend to see if he's alright, like before, no reply came, at least not immediately.
Suddenly, two loud bangs can be heard coming from the turret, turning his head to see the source of the noise, revealed to be his gunner Kirito, who gives a thumbs up, indicating he's fine as the slowing rate of Mark-19 fire earlier can be explained as he clumsily tries to remove the hot brasses that had gotten into his FLC and MTV vest which gives him several small burn marks, before going back to operating his Mark-19. However, Evan didn't see this, as he turned his head towards his team leader, inquiring about the status of his friend.
"Is Kirito good?!" He asked amidst the loud firefight outside, apparently not hearing the loud bangs earlier nor did he see the thumbs up given by Kirito, slowing the Humvee to a crawl in the rocky roads of Italica as a result of distracting himself.
"He's good! Good! Drive! Drive now!" Clancy, the Traveler and Simon immediately answered in tandem, prompting Evan to return to driving the vehicle as he steps on the accelerator, jerking the vehicle forward as the Humvee returns to its original speed as it dashes through the blood-filled streets of Italica, splashing all over the place. Already tired of the prolonged journey in the city, Simon turned to ask Evan about the intersection near Count Formal's mansion.
"How far away is the turn?" Firing off another short burst as he turns his head back outside after asking the question, he watches as a man runs across the ruins of the destroyed buildings, gazing at him intently, not sure if he's hostile or just a normal everyday civilian. The man, who has been darting through the ruins for a minute straight finally came to a stop, as he digs through the rubble, looking for something. Simon watches as the man drags out the body of a girl, no older than 10 years old, out of the rubble, sobbing in the process, perhaps the girl is his daughter. Simon shakes his head at the scene dejectedly, nobody knows how many civilians have been killed after being caught in the ambush's crossfire.
"Uhh, if the map is correct, around 1 to 2 klicks away. But then again, the map might be incorrect, shit, the fucking H&S scrounged this map from some obscure bumfuck shithole, maybe some POW camps in Alnus or some shit." His driver, ignoring the carnage around him, immediately answers his question as he holds his map in his left hand, throwing it on the dashboard as he tries to follow the route carefully, swerving left and right as he tails the 4 tanks leading the convoy.
"Sai, can't you just fucking check the correct MSR with your BLUFOR Tracker?" This time, it's Evan's turn to ask as he glances at the BLUFOR Tracker just next to Simon's shoulder, unused as his friend continues to let loose a burst of 5.56 outside, presumably at some unfortunate archers that was in his sight.
"I know you're tired of looking at the maps and driving at the same time but will you please use some common fucking sense, how the fuck am I supposed to check the BLUFOR Tracker and fire my weapon at the same time?" Simon retorted back, not letting go of his gaze at the window of a house, before firing his M4A1 at the area, killing an elven man with a bow that seemed to be on fire, purposely set on fire for a deadlier punch. To which the man received 3 rounds to the chest for the trouble, his rib bones splattered all over the walls..
Everyone stays silent as the convoy continues their journey, the scene repeating across the division as everyone fires their weapon at anyone that even dares to peek outside with a weapon, only for them to be sent to Emroy's realm after they have been obliterated by heavy weapons of the Marines, dead bodies littered the streets, ran over by Marines tanks and other vehicles, as meat chunks filled the road to the bridge, everyone tries to ignore the smell of death outside the Humvee, trying not to puke at the sight, the scene is absolutely brutal and wouldn't look out of the place in a hospital surgery room.
Arrows fly out just to Evan's left as the archers took cover behind wooden barrels, TOW Missile, presumably from Regimental Combat Team-5, fly dangerously close to Hitman 2-1's Humvee, blowing up a line of wooden barrels providing cover for several adventurers, killing them instantly in a massive fireball, their arrows, ironically, being the single thing that led to their demise.
"You know, the only thing that's good about this ambush, is that you can see where the arrows, fireballs or whatever medieval shit these guys threw at us? We can see where it came from, which made ten times easier for us to fuckin' blow them up sky high with heavy weapons and shit." Evan relaxedly commented on the current situation, ignoring the massive explosion less than 100 meters to his left as he glances at the Traveler, gesturing to him to note his statement into his notebook, to which he immediately responds by taking out his notebook, writing on it. Evan meanwhile, went back to driving the vehicle, as silence befell the vehicle once again, the only sound audible is the occasional gunfire by the Humvee's occupants.
Radio crackled to life once in a while, the men on the other side reporting their progress as they continue firing at the buildings, alleys, stalls and sidewalks along the main Italican road.
"Hitman 2-2 to Hitman-2, we have several enemy footmobiles sneaking up to your 3, over."
"Copy that 2-2, we'll deal with them, thanks for the tip." Just like what the transmission said, Lt Mistral quickly dispatched the 3 pikemen running up to his command Humvee, which despite having roofs, is missing it's doors. He quickly fired three 2 rounds burst at each chest of the pikemen, their body jerking back due to the force of the bullet penetrating their ribcage, killing them as the round destroys their heart and lungs, while the final one who miraculously survived the 2 shot to the chest, was dispatched by Lance Corporal Damian Ritter, riding on the back of the platoon's command Humvee as he quickly squeezed the trigger of his gun, putting the man out of his misery as a single round hits his head, sending bloods all over the place.
Back at 2-1's Humvee, everyone braced for the turn as they watched through the windshields, waiting for the 4 tanks in front of them to turn right towards the bridge. Evan glances at the map, placed on the dashboard, squinting his eyes to find the turn on the map which are said to be at the Count Formal mansion, or at least, whatever remains of the mansion.
As if to prove the map was right, the foremost tank in the convoy, Lt Connolly's M1A1 tank immediately swerved to the right, making a sharp turn as it fires its main gun at the remains of Count Formal now destroyed mansion, holding a group of pikemen waiting to ambush them, the sheer power of the 120mm shell vaporizing them, indicated by the painfully obvious fireball in front of them.
"Alright, that's our turn! We're finally getting out of this goddamn shithole." Pointing his gloved hands at the intersection, Clancy remarked gleefully as he took a peek at the turn, before going back to covering his sector with accurate rifle fire, taking a bite from a Skittles with his left hand, while the fingers of his right hand is preoccupied holding and pressing the trigger.
"Let's not jinx this fucking shit, we are not out of here yet, don't start celebrating too early, I don't want a giant ogre to appear out of nowhere and eat us alive." Evan counters, suddenly being the rare voice of reason in the vehicle instead of being a goofball like he usually is.
"This is Hitman-3! We have a man down, I say again we have a man down! Break!" Hearing the transmission, everyone rolls their eyes, annoyed as they know what's gonna come, another round of bullshit by Lt. Superman except this time, it's in the middle of an ambush.
"Stand by for shit to get retarded." Annoyed by the sudden babbling of Hitman-3's commander, Evan simply remarked as he kept an eye on the road, trying to ignore the absolutely annoying radio transmission.
"Yeah, yeah, copy that." His friends, Simon and Clancy immediately respond to his remark sarcastically, before shutting their mouth and going back to shooting archers on the sidewalks with mechanical efficiency, not missing a single bullet, a testament of Recon Marines' marksmanship.
"WE ARE GONNA DIE IF THEY DON'T GET US OUT OF HERE, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW, QUICKLY!"
"I'm so tired of this guy spazzing all over the company-wide radio, can someone shoot this fucking retard already?" Shaking his head at the transmission, Evan remarked angrily, his face exasperated while hunching over the steering wheel as he swerved the Humvee to the right. Making their turn following the 4 tanks in front of them, their tedious thunder run is about to come to an end.
Simon is on the radio with Lt. Mistral, wanting to know more about the status of the wounded Marine in Hitman-3, asks his calm platoon commander about the situation of the Marine instead of the panicked commander of Hitman-3.
"Hitman-2, this is Hitman 2-1, interrogative, what's the sitrep on the wounded Marine in Hitman-3 and will we be halting to CASEVAC the wounded Marine? Over."
"Hitman 2-1, the wounded Marine has been stabilized and negative, we are not stopping to CASEVAC the Marine, we'll be continuing to push out of the killzone to the bridge, over." The stern yet calm and monotone voice of Lt Mistral replied to his question in a heartbeat, his left hand holding the radio headset's push to talk button while his right hand are firing his M9 Beretta pistol at a knight just outside his vehicle, not a hint of fear in his voice. Simon, who was worried earlier, is now satisfied with the answer about the situation of his fellow Marine in their sister platoon, breathing a sigh of relief, before promptly ending the conversation.
"Roger that Hitman-2, out.
The eastern Gate of Italica can be seen from far away, untouched by the constant air and artillery bombardment, the gunfight has stopped, no more arrows can be seen flying out of windows or alleys as the convoy approaches the Eastern Gate of the city, silence filled the air as Marines stopped firing their weapon, it became eerily quiet, as everyone stops firing their weapon, birds can be heard chirping while the running waters of the rivers in front of them can be heard too.
Rho/Roma River Bridge, 1 kilometers outside Italica (1705)
They've made it through the city, with only a single casualties, the convoy is traveling on the bridge made out of stone, luckily, the bridge is sufficient enough to hold the massive number of tanks, Amtracs, LAVs, Humvees and other vehicles of 1st Recon and RCT-5, the vehicles rolls through the bridge as they leave behind devastation and chaos on their path.
Hitman-2 meanwhile is doing a situation report and damage assessment, Lt Mistral wants to know the condition of each team in the platoon, worried some of the Humvees might be damaged, the men however are fine with no injuries to any of them besides some small scratches from shrapnels and burn marks from the used hot brasses of the Vipers flying above the convoy.
"This is 2-1 Alpha, up 150 and up."
2-1 Bravo is up 500 and up.
Hitman 2-2 to Hitman-2, we are up 470 and up.
"Hitman-2, this is Hitman 2-3, up 220 and up."
Satisfied with answers from all team leaders in his platoon, knowing that everyone is fine, together with their vehicles, he finally spoke up on the radio, his face smiling in satisfaction as he ends the radio conversation.
"All Hitman-2 Victors, this is Hitman-2 Actual, Roger all, out."
Inside Hitman 2-1's Humvee, everyone stays silent, their eyes staring outside towards the river below them, the noise drowning over the gunfire in the city behind them, for the Marines, the sight is very relieving, especially after such a long and tedious thunder run in the city. The sun is starting to set, coupled with the calming noise of the river is a welcomed surprise for the Marines, everyone stays quiet as they turned on the safeties on their gun, assured that there will be no more enemy ambushes, the vehicle is quiet, nobody speaks, until like usual, Evan breaks it.
"Holy fucking shit! We just repainted downtown Italica with blood and organs! That was pretty fucking cool!" Evan happily exclaimed, as he turns his head towards his silent teammates with a smile that extends to his ears, soon enough, Clancy, the Traveler and Simon begins smiling, before gleefully giggling, except for Kirito, who just smiles as he watches artillery and air bombardment continues after they left the city. Everyone is high on adrenaline, not believing that they've just fought and lived through an ambush in an honest to god fantasy city in a fantasy world.
Turning his head at everyone with a smile on his face, Simon immediately inquired about the well-being of his men, his face shining brightly as a result of adrenaline from the firefight earlier.
"Everybody's okay?" He asked without missing a heartbeat, his eyes darting left and right, awaiting a response, as he breaks open a pack of skittles, wanting a snack due to being hungry after the tedious thunder run.
"Yeah, yeah, we're good." Clancy, Evan and Kirito immediately respond to his question with a bright smile, their face shining despite the dust covering some of their face, ecstatic about what they've just done, blowing shit up through a medieval fantasy city, the general mood in the vehicle is very ecstatic.
"What about you, Traveler, you good?" Turning his head to his right, Clancy immediately asked the Traveler about his status, breathing heavily as dusts covered his pale white skin and hair, trying to compose himself, before answering his question.
"Yeah, yeah." He blankly replied as a smile crept on his face, still trying to process what had just happened, the adrenaline overloading inside him after realizing that he just survived his first firefight in this world. The Marines, seeing his dazed but genuine smile, laughs happily.
They continued their journey across the bridge, before turning left at a field overlooking the river, setting up there to rest as their temporary camp before continuing to move on their next mission. Everyone gleefully jumps out of their Humvee, their face shining brightly in the sunset as everyone begins telling their tales in the gunfight excitedly, like a child who had just gotten his christmas present.
Doc Clancy and Evan immediately get into a bear hug, happily laughing about their experience while everyone arounds them begins talking about their achievements inside the city during the thunder run, smiling all the way to the ears as they gleefully talk.
"Man, that was fucking awesome, I blew up an entire stall, pretty cool." Jumping down from his turret position, Cortez excitedly remarked as he took off his dirty ballistic goggles and balaclava covering his eyes and mouth, grinning happily.
"Yeah, yeah, I shot a motherfucker hiding behind a stall, busted that nigga's head off, I feel nothing besides some pity, guy didn't even know what killed him." Dow adds as he takes off his tinted goggles and mottled balaclava, taking a moment to spit outside as dusts begin to accumulate inside his mouth as a result of prolonged use of his balaclava.
"No shit, when you're used to getting shot at by arrows your entire life, you ain't gonna see couple of 5.56 coming your way dude, isn't that like common sense?" Turning his head to face his team leader, Allie asks in a confused tone, puzzled by Dow's statement, raising an eyebrow.
"Man, shut yo' bitch-ass mouth nigga." Dow simply retorted, his hands smacking against his driver's helmet softly.
"What? It's true though?" Smiling in response to Dow's soft smack, he simply fired back at him with a smug smile, at least before another Marine appeared to side with Dow.
"You know what else is true? That Brazilians are tropical Mexicans." A voice came from behind Allie, startling him, before composing himself to turn back and see who said such grievous insult to the Brazilian, as it turns out, Sebastian, the driver of Hitman 2-2, said it, causing several Marines behind Allie to crack up, including Dow.
"I swear I will fucking bash your skull with a rock if you said that again." Despite his threat and death glare, everyone in the vicinity of their Humvee just laughs it off, patting Allie on the back, giggling happily.
Meanwhile, back at Hitman 2-1, Kirito sits on the turret of the Mark-19, watching the artillery show in the city silently, still in his balaclava and tinted gloves, he stares far ahead, still traumatized by the images of dead bodies in the city in his head, trying to push the thought away. At the hood of the Humvee, Lt. Mistral and Simon are busy conversing about their lack of batteries for NVGs and IR Lasers, which has plagued the battalion ever since they entered the Gate in Alnus.
"Sir, how long do we have to wait for the new batteries to arrive, considering the current ones used by us are slowly drying up every night. We tried limiting the battery usage by using it at low power, but it seems that we are just delaying the inevitable." Dejectedly leaning against the front left wheel of his Humvee, Simon expressed his frustration over the problems plaguing the platoon to his superior, Lt. Mistral, squatting right next to him as he holds his M4A1 in his right hand, intently listening to the complaint, before speaking.
"Sai, I've met with the Company Operations Chief, he assured me that the batteries will arrive soon by the truck loads once RCT-7 cleared Italica, together with some LSAs, I'm assured of this, but for now, you gotta deal with it Sergeant, the problem is currently out of my hand." Lt Mistral grimly smiles as he pats the shoulder of his team leader, trying to reassure him as he gets up, heading back to his Humvee together with Gunny Mays, who has just returned from taking a piss.
"Semper Gumby I guess? Always flexible." Simon mockingly says the Marine Corps' unofficial motto, as he gulps down a pack of skittles, tired of the lack of batteries and other strings of bad lucks that have been plaguing them ever since they entered the Gate, for which he earns a small smile from his superior, still within the earshot.
"You know dude, I wonder which fucking retard sent us through the city in Humvees and shit for the thunder run, that sure as hell tops the list of retarded shit we have done in the whole war." Joining him in the mounting list of complaints is Evan, sitting in his driver seat, casually joking about their previous near-death situation, if it weren't for the heavy firepower of the convoy, staring at the city of Italica, currently under heavy bombardment of artillery and airstrikes, as RCT-7 prepares for their turn to clear the city itself, after RCT-5 and 1st Recon already went through blowing things up in their path, whistling at the destruction unfolding before his eyes.
"Man, all the copycat Romans did was fire couple of arrows that ended up hitting a single Marine in the arm, and we responded by leveling the entirety of fucking downtown Italica with million-dollar weapons and shit." Evan commented as plumes of black smoke rose from the city, indicating a hit from the Marine artillery units, shaking his head at the amount of ordnance dropped on a medieval city whose defendants used primitive bows and swords to defend against the Marines assault.
"Romans gotta learn!" Clancy sarcastically adds, his LWH helmet lowered over his face as he tries to sleep, feeling secured due to the presence of hundreds of tanks, LAVs and Amtracs around their temporary position, taking a last gulp of water from his canteen before going back to sleep.
"You know, when the guys in the 1st MARDIV are done bombarding the city, they should rename the city's name from Italica to Pancake." Once again, Evan joked about the situation, not letting off his gaze from the devastated city, the light from the sunset glinting off the dirty windshields of the Humvee.
"Why is that?" The Traveler, confused, asked Evan about his joke earlier, apparently not getting it shown by his puzzled expression.
"Because we already flattened half of the fucking city?" Instead of Evan answering his question, it's Simon who answered the Traveler's question, still leaning against the front left wheel of his Humvee, occasionally gulping down a pack of Skittles, watching the sunset, ignoring his fellow Marines gazing at the city being bombarded.
"There, there's your answer." Evan blankly said as he continues watching the firework show, the sunset behind him providing a clear view from his position, as artillery and bombs continues to explodes in the dusk, the city, once nicknamed the "Breadbasket of the Empire." is now a shadow of it former self, as shown by the multiple thick black smokes rising from the city, as fighter jets continues to drop JDAM, Paveways and other munitions into the city, trying their best to avoid civilian casualties.
Note :
DPICM - Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions, TL;DR, normal 155mm rounds but cluster mode.
JDAM - Joint Direct Attack Munition, guided bombs, duh.
Paveways - Also guided bombs.
Company Operations Chief - The guy in every rifle company that manages logistics and stuff, usually a gunnery sergeant.
LSA - Lubricants used on heavy machine guns like Mark-19 and M2 HMG.
FLC Vest - Fighting Load Carrier [FLC] Vest, worn on top of MTV protective vests.
Up [number] and Up - First up is the condition of the vehicle is good, number is the amount of ammunition left on the main turret, the final up is the condition of the men inside the vehicle, indicating they're fine.
HMLA-267 - Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 267.
BLUFOR Tracker - Blue Force Tracker, the PC thing on Humvees that shows the position of friendly units and the map of the AO [Area of Operations]
Thunder Run - thunder run n. a high-speed military convoy using offensive tactics and heavy weaponry to reach a destination; generally, a route or trip involving extreme effort or danger. Editorial Note: This term dates from at least as early as the Vietnam War.
A/N, sorry for the late upload, I got a headache, which is why the update is delayed.