Chapter 11 – Lethal Force

Shield Two worked to fortify the small barricade in front of the make-shift command post. According to Bryant's intell, the enemy was nearly upon them. They only needed to hold the enemy back until sunrise. Even with the fortifications they built, they would still be pushed to their limits. SKS stood in her makeshift sniper tower looking for the enemy while the handguns hastily finished the defenses. Their dummy units stood at attention, assisting SKS.

USP put down the last sandbag and adjusted her hat. "Only two hours till sunrise. Any sign of them yet?" SKS shook her head from her tower and kept looking.

"I don't see them…but I hear that thing. It's getting closer." The team stopped and strained to hear. The faint mechanical marching of a Manticore tank echoed faintly in the darkness. "It won't be here for awhile, unless they made some modifications." SKS muttered and took aim at the shadows. "Alright ladies: here comes the infantry."

Sangvis foot soldiers poured out of forest and surrounding shrubbery. There had to be at least eighty, maybe more. There was no way Shield Two could defeat such a large force. The dolls switched off their emotional software to silence the screaming fear. The enemy reached the first barricade. SKS gave the order and opened fire. M1911 threw a smoke grenade into the group of enemies, causing a fair amount of friendly fire.

The silence was broken by the rhythmic pounding of gunfire. The SF forces slowly began to lose strength. Between the smoke and the barricade, they had no way of leaving the killzone. SKS picked off the more dangerous units. Snipers and mobile artillery were reduced to scrap before they had a chance to inflict their damage on the small team. The tempo of gunfire slowed until the uneasy silence returned. The dolls stood at the ready. The moans of heavy machinery were getting louder, but the Manticore was still out of sight.

SKS changed to a fresh magazine and wiped the dust from her eyes. "How is everyone doing?"

"Fine!" M1911 chirped.

"Alive and well. I'm missing a dummy." M1895 said while she reloaded.

"I'm unharmed. Just a little rattled." USP said quietly.

"Keep it up, ladies. The Commander is depending on us." SKS said as the second wave approached. "Let 'em have it!"

The gunfire resumed. The enemy charged forward, smashing through the first barricade. Once through, they spread out. This made it hard for the team to track all the targets. SF fire came from all directions. SKS yelped as a bullet grazed her arm. "USP, we need you." USP nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. She diverted all non-essential power to her IFF software. She opened her eyes and peaked over the small wall.

"Target's identified, I count-" The mechanical noise had gotten more rapid, and the Manticore tank came sprinting into view. She pointed and screamed "Manticore!" moments before an explosion destroyed the second barricade. The dolls went airborne; SF and Griffon alike. The Manticore opened fire with its main cannon. SKS threw a piece of the barricade off of her and hurried to collect the other dolls.

"Where is M1911?" A small hand raised from behind a pile of sandbags.

"I'm here, SKS. I'm alright." The Manticore was firing to close for comfort. SKS found a sturdy chunk of rubble and began shooting from there. Her AP rounds were easily able to tear through its armor, but without her dummies she wasn't doing a lot of damage. The team regrouped and opened fire on the beast.

"Alright girls, we can do this. Prioritize damaging its leg joints. That should slow it down." The small team began firing as quickly as they could. The tank slowed its advance to increase accuracy. It wasn't enough. It wasn't built for low-light operations. Shield two was doing well and keeping the tank busy.

It hissed and stopped moving suddenly. The team ceased fire to watch it. Two small lights appeared on the sides of its main cannon. A high-pitched whine began to build intensity as the lights grew brighter. SKS cursed. "Scatter!" The dolls sprinted to either side of the machine. All but M1911. The whine's pitch grew higher, causing the dolls to stop and clutch their ears. USP felt like her head was about to explode. Her neural cloud was getting scrambled, memories getting scrambled and twisted. M1911 froze, unable to move.

The whine stopped and M1911 convulsed. There was a loud mechanical 'pop' and smoke poured out of M1911's ears, eyes and nose. The dolls looked on in horror as the tank resumed its fire. "M1911 is down! It has a specialized sonic weapon, stay out of its range." M1895 yelled as she ran for the tree line. That was easier said than done. It could turn on a dime. Once it had a lock, that target was as good as dead. SKS kept firing, trying to damage one of the legs. The tank turned towards M1895, who was still running. The lights on the front cannon lit up.

"Look out!" SKS yelled. It was too late, and the other handgun doll fell to the ground with a sickening pop. SKS leaned back against the rubble. "USP…it's just the two of us. We need to hold the line!" USP nodded and took a shaky breath. The two dolls continued their attack. Trying desperately to damage the tank before it could get past them. The Manticore had too much armor for the small team to deal with. And now that they were down two dolls, it was next to impossible.

The sonic weapon began to charge again. USP clutched her head, feeling the circuitry and electronics in her head vibrate painfully. SKS jumped out of cover and began shooting to draw its attention off USP. The Manticore turned and focused on SKS. She kept shooting, even as her body twitched from the attack. She dropped her rifle and fell to her knees, clutching her head. Smoke came from her head, and she fell to the dirt.

USP hid behind a rock as the Manticore stomped closer. She clutched her gun to her chest and looked over the trees. A small glint of sunlight peaked over the trees, barely illuminating the black sky. Even though she knew she was going to die, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to keep her promise, she found herself smiling. She opened up a communication channel. She knew her message wouldn't reach anyone: SF had jammed their signal hours ago. Even still, she wanted Bryant to know they completed their mission in the end.