Archangel - Chapter 5: Reign of the Swift
JS9 ducked as a burst of enemy fire peppered her position. Closing her eyes, she focused on the tactical map in her neural cloud. Although the surprise Sangvis Ferri counterattack momentarily put Griffin on the back foot, the situation quickly stabilized despite constant attacks from Archangel, the superior numbers of the Griffin forces formed a stalwart defense against further Sangvis advance. However, after a Sangvis motorized team appeared near the hilltop position, JS9's group in the village risked being trapped from opposing directions.
"JS9 to all Griffin teams in the village, report your status," JS9 ordered.
"This is Sten!" a voice replied on the radio, "We're at the gas station and are faring well! We've lost a few links but our mainframes are all undamaged, and the fighting seems to be easing up here!"
"Good, Sten," replied JS9, "Consolidate your position and await further orders."
"This is MG5," another voice appeared over intense gunfire, "We took the brunt of the airstrikes, and we're under a lotta fire! HK33 is down to her last link, we could really use some help here!"
"Copy that, MG5," JS9 replied, "Sten, can you send L85 over to MG5?"
As the Griffin dolls reorganized their defense, Scimitar 1-Delta's team on the hilltop was steadily pushing back the remnants of the Welrod's overwatch team. Archangel's earlier strike on the position destroyed most of what little fortification the Griffin forces made on the hill, and the motorized Sangvis team took advantage of the chaos to close in unmolested.
"JS9 hailing Welrod, what's going on up there?" JS9 inquired. There was no response.
"Welrod? Are you there?" JS9 asked again.
"JS9, this is SVD!" an unexpected voice appeared on the radio, "Welrod is… she's dead! We've lost the hill, what do we do?"
"Shit," JS9 muttered, "Alright SVD, you guys should fall back and regroup with us. We'll... We'll figure something out!"
As the Griffin forces attempted to reorganize their defense, Archangel received an external communication while providing observational support.
"Archangel, this is Rapier 1-Bravo," a low voice appeared over Archangel's comms channel.
"Rapier 1-Bravo, go ahead," Archangel responded. Rapier 1-Bravo was a reconnaissance unit deployed behind Griffin lines, tasked with observing Griffin logistics movements.
"I got eyes on a Griffin helicopter moving towards Point Cobalt, I'm transmitting the coordinates to you now," Rapier 1-Bravo explained, "I suggest you move in to intercept."
"Understood, coordinates received," Archangel noted as she rolled to one side, turning her flight vector towards the enemy helicopter, "Thanks for the assist."
Several kilometres southwest of the battle, a Griffin helicopter sped through the air with FAL's team onboard. FAL was fiddling with her radio, trying to contact the Commander after flying through a zone of interference.
"Commander? Can you hear me?" asked FAL, "If you can hear me, we're approaching the village as per your orders, ETA 5 minutes."
"FAL, this is Kalina, turn back!" an urgent-sounding Kalina suddenly responded over the radio, "It's not safe, Sangvis Ferri have air-denial assets in the area!"
"Wait, what?" the helicopter co-pilot asked, "do they have a missile launcher somewhere?"
"Negative," Kalina responded impatiently, "it's some sort of new ringleader, a flying one. Regardless, you gotta get out of there now, Commander's orders!"
"Understood," the co-pilot said, "This is Helios 3-3, returning to FOB Alacrity."
"Hey, FAL, did ya girls hear what miss Kalina said?" the helicopter pilot asked as he began a turn back towards base, "You think it's Dreamer?"
"Dunno," FAL replied, gazing out the window, "I don't think Dreamer usually-"
"Uh, guys…" FN49 suddenly interrupted the conversation, eyes wide with fear as she tracked an object in the sky closing in behind the helicopter.
"Dammit, it's the ringleader!" F2000 cursed as she followed FN49's line of sight to Archangel, "She's on our six, watch out!"
"Shit!" the helicopter pilot swore as he jammed the control stick to the right, forcing the helicopter into a sharp turn to the side. An 80 mm shell narrowly missed the helicopter, exploding in the forest down below.
"Woah!" Five-seveN exclaimed, ducking reflexively, "That was way too close!"
JS9 flinched as a barrage of 12.7x108mm DShk bullets cut through a room in a nearby house, putting one of her dummy links out of action. Sangvis forces have captured the hilltop and positioned a vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun there, trapping the Griffin dolls between a stubborn assault from the east and a mounted weapon on the west. Having been forced to divert some of her forces westward to guard against a potential assault from the hill, JS9 could feel herself losing control over the situation. Coupled with the persistent jamming of long-distance communications, she was faced with a difficult decision.
"JS9 to all Griffin units," JS9 finally announced over the radio, "The situation has gone out of hand, prepare for a tactical retreat!"
An argument broke out over the Griffin comms channels as the dolls argued about JS9's order. As stubborn as some of the dolls may have been, however, most of them realized how badly the situation had deteriorated.
"Everyone listen!" JS9 shouted into the radio, "The Sangvis ringleader in the air seems to have left the area. There's no knowing when she might come back, so if we're going to get out of here it's now or never!"
"But what about the machine gun on the hill?" Sten Mk. II's concerned voice rang over the radio.
"We have no choice! We'll split into two groups and move one at a time, that should at least minimize our casualties," JS9 explained as she shared a more detailed plan with the Griffin dolls over the Zener network. "Alright, the MG seems to be reloading. Group A, move!"
JS9 lead the Griffin dolls southwards out of the village, using the sparse trees and bushes as cover as they slowly edged their way out of the Sangvis HMG's effective range. Trying to keep her teammates calms, JS9 knew that as long as they didn't get pinned down, they would be able to disappear into the forest. Suddenly, she noticed the sound of a helicopter approaching, only this time it was her turn to realize that the sound was coming from the wrong direction.
"Oh, no," JS9 muttered as she watched the Sangvis helicopter fly across the sky towards their location, making a wide sweeping turn as it crossed towards the forest to their south—the forest the Griffin dolls were trying to escape into.
"JS9! What do we do?" tactical doll G28 asked her, firing shots towards the village to stall the Sangvis forces.
JS9 didn't reply, instead silently staring at the enemy helicopter in frustration. As much as she hated to admit it, JS9 knew they wouldn't be able to make it to the forest in time. JS9 sighed to herself in resignation, looks like this was checkmate.
Inside the Sangvis helicopter's passenger bay sat a team of 5 T-dolls, all carrying AK-15 variants and wearing parachute harnesses. The lead doll—Scimitar 3 Actual—was clad in a dark-green uniform and holding an AK-15 assault rifle with a GP-34 under barrel grenade launcher attached. As the side door of the helicopter slid open, Scimitar 3 Actual and the rest of her team stood up and prepared to jump.
"All units, this is Scimitar 3," the leader of the dedicated paratrooper team announced, "Griffin is battered and disorganized, they are trying to escape into the forest with their tails tied between their legs! I think it's time for us to slam the coffin door shut on 'em!"
"Oorah! Cut 'em off!" Dagger 1-Bravo cheered as her squad followed the Griffin dolls to the edge of the village.
Scimitar 3 Actual turned her head to her teammates beside her, a fierce expression covering her face. "Alright, time to jump. Long live the Mobile Task Force!"
The four others—in high spirits and eager to join the battle—responded to their leader's war cry in unison.
"Long live the Mobile Task Force!"
The Griffin helicopter raced through the heart of a valley within the Carpathian Mountains, following the bends and twists of the wooded terrain. FAL clung onto her seat harness as she watched the treetops racing by mere metres in front of her, the helicopter rolling almost 90 degrees to its side as the pilot desperately tried to avoid hitting the ground.
"Are we in the clear?" FAL asked as the helicopter levelled out again, her eyes scanning the mountain ridges around her.
Just then, almost as if on cue, Archangel appeared over a ridge to their left, immediately descending into a power dive towards the helicopter.
"Fuck!" the pilot exclaimed, "It's on our 9 o'clock!"
The pilot tried to perform evasive maneuvers to throw off Archangel's aim, but being so low in the valley, there wasn't nearly enough room to move as Archangel easily predicted the helicopter's movement path.
"Gotcha," Archangel muttered under her breath as the cannon's targeting reticle superimposed across Archangel's vision aligned with the body of the aircraft. Archangel squeezed the trigger, sending a high-explosive shell hurtling down the valley.
FAL's ears ringed as the helicopter lurched violently, the back of her head forcefully slamming against her seat. Emergency alarms blared as the stricken helicopter began yawing to the side, half its tail having been blown clean off by Archangel's shell. The passenger cabin devolved into panicked screams as the crippled helicopter careened through the air.
Archangel swooped in beside the helicopter, flying alongside it as the pilot desperately tried to prevent the aircraft from crashing into the ground. Archangel noticed the pilot trying to weathervane the helicopter in the forward direction despite the loss of the tail rotor. Archangel briefly locked eyes with the T-dolls trapped in the cabin, their faces a mixture of terror, hate, and disbelief. As the helicopter slowed down to about 60 km/h, the pilot was forced to increase the collective right above the ground, causing the helicopter to uncontrollably rotate to one side. As Archangel pulled up into a steady climb, she turned her head over her shoulder in time to see the helicopter impact the ground sideways, its main rotor blades digging into the ground then snapping as the entire hull rolled across a patch of grass.
FAL hurriedly freed herself from her seat straps, falling onto the cabin roof of the upside-down aircraft. Quickly climbing clear of the smoldering wreckage of the helicopter, she took a moment to assess the situation. FAL realized just how lucky her team had been, the helicopter pilot managed to crash in a patch of soft dirt at a relatively flat clearing in the mountainous forest.
"FAL, over here!" FNC waved at FAL, holding the legs of the co-pilot as FN49 and her carried his body away from the helicopter, "Quick, they're still alive!"
FAL hurried over to the co-pilot, who had regained consciousness and was writhing in pain. Instructing the two other dolls to hold his leg in place, FAL tried to fashion a tourniquet to stem the blood pouring from a gash in his leg.
"Oh, merde!" F2000 cursed as she looked up at the sky. Following the direction of her gaze, FAL saw a small dark dot in the sky, slowing growing in size as the sound of rocket engines seeped through the valley.
"God damn it!" FAL cursed as the Griffin dolls struggled to move the two humans away from the wreckage. She looked back up at Archangel, now close enough for her to discern her wings and cannon dangling from below her body. Time seemed to slow as FAL watched the approaching figure point her cannon towards their position, seemingly aiming its barrel right at her head.
Archangel narrowed her eyes at the hapless Griffin dolls as she plunged towards the crash site. A column of black smoke rose through the pristine air, clearly broadcasting the position of the Griffin dolls for all to see. As she pointed her cannon at the wreck, Archangel released the weapon safety, readying to land the killing blow upon the Griffin team.
FAL stumbled over a rock as she carried the co-pilot away from danger. Now on her knees, she gave up on trying to run and accepted her demise. So this is how it ends, FAL thought to herself, waiting for her inevitable destruction.
And then she kept waiting.