Disclaimer: This work is written for purely entertainment purposes and if I owned the franchise, believe me, the Nameless would have made an appearance in VC4.

Chapter 8: First Blood

The town of Vasel is normally a busy one with its citizens walking around and would normally enjoy the current sunny day that is in the city. However, all of that quickly changed when the Germans entered the town. Many civilians were able to evacuate the town in time, however there were many who did not. It wasn't all in vain though as the ones that stayed behind were now feeding information as best they could to the Gallian military.

In one case, there was one report of a German scout unit that was positioned near a windmill. The German forces knew that the Gallians would be coming back. Due to this, the Germans deployed these scout units out to act as an early-warning system so that the main German force would be able to prepare better defenses. This unit was actually a part of a bigger unit with the main force being in a few houses near a river further down.

However to the Germans that were milling around, they could not see two figures that were approaching them. Leading up to the windmill is tall grass and inside said tall grass, Kurt and No.13 were approaching the German position. Despite Kurt's initial thinking of his new squad, he had to admit to himself that No.13 can handle herself, following him to the attack point and how she has followed his orders up to this point compared to the others. They reached the edge of the tall grass and observed the enemy. Most of the enemy were armed with submachine guns and bolt-action rifles. In front of the windmill, there was a machine-gun nest and inside the windmill, there was a sniper nest.

All in all, a well defended windmill.

"No.13, you are going to have to take out that machine gun in front of the windmill first. Use a grenade to take out the machine-gun while I take out the sniper in the windmill. While the enemy is confused, we will attack them and from there " Kurt stated.

"Got it." Thirteen replied.

"Ok, head to your position and wait for my command." Kurt said. He then handed Thirteen a grenade. She nodded and made her way to her position. She had to crawl through the tall grass then sneak to her attack position. After a few minutes, she reported back to Kurt.

"I am in position."

'Roger that," Kurt then switched to the other team, "We are in position, No. 6, proceed on with the plan."

"Understood." Six acknowledged.

"No. 13 are you ready? The plan is to not let a single one of them escape." Kurt said, looking over to the area where Thirteen was supposed to be. Thirteen was already in position, behind a small shack, and gave him a nod and a thumbs up.

"Y-Yes, it will be fine as long as none of them get away, right?" Thirteen asked, just wanting to make sure of the plan.

"Exactly, we need to protect the information of our army from the Imperial camps. No. 1, in the event that they turn your direction, we will be depending on you." Kurt said. WHile he didn't want to admit it, there is a chance this scout unit may already have some information on the planned retaking of Vasel. The Gallian military was hell bent on retaking the town so it was a guarantee that there was a small leak of troop movements. Kurt wanted to make sure that no German soldier would get past them and No.1 was going to have to deal with them. However, No.1's response caught Kurt off-guard.

"No." Kurt was shocked a bit before recovering and asking One to explain.

"What?" Kurt asked, not sure if he heard that correctly.

"... I don't care." No.1 responded. Kurt was now really confused.

"What is going on? No.6, what's wrong with No.1?!" Kurt asked, wanting to understand what No.1 was talking about.

"Don't worry yourself. No.1 won't let anyone escape. If anything, you should be more worried about yourself." No.6 replied.

"While I would normally disagree with that notion, given that we are probably attacking the main force and not a small unit, I do have to agree here. So, just worry about making sure those Krauts don't leave alive. We got this end just fine," Andrew replied, making sure to tone down Kurt's rising annoyance.

Kurt said nothing but thought to himself, 'What the hell is wrong with this squad!' He waited and then heard an explosion. Most likely that No.6 and the others have started their attack. The German scouts heard this as well and were scrambling to gather their belongings and to help their fellow soldiers. One of the soldiers had a radio on his back and was getting ready to transmit a message. Kurt saw this and took aim with his rifle. He took aim at the man's chest and pulled the trigger, hitting the man and starting the battle on their side.

"Auf Wiedersehen fucker," Andrew said to himself as he aimed and fired his M1. The round hit a German rifleman that was about to make a run to a stone wall for cover. The round hit the helmet and flew out the other side, carrying out blood and brain matter.

"God Bless Marine Corp rifle training," Andrew muttered as he looked for his next target. The Marine Corp made rifle training a great emphasis. After all, you can't kill someone if you can not hit them. Rifle training was important and unlucky for the Germans, Andrew was a qualified expert with a rifle.

Andrew looked around and saw one of the two houses was on fire with the other having a massive hole in it. Said hole was now occupied with a machine gun crew and saw Andrew and fired as burst. Andrew ducked his head as bullets whizzed over his head. He fired back blindly to get it to stop firing for a minute. Meanwhile, No.6 fired another round at the house, blowing out another portion of it.

"Six, adjust 10. That machine gun has me pinned," Andrew said through the throat radio he had.

"We still would need to clear the house. I think that must be their command center since it looks heavily defended," Six replied.

"I will go in. Use your machine to keep their heads down. One, I am going to need you to keep the krauts outside busy and not come in," Andrew said. He got no response on that but smirked.

"I will just assume your silence as a yes until proven otherwise. Now, blast them Six!" Andrew saw the tank Six was piloting and then fired at the hole where the machine gun was. Pieces of wood, plaster and body parts flew into the air as an arm landed a few meters in front of Andrew.

Luckly, Andrew hadn't eaten anything beforehand.

Andrew took a deep breath and then got up and sprinted. He heard a loud machine gun firing and glanced over to see One was covering fire with her massive weapon. When Andrew first saw the thing, he did not believe that the girl could carry it. However, ever since they began their attack, he was amazed that not only can she wield it but also use it well. It also doubled as a rocket launcher as he saw her fire a rocket at a sandbag emplacement, destroying it and killing the Germans using it as cover.

Andrew made it to the house and was greeted with the dead body of a German soldier but with their head missing. In their hand was a submachine gun and thinking that it would be more useful than his rifle, Andrew shouldered his rifle and picked the submachine gun. He took off a few magazines and then made his way through the bottom floor.

Going through the bottom floor, Andrew couldn't find any Germans so he made his way upstairs. As he climbed the stairs, he saw the big hole that Six created, letting him hear One's continuous firing. When he reached the top, one way lead to the part of the house that was destroyed while the other path led to the undestroyed part of the house. As he made his way there, he heard German voices. Being as quiet as he could, he made his way to an open door and stood by it to listen. While his German is not 100% great, he can tell what they were saying.

"Where are our damn reinforcements?"

"Our radio is out and all attempts to reach our scout team have also failed."

"Damnit, how did this happen? There can't be more than a few people out there. Regardless, we can not let them get these documents."

Now that got Andrew's attention. He reached into his tunic and pulled out the Gallian B-Type grenade, which was modelled after the German stick grenade. He twisted the bottom open and then pulled the string. He counted to three seconds and then tossed it in the room. There was a commotion before the grenade exploded. He barged in and saw that one of the soldiers was dead, judging from the damage he got on top of the grenade, while the officer was distorted. Andrew wasted no time and fired a burst into the officer, killing him.

As he looked around the room, he found a satchel on the ground. He picked it up and opened it, revealing some documents. He scanned the paper and then smiled.

"Now this is interesting," Andrew muttered before an explosion got him back to reality.

"28, if you are done in there, now would be a good time for us to leave!" Six said over the radio.

"Got it. Coming out now," Andrew replied. He made sure to get as much intel he can carry and then, after stealing a German military cap that was on a nearby table, exited the building.

Once outside, he saw that the Germans had reinforcements and it included a tank.

A Panther tank.

"Oh fuck us," ANdrew groaned as its turret swivled to him and he literally jumped to the ground as it fired. The round hitting behind him.

"Six, hit that son of a bitch!" Andrew yelled as he made his way to One, who was taking cover behind a stone wall.

Andrew saw Six reverse the tank to face the panther and fired, the shnot deflecting off the armor. The panther also fired but this shot also deflected. Then Six accelerated and to Andrew's surprise, it sped up to the Panther, blowing past it and then skidded to a stop. He then fired into the Ragnite engine and the tank burst into flames.

"How…." Andrew muttered but then decided to ask later as more infantry came and that was more pressing than what he just saw.

Kurt slid into cover as another wave of bullets went his way. So far, the plan has gone according to plan. Him and Thirteen were able to take out half of the Germans and now Kurt has run into a situation. Even with the sniper being taken out, they were not able to fully take out the machine gun and now the Germans had set up inside the windmill and were firing at them. Kurt, having picked up a sturmgewehr off the ground, its owner no longer needing it, and fired at the machine gun. He was able to stop them from firing back, but it was only temporary.

He then noticed that Thirteen was near the entryway of the windmill. He then motioned hand signals to her to go inside. She nodded and taking a deep breath, she entered the windmill. She was greeted with 3 dead bodies, one of them being an officer. She then heard the machine gun upstairs fire again. She began to climb up the stairs, her rifle at the ready. She did her best to not make much noise but also wanted to rush since Kurt was still pinned; she would not see her commanding officer die because of her again. She finally made her way to the machine gun and without any hesitation fired. In an instant, she killed both the gunner and loader. Satisfied that they were dead, she made her way down.

As she was about to exit, she heard a click behind her. She whirled and saw that the officer had faked his death and was pointing a pistol at her. She quickly ducked as he fired, the bullet whizzing over her head. She tackled the man and both of them fell to the ground. She tried to pull out her pistol that she had on her hip, but the man threw a punch at her, throwing her off balance. The officer then pulled out a knife from his boot. Thirteen saw this and then pulled out her own knife. Then two didn't move, wanting the other to make the first move. After a few more minutes, the officer made the move and lunged at Thirteen. She parried the attack and then swung at the officer, cutting his arm. He attacked again, this time slashing her left arm, leaving behind a cut with blood seeping out. She had to end this soon or else the officer would get lucky. She quickly lunged and tackled the man to the wall and with a speed that even surprised her, stabbed her knife into his throat. Blood began to flow down her hand as she held him and place and added more pressure into the wound. The officer tried to claw her hand away but was unsuccessful as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his hands slumped to the side.

Confident that he was finally dead, she removed her knife and left the body drop on the ground. She wiped the knife on her sleeve to clean off the blood and shealth it back into her boot. Suddenly she heard another click behind her.

"Zeit zu sterben du rothaarige Schlampe," Her eyes widened. It was another German soldier. She gulped and thought that this could finally be it when a gunshot roared out. She tightly closed her eyes but after a few seconds nothing. She opened them and then felt herself. When she saw that she wasn't hit, she turned around. She saw the German soldier was clutching his chest, red starting to spread around where he was clutching. He looked at Thirteen with a shocked expression before collapsing onto the floor. Behind him, Kurt lowered his pistol, which still had smoke from the gunshot coming out of the barrel.

He holstered the pistol and walked up to Thirteen, looked over at her and asked, "Are you ok Thirteen?"

Thirteen nodded while a blush began to form on her face by the close contact Kurt was having with her.

'He came to back me up.'Thirteen thought as Kurt nodded and got on the radio.

'Six, this is Seven. Is everything clear on your end?"

"Seven, this is Six. Everything is all clear here. There are no more enemies in this area." Six reported back.

"Roger. Let's return to base now. Mission accomplished." Kurt replied. He then turned towards Thirteen.

Let's head back." Kurt said. Thirteen nodded. They both headed back to camp, meanwhile Thirteen was thinking, 'His plan went smoothly. And he saved my life, he is an amazing man.' After she thought that, she blushed again and Kurt noticed.

'I wonder what she is thinking?' Kurt thought, having no idea that he was the main subject of her thoughts.

Back at camp, Kurt and the rest of the squad that partaken on the mission were taking a brief pause to relax. Some of them couldn't believe that their mission went smoothly. Usually, someone would have gotten seriously hurt or in worse cases die. However, outside of a few small injuries here and there no one was seriously hurt and not only that, they were able to defeat a superior enemy force and get away with so much as a scratch. One of the people surprised by this was Six.

"I certainly didn't expect it to go this well.. What are you exactly, No. 7?" Six asked.

"A man that has committed treason and exiled by his own country, I guess." Kurt replied bitterly.

"You have good reason to be angry, and I have my own reasons for apologising to you. I am sorry." Six replied, surprising Kurt.

"What exactly do you mean?"

"I pushed the position of command onto you. No one would want to be in command of a ragtag band like us." Six responded. Kurt nodded.

"I should say I understand your point." Six then thought for a minute then asked.

"Tell me one thing though, why did you decide to fight even when down to 4 men?" Kurt thought about this for a minute before answering.

"Perhaps I should return you a question as well, how can you choose to not fight?" Six was surprised by the question. Seeing as he won't get an answer, Kurt continued on.

"Why would you not try for the best possible outcome? Running away.. what would that give you?" Kurt said, which really surprised Six. Normally, when facing incredible odds the best plan would be to fall back and assess the situation. However, what Kurt is saying is that there is always a good solution to impossible odds, and retreating should never be the first thought.

"When a puzzle is presented to you as such, would you not want to solve it to see what it brings? I don't think fleeing ever gives anyone an answer." Kurt concluded. Six just stared at him, then began to laugh. Kurt was a bit confused by this and then he heard a chuckle and turned to see Andrew chuckling as well.

"You have one hell of a way of thinking things. Just… Wow." Andrew said. Six nodded his head in agreement.

"..7, you're something else!" Six said, recovering from laughing. Kurt just wore a perplexed look on his face.

"Is that strange?" Kurt asked.

"No, it's not. Trust me you are far from being strange. Oblivious, but that is besides the point" Andrew said.

"You're not the one that is strange. 7, I'd like to fight under your command. I am No. 6, Gusurg, a pleasure to meet you." Gusurg said, extending his hand to shake Kurt's hand. Kurt was a bit surprised by Gusurg telling him his name but regardless took his hand and shook it.

"A.. name? I was told the Nameless only gave out their numbers." Kurt asked.

"That's the official rule, but within the squad, real names are given out to people that we acknowledge and respect. That's sort of how we do things here, and you should remember that." Gusurg said with a small smile on his face.

"I understand. I am Kurt Irving, pleased to meet you, Gusurg." Kurt said. Andrew approached the two and extended his hand to Gusurg, who also shook his hand.

"We technically already met but I guess I never did say my name. Andrew W. Vandegrfit," Andrew said with a smile.

"I must admit, I never thought I would see you again after that day, or rather both days." Gusurg said. Andrew laughed.

``Well, I never assumed that my sorry ass would be sent to a penal unit" Andrew said laughing. Kurt just looked over this with a small smile until a small voice called to him.

"Hey, 7.." Kurt turned around and saw Thirteen, fidgeting a bit for reasons Kurt can not understand.

"What's the matter, 13?" Kurt asked. Thirteen hesitated a bit, nervous about what to say next but then with a burst of energy shouted her answer.

"Nothing! Just wanted to say that your command was great! That's all!" Then she ran off. Kurt was confused at this behaviour.

'She called me by my number, I guess I'm not good enough yet..' Kurt thought to himself.

"Well, it seems like you impressed someone." Andrew commented, patting Kurt on the back.

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked. Andrew just looked at him and shook his head and laughed.

"Like I said, oblivious," Andrew replied before continuing to laugh.

This confused Kurt even more and then he noticed No.1. She was silent throughout the whole thing and just looked at the pair and then just walked off.

"One is ignoring me still, this squad's full of problems.. But nothing's going to stop me from getting my name back and returning to the army!" Kurt said.

"Kid, relax. All in time, right now focus on making sure that everyone in this squad can get back home alive." Andrew commented. Kurt didn't reply and Andrew could just sigh.

It was later in the day that Kurt and Andrew were walking to a Gallian supply depot to go check up on supply shipments meant for them. Since they were a penal unit and the fact that they are operating well behind enemy lines, they were going to need all the supplies they could get. As they were making their way to the supply depot, which was a farmhouse, Kurt was discussing with Andrew about the recent battle.

"I certainly did not expect the squad to disobey my orders though.. Such a thing would be unthinkable in the actual army. I need to fix this somehow, or it would be impossible to fight in the future, what can I do?" Kurt asked Andrew. Andrew, who was chewing on gum, shrugged.

"The only thing I can think of is to just keep fighting. Soldiers won't really respect a new officer unless they know the officer well. You just have to keep showing them that you can get them home alive and eventually they will trust you. It was the same for me back then too," Andrew said. Both men reached the supply depot, and Kurt was talking to the supply officer while Andrew waited outside, thinking about what had just happened. Normally engaging a larger force with only five people is close to suicide. The fact that no one got hurt badly and beating a superior force, Andrew's mind still couldn't believe it.

"Hell, what happened today makes what happened in Nicaragua a cake walk," Andrew muttered. He still remembers the ambushes, attacks and back then the rebels always had the numbers.

'At least with the rebels, they didn't have much sense with tactics and they didn't have any tanks to back them up.' Andrew thought to himself. He was still waiting for Kurt when a voice rang out.

"Well, look who it is." Andrew turned and saw a group of Regular Army troops. Andrew recognized them to be Kurt's old unit.

"What the fuck do you want?" Andrew asked, not wanting to talk to them, especially the one who called out to him since it was the soldier who didn't trust Andrew and was slowly getting on Andrew's nerves.

"I never thought Kurt would sink as low as becoming a Nameless. Though it was only a matter of time before you would become one Yankee." Andrew gritted his teeth and was about to punch the smug look off this guy's face if he didn't hear Kurt's voice.

"You are…" Kurt asked as he approached Andrew. He saw the confrontation from inside the depot and came out to try to defuse the situation.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us." The man replied. Both Kurt and Andrew were a bit confused.

"Done for you? What do you mean?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, what the fuck did we do for you?" Andrew said, getting more annoyed with the guy.

"Annihilating the enemy for us. All the credit is going to the Regular army." The man replied. Both Andrew and Kurt went wide-eyed.

"That's just the way it is. It's the only way to improve the Regular Army's morale." Both Andrew and Kurt didn't know what to say. They fought hard to take out that recon unit and now to find out they are not getting credit for it was unheard of. Andrew stepped forward and clenched his fist.

"Listen here you little shit-" Andrew felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Kurt shaking his head. Andrew closed his eyes, shaking with anger until he finally stepped down. The Regular Army soldier smirked.

"Keep working hard, you pieces of trash!" The man stated before turning around and began to walk away with his companions. However, to the surprise of Andrew, Kurt responded back.

"There is no such thing as trash on the battlefield." The Regular army soldiers stopped and turned around.

"What did you say?" One of them asked, clearly angry that Kurt had said something to them. Kurt was unfazed and continued.

"Right now, Gallia has a severe shortage of troops, nothing can be thrown away." Kurt said.

'What?!" The Regular Army soldier said. Andrew was now getting ready for a fight, noticing the man was getting pissed off.

"So before you call others trash, think about yourself and your responsibilities first." Kurt responded. The Regular Army soldier now was really pissed off.

"You bastard! How dare you address an officer of the Regular Army that way!" Without warning the officer punched Kurt square in the face. The punch was strong enough to throw Kurt back a few feet and Kurt landed face first into the ground.

"You're even lower than a Nameless!" The officer said. He then turned around and was walking away with his friends when he felt a strong arm on his shoulder. He turned and saw a fist heading to him. Andrew, in pure rage, punched the officer. He was tired of seeing good people get the short end of the stick. He thought of Fang being kicked out and Izana dying and now Kurt being mistreated. That pushed him over the edge. The officer fell to the ground and Andrew then went on to continue to punch him in the face. The two other Regular soldiers pulled Andrew off but Andrew then turned the tables and elbowed both men in the nuts. Both men went down in pain and Andrew went to the officer and continued to punch him for a few more minutes until the officer had a broken nose and had blood all over his face. Andrew then grabbed the cuff of the officer's uniform and brought his face close to his.

"I ever see your fucking face again, I swear I will fucking gut your ass. And if you think I won't, fucking try me" Andrew said before throwing him to the ground and then kicked the officer. Andrew made his way to Kurt who had stayed laying on the ground. Andrew just looked at Kurt with a sense of pity. Kurt was a good officer, hell maybe even better than most Regular Army officers, and it was just bad luck that he wound up in a penal unit. Andrew extended his hand to Kurt.

'C'mon. We have to go or else the MPs will have our asses." Andrew turned around and saw that more Regular soldiers were coming and helping out the three men who Andrew beat up. Kurt took Andrew's hand and Andrew helped him up. The two then began to walk back to the Nameless. Kurt didn't say anything until they were pretty far away until he finally said, "My name is Kurt Irving! I will restore my name without fail." Andrew looked over at Kurt and then had a small smile.

'Well, first let's get that squad to trust you. Can't really do much if they won't fight for we can make that fucker eat his fucking words." Andrew said, throwing an arm around Kurt. Kurt looked at Andrew and then had a small smile on his face as well.

"I felt bad for Kurt. He wasn't a bad officer at all, just unlucky. At that moment, I vowed to help him get his name restored. At that time, I didn't know that vow was going to turn into an adventure that I would never forget. How could I? After all, there was a war going on." Andrew W. Vandegrift.

A/N: Well, there it is. The first battle Kurt and Andrew undertook in the Nameless. I also want to point out that much of this dialogue is similar to the old story. The reason being that some of the dialog came from the game so I carried it over. The battle itself was changed and some dialogue Andrew said in the old story had to be changed in this one. Just wanted to note that in case some people were wondering. Next time, we get to see Charlotte and see some old faces. Also, I am looking for some 2 OCs to add into the Nameless. If anyone is interested, feel free to PM. Til next time.