Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Shooting Blanks. Enjoy the 900-word chapter. I don't own Black Lagoon; Rei Hiroe and a few others do.

Andros frowned, looking over his shoulder as he did so. He turned over his, holding his gun at the ready. He wanted to shoot them, but there was no time to do so.

"We need to go, now…" Andros heard as they rushed forward, ready to cut through their defenses. "There's no time, protect the colonel!" Andros heard as he sighed.

Protect the colonel, yes… Sure. Throw away countless lives in their countless ways. He was happy to do so, he wanted nothing more than to die…. She was gone, that was what the importunate of what he knew, it cut him to the core. He needed to leave, he didn't want to agree on this, but he wanted to hurt something.

"Damn it." Andros muttered as more explosions rang out, bursting like tan sized balloons. "The longer we fight? The more there will be suffering. I don't know what we're even fighting when the time came." Andros added, sighing to himself as he did so.

There was more craft floating into the smoke-filled sky. there was plenty of helicopters all busy shooting at each other, all of whom hurt them. They were busy holding off the enemy forces more and more, all busy fighting among themselves. He was quite hopeful what would come next. If enough rebels escaped? They could continue to fight, to resist.

Andros didn't really care. His family was gone, everything was dying out around him. his peace was nothing but a tainted memory. There was nothing left here for him, he doubted he could so anything he wanted.

"Oy, there's nothing here anymore." Andros said before a helicopter stated as it spiraled towards the ground. "Get those remaining choppers in the air! We need to leave NOW!" Andros barked to which he got several salutes.

He hummed, thinking about how to best coordinate this. He felt several embers pass by. If their army was too busy? Then he'd make a clean get away. There was far too much at stake for him to simply end this battle here, but pushing his luck? There would be countless deaths on his shoulders.

However? If he knew anything? Wars were not won simply by fighting and killing every enemy soldier you saw. Not to him, not even a little.

"Colonel? We have to go." Andros heard to which he nodded, getting aboard the helicopter.

Another explosion, this one the size of a small tank or such popped. He began to question just how many of their own the loyalists had killed… A hundred? A few thousand? There was plenty of work going on.

"We need to keep fighting." Andros stated as he boarded the helicopter, sliding the door behind him. "There's a chance of winning this fight." Andros stated as sighed.

The beaten down craft slowly but surely began to spin up its blades, defying the war below. There were pinpricks of light over the horizon as the helicopter joined the fleeing rebels. There were quite possibly dozens of them.

However? There were hundreds of soldiers below who they couldn't save. They had their orders to hold the line, Andros hadn't been the one to give it.

"How many are letting us go because of this sacrifice?" Andros questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I know one of you gave that order, it wasn't me." Andros stated, jabbing a finger forward as he did so.

"There's plenty of war to fight, sir." Andros heard he shook his head. "All I can do is think of the next battle plan. and it was 150, sir. They were the ones who decided it was worth it, 100 lives for a thousand or so. It is shocking, is it not?" Andros heard as he put a hand to his temples.

"Do not think about that, do not pretend to speak to me of that." Andros snarled to himself as he sighed, hopeful. "I did not vie the order for them to fight like this. I did not tell them to do this, and you know." Andros said as he leaned back in his seat.

The smell of fire and ash filled the air all the way home. There was plenty of work to be done. If he hadn't been ready back then? Then he would be. There was plenty of violence going on as he hummed to himself.

"This battle is just the begging of a far more dangerous war." Andros stated to himself as he shook his head. "Take us as far and away as possible." Andros added as he hummed, rubbing at his temples as he did so.

He knew this war would continue to rage, consuming anything and everything around them. If Andros was aware of anything? He'd know that something was going on that was quite bigger.

They were quite curious as they did so. A lot was riding into this battle.

Author Notes

Phew. Another chapter done! I want to point out that next chapter will be longer and such. Next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show Andros speaking about the war and explain it. Next chapter will be delayed and such at the moment. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

P.S: Next chapter is 900-5500 words and such at the moment.