Part 17 – Snow & Fire – Part 4
On the airfield, Porco and Marcel were loading up the plane they were about to leave in when they heard the explosion from the lab, and looked over right as the lab explosion tore the building apart.
Porco ran over to the edge of the runway as the explosion began to subside, and exclaimed, "Son of a bitch," as Marcel walked over to him.
"We'll get them soon enough," Marcel said, "At this point they can't stop us."
"I hope you're right on this one brother." Porco said.
Back at the main building, Erin, Armin, Mikasa, and Levi ran out the front door to see the plane Porco and Marcel were loading, and Armin spoke up, "They get out of here, there's no telling where they'll get off to."
"We'll stop them," Levi said as he pointed around the parking lot, "Search the cars, find one that has keys!"
"Or we could just do this," Armin said as he walked over to the guards Eren flanked, went through their pockets, and found a set of keys.
They didn't work on the car they had previously taken cover behind, or the one that was shot full of holes when they were covering Eren, but the door to the next one that had a blown tire, and a busted headlight did open.
"Think this thing still runs," Eren asked as he opened the back door for Mikasa.
"Let's hope she does," Armin said as he jumped into the driver's seat and started the car before smashing out the driver's window.
Levi jumped into the front seat and kicked out the front window to push it out of the car.
Eren used the buttstock of his Uzi to smash out the side window, then turned around, bracing his back against the rear seat, he used both his feet to smash out the rear window.
"Any reason you're doing this?" Mikasa asked.
"We found out during an operation during Tet that if you fire a gun inside a car, it'll shatter the windows, and hurt your ears," Eren said as he turned around, and pointed to her window as Armin set off.
Mikasa simply used the roller to lower her window, "Didn't think to try that?"
"It's more fun the other way." Eren replied.
Armin gunned the DS21 and took off full speed toward the airport.
As the various members of Porco and Marcel's guards were loading the last of the cargo into the plane, Porco looked over to see a DS21 heading toward them, "We've got incoming!"
Marcel turned around to see the DS21 heading in their direction, and motioned toward his brother, "Come on, we'd better get in the air!"
"You go," Porco said as he walked over to one of the crates, and pulled out Madsen M50, "I'll deal with these," he then slapped a full magazine into the gun and racked the charging handle.
Marcel turned to his guards, and pointed to the guards closest to the exit, "Stay with him!"
"I'll see you in Singapore," Porco said as the guards drew their weapons.
"Good luck, then." Marcel said.
As the back door of the plane closed, Marcel looked back, not knowing whether this would be the last time he saw his brother, so he gave him a small salute, and walked up the ramp to take his seat.
Approaching the runway, the guard at the gate ran out of his post holding a MAT-49, but the first shots came as Levi fired a 40mm grenade at the guard post.
The explosion sent a deadly spray of wooden shrapnel into the guard's right side and tossed the stop-bar off its hinges.
When they drove onto the tarmac, Porco took aim with his M50, and unleashed a flurry of fire in their direction, along with his guards.
Eren very quickly pushed Mikasa down as the team took cover, "Out, out," Levi ordered as he ushered toward Armin's side of the car.
As they did, another series of shots hit the side of the car as the four of them scrambled out of the car.
"Nine shooters," Levi said, "We have to make sure that plane doesn't make it off the ground."
"Team cover?" Eren asked.
"I'm with you then." Levi said.
"Excuse me?" Eren asked.
"You have an Uzi, I have a rifle," Levi said before pointing at Mikasa and Armin, "He has an M14, and she has an HK33."
Eren exhaled strongly, "Point taken," he said as he did a magazine count, "Mikasa, you and Armin first."
"On three?" Armin asked.
"One." Eren began counting.
"Two," Levi said as he checked his magazine.
"Three," Armin exclaimed as Eren and Levi popped out from behind cover of the DS21 and unleashed a barrage of bullets in the direction of Porco and the security guards.
As the guards ducked, Mikasa and Armin took off running toward cover closer to the hanger that Porco and his guards were firing from.
"Down to two mags," Eren said as he reloaded his Uzi.
"I've got three," Levi said as he reloaded his M177, "You are right about what you said earlier. This is a lot like Khe Sahn."
"Save we're not outnumbered," Eren said, looking from behind cover to see Mikasa and Armin wave at him, "And we're four against nine. Not thirteen SOG soldiers and a company of marines against hundreds of NVA soldiers."
"Let's make sure it doesn't end up like Khe Sahn," Levi said as he looked out to see Mikasa and Armin pop out of cover, and provide covering fire, "Go!"
The two of them ran across the runway, and as they were, Eren saw one of the guards aiming around the corner of one of the crates he was hiding behind, he took aim, and one burst dropped him like a stone.
"Nice shooting," Armin said as Eren joined him next to the crate he was taking cover behind.
"You expected anything less?" Eren asked.
"Not really," Armin said, dropping his magazine, "I've only got three left, you?"
"Two plus this one," Eren said as he slightly raised his Uzi.
"In that case, let's make them count," Armin said, "I'm more useful from here. Take Captain Ackerman and move up."
"Keep us covered," Eren said as he held out his hand to Armin.
"You know I will," Armin said as he grabbed Eren's hand.
Armin turned toward Mikasa, and signaled that he thought they should provide cover, Mikasa nodded, turned towards Levi, and pointed at him, then over her shoulder in the direction of the guards and Porco.
Levi nodded, and Mikasa and Armin popped up to lay down suppressive fire, as Eren and Levi were running toward the hanger, Porco, hiding behind a crate grabbed hold of the suppressor attached to Eren's Uzi, no doubt slightly burning his hand.
He then with almost no effort shoved the Uzi aside and tossed it down the runway. When he tried to bring up his M50 to shoot, Eren kicked it out of his hand, and as he drew his P38, Porco smacked it out of his hand.
Porco then grabbed his own sidearm, Eren grabbed the sidearm as he drew it, and forced Porco against the crate that he was taking cover behind, a very swift twist took the gun from his grasp, but before he could use it, Porco got a lucky shot against Eren's cracked rib, causing him to flinch, and giving Porco the opportunity to knock the pistol away.
Mikasa saw Eren fighting Porco, and went to aim, but Armin waved her off, "You could hit Eren! He'll be fine, let's mop up the guards, and then give him a hand."
Eren recovered, and threw his elbow at Porco, getting him across the jaw. As he recovered, Porco grabbed Eren by the front of his shirt, and threw him against the crate.
Mikasa looked back from the firefight to see Eren move out of the way of Porco's fist which smashed clean through the side of the crate.
As she turned to continuing firing at the guards who were slowly going down in numbers, Eren threw a right hook, and socked Porco across the face before using the box as a springboard for a flying knee-kick to the face.
Porco stumbled backwards, and recovered as Eren came at him again with a right. Porco ducked underneath the swing, and landed a kick across his gut, the cracked rib hurt a bit, and when Porco saw him grab his side, he spoke up, "Seems Xaver did a number on you."
"He was chemically enhanced, by you," Eren said as he shrugged it off, and took a fighting stance.
"And I can't wait for the rest of the world to follow in our steps," Porco said, "When Titan unleashes the formula on the world, we'll be rich, and unstoppable."
"Titan?" Eren asked.
"That's all I'll say to you," Porco said as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife (obviously lifted from French soldiers during WW2), "And unfortunately you won't be around long enough to see Titan arise and become the saviors of the west."
"We'll see about that," Eren said as he pulled out the pen Hange handed him.
The two of them charged back towards each other as Levi let off another series of rounds into one of the guards who had popped out of cover to try and get him.
"A knife against a pen," Porco said as he swung at Eren with the knife, he moved back to avoid the knife, "You honestly expect to do anything to me with that?"
"You forget," Eren said as he dodged another swing, "I was MAC-V, and I think this pen might just be mightier than your blade."
"We'll see," Porco said as he swung at Eren again who dodged, only to have Porco drop his arm, and elbow Eren in the jaw, then kneed him in his cracked ribs.
As Eren gasped in pain, Porco wrapped his arm around Eren's neck, and brought the knife in so that he would drive it into Eren's neck.
Eren grabbed Porco's arm to stop the knife, and very quickly flipped the latch that Hange had installed on the pen, and then drove it into Porco's forearm.
It hurt him as well, electricity conducting through two bodies, but that was a small price to pay as Porco's body started shaking so much, the knife simply flew out of his hand when Eren smacked it away.
Down the tarmac, Armin saw one of the guards try and move into a new set of cover to get a better aim at Mikasa. As he was moving, Armin held just in front of the cover the guard was running to and fired.
The bullet dropped him like a stone and cleared up more room for Mikasa to move up.
As Eren turned the pen off, Porco doubled down on the amount of pressure on Eren's neck, and when Eren went to turn the pen back on, Porco ripped it out of his arm, and tossed it away.
"All out of gadgets now, agent." Porco said.
"Almost," Eren said reached into his pocket, Porco grabbed his hand, and saw him pulling out a piece of gum.
"What do you plan to do with that?" Porco asked.
"I'll show you," Eren said as he squished the gum into a small ball, then grasped Porco's nose with an iron grip, causing him to open his mouth, allowing Eren to force the gum into his mouth, and the simple action of forcing Porco's mouth closed caused an immediate swallowing reflex.
As Eren released his nose, Porco simply spoke up, "Was that it," he asked, "What did you expect that would…" he stopped just as he noticed a horrible burning sensation going down his esophagus, which was followed by an insatiable urge to throw up.
Eren took the opportunity to free himself and push Porco back as the man leaned over onto the tarmac, but what came out of his mouth wasn't vomit, it was blood mixed with bile.
*Disclaimer:
I don't know what happens when you swallow caustic chemicals so I'm just going to say that as soon as Mikasa finished off the last guard, she spun around with the last few bullets left in the last mag in her gun to see Eren standing over Porco who was dying a very violent, bloody death.
As Porco slowly began to wither away, Levi had made it to the hanger where the plane Marcel was on just began to pick up speed down the runway.
He checked the bullets in his rifle, all empty, but he still had one grenade left in his M203, raising the quadrant sight, he took aim, and one well-placed shot hit the plane right on the section where the wing met the fuselage.
The slight rock startled Marcel who looked out the window he was sitting next to, saw the hole in the wing, and that the plane was accelerating, about to start pulling up.
He quickly unbuckled himself, and ran toward the cockpit to stop the pilots, but before he could, the plane instantly started rising. The strain on the wing was too much, and as the wheels left the runway, it sheared clean off. The plane then went into an uncontrollable right bank, and then the sheering forces of the wind and speed ripped the fuselage in half, throwing Marcel clean out the side, and bringing the plane down in a blazing explosion.
In the time the plane had gone down, Mikasa had run over to Eren who was collecting his weapons, and embraced him, "You ok?"
"Yea," Eren said as the explosion drew their attention, and he drew Mikasa close, they looked up as Levi turned around, and placed the M177 on his shoulder.
"We gonna secure the crash site or what," he asked as he pointed over his shoulder.
A little fast I know…