HitSpy: Absolution

Act 3, Scene 2

By the next day, HitSpy was on his feet, back to 100%. The nurse wouldn't give him back his suit, though, saying that it had been trashed the day before. He hoped, for the nurse's sake, that it hadn't been. That suit had been custom made, and he deeply enjoyed it.

Dell had told him to come down to the firing range in the armory, which was where he was on his way to right now. He had some paper scrubs that the doctors had given him, and he had a fresh pair of boxer briefs on underneath. He desperately wished to be rid of this savage clothing, as he was starting to get looks… and itches. He hated this paper scrub, and he was going to rip it off as soon as possible.

The firing range was all indoors, to avoid the noise from traveling and disturbing the civilians. As HitSpy opened the door that led inside, he was immediately greeted with the deafening noise of gunfire. A person sitting behind the door handed HitSpy some ear muffs with practiced precision, which HitSpy quickly put on. As soon as he stepped out from the door frame, the man sitting behind the door quickly shut it, cancelling any noise going outside.

The firing range was massive, and it could train a lot of soldiers at once. Red soldiers set up in gun stalls, firing various armaments. Some tested guns picked up from clones, others used guns that they found elsewhere, some tested guns that belonged to them, and yet another still practiced firing a Civil War era percussion cap rifle.

HitSpy quickly made his way to where both Engineer, and Scout, holding a scattergun and wearing a bullet-resistant vest, were standing, in a gun stall in the middle of the massive room. Standing next to them were Soldier, with his Team Captain hat, and another man that HitSpy had never seen before. As he neared them, Engineer caught sight of him, and waved him over to where they were. He pulled a device out of his pocket, and pressed a few buttons. Over a loudspeaker somewhere in the room, the words, "Cease fire", boomed. The soldiers began unloading their firearms, and filing out of the firing range.

When it was only the five of them left in the room, Dell spoke.

"Spy", he began, "I'd like you to meet the Scout of the base. His name's Jeramiah."

Jeramiah held his hand out, and HitSpy took it in a strong hand shake.

"Call me Jerry", the Scout said.

HitSpy nodded. He looked back up at Engineer, who pointed to Jerry.

"He's gonna be working closely next to Scout, so I figured I'd brief him before Scout bores him with his life story again."

"Hey", Scout whined, but HitSpy nodded.

"You do that a lot, Scout", HitSpy clarified.

Scout shrugged, and leaned up against the side of the stall.

"I have something to say, maggots" Soldier said, getting everyone's attention. "I am damn proud that I get to kick ass with all of you again! Except you, Scout, because running is for cowards! I don't know what a Coward looks like, but I'd say they probably look black and white, and when I'm done, they're gonna be red all over!"

As Soldier leaned back against the side of the stall, with Scout, Scout slowly inched away from him.

Engineer huffed, and then turned to HitSpy, saying, "I'm sorry to tell you, Spy, but your suit was too torn up to save."

"Merde", Spy said, regretting the loss of his suit.

"So we made you another", Dell said, as he pressed another button on his control panel, "one much badder, and much better."

From the top of the firing range, hidden in the rafters, a suit on a mannequin connected to grippers was lowered into view. It was spanking new, pressed neatly against the mannequin. HitSpy loved it at first sight. Engineer pulled a pistol out of his holster, and pointed it at the suit.

"NO", HitSpy screamed as Engineer fired a round at the suit.

The round crumpled against the suit, and fell off.

"Bullet-proof", Engineer said, a smile creeping over his face, "to an extent. Don't go tryin' ta fight a tank with nothin' but this, but it'll protect ya pretty well from small calibers an' such."

HitSpy suddenly loved the suit even more.

"Just like mine", Soldier piped up, as he tugged on the collar of his trench coat. "We can be Bullet-Proof Buddies!"

"Not only that", the Engineer said, "we also got your other gear in."

Engineer reached under the stall, and pulled a large briefcase out. He placed it down on the counter of the stall, and opened it up. Inside lay two Ambassador .357 Magnum revolvers, with hollowed out barrels for insertable silencers. Next to them lay a Sentry Sapper, and a knife on a track.

"You already have your regular Butterfly Knife", Dell quipped, "but I thought you would like this; it's a hidden blade, which would work well with stealth kills in crowded places and whatnot. It's coated in a… well, we'll just call it a 'special material' that makes it invisible to x-rays and metal detectors. I'm sure it'll come in handy sometime, what with the kind of missions you'll be running."

"And what type of missions will Scout be running", HitSpy asked, knowing full well what type of missions he would be running.

"Mostly frontline work", Dell responded, "I'll brief him after we're done with you."

"What's my first mission?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Spy", Engineer said, "we still have to find a way to sneak behind enemy lines. For now, you'll be working with the two Scouts here, and Soldier. We'll put this stuff to the ultimate test, maybe get ya to assassinate some Commanders, get ya in a firefight or two, just find a way ta make it all work, y'know?"

"I like the sound of that", HitSpy said.

"Good", Engineer said with a grin, "Then let's get you suited up."

…

HitSpy had been fitted and reequipped an hour ago. Dell Conagher, the Engineer, monitored the radio for any flare-ups along the Red lines. For nearly two days, all had been quiet, save the occasional hail about scouting patrols. Dell knew what that meant. He had quietly been evacuating civilians and setting up additional base defenses from afar the entire time. He wanted to ride this bull as long as possible with minimal broken bones.

The armory was filled with grenade launcher M16's, rocket launchers, and even a TOW Jeep. He knew that the Blu's took a long time to prepare a massive strike, but that when they were ready, they could trample Red lines like a horse on a rider's head. He was getting nervous; he always used a lot more similes when he was nervous.

Suddenly, the radio sprung to life. Dell tuned in on the signal. Over the sounds of heavy gunfire and explosions, he could hear a voice shouting.

"Wonderosa, Phoenix squadron here! The Blu's are attacking in force, headed towards your direction! They've got three automatic rifle battalions, portable mortars, and a column of at least seven heavy tanks! Suggesting civilian evac! We'll hold them as long as we can! Phoenix, out!"

The radio went dead.

Dell wasted no time in reaching for the PA.

"Listen up", Dell said into the microphone, "this base is now evacuating. All Cavalrymen are assigned to civilian evacuation. Everyone else, this base is going to high alert. We are to defend it at all costs."

Dell knew Blu's frontline equipment in and out. Heavy tanks would not be effectively wiped out with rocket launchers and grenade launchers, unless someone was lucky enough to fire a grenade right down into the hatch of one; their armor was so thick that most explosives would just bounce off, save a TOW missile. There was an upside to facing heavy tanks, however; they could only travel at a speed of five miles an hour.

The only problem was; Phoenix squadron was five miles from the base.

They didn't have a lot of time to evacuate the rest of the civilians, and they certainly didn't have a lot of time to prepare the last of the base defenses. But he knew how Blu worked, and he knew that they would wait for ALL of their tanks to join the fight before marching on Wonderosa. Phoenix knew that, too, which meant they were going to try their absolute hardest to damage as many tanks as possible, which might, possibly, buy them another hour at the least. Dell knew that he would never hear from Phoenix again, and in his mind, he prepared a small memorial for them.

But there would be time to mourn the dead later; now they had to fight for the living.

Dell turned on the PA again, saying, "All troops not already equipped for battle, to the armory, pronto! I want Snipers and spotters up in the towers along the wall! Femur squadron, get the TOW Truck. The rest of you, start digging in around the base. It's gonna be a hell of a fight!"

He turned off the PA for now, and moved over to the radio again. Flipping some knobs, he got in contact with Love Field.

"Love, Wonderosa here", he said into the microphone, "we need Texas 7-Niner inbound on our location stat. Tell Mark he needs ATGW's, and bring the 22mm chainguns. If local tanks can be scrambled to us, please do so. I can't really see where they all are from here."

"10-4, sir. Texas 7-Niner being loaded as we speak. Hang in there, Wonderosa."

Texas 7-Niner was a Hind gunship that Dell had bought from the Russians, back when he was still a Merc. He had modified the already magnificent chopper to be nearly unaffected by small-arms fire, and to use less fuel on flights. Russia generally didn't make very good stuff, but occasionally they had a stroke of genius, like with the reverse-engineered AK-47, and with the Hind Attack Helicopter. Dell wanted to buy more, but Russia wasn't selling.

It wasn't that Blu didn't have aircraft; quite the contrary, actually. What they didn't have was jet fuel, which Dell had strategically "kidnapped" from them in an all-out raid. Blu didn't know what hit them. Now, with the pitiful reserves Blu had left, they had to pick and choose when and where they would use air support, whereas Dell could use it all he wanted… with the exception of not having very many aircraft. At most, he had maybe ten Cobras, a couple Chinooks, and thirty Huey's, along with Texas 7-Niner. He didn't exactly have to use his fuel sparingly, but he did have to minimize the number of aircraft that were downed.

The largest concentration of helicopters of the Red army were parked on Love Field, surrounded by defensive batteries. Blu had tried to bomb them before, but it had gone terribly for them. Dell had always suspected that they would try again, and had beefed up defenses around Love Field, but Blu hadn't come back.

Dell shook himself from his thoughts. Right now, he had to focus on preparing this base for an attack. Dell turned on the radio again, and said into the microphone, "Code Red. Soldiers under threat of fire in Wonderosa. This is not a drill; repeat, this is not a drill. All available reinforcements converge, now."

…

HitSpy walked into the armory. Red soldiers were gearing up for combat all around him; some were throwing on flak-jackets, others were grabbing rifles, mostly M16's, and still others were throwing on helmets and saying prayers.

HitSpy walked up to the Dealer, who handed out arms to new recruits, and asked for an AK-47. The Dealer looked around him for a moment, and pulled an M16 off the wall.

"No", said HitSpy, "An AK."

"Don't got no more", the Dealer said, as he shoved the M16 into HitSpy's hands. He passed two magazines over the counter to HitSpy as well, which he took.

The Colt M16A1 was not the weapon of choice for most militaries. It had a tendency to jam, and needed a pin to adjust the sights. Each magazine carried twenty rounds of 5.56x45mm, far less powerful and numerous than the 7.62x39mm that the AK47 used. The M16A1's only advantages were that it was cheap and easy to make, and that with a little training, it was a little more accurate and produced far less recoil than the AK. It was mass-produced by America during the Vietnam War; it was now the standard-issue rifle for the Red military.

Dell should have made upgrades to it, but it looked like he left it alone. Perhaps the design was too fragile to upgrade, or maybe it would cost too much that way. HitSpy didn't have any other choice, it seemed, so he turned back to the dealer.

"Do you have a grenade launcher for this?"

"No more under-barrel attachments", the Dealer said, as he shook his head.

"Merde."

HitSpy walked out of the Armory. Red soldiers were assembling outside the massive gates of the base, ready to pour out at a moment's notice. The gates began to whine as they were pulled apart, allowing for a mass of Red troops to file out of the base.

Outside, Sentry guns were being set up, foxholes were being dug, and a Jeep with a TOW missile launcher mounted on the back was wheeling around, trying to find a good place to dig in and set up. In the distance, HitSpy could see columns of Red soldiers retreating back to the base. With them, a Red colored M48A3 Patton tank rolled along. On top, a soldier manned the .50 caliber machine gun. It wouldn't be enough to punch through the armor of the heavy tanks that the Blu's had, but it could do some damage to the Blu soldiers.

HitSpy found a nice foxhole about four feet deep, surrounded by sandbags. He called down to the two soldiers inside, "May I join you?"

The two soldiers stared at HitSpy for a moment, then looked at each other, and shrugged. HitSpy jumped down into the foxhole, setting his M16 on the ground at their feet. He sat down on a few loose sandbags.

"Tell me, gentlemen", he asked the two soldiers out of curiosity, "why did you join Red?"

The first, who wore a helmet on his head and a backpack on his back, spoke up, saying, "To defend my home."

The second, who only had a bandana covering his nose and mouth, a flak jacket with no shirt underneath, and a bandolier full of M16 magazines draped across his shoulder, replied, "Cause the Blu's killed my family."

The first nodded, saying, "My brother died in fighting recently."

"I am sorry to hear that", HitSpy said, understanding that the war had taken a toll on everyone. "What are you names?"

"I'm Rodney", the first said.

"I'm Joe", the second said.

"HitSpy", HitSpy told them, extending his hand, "nice to meet you."

They each, in turn, took his hand and firmly shook it.

…

Dell listened to the radio like a madman. He couldn't call Phoenix, because their two-way radio broke, and the only radio they had was one-way, so he had to wait for them to transmit. Suddenly, the radio crackled to life.

"Phoenix here", Phoenix leader said, as he coughed, "we held them for as long as we could. Two tanks damaged… changing that number to ten tanks total. The Blu's have… another… ugh… rifle squadron bringing up the rear. The mortars… kha, kha… we hit them hard… there aren't many of them left. They tore through us… I'm hit… not gonna make it back… I… tell my wife… ugh… that I love her…"

The sound of automatic fire rang through the radio, and the signal went dead.

Dell held his head in his hands, trying to keep from letting the annihilation of Phoenix squadron take over his spirit. He turned a few more knobs on the radio, and spoke to the Mayor of Wonderosa.

"Mayor Wilson, come in, please", he said politely.

After a few seconds, a voice sliced through the static, proclaiming, "Mayor Wilson here!"

"How goes the evacuation, Mayor?"

"We'll need about another hour at this rate."

"Plenty of time. Mayor… Phoenix was wiped out."

Everyone from Phoenix squadron had come from Wonderosa. It gave the Mayor a noticeable pause.

"That is… unfortunate", the Mayor said, with bitterness filling his voice.

"They died defending their people, Mayor."

"I know, but… all this death, this whole damned war… it's all just pointless!"

"Not while there's still people to defend, sir. I will personally send flowers and pensions to every single family of Phoenix."

"What damned bit of difference will it make", the Mayor asked explosively. "They want their sons and husbands back, not money and flowers!"

With that, the Mayor signed off the radio, the signal going dead. Dell knew what it was like, losing men, and he understood the Mayor's pain. The Mayor mingled with the citizens; he was one of them. He knew them by face and name, every single one of them. Dell couldn't say the same for his soldiers, but to him, it was like losing a long-lost cousin you didn't know you had.

It still hurt.

Nevertheless, Dell went back to monitoring the evacuation, and pulling troops from the front lines. It was going to be a hell of a battle for sure, and there was no way in Hell that he was going to underprepare for it. He would do all he could here, and then he would grab a rifle himself. A long-lost cousin was still family, and you defended your family against all things.

…

Two hours later, HitSpy had gotten acquainted with Joe and Rodney. They both seemed to have differing opinions on Red. Joe saw them as a pathway to revenge, while Rodney had seen them as saviors. Both of them agreed that they had no idea how Red would rule America after the war. Joe looked at them warily, uncertain of their intentions, while Rodney seemed to believe that Red would reinstall the Republic. It had been a question on HitSpy's mind as well, but he didn't know how Engineer wanted to rebuild America, so he was as much in the dark as these soldiers.

The questions on his mind were interrupted by the ground shaking around them. In fact, the entire line went silent as everyone slowly began to poke up over their foxholes. The horizon looked clear.

"Incoming", a sniper screamed.

HitSpy could not see the enemy, and that was a problem for him. It bothered him greatly, mainly because if he couldn't see the enemy coming, but could still FEEL them coming, it meant that the enemy had a massive force. In fact, he would bet money that they had more soldiers coming than Red had here.

Soldiers began to murmur to one another, as Colonel Doe, the original Soldier, stepped onto the battlefield. He carried two lever-action Baby Face's Blaster shotguns on his back, and an Austrailium-plated rocket launcher. On his hip were a trench shovel, and a pickaxe. He walked past all of the foxholes, and turned on his heel to face the Red soldiers.

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight", he yelled, as a mortar round crashed nearby him. "Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor!"

More mortars began crashing down around him, as he pulled the two grenades off his ammo bandolier.

"Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on Earth", he said, as he used his grenades to mimic the animals, "and then, he herded them on to a boat! And then he beat the crap out of every single one", he smashed the two grenades together, making clanking sounds, as the silhouette of enemy soldiers came into view. He placed his grenades back onto his bandolier, and he stared at the soldiers under his command.

"And from that day forward, anytime a bunch of animals are together in one place, it's called a ZOO", he yelled, as a mortar round crashed literally right next to him. He stood stock-still, staring down the soldiers, and, after a few seconds, finished with, "Unless it's a farm!"

He yanked the rocket launcher off his back, and rocket-jumped over to the enemy lines. HitSpy lost sight of him, but he knew that Soldier could take care of himself. Right now, he was worried about the massive line of Blu clones with M16's and fixed bayonets charging them. HitSpy, Joe, and Rodney all poked over the foxhole, and fired burst rounds at the clones. Many other foxholes followed suit, and a few clones fell, but it wasn't enough. As the line of Blu closed in on them, the clones began to return fire, forcing many soldiers back into their foxholes. Joe loaded his Masterkey, a 12 gauge pump action shotgun attachment for the M16, and went back up to the lip of the foxhole. He fired a few more bursts at the advancing line, until he heard a clicking sound coming from his rifle. He checked his magazine, saying to Rodney, who had an M203, a 40mm grenade attachment for his M16, "Reloading, give me cover!"

Rodney popped his rifle out of the foxhole, and fired the M203. A 40mm grenade arced out of it, and whistled its way through the air. It came down in a group of five clones. Arms and legs flew for some feet, and by the time the smoke cleared, the clones were dead. In this time, Joe had reloaded his rifle, and had continued firing at the advancing enemy.

The sound of heavy machine gun fire suddenly filled the air, as tracer rounds raked the advancing Blu lines. HitSpy turned to see where the fire was coming from, and watched portals along the walls of Wonderosa open to reveal heavy machine guns. Wonderosa, the city itself, was coming into play on the battlefield, defending its people, its protectors. HitSpy raised his rifle into the air and fired aimlessly, a signal of triumph on his part, as he saw firsthand how effective Red was. The foxholes all filled with the chorus of a thousand cheers, men so happy to be alive that they could not contain themselves.

Suddenly, a shell flew over their heads, coming from the Blu lines, and put a crater into the walls of Wonderosa. A few of the guns stopped firing, probably destroyed on impact. HitSpy turned back to the Blu lines, and watched the heavy tanks advance. Even from here, HitSpy could see and hear the bullets bouncing off of their extremely thick armor. The guns on the walls continued to focus their fire on the soldiers, ignoring the tanks for now. Behind them, HitSpy could hear the Patton tank coming into play, the .50 cal. firing in bursts at the enemy, and the main 90mm gun firing into the mass of soldiers that advanced towards the foxholes. Several soldiers raised rocket launchers and M203s, and fired them at the tanks, but the rockets bounced off of their thick armor, and the 40mm grenades only did minimal damage to them.

The Jeep with the TOW launcher started up, and drove out of its entrenchments, and began making zig-zag movements towards the enemy, more than likely with two intentions in mind; to draw the enemy's fire, and to get in range of the tanks. If they could get in range of the tanks, they could use the TOW launcher to take a few of them out. The passenger riding shotgun had a six-cylindered grenade launcher, much like the one that Tavish DeGroot, the original Red Demoman, would carry, only the firing mechanism was locked into place with a pump-action, and it seemed far more stripped-down than Tavish's. The soldier manning the TOW launcher also carried a Grease Gun, but he was busy with the launcher.

HitSpy watched a heavy tank take a potshot at the Jeep, and miss by several feet. The Jeep's passenger fired three grenades into the advancing line of clones, throwing blood and body parts up into the air. It got the attention of the clones, drawing their fire, until the wall opened fire once again, raking the enemy lines once more. It drew the attention of all of the clones, and, more importantly, the tanks. As their barrels turned to face the giant wall, the Jeep threw on its brakes. The soldier in the bed of the Jeep aimed the TOW launcher towards the nearest tank, and fired.

The Jeep was thrown onto two wheels, and the tank was shattered into fiery pieces as the TOW missile destroyed it. As the Jeep bounced back onto four wheels, it quickly slammed into gear, and drove away, the barrels of the tanks all following the Jeep intently. All of the foxholes let out another collective cheer, and several of them were soon emptied as the Red soldiers inside jumped out of them, and dared to meet the enemy head on. HitSpy decided to be one of them. He climbed out, M16 in tow, and raced towards the Blu clones, alongside dozens of armed men of all different colors, shapes, sizes, and equipment.

The clones turned their rifles towards the soldiers, and began to fire bursts from their M16s. Many of HitSpy's red-clad comrades took bullets, and, with bursts of crimson from their wounds, fell to the ground. HitSpy ran on, beginning to regret his decision. He pointed his M16 from the hip, and fired several bursts into the enemy lines. He couldn't quite see how effective he was, but it was more so meant to keep the clones' heads down and rifles pointed away from him. As HitSpy went to pull the trigger again, however, the rifle gave a sound like something had snapped, and would not fire another round. HitSpy tossed it away, sprinting with all of his might towards the nearest clone.

As he reached the first clone, he brought his fist into his face, barreling him over. The next clone he came up to tried to bring his M16 to bear, but HitSpy kicked him in the gut, and grabbed him by the neck, twisting him around to face the other clones. He grabbed the clone's arm, and pointed his M16 at the other clones, and forced the clone to pull the trigger. Several clones fell over as bullets raked them. Some turned to fire on HitSpy, but his human shield held rather nicely, taking all of the hits that were meant for him, without any over penetration.

When the clone's rifle ran out of ammo, HitSpy threw him away, and pulled out his butterfly knife, flipping it around until the blade protruded. He jammed it into the nearest clones' gut, and kicked him into another clone. Another clone stepped towards him, and HitSpy slashed his throat with a quick motion. A few more clones ran towards him, firing their rifles at him. He took the clone with the slashed throat as a human shield, and just in time, as a round blasted through the clone's chest, and crumpled against HitSpy's suit. It hurt like Hell, but it was better than dying, or, worse, another sucking chest wound.

As the clones got closer, HitSpy threw their deceased comrade at them, and pulled his two Ambassadors from his suit. He put a round into each of their heads in rapid succession, felling them all within the span of a few seconds. HitSpy picked targets out of the corner of his eyes, and coolly squeezed the triggers, spending no more than a single round on each target. When he ran out of ammo in the cylinders, he quickly pushed the empty shells out of the cylinders, and replaced them with fresh rounds.

HitSpy stopped for a moment, and watched the Jeep stop near another tank. The soldier in the bed aimed the TOW launcher at the tank, and fired. Again, the Jeep was launched onto two wheels, as a TOW missile tore through the heavy tank. It didn't detonate, instead coming out the other side, and crashing into a heavy tank next to it, knocking its treads off of the hull, and knocking out the tank's ammo supply, destroying it in a blaze of fire. The tank that the missile punched through turned its turret towards the Jeep, and fired its main cannon, obliterating the tiny vehicle.

A roar of anger came from the foxholes, and, out of desperation, more soldiers crawled from the Earth to face the enemy. The advancing line was covered by heavy machine gun fire from Wonderosa, giving them a better chance to face the enemy, but it wasn't enough; many Red soldiers still fell, blood bubbling from their wounds. HitSpy turned towards the tanks, and realized that Red's only chance was to take them out. He turned to a clone with a grenade bandolier, and charged him. He barreled him over, taking one of the grenades off his bandolier, and pulling the pin on the other. The clone tried desperately to get it off, but he was, ultimately, unsuccessful. The grenades destroyed him utterly, leaving only chunks of flesh and blood behind.

HitSpy put one of his Ambassadors away, and charged towards the nearest tank, the one on the far right. The tank that had destroyed the Jeep had finally stopped moving, and flame was beginning to flicker out of the hatches. The crew must have died in the tank, because they weren't abandoning the burning husk. It made no difference to HitSpy. A clone ran at him, and he got two rounds to the gut. Several other clones began to shoot at him, and he took the gut-shot clone as a human shield, firing back at the others from behind the peppered clone. When the shooting stopped, HitSpy threw away his meat shield, and ran as hard as he could towards the exposed tank. When he was no more than a few feet away, the tank fired its main cannon, leaving HitSpy deaf, not counting the ringing in his ears, and leaving him with the wind knocked out of him from the pressure of the concussive blast. HitSpy pulled the pin on the grenade, stuffed it in the open barrel, and let it roll down the tank's barrel. He ran around behind the tank, and kept running, and, finding a crater, quickly flopped into it, placing his hands over his head.

The grenade bounced down the barrel, and landed in a pile of unused shells, prepped for loading. The tank was ripped apart by the following explosion, propelled shrapnel tearing through the occupants, and projectiles propelled by gunpowder flying through the tank's armor. Two rounds struck the tank next to it, but at most they put large dents in the armor. Nevertheless, a tank was destroyed. A cheer ran up through the Red lines, but HitSpy couldn't hear it.

Three heavily damaged tanks, and three healthy tanks, were all that remained of the vehicles Blu had brought. The last of the clone lines advanced on the Red foxholes, and the tanks turned around, and began to drive away. HitSpy watched them turn and leave, and suddenly decided that Red needed those tanks more than Blu did. He got to his feet, dizzy, but unwavering, and charged at the nearest healthy tank. He barely caught it in time, not even remembering how he got to it. He jumped on top of it, and gave a hard knock on the turret hatch. When a clone opened it and popped his head out, HitSpy grabbed his head and twisted it. The clone dispatched, HitSpy yanked him out of the hatch, and threw him off of the tank. HitSpy jumped own into the hatch, and shot the co-pilot in the back of the head. As the pilot turned to face him, HitSpy activate his hidden blade, and planted it into the clone's throat.

The tank rolled to a stop, and HitSpy leaned back in his turret seat, breathing a sigh of relief. He took a second to catch his breath, and then opened up the turret hatch, looking around at the battlefield. The Reds and the Blu clones were still locked in mortal combat, Blu clones still advancing on the Red foxholes, and Red soldiers desperately trying to stop them. He turned to watch the heavy tanks crawling away, when suddenly, they all exploded. HitSpy looked up into the sky to see a massive Hind helicopter, with a shark's mouth painted around the main gun, and flames painted around the engine. The word TEXAS was painted on both sides in red, white, and blue.

The Hind turned and faced HitSpy's tank. HitSpy immediately raised himself out of the hatch, flailing his arms around, trying to signal that he was a friendly, but the Hind continued to bear down on him. HitSpy continued to wave, not wanting to accept his fate. Suddenly, the Hind did a barrel roll. HitSpy had never seen a helicopter do a barrel roll before, so it gave him pause. He suddenly felt a surge of relief wash over him, and he saluted the Hind, and relaxed. It flew right over him, firing its main cannon into the waves of clones. Blood and chunks of clone were thrown this way and that as the 22mm cannon slashed and slayed its way through the clone horde. When all of the clones not engaged in combat with the Red soldiers were dispatched, the Hind turned towards Wonderosa, and made for the landing pad.

HitSpy supposed that it was time to start helping Red clean up the mess of clones still engaged in combat with them. Catching his breath one last time, HitSpy pulled himself out of the tank, and closed the hatch behind him. He turned towards where the clones and soldiers were fighting, and began a steady jog towards them.

The first person that HitSpy reached was Jerry. He was punching out a clone with an M16 that had a bayonet on it. He hit the clone so hard that he dropped his rifle right into Jerry's hands. Jerry ran the bayonet through the clone's chest, and turned towards another clone, firing three rounds into his stomach. The clone didn't fall; he just grabbed his stomach and wavered there for a while. Jerry saw another clone charging him from his right side, out of the corner of his eye, and he ducked, allowing the clone's momentum to throw him over his intended target. Jerry put three rounds in his chest as he attempted to get back off the ground. Another clone charged Jerry from the front, and Jerry crossed rifles with him. However, he noticed another clone charging him from the left. He pushed the clone in front of him off, and whacked him in the face with the butt of the rifle. The clone on the left raised his rifle, preparing to strike Jerry with the butt of his rifle. Jerry swept low, kicking the clone's leg. The clone stopped in his tracks, falling to his knee. Jerry rammed the bayonet through the clone's throat, and turned to face the last clone, the one he had hit with his rifle. The clone charged him, but Jerry stood his ground, thrusting his bayonet at the clone's stomach. It penetrated, and Jerry fired twice for good measure.

He withdrew his bayonet from his enemy, and watched him fall to the ground. After the clone had fallen, Jerry noticed HitSpy. Jerry waved him over, and HitSpy cautiously followed.

"Sir", Jerry said to HitSpy, as he gave a quick salute, "want to help kill some clones?"

HitSpy could barely hear him over the ringing in his ears, but he nodded anyway.

"Alright, then", Jerry said to HitSpy, over the sound of rifles firing and steel clashing, "we should try and find Sergeant Major Wilfred. He's been running on empty for a while, now, so it would be the gentlemanly thing to lend a hand to him."

"Sergeant Major Wilfred is fighting", HitSpy asked, bewildered that he wasn't already rotated out of combat.

"Ain't no rest for the wicked", Jerry said, shrugging his shoulders.

The two turned, trying to find the good Sergeant. Jerry's rifle snapped to his shoulder, and with precise shots, he felled several clones who were engaged in hand to hand combat with Red soldiers. HitSpy began jogging around, with Jerry at his heels, trying to spot Wilfred in the chaos. Jerry would often turn and gun down Blu clones, trying to save as many Reds as he could.

HitSpy caught a glimpse of the Sergeant Major, being held in a headlock by a Blu clone, while another charged him with a bayonet. The clone stuck his bayonet into Wilfred's stomach, getting a scream from him. The clone pulled the bayonet out of WiIfred, preparing to strike at his chest, when suddenly, Wilfred flipped over the top of the clone that was holding him. The clone with the bayonet couldn't stop his forward momentum, and he stabbed the other clone. Wilfred charged the clone with the bayonet, barreling him over, and began pummeling him with his fists. After the clone stopped moving, HitSpy began to approach Wilfred. Wilfred gave the clone one final punch before sliding off of his dead corpse. He sat down on the ground, clutching his stab wound.

"Sergeant Major", HitSpy called to him, jogging as fast as he could towards him.

Sergeant Wilfred looked up at HitSpy, keeping his expression neutral.

"Sir", Wilson said, giving a quick salute.

"We need to get you back to Wonderosa", HitSpy said, as he reached the wounded Sergeant. He picked Sergeant Wilfred up by the waist, and threw him over his shoulder. "Jerry, cover me, I'm headed for the base."

He turned towards the massive walls of Wonderosa, and started sprinting for them. Being a large target, what with the extra person he was carrying, he gained the attention of a small group of the remaining clones. They turned their rifles to him, quick to end him, but Jerry was quicker. Before they could react, he was on top of them, in the middle of the group. He used the bayonet on his M16 to slash, hack, and stab his way through them, trying to make a big scene in order to attract more attention away from HitSpy and Wilfred.

He succeeded, perhaps a little too well. Several more clones turned their rifles on Jerry. HitSpy knew that he couldn't leave Jerry behind, but he knew that he had to bring Wilfred back to the base. For a moment, he stopped, unsure what to do.

That was, until he noticed an M16 lying on the ground rather close to him. When his eyes fell upon that rifle, he got an idea.

He turned to Wilfred, asking, "How good of a shot are you?"

"Being a SEAL helps", Wilfred said, coughing a little.

"I'm going to hand you a rifle, and you are going to cover Jerry. Sound good?"

"To be honest, sir", Wilfred said, "it sounds terrible. Then again, what could go wrong?"

"That's the spirit, Sergeant", HitSpy said, as he swiped the M16 off the ground, and handed it to Wilfred. HitSpy began his jog again, as Wilfred pointed his rifle at the clones advancing on Jerry, and calmly squeezed the trigger, hitting every single one of the clones, felling them before they reached Jerry. As Jerry turned towards them, and noticed them all dead, he looked back at HitSpy and Wilfred, nodding in their direction.

As Jerry turned to attack more clones, HitSpy was nearing the gates of Wonderosa. The guard on the top of the wall noticed him coming, and, having recognized both him and Wilfred, quickly turned to the computer terminal and began pressing buttons. The doors of Wonderosa began to open, spreading apart to welcome its people. HitSpy quickly ran through, only to be greeted by the barrels of rifles.

"He is injured", HitSpy explained to the guards, "but I need to get back into the fight. Take him to the field hospital, quickly!"

Two of the armed guards slung their rifles, and ran to take Wilfred off of HitSpy's shoulder, quickly carrying him off to the hospital. HitSpy turned back to the battlefield, and yanked out his Ambassadors. He charged towards the remaining clones, intent on finishing this quickly.

The Red soldiers had decisively moved the last of the Blu clones as far from the base as they could, forcing them back step by bloody step. HitSpy started to pick up a jog, trying to meet his enemy in a hurry. Currently, there seemed to be nearly three hundred Reds still alive and fighting on the field. There seemed to be about a hundred fewer clones than Reds on the battlefield still fighting, which meant that this was going to be one hell of a mop up.

HitSpy began to pick up the pace, suddenly concerned with finding not only Jerry, but also Scout. He hadn't seen him throughout this whole battle, and it made him wonder if the boy was still alive. As soon as that thought left his head, another entered; where the hell was Soldier?

He had been so lost in thought, that he didn't even notice the Blu clone raise his rifle at him. HitSpy moved to raise his own firearm, but he knew that there wasn't going to be enough time before the clone fired. Suddenly, the clone's head exploded, sending brains everywhere. HitSpy looked behind him, to where the shot had come from, to see Dell Conagher, wielding an M16.

"Don't test my mettle, son", he said to the dead clone.

"Engineer!"

"Spy!"

"Looks like your impeccable timing came in handy once again."

"Aw, quit flatterin' me. We've got to find our boys!"

"And who might that be?"

"Name the first two people that come to mind."

"I see."

HitSpy and Engineer both ran towards the battlefield, trying to find Jerry, Scout and Soldier. A few clones turned to fire on them, but Dell was quick on the draw, gunning down all of them without hesitation. HitSpy got a few kills as well, but to him, it wasn't a competition; after all, they were here to save lives. They found Jerry rather quickly, sitting on a pile of dead clones, catching his breath.

"Gawl-dang, boy", was all Dell would say to him. HitSpy merely pointed in the direction of the base, to which Jerry nodded, got up, and began jogging towards.

They didn't go much farther to find Scout, who was surrounded by three clones who had run out of ammo. Scout had his aluminum bat out, and two clones already lay dead at his feet. He had long since shed his bullet proof vest, it probably already having been spent up. After all, bullet proof vests could only take so much punishment before becoming useless.

One of the clones charged at Scout, and Scout side-stepped, smacking him in the ribcage with his bat. Another one charged Scout, and Scout swung low, breaking the clone's kneecaps. The last clone charged Scout, and Scout smacked him in the face with his bat so hard, that a cracking sound reverberated from the clone's cranium.

"That is a skull fracture", Scout said triumphantly. Engineer turned his M16 on the two clones that were still alive, and quickly finished them both with headshots.

"Scout", HitSpy said to the boy, who had propped himself up on his bat, "go back to the base. We'll clean up what's left."

Scout sighed, as he twirled his bat around in his hand, having it come to a rest on his shoulder.

"And I was just beginning ta have fun", he mumbled, as he walked towards Wonderosa.

HitSpy and Engineer continued on, noticing that most of the clones, and the Reds, had run out of ammo. Most were fighting hand-to-hand, punching, kicking, or using bayonets and knives, and others still were checking on their injured comrades, trying to move them from the battlefield. Another group of Blu clones caught their attention, and they moved to inspect. In the middle of the group stood Jane Doe, the Soldier, with a pickaxe in one hand, and a shovel in the other. Both of his shotguns remained on his back, probably not even used yet.

Twelve clones surrounded the one man, but HitSpy knew that there was no reason to intervene on Soldier's behalf; he could more than take care of himself.

A clone charged Soldier, and attempted to punch him. Soldier stepped out of the way, and caught him in the chest with his pickaxe, flinging him to the ground. He yanked the pickaxe out of the dead clone, just as another clone threw a punch at him, screaming, "You call that scary? I am not scared!"

It caught him right in the face, but it didn't even make him flinch. He stared at the Blu clone, who's eyes kept getting bigger and bigger.

"Never mind", the clone said, throwing his hands up in surrender, "I am terrified."

Soldier lifted his trench shovel, and brought the bladed end down on the clone's head. It sliced through his helmet, and stuck in his head. Soldier yanked it out, allowing the clone to fall to the ground.

Three clones charged him in order, each from different areas of the circle. When the first reached Soldier, he swung the bladed end of his trench shovel into the clone's throat. The clone stumbled for a few feet, and then fell to his knees, clutching his bleeding neck. As another clone reached Soldier, he swung his pickaxe at his leg, clipping, and felling him. The last charging clone reached him, and Soldier slashed his stomach with the shovel. The clone held onto his guts, falling to the ground on his back. Soldier gave a deranged chuckle, and walked over to the clone with the wounded leg. He slammed the shovel into his back, killing him, and walked over to the other clone with the bleeding neck. He swung his pickaxe down on the clone's head, penetrating the helmet, and killing the clone.

"You are all weak", Soldier yelled at the clones, "you are all bleeders!"

He pulled the lever-action shotguns off of his back, spinning them around by the levers, cocking them both. HitSpy and Engineer stood by, watching the spectacle with awe.

Two clones charged Soldier, and he put buckshot through both of their chests, spinning the shotgun by the levers again, cocking them both. Two more soldiers charged him, and Soldier repeated his method, pumping their bodies with lead, and cocking his shotguns. Two more clones futilely charged him from behind, but Soldier already saw them coming, resting his shotguns on his shoulders, and blasting both clones in the face. He cocked his shotguns again, as the last clone charged him. Soldier put a round into his knee, the clone falling at his feet. Soldier pointed his other shotgun at the clone's head, remarking, "You are not welcome in my world!"

Soldier pulled the trigger, turning the clone's head into a red spot on the ground. Soldier placed the shotguns onto his back, and grabbed both his shovel and pickaxe up out of the two clones they were stuck in, and turned towards Engineer and HitSpy.

"You're dead, that's good, amen", he told them, possibly praying over the dead clones.

"Not bad", Engineer commented, "not bad at all."

"Everyone back to the base", HitSpy told Soldier.

"Okay", Soldier said, giving a salute, and jogging away.

HitSpy turned to Engineer, saying, "What now?"

Engineer smirked, saying, "Now we retreat. All of us."

Engineer pulled a remote out of his pocket, and pushed a button on it. From loudspeakers across the walls of Wonderosa, a voice blared; "ATTENTION ALL RED SOLDIERS. ATTENTION ALL RED SOLDIERS. THIS IS AN EXECUTIVE ORDER; FALL BACK TO THE BASE; REPEAT; FALL BACK TO THE BASE!"

The Red soldiers all turned, and ran for the walls of the base, with the Blu clones hot on their tails. The Reds ran hard and fast, and HitSpy and Engineer joined them. They ran hard and fast, panting and pounding away at the ground with their feet, until they finally made it to the walls of the city. The city opened fire, tearing apart the last of the Blu clones with a hailstorm of bullets.

For several seconds, the battlefield fell dead silent. The guns stopped firing, the clones stopped living, and the Reds seemed to stop breathing.

Dell Conagher muttered, "It's over."

After this, no one said a word. The Red soldiers began to go back out to the battlefield, collecting weapons, finding wounded comrades, and fixing up battlements. HitSpy looked upon the faces of these soldiers, and what he saw was not victory and cheer; if anything, these soldiers looked tired. Tired of war, tired of killing, tired of death.

The great walls of Wonderosa opened once again, allowing its weary and tired citizens to come home.