Radio gone dark…
The team and I have been silent. We already know that the base has already fallen. We're on our own.
"Sir!" George yelled. "What are our orders now?"
Sarge pondered for a bit until Michael made a suggestion.
"We could contact another base and request for an emergency EVAC and-"
"It won't do good," I replied. "The nearest base won't be within 80 kilometers from here. By the time they get here, it'll already be too late. Our base was the only one available nearby."
"Jackson's right," Sarge replied. "But it's our only chance for survival. Castellan, contact the closest base you can find. Michael, get us up to those canyons. As long as we stay above the high grounds, we'll stand a chance. Trent, Jackson! You two provide support and protect Olwood."
"Sir!" We all yelled as we got back on the truck with whatever we could salvage from the crashed helicopter. Michael drove us towards the nearby canyon the locals would use to travel. There's a small rope bridge that lets us cross but we'll have to lose the truck midway. If we're lucky, we may not need to use the truck and be able to exfiltrate safely.
After several hours of driving, we managed to reach the canyons and exit out of the vehicle.
"Castellan, any updates on our EVAC?" Sarge asked.
"Sir, I managed to make contact, a black hawk will arrive within 30 minutes and…" Castellan stopped midway as he looked behind us. We all turned to his direction and spotted several trucks, three GEKKOS and two choppers inbound.
"CRAP!" Michael yelled.
"Guess we got no choice," Sarge replied and made his orders. "Valdez! Truman! Head up the canyon and provide fire support. Castellan and I will stay on the ground and gain their focus on us! Trent! Jackson! You two get Olwood to the other side of the canyon as quickly as possible!"
"But sir-"
"That's an order, Jackson! Now go!" Sarge interrupted me.
"The Extraction Zone is just on the other side of the canyon!" Jack said. "Get to the extraction zone! We'll be right behind you, go!"
I hate to leave them behind, but orders were orders. Besides, I have known these guys since the Second Korean War. We fought worse than this scenario.
"Don't die on me, you got it?!" I yelled as Trent and I escorted Olwood into the canyon. We kept walking for less than half a kilometer before we started hearing gunshots and explosions behind us.
"They're already here…" Olwood replied.
"Don't worry about that, my team is the best there is. They'll make it through this. For now, we have to focus on getting you to safety."
Trent and I lead Olwood further to the canyon as we ascend on one of the trails. Eventually, we arrived at a rope bridge that allows us to cross the bridge. At the bottom, we can see a river passing by; however, we are not sure of how deep the river could be. For all we know, it can be very shallow and we'd be falling to our deaths. Across the bridge is a small cave. According to our map, the cave cuts through the canyon and leads straight to the extraction zone. The only problem is that the bridge is very narrow, meaning only a limited number of people can cross the bridge in a single file line.
Hopefully the Russians didn't slip past the others or we'll be sitting ducks on the bridge.
"Trent, I'll take the front, you take the back. Olwood, stay between us as we cross the bridge."
Slowly and carefully, we crossed the bridge while gunshots and explosions were being heard out in the distance. I know my team well enough to know that my team can handle the situation easily. However, I'm having a really bad feeling about this mission.
As we were now halfway across the bridge, I saw a dark figure slowly exiting out of the cave. I aimed my gun towards them.
"Halt! Who's there?" I yelled. The person continues walking out of the cave. As they came closer, I noticed that the shadow person had a feminine figure, assuming it's a woman. As she proceeded to step into the light, she was wearing some combat uniform with a vest carrying some ammo and grenades.
"I said HALT!" I yelled as I aimed my gun at her. Eventually, she emerged out into the light and revealed herself. I was shocked at who it truly is…
"No… It can't be…"
She replied, "It's been a while… my son."
I was frozen, I couldn't even aim my gun at her. This, however, gave her the opening to charge at me and grabbed my gun and made me trip.
"JACKSON!" Trent yelled as he pushed Olwood out of the way to help me, but my mom was quick and managed to grab Trent's gun and aimed it upwards before he fired. She punches him through the stomach and knocks him down. At that moment, I regained control of my body and grabbed my secondary gun. I aimed it at her.
"You won't shoot," She said. "I raised you better than this. You're no killer…"
…She's right, despite the situation right now, she is still my mother. Who has been missing since the Second Korean War. She was the reason I even joined the military in the first place.
To find her.
And now, I found her… on opposite sides.
"Why… Why are you here? Answer me, MOM!"
"...Completing the mission, Cooper."
"What?" I said, before I couldn't ask anymore, a hand was on my shoulder and next thing I knew, I was sent flying to the other side of the bridge. The entire bridge wobbled from the impact and Olwood almost fell, but my mother grabbed him in time.
"So this is the brat that saved the doctor," A man said behind my mother. I saw a man wearing an old Soviet Russian commander's outfit. He had bleached short hair, blue eyes and was strongly built too.
"I have to thank you for that, but now we'll take it from here." He said. Mom threw Olwood to the Russian.
"I'll take him back. Deal with the witnesses."
"Witnesses? What the hell is going on?!" I ordered.
"I'm sorry, Cooper. But it's not your destiny…"
"My destiny?… What the hell are you talking about?!"
Mom was silent for a moment before she replied.
"...If I told you, tell me… would you still fight?"
"Still fighting? Of course I will! I'll fight for my country! For my friends! My life!"
Mom sighed, "Son… there's more to life than just fighting. If only you realized that sooner…"
She aims her gun at me. But before she could fire, Trent fired his pistol at the rope carrying the bridge, snapping it and tilting it to the side. Trent and I were able to hang on and so did my mother. But, she launched herself back to the otherside of the cliff and took out her knife. Trent and I knew what she's planning to do next.
"This is goodbye… Cooper."
"COOPER! GET DOWN!"
Trent yelled as he aimed his gun at her but he was already too late. My mom cut the rope and made the bridge collapse. Before we knew it, we started falling straight into the river at the bottom.
As we fell… the last thing I saw was mom.
The woman who was missing this whole time.
The woman who raised me to be a strong, yet kind person.
The very same woman who was a hero just like those before her…
My mother… who has betrayed me.
As I hit the river… I blacked out.
Author's Note:
Hi everyone! I'm back! Sorry for the late post, I've been working on my other story that I'm very passionate about. It's a Percy Jackson/Spider-Man fanfiction where I make my own Spider-Sona in the PJO universe. If you're a fan of either fandoms (Spider-Man or Percy Jackson), do check it out. It's finished and I'm feeling good about how it went.
Anyways, I also like to apologize, this is a short chapter but later on it'll get larger and larger. Also, I have decided to rewrite this fanfiction so it'll look less amateur-writing. If you wish to see the original though, you can check it out on Wattpad. Eventually, it will be rewritten but I will do that after I finish rewriting it in FanFiction and AO3. Anyways, I'm back and I will finish this story now. So stay tuned for the next chapter. Thank you for reading, until the next update.