Author's Note: Welcome back to the war ladies and gentlemen, now with Atlas' premier automated soldiers taking over the front lines.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its associated characters. The characters in this writing so far are mostly original characters, but I make no claim over the existing characters.

Chapter 19

Deployment

Eighteen hours after the briefing concluded, we were flying low over the ocean as we approached Argus. I sat behind Lieutenant Sky's pilot seat as she and Lieutenant Cloud expertly brought us in under the radar sweeps that both sides in the conflict were running. I had a spectrum analyzer from my hacking kit out, and as I watched I could see the sweeps pass over us.

Normally our Bullhead's ground following and aerial monitoring radar systems would have interfered with our ability to detect enemy radar sweeps, but we had switched those systems off to maintain our best shot at a smooth infiltration of the city. We were flying into the city in the mid afternoon, coming in from the west so the sun was at our backs.

"Fifty eight percent" I called out the likelihood of a successful radar return based on some quick math the pilots and I had worked out based on the radar signature of a standard Bullhead and the frequencies we were detecting.

"Too high," Lieutenant Sky replied, pushing the nose down and dropping to only two dozen feet over the water. I could see particularly high waves rising up close enough to splash the bottom of our aircraft with sea spray as she maintained our altitude manually. I measured the next set of radar sweeps and plugged the numbers into my calculator. A moment later the program returned a new estimate.

"Fifteen percent" I informed the pilots.

"Good enough, but we're going to have to climb as we get close to the city, I can't pull up too sharply." Sky warned, her focus never wavering from the instruments in front of her.

I unstrapped myself and returned to the passenger area of the aircraft, seeing the rest of the team doing last minute equipment checks. Sergeant Green hadn't brought a wetsuit like last time, as there were no bodies of water for him to dive into in the city. Instead he had brought a wingsuit, which he was busy trying to adjust enough to make comfortable. I checked my own wingsuit modification that I had attached to the outside of my armor. With the armor's extra mass I required a lot more fabric than Sergeant Green, but I had my armor's slow fall enchantment as a backup if I was unable to control my fall.

"Are we set?" I asked LIWI quietly.

Set and ready boss! Nondetection spell is up and running, Gary isn't going to have a clue we're out here, and I'm ready to fix you up when you inevitably get shot again.

"Was that a dig at my combat skills?" I asked him, trusting the whine of the Bullhead's engines to hide my words from Specialist Bree.

Maybe, was it good?

"It was okay," I told him truthfully.

Then yes.

I turned to the rest of Team SGGE, Captain Stone was beginning the ritualistic round of fist bumps, and I joined in. I felt the aircraft start to pitch up, gravity increasing for a moment as we began to climb. A yellow light in the front of the cabin came on and we lined up by the aircraft's side doors. Captain Stone and myself lined up on the right side, while Lieutenant Rivers and Sergeant Green lined up with Captain Bree on the left side. The doors opened, and a moment later we pitched up again, climbing hard as the pilots worked to clear the tops of the skyscrapers in the city.

I watched the ocean, then the beach, flash past us as we came in at over four hundred miles per hour. A normal person would have been injured by contact with the air at these speeds, but with aura, or in my case a suit of armor and some magical protection, we would be able to handle it. The yellow light switched off, and a second later a green light came on. Captain Stone and Lieutenant Rivers dove out of the aircraft at the same time on opposite sides. Captain Stone immediately began to slow as she used her semblance and her hammer to slow her fall. Rivers fell normally, skydiving almost horizontally until he fired a grappling hook to latch onto the roof of one of the buildings he was zipping past. My shoulder ached in sympathetic pain as I imagined how badly he must be wrenching it as he allowed the line to play out, giving it just enough friction to slow his speed.

A second later I lost sight of them as we continued zipping over the city. Specialist Bree was next, diving from the aircraft and angling herself towards a tall building. I lost track of her as she zipped below the skyline, then Sergeant Green and I dove out after her. The air hit me hard, and I could feel myself decelerating even as I fell. My armor broke the wind for me as I flew, and I was glad that I had opted for a full face helmet. My upgraded visor showed me an artificial horizon as I deployed my wingsuit and fell into formation behind Sergeant Green. I had significantly more drag than him with my bulky armor and subsequently larger wingsuit, but I followed him in as he dove down under the skyline to cruise along the war torn streets.

Heads up!

LIWI shouted into my mind, and I looked up to see a rocket fired from a nearby rooftop at the rapidly retreating form of our Bullhead. The aircraft banked hard to the left back towards friendly territory and deployed countermeasures. I watched as a dozen flares and a cloud of chaff poured out of the back of the Bullhead and it twisted through the air. The rocket impacted a flare and detonated, missing the retreating aircraft.

"Get that guy!" I shouted over the noise of the wind, adjusting my hand to point towards where the rocket had come from.

Can do!

LIWI called back, and a small bead of fire leapt from my finger towards the spot I had indicated. A second later the bead detonated in a fireball, destroying the perch. I couldn't see whether we had hit our target, but no more rockets followed the first as I tucked my right arm in to twist and dive towards our landing location. I searched the area on the street ahead of us, watching out for trees and street lights as my speed and elevation dropped. A few thousand feet ahead of us the mechanized infantry were pushing up into a prepared position. The Atlesian forces were advancing from north to south, while we approached rapidly perpendicularly to them from the west. Green suddenly climbed as a hail of tracers flew right where he had been a moment ago, then twisted and dove back down again as more gunfire followed him.

His maneuvering slowed his approach, and I shot past him as I maintained a beeline for my target, a machine gun nest full of WoF troops. I arched upwards, using my wingsuit to slow my forward momentum and activating the slow fall enchantment in my armor to kill my downwards momentum as I came in for a landing. I raised up my legs to my chest, barely tucking them over the sandbag barricade the WoF had built and kicking them into one of the soldier's chests in what had to be the world's longest dropkick. I hit him hard, still moving over forty miles an hour as I impacted, and sent the soldier flying like he had been hit by a small car. The kick managed to finally kill the rest of my velocity, and I dropped down on my back into the machine gun nest.

"What the hell!?" one of the soldiers cried out in surprise, "Where did a huntsman come from?"

There were four other soldiers still in the defensive position, with the fifth being the one I had just drop kicked into next week. The one who had cried out was behind the others, and was the only one whose weapon was pointed towards me instead of the mechanized infantry down the street.

With LIWI and my armor enhancing my speed and strength I reached out an arm in a lightning quick grab, taking hold of his ankle and yanking it back to send him tumbling to the ground. His finger accidentally hit the trigger as he fell, and a spray of bullets hit the street, sending up chips of asphalt and ricochets to hit his companions in the back. I used my grip on his ankle to pull us together, rolling onto my right side and bringing my left hand up to deliver a swift cross to his jaw. My armored knuckles connected solidly, and I saw the light behind his eyes switch off as he lost consciousness.

The soldiers in the front of the nest, one female and two male, had turned around now, and one was bringing a rifle to bear on me as the two heavy gunners struggled to recover their personal weapons. I rose up to my knees, heart pounding as magical energy juiced my nerves to their maximum potential, and brought my right hand up to slap the barrel of the rifle away from me in a backhand. The weapon went flying away as the soldier lost their grip on it. I reached down to my waist with my left hand, drawing the broadsword I had on the left side in a reverse grip while my right hand went for the revolver on my right leg.

I rose the rest of the way to my feet, towering over the soldiers who had been crouching behind their barricade, and flipping the sword in my left hand to a traditional grip, leveling the point at one of the gunners who had managed to grab his weapon.

"Don't move!" I shouted in Mistrali, the speakers in my helmet amplifying my voice to boom almost painfully loud. At the same time, I brought my revolver up in my right hand and leveled the barrel at the other gunner. Fear was evident in their eyes, having just seen me drop from the sky to disable two of their soldiers and disarm a third in a matter of seconds. I cocked back the hammer of my revolver with my thumb to emphasize my point, and the gunner dropped his weapon. I holstered the revolver and used my free hand to toss their weapons out into the no man's land between the two warring factions.

"When those droids get here you surrender yourselves," I told them forcefully, "Got it?" All three nodded. One of the soldiers raised a tentative hand.

"What do we do about them?" She asked, pointing towards the soldier I had dropkicked. I looked towards him, estimating his injuries, I had completely crushed his ribcage, and he probably wouldn't live long without medical attention. I strode over to him, laying a hand on his chest.

"Give him just enough to keep him alive." I told LIWI, and he responded by channeling a short burst of healing into the man. The soldier's breathing steadied slightly, but he remained unconscious.

"He'll be fine for now," I told them gruffly, "just tell the soldiers who capture you that he needs medical attention."

With that I stood and dashed away from the machine gun nest, leaving it to the mechanized infantry, which were rapidly advancing now that much of the weapons fire had been stopped by myself and Sergeant Green. I sprinted back to the west, seeking the sergeant out to regroup. I leapt over a broken car and transformed my broadsword into its rifle form, snapping off a few shots with rubber bullets towards a pair of WoF infantry who were falling back to a new position. The less lethal bullets caught them in the back, sending them sprawling. As I ran I fired off a few more rounds, breaking one soldier's hand and concussing the other, neither would be holding weapons when the approaching force began capturing them.

I came upon Sergeant Green as he was clearing his own machine gun nest, he had been forced to land short by their suppressive fire, and judging by the number of sliced or crushed bullets scattered along the sidewalk he had charged them on foot with his sword.

The Sergeant was fighting three of the soldiers in the nest, one more was down and a fifth was searching on the ground for a weapon. I snapped off a shot towards the one who was on the ground, knocking him out. Sergeant Green sucked in a breath, then twisted out of the way of a punch, allowing it to come close enough that the air of the punch tickled his chin. He turned away from the enemies, twisting and bending down as a knife slashed over his head, then brought his left elbow up behind his back to impact the knife wielder's hand. The knife dropped and Green continued turning, slashing out with his sword to slice open the leg of the third man.

As the knife was still falling Green's left foot snapped out to kick the handle, causing it to shoot up and stick into the stomach of the man who had gone for the punch. The knife wielder dove in to try and tackle him, getting inside the reach of Green's sword. Green, having already anticipated it, simply brought his knee up to crash into the chin of the soldier, then swung the pommel of his sword into the side of his head, knocking him out.

The soldier he had slashed stumbled back, then tried to charge him, but the soldier Green had just knocked out fell backwards, tangling up the charging soldier's feet. Green sheathed his sword, deactivating the plasma edge, and grabbed one of the mounted machine guns on the sandbag wall by the stock. He hefted it, then threw it at the stumbling soldier's head, rendering him unconscious. He released his held breath, then gave me a thumbs up.

"Thanks for the assist" he said cheerfully, then stepped gingerly over the mess of bodies to clamber out of the nest.

"You had him anyways" I told him. Then I pointed up the street to where the next layer of WoF defenses was being established. "They've got light armor up there somewhere" I said, "I can hear the engines." Green turned back to the nest, grabbing a discarded disposable rocket tube. He checked to make sure it was still loaded, then hefted it onto his shoulder.

"I've got a solution for that" he replied, pointing to his new rocket launcher with a grin. I slapped a new magazine into my rifle, storing the half full one in the pouch I had withdrawn the new one from and checked to ensure that my armor was undamaged.

"Care to apply your 'solution'?" I asked.

"Oh, most certainly." he replied with a grin, then set off at a sprint towards the enemy lines.

Before setting off after him I withdrew the knife from the stomach of the man who had been stabbed, giving him a short burst of healing as well to ensure he wouldn't bleed out. Then I sprinted after him, my legs straining as I hustled to catch up.

-/-

Green cut a corner to the right, sprinting down an alleyway to avoid being caught out in front of the defensive lines, and I followed him. We ran in relative silence for a minute, cutting through side streets, alleyways, and broken buildings until we arrived close to their defensive line. The only thing between us and them was a five story apartment building that had seen better days.

I stopped to catch my breath as Green peeked around a corner to scout their position. He held up a palm, using single hand sign language to communicate that there were two light armored vehicles, and over three dozen soldiers set up in the intersection they were defending.

"One minute, then execute" I replied in sign language, and prepared to climb the building. We both checked our watches, synchronizing our movements, then I activated the spider climb enchantment on my boots and strode up the side of the apartment building to get to the roof

With forty five seconds left I reached the top, with thirty eight seconds left I was scouting the area below. I took note of the way they had arranged destroyed cars and large pieces of debris around the eight lane intersection, effectively creating a makeshift fort of metal and concrete. Dozens of soldiers ran to and fro in the intersection, setting up weapons and equipment for the fight they were anticipating with the infantry that was currently advancing on their position.

To the north, the mechanized battalion was slowly advancing, just now overtaking the previous defenses. They would be slowed by the need to take prisoners. According to the latest report we had received before being enveloped by the jamming surrounding the city, there were also light infantry brigades on a flanking maneuver to our east and west. At the twenty second mark I spotted the officer coordinating the defense and lined up a shot.

With ten seconds left LIWI reported that he had found the ideal spot to launch a fireball, and I calmed my breathing in anticipation of the upcoming fight. With only six seconds left the door behind me on the roof opened, and the huntsman I recognized as Argon Flynt, otherwise known as Sparky, emerged, drinking a can of soda that he had 'liberated' from some civilian's refrigerator.

I rose to a crouching position, turning back to face the huntsman as he strode onto the roof. He emitted a massive belch, then turned to look at me with a disinterested expression.

"What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously. He frowned, squinting at me.

"Do I know you?" he asked. I was about to reply when the six seconds ran out, and I was interrupted by Sergeant Green firing his newfound rocket launcher at one of the armored vehicles. His shot must have found the ammunition storage, as the explosion was far larger than a single rocket could have produced, enough to shake the building we were standing on.

I turned back to view the street below, seeing the soldiers below that had survived the blast scrambling to recover and pivot their defenses to engage Sergeant Green as he sprinted into them, his sword streaming plasma in one hand and his pistol firing in the other. I instinctively tried to follow through with my previous plan, looking for the officer to take them out of the fight before they could organize their defense.

Behind you!

LIWI shouted and I remembered too late the huntsman with me on the roof.

"Sucker" he said in an arrogant tone, and I felt a fist impact the side of my helmet as I turned to face him.

The initial punch wasn't bad, with the hit fully absorbed by LIWI's protective spell. But a split second later an explosion emanated from the point of impact, launching me off my feet to go tumbling towards the street below. My brain was rattled by the impact, and I failed to activate my feather fall system, instead crashing down on top of a group of soldiers who were still staggered by the deafening explosion. The enemy soldiers broke my fall partially, but I still had the wind knocked out of me as I hit the pavement.

Told you I would need to fix you.

LIWI chided me as healing flowed into me. I shook my head to clear my vision and looked up to the roof above. Flynt had leapt into the air after me, and was now plummeting towards me with his foot extended to crush me into the pavement. I rose up partially, then kicked off the ground to propel myself away from Flynt's impact point. He slammed into the ground, kicking up chips of asphalt, and a moment later he blasted a spark out towards me, channeling the energy of his fall into an attack.

I rolled backwards away from the spark as it flew towards me, then held up my arms to shield myself as it detonated. The blast of heat and energy hit much harder than the last one had, enough to send me rocketing away and bouncing off the ground as my armor protected me from a dozen different minor impacts with debris on the ground. I finally came to a stop when I crashed into the wall of one of the buildings on the intersection.

He's still coming!

My chest heaved, trying to force breath back into my lungs. I was pretty sure at least two of my ribs were cracked.

"Screw this guy" I said hoarsly, drawing my rifle and taking aim. Sparky was running at me now, ready to deliver another hit. I sighted and fired, a burst of shots hitting his aura and pinging off, generating a few small sparks.

"Rubber bullets?" Sparky called out with a laugh. "Seriously?" He asked, then he scooped the sparks together and launched them towards me again. I was ready this time, and I dove sideways, my still healing ribs screaming out in pain, and I barely managed to avoid the blast as it detonated where I had previously been. LIWI enhanced my strength as much as he could, and I leapt into the air to land over a dozen feet up on the side of the building I had just crashed into. I ejected the magazine of rubber bullets and slapped home a magazine full of electric dust ammunition.

I fired again, and this time saw with satisfaction that his aura did not generate as many sparks when impacted with the electric shots. The ammunition dealt very little kinetic damage, and just as I had guessed his semblance was only able to generate sparks from the kinetic impact of the bullets, not the electric shocks they caused.

"Cheating bastard!" He shouted from the ground, running for cover as I emptied the magazine into him.

"Get some more lightning ready" I told LIWI, kicking off the side of the building and using my feather fall system to glide over towards where he had hidden behind an overturned bus. I landed, prepared to flush him out and finish him off when I was interrupted by Sergeant Green shouting from the other side of the intersection.

"I need a hand Grayson!" he shouted at me, desperation tinging his voice. I looked over at him, rifle still pointed towards where Flynt had disappeared behind the bus, to see that he was stuck fighting over a dozen soldiers. They swarmed him, keeping him from getting enough room to maneuver his weapon as they rushed him with bayonets fixed to their rifles. Those outside the pack took potshots at him whenever he wasn't fully surrounded, forcing him to allow some of them to be close to him at all times to block their line of fire.

"Dammit" I cursed in English, then charged towards him, opening fire into the soldiers who had rifles trained on his position. My electric shots struck home, dropping three soldiers in seconds. They fell to the ground, spasming and clutching at the impact points as I continued charging into the fray. I also couldn't risk shooting Sergeant Green, so instead I rushed into the melee, transforming my rifle into its sword form and slashing into the backs of the soldiers surrounding him.

Normally I didn't like killing regular infantry because I felt like there wasn't enough of a threat from them to justify lethal force, but with Sergeant Green trapped and in danger of being fully overwhelmed I had fewer qualms about it. I ran the tip of my sword into the neck of an enemy who turned around to face me, then kicked with a powered boot to send him flying into a pair of enemies who had just realized that I had joined the fight. My left arm shot up in a forearm block to redirect a bayonet stab, then snapped out to deliver a quick hammer fist to the nose of the soldier who had attacked me. The armored knuckles shattered his nose and he fell backwards, clutching at his face.

Next I spun my sword in an upward slice to block a stab coming from my right, and riposted with a side slash. The magic infused blade sliced cleanly through the arm of my target and his right hand fell to the ground to be trampled by my armored boot as I used the momentum of my charge to keep pushing through the crowd to where I could hear Sergeant Green fighting for his life. As I pushed into the crowd I lost the space I needed to swing my sword, its length now fighting against me as the crowd of bodies swelled.

Instead, I dropped the sword, drawing my revolver with my right hand and my combat knife with the left. I discharged the revolver into the knee of a soldier on my right, causing him to cry out in pain and drop to the ground. With the knife I switched to a reverse grip and stabbed it into the shoulder of another enemy, using it as a handle to drag him away from where he was also fighting to get to Sergeant Green. The WoF members had become a mob, their order had broken and now they were simply doing everything they could to kill Green. A group of three noticed me after I shot the revolver, and leveled their rifles towards me. I used my left hand to guide the soldier I had stabbed between us, blocking some of their opening volley as LIWI surged lightning out of my right hand to strike them.

The bolt of lightning leapt from the barrel of my revolver to the barrel of the one closest to me, then surged through him and leapt to the others, chaining between them and charging enough voltage through their nervous systems that they dropped almost instantly. My magically enhanced sense of smell picked up the smell of burnt flesh, mixed with the coppery tones of freshly spilled blood. I withdrew the knife from the wounded soldier and kept pushing, now able to see Sergeant Green lying on his back wrestling with six different enemies at once. I knew from experience training with him that due to his semblance's need for him to hold his breath he had difficulty keeping it active when engaged in highly aerobic activities like wrestling or running.

Four of the soldiers attacking him were each doing their best to pin down a limb while he kicked and punched with his aura enhanced strength. The other two repeatedly stabbed into him with their bayonets, trying to shatter his aura so they could kill him. I threw the knife at the soldier attacking his right arm, then used my now free left hand to fan the hammer of my revolver as I blasted buckshot into the two wielding bayonets.

With his arm free, Green reached up to grab the tactical vest of the soldier on his left arm, then pulled him across his body and threw the hapless soldier towards me. I kicked the soldier in the head to keep him down, then shot the soldiers attacking his legs with my two remaining shells. Now clear of enemies, Green lay back, breathing heavily as he tried to reoxygenate his blood stream. His yellow aura flicked softly, a sign that it was very nearly depleted. I spun on my heel, dropping into a crouch and holding out my empty left palm as LIWI sent a burst of flames out, catching many of the remaining soldiers and sending them to the ground in an attempt to douse the flames.

I turned back to offer a hand up to Green and he took it, climbing to his feet and looking around the area for his weapons. I went to collect my own sword, only to see it in the hands of Argon Flynt, who whistled in admiration of it as he examined it.

"We'll I'll be, Skippy" he said, having clearly settled on his own nickname for me. "This is a fine piece of work. Whose ass did you have to kiss to get it?" I popped open the cylinder of my revolver, ejecting the spent shells and reloading it with a speed loader from my gun belt.

"Skippy?" I asked incredulously, not phased by the implied insult. He leveled the sword at me, dropping into a fighting stance.

"It feels appropriate, the way you bounce around" he answered.

Green had recovered his sword, and moved to join me, but I waved him off, concerned about his low aura reserves.

"How are we looking on magic reserves?" I asked LIWI quietly.

Eighty five percent at least, I've got plenty to spare for now, but you really should stop healing enemies.

"You and I have unfinished business" I called out to Flynt, "We fought before, but Captain Stone kicked your ass to the curb before we could finish it." Flynt squinted at me, then barked a short, bitter laugh.

"You're that dumbass with the knife?" he asked amusedly. "Oh well then come and get some Skippy, I'm right here."

I charged him, firing all five shots from my revolver as I sprinted, then holstered the weapon and switched my combat knife to my right hand. His orange aura released a horde of sparks as the buckshot impacted him, but it flickered ever so slightly on the last shot, indicating that his reserves were running out as well. He scooped his left hand through the field of sparks that hung between us in the air, swinging my sword at me haphazardly with his right as I closed the distance.

His swing was sloppy and off balance, and I easily ducked under it as I ran, slashing him along his side with my knife. He growled in anger, sending out the cloud of sparks in a shower instead of a concentrated blast. I kept running at full speed however, and the cloud of sparks detonated early behind me, only managing to knock me off balance slightly as I pivoted and turned, digging the toes of my boots into the damaged street as I reversed my momentum. I charged back in, this time leaping high over his horizontal slash and delivering a flying roundhouse kick to his jaw as I flew past him. The impact threw his head back and caused me to rotate in mid air, allowing me to land in a crouch facing him.

"Fuck you!" he shouted angrily, clearly not used to fighting someone who could actually keep up with him in speed and power. He hurled my sword towards me, and I leaned away from the spinning blade, allowing it to fly past me and stab into the side of a car. He withdrew a pair of brass knuckles from his pocket and slipped them over his fingers, dropping into a professional looking boxing stance. I stood, spinning my knife in my palm into a reverse grip by allowing it to rotate three times on my palm before I caught it. The unnecessarily flashy move was like waving red in front of a bull, showing him that I wasn't afraid of him and driving his anger even higher.

He charged me this time, kicking a rock at me as he ran, swiftly followed by a small spark from the impact. I deflected the rock with a backhand, then braced and took the small explosion on the forearm of my armor, trusting LIWI's protective spell the prevent most of the damage. He came within arms reach of me, throwing a flurry of jabs and crosses as he finally tried to beat me with technique instead of power. He clearly had significant boxing experience, and even managed to land a few light body shots as I pulled backwards, focusing on keeping him away from my head and allowing him to tire himself out.

I saw an opportunity as he overextended on a hook and slashed him across the face with my knife, then followed up with a kick to his back shin with my left foot. The resulting combination forced him to close his eyes for a brief moment, then stole his balance out from under him. He reached out, trying to grab at me as he worked to recover his balance, but I used my left fist to deliver a swift cross to his nose, and his weakened aura finally shattered.

He stumbled backwards, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his flare gun and call for help, but I had been waiting for that move. As he reached for it I flipped my knife, catching it by the tip, and threw it to sink into his forearm. He dropped the flare gun with a shout of pain, clutching at the blade that had suddenly sprouted from his wrist. He looked towards me, eyes full of hate, and re-engaged me with a wild haymaker from his uninjured left hand.

"To me, my weapon" I whispered as he swung at me, then ducked under his punch, dropping to one knee. As I dropped I brought my right hand to my left hip. My sword responded to my verbal command by flying hilt first into my waiting palm. I caught the weapon, then low stepped past Flynt on his left side, slashing deeply across his gut as I passed. He stumbled backwards as my blow caught him, and I followed through, spinning around on one knee to my left to face him again and running my sword straight through the back of his neck as he fell towards me. He gurgled softly, eyes open in surprise as my sword plunged straight through his spine as if it were butter. I leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear.

"That was for my squad you son of a bitch."

I withdrew the sword, allowing him to collapse backwards onto the street next to me.

"Shit Grayson," Green called out from across the square, "Remind me not to try out any nicknames with you." I wiped the blood off my sword with the back of a deceased soldier's uniform, then sheathed it. I looked up at Green as I finished my work, and I could feel my heart rate slowly returning to normal as the adrenaline and magical enhancements slowly wore off.

"It's not about the nickname" I told Green, "It's about what he did to the squad that found me when I lost my memory. They took me in when I was alone, and he killed or injured nearly every single one of them." Green nodded sympathetically, his earlier joking mood now gone.

"Well," he said matter of factly. "Rest in turmoil then." He turned to look outwards at the carnage we had caused, one armored vehicle completely destroyed and another ruined to the point of uselessness by the secondary explosion. Beyond that there were dozens of soldiers either clutching at various wounds or lying deceased all around the square.

"Good work here Grayson," Green said quietly, "And thanks for the save." I approached him, looking at the carnage with a sense of melancholy.

"I've got your back" I told him, "Sorry for leaving you alone for so long. I got distracted, won't let it happen again." Green clapped me on the back,

"Don't worry about it, it happens in the heat of a fight, just try to keep your head on your shoulders next time. Now come on, let's secure the area and wait for the infantry to catch up."