Deep within several subway tunnels, the VWS-1 followed a beat down, armored vehicle in their own Armored personnel carrier on their way to destroy EUROPA’S FURY bomber, the “Machtiger Adler V5”. The entire group was more quiet than usual. No one wanted to discuss the slaughtered CNGS and American soldiers they discovered 5 days before their main mission. Behind them were several armred carriers filled with Erasure unit soldiers. Laleh winced remembering how Ackerman was guarding their escape aircraft. Despite the explosions rumbling outside from the air support provided by the HCA, the tunnels remained silent. Faye attempted to speak up as she was finished sabotaging the hangar’s network and security cameras with her modified PDA.
“You guys don’t have to worry about any of the bomber’s defenses, our spies fucked that plane up good!” she pulled at her khaki catsuit’s belt and various radio equipment strapped to it. “It took me a while to wrangle our comrades and convince them to help you guys out!” she said, attempting a goofy smile, her rows of sharp, hyena like teeth grinding slightly beneath her helmet-mask.
“No kiddin’.” Said Joseph. “That WRAITH chick looked like she was about to bust a blood vessel when that chick in the beret told her to guide us through the tunnels.”
“WRAITH’s not quite fond of the CNGS or American in general.” Faye answered, twiddling her thumbs and rubbing her snout from behind her mask. “she’s a good comrade.” She readjusted her radio as she thought again internally; “she’s also pissed off that our intelligence found out that CNGS intelligence called the Fascist invasion of the Veledovias a “happy coincidence.” The giant woman put on her facade again. “We’re also not too far away from QM occupied territory, with our other E-12 members on call for an EVAC in case something goes wrong!”
“Vunderbar!” said Veronica, grinning behind her helmet. “You’re just like Maxilla said, intelligent and ready to tackle any problem that pops up!”
“I just kinda assume everything will go wrong in the first place.” Said faye said in a half-hearted, dismissive manner.
“No need to put yourself down!” Veronica answered, prepping her large machine gun. “I’ve been looking forward to this battle all WEEK!” Faye gave a half nod listening to the militant German woman. “The look of terror on those neo nazis’ faces shall be MOST DELICIOUS!” Her six eyes became red with sinister glee,her transparent lenses allowed all to see her eratic mood. “These freaks want violence, so I’ll be MORE than happy to provide!”
“I have no idea how you manage to not terrify our kids.” Faye thought, recalling Maxilla’s stories of Veronica’s various diplomatic missions to QM as an HCA ambassador telling stories to war orphans at their population centers.
“Be mindful, sister.” Said Fritz, skimming a black and white manga with a robot designed like a knight. “Those monsters are not afraid to play dirty and are far too eager to die while taking as many as they can.” Despite his calm demeanor, his hands continue to shake. The APC ahead came to a halt.
“COMRADE FAYE!” barked a voice in a thick Russian accent. “OBSTRUCTION UP AHEAD!” the convoy of vehicles
“CIRCLE THE WAGONS, PEOPLE!” barked Nathan. The armored vehicles formed a circle formation as the VWS-1 and the soldiers accompanying them as they poured out.
“What’s wrong, Dimitri?” Faye asked the driver, thundering up to her friend, clad in khaki camo and a green vest. He sat in the drivers seat, eyes bulging and mouth opened. Sweat dripped down his bald head and his sharp cheeks. He was as still as a statue, pointing ahead to what the armored, six wheeled vehicle illuminated in its flood lights. Faye whipped around as she subconsciously put her hand over her mouth, despite being covered by a helmet/mask hybrid. The entire tunnel was littered with corpses. The helmets aided the stench, but in the dark, the flies and other insects fled into the darker parts of the subway. WRAITH kicked open her passenger door and loaded her assault rifle, pointing into the dimly lit tunnel.
“Jesus Christ…how many CNGS operatives were killed?” Joseph whispered, noticing the uniforms of various coalition soldiers.
“Oh dear god.” Wheezed Fritz. “I’m so sorry Faye, many of these bodies appear to from your own organization. WRAITH’s indifferent facade broke as she saw the khaki-laden QM soldiers and their various guerilla allies. The sickness and fear Fritz felt only increased when he spotted a pile of civilians wearing combat gear, with patches on their vest reading VSU with hammers, sickles, and roses on them.
“So thats what happened to the resistance in this area.” Nathan muttered flatly. His eyes flitted to soldiers clad in black, one of the bodies’ eagle tattoo sightly exposed. “What a goddamn travesty.” Laleh remained silent, trying to regain her composure. Joseph’s scars flared.
“WE’RE SURROUNDED!” Joseph screamed. “ASSASSIN ABOMINATIONS!” No sooner did he yell out his warning, several of the corpse piles began to shift, the flies and beetles either tumbling or taking flight. Several gun barrels slid out from the mass, and opened fire. The VWS-1 ran to the back of the improvised fortification where the bulk of abominations were hidden.
“COVER THE FRONT, WE’LL TAKE CARE OF THESE FREAKS!” barked Nathan. He fired directly into a mass, causing a large splatter of blood and rotted tissue to spray over the uneven, paved floors. “JOSEPH, TAKE POINT!” the scarred young man saluted, and laid prone to snipe at any emerging abomination soldiers. Several corpses began to rise from their position, upsetting and freaking out the Erasure unit soldiers.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” screamed one erasure unit soldier, pushing off one ASSASSINATION dressed as a dead civilain as it clawed at his green, lightly striped camo.
“Get it together.” Responded Nathan. “These freaks are banking on you losing it.” The abomination soldiers in various stolen clothing began to open fire with submachine guns, and advanced by using the corpses as improvised cover. Some of the ASSASSIN abominations in the front began to retreat further into the tunnel. The ones in their usual red/black combat outfits and white masks contacted their superiors. A group of them observed the chaos from a small blockade made of corpse filled body bags. Above them were large, dark tunnels that were illuminated by the glow of several POLTERGEIST COMMANDOS.
“WE’RE TAKING CASUALTIES, ALERT OUR FELLOW SOLDIERS IN THE HANGAR.” One of them said in a garbled voice. “WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS.” Several seconds of silence later, the only ones who bothered reinforcing the ASSASSIN abominations were several poltergeist commandos. “WE WILL NEED MORE THAN THAT, IT’S THE VALIANT WARRIOR SQUADRON!”
“Then initiate a tactical retreat.” Answered an oddly youthful voice. “It’s shameful that our own soldiers cannot overtake a hoard of coalition circus animals, however, you will redeem yourself within the hangar. The ASSASSIN lowered his head in shame.
“Yes, my lord.” He answered.
“In nature, those too weak to fight will die.” Answered the sing-song voice. “You are a weapon forged specifically to herald the coming of the Aryan paradise, I expect you to perform like one perfectly upon command.” One of Assassins’s squadmates was shot in head by Joseph’s carbine and tumbled to the ground. Before the abomination was cut off, the voice left a final message “Do not fail me like this again. Should you fail to heed my words, I’ll make sure you will live to regret it” Veronica’s machine gun tore through the poltergeist commandos as Fritz used his speed to switch almost seamlessly from the front and the back, leaping to different positions with ease. In no time at all, the ASSASSINS were repelled or killed. The ASSASSIN who reported the incident crouched towards a mass of bodies, torn on what to do before ultimately fleeing further down the tunnel.
“Ok, let’s advance, people!” Barked Nathan. The VWS-1 and the erasure unit piled again into their vehicles. WRAITH glared at the dead resistance fighters and the Veledovian Socialist Union. Her horned mask/helmet disguised her despair and rage.
“You coalition dogs.” She hissed spitefully. “WE WOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN SO MANY LOSSES IF YOU GAVE US THAT GOD DAMN SUPPORT EARLIER LIKE WE REQUESTED!” a loud, buzzing sound erupted on her ear piece.
“INFRACTION DETECTED.” Said an automated voice. “ALLIES OF GLOBAL SECURITY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SPREAD DISCONTENT TO THEIR ALLIES AS PER ADDENDUM G-98.”
“What a load of horsesh-” WRAITH began, only to be stopped by Faye placing a her enormous, pudgy hand on WRAITH’s broad shoulder. The angered woman ripped Faye’s hand off her person and returned to her armored vehicle. “Let’s just fucking go.” She spat. The convoy of allied soldiers continued down the tunnel while Faye began typing away in a small, black laptop.
“There’s some automated defenses ahead, so I’m gonna fuck with their facial recognition.” Faye announced. Veronica developed a sinister grin behind her mask, her large muscles tensed with joy.
“Ooh, how delightful!” she cheered. Faye finalized a command before hitting the enter key. Just outside of the hangar, the gun mounted camera sentries defending the entry way began to malfunction, causing the AVN and Europa fury soldiers began to panic. One of the their techs desperately tried to stop the cyber attack.
SHIT!” he screamed. “I CAN’T STOP THE BREACH!” No sooner did he announce his horror did the two gun mounts began to fire upon them. Chaos erupted across the mountain base as their security system shut down or were flooded with malware. Nathan contacted Sgt.Nguyen on his intercom.
“Hey Nguyen, how are things on your end, over?”
“This is SGT.Nguyen, and you will address me as such, over.” Nathan shook his head.
“So, are you giving these neo nazis hell on the other side of the base, Sgt. Nguyen, over?” At the opposite side of the base, VWSSOC were laying waste to the AVN’s defences and combat vehicles. Charlotte’s mech slowly but surely cut a burning swathe through the facist infantry.
“Affirmative, we’ll meet in the hangar asap, over.” Loud buzzing began to blare on Nathan’s intercom.
“Hey Ngyuen, I seem to getting some interference on your end, over.” There was no response. “Nguyen, do you hear m-”
“COMMUNICATION TERMINATED” Said an automated voice. Nathan sat back in his chair.
“That’s not good.” He said as his convoy drew closer to their destination. Joseph clutched his head.
“THE BEASTS RALLY TO THE QUEEN.” He said cryptically. Fate momentarily hesitated until her own laptop began to blink and scream, showing footage of AVN soldiers rushing to blockade the Hangar entrance.
“This totally isn’t good!” Faye said. “There’s a surge of AVN and EF infantry reinforcing the Hangar!”
“GET READY TO ENGAGE!” Barked Nathan to his troops. As they began prepping their weapons, Fritz held up a cross and made a silent prayer.
“God, may your righteous hand guide us to victory, may you have mercy on us and our allies as we smite the wicked…” he whispered. Outside the mountain base a scene of sheer chaos. Sgt. Nguyen fired her laser cannon arm at the source of the buzzing; dozens of unmanned, armed drones. They released a torrent of gunfire, while not as devastating as an assault rifle or a machine gun, was enough to force VWSSOC to take evasive action and cover. Logan was almost hypnotized by the beating of their propellers as their gunfire began to tear through the Erasure unit soldiers that accompanied them. AKROPOLIS thundered in front of him, shielding him with her body. The bullets either bounced off her tight fighting, grey and dark armor or lodged themselves into her helmet or back plating.
“GET TO COVER, GOD DAMN IT!” she screamed, using her own laser cannon to knock down as many as she could. The source of the drones lumbered up hill after emerging from a hidden bunker, and had Charlotte and her mech in its sight. Another large, bipedal mech, resembling a humanoid figure with a helmet, pointed its arm the monster woman. A large gun barrel slid from its open hand, and deafened everyone with a thunder-like cracking sound. Hecate’s mech was nearly knocked to the ground as part of her mech’s front chest plating suffered from what resembled a shotgun wound. Two giant drones that circled the Mech’s “head” began to point laser sights at the rest of the senior officers and Logan.
“In your dreams.” Stated Charlotte flatly as gripped her mech’s joystick, commanding her mech to fire from its enormous assault rifle, stunning the enemy mech.
“ALL SURVIVING UNITS, RETREAT INTO THE MOUNTAIN BASE!” Sgt. Nguyen bellowed. The VWSSOC and their back up vanished into doves of the base. Meanwhile, far from the death and chaos, RM II and RM III were stripping dead BLACK SABER and resistance members of their weapons. RM II paused momentarily as he saw the two metal giants duel through his binoculars. The abandoned industrial building the two mercenaries were stripping of resources rattled. The untouched, rusted metal fuel drums and generators vibrated as various rodents and roaches fled from the vibrations.
“Hopefully those idiots will kill each other and make OUR job easier.” Said the middle aged soldier. RM III said nothing as he sifted through the corpses. RM II spoke once more. “You’re awfully quiet.” In an instant, both psychic soldiers clutched their heads in pain.
“What…the fuck…” RM III managed to blurt out. RM II maintained his composure as he slipped off his glove. The scars covered most of his hand, and resembled porous, 3rd degree burns. The flesh pulsated wildly as a mysterious jet flew far too close to the two mercenaries. RM III grabbed onto his dark, hooded jacket as it flew off. RM II quickly dashed upstairs, and surveyed the area with his binoculars again, He noticed a symbol of a skull on the wings. The skull was donned in a camouflaged helmet with a roman numeral one on its forehead. The background was a simpliefied, upside-down american flag encircled by the words “BASTARDS TOLD ME THAT I’D BE A HERO.”
“No way.” RM II sneered. “No way in hell that weak, bleeding heart is out here in this shithole.” The jet was tailed by 3 other black aircraft. Even as they fired volleys of gunfire and missiles, the mysterious jet seemed to weave effortlessly before firing a missile at the large ALA mech, causing it to lurch forward, and allowing Charlotte to strike it with more assault rifle fire. After blowing a hole in the side of the mountain, the jet then looped in midair to engage its pursuers. “That idiot is still trying to help those coalition dogs even though they’ve got a target and bounty on his head.” RM II returned to the first floor to continue searching the bodies. RM III paused and tugged at his dull grey hoody as his superior continued his bitter spiel. “He was always a goody two-shoes, always futilely trying to unfuck the world even back when we were both on the CNGS’s leash.”
“I dunno old man, what we’re doing is pretty futile.” Snarked RM III.
“Somehow I knew you were concocting some smart-aleck retort.” RM II hissed, walking to his younger ward. “Maybe I’ve gone too easy on disciplining you. The older mercenary’s boots clicked on the floor.
“I’m just being honest, man!” RM II shot back. “By the start of 2041, there’s not going to be a SINGLE neutral country left in Scandinavia!” RM II stopped in his tracks. “Your geriatric ass knows that the independents, coalition, and those commies wants our heads!” RM III clutched his fist. “Where the HELL are we supposed to run to? RM II stared at him silently. “Are we just going to keep running forever?!”
“Fine, then wander off and get yourself killed in some gutter.” RM II retorted. “Since it sounds like you have a better plan than I do.
“I’ll probably wind up getting killed by staying with you, anyway!” RM III replied. “YOU almost did almost last week!”
“You’ve got some nerve talking back to the man who saved your ungrateful ass from that maniac who used you like his personal assassin for five years.” RM III’s anger began growing. “You 20 year olds think you have the entire goddamn world figured out.”
“DON’T FUCKING TALK DOWN TO ME LIKE A CHILD!” RM III screamed as he threw his gun to the ground. “I’M NOT YOUR DEAD BRAT!” RM II pulled out his handgun, and pointed it dead center at his young ward. “Holy shit.” Whispered the young man, putting up his hands and backing off. “L-look, let’s just chill.” RM II walked to RM III, causing him to press up against a ruined wall.
The older mercenary pulled the hammer back, its loud click signified imminent death.RM II pressed the barrel into RM III’s forehead. Not even the desperate fight between Charlotte and the ALA mech could shake the young mercenary’s attention from RM II’s cruelty. His finger wrapped around the trigger. RM III could feel RM II's hateful, tired gaze from behind his cracked mask. Tears began streaming down the young man's face. Both were worn down and wounded from RM II's increasingly dangerous resorts to vanish off the CNGS's radar. The young mercenary was faced with certain death, at the hands of the man who promised him a new life.
“Mouth off again to me like that again.” RM II said in a grave tone. “I dare you.” He unloaded the handgun before pistol whipping RM III into the ground. “Get up.” He demanded. RM III scrambled to his feet and grabbed the discarded weapons before running back to the helicopter. RM II left the empty building, and noticed his soldiers standing in disbelief, having heard the entire fight. “ANY OTHER OF YOU UNGRATEFUL, SNOT NOSED FREAKS WANT TO SAY SOMETHING?!” the mercenaries quickly went back to their task of robbing the dead. A 6 foot 7 mercenary who witnessed the entire event wiped the sweat off his tattoed forehead as his eyes met with RM II’s mask lenses. Despite dwarfing RM II in size and muscle mass, the man shivered in terror in his weathered, generic camo.
“I-I ain’t got nuthin’ to say, boss.” He said before tearing off to the helicopter. RM II looked back at RM III as he vanished into the ruins were their aircraft were stationed. A great presence of hollow dread slithered over him, the same dread that washed over him the last night he saw his son alive. The same dread that was present when his wife left his house with a police convoy. Within the depths of his mind, the middle aged soldier just did something he could never take back. RM III rubbed the side of his head that was struck. The other mercenaries avoided him like the plague, save for one in a large yellow camo jacket and a brown mask.
“Don’t take it too hard, junior.” He said. “Seems like the boss has been more cracked in the noggin lately.”
“Yeah, no shit.” RM III responded. The cruel young man came to a grave realization. “…It’ll take a bit, but the next time those VWS freaks ambush us again…that old maniac is gonna be short one punching bag…I’m not waiting until he snaps and pulls the trigger…”
Back within the tunnels, the VWS-1 were engaged in a deadly uphill battle. The grey and black combat fatigues of the AVN soldiers were stained red. Veronica cackled as she unleashed torrents of gunfire. “Oh HOW I LOVE MOVING TARGETS!” She sang out joyfully as the neo nazis fled for cover. The road leading to the hangar was heavily fortified with vehicles and roadblocks. Multiple ASSASSINs and POLTERGEIST COMMANDOS fought desperately to stop their advance. The gang rallied behind their vehicles, once again using their transports as cover. Joseph’s scars pulsated again.
“A BEAST ARRIVES.” He said ominously.
“For fucks sake, what OTHER lunatics do we have to fight now?!” Said Faye in an exacerbated tone. On top of the raised platform, A man stood in ALA combat armor, designed to resemble medieval knights armor. On his back was a riot shield with an intricate, royal symbol resembling a two headed eagle and a large machete with a black hand guard. Next to his side was a poltergiest commando in matching armor.
“My hunt begins.” Said the knightlike soldier in a sing-song voice, as he raised his hand in a a grandiose salute. “Father will be most pleased to have YOUR head on a silver plate. He pointed directly at joseph. “You may call me WHITE PALADIN, the catalyst of your DEMISE.” The VWS-1 took no time in firing upon the two during their speech, however, with his grand gesture, he had in fact thrown several grenades at the convoy.
“JESUS CHRIST, FALL BACK!” Screamed Nathan. The VWS-1 fled in horror as the live grenades bounced off their vehicle’s hoods. Several violent explosions rocked the inside of the tunnels. The poltergeist commando whipped out a singular, large grenade and threw it at the erasure unit soldiers. Fritz and veronica barely had time to register the two men’s former allegiance as they grabbed erasure unit soldiers and dove away from the large bomb. It exploded in a cloud of flame, drenching several erasure unit soldiers in scolding napalm. The VWS-1 barely scrambled to the back of their convoy.
“That salute.” Fritz gasped as he reloaded his submachine gun. “THEY’RE EX HCA SPECIAL FORCES!” As Fritz became awash with panic and his six eyes turning pale with fear, Joseph fired back at the two soldiers. He tried in vain to ignore the agonized, dying screams of Erasure unit soldiers who weren’t quick enough to get to cover.
Laleh fired a flash grenade. With the Neo nazis stunned, the VWS-1 made a violent push into the concrete hangar and forced WHITE PALADIN and his assistant back. With Nathan’s devastating hand gun and Veronica’s machine gun, the ALA abomination soldiers were mowed down, forcing them to retreat further into the hangar where the bomber laid. The mechanics and other specialists assigned began to panic as the fighting grew ever closer with no hope of stopping.
“GET TO THE BOMBER!” called WHITE PALADIN’s assistant. “THE ENEMY IS REGROUPING!” Before getting a chance of throwing more grenades, Joseph used his ever strengthening agility to dodge into cover from the poltergeist commando’s own grenades and returning fire at WHITE PALADIN. WHITE PALADIN was shoved from atop the sandbags as The bullets tore through the commando’s skull, causing him to stumble back and drop his active grenades. The AVN and EUROPA’S FURY forces dove for cover as many of them torn to shreds by the explosive shrapnel. White PALADIN used his own super human agility to flee towards the bomber, glancing only once at the man who gave his life to save his.
“oh drat, not another one.” He said in a slightly annoyed tone, and vanishing into the bomber. “Father will be most displeased, that was the 3rd indentured of mine lost this month.” Fritz dashed to grab the poltergeist commando’s explosives.
“These should prove useful for later in our escape from this cesspit.” Fritz whispered to himself, securing them to his belt.
“Don’t stop now!” bellowed Nathan. “Faye, our E-12 backup should be right above us!” He turned to Joseph, who gave a nod and a thumbs up.
"NATHAN.” Said Sgt.Nguyen over his intercom. “YOU ARE TO ADVANCE TOWARDS THE BOMBER, WE ARE ALMOST AT THE COORDINATES, OVER.” Her mechanical arm clicked to reveal an assault rifle, which she used to cut through more EF neo nazi soldiers. “HECATE, STATUS REPORT” she barked. Outside of the mountain base, EF soldiers were fleeing from the chaotic fight between the mechs, sparks and bullets sprayed, tearing apart several of ground soldiers. Their chocolate chip camo stained red from the shrapnel. In the air above them, RM I dodged and weaved, and destroyed the remaining black ALA jets. After shooting one last missile at the ALA mech and the remaining enemy anti-aircraft weaponry, he fled the scene. Charlotte took advantage of the attack, and sprayed the enemy mech with devastating, giant assault rifle fire, destroying both of its arms. She charged forward as fast as possible and used her own mech’s free arm to smash through the cockpit. The chase exposed, she fired continuously into the cockpit and refused to cease until the cockpit was reduced to burnt wire and scrap metal. Her eyes bulged from her skull as the mech continued to move forward, attempted to use its damage weapon. Luckily, the damage was too great, and its weaponry refused to fire. Charlotte blew off both its arms and tore off each of its limbs with slow, methodical discipline.
“A remotely controlled weapon.” Charlotte sneered, her large, chubby body creaked the seat in her cockpit as she shifted into a more comfortable position. She clicked the side of her helmet as her elongated, shrew-like head met with her headrest. “This is HECATE, the enemy mechanized armor has been disabled, our casualties are numerous, OVER.” Her camera scanned the battlefield, littered with the corpses of Erasure unit and Europa’s fury infantry. Her cameras locked onto RM I’s jet, a painting of a skull adorned with a modern combat helmet was visible. The roman numeral representing the number one was present on its helmet while it adorned an upside-down American flag. “RENAISSANCE MAN I has unlawfully interfered with CNGS business and trespassed on mission aerospace, over.” Her voice wavered in sadness as she clicked open her helmet to wipe away years, still trying to maintain a stoic expression, as if she was regretful for what she had said towards. Her cameras picked up that his jet had deployed some sort of yellow flares, that were now streaming towards the earth. The giant monster woman’s cameras continued to lock on and follow the smoke as they hit the ground, revealing a large cadre of EF soldiers, combat helicopters and tanks heading their way. RM I appeared to strike down 5 helicopters before he was chased away by several more jets, which struck his wing. “THE INVADING AVN FORCE IS ARRIVING, THE STRIKE TEAM NEEDS TO DESTROY THE BOMBER NOW, OVER!”
Sgt. Nguyen and her team arrived to the bomb hangar, and proceeded with their attack. “Understood, prepare a defensive position and slow them down with long range weaponry, then retreat to the mini harris by the wetlands.
“Affirmative, over.” Answered Charlotte. She activated several long range missile launchers in her Mech’s back. She held back a sob as she saw RM I’s jet vanished. He recalled the words on his insignia and fought back another sob. “Joshua…” she whimpered internally. “You’ve always been a damn fool, trying to play hero…” Back within the hangar, Nathan received his Sgt’s orders, including the sighting of RM I.
“Understood.” He answered as he rallied his soldiers to charge the bomber. “We’ll get this shit done ASAP.” He fired at the side of the bomber. “No…” Nathan thought. “There’s no way he’d be out here of all places, right?” he shook out of his funk as the AVN soldiers began charging both VWS teams, firing their weapons and screaming. “SHIT, LAY DOWN SUPPRESSING FIRE!” Nathan screamed as the mass of neo nazi soldiers barreled closer. Veronica tossed out a dead AVN soldier from their own sandbags and fired at the rush of soldiers. VWSSOC tore through the mass of soldiers with ease, however, they were held back by WHITE PALADIN lobbing incendiary grenades from the bomber’s armored surface. The bomber’s front window was smashed as abomination soldiers fired back using the bomber’s interior as cover. “FRITZ!” Nathan bellowed. “TAKE OUT THAT LUNATIC LOBBING BOMBS AT US, WE GOTTA WRAP THIS UP!”
“Jawohl, Kaptain!” Fritz said with a salute. He strained to pick up heavy metal plate that fell off the MACHTIGER ADLER in the ensuing chaos, then charged towards WHITE PALADIN. The plate acted as an excellent impromptu shield from the AVN’s firepower as he fled to an unguarded area of the plane. He leapt with all his might and grabbed onto the great aicraft’s side, and hurridly climbed to confront REMUS. ARKOPOLIS charged forward with her laser as the last of the AVN’s soldiers stationed at the bomber’s base were slain.
AKROPOLIS charged to the green light alongside her VWSSOC comrades to plant the bomb where she was instructed in her debriefing. the engineers and mechanics continue to flee from the chaos, some of them were killed in the crossfire. Joseph almost vomited as an ALA mechanic’s head was partially blown away by a panicked AVN soldier. Laleh, using her combat suit’s mobility enhancing properties, dashed to joseph and enveloped him in her arms as a surviving EF soldier attempt to take aim and fire upon him. The bullets bounced off her back as Veronica returned fire.
“Please be more careful.” Said Laleh gently, tenderly rubbing Joseph’s head. “I can’t imagine fighting for a better world without you.” Joseph regained his composure as she guided him back to cover.
As the battle ensued, Fritz met with WHITE PALADIN, who opened fire immediately. WHITE PALADIN grabbed his riot shield to take cover.
“So…you’re the MONSTER my classmates whispered about back in my academy days. I can appreciate your boldness and no nonsense approach to combat.” the armored neo nazi called out. “HOWEVER, you are merely just a bio engineered freak stuffed into a suit of armor, a MINDLESS tool of the HCA.” Fritz sped behind him, only for WHITE PALADIN to match his speed. “QUITE RUDE TO CONTINUE FIRING ON SOMEONE TRYING TO HOLD A CONVERSATION!”
“I have no time for your frivolities, fascist.” Hissed Fritz. “No amount of flowery writing and chivalry will NEVER absolve you from being a treacherous war criminal. I’ll send you to hell with to meet your bodyguard.” WHITE PALADIN launched himself at Fritz, knocking his assault rifle from his hands. Fritz struggled as the armored soldier used his shield to pin him to the ground, and unsheathed a large combat knife.
“How DARE you compare me to the lower abomination race.” WHITE PALADIN was clearly gritting his teeth in anger. “My superhumanity is the result of aryan scientific breakthroughs, NOT the abomination program.” The armored man retorted, preparing to stab Fritz through the head. “Nonetheless, you shall taste the iron of my blade for robbing me of my indentured servant.” just then, a bullet lodged itself into WHITE PALADIN’s shoulder, causing him to stumble back. Fritz quickly turned his head to the muzzle flash, revealing JOSEPH had fired the bullet after retreating from the bomber. Fritz kicked off WHITE PALADIN, sending him flying from his position.
“Don’t make me laugh!” scoffed fritz. “I know damn well from that lingo that your poltergeist bodyguard was your SLAVE.” Fritz grabbed the armored man’s shield and combat knife and dashed with all his strength into a single bound. Just as WHITE PALADIN hit the aircraft’s top, fritz tried plunging the blade into his opponents chest. “YOU’RE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE HCA, AND SLAYING YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST STEP IN CLEANING THE COURT!” WHITE PALADIN flipped back on his feet and parried fritz’s blade with another blade hidden in the back of his armor.
“I’m almost impressed.” WHITE PALADIN said blocking and countering Fritz’s swipes and dodging Joseph’s bullets. “Quite unfair to have someone interrupt our duel, don’t you agree? Being around these Coalition liberals has robbed the chivalry from your body.” The armored, youthful sounding man prepared to grab more grenades until joseph cracked his helmet with another bullet, which allowed Fritz to swipe at his head. The helmet came apart with a loud CRACK, splintered glass, plastic, and metal sprayed across the bomber’s wings. He fell to the floor, throwing a grenade at Fritz before leaping into the lower rafters of the hanger, and vanishing into the ceiling. His face revealed him to be a young adult white man with full, beautiful locks of blonde hair. Fritz attached the machete to his belt, picked up his newly acquired shield, and made the sign of the cross before rejoining his comrades. In his position, he began to fire upon the remaining POLTERGEIST COMMANDOS in the rafters, as they used large catwalk to take cover.
“THE BOMB’S SET!” AKROPOLIS yelled. “LET’S BAIL!” the VWS-1 fled back to the convoy with the surviving erasure unit soldiers as VWSSOC fled with their own escorts to their own designated rendezvous point. Wraith, her QM escort and the rest of E-12 vanished down their own escape route. Outside, Charlotte was able to inflict light damage to the oncoming rush of soldiers, but to continue to be a futile effort and evacuation would be needed. Her cameras picked up sudden activity, several men wearing light and dark brown camo rushed down her mech while riding offroad motorcycles. The cameras zoomed in on their vests, which were covered in explosives. They dispersed as charlotte opened fire, she was able cut down all but one, who ramped up the hill she was on, and detonated his vest mere feet away from her cockpit. Charlotte was violently rocked in her cockpit as an automated voice sounded.
“MECHANIZED ARMOR DISABLED, Maintenance NEEDED.”
“Shit.” Said Charlotte as her cameras continued to pick up the encroaching army. “My mechanized armor has been compromised, we need immediate evacuation, over.” As soon as she announced her plea, several more soldiers began to flood out of the woods. “WE’RE BEING AMBUSHED!” she screamed as she attempted to fire back with her one functional arm. She was only distracted by the large explosion deep within the base. that destroyed the large bomber. The VWS-1 and their convoy were also attacked by the swarm of soldiers.
“WHITE SOVEREIGNS!” veronica yelled. “WATCH YOUR ASS, THESE FREAKS FIGHT TO THE DEATH!” she took control of the mounted machine gun on their escape vehicle as she gunned down the pursuers. Nathan radioed in Captain Ackerman, who was guarding the mini harris responsible for picking VWS-1 up. His earpiece crackled.
“ACKERMAN!” yelled nathan. “THERE’S WHITE SOVEREIGN UNITS ZEROING IN ON YOUR POSITION!”
“That’s impossible.” Answered Ackerman. “Intel didn’t say a damn thing about any other recon units accept for the invasion force, and those clowns are miles away.” Aboard the mini harris, one of the pilots walked toward the fuel reserves planted an object she slid from her jacket.
“HEY!” shouted an Erasure unit soldier. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?”
“Ensuring my place as a martyr for the aryan paradise.” She said with a gentle smile before hitting a detonator hidden in her shirt. The Erasure unit soldier’s jaw dropped in disbelief before the Mini-Harris erupted in flames. . Acerkman was launched into a tree with a sickening thud, his arm broken in two places, and part of his face singed. From the forest, dozens of WHITE SOVREIGN soldiers threw grenades at the wreckage and the surviving erasure unit soldiers. The RISENFLEDERMAUS, docked next to it, was also destroyed by rocket launchers and grenade His second in command, with his last breath, contacted the CNGS special forces coordinators MacMillan and BERSERKER.
“A GODDAMN SPY DESTROYED THE MINI HARRIS AND THE VWS’S AIRCRAFT!” he screamed. “ALERT INTELLIGENCE!” his hand fell limp as Ackerman tried in vain to limp away form the white sovereigns. The flames roared, illuminating their twisted smiles in orange and red light. He attempted to pull his gun out, only to have a hooded soldier stomp on his hand violently. He crouched down as Ackerman was paralyzed with fear.
“Quite a shame that we lost the Machtiger.” Said the hooded man with a thick South African accent. He turned towards the mountain base that once held the bomber, thick, black smoke smoke erupted from its center. “Not to worry, our saboteurs will pay you back tenfold. He snapped his finger as a figure draped in a large hooded pancho emerged from the woods. The figure grabbed the metal bumper from one of the destroyed vehicles, and ripped it off with a slight strain. She pulled out a small black device and stuck it on the tree that Ackerman was thrown against. “Well, don’t be shy, REVERB!” He said to the hooded woman. “Have it at it!” Ackerman peered up at the woman’s obscured face. His face contorted into sheer terror as the flames showed her true visage, a black mask with an open, gaping mouth. The VWS-1’s audio feed was filled with Ackerman’s screams in between sickening impact sounds and the splattering of fluid. Joseph and Faye sat in silence as laleh quietly wept. Veronica gripped her hand so hard her gloves ripped. Fritz fought back to vomit in his mask as Nathan contacted MacMillan.
“We got an issue!” Said Nathan. “Our escape convoy’s been slaughtered, the erasure unit is scattered, and our only planes out of here went up in flames!” MacMillan scrambled with the microphone as BERSERKER tried to reconnect with VWSSOC.
“Get as CLOSE as you can to the Vlediver River! Said the special forces coordinator. “I’m gonna get another Mini Harris to pick you up ASAP!” He was then violently rocked as the Harris he was on was rippled by an explosion, and was decapitated by flying shrapnel. BERSERKER, who was down the hallway rushed to see the grisly sight. He fell to his knees and cradled macmillian’s corpse. He drew in a deep breath, and contained himself.
“We need to alert the CNGS airfields around the Veledovias of this sabotage.” Said the large, monstrous man gently putting Macmillian back on the ground. He pressed a finger to his ram-like helmet. “ALERT THE ODS AND ANDREW NORMAN OF SPY ACTIVITY!” He bellowed. “SEND ALL AIRFIELDS IN CNGS-POLAND AND CNGS-EAST VELEDOVIA ON HIGH ALERT!” In a private room , Andrew norman’s jacket was off, as he desperately tried to connect to the Allies of Global Security that could rescue the special forces teams. He desperately tracked charts of the closest personnel that had the vehicles and equipment that could rescue VWS-1 and VWSSOC. He pulled at his shirt, drenched in sweat and undid his tie. Next to him was another communication’s officer whose arm was badly cut, but bandaged by Andrew’s expensive overshirt. It had been some time since he had to treated another wounded soldier since his CSTF days, but he still retained the knowledge on how to treat wounds. He fought to connect to any sort of help. The only one to pick up was an E-12 operative.
“Uh…hey…this is uh…BEHEMOTH speaking…what’s up?” said the operative in an American accent.
“This is Andrew Norman, Special Forces Overseer of the CNGS special forces operations command.”
“Alrighty Andrew, what can I help you with?” BEHEMOTH asked in a casual tone within the confines of a dinged up, amphibious jetplane. The man was casually scrolling recent news on his phone. He swiped through a news article discussing a British pharmaceutical company and a south african producer of military aircraft were being investigated for funding neo nazi terrorism.
“The VWS-1’s evacuation aircraft has been destroyed and their escort has been eliminated.”
“Oh fuck, that ain’t good.”
“No, it certainly isn’t, I’m sending you the coordinates, head for the Vlediver river IMMEDIATELY.” Norman fought to regain his composures. “You have TWO amphibious carrier jets with you, correct?”
“Yes sir, we’ll pick up the greenhorns, I got my other team en route to evacuate your senior staff. I’ll let my other comrades in the area to evacuate any Erasure unit guys, too. I got your back, buddy.”
“It doesn’t matter WHO picks up WHO, get DOWN THERE before MY SOLDIERS are torn to shreds by the invading AVN forces.” He was soon cut off by the blaring of engines and the echoing silence thereafter. Norman sat back down in his chair, covering his face with both of his hands. “Jesus christ, I never imagined our intelligence to be this infested…” back near the Vlediver river, the VWS-1 fled from pursuing WHITE SOVEREIGN scouts on offroad bikes. Veronica tirelessly fired the mounted machine gun at the waves of motorized infantry as they dodged and weaved. Veronica would occasionally duck behind the gun shield to avoid submachine and pistol fire. A bullet bounced off her mask, causing her head to be thrown back and straining her thick neck. However, she shook off pain and the shock to gun down her attacker, whom went up in a fire ball after she fired at his fuel tank.
“NONE OF YOU WILL TOUCH A SINGLE HAIR ON THE HEADS OF MY COMRADES!” she screamed. “I AM A KNIGHT OF THE HOLY CHARLAMENGE ASSEMBLY, AND THROUGH THE GRACE OF SAINT MARY AND SAINT JOAN OF ARC, I WILL SEND YOU ALL TO HELL!” Nathan dodged and weaved through the trees as the small touch screen built into the dash showed a flashing, giant blue dot near the Vlediver wetlands.
“Hang tight, everyone!” He said with some fake levity. “We’re almost th-”
Blood sprayed the rest of the VWS-1 as Nathan cried out in agony. While the rest of his comrades were too dazed or in shock to speak, Joseph saw the blood pouring from his captain’s shoulder and the large bullet hole that had been torn through the passenger side out the driver’s seat. Nathan clutched his shoulder as he tried to maintain control of the vehicle. As the WHITE SOVEREIGNS forced him into a separate path, two female WHITE SOVEREIGN operatives lept from the thicket with bombs strapped to their chests, wide vacant eyes in their skulls, and deranged grins on their faces. Veronica panicked as she couldn’t swivel around fast enough to kill them. Luckily, Nathan was able to swerve out of the way. Unfortunately, the two suicide bombers detonated at the same time, and destroyed the back tires. “HANG ON TO SOMETHING!” He screamed as he spun the wheel and directed the vehicle to an abandoned industrial site as it came to a halt. Veronica continued to fire at the encroaching WHITE SOVEREIGNS, some had survived Veronica’s spray and pray gunfire. One was an infantry man in the distance fired at veronica. Hobbling closer with his handgun while his arm was partially severed and his right ankle was shattered. The wide smile on his face only ceased until Joseph swiftly ended the fascist man’s life with a single bullet.
“LALEH, GET THE CAPTAIN INSIDE AND TEND TO HIM, ASAP!” veronica bellowed in between volleys of machine gun fire. Laleh squeezed out of the APC with Joseph in tow. Joseph began surveying the area frantically behind the vehicle. Laleh lumbered to the driver’s seat where her captain was injured. She peered back at Joseph, whose eyes were filled with panic.
“They’re more coming.” Said the marksman. “But I can’t detect that sniper.” Veronica, Faye and Fritz continued to lay down suppressing fire. Laleh gingerly unlocked the door. She saw Joseph surveying the area frantically behind a large piece of sheet metal before his mask locked eyes with the hers. He peeked his head out from his cover.
“Get him out of his seat, please.” Laleh said in a clear, yet soft tone. Joseph hesitated once, and then swiftly went to his friend’s side to assist her. He carefully unfastened Nathan’s seatbelt as sat in his seat bleeding. Laleh unfolded a stretcher from the APC and gently laid her captain down. He cried out in pain as he gripped his shoulder. She immediately reassured him, gently stroking his face. “There, there.” She said in a warm tone. “You’ll be just fine, I’m here.” The duo brought their captain inside the industrial site with cautious urgency.
“I contacted my E-12 comrades.” Explained Faye as the VWS-1 retreated back into the industrial area, specifically a rundown warehouse with a smaller silo. “They should be here any minute now, they said to look towards the wetlands.” She leaned against the rusted floor with a thud. She glanced back at the numerous bullet holes and blood splatters of their vehicle. Veronica was dead quiet as she watched Fritz patrol the 2nd floor. Her eyes remained glue to Joseph and Laleh tending to their captain. Joseph carefully ripped open Nathan’s shirt as Laleh prepared some sort of needle. Nathan’s face was paler than usual, his black hair wet with sweat, his mouth filled with razor sharp teeth now curled in a pained grimace. All six of Veronica’s eyes were egg white, and her mouth seemed to be gaping in complete disbelief. Despite being near ideological opposites, she couldn’t let Veronica suffer.
“Hey, you’re not looking too hot.” Veronica continued to sit huddled in her spot, unmoving. Above, Fritz gave a single, sad glance behind his mask/helmet piece and continued to pace the area. He had to fight every instinct to rush to his sister’s side and comfort her, but this was war. He had to be on high alert to avoid any more casualties. His attention needed to be elsewhere, even if it was breaking his own heart. The young man remembered his own father’s words when confessing his love to Joseph, and never realized how relevant they continued to be. Faye rubbed her arm at the sight. “Listen…if you need help just…scream at me, okay?” Joseph carefully wrapped the shoulder after Laleh removed the giant bullet from Nathan’s shoulder, their captain’s chest heaved, making the various battle scars and surgery scars on his muscular body all the more noticeable. Joseph saw Fritz as the monstrous man stuck his head outside the shattered window. Swiftly, he took cover once more, gripping the poltergeist’s stolen grenades with his shaking fist. Laleh glanced at Veronica, her knees drawn up to her chest and unresponsive as Faye began dragging over large chunks of metal and wall towards the group. The monstrous medic and Joseph met eyes, with the young man nodding quietly. He gently secured his captain’s bandage before walking over to the large, bat-like woman. He was overcome with concern as her intimidating, muscular frame was wracked in such a frail, vulnerable position.
“Hey.” Joseph said putting a hand on her shoulder.
“What am I supposed to do…? She whispered fearfully, staring at Laleh wiping the sweat off Nathan’s face. “I should’ve done somet-” joseph grabbed her by her shoulders and stared into all 6 of her yellow eyes that became visible through her lenses. Faye was busy dragging large chunks of rubble and old, rusted mechanical equipment around the rest of VWS-1 to provide some form of barricade and defense from the encroaching white sovereigns. She tried to block out joseph to focus on her task. The sentimentality could wait.
“You need to get yourself together.” Replied Joseph, “This was a fucking nightmare, I don’t blame you for getting overwhelmed.” He tightly gripped his unloaded carbine. “I’ll be haunted by the shit I’ve seen and heard today, and I’m pretty close losing it as well.” Veronica peered downward, slowly unfolding her legs from her position. “But we can’t fall apart, we gotta protect Nathan until help arrives.You’re the person who calls the shots when Nathan can’t.” The giant, muscular monster woman sat up straight. “We NEED you.” After a moment. Veronica nodded and grabbed her machine gun.
“You’re right.” She said. “FOR NATHAN!” She bellowed as she began sweeping the area, guarding Nathan. Faye quietly observed a more human side of the CNGS she barely knew existed. Despite her Revelation, her attention was deterred when she received a signal from the radio on her vest. Nathan winced as he tried to sit up, only to be motioned by laleh to rest.
“BEHEMOTH, is that you?” Faye asked.
“Yep, We’re approaching your location and we even got an EVAC for the senior guys, but there’s more WHITE SOVEREIGN maniacs on their way!” The radio began to crackle “Just…hold on un…we arr-” Faye unclipped her radio and smacked it.
“HEY, you’re breaking up!” she answered. She turned towards the rest of her comrades. “Good news is that rescue should be here soon.”
“Oh good.” Said an unknown voice over the radio, causing Faye to jump back in terror. “It’s always thrilling to chase down fleeing vermin.” A bullet ripped through the facility, prompting Laleh to guard nathan by outstretching her arms.
“Who the HELL are you, and how the HELL did you get into my encrypted frequency?!” Faye demanded.
“Oh pardon me, said the voice. “Where are my manners, you may call me REX PREDONUM.” Joseph recognized the accent from attending Logan’s video calls with his Grandfather, an Afrikaner man. “I’d love to show my face and make this a fair duel, but my goal here take you all out.” His mechanical mask clicked and whirred as he readjusted his red hooded jacket
“You and your death squad are pretty far away from home, huh.” said Joseph. Instead of anger, REX PREDONUM laughed. A chill ran up Joseph’s and his comrade’s spine. The laughter wasn’t cruel, mocking, or even cold. It was warm, good natured like an older male relative laughing at his own joke.
“Goodness, for a racial subhuman, you catch on quick! Not to rain on your parade, but you’ll be very surprised to know many WHITE SOVERIGNS are converts from other ALA factions nowadays!” joseph took cover and tried to find the enemy sniper. “No luck finding me, I’m afraid.” Another bullet tore through the facility near Joseph’s position. “Forgive me, whenever I’m upset, I seem to pull to the right.” The hum of vehicles could be heard descending upon the building.
“Yeah.” Said Joseph carefully sweeping the distance from behind cover. “I bet you’re pissed off that me and my friends keep slipping through your fingers.”
“I suppose that does play a factor.” REX PREDONUM retorted. “This is more of a matter of personal honor and vendetta.” Veronica called out to her team to take defensive positions, gunning down another wave of white sovereigns as several of their suicide troops burst into flame. The radio crackled again. “I must say, I respect that you took up arms to avenge your friends and personally tracked down APOTHECARY.” Joseph kept quiet as he focused on trying to find his opponent. “I didn’t know a racial subhuman like you was even capable of honor and duty” Joseph struggled to find the enemy sniper, blocking out his spiel. “She meant the world to us, you know.” Joseph refused to answer, his eyes swiftly scanning the area. “She just had to die at the hands of an untermensch like you, we couldn’t even recover her remains for a funeral.” Joseph exhaled, memories of ARACHNEA’s head exploding in a wet, crimson pulp from his bullet filled his mind. “After much debate from my superiors, it appears we don’t even need you alive anymore.” Another bullet wizzed by close to Joseph’s head.
“What the hell did he mean by that?” Thought joseph. Another bullet passed nearly missing his shoulder. “Damn it, It’s like he doesn’t need to see me to find m-” the scarred man’s blood ran cold. “Oh my god, no.” He thought again. His hands began to shake, and his aim began to waiver. Faye immediately shut off the radio.
“How rude.” Said REX as he shook himself off and changed position. A man wearing a green hooded jacket, black pants and armored vest, and a green baseball cap observed the chaos, only taking his eyes off the battle to observe rex strolling up to him. “I must say, Anführer, that the white sovereigns can mop up these freaks without your further assistance.” REX extended his hand. “However, you and your boys have done well in this war, t-” REX was taken aback as the german neo nazi captain slapped his hand away.
“Don’t touch me.” He hissed. “Get back there and do your job.” The south african sniper paused momentarily before shouldering his rifle. He gleefully whistled as the Anführer observed reverb and the other WHITE SOVEREIGNS gleefully tear through the clothing of Ackerman’s corpse to steel valuables. He clenched his gloved fist and grimaced hatefully at their gleeful cruelty. Back at the industrial site, Faye comforted Joseph.
“That racist freak got enough attention.” She woman hissed. “Focus on keeping everyone alive, ok?” Joseph gave her a thumbs up, returning to counter sniping. Several umanned drones attempted to approach the VWS. Faye use her own large, powerful body to shield Nathan from the bullets. Fritz and Joseph killed 2 approaching WHITE SOVERIGN soldiers, reducing their heads to crimson pulp with perfectly placed shots. Veronica kept any encroaching soldiers at bay with her machine gun. Fritz and veronica’s long, batlike ears pricked up, which were cradled within the protective “horns” of their helmets. Veronica knew jet engines sounds when she could hear them.
“HANG IN THERE, RESCUE’S COMING!” she yelled, gunning down several soldiers. From the horizon, a 2 beat down, green colored jets screamed across the grey skies. Unfortunately, a white sovereign soldier fired a rocket propelled grenade into the building. Several grenades were hurled at the warehouse, causing it to rumble and rattle as debris fell upon the VWS-1. The fired grenade missed its target, but deafened the entire squadron. Shrapnel tore through Veronica’s helmet, causing it to crack and splinter, leaving her head exposed. Nathan sat up again, clutching his shoulder.
“LALEH, HELP VERONICA!” he barked. “FRITZ, USE THOSE EXPLOSIVES TO HOLD THEM BACK!” he grabbed his powerful handgun. “JOSEPH, COVER FRITZ!” everyone nodded and went about to take their positions. Joseph picked off soldiers aiming at Fritz as he made his way to the barricaded window. Laleh thundered to Veronica’s side, taking several bullets to the helmet and body. The window behind her was smashed inwards as several white sovereign soldiers took advantage of the chaos to break formation and ambush the VWS-1 from their back. Veronica got back up and continued laying down suppressing fire as more WHITE SOVEREIGNS attempted to break into the stronghold. Another torrent of her gunfire destroyed several drones that served as backup for the neo nazi soldiers. Fritz gunned down any invaders as they burst through the window, using his speed to toss back several grenades. FAYE shielded Nathan extending her arm over him. Nathan killed several intruding neo nazi soldiers with his handgun as he laid on his side. Stopping momentarily to either fight off the pain or reload. Laleh fired a stun grenade into the crowd, causing them to scream from the blinding light at point blank range. Dropping her grenade launcher in a panic she looked to Nathan as his condition worsened.
“CAPTAIN NATHAN!” she yelled, “PERMISSION TO ENACT LETHAL RETA-”
“JUST FUCKING OPEN FIRE!” Nathan screamed as he shot at several more soldiers trying to break in. Laleh took a deep breath as she pulled out something from another new pouch in her belt. Joseph couldn’t believe the shine of metal and the loud BANGS from behind him. Laleh’s hand trembled as her hand gripped the barrel of a handgun. She hyperventilated, her internal vow to only save life and not take it dissolved in order to save her friends.
"Now...i'm no better than they are..." She thought internally, looking towards her comrades, embroiled in their life or death fight. Her stomach turned between the crumbling of her repressed Self-Righteousness. "I...thought i'd never stoop to their level...stoop to that BASTARD ACKERMAN'S level..." The high intense stress caused tormented, conflicting thoughts to the surface. A bolt of shame accompanied the dying Ackerman's screams once again echoing through her head. Each WHITE SOVEREIGN soldier who fell almost caused her to wretch in nausea. Fritz pulled the pins on each grenade and each explosive he stole from, summoning his brief, but powerful speed to evenly distribute the explosive onslaught he was about to unleash. WHITE SOVEREIGN soldiers fled as shrapnel, explosions, and flames torched their bodies or eviscerated them where they stood. Not even their unhinged bravado could curb powerful explosives. Fritz tried to repress the grisly sight of burnt and shredded bodies as he went back into the building. He clawed at the horned apparatuses of his helmet in a futile attempt to dampened the screams of WHITE SOVEREIGNS soldiers who were dying fled back to their convoys engulfed in flames, or mutilated by shrapnel. Several of them were engulfed in flames and died trying to extinguish themselves in the corpse-choked marshlands.
“That sh-should…” he panted “hold off those death-seeking lunatics until rescue.” No sooner did he say that, did the E-12 jet fly low and deliver several devastating volleys of light missile and heavy machine gun fire. The Anführer of the Neo-Prussian league commanded his soldiers to retreat and take cover as several missiles devastated their convoy. From the dust and ashes, he saw several WHITE SOVEREIGNS drag their mutilated bodies towards the jet, firing handguns or attempting to launch rocket propelled grenades. Their horrific injuries didn’t dampen the maniacal joy from their faces. The Jet shuddered its dinged up wings, several flotation devices deployed, allowing it to skim the wetlands next to the building that the VWS-1 was holed up in. BEHEMOTH popped from the passenger side and fired his own rocket propelled grenade at the ghoulish fascist soldiers. Limbs and mangled bodies flew as the Anführer tried and failed to rally his terrified soldiers. The VWS-1 made preparations for their escape.
“LALEH, YOU FIRST!” Nathan said as fritz gingerly picked him off the table. She nodded as she got veronica back on her feet after being incapacitated from pain. The giant, monstrous medic burst out of the building and fired every single flashbang from her launcher at a rapid pace. The 2nd jet fired another missile into the crowd of WHITE SOVEREIGN scouts before rushing off to rescue VWSSOC. Nathan continued to fire into the crowd of Neo nazis soldiers until he was overcome with pain, and was handed off to BEHEMOTH to be properly secured. Veronica refused to let Nathan or the others out of her sight as she and Faye gunned down any other stragglers. Another sniper’s round ripped into the wetlands, causing a small eruption of water to sprawl across the VWS-1. Joseph immediately caught the muzzle flash and was at least able to force REX PREDONUM to take cover with several bursts of fire from his carbine. The VWS-1 barely had time to get settled as the jet started up and took off as sniper rifle fire pinged off its surprisingly sturdy exterior. The jet flew off into QM held territory as the mass of AVN and the other ALA factions marched upward into both VELEDOVIAS. REX PREDONUM watched the jet escape the range of his rifle.
He sighed as the jet vanished into the overcast sky. “No use in kicking myself, tomorrow’s another day.” He addressed his surrounding soldiers. “Regroup with the invading force, we’ve still got a war to win.” As he handed his rifle to an abomination, his hooded compatriot stared off into the distance. “REVERB, it’s time for us to go.” The hooded woman didn’t budge. “I understand how much of a good friend ARACHNEA was to you, she was a strong and pure Aryan biological female.” REVERB turned her head towards him. “She’d want her unfair death to be used as fuel to destroy the enemy, to be remembered as an exterminator of racial subhumans and transgender maniacs.” The hooded womans seemed receptive to his words. REVERB trotted alongside REX PREDONUM their helicopter escort finally arrived. “Good lord, this Veledovian summer is unbearable.” He said as he took off his mask and stroke the pulsating, vertical scars on his face. The Anführer took a single, hateful glance at the two ALPHA KOMMANDO members as his men boarded their own transportation copters. Some of his men were evacuated by WHITE SOVERIGN copters, as their grievous casualties allowed an abundant vacancy.
Back at the QM jets, Joseph and the rest of the gang sat in silence. He has removed his helmet, and given it to veronica to put in her war pack. The entire crew was covered in scratches, their armor and camo covered in little tears and damage. Joseph had a nightmarish, intrusive thought of the Machtiger in its prime, soaring a blood red sky. Its left wing covered in stringy, fleshy viscera. The naseuating image caused him to hold his head in his hands. Fritz was withdrawn and quiet, his once regal helmet-mask now scarred and damaged from shrapnel. The shield and blade he took as a war trophy rested next to his leg. Veronica leaned back, almost in a trance after the days events. Her eyes shifted from white to a lighter shade of yellow, adamantly stuck on Nathan. Her captain was in a secure gurney. His heavy, shallow breathing accompanied the raspy buzzing of the jet engines and the whirring of mettalic safety harnesses descended and secured them to their seats. His eyes met Veronica’s, all six of her eyes wet with tears.
“You did great, 1st lieutenant.” Veronica sniffed and wiped her eyes at her captain’s kind words. “It’s not your fault everything went to shit, at least you didn’t run away when things got bad.” Nathan attempted to chuckle but quickly became quiet, as if he joked about something he shouldn’t have. A device on Faye’s vest began to beep and flash.
“UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT INBOUND TO OUR AIRSPACE!” everyone began to panic, Fritz began to pray, making a sign of the cross and holding Joseph's hand. Laleh grabbed joseph in a side hug despite the great resistance from her seat’s straps.
“This is it.” Joseph thought. “We’re fucked.” He closed his eyes shut waiting for yet another thing to go wrong and kill him and every one of his comrades. His mind began to panic and imagine everyone screaming as their aircraft went up in flames. The intrusive, panicked thoughts of his and his friend’s flesh bubbling and burning before hitting the ground and dying in a fire ball. The jet, dinged up from extensive combat, came into sight onto the jet’s cameras. The pilot, BARDINUS, sighed with relief upon seeing a symbol of a helmeted skull and an upside-down american flag.
“It’s alright, lads.” Said BARDINUS from his large, beaked helmet. “It’s just a pal escorting us.” The second amphibious jet hovered next to the one carrying the VWS-1, alongside other QM aircraft. Joseph took of his helmet and stared at the floor of the aircraft. “Oh Faye, E-12 and the rest of our comrades escaped back into territory just fine.”
“That’s awesome to hear.” Faye said, noticing that Fritz refused to loosen his grip.
“I’m not gonna let go, buddy.” Said Joseph in a reassuring tone.
“I very much appreciate it.” Answered Fritz, who continued to shake. The desolate atmosphere of the jet permeated as the VWS-1 neared their destination. Joseph rubbed his temples and tried to process the horror and bloodshed he was made witness to. As he wiped the sweat off his hand, he noticed scar tissue appearing on his forearms, causing him to instinctively rub the ones on his face. He sat up, realizing how much weight he had lost over the course of several months. At first, he had lost track of time as it charged forward,now it had simply seemed to slow to a crawl. The scarred young man realized why; There was no historic or political banter from Fritz, who was now quietly sobbing in his seat. Veronica had become completely still, her eyes still wide, fearful, and completely white. Nathan had passsed out from the medication, but in stable condition. Laleh saw the fear in this eyes.
“He will be ok, I promise.” She said in a kind tone. Joseph gripped his shoulder tightly. “And I promise everyone here will be ok, too.” Her smile gave Joseph a slight bit of hope from a horrific mission. Fritz recived a coded message from HCA’s intelligence from his PDA.
“ATTENTION…GAERTNER…MULTIPLE SUPERWEAPONS SIGHTED IN AVN OCCUPIED VELEDOVIA…BE ON GUARD…THE WAR HAS ONLY STARTED… Fritz recalled the giant bomber in his mind.
“How many more…” he thought “how many more of those monstrous things must we destroy to end this horrible conflict…? Faye fiddled with a device on her wrist once more, as if trying to distract herself from the gaunt scene.
“We’re gonna be landing on a QM Naval vessel soon.” She wiped her pink-reddish hair from her eyes. “Thank god we’re back in QM held airspace.” RM I’s jet soon trailed behind the other QM aircraft.
“I take my leave.” Said RM I over the intercom.
“Thanks for the escort, brother.” Said BEHEMOTH over the intercom. “Be careful, if you wind up dead, I’ll kick your ass.” He joked in a sarcastic, but warm tone.
“Very well, I hope for the day I can see you all regularly.” Concluded RM I as he seemed to disappear into QM held forest area. BEHEMOTH saluted the jet.
“Godspeed, buddy.” Behemoth said as he reached towards the AC unit on the deck. a small American flag was placed in front of the AC unit, allowing it to billow from the airflow as if it were outside catching a small breeze. BEHEMOTH stopped the flag from flying off before gently re-sticking it back to the adhesive. The flag was next to a small graffiti heart that read BEHEMOTH + GOLEM. The jets began to wind down as the aircraft marshaller motioned them for a safe landing. The medical staff was already prepped to care for the wounded as several squads of erasure unit solders were able to be rescued from the sabotaged escape. VWSSOC was immediately rushed to medical care, as they could barely stand from exhaustion and pain. Joseph didn’t even get a chance to call out to Logan. Yet, his lover managed to get out a few words as the VWS-1 left the jet.
“You…you don’t want to know about the shit we saw.” Logan whispered as the medic escorted him to the medical area. Barreling from the deck of the ship came PHANTOM wearing a white trenchcoat. Their slick dark hair waved in the wind as they nearly pounced on Nathan, their pale face streaked with tears.
“N…Nathan…” they tried to speak. “I…I…” The captain held up his left hand PHANTOM cradled his right
“I’m fine, I know I’m in good hands with your guys…” He tried to let out a disarming laugh only clench his shoulder in agony. “…Don’t worry about me, alright? You don’t want to waste your time worried over damaged guys…right?” PHANTOM looked down at the deck before slowly letting go and returning to the ship’s interiors. “Hey…joseph…” The scarred young man rushed to his captain’s side. “I’m gonna…get Andrew to tell you the whole origin of the Renaissance man serum.” Joseph’s eyes widened.
“But, why sir?” he asked saluting.
“Well…I just feel obligated to get andy to tell you everything…I just don’t want to leave you in the dark anymore…you deserve to know what happened and why you can’t go home…” joseph figured his captain had become delusional from pain. Yet, a chance to learn more about APOTHECARY’s RENNAISANCE MAN experiment that killed his friends, and find out if RM III was telling the truth about it’s dark origins became too important to ignore. At the back of his mind, he truly did want to understand why the RENNAISANCE MAN serum was so important, to understand the very program that had caused his entire life to mutate into a near nightmare. Nathan clicked his earpiece “hey andy…we made it to QM territory in one piece.” He whispered. His earpiece crackled with an incoming message. “I’m sure…macmillian’s pissed for my radio silence…heh heh…”
“Nathan.” Andrew answered, spurring the captain to sit up at his coordinator use his proper name. “I’m afraid…he was a fatality in the ALA’s sabotage aboard the harris. Nathan was completely silent and became unresponsive as the QM soldiers carried him to the medical bay. Fritz was in a worst mental state upon landing, he struggled to even walk before falling to his hands and knees, weeping and screaming loudly until a torrent of vomit erupted from his mouth and splattered onto the deck. Veronica broke off from several QM medics to rush to her brother. Behemoth’s smile broke as he inched to FRITZ. BARDINUS, the pilot who flew the escape vessel gently sashayed and put his delicate, manicured hand on Fritz’s shoulder. BEHEMOTH’s large, cracked hand slowly, gently enveloped over the masked pilot’s dainty hand.
“Up and at them, darling.” Said BARDINUS as he helped Fritz to his feet and wiping vomit off his own combat catsuit. “We’ve got Fascists to defeat.” Fritz hobbled to the medical bay with Veronica at his side, refusing help or leave his presence. Joseph noticed Laleh looking at her PDA before swiftly putting it up.
“I suppose I should get going and provide extra medical assistance.” She said, drawing her hands to her chest. “Will you be alright?”
“Of course I’ll be fine.” He replied. The two shared a warm hug, and sharing a single warm look before she too vanished to aid the injured. Faye walked up to get a better glance of his condition. “You did a great job, too.” Faye rubbed the back of her head trying to smile before it dissipated.
“I’m sorry, dude, but I can’t really accept that compliment.” She said “today was a fucking nightmare.”
“Yeah, but we stopped that bomber from killing more Innocent people.” Faye nodded at least in agreement.
“That’s a good thing, for sure.” She answered. “I just don’t know how completely violated CNGS’s cyber-security is…if those spies will be found…” joseph looked across the ever worsening conditions of the river as a storm brewed.
“I got a bad feeling shit’s only going to get more dangerous.” Joseph said. Joseph gripped the side of the ship, as if the worsening weather was a reflection and warning of how horrid the war they were fighting was going to get. His thoughts then raced to RM I and if they’d ever meet face to face. Exhaustion finally took its toll and caused Joseph to slide down onto the deck floor. Faye crouched down to him.
“Let’s get you to recovery before you drop, dude.” Said faye. The scarred young man seemed to be unresponsive for a moment before opening his mouth to speak.
“Okay.” He said as the giant monster hyena woman picked him up to his feet an escorted him into the ship. All joseph recalled outside of the sobs of the wounded or grieving was the pounding rain. Nathan’s sob wracked shrieking echoed in an unseen medical room. The sheer, vacuous emptiness of the corridors. Finally, he remembered outside of Faye, he was all alone to process the costly victory. The lights seemed to flicker behind them, and a suffocating darkness surrounded the two. Only Faye’s armor, adorned with several technological oddities, provided them the light to move forward. Later that day, and almost halfway around the world, was a small island not too far away from CNGS-AUSTRALIA. Small submersible watercraft would occasionally break the surface as armed patrols of marine infantry circled the island like a shark. Several ships bore the colors of the Australian flag, but with red and white SS style bolts replacing the union jack. The submersibles proudly displayed the red sun of japan with an ALA swastika in its dead center. The island they guarded was the site of an ALA island base where ARFTIFEX was giving a dissertation to a large cadre of ALA high command officers, politicians and investors. Using a laser pointer, he brought attention to a photo of N.1685.
“To conclude, N.1685’s genetic template is set to be mass produced within two months.” He pointed to several photos of men in hospital beds with tentacles beginning to develop in their backs. The mass of ALA officials murmured and agreed. “For the pièce de résistance, I present you all my most incredible MASTERPIECE.” The metal walls lifted up behind him and displayed a large metallic orb behind a thick sheet of glass. The orb itself had the word “IMPERATOR” spray-painted on its top. The large, muscular, 7 foot 10 abomination laid in stasis as he was wrapped in the same catsuit N.1685 was dressed in, only in a pale color and head covering. His face was covered by medical wrappings and an oxygen mask. Within the room, multiple ALA soldiers wearing bio-hazard gear were tending to him. “I can’t show you anything yet, BUT I assure you my masterpiece will bring us to VICTORY!” More pleased murmurs erupted amongst the crowd. “Finally, I show you the ARYAN GUARD, the RENAISSANCE UBERMENSCH of our infantry, which will be deployed 6 months to the day!” The smug scientist clicked another button, unveiling a room full of white young men aged from 18-35, all with pulsating scars across their face. “Where my mentor APOTHECARY failed, I shall SUCCEED!” the crowd screamed with joy and applause as ARTIFEX bathed in the praised like an egotistical celebrity. N.1685, present as a bodyguard for ARTIFEX caught IMPERATOR’s gaze. For a moment the two shared a mutual glance before the wall sealed up once more.
The officials were herded into the engineering room, where schematics for an enormous, wingless aircraft larger as a modern bomber were displayed on a projector. “OPERATION RAGNAROK” were displayed to its side. On a different display was a large world map with central america, south africa, veledovia, eastern russia and several islands in the south china sea flashing in red. The words “AREAS OF INTEREST” would occasionally blink on the digital map. “Gentlemen, let me explain to you, the key to the aryan paradise and OUR final victory. We’re so dedicated to this final blow, we’ve diverted man power from south america at the final minute to here!” The egotistical scientist gestured to N.1685 before enticing the monster man to shut doors behind them. A group of guards arrived to secure the door, with the exception two ALA soldiers who avoided the guards before quickly turning a corner. The two ALA soldiers wore the same speckled brown camo and brown armor, only being identified by their height difference. The taller one had the name tag CHRIS, the other one MITCH.
“I’m telling you, mitch,” whispered Chris. “I heard that one of our superiors got iced by his OWN abomination bodyguards!”
“Nah, I think that’s just a bunch of bullshit.” Said Mitch. “But I’ll tell ya one thing, it feels like every time I turn around, one of the higher guys is getting wacked.” A heavy abomination quietly opened a door. “an ALPHA KOMMANDO operative fuckin’ dead, one of ‘em surrenders like a pussy, I swear this year has been CURSED.” The two noticed two heavy abomination soldiers watching them, the light gleaning off their red armored vests and black camo.
“I think we should keep it down, man.” Chris whispered fearfully. Mitch nodded as the two parted ways,and proceeded to enter inconspicuous closet. As he turned on the light, an ASSASSIN abomination stood motionless, as if he was waiting for the man in the complete dark. The assassin began to speak, but it wasn’t any sort of discernible, human language. The numerous hisses and clicks was reminiscent of beating cicada wings, or a mob of roaches swarming and crawling over each other. Mitch took a minute, unblinking, to process the situation. He answered back in that inhuman language
[THOSE IDIOTS HAVE NO IDEA OF OUR MACHINATIONS. JUST SCARED SHEEP JUMPING AT SHADOWS.] He said.
[EXCELLENT, KEEP SHARING SKEPTICISM OF OUR EXISTENCE, WE MUST MAINTAIN SILENCE FOR NOW UNTIL THE TIME IS RIGHT.] Replied the assassin. Within IMPERATOR’s chamber, a bizarre humming could be heard within his containment chamber, vertical scars developing underneath the oxygen mask, and lost deep in thought.
“In 12 months…we shall inherit the earth…all for SEVIERENCE. ALL HAIL THE DIVIDUS SANCTUARY .”
VALIANT WARRIOR SQUADRON TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II
