21/Kryo/2467 R.S 1:45:42
*Forty-nine Minutes After Detonation*
Central Highway District Four, Centralia
Somewhere Near Ground Zero
The valiant effort to re-establish communications in the remnants of district four was successful, the first wave of brave Marines that jumped into the fray have received many casualties, Sergeants have retreated their men and women away from the crater and into the destroyed houses and buildings around it, inside they found the gory remains of the inhabitants, some victims could not be identified due to the damage induced by the blast and the unexpected subsequent chemical outburst generated by the materials used to create the bomb.
Unlike District one, the Millitant presence in this district is noticeable in the night sky, as bright bullets scrape across the darkness and the never-ending sounds of battle shroud all who are in the area. Just three blocks away from the crater, a sandbag perimeter has been set around the repaired Broadcast Antenna, inside the perimeter Vera and a group of four Marines hold their ground, fighting back and regaining territory whenever possible.
Vera throws herself against some sandbags to her left, she aims down her shotgun toward an incoming wave of Millitants, a Marine next to her stands up and shoots an orange flare vertically into the night sky. Behind the Marines, standing next to the broadcast antenna, Michael opens a green metal box, and from it he pulls out a brand new MTR, he reaches for his waist strap and grabs a magazine to load it in.
When he inserts the magazine into the MTR an explosion erupts in front of the perimeter, filling the street with smoke, he runs past two Marines and kneels next to Vera while mounting the rifle against the bags for stability. As the dense smoke and rubble fall into place, multiple bursts of gunshots rip through the dark gray screen, hitting and consequently killing the Marine that popped the flare.
Michael pulls the trigger and opens fire downrange to suppress the incoming attackers, "Weapons free, open fire!!" Michael yells.
The Marines reciprocate the attack as they blindly fire into the smoke, Michael lays down a couple bursts towards potential targets. In an attempt to cover their advance, the Millitants throw multiple smoke grenades into the street, unable to see any hostiles, Vera puts her shotgun aside and pulls out her binoculars, before looking through them she presses a button on top of it activating thermal vision. This allows her to see the targets by their heat signatures through the smoke, she looks through and sees more than twenty Soldiers closing in on them, accompanied by a weaponized utility vehicle which was holding its fire.
Upon seeing the vehicle, Vera alerts the remaining Marines and Michael of the upcoming threat while putting away the binoculars.
20: "Hug your cover! We've got fifteen-plus hostiles ahead, they have a truck in the back, be ready!"
M1: "Where the hell are our reinforcements?!"
M2: "Reloading!"
51: "Stay focused, Marines! Hold the line!"
Amidst the gunshots a loud thump is heard from behind the smoke, suddenly a heavy projectile crashes against the frontal sandbags, destroying most of it and dispersing the Troopers. Vera and a Marine get pushed away to the left of the perimeter, she regains her balance in mid-air and lands on her feet, upon landing she reaches for the Marine to pull him out of the line of fire, however, Michael gets pushed the opposite way and is tossed into the middle of the firefight, the deadly projectiles soared by him as the Barrier's orange glimmer deflected the incoming threat. The Barrier breaks as soon as he hits the ground with his right shoulder, the impact was devastating and now adds to the already lingering pain.
"Gah! Damn it, the same damn shoulder!" He thinks to himself, he tries to forget about the pain and continue on, Michael grunts as he crawls his way to Vera.
The frontal sandbag wall has been breached, only rubble covers Michael's movements. The bullets sweep closely above him, some of them crashing against the concrete and throwing chunks into his view. The Centralians still have two layers of sandbag wall nearly ten feet behind them. Vera sees and grabs Michael from his back armor plates, she pulls him into cover. The bullets do not stop crashing with the remaining sandbags and concrete. She puts him down away from the enemy line of sight.
20: "You gonna be alright?"
51: "I'll be okay, put down some fire!"
20: "Got it!"
Vera peeks her shotgun around the corner and blasts a couple of buckshots at the smoke, a sharp scream pierces through the gunfire. The Millitants push toward the remaining forces, their constant automatic fire tears the concrete walls into dust and shred the sandbags apart. With their cover dwindling, Vera grows desperate for a way to push back, a Millitant Soldier rushes over the destroyed bags only to be greeted by a shotgun blast that pushes him back to where he came from. The truck begins to rev its monstrous engine to intimidate the defending forces, affecting the Marines as they begin to fall back towards the broadcast antenna. Michael sees this and loses hope of holding the line, he turns his head towards Vera.
51: "Vera, you have to fall back!"
20: "Negative I'm not leaving without you!"
The Millitants yell as they advance through the decaying smoke, followed by the heavily armed truck. Michael reloads his MTR with haste and puts down a couple of bursts, hitting and killing two Soldiers, but the enemy's numbers only seem to grow, the vehicle aggressively accelerates to Michael, it crashes with the unleveled frontal sandbags but the driver steps on the gas, the menacing revs turn into roars as the vehicle bypasses the sandbag perimeter and pushes itself into the Antenna's proximity. Vera aims down her shotgun and unloads her magazine into the truck's cabin with hopes of killing the operators. Unfortunately this leaves her open for incoming fire coming from the Soldiers beyond the sandbags. As bullets crash against her barrier she continues to blast her way through the truck. Michael maintains his fire towards the Soldiers, attempting to cut their numbers down.
Above the war zone, more orange flares light up the sky, marking the high conflict areas for the eyes in the sky. This sight increases Michael's morale and reminds him that they are not alone, across the District thousands of Marines and hundreds of Troopers are battling it out for their country. He reminds himself about the events that happened not even an hour ago, the great loss of lives that took place due to the detonation of a never before seen explosive device. Within him, his decaying energy is restored and the vision of current events is now clearer than ever. Michael holds his fire and runs past Vera, towards the antenna, she sees this and continues blasting the truck, Michael vaults over the sandbags and meets up with the surviving Marines, he reaches for his beacon device and quickly places it on the ground. The device unpacks and commences transmission, Michael looks at the Marines and tells them to stay back and protect the beacon.
The Marines nod in affirmation as they hold their positions.
The vehicle chugs out smoke as Vera shoots one more blast into the truck's hood, the doors were torn apart and the operators destroyed. She switches targets and turns her shotgun towards the street, in the distance sees another wave of Soldiers sprinting towards the scene as the smoke finally diminishes.
Michael runs back to Vera.
51: "Beacon is up, I'm going to try and contact Ankiros and Jack."
20: "Understood."
Michael reaches for the side of his helmet and presses the comms button.
With the broadcast Antenna functional and partial comms restored in the area, 51 should be able to reach his squadmates and inform them of their current situation.
A small tick of static flows through, confirming that it is ready to transmit and to receive communications, he begins: "This is zero-zero-five-one, Sigma Squadron, come in?...
Oh-Nine Ankiros... Four-Nine Jacklyn, come in, do you read me?"
"This is Ankiros, we see the beacon and are coming in hot, steer clear."
Ankiros replies via SatComs, implying that the Sanity will arrive shortly and with firepower.
51: "We can't really move around, we're defending a small antenna, it's what's keeping communications up in the area, we need you to get here now!"
49: "Michael, you're asking for help?"
09: "That's enough Jack, drop me near them."
Michael ignores Jacklyn's comment, but suggests not to land the Dropship due to the incoming hostiles.
51: "Negative, don't land, there are too many hostiles nearby, if you can provide close air support that would be great."
49: "Understood."
As Michael holds his hand next to his helmet, looking into the sky in search of the dropship, he sees how multiple Centralian dropships begin to break the clouds and descend into the city, awaiting the Sanity. However, he leaves his guard down against the incoming wave of Millitants, they begin to open fire towards him and a bullet crashes against the nearby sandbags, knocking him back into his senses.
He takes cover, his barrier has not yet recharged since the last bash against the ground, this worries Michael, it should have recharged by now. Vera opens fire towards the incoming hostiles, the pellets lose velocity at longer ranges so she barely wounds the Soldiers, only staggering their approach, they reciprocate and freely fire at the Troopers.
.
.
.
The Sanity approaches the warzone, Jacklyn and Ankiros see how multiple orange flares decay from the sky, and spot several Centralian Dropships ferrying Marines into different areas of the district, reinforcing the surviving Marine Squadrons. Inside Jacklyn's helmet, he sees Michael's beacon, placed on the end of a T shaped street, down the straight path multiple Millitants can be seen hustling their way towards the end of the road where our Troopers hold the line. They begin their descent and are received by hostile small arms fire from the surface. The bullets hit the Dropship and its heavy capacitor generates a barrier, the yellowish-orange particles are expulsed from the top of the Sanity and crash against most if not all incoming projectiles, protecting the hull.
49: "This seems harder than what we faced on the border."
09: "Yes, I think it's best if we listen to Michael, I'm not in good shape."
49: "Don't worry, we'll take you to a medic as soon as possible."
09: "Heh... Ironic."
Ankiros slightly chuckles as he is a trained medic, and is unable to mend his own wounds. The Sanity passes over ground zero and both Troopers see the result of the infamous explosion for the first time, after having been hearing all about it via InterCom, they did not expect anything like this.
The incoming fire stops as if the area itself was dead, any trace of life was snuffed out. Jacklyn's jaw drops in shock, he cannot believe what he is seeing, on the other hand, the ravaged sight fuels Ankiros' dimmed rage as his hands curl into fists, the material of his gloves squeaks as it tightens around his hands.
Jacklyn notices this and attempts to hurry in his advance.
49: "In Aankhi's name... We have to hurry."
09: "Hrrrnnn..."
Only growling escapes Ankiros' sealed lips.
The once blaring mega-highway is now a looming shadow of its former self, the blast carved out a mile-wide crater, everything inside was disintegrated by the explosion. After the detonation, waves of Soldiers and Marines fought each other for control of the crater without knowing that the device had released a deadly chemical into the air which smeared the area with the unknown chemical. The victim's skin began to itch, like a rash it spread across their bodies until completely covering the victim in bloody blisters, after this, a brutally painful death subdues any person affected.
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The Sanity descends close to the perimeter, Jacklyn scans the area ahead. The ship successfully scans the incoming Soldiers and paints them red, becoming visible to the whole Squadron via their helmets.
49: "Targets spotted, I'm coming in for a gunning run."
Upon hearing this, Ankiros quickly reminds Jack of their previous altercation.
09: "Remember what I told you, if it's dangerously close, don't do it."
49: "I remember."
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.
.
On the ground, within Michael's visor, the hostile Soldiers light up as bright red silhouettes even through the rubble, the Sanity provides eyes in the sky advantage.
51: "I've got eyes on, thank you, Jack!"
The Soldiers get within firing range and Michael stands up to open fire at them, the Soldiers scramble for cover and the unfortunate ones are gunned down by the incoming bullets. They focus their fire in an attempt to suppress the Trooper, multiple bullets crash near Michael and miss by mere inches, he quickly throws himself to the ground for cover, still, his barrier has yet to recharge.
"What the hell is wrong with this capacitor?" Michael thinks to himself as he uses his left hand to fiddle with his chest plate, where the controls for the capacitor are located. Several multi-colored buttons span across a small area between his two chest plates, most of which do not serve their purpose anymore due to the toll every battle has taken on the armor. Michael repeatedly presses on the buttons to no avail.
Thunderous rumbles emit from the sky as multiple Dropships descend from behind the cloud covers. As Michael lays down looking upright he sees the Sanity in the distance as it approaches with incredible speeds.
The deafening roar of the turbines startles the incoming Soldiers, many of which direct their fire towards the Dropship, while others flee for cover.
Jacklyn arms the frontal autocannons and unleashes their deadly firepower down at the Soldiers as he strafes by.
There is an instant effect, the first Soldier hit by the heavy Cannon's rounds is torn apart with ease, the rest of the Soldiers quickly turn around in an attempt to flee but are gunned down to shreds.
Nearing the end of the run the cannons begin to overheat but Jacklyn holds down the trigger as he sees one Millitant standing his ground while the Soldiers around him run with horrifying fear.
Upon seeing the Soldiers get mowed down and pushed away from the perimeter, Vera celebrates.
"Now that's what I'm talking about! Woo!" She exclaims as she jumps and pumps her fist into the air.
Jacklyn sees the lone Millitant and sees this as a challenge, he smirks as he focuses both autocannons towards the man. He opens fire, only four rounds came out, the cannons have reached their heat threshold and they stop firing.
Three of the four heavy rounds crash against the street around the Millitant, chunks of concrete are sent flying into the air, the man quickly activates a wrist-mounted Aegis which sparks out a personal Barrier that successfully withstands the fourth round from the cannon, but not without him getting pushed to the ground from the great force the projectile carried with it.
Jacklyn can not believe what he has just witnessed, he continues his flight path forward, awaiting for his autocannons to cool down before coming in for a second run.
49: "I'm going in again, stay in cover!"
As Jacklyn swings the Dropship to the left, Ankiros begins to feel light-headed and weak. He tightly holds on to the ComVis seat, resisting the g-force generated by the turn. He tries to remain strong but the pressure device is no longer effective against the incredible pain, he grabs Jacklyn's right shoulder and faintly whispers his name.
09: "Jack, this doesn't feel right..."
Ankiros' right hand loosens its grip and slides off Jacklyn's shoulder, his head tilts backward while red rectangular elements riddle his helmet's HUD. They overlap each other over and over again, warning Ankiros about his current vital signs, like multiple failed attempts at containing blood pressure at moderate levels, and many more elements. Jack looks over his right shoulder and sees how Trooper Nine nods his head multiple times backward. He then looks forward as he completes the one hundred and eighty-degree turn, instead of pushing the Sanity again for a second run he keeps the Dropship hovering at, what Jacklyn believes, is a safe enough distance away from the Antenna skirmish. Jacklyn silently stares at the Shielded Millitant, he still cannot believe how it was powerful enough to withstand an auto-cannon's round, as he well remembers that even Troopers are not immune from a glancing hit. He stops looking down and turns around to take a look at Ankiros. Jack sees the bandages on his left shoulder, the blood loss has stopped so that is not what is killing Ankiros, continuing his search Jack spots a grave wound on Ankiros' ribs covered by a tightly stuck pressure-applying device. In search of the seriousness of the wound Jacklyn takes this off by twisting the device, finally revealing how the bullet went through his left rib and destroyed the light titanium armor as it went between the armored layers and impacted the vulnerable black fiber layer. "Oh boy, this is bad.." He thinks to himself before Michael asks for an update via SatCom.
51: "Hey, I see you guys hoverin' in place, what's going on?!"
49: "Michael, Vera, you're gonna have to hold on for a couple minutes, Ankiros has a serious wound."
Before any of them could reply, Jacklyn closes the channel and opens a new one to contact Jade. This only takes a couple of seconds within seconds, once the channel opens he quickly talks.
49: "Jade, I need your help solving this situation!"
12: "I'm all ears."
49: "Ankiros is gravely wounded, I've never seen anything like it, unfortunately, he already used up the little medical equipment he had brought with him. I can't just take him back to base and abandon the defense!"
12: "Hmm, I would bring him to safety, but I understand your point, you're going to have to compromise."
Jacklyn lets go of Ankiros and walks to the pilot seat, instead of sitting down and assuming control of the Sanity, he remains still watching through the reinforced glass the great battle raging on throughout the visible District, without letting too much time pass by he falls back into himself.
"I understand what I have to do."
Jacklyn says while he sits down on the pilot seat, he changes channels and reopens the local channel with Vera and Michael in it.
49: "Guys, I'm going back to base, Ankiros needs urgent medical attention and I won't risk it by staying until we regain control of the area, I'll send some help!"
The Sanity swings around, it stays still for a second until a loud boom erupts from its turbines as it flies westbound at incredible speeds.
Michael sees the ship blast away behind him, when he looks forward to the straight road the Aegis-wielding Millitant stands up from the ruined road, he stands his ground as his torn shirt dwindles behind him.
"Who does this guy think he is?"
Michael thinks, and continues:
"He took a good hit from the autocannon, he's not just fronting, this guy's good."
Heavy footsteps approach from behind Michael, he knows it is Vera so he remains in place. She looks at the Millitant and recognizes him, it is the same one that she encountered under the highway.
20: "Not this again.."
51: "You've faced this type of foe before?"
20: "I'm sure it's the same person, I couldn't defeat him under the highway, had to run to a safe place, then the detonation happened so I thought I had lost him."
The sounds of war dissipates, excluding the far rim of the crater, which still has some Millitant resistance. Michael aims down his sights directly at the Millitant, he notices that he stands alone, his back up is dead or have retreated in an attempt to escape Centralia.
"He's just standing there."
Michael tells Vera, but he continues:
"Vera, tell the Marines to advance to this location, go!"
Vera nods in acknowledgment as she skips a step backward, turns around and sprints to the Marines covering the antenna. Meanwhile, Michael taps on the side of the helmet and SatComs to any nearby friendly forces.
"This is zero-zero fifty-one, M K X, anyone reading this?"
As soon as he finishes the message, light static emits before a response follows through.
"We hear you loud and clear, Fifty One." A female voice replies in a serious tone. Michael instantly recognizes the voice but before he could speak, she continued: "I just saw The Sanity fly past me a couple of minutes ago, I thought Sigma Squad had retreated already."
Michael scoffs and quickly speaks before she could continue.
"Listen, Vultar, I know how competition fuels each squad in its own way, but I'm going to need your help."
Vultar does not respond any further and the conversation falls short. The Millitant chuckles loudly enough for Michael to hear. The Millitant holds his left hand up high and shows what seems to be a black square embedded into his flesh, the image is burned into Michael's mind. A memory of the day before flashes back to him, before the brawl in the dust bowl, Epsilon Squad leader, 0210 Wolfgang Lornel shot a Soldier that was rising from behind the wreckage, this soldier was holding a black case reminiscent of the one being shown to him.
"Wait a minute... Could it be?
No, Jacklyn eliminated him."
Michael begins to doubt his memory and attempts to make sense of the situation, until.
"I recognize you, do you recognize me?!"
The Millitant yells at Michael, the black box in his hand emits a light blue effect, before sparking a full-size aegis that protects his torso and head. The action seems painful for him, but he does not flinch or move away.
"So, are you gonna stand there all night, Abomination?! Your city is dying."
Michael starts to think about capturing the man, he has never seen such technology before, more so from the Millitant Republic. This man has become more than just another Soldier. As the sounds of footsteps close in on Michael, he bolts towards the Aegis Millitant at full speed. "I need to know just how much pressure does this "Shield" withstand." He thinks to himself before aiming down his rifle and unleashing the whole magazine directly at the Aegis. As the bullets begin to crash they start to be deflected to the sides, hitting the ground and concrete houses nearby.
The Marines huddle behind the little cover left at the first perimeter but Vera gives the order to hold their fire.
The last bullet exits the barrel of the MTR, Michael drops the gun to his right side and forms a fist with his left hand. The Millitant braces for the impact by holding on to his own left forearm and standing his ground, however, nothing would have prepared him for the incredible precision of Michael's punch. He yells as he thrusts his fist towards the epicenter of the Aegis, where the energy is being expulsed from. When his fist connects, a bright blue energy wave emits from the Shield, the massive wave of energy overwhelms the Suit's hydraulic systems, consequently locking Michael's armor. Not all was bad, on the other hand, his capacitor starts whirring on and the barrier system has been rebooted. Inside Michael's helmet the suit notifies: //BARRIER ONLINE// . The Millitant is also pushed against the ground for the second time, but he steadily recovers and rises from the ground, looking at his left hand in awe.
"I have never ever seen that before! I think you've discovered something for me, Freak."
Upon seeing the blue wave of energy, Vera quickly makes her way closer with caution.
While immobilized inside his armor, Michael alerts Vera of the dangers of this new foe.
"Hold on! He's unarmed, but that thing seems to be discharging massive amounts of energy, he didn't seem to notice but my barrier is up, restrain him!"
The Millitant walks to Michael and looks down at him.
Behind him, riddled throughout the street are the remains of the Millitant Soldiers. "You left me to die!" The man exclaims as he drives the edge of the shield towards Michael's neck, as the energy crashes against the yellowish-orange Barrier. "GAH! WHAT IS THIS?!" The Millitant exclaims in frustration.
"Vera, take a non-lethal shot! I can't move!"
Michael orders Vera.
As she draws her shotgun towards the Millitant, he switches his attention to her instead and advances a few steps.
"Round two, huh?"
He says as he slightly chuckles on the inside.
Now Vera knows for sure this is the same person that she encountered under the highway. Seeing that the area has been mostly cleared out, the Marines behind Vera advance to her location. The unarmed Millitant tightly grips his left forearm as if to resist whatever is thrown at him.
"It's over, Millitant, surrender!"
Vera commands the man, barely getting a response.
"I have a shot, just give me the clear"
A marine lets Vera know.
"Negative, he's mine."
Vera replies with confidence as she holsters her shotgun on her back, once done she opens her hands and opens her guard. "You are surrounded, and yet you won't give up?
I've got to hand it to you, you're persistent, but I won't turn away from you this time, I'm taking you in."
Her stance takes on a more agile style of combat, her goal is to subdue her opponent not to kill him, so she will be as accurate as possible with her following strikes.
A hit to the epicenter will trigger an energy discharge, and the edges seem weaker than the rest of the energy projection, Vera notices this energy displacement and formularizes an engagement plan.
On the ground, Michael struggles with his armor as he remains immobile, grunting as he squirms inside.
The Millitant makes the first move and lunges his aegis at Vera. The slow attack was not even a challenge for her as she hastily steps back to dodge, and reciprocates with a quick punch to the Millitant's left ribs. The blow lifted him off the ground and rendered him breathless, as he connects back with the ground, Vera grabs the Aegis from the edges.
Her Barrier instantly takes effect and forms around her hands, the kinetic force being created between the Barrier and the Energy impedes Vera to get a good grip on the Aegis.
Seeing how the Trooper struggles, the man grunts as he thrusts the shield against Vera's hands. The orange Barrier around her hands breaks, the energy burns through her black fiber gloves and burns a cut across both hands, as she feels the immense pain and heat being produced by the energy she stands back and closes her hands into fists.
Blood makes its way out of her palm and into the outside of her fist as it drips to the gray concrete dust below. The Millitant, though on his last legs, still smiles with satisfaction upon seeing the blood.
"The abomination bleeds. That is reassuring." The Millitant says in a low, relieved voice, it appears he has fulfilled some personal objective.
Michael also sees the blood drip unto the ground and is fueled by his protective spirit.
As the original Sigma Squad Leader, Michael looks after his squadmates and does his best to protect them, Michael screams as he pushes his left hand towards the sky. The immobilization ends with his left arm reaching into the air and he instantly uses his arm to remove the damaged right shoulder plate.
The Millitant turns around as the scream draws his attention, when he does a carbon black metal shoulder pad crashes against his face, dealing a heavy blow to the mouth.
"Gaah!" he exclaims in pain, his handheld shield device retracts the energy into his left hand as he uses it to cover his face and starts breathing heavily from his mouth as saliva mixed with blood flows through the spaces between his fingers shortly after.
The Man's attention has been split and his defense has been lowered. Vera sees this opportunity and sprints towards the Millitant, tackling him with great force.
Slowly Michael regains movement and sits upright, he stretches his arms and back while Vera arrests the Millitant. With hardened nylon braces, the Millitant's hands remain close to each other on his back, as he lays on his stomach Vera finishes the process and grabs him from his clothes. The Millitant looks at Michael as the Trooper stares off into the sky, seeing how multiple Dropships keep flying across the sky transporting units in and out of combat. The sounds of war around the District went from raging battlefield with explosives ringing off every couple gunshots to skirmishing encounters, where only some automatic fire is heard until the threat is eliminated.
The Millitant's earpiece slightly falls out and hangs from his ear because of Vera lifting him up, the low volume makes it hard to hear what is being transmitted, but he achieves to understand the message.
"The attack was a failure, the highway, was not the objective. It appears that Mikundrian Troopers have intervened with our plans yet again, though we do not know who were directly responsible, but they will collectively pay the price and feel the pain of the losses we had this night!
The Republic Remembers!"
He angrily lifts his head looking up at Trooper 51 once more and is judged by the Millitant as Directly Responsible, his hate for the Mikundrian Troopers grows larger.
However he remains silent, clenching his jaw as Vera turns around towards the Marines in the perimeter. The Millitant has been captured, along with the aegis technology.
20: "Get us a dropship back to Central, we're done here."
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Outside the perimeter Michael stands still, thoughtful. He looks at his opened left hand and says : "We, in particular, are far from done, I believe we have just begun.
Something changed yesterday after that mission. I just don't know what that is yet."
He closes his hand and slowly walks back to the perimeter.