"No, we can’t get out here, the caterpillar tracks are busted!" A voice shouted over the terminal network as Aranea and her pack were closing in on the source of gunfire, "We have wounded here, one of the tanks is on fire! I can’t just drop my men and run, find a way to get us out here!"
"Understood, sergeant. We are trying our best to arrive as soon as we can. Hold on." A female voice responded.
Aranea growled, forcing her pack to charge forward on all four. From the sound of it, their allies are in deep shit.
Today she was with almost her entire pack, aside from the still wounded Sonya and two new warriors, who managed to damage their legs in training. Twenty-seven wolfkins, a force enough to make a small town submit. But that was not all. Olesya's pack was closing in on the place as well.
They were on a regular patrol mission, when they received a call for urgent help from a nearby village. Villagers asked for help from the state after the Resistance looted the place. Not wanting to take any chances, command dispatched a small convoy of two tanks and four supply trucks to accept the fealty of their new subjects. This place was once an enormous city, with countless skyscrapers and a sprawling subway system, but the Extinction put an end to it. Now, barely a few thousand people live here. The convoy arrived, starting to provide supplies and beginning negotiations with the locals. Everything was fine at first, then all hell broke loose.
The village was located in the ruins of the city, two large, towering skyscrapers still pierce the sky in this area, one to the south and one to the north. These half-ruined giants of the Old World were no longer populated or in use. Sandstorms that come to this area from time to time make quick work of anyone trying to settle inside. Yet today, forces of the enemy were inside of them. Using them as platforms for their sniper teams, the silver masks opened fire at troops of the Reclamation Army just as their allies on land started their attack.
The pack of Aranea charged past damaged buildings. They run into four silver masks who were shooting at state forces on the square. Yuki and Kate leaped at the enemies in an instant. Neither wolfkin bothered with shardguns; their claws ripped through enemies' clothes and armor, leaving only dead bodies behind.
The Reclamation Army's forces were stationed in the center of the square. They were busy distributing supplies when the attack came. Aranea felt anger as she saw dead bodies, both civilians and soldiers alike. One of the trucks lay on its side, one of the tanks had fire coming from fist-sized round holes in the armor. An ear-piercing sound came from one of the skyscrapers, and a new hole appeared in the still intact tank. The twin guns of the tank moved, aiming at the building in the distance. Fire spit out of them as shells were unleashed on the building, causing an explosion in the distance and exploding two large rooms in the building.
"Sly, make smoke screen at once! "Kostya, clear out the enemies in the building," Aranea commanded. Sly and three other wolfkins charged forward—two males and one thin-looking warrior, who was small even by the standards of males. This new warrior belonged to Yuki’s pack. She was an odd one, always scared of something and willing to take orders from a male. This was so unusual, that Aranea even asked Yuki if she really wanted to keep her, but the scout only shrugged. No one else wanted to take this female, so Yuki allowed her into her pack. Sly’s team threw smoke bombs, covering the square in a thick layer of dark clouds. Light flashed through the building's windows as wolfkins led by Kostya fired their shardguns at the enemy forces.
"Relief arrived!" Aranea screamed as the guns of a tank began to move toward them. Once more, an ear-piercing sound came, and a round hole appeared in the square before the wolf hag’s leg. She wondered just what weapons the enemies were using. She failed to even see the projectile. Even her crimson eye failed to notice a trace of bullet or shell in the air. "Kaleb, take the injured away from the second tank!"
Kaleb only nodded, leaping to the tank. The shardgun in his hand fired once, ending the lives of two silver-masked soldiers hiding behind the tank. Then the ground behind him exploded, and greenies charged from under it, both clawed arms aiming for Kaleb’s back. Kate crushed into the male wolfkin, sending him away with a hit to the side, taking one blow on her shoulder. The metal of her armor was split under the pressure of the enemy's hit, and the clawed hand left a deep mark on Kate’s shoulder. Miraculously, the second strike of the creature missed its mark, and Kate grabbed the enemy by the back of its head. She kicked the knee of the greenie, breaking it and slamming the creature face down into the ground with full force, following with a crushing step on the creature's head.
"Thanks, Kate!" Kaleb cheerfully shouted, aiming to treat her wound, but stepped back as Kate glanced at him.
"Concentrate on your work, male, and leave me alone," The scout commanded in a monotone voice, reaching for the laser rifle. Despite the smoke around them, the lenses of her helmet moved, finding and tracking the target. In a quick motion, she threw up her weapon, and a red beam shot forward, toward the skyscraper, "One." She said this calmly before jumping away from the place. With an ear-piercing sound, a new hole appeared in the ground where Kate had just stood.
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Kaleb hit the tank hatch, trying to get people inside to open it, but only panicked screams came from inside. Apparently, both the emergency exit and the main hatch were jammed, and the three-man team ended up trapped. Kaleb only nodded, told people inside not to sweat over minor things, and pushed his claws into the steel of the hatch, bulging his muscles. The systems of his armor screamed an alarm as the armor enchanted his strength to its possible limit. The sound of tearing metal was loudly heard across the battlefield, when Kaleb tore away the hatch of the tank and started helping people get out of the flame trap.
More greenies shot from underground, one appearing behind Sly and the thin warrior. Aranea snarled in rage as she noticed a warrior taking too long to reach for the shardgun. It was expected from Sly, as he was a male, but warriors were supposed to be better. Before the creature could slash either of them, Aranea was already behind it, her claws ran from the back of its head all the way to the bottom of its body, opening it up. The greenie trembled and fell over dead, its insides fell from the body on the ground.
"My thanks, wolf hag." The warrior spoke in hushed tones, her shardgun finally in her paws. She fired once, stopping another greenie from goring a male from the Sly group.
"Why are you so slow? Are you ill?" Aranea growled at her. The warrior shuddered as if struck, but continued to point her weapon at another foe, saying, "Carry on, good job." The wolf hag told her before disappearing. She will need to ensure that this one gets proper food and training later. There is no way she will allow her troops to stay this weak.
She tore through four greenies as they appeared, their flesh and muscles were utterly helpless to stop her claws as she tore through them. One of the greenies ripped through a male wolfkin's hand, only to be blown away by Kostya, who emerged from the building.
"All clean, wolf hag." He gave a quick nod as the rest of his team left the building. The old wolfkin has become more relaxed in the past few days and more focused. He no longer worried about his failing physical abilities, now he was busy learning to live with them. The shardgun in his hands rose up, blasting another greenie. One of the silver masks appeared from the building to the north, aiming to take a shot at Sly, only to be gunned down by Yuki. The scout then appeared behind Sly, hitting him behind the head and berating him for being careless.
"Continue around the area, eliminate any silver masks…" Aranea said to Kostya as she ripped off the head of another greenie and came to a halt when she heard a scream. One of the greenies rose up, tearing through the armor of the male wolfkin. A nearby warrior tried to help him when a new attack came, this time from the south skyscraper. Five ear-piercing shots came, and one of them took away the leg of the warrior, causing her to fall, cursing and groaning. These weird weapons utterly ignored the wolfkins' armor. Unknown projectiles cause the flesh to disappear just as easily as the steel. The male was nearly gored by the greenie's arms, but the thin warrior appeared nearby, pressing the barrel of her weapon against the greenie's side. A shot tore through the inside of the creature, and in its death throes, the creature threw both opponents outside of the smoke cloud.
Aranea charged forward, tearing through two greenies in her path and informing Olesya of the new enemy sniper team's location. She almost reached the soldiers in her pack. The female lifted her hands over her head, giving the sign of surrender, the male only managed to lift one hand because of an injury to his shoulder. Aranea could see two forms of people on the north skyscraper, so far away, and yet her crimson eye could see them. One was slightly thinner, the other bulkier. The bulky form lifted a silver-colored weapon and fired. Once again, Aranea failed to even see the projectile, nor had she seen any light from the long-barreled silver rifle. The bulky figure moved, as if something pushed it back, and the snout of the male soldier disappeared. The round hole was in his helmet. Aranea had no need to check the icons of her armor to know that this shot killed him instantly. The second figure aimed at the thin warrior but did not shoot. Aranea grabbed a warrior and threw her away from the street into the wall, breaking the stone. She charged after her, checking to ensure that the scared wolfkin was alive, and then contacted her pack.
"Yuki, Kate, take charge, while I am gone. Take the notion that greenies were underground, locals could possibly work with the enemy, don’t trust them too much."
"Where are you going?" Yuki demanded to know.
"To remove obstacles. The south tower will be taken care of by the pack of Olesya. I will take the northern one."
"Be careful. I removed one of the bastards on the north tower, but there are at least three more." Kate warned her.
"Sure. Kostya, pinpoint my location, aid the warrior here."
"I am sorry, wolf hag. I can still fight, wolf hag." The warrior tried to stand, her voice filled with fear and shock. Aside from possibly a few bruises underneath her armor, she was unharmed. But the wolf hag could see that she was in no condition to fight because she was too scared. Aranea pushed the warrior back on the floor and put her leg on the warrior's chest. This warrior was one of the new ones in her pack, and Aranea had yet to learn her name. She summoned information on the monitor of her helmet and frowned.
"What is your name, kid?" She asked, wanting to be sure.
"Tiny, wolf hag." The warrior responded, showing no sign of disobedience.
"You are to wait until Kostya arrives." The wolf hag took a step away from her and turned to face the north wall. Tiny sounded more like a nickname than a proper name. This girl was in Yuki’s pack. Aranea promised herself that she would learn later what was going on there.