The helicopter descended over the city of Minerva. Lowering altitude further and further down until the soles of their boots could just touch the red rooftops of the Central Promenade's apartment houses. They were making a touchdown in a large plaza of some sort. A large space had been cleared out, streets were boarded up with shop carts and stalls. Only the snow covering a stone-ground remained. Marines surrounded the area, making way for the landing chopper.

Hezekiah took a look around as they descended for landing. He noticed the buildings. They still looked lived-in. Curtains, intact doors. And then his eyes adjusted to the people around, and he could see civilians. They were very few, and when he did spot them, they were hiding behind rubble, watching through the windows, or just, in general, trying to distance themselves while keeping a cautious eye on the work of the soldiers.

The helicopter touched down with a bit of a thud. The skies were gray overcast. Not a good sign at all for the weather to come. But luckily, Unity's mission would be short and simple. As long as they didn't have to stay until nightfall. Again. As much good luck that Unity has had staying alive, they've also had extraordinarily bad luck getting into near-fatal situations repeatedly. Cursed and blessed at the same time. If the track record kept strong, Hezekiah predicted they'd once again fuck something up and suffer for it. Maybe it won't be something they could make it out of. Maybe they'd die this time.

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind. Couldn't have that. Not now. He and the rest of his team disembarked from the helicopter, their boots sunk into the frosty snow with a satisfying crunch underneath their soles. A squad of Marine approached them, "Are you the guys Command sent in to help our assault?" asked a Marine. On the chest of the Marine read a nametag, "C. Espinoza." He had dark skin and a wide round face that was painted with a jet-black goatee.

"Are you Lieutenant Espinoza?" Hezekiah asked.

Espinoza smiled, "All day, baby!" He spoke with a strong conviction. Whether he was trying to or not, every word he spoke sounded like he was yelling for some reason. A slight southern draw buttered his voice. He seemed like a cool guy, at least that's what Hezekiah thought.

"I'm-" Hezekiah was about to introduce himself before he was cut off by Sherman.

"I'm Lieutenant Sherman, and I'm here with Hazard and Unity squads," said Sherman.

"Hazard huh, y'all ain't from the Corps are you? You've been briefed on the situation?" Asked Espinoza, obviously taking Sherman's Liverpool accent and eyeing the foreign patches on his uniform.

"We're FECU. And we understand the basics," Sherman said.

"Then I'll connect the dots. A platoon of my men and a busted LAV are trapped in a church about half a click north. The area between us standing here, and them, is full of traps and ambushes waiting to happen," Espinoza explained pointing down the street that two squads worth of Marines guarded the entrance to, "That's deep in Imperial hands. We need to push through Imperial territory and get to them ASAP! Not only that, recon shows that the bulk of the Imperial army has already got them surrounded. And as a bonus, we've got those Reform guys that we've gotta take care of."

"You mean, The Reformists?" Otaes asked, "They wear blue headbands?"

"Yeah, those sons of bitches are a pain in my ass. We had a shootout with them earlier this morning, about five hours ago. But now, they just stand back and watch us like they are waiting for something to happen! Gives me the fucking creeps! Crazy thing is that they've got guns too. Old guns."

"Like… how old?" Hezekiah asked.

"I'm talking muskets! Real Napoleon-type shit!" Espinoza answered plainly, "And just to make our day, we've got civilians out in the AO. A lot of them."

"This area still hasn't been evacuated? This place is a Goddamn warzone!" Quinn yelled out.

"Yeah, good guys look like bad guys around here! Shit's fucked! Just check your shots, I've already had two incidents today! Please don't make it three," Espinoza must've been going through the same motions that Unity had gone through since yesterday. Fighting in such a densely populated area was a stupid idea, and the inevitable happened. It served as some form of reassurance to Hezekiah that at least his squad wasn't the only one, but what kind of reassurance is it to say that somebody else was just as much a murderer of the innocent as he was? That didn't absolve Hezekiah -- or the rest of Unity for that matter -- of anything, it just made them less of an outlier.

"Alright, what's the status of their magical capabilities?" Sherman asked him.

"That's an unknown. Since the wall came down their wizards practically vanished! We haven't had a report of them using magic against us… yet. Now the Imperial Army is here in full swing, so once we reach them, then we might see some magical spells. Just keep your eyes peeled for anything! Expect the unexpected!"

"Fucking hell...Alright, people… and elves," Sherman motioned to the two Warrior Elves standing beside them, "Let's get a move on, yeah. Do we have transport?"

"We have one LAV. And that's supposed to be riding ahead of us to support our advance."

"Soo we're going on foot? That isn't good." Lafayette said.

"Then we'll just have to get evil!" Espinoza fingered his radio.

[Lt. Espinoza] "This is Alpha 6 to Anvil 2-1, let's rock!"

[Anvil 2-1] "Copy that, let's get this bucket-o-bolts moving!"

Anvil 2-1 was the callsign of the LAV under Espinoza's command. Espinoza seemed to like the sound of that, "Hell yeah! Alright Alpha Company, let's move out!" Espinoza called to the rest of the Marines standing there. Unity, Hazard, and the Elves were joined by three platoons worth of Marines from Alpha. The LAV that was assisting them was from the remnants of Echo company. Hezekiah still got shivers every time he thought about Echo. Even though Alpha had been hit hard during the attack, a large part of the Company was still functional. But Echo was practically knocked out. A huge chunk of Echo just buried or vaporized. Stories from survivors on 181 filled Hezekiah in on what happened, and the survivors looked like they had seen ghosts. Lafayette said that a few of them looked like walking corpses. Probably like how Brian looked now. He still hadn't said a single word as he marched along with the rest of the soldiers. It was like he shriveled up since the battle. Hezekiah still didn't get the chance to properly thank him, not only for saving his life but also for saving Temetet. He'd have to get around to it sooner or later.

They walked through the streets of Minerva. The Cobblestone road felt like walking through a narrow corridor in a maze lined with booby traps. Every alleyway, every open door, every street junction, could conceal a threat. The NATO force, using the help of the Kiote's translation magic, ordered people who were outside of their homes to stay inside. Hezekiah swore he could feel the eyes on his back like little beams of heat searing into his skin. Watching his every movement. It was like trying to hide inside of an empty and bright room. Not a single place existed where they wouldn't be visible. Every single action they took was being studied intensely by potentially hundreds, hell, thousands of people. Any one of those people could be a threat. But Hezekiah couldn't assume that. Most of the people caught outside were adults who were trying to get food. The baskets clutched in their arms made that clear. But even still, they couldn't be out here. No matter how necessary.

Hezekiah slowly kept pace with the rest of the unit. Looking around, studying everything with the eye of an Eagle. Whether he was doing a good job or not was yet to be seen, until he spotted movement in a few balconies above them, "Hey. I've got eyes on something above us," He informed the rest of the unit with a hushed yell. The soldiers looked up at the rafters and balconies above them, and sure enough, a congregation was gathering. They looked like soldiers. But they weren't Imperial nor Garrison. Blue head and armbands made that clear. The Reformists…

"It's those Reformists guys, creeping us out," Lafayette said.

"Just keep walking, they're only here to watch," Otaes reminded. That much was true. The Reformists did nothing but keep their eyes on the unit. They must've figured that fighting wasn't an advantage they held against the modern weaponry of the NATO force. Only watching them from relative safety…

"Nope. Not a fan of that," said Scott as he also saw that they were surrounded by them.

"You're telling me. Don't you SAS guys have special training for this type of shit?" Flint asked in a half-mocking and half-serious way.

"Yeah, it's called STFU," Cato took the liberty to answer with a little bit of sass peppered in his British voice.

"What does that mean?"

"Shut The Fuck Up!"

Flint nodded in defeat, "Yeah, I walked into that one."

Walking a bit further, they came into audible range of the firefight going on inside of the church. They could hear the guns blaring from automatic weapons, "That's Wade's boys! Just ahead!" Espinoza informed them.

"No eyes on Imperial activity," Sherman said.

"They are waiting for something, I know it!" Quinn took another look around, his nerves obviously getting to him. He made an important discovery, "Hey! The Reformation dudes are gone!"

"Probably trying to get the fuck out of here before shit goes down!" Said Flint.

Hezekiah peered into each and every single window, open door, and balcony. Making sure that nothing slipped his eye. Visibility was good in the light sprinkle of snow. Now was as good a chance as any to try and see the enemy before they saw the NATO unit.

It was then that something caught Hezekiah's eye. Red. Red like ekron magic, "MAGE!" Hezekiah yelled out, pointing his IAR downrange to get the dot of his holographic sight over the Mage's head. The mage was a rat demi-human, and with an ekron stone around its neck, looked to cast a spell against the NATO unit. Hezekiah was fast, but not fast enough. A beam of red energy shot from the Rat's claws just as Hezekiah pulled the trigger. The skull of the Rat burst with red blood, confirming that he had killed the target. And to make things better, the Rat missed every single soldier. Even the LAV… which was odd since it was the easiest shot to make. The soldiers were literally fish in a barrel, how did the rat miss?

It wasn't until Hezekiah heard a low-pitch crumbling sound to his left, that he figured out why. The Rat wasn't aiming for them at all. To his left, a four-story tall building's face was crumbling from the blow. It would fall on top of the soldiers. Hezekiah looked up at it, completely unsure of which way to run as the other soldiers began to move out of the way. A fast shadowy figure approached him, embracing him in its arms, and shoved him out of the way just as the brick building came crumbling down.

"CRASH!!!" The sound of hundreds of bricks, wooden planks, and shattered glass collapsing against the snowy ground filled Hezekiah's eardrums. He landed on the floor with a thud, temporarily scrambling his brains. In a few seconds, he took a look around realizing that he had been saved. He looked at his savior, and it was none other than Lieutenant Sherman.

"You broken?" Sherman asked him.

"Not a chance!" Hezekiah said through gritted teeth. Of all the people to have saved him, it had to be Sherman. Hezekiah didn't hate the guy or anything, but now the respect owed to Sherman had to be cemented. Either way, Hezekiah was grateful.

"Then let's go!" Sherman got to his feet and offered Hezekiah a hand, which he took. Raising up from the frosted ground, Hezekiah took in the sounds of gunfire and yelling of orders. The LAV was caught in the building collapse, but it of course wasn't that bad, managing to reverse out of the debris, but the crew was temporarily stunned as they hesitated to return fire. The Garrison had capitalized on this, and ahead of them, beams of light shot from ekron stones to try and pin the soldiers down. Hezekiah grabbed his weapon and ducked into cover behind the LAV, which was now stationary, and observed the situation. The Garrison had taken to the upper floors of apartments to literally mop the stunned soldiers. Hezekiah knew that they had to be cleared out.

"GET A GODDAMN GRENADE DOWN THEIR THROATS!" A Marine yelled out. He saw a brave soldier move out of cover with a grenade in hand for a good throw. It went flying through the air towards their general direction, but the Marine was hit by a magical energy beam that tore through his left side, "ARGH!" The Marine cried as he fell backward before being swarmed by his comrades who pulled his injured and bloodied body back into cover.

[Hammer 2-1] "STAND CLEAR, WE'RE RETURNING FIRE! THIS GODDAMN TIN CAN IS A DEATH TRAP!"

"SHIT, THEY GOT OUR ASSES PINNED DOWN! WE NEED TO WEED THESE MOTHERFUCKERS OUT! MARINES, YOU ARE CLEAR TO GET SOME!" Espinoza yelled out.

"OORAH!" All of the Marines yelled back, as was natural.

Hezekiah turned his attention to the apartments, they seemed connected to the buildings that their attackers occupied. He knew exactly what needed to be done.

"UNITY, ON MY ASS! LET'S GO!" Hezekiah yelled. Unity and the elves got up to follow Hezekiah as rushed over to a closed door. After trying to get it open, and failing, he kicked it in revealing a dark hallway that led to stairs in the back. But that wasn't it. Civilians were inside. Three lizardmen. Children judging by their height and the absurd size of their eyes. They were embraced by one adult, who stumbled backward in fear. Hezekiah felt the presence of Unity behind him. He had to move up whether the civilians were there or not. The children had begun screaming, and the adults had too, they were terrified.

"They aren't a threat, move on! And get them the hell out of here!" Hezekiah ordered. Temetet took that as his duty, his translation magic flowing from his body.

"Please, we won't hurt you, just go into your homes! It's not safe here!" Temetet said in their language. The rest of Unity continued up the dark staircase to flank around the ambushers and to get a vantage point of the street below. They entered into yet another dark corridor with a window that looked out into the street. The inside of the building reeked of mildew and water damage, obviously, this was the more rundown part of town. Two doors flanked the right. One was already ajar, and the other was locked shut. Putting his ear to the wall, Hezekiah could hear Iscariots talking on the other side of both doors. The question was, which one held civilians and which one held Imperials?

"Quinn, Lafayette, Brian. You guys breach the locked door. Otaes, Flint, you're with me. We're taking the open one. We'll cover you guys, got it?" Hezekiah whispered to Unity.

"Heard that! C'mon fellas," Quinn took point behind the shut door. Brian and Lafayette stacked up behind him, while Hezekiah moved up ahead. With a hand signal from Hezekiah, Quinn swiftly moved into the open door and kicked it down, rifle pointed at whatever was inside as he rushed in with Brian and Lafayette following close behind. The sound of screaming came in from that room. That was the civilians.

[Quinn] "We've got nothing here sir. Just a very, very, pissed-off family."

[Hezekiah] "Alright, rendevous back with me. We're moving to the next room. Standby."

Hezekiah rushed inside of the open door, leading into an apartment. It still looked lived-in. A bed sat on one side of the room, a cabinet full of silverware in another. Hezekiah stepped inside, hearing activity. More Iscariot voices, whispering. They were coming from a doorway that led into another room on the extremities of the apartment. Flint followed close behind him with Otaes being last.

They lined up on the one side of the doorway, "These are Imperial," Otaes whispered, understanding the words that the Iscariots spoke. Hezekiah nodded, knowing now that only the enemy remained behind the wall. He unsheathed a flashbang and tossed it inside. The chatter from the Imperials soon turned into panicked yells as they saw the metal canister drop into their room, unsure of what its purpose was or what to do with it.

"BANG!"

The room filled with bright white light and made a deafening noise. Hezekiah rushed in, identifying two targets who were holding their eyes and ears in pain after being stunned. They were definitely from the Garrison judging by the fact that they wore light armor and steel helmets. They carried daggers on their hip and held Ekron stones in their hands, their most effective weapon.

"CLAP! CLAP!" Hezekiah did not spare a single moment before killing the two hostiles inside. With the room clear, Unity took to the windows to observe the situation on the streets below.

[Hezekiah] "Unity Actual to Alpha Six, we are in position to help you guys out!"

[Espinoza] "Get to it! These motherfuckers are slapping us around here!"

Hezekiah identified two mages who were unleashing fireballs and beams of energy against the soldiers trapped in the street. But before he opened fire, what appeared to be a firecracker was launched into the window that the mages were inside of. What followed was a huge fiery explosion that must've killed them. His eyes landed upon the source of the explosion… Otaes. With the movement of a machine doing a repetitive task, she reloaded a red-tipped arrow into her bow. Finding another target, she let the arrow fly. As it left the clutches of the bow, something struck against the tip causing it to spark as it flew through the air. The sparks formed a fiery orange streak behind the arrow as it flew to yet another window. Upon impact, it exploded in much the same fiery fashion as the last arrow did.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"What kind of arrows are those?" Hezekiah asked her.

She looked down at her quill, holding the red tip of an arrow up in her hands, "We call them Sun Tails," Hezekiah figured it was because of the orange sparks that followed the arrow in a streak behind it, "They are made from the oil of a Phoenix turned into a powder. Hence, the red tip."

"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Flint asked her, Otaes laughed a bit.

"We keep our weapons diverse to win wars, I'm sure you'd understand."

"Neat," Hezekiah whistled, "Keep using them, they're working."

"Got it," she said, before letting another arrow fly. The sound of yet another explosion shook the air as it collided with its target. Unity opened fire on the ambushers. Forcing them to deploy their shields. Armed with Otaes' arrows, they couldn't hold them up for very long. Soon the Garrison had to make a hasty retreat as the combined fire from the Task Force in the street, and Unity's flank was too much for them to handle at once.

When the last Mage in the vicinity dropped dead, the team held their fire.

"Clear!" Unity could hear Espinoza's voice from the street level. The soldiers on the ground got out of their cover as they recuperated. Hezekiah led Unity back downstairs to go and regroup with them, "Sitrep! Lemme hear what's up!" Espinoza shouted.

"We're good, all alive!" Said a Marine after checking with his squad.

"Same here!" Said another.

"Ready to fight, sir!" The last Marine squad reported.

"Good shit! Hey, Unity! Nice stuff out there! I wanna see more of that!" Espinoza turned to Unity as they left their occupied building.

"You got it," Hezekiah flashed a thumbs up.

"Alright people, let's keep it moving! Anvil! Let's go!"

[Anvil 2-1] "Copy that."

The engine of the LAV began to purr loudly, the wheels on the truck began turning, and it lurched forward. The NATO force once again following close behind. The sounds of gunfire intensified overhead, but a new sound joined them. Hezekiah looked behind him to see a Venom flying overhead. Unity's original helicopter transport was back in the game, circling overhead.

[Liberty] "This is Liberty here to Actual, we're ready for Close Air Support. Say the word and my gunners will tear anything to shreds."

[Espinoza] "You don't know how glad I am to hear it, Liberty. We'll say the word."

[Liberty] "Zulu-Eight's MQ-9 Reaper is inbound in five mikes to assist with some heavy ordinance. Liberty, out."

"Look's like we're getting that support Newman promised," Quinn said.

"Yeah, they're only two minutes late!" Flint joked.

The soldiers once again got to moving through the streets. Up ahead just three blocks further, the street transformed into a large plaza that was centered around a bronze statue of some historical figure. An Iscariot flag was flying overhead. Opposite of them lay the church. It was a huge stone building with five floors, huge stained glass windows, and a single spire that tapered until it reached its thinnest point at a height that could compete with some of the largest cathedrals in Europe. In the plaza were Iscariot Imperial troops. These soldiers were different from the untrained militia that compromised the Garrison, the Empire's troops were dressed fully in either crisp silver metal armor or in a burgundy uniform lined with gold that made them stick out in contrast to the white snow around them. They were engaged in a siege against the occupants stuck inside of the Church. The Iscariots were using shields, fireballs, and small basic spells to try and bring the entirety of the Church building to a crumbling pile of smoking debris.

"That's Wade and his boys just ahead!" Espinoza noted, "Let's get our asses in gear! The clock is ticking!"

The task force burst into a full-on sprint down the road, a task made slightly more difficult by the snowfall and the debris that littered the ground. Hezekiah huffed to himself as he and the rest of the marines charged up a hill of fallen stone from a collapsed home, only to stumble back downhill a moment later. They crossed one intersection into another, moving into a whole new block that got them one step closer to Wade's men. But then, they were once again ambushed.

It was a fireball launched from the third story of a window just in front of them, four more Iscariots had materialized throwing themselves right in the path of the approaching soldiers. The four other Imperials carried bows, not expecting of course to kill all of the soldiers with the arrows, but instead to force the team into a difficult position. The fireball was a miss and exploded in front of the LAV with about the same force as a grenade, engulfing the immediate area with fire that did little but melt the snow and singe a few hairs from a few Marines unfortunate enough to be close by. Still, the ambush was relatively weak, Hezekiah kept his head low and moved behind the LAV, the vehicle opened fire on the attacking Imperials with its Bushmaster cannon, firing explosive rounds that continued to demolish buildings and forced the Iscariot forces to go on the defensive.

"FLUSH 'EM OUT, C'MON!" Espinoza screamed over the chaotic noise of gunfire and small explosions that had taken the world by storm. Hezekiah took a steadying breath in and peeked out of cover with his rifle aimed down sight. A couple of pulls from the trigger kept a few Iscariots from returning fire, as more Garrison forces detached from the siege and made the exhausting run to keep the rescue team at bay. Shields were of course up as always, and the team was finding it quite difficult to break through the Imperials, as tired as they looked. Hezekiah managed to get a really good look into their faces, and although most were animal demi-humans, their expressions looked terrible. Exhausted, their Garrison uniforms (If they could even be considered as uniforms at all) looked tattered and in bad shape. The Battle was beginning to take its toll on them…

'Good,' Hezekiah thought. That'd make their job easier. But then, he saw an arrow just narrowly miss him… from behind. Quickly he ducked his head behind some brick rubble, turning about-face just to catch another Garrison unit forming behind them.

"Shit! Behind us!" Hezekiah yelled out. The soldiers too notice instantly, with one of Otaes' explosive arrows managing to down a lot of them. But then they used their magic to once again pin the team down. Now caught between two engagements, the situation suddenly turned dangerous.

"They're tryna pop us like a fuckin' pimple!" A Marine cried out.

"We need that fire support!"

Hezekiah mounted his IAR on top of the dirt, laying belly-down in the snow. Flint fired a couple of shots at the enemy before he too threw himself behind cover, just narrowly missing a charged energy beam that could've punched a hole through his head. Next to Hezekiah, he frantically tried to reload his M38 DMR while shouting a colorful sequence of swears, insults, and expletives, all aimed at the Iscariots.

"Anybody ever told you that you've got a sailor's mouth?" Hezekiah joked as he too retreated a bit further behind cover to reload.

"Yeah, well try living in my boots for a day. Asshole," Flint gave his superior a pissed look, but it was mostly in a joking manner.

"Not a chance," Hezekiah chuckled, before mounting his gun back up over the cover and unleashing hell upon the Iscariot soldiers. Espinoza slid into cover to his left, radio in hand, his face as serious as ever.

[Espinoza] "This is Actual to Liberty, they're pushing our shit in! We need a gun-run, over!"

[Liberty] "Negative Actual, you're gonna have to designate some targets for us! My gunners can't tell what's civilian or hostile."

"Shit! Somebody get some colored smoke out there! We need to mark targets!" Espinoza asked the team.

"I've got it covered!" Said Scott. He unholstered a smoke grenade canister from his vest and chucked it up and over the LAV, throwing it a great distance right into the heart of the attacking Iscariot forces. Red smoke spilled out of it, slowly filling the street and the air…

[Liberty] "Copy! We've got a visual on red smoke. Making the pass, stand clear!"

The familiar sound of helicopter blades whirring in the air crept up behind the team. All of the soldiers turned in time to watch in wonder as the Venom banked over the team aligning itself with the street, and then push forward. The two miniguns on the doors opened fire destroying everything in its path. And with the narrow environment that the urban streets created, it was like trying to flush out a rat hole with fire.

"BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!"

Sparks flew from the impact of bullets flying faster than Hezekiah could even imagine. Imperials were torn apart, with Garrison troops doubling over in the deadly rain of hot lead.

[Liberty] "Ooh baby, that's a lotta death… I'm thinking we got maybe thirty or so on that one."

Yelling from the Iscariot lines signaled a retreat from the flanks, and seeing the power of the helicopter slaughter their allies, the frontal attacking Imperials also made like a tree. Stumbling over themselves as they tried their hardest to beat it.

Seeing their enemies retreat made the soldiers cheer with joy, "HELL FUCKING YEAH!"

"GET SOME, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

"YEAH BABY! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

"OORAH!"

Hezekiah couldn't help but let out a cheer too. Holding his fist up pointing to the skies in a show of both domination and triumph, "WOOH YEAH!"

"Okay, boys! Let's kick some ass! OORAH!" Espinoza ordered his troops to move out of cover and push forward, and after they gave the mandatory "OORAH!" the Marines obeyed. Running out of covers, guns blazing. They approached the plaza, noting that the Imperials inside of the Plaza sieging down Wade's men in the church were not Garrison forces. These soldiers had clean-looking uniforms and armor, looked far more organized, and moved with more agency. When they noticed the team approaching them, they quickly adjusted their position to open fire, only to be buzzed by the passing Venom overhead.

Between the gunfire that they sustained from the team and helicopter, the Imperials had no other choice but to lift the siege. Taking for too many casualties they retreated, "Looks like they're calling it off! I'll radio Wade that we've arrived, somebody get the exfil here!"

"I'm on it!" Hezekiah said, fiddling with his headset, calling back to his mission briefing to remember the name of the pilot assigned to exfiltrate Wade's forces.

[Hezekiah] "This is Staff Sergeant Brooks to Hotel 2-1, we're requesting our exfil!"

[Hotel 2-1] "Roger Wilco. ETA for Exfil is about five minutes, just hold tight."

[Hezekiah] "Copy!"

When Hezekiah got off of the comms, he looked up to see a rather upset Espinoza, "Dammit! Wade says that he's got a lot of his troops injured, we're gonna have to go in and carry them out!"

"How long until our Exfil?" Sherman asked.

"Five minutes," Hezekiah confirmed.

"That's enough time," Sherman said, "Let's do this!"

The team rushed out into the now cleared-out plaza. In the center was the large statue of course, but the Plaza was unique in that it wasn't a simple four-way junction. Seven streets intersected the Plaza, which in itself was a large marketplace for the townspeople. Of course, all of the merchants and patrons have long since either fled or have taken shelter in their homes surrounding the area. But it struck Hezekiah as being particularly vulnerable. Seven different routes for attack…

The Church itself sat in the wedge between two streets coming into the intersection from the north, the entire block that the two roads formed had been converted into a park that the Church sat upon. The scenery was quite beautiful, this area looked more for the wealthier denizens who inhabited the Central Promenade. Seven possible routes of advance…

The team made it into the park, which in reality was more a lush garden. All the vegetation lie bare, covered in snow, save of course for the evergreens and the occasional persistent shoot of grass that cropped up here and there. They walked up the stone path right to the front doors of the church, "Alpha Company, stay out here and take security! Hazard and Unity, you guys get Wade's boys out of there!"

"Copy!" Sherman said before turning to Hezekiah as the two squads prepared to enter, "Remember Staff Sergeant. In and out, yeah?"

"You got it," Hezekiah affirmed.

With that, Sherman pushed the wooden doors open, very, very slowly. Peering inside was a dark hallway and the red traces of lasers. When Sherman opened the door some more, Hezekiah could see a fireteam of Marines who barricaded themselves inside of the Church. Moving pews, altars, chairs--anything they could get their hands on.

"Blue! Friendly!" Sherman called out into the depths of the church.

"You're all good!" Said one, presumably Sergeant Wade.

Both Unity and Hazard moved inside, "Where's your injured?" Hezekiah asked them.

"Follow me! I'll take you to 'em," Sergeant Wade said. He spoke with a kind of peppy Minnesotan accent. His face was difficult to make out in the darkness of the building, but he was strong-jawed and wore mutton chops on his face. Standing on top of the barricade, he appeared guarded by three of his Marines, "Boy, are we sure glad that you're here. We were about to start throwin' bricks at 'em!"

"Sounds like we came just in the nick time!" Rose spoke, and for the first time, Hezekiah could hear his gentle English accent, or gentle compared to the roughness that his squadmates had. They were offered hands to climb up and over the barricade, as they entered the main room. It was a vast open space with light shining in beautifully from the windows built on the upper floors. Mixed in with smoke from what must've been either several-now extinguished fires or from the intense fire of guns, the entire room had an almost euphoric dream-like atmosphere to it. Several Marines tended to the injured on makeshift cots made of little more than spare gauze and curtains on the floor. There were twenty able-bodied Marines in total, about six of them were injured and couldn't move. Most of them had received hard injuries to the torso or the legs. Mostly extreme burns and puncture wounds, likely from the energy blasts that seemed to be a common spell among low-level mages.

"I and Otaes can get these soldiers on their feet you know?" Temetet informed, gesturing to the soldiers.

"We'd do that, but we don't have the time! Hotel 2 will be landing any minute now, and when they do, we have to get out of here!" Hezekiah said.

"So what are we wasting time for then! Let's get to it!" Cato said, rolling up his sleeves. The Marines of course tended to the wounded first. Hezekiah and Brian gently picked up a man who had received a blow to the hip. Carefully, they wrapped his arms around their shoulders and necks and assisted him in walking outside. The rest of Unity and Hazard did much the same while Wade's Platoon cleared the barricade for easy passage.

Every few steps or so the Marine winced in pain, and it demanded a new wave of "Relax, we'll get you there"s and "Don't worry, we've got you"s from both Hezekiah and Brian. In one such wave, Hezekiah even managed to get a word in about Brian.

"Don't worry about a thing soldier, Brian here's the best squad medic in the Corps! He won't let you die!"

It forced the previously poker-faced kid to crack a silly smile, all teeth from cheek to cheek. But he didn't comment on it. When the two reached outside, their hearts jumped for joy as both Hotel 2-1 and 2-2 were in the process of landing in the Plaza just outside the Church's garden. Red crosses on 2-2 signaled its purpose as a Medevac and a pair of Medics dismounted carrying stretchers, possibly for the injured soldiers inside who absolutely could not move at all. Brian and Hezekiah both approached 2-2, with the sole Medic inside taking in the injured soldier.

With that cleared, the two stood by as the rest of the injured came in. The process was slow and tedious but it was vital. Hezekiah winced as he saw the last injured soldier come through on a stretcher. A barely alive Marine who had suffered a serious head injury during the battle from shrapnel, and as such was bleeding from just about every orifice on his face. Ears, eyes, nose, everything was bleeding.

"Jesus Christ must've been one hell of a battle." Quinn heaved as he joined the duo.

"What do you think happened to him?" Brian asked.

Quinn shrugged, "They're saying that it's shrapnel. Fucked his entire face up like that. His entire left face just doesn't work now."

"Even the eyes?" Hezekiah asked.

"Especially the eyes. The left eye and ear on that guy are basically done for. No amount of surgery is gonna fix him…" Quinn retold the story he had heard from the medics.

No surgery eh?

"Wait a minute, tell them to let the elves on the helicopter. The Raritans can take care of them! Right Otaes?" Hezekiah called out to her. She and her brother had just finished loading a less injured soldier on board the helicopter.

"I've already asked, they said that only doctors were allowed on board. Something about a protocol they have for the injured," Otaes shrugged.

"Of course, it's always the damn protocol."

"Good news is that nobody's dead. We'll take injured over dead any day, right?" Lafayette said as he and Flint joined in on the conversation.

"Yeah… c'mon guys. Let's get out of here!" Hezekiah sighed as he walked towards Liberty, who was currently hovering over the Plaza about fifteen meters off of the ground. The prop wash from the blades of all three helicopters combined had long since cleared the area of snow, and now the grey stone tiles were visible. Hotel 2-1 was also hovering above the ground, waiting for the MedEvac 2-2 to take off before Wade's men could go back home. It was a quite long and very vulnerable process, and once again Hezekiah became aware of the risky position that they were in. Once again taking note of the seven roads, Hezekiah brushed the thought off as Unity and Hazard waited for the line of helicopters to start moving again. Well, that was until he heard the first gunshot ring.

"COUNTER-ATTACK! ENEMY UNITS ARE TRYING TO FLUSH US OUT!" A Marine yelled out. The two squads looked around. Imperial forces were marching down the streets. All of them. Shields up, walking in ranks down the corridors that the streets forced them into.

"Jesus Christ! They're everywhere!" Flint yelled out.

Hezekiah took a look back, the Medevac was only just getting ready to lift off. Liberty and 2-1 had already increased their altitude and were pulling away,

[Liberty] "Liberty to Actual! The LZ is too hot for exfil! We're gonna hold, and provide close air support! Over!"

[Espinoza] "Copy that Liberty! The more guns the merrier!"

"We'll hold here against these bastards! Make sure the MedEvac gets out of here safe! Let's kick some ass Marines!" Espinoza ordered.

The Marines started to shoot from behind cover, many soldiers caught in the open had to retreat behind the large state in the middle of the plaza. A stone wall separated the garden from the Plaza, and it was behind that which the bulk of the force took as cover. The Iscariot's shields were up, but with the combined fire of the ground troops and the two venoms circling overhead with their miniguns blazing, they found it incredibly difficult to push forward. Stuck basically. Hezekiah took note of their formations. In each road was a block of about fifty soldiers, ten soldiers wide, and five soldiers deep. The first two lines were mages, the rank up front had shields deployed, and the line behind casted offensive spells. When a mage in front had to put their shield down, they would switch with the mage behind ensuring that the magical power was fresh. Sort of like how armies would manage the lengthy time of reloading back in the days of the musket. Hezekiah realized that this was a relatively new tactic that he hadn't seen before. It was an evolution of tactics on behalf of the Iscariots to try and gain the upper hand, and in a tight urban environment such as this one, it was working incredibly well. Even though the mages weren't incredibly powerful, only summon charged blasts of energy or fireballs to throw at the NATO force, returning fire proved to be difficult as the shields prevented the ground units from returning fire. It'd been a losing battle had the LAV and two Venom helicopters not been present to keep the force afloat, but there were problems that they faced too. For one, the Iscariots had learned to aim fireballs into the skies to try and thwart the helicopters away.

One such fireball had nearly missed Liberty, with the Venom swerving to avoid the mix of both fire and stone. They wouldn't be able to remain still for too long, with the pilots having to move frequently and with extreme control in order to make the helicopters literally duck and weave. The good news was that the MedEvac was taking off and soon all the NATO task force had to worry about was keeping themselves alive.

And then the voice of their savior spoke. Loud and clear. But instead of it being a message delivered down from the light of the heavens, it was instead a voice contained inside of a little metal radio.

[Zulu-Eight] "Zulu Eight to Actual, my drone is in position. We need somebody to laze targets for our guided munitions, over!"

Espinoza pulled a silver case out of his rucksack and passed it over to Hezekiah who was the closest soldier next to him, "Take this! Let it fly!"

Hezekiah took the case in his gloved hands, completely unsure of what exactly was inside. Opening it, he saw what looked like a large metal pen. But when he observed it closer, he saw that it was a laser pointer, "That's a laser designator! Click wherever you see bad guys, and they'll be dead in a few seconds!" Espinoza explained.

Armed with that knowledge, Hezekiah switched from his weapon to fully using the designator. Eyeing a very large block of Imperial soldiers, he tried his best to aim the designator right at the core of their echelon. With a click from a button, the front of the designator turned into a green beam of laser light for a split second.

[Zulu Eight] "Copy. Missile out."

It took a few seconds before Hezekiah could even hear anything, but descending from the skies above came the finger of God. A missile with a huge smoke trail behind it shot down from above the overcast with its target fixated right where he pointed the laser. A fireball formed on impact with a loud "BOOM!". Black ash and red hot fire incinerated many of the Imperials standing there, and the ones around were thrown about by the force of the explosion. It was a critical hit, one so bad that nearly the entire unit had been decimated.

[Zulu Eight] "Good effect on target, looks like a grave down there! We're ready to fire again."

Hezekiah chose another street, this time a somewhat smaller force was marching down the road, unaware of the fact that their allies had been decimated nearby, and that they were next. Hezekiah pressed the designator, waited a few seconds, and then the missile came down. It wasn't as direct of a hit as the previous one was, since Hezekiah had a rather awkward angle on the street. He refused to designate the target on any buildings for fear of any civilians in the area being killed. At least if he called the missile in on the street, they would have a good chance of survival. As such, the missile came down ahead of the Imperial echelon rather than right on top of it. Though the effect was much the same, the Imperials had been shattered and began to retreat, the casualties sustained by them were far less.

[Zulu Eight] "Five KIA," Zulu Eight confirmed.

"I think they're getting the message!" Lafayette yelled out. Noting that the Iscariot forces had begun to beat a hasty retreat.

"Hold your fire!" Sherman called out. The guns from the soldiers went silent, with only the sounds of the injured Iscariots and the shuffling of boots. It must've only been fifteen minutes, but to Hezekiah, it felt like an hour. Finally, they had won.

The helicopters descended, first to get Wade's forces out, and then Liberty to get Unity and Hazard out. Before they could board their transport, Espinoza stopped them, "Hey listen! I really appreciate the help out here! We couldn't have done it without you!"

"Don't worry about a thing, that's our job!" Sherman told him.

"If you ever need anything from me, just say my name! Happy travels!" Espinoza waved them off as the last member of Unity, Quinn, boarded Liberty. As they took off, Hezekiah began to relax a bit in his chair.

The co-pilot of Liberty came into the cabin with a little bit of info, "Change of our flight plans. We're gonna be traveling around what Command thinks is the main body of Imperial forces. Just in case!"

"Do what you need to do!" Sherman told him. The co-pilot nodded as he went back up front.

"That operation went surprisingly well," Lafayette said.

"Hell yeah, we're unkillable!" Flint pumped his fist.

Hezekiah was seated directly across from Sherman with Quinn on his left and the door gunner to his right. As such, he got a pristine view of the ride, and when the helicopter lifted up into the air, he thought it was entirely worth it. He watched Hotel 2-1 fly next to them, not close enough to warrant any danger, but close enough to see the soldiers packed inside. They flew over the rooftops, and over the frozen Albya River. Blue water glistened in the daylight, blinding Hezekiah periodically. Ice formed at its riverbanks. He could see the dockyards, large buildings, the remnants of the wall, everything. They were flying over a very large complex that seemed to resemble a university. White quartz buildings dominated the land settled between the junction of a smaller river tributary and the Albya. They had purple tiled rooftops and colorful glass windows. Hezekiah motioned over to Otaes to ask what it was.

"It's the Minervan Magical University!" Otaes shouted over the sound of the helicopter blades. Hezekiah nodded, interesting. It seemed like the Marines were trying to push towards it, as he saw the flames of battle snake their way towards the center of the city. Guarding the bridges entering the University from one side, was a large tall building with multiple large spires to provide watch throughout the entire city. It looked to be a City Hall, which if he remembered correctly was where Cathy was supposed to be currently. He wondered if she ever made it…

And then, he saw the fireball.

"OH SHIT! HOTEL 2-1 IS KNOCKED OUT!" Hezekiah heard someone's voice over the chaos, but he couldn't identify who's as his mind was in another place. His attention was focused completely on 2-1.

[Hotel 2-1] "THIS IS HOTEL 2-1. MAYDAY! MAYDAY! I'VE LOST ROTOR CONTROL! I'M GOING DOWN! I REPEAT, MAYDAY! MAYDAY! WE'RE GOING HOT!"

The Venom had been hit in the tail section, and the entirety of its tail looked as if it was pushed to one side. The helicopter jerked upwards rising up into the air until it swerved towards Liberty. Liberty tried to enact evasive maneuvers, but it was too late. 2-1 impacted with Liberty mid-air, and Liberty too began to fall.

Red lights began blaring, loud alarms from the cockpit whined filling Hezekiah's mind with nothing but the sound of chaos and terror. Yelling from both Unity and Hazard filled the chaos in the helicopter as they went down. Hezekiah felt his body push against the buckles inside. He looked to his left and saw the door gunner had been thrown outside of the helicopter, hanging on only to the minigun that was nailed to the floor of the helicopter. Hezekiah reached over to grab his arm and pull him back inside, but even when he got a grasp of the Gunner's arm, he had to fight to pull even himself in. The door gunner's hands slipped, and now his life depended entirely on Hezekiah. But he couldn't hold him, his hands were growing weak, the G-forces were making it too difficult. Hezekiah wasn't nearly strong enough to pull him back in…

[Liberty] "THIS IS LIBERTY! WE'RE GOING DOWN! MY ROTOR'S BEEN HIT, I'LL LEVEL HER OFF!"

The motions of the helicopter proved too much, and despite the grip that both the gunner and Hezekiah had on each other, the gunner slipped through his hands and was sucked completely outside, "NOOO!" Hezekiah yelled out after him, haven only known him for a few seconds, and yet feeling the weight of his entire life ending on his hands.

A hand clamped down on Hezekiah's shoulder, it was Lafayette, and he was screaming something over the sounds of chaos, "BRACE! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" He screamed.

Hezekiah didn't know how exactly, he wasn't even sure if he heard Lafayette correctly, but what else could he be saying? He didn't have time to think about it, as their helicopter managed to stabilize, halting its spin-out and leveling out, still descending at a fast rate. He managed to see Hotel 2-1 splash into the frozen tributary of the Albya river, displacing an entire wave of water as it splashed down. Unsure of the fate of 2-1's occupants, Hezekiah's attention turned to their own situation. Liberty was stabilized but was bound to crash land on the ground, into an array of trees just to the south of the City Hall building. The blades of the helicopters chopped into trees first, moving them down, before the body slammed into the floor. Hezekiah felt the first impacts throw him about, as they tumbled around inside of the cabin, before an especially hard quake threw his helmeted head against the wall, and his eyes cut to darkness…