Ch.1
Out with the old, in with the new.
"War is always a matter of doing evil in hopes good may come of it." – B.H. Liddell Hart
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NE MANCHESTER / GRIDS: UNKNOWN / 13NOV49 0310 LOCAL
"UNIT DISABLED, UNABLE TO CONTINUE, INITATING ALAMO"
Wall snapped back into reality, the world around him was on fire, whether it was day or night was anyone's guess. Smoke filled the sky and the flames of downtown Manchester lit the dark world in hues of red and yellow. His head fell back to the ground as he let out a pained sigh, then rolling over he pressed himself off the ground grabbing his rifle, an aged NGWS-R chambered in 6.8. A quick look around reminded him of his location, his bird, an S-97, had been taken down after the French decided to Nuke Manchester to cover their retreat.
"Nuke…nu…OH" Wall said aloud to himself, almost a scream.
"RADATION HAZARD DETECTED, RECOMMEND MOPP FOUR ALARM RED."
That same voice, he turned towards the top of the asphalt road, a lone Angel Combat Unit held its ground defiantly. Its legs were gone, so its arms where the only thing basing it up. It hunched form looked akin to a now extinct Ape. Its 25mm bushmaster over its shoulder was still operating and scanning the area though.
"Gah fucking fuck!" Wall yelled out as he took his first step towards the downed helicopter, only to collapse immediately. With a grunt he looked at his legs too see what he tripped over, only to find it was nothing. In fact the issue was his legs, his uniform and boots were shredded and blood oozed out of them.
'This is it huh?' He thought to himself. 'Bleeding out, uh, fuck, what can I do uh.' His internal questioning stopped. It just came to mind that this all seemed familiar, all too familiar.
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FOB VALLEY / S09 / 20MAY62 0601 LOCAL
"Woooah fuck mannn," Wall said to himself as he slowly bent up in bed. He posted up with his right arm and rubbed his eyes and face with his free hand. A moment passed as he took in his surroundings, then once satisfied that he wasn't dead, he got up out of bed and started to put his uniform on.
His uniform was, in all reality, not a uniform. A hooded combat shirt and 'Kandahar' pants from an old defunct company. The faded Norwegian woodland looked good on him and was practical enough for the environment. His lower half complete, he walked into the bathroom with his top in hand. He tossed it over the shower rail for the curtain and ran some water in the sink. He looked up in the mirror and admired himself for a second, for a guy in his mid-30's he looked pretty good, atleast that's what he thought. Well defined muscles and low body fat gave him some motivation for the day, coupled by the numerous scars and burns on his torso let him know he didn't die that night in Manchester, maybe part of him though.
He pressed the thought away as a knock came from his door. He stopped the running water and walked over, grabbing his families old 1911 off his nightstand before opening.
"Command…Oh…" PzB 39, or 'Pezz' as Wall had started to call her, had been on the other side. She eyed him up and down.
Wall raised an eyebrow, then remembered the IOP dolls were fucking weird. "Come in Pezz" he said with a sigh as he left the door open to walk back to the bathroom and finish dressing. PzB followed suit, a small unseen grin on her face. She eyed downed the room, judging it silently.
"What's up, you started with the words Command before you made me uncomfortable."
PzB eyes snapped over to Wall, she watched as he slid on his top. "Commander Band is hosting a get together with local leaders today after lunch, he wants…" she paused for a moment. The straight too it attitude she had, or was programed with, clashed heavily with Wall when he first arrived. "He would LIKE." She continued, "For you to only have one Aegis around during the talks, the other five can be deployed around the FOB and DFP's, something about scaring the poor people." Her eyes sharpened at him, "What did you mean uncomfortable?"
He looked her in the eyes as he clipped his battle belt around his waist, "Looked at me weird Pezz, let's not go deeper." He clipped up his single strap drop holster and pressed his 1911 into it. He turned away from her and picked up his plate carrier off the manikin he had found a week prior. He turned back, tossed it over his head and fastened the Velcro around him. "Why the fuck are you standing there awkwardly?" he asked, noticing a good moment had passed since his last comment.
She scoffed, "Awkwardly?" she crossed her arms, "You've almost been here a month, are you still in your weird mindset about dolls?" she shook her head, "Just because we aren't like you doesn't mean we don't think and feel Matthias."
He shook his head in disbelief, "I don't even…" he pointed at her with a sigh, "If Heather or Band came in here and did the same shit id treat them the same fucking way so don't press that shit with me kid." He wasn't angry, not even disgruntled in the slightest. "I didn't, and still don't, understand why IOP made your units the way they did, but I'm not treating you or any other fucking doll differently just because your…well...you." His voice the entire time sounded like a father correcting their child. Two of the Dolls, M200 and IDW had started to call him 'Grandpa' because of the way he acted. "Also don't fucking use my first name, that's weird too."
"If you two are done arguing about the humanity and treatment of dolls for the ninth time…" Another T-Doll entered the fray, this time AK-47, or simply AK.
"Ayee yo if it aint gangsta gangsta." Wall let out as he brushed passed PzB, "Whats up killer."
AK let out a happy laugh, she reached out and grabbed his hand, the two did a handshake they had formed. "Not much my brother," she looked over at Pzb, "See Pezz? Real knows real."
Wall laughed loudly.
PzB shook her head and smiled, "Wall, we can continue our conversation later, ill mark it up as a draw today."
"Yeah, okay, I'm still in the lead seven to two kid." He chirped as Pezz walked pass him.
Wall's treatment of AK, and the way they interacted, was based solely on their first interaction. Wall had been in the armory his first day and was attending to his weapons. To break the silence, he had started to play some old-world jammies, an artist by the name of MF DOOM, Deep Fried Frenz. While immersed in the music, AK had walked in, wearing her casual attire that made her like look like someone out of a bad 2020's ghetto movie. The two looked up at each other as the music played, AK was the first to start singing the lyrics to the song, Wall joined in, thus the friendship was borne.
AK smiled and watched as PzB left, then turned to Wall, who had just grabbed his rifle, yet another NGWS-R. "She already tell you the deal today?" She asked as she leaned against the door frame, blocking the exit.
"Yeah, yet another plan I wouldn't say is tactically sound, and be rightfully ignored because it isn't my place to give tactical and strategic level insight." He said back, pointing at the doorway in a 'can I go now' manner.
AK tensed her body and gave a devious grin, "What's the rush?" she reached into her jacket and slowly pulled out a flask, just flashing its top. "Cut loose old man." She winked.
Wall cringed and pressed up against face, pushing her out of the way, "I don't drink you soviet degenerate."
She laughed and grabbed his arm with both hands as he moved her out of the way. "Murhah hauurm amdioas." She mumbled underneath.
He let go of her face, "What?"
"Nothing, nothing my Capitalist friend." She twirled around with a smile and started to walk off.
"I swear…." Wall spoke softly to himself. He fell in behind her and proceeded to exit the one-story building,
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FOB VALLEY / S09 / 20MAY62 0705 LOCAL
Wall had always sat by himself in environments with people he wasn't familiar with. Time had passed and he now was acquainted with every human and doll on the FOB, he still went to his secluded table, though recently it never lasted long.
The DFAC, or dining facility, was another small building. A couple tables with cheap chairs, enough to sit around 60 people in total. Food was prepared by Aug PARA or M200 normally, though there was a signup roster if someone else wanted to give it a try. Today no one had made anything special, so he had grabbed one of the pre-made meals stowed away. His tray composed of an apple, some blueberry oats in synthetic almond milk, and a glass of iced water. A simple meal but enough to fuel him for most, if not all day. Ever since the American press into North Africa years ago, his body just rejected large amounts of food, something to due with an old surgery.
He was about to take his first bite of the perfectly shaped apple when the three members of the bases human security detail took other seats at his table. Juan Espinosa, 32, was the leader of the fireteam and a veteran of the War. Artyom Davi, 29, was the second member, Wall swore he killed a man that looked just like him years ago. Lastly was the youngest member, Ross Smith, 23, Ross was a young Irishman that towered over everyone at a massive 6'7.
"Hear about the plan today?" Juan asked, not looking up from his tray as he started to eat.
"Don't like it, don't trust these local." Wall said back, biting into his apple.
"Bah," Artyom let out, "Simple folk, simple tactics, they do not eh…trust G&K, they think is same as NSU." His Eastern European accent coating his words.
"Will be an easy day gents." Ross spoke up as he tucked a napkin into his top, "Nothings gonna go wrong."
The other three stopped whatever they were doing and looked up at Ross. He noticed their silence, "What?" he said, confused.
"Eres un idiota"
"Fucking moron you jinxed us."
"Suka khuylo."
The three went back to eating as Ross was left wondering.
"Besides the new kid being a fucking idiot," Juan said as he stopped eating and wiped his mouth off, "I don't trust these fucking slime, if you can, have those Aegis ready to fuck these guys up."
"DFP two, three, and four, each will have a unit, two will be on alert in the garage, and one will be with me, it will be Uno and his 20."
"Ayeya, has airburst loaded, don't it?"
Wall let out a small laugh, "If the cocks wanna play baby we gonna play, rather have to pick up bits and pieces of locals than pull Ross's tall ass back to med."
Juan and Artyom laughed, Ross smiled, "I'm too tall to shoot lad, they'll look at me and ill just pretend to be a tree, or something you know?"
That got a couple of healthy chuckles out of the table. Wall continued to eat his meal and the time passed in silence. Throughout its entirety, he thought on the day he may have to kill these three when the time came. The idea of the action didn't phase him, he just pretended to be close and open around them, like he had the rest of the members of the FOB, save for MAC-10, that thing was broken, his interaction with her was more honest than anything else. Fixing broken people wasn't a forte of his, but helping her would only make the rest of the FOB like him more, atleast that's what he thought.
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FOB VALLEY / S09 / 20MAY62 1020 LOCAL
The engineering bay was the place to be to fight or workout. A decently equipped gym and large sparing pad took up the entire western portion. Currently, four people found themselves inside it, two of them watching a little sparing session going on.
Kyle Matthers, a 30 year old G&K employee, was the FOB engineer. He looked like he was in his 50's and smoked more than a chimney. No one minded it though, he was the nicest guy on base and genuinely meant well.
Heather Winters, 26 years old, was the head medical doctor who assisted Kyle in her spare time. She quite obviously had a thing for Kyle. Her interactions with Wall had always been limited, in her first interaction with him, she said he reminded him of her dead dad, so he strayed away from yet another awkward conversation as long as he could.
Wall on the other hand, was busy with his back on the ground, sweating and huffing as he held Python's throat in his hand. The match had gone on for a couple of rounds, a tie sat between the two for taps at a score of 3-3. Python smiled, a wild look in her eyes as she leaned into his face, "Weak," was all she said. He grunted and grabbed her right arm, pulling it into his chest and using inertia and strength to flip the doll over. The tides turned as she slammed hard, losing the ever so deadly playful look. Wall sat on top of her, right arm still in hand, and pressed it into her throat. She tried his earlier maneuver but failed as he grabbed her free arm and pressed it away from her into the mat.
"Weeeeeeak." He let out slowly as he got closer to her face. "Not a very good hunter huh kid?"
She smiled, her face red from, what would seem normally as lack of blood flow, "Me?" she let out, "Try someone else." With that she started to stand up. After all she wasn't human, but an oddly designed T-Doll made for combat.
Wall's eyes went wide as he realized what was happening. It wasn't his first-time fist fighting a doll, he knew he could kill her in any other situation, probably. So, he did what he knew would save him some moments. He shot up with her, grabbing her collar and belt, then, with her letting out a yelp, tossed her to the other side of the mat. That was no easy feat, a doll weighed over 300lbs normally, these variants sat at 250, usually.
With a roll, she recovered herself near perfectly, and readied herself for another attack, "Good throw old man."
"I'm not that old fucker." He quipped back, controlling his breathing.
That caused Kyle and Heather to let out a laugh, "Your dirt old wall!" Kyle snorted, "Oldest here!"
"Atleast I don't look like a sun dried nut sack." He yelled out to the engineer.
Python started laughing, looked to Walls right into the distance, then started to circle him. "Come on, you ready?" she said slowly, as if buying time. 'Oh shit' Wall thought as he tired to turn around, before he was even able to move, he was tackled to the ground.
"Ahhhh we got you!" two voices let out. "Got you old man!" "Grandpa go dry off!'
The wind had been knocked out of him, he took a deep breath and looked up at the two currently sitting triumphantly on top of him. IDW and M200 looked down, a smile beaming off of IDW's face, and M200 looking disgusted as she wiped his own sweat back off on a dryer part of his shirt.
He sighed and pointed at an approaching Python, "This…doesn't count…" he let out as he paced his breathing. He looked back to the ambushers, "Ok you win, now off off."
"heehee…" IDW let out as she ignored him and went in for a hug, M200 shook her head and stood up.
"You might break him IDW…" M200 said as she pealed her off
"Nyaaooo!" IDW let out as she finally let go, "Don't pull my shirt!" She huffed, jokingly.
Wall flipped over and pushed himself up, only to be met with Python's hand, he grabbed it and she helped him up.
"Thought you were some badass special forces top tier killer" She said, still holding his hand.
He let go and started to rotate his wrist, acting the part of an older man, though in reality he just didn't like this Doll. "Never was any of the things you just said, just a guy that cool dudes brought along cause my brain didn't fucking fry after a month in the job."
IDW handed him his actual shirt, the one he was wearing had just so happened to fit, he took it with a smile and started changing. IDW pulled on his pants, "Was it hard? Your old job? Why did you get fried?" He finished putting on his top, using the old shirt to wipe off any residual sweat.
"Well uh," he started, tossing the dirty shirt away, "Hard is subjective, some shitty times in a shitty war, that's all that." He looked down and saw the small SMG beaming back at him, sure enough to his nickname, he felt like he was telling a story to a grandchild. "The frying…ah" he paused and looked away for a second, then back down to her. "The thing on my neck," he taped the band around his throat, it almost looked like a fashionable choker. "It's wired into my nervous system, my brain. It helped me, still does, keep track of any and all dolls in my AO. Lots of other cool stuff too." He stopped again.
Now the whole trio was looking at him, patiently. "Yeah yeah, frying. So throughout the whole war, my type of Operators, had an issue when things got overloaded and people got emotional. You see your boys get put down, a kid gets smoked, your bots get ripped apart, shit makes you feel a certain way." Kyle and Heather had walked over to hear the story. "If you commanded more than three units, which we always had ten, and had any severe emotional reaction while issuing orders, the feedback could overload and kill you, or do other things." He rubbed his neck for a moment, cleared his throat, and continued, "For me? I lost the ability to uh…well, my emotions don't work too well, from a human standpoint, great for a soldier though-" He was cut off by a sniffling M200 hugging his waste tightly, IDW joined in.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Your ok Grandpa! Everything's safe here." M200 Said.
'Fucking double jinxed today.' He thought to himself and he rubbed the two doll's heads.
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FOB VALLEY / S09 / 20MAY62 1210 LOCAL
"And you are a US Liaison! Your job isn't to tell me what the fuck I'm supposed to do Wall!" Julius Band, Commander of the G&K dolls at FOB Valley, yelled. The two men were in his oddly large office, apparently it doubled as the commanders' personnel quarters.
"Band I'm not telling you what to do, I'm reciting what's happened throughout recent history with this stuff. Old Soviets? Americans? Chinese? New Soviets? Fuck even those dirt fuck Germans. Hearts and minds don't work if the enemy uses control based off fear and subterfuge." Wall said back, matter of factly, in a calm manner.
Wall was sat on one of the two couches in the office, feet up on the coffee table inbetween.
"I'm performing my duties exactly as the Untied States has laid out, and G&K has decided to pay for."
"Telling me to cancel my fucking meeting because, and I quote," he air quoted with his fingers, "these sub human slime are gonna try and hit us." He stopped, "isn't fucking valid Wall! I have to attempt to build trust with these people because I fucking cant-" he slammed on his desk, hard, "CANT fucking preform operations with a possible insurgent force trying to take my people!"
"Whaha" Wall spoke in a half laugh, throwing his hands up, "What intel is saying that? These cats are KNOWN to not like your company, and they fucking hate any humanoid dolls cause of what the fucking Russ..Soviets did to them years back. The village is on the edge of the sector and isn't even relevant to the operations at hand, which last I remembered was fucking smoking Sangvis Ferri skinnies."
Band leaned back and sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. "We will talk once its over."
Wall was about to speak up when Band leaned back forward and stood up. "You know your part, keep your Aegis out of sight, ill only allow one during the meet, and its not going in the fucking building, and no, im not giving my teams permission to open fire unless we are hit first."
"And what happens where you get shwaked and cant give the order."
Band smiled for the first time the entire conversation, "G&K dolls are now programed to be able to retaliate to enemy forces if the chain of command collapses, some commander named Owens got that one set up."
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FOB VALLEY / S09 / 20MAY62 1350 LOCAL
"Valley actual, Valley two-one" Juan pressed over the net
"Go ahead two-one" Band replied
"Actual, three by armored technicals in route, markings match descriptions of local group for today's meeting."
"Copy, its show time."
Commander Band stood outside the FOB's ECP grinning ear to ear, as if waiting to prove Wall wrong. The entirety of Viper Squad was scattered around him, Python, PzB 38, M82, M590, and Aug PARA. As annoying as the Commander was to Wall, he did have some high points, mainly that being every doll was kitted in full battle rattle, and in Uniform. Each doll had a matching set of mutli-cam top and bottom, and sage green plate carriers.
'Cover the core, good call.' Wall thought to himself as he made his way over to the ECP. 'Bad call, standing outside the HESCO's'.
"Sage, Valley two-one."
Wall tapped the comms piece on his plate carrier, "Go."
"Watch out for the second truck, she's riding low, saw the Algerians do this shit."
"You thinking VBIED?"
"Thinking something"
"I'm gonna patch you feed from my bots, they'll responded to you if I'm down or away."
"Thanks white boy"
"I want good, good food soon brother man."
Wall flipped his left arm over and pressed down on the tablet that cover the bottom of his forearm. The screen came to life and several icons popped up. He manipulated the menus and set the Aegis to accept commands from Juan, and pressed intel feed to the security team leader aswell. He flipped his arm back over and looked at his watch, then at the lone Aegis behind him, in big white letters the word "ONE" was written on the right side of its breastplate. He turned and continued to make his way to the ECP, thinking on the tactical situation at hand.
The FOB had a double layer of HESCO's stacked one high, DFP's 1-4 were stationed 100m away from the FOB forming an outer perimeter. The FOB itself had a single guard tower overlooking the ECP, and then three DFPs in each corner with a mounted weapons system. Besides the fact the manning didn't exist to successfully defend the entire perimeter effectively, and the distinct lack of vehicle entrapment at the ECP, the FOB was safe enough. The Armory and Med center were dug in and easy to defend. The Garage and Engineer Bay were built up well and had shorter HESCO's around them, sandbags on top. The Barracks was surrounded by sandbags, and had good firing positions on its roof, while the CIC itself was two stories underground.
DFP 1 was manned by the security team for the moment, Juan was going to come back after the locals moved inside. DFP 2-4 were each manned by an Aegis, 2-4 numbered respectfully, while units 5 and 6 were on combat standby in the Garage.
The time was up regardless, no more wishful waiting.
"Glad you and your friend could join us Specialist Wall." Band said rather venomously.
Wall ignored it, checked to make sure his weapon was good, and then had his Aegis cycle its ammo feed.
"Wooooah is that a bushmaster twenty?!" One of the dolls spoke up, Wall looked to see who it was, M590 apparently as she was staring down the cannon handled in one arm by the Aegis.
"Yessssss ma'am it is" Wall said with a southern draw, "She's dual loaded with HEDP and Airburst, armor or man, stands no chance."
"Enough talking team!" Band yelled out, "our friends are here!"
Sure enough, Wall and his Aegis watched carefully as the truck trio rolled up, stopped fifty meters from the ECP. Band started to walk up, Wall followed with One in tow, stomping hard behind him, scanning the trucks for possible threats.
"Pryvit moyi braty!" band yelled out with arms open as a man in the lead vehicle stepped out.
"Yak ty komandyr?" The man said as he approached Band, sticking out his hand.
Band grabbed the man's hand and shaked it enthusiastically. "YA zdorovyy, pane, spodivayusya, shcho vashi lyudy holodni, mayemo yisty ta pyty na zustrich!"
"Haha okay okay yes!" The man spoke in English, albeit heavily accented, "we are ready my friend." He pointed at his trucks, "may we park inside brother?"
Band hesitated for a second, Wall got closer to him. "Yes yes of course my friend." He looked over at M82, "Open the gate!"
The doll did as ordered.
"WARNING, UNIT THREE, UNKNOWN FORCES APPROACHING, FIVE HUNDREAD METERS OUT, UNKNOWN INTENT."
'Oh no' Wall thought to himself as he grabbed the Commander by the collar with his right arm.
The world slowed down as a man in the second truck stepped out of the right rear, a small object in hand.
"EXPLOSIVE DEVICE DETECTED" One, the Aegis with Wall, screamed out as its combat systems came online, it tried to step in front of its handler. The dolls at the DFP all looked wide eyed. Why was he taking in so much sensory information? Why did it all go slow? Was this it?
Boom
Wall covered the Commanders body as best as he could as the two were tossed back and into the HESCO's near the ECP. Wall was awake for all of it. He captured every little event as his body flew through the air, the trucks and men inside them evaporating from a secondary explosion, the opening shots of his Aegis, the panicked looked in a pathetic excuse for a combat dolls eyes.
Then, Smack, the two men hit the wall hard.
Band was knocked out and bleeding from his throat and mouth. Wall had lost his rifle apparently, he drew his side arm and fired two shots into the now burning trucks. He holstered it again and was going to pull his IFAK off. 'That's weird,' he thought, "Oh fuck" he then said aloud as he saw that his entire left arm was missing from the upper bicep down, blood gushing out of it.
"UNIT TWO, HOSTILE DETECTED, RETUNING FIRE."
"UNIT THREE, HOSTILES DETECTED, OPENING FIRE"
"UNIT FOUR, AWAITING COMMAND."
"OPERATOR IS IN SEVERE DESTRESS, MEDICAL ATTENTION REQUIRED."
"No fucking shit!" Wall yelled out as he collapsed over the Commander, blood squirting into the mans face. He pulled a free tourniquet off his hip and started rapping it around his arm, what was left of it anyway. He looked up and saw Python and PzB running at him.
"Commander!" they both yelled.
The other three members were clearing off the VBIED and about to run over.
"Get him UP!" Wall yelled, "He needs a fucking medic!" he finished his TQ and pulled out an experimental clotting agent, would stop the bleeding and keep him active for atleast two hours, the side effects really pointed towards death, but better to die a winner than a bitch. Wall stabbed his arm with the shot and groaned in pain as the witchcraft liquid did its magic.
"Wall fuck! Your arm!" PzB looked at him in horror.
"Fuck my arm!" He dropped the stim, his right arm shaking, and pressed himself up. He could already feel the effects of the drug and saw it as all bleeding stopped. His face and whole left side stung badly, but the time was now and worrying would get him anywhere. "Pezz, Python carrier the Commander to the med bay! Aug, M82 Get the FUCK to Juan and his guys and get them back here, M590 get someone beside me up and in charge!" The squad of dolls looked at him, they weren't programed or designed to take orders from him, yet they did exactly as he asked.
"What about you?!" PzB asked as she and Python hoisted the Commander up.
Wall looked around for a moment, saw his blown of arm, picked it up, and looked like at Pzb. "Don't worry I have an extra hand here." He said.
She looked at him confused, and probably disgusted.
"Bad joke, let's move kid."
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FOB VALLEY / S09 / 20MAY62 1355 LOCAL
"Five, Six!" Wall yelled out as he limped into the garage, apparently his wounded leg was getting worse, 'a future problem man,' he thought and pressed on. The two Aegis were already at the threshold weapons ready. "Go to interior one and three!" The Aegis split and ran to opposite sides of the compound. "God FUCK I do NOT HAVE ENOUGH FUCKING PEOPLE" he screamed as he rested on one of the boxes.
"Sage! We are coming in through the ECP with Aug and 82!" Juan said winded over the net, "The fucks your status man?!"
"Arms gone brother!" he said back, legitimately surprised his radio still worked. "Meet at the garage while we still got a moment man, gotta move quick here these cock fucks are coming hard."
"Don't die on me gringo!"
Wall laughed and looked around. He was the only one in the garage. Two older MATV's with CROW's 50Cals set on top, ready to go, flanked his sides. "Yall gonna earn your keep today." He said with a laugh and coughed up some blood, it splattered onto his already bloody plate carrier, "Kuhh fuck this man…." He looked at his stub, thankful for the drug and his brains inability to process fear and pain like it use too. Another moment passed and he continued to collect himself on what was going on, the gunfire remained at its previous position, atleast that's what it sounded like. He blinked hard and the TAC feed of his Aegis appeared in his left eye, it dawned on him it wasn't working too well. 1 was holding the ECP, Juan and his team had just passed it, status yellow. 2 was under fire, 19 KIA, status yellow, 3 was under fire, 41 KIA, status yellow, 4 was awaiting additional orders, status green. 5 and 6 were both green at their DFP's.
'Four fallback to ECP await orders maintain position.' Wall pressed his Aegis over his neurolink
'UNDERSTOOD' was all that came back.
"Wall, Fuck!" Juan yelled.
The security team, and two dolls ran into the garage.
"Juan." Wall said, his voice was getting raspier, "Go to the CIC and take command of the Dolls, Artyom and Ross, get one of these MATV's up and hold the ECP, ill leave four with you, he's green and ready for armor and personnel." He looked over to Juan again, "Im hit, gonna die probably, I'd take command, but you were a good Officer Airborne wise, lead these people, Ill be out here doing my thing."
"Ayeye," Juan shook his head "You two do what he said it's a good plan, 82 and Para, go cover down in medical, get Pezz and Python to the CIC, I need the other dolls, you see them you let them know to meet me first ok?"
The two dolls nodded and ran off, Wall couldn't help but noticed how nervous they looked. 'How the fuck is that possible? How do they look shook?' he thought.
Artyom pushed Ross to one MATV and the two started to set up.
"What the fuck are you gonna do with that?" Juan pointed at the blown off arm he was still holding.
"Well." Wall huffed, "Its like a tooth right? Doc can still attach it if I keep it in warm milk or something?"
The two men stared at each other then let out dry laughs.
'UNIT TWO, DIRECT HIT, INITIATING ALAMO'
"Fuck, go Juan, twos hit and down soon, they may have AT."
"Its fucking down?"
"Its in Alamo, it can't move and will hold its position till the death." He twitched his eye and re-read the tac feed, "his gun is still up and firing, ammos getting low, lots of guys."
"Fuck, Okay man, get too medical when you can." Juan took off at the end of that. He had seen war and wasn't going to dilly-dally anymore over a dying man.
Wall waved him off, using his good arm to wave with his now detached one. The MATV started up and the two men inside slowly moved out of the garage and into position. Wall stood up and looked at his leg, pants were shredded, and blood was starting to dry, either his hip or knee was probably going soon. He let out a pained sigh and started to move, he had to make sure Karl was still alive, and that new girl, Kalina, he hadn't seen her all day, she spent time in the armory.
'Four, lets get dark'
'INITAING NON-ALLIED JAMMING'
G&K and his US freqs, LOS, VHF and UHF would work, anything nonstandard would be getting jammed hard, encrypted or not, for a 30 mile radius.
Wall stopped at the threshold for the garage doors and looked around, he pressed two button on his radio and keyed it, "Red to any player, its pretty hot out, no water, see you on the flip side." Only those under the employment of the "Big Six" would've known what it means. 'I am under attack, no friendly forces in the AO, burn this player.' Burn of course meant to remove all files and possible connections to his callsign, if he went down, he would just have been an American assigned to the Foreign Legion.
"Well that's that, no more play time even if I make it out." He said aloud, quick limping to the engineering bay.
'UNIT THREE, GUN JAMMED, UNABLE TO CYCLE, HANDS ENGANGED.'
"Funny fucking way to say your gonna kill with fist and a big ass knife three." He said aloud.
"Grand-Wall?!" A voice yelled out as he got closer to the building, the sound of gun fire was getting closer, He could hear Juan over the net issuing commands to the rest of the FOB. IDW sprinted out from her cover and tried to steady him, she was a little to short for a buddy carry, but the help was appreciated.
"What's up little gun." He said as he grabbed onto her, then released her so they could continue to walk.
"Your hurt bad! Your arm!" It looked like tears were forming in her eyes. 'How and why the fuck are you trying to cry' Wall almost said aloud.
"Yeah yeah I know I can still fight."
The MATV lit up its 50', four started firing off its cannon into the distance.
"ONE!" Wall yelled, causing IDW to flinch and look up, "ONE GET THE FUCK ON ME NOW!" he continued as he looked back at his Aegis. The unit was about to open fire but ceased and ran over to him quicker than anything on base could move at the current point.
"IDW!" He yelled out, the small doll was still looking up at him. "One will listen to you, he's been ordered too. You holding the lab here?" she nodded and wiped her eye, "Ok good, if shit gets rough fall back with Karl, I gotta check the armory."
"But!" she started to say before he cut her off, "No butts Kid! Do it!" She hesitated, then let him go. She looked at him for a good moment before running into the engineering bay, One quickly pressed after her.
'UNIT TWO, INOPERABLE, IT'S BEEN A GOOD WAR, TWO OUT.'
"Fuck" Wall said as he turned toward the armory, an explosion rocked the world, in the distance a massive fireball went off at DFP 2, the equivalent to a very angry 500lb bomb had gone off, he twitched his eye for 2's kill count. '65 KIA, 100+ ESTIMATED'
"Juan!" Wall called over the net, "Estimate enemy size at battalion level or higher!"
"Roger man keep moving!"
Then the sound came. Why was it familiar? He knew that sound, his brained processed it as fast as it could given the situation. He looked up, his eyes went wide.
'Fweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'
He turned away from the armory and dropped to the ground.
As he did a loitering munition smacked into the armory, then another into the MATV at the ECP.
A massive boom sounded off as earth, hot earth rained down on his back.
"FOUR!" Wall yelled into the dirt, his voice cracking, "FOUR I SAID FUCKING JAM YOU GREEN PIECE OF SHIT!" he gasped for breath as he looked at his Aegis status. 4 was gone, 2 was gone, 3 was about to detonate itself.
Another boom, 3 had just gone off, a blink for its KIA, '102 KIA, 100+ ESTIMATED'
"Five, Six, One, that's it" Wall said to himself as he rolled over to see the smoking remnants of the armory, his blown off arm now far away. He rolled back on his stomach and pressed off the ground. A lung must have been pierced, he's breathing was getting tense and he could hear the struggle. He stood up and looked around, one of the security guys was crawling out of the MATV. Wall drew his 1911 and did a sort of sprint hobble to the wounded man. He could hear yelling outside the gate when he finally got there, kneeling, he flipped the man over. Its was Artyom, his throat was cleaved straight open. Wall pressed his neck for a pulse, there was none. His working periphery saw movement, he drew his gun on it and fired.
Head, Center Mass, the guy lurched back and dropped. Wall let out a dry laugh and stopped when two more pressed around the edge, two more shots, two more kills. For a dying man with no arm, he sure could fucking shoot today. He paused for a moment to listen to the sound of war, the internal DFP's were firing, 5 and 6 were engaging, DFP's probably had dolls in them with the Aegis. Wall pressed back up, and started to limp towards the barracks. He stopped, looked around, then decided Medical was best. He stopped again, "Oh fuck me man im dying bad." He said as he collapsed to one knee, "No no no, get the fuck…GET UP!" He yelled to himself. He didn't feel pain still, the drugs and broken brain solved that, but he knew he was on deaths edge. His heart felt weird, and his brain wasn't working correctly.
He saw movement again, he pointed and fired.
"Blue you fucking American!"
His eye's unblurred and focused, it was AK47. She wiped off her shoulder and ran over to him.
"AH fuck uh…" He said as he started to lurch over, his body was starting to not respond entirely, which was weird cause he was sure it could. "Thought you was a bad guy AK."
She grabbed him and heaved him up, "Real knows real." She looked him up and down, "You aren't dying in my arms old man." She let out a fake laugh, "Lets get you too Medical, QRF's in route with CAS, ten minutes."
"That's a real long time AK, real long." He stopped her from moving and dropped the mag in his 1911, he tried grabbing another one.
"Are you fucking…" She pulled the weapon from his hand and grabbed a magazine, pressed it home, and racked it, handing it back to him.
"Oh man, if you were real and I wasn't going to die, id marry you."
"Shut the fuck up." She said quickly, her face turning red.
"Why do you guys turn red…" He asked, then stopped her again. He grabbed her by the collar and threw her into the ground hard and laid on top of her.
"Wha-!?" she let out as the tall tale noise of another loitering drone came into ear shot. Then the rapid firing of a 20mm, then nothing, no sound at all. Wall looked up, eyes wide, he looked over to the engineering bay and saw One with its gun high.
"MULTIPLE AIRBORNE TARGETS DETECTED, DEFENDING."
He let out a happy sigh, and looked down at AK, their faces were mere inches apart. "NOT YET BABY!" he yelled, her face was already blush red, and now covered in his blood. He kissed her on the cheek and pressed up. The doll laid stock still on the ground, he extended his hand, "Please don't tell me your knocked out." Her eyes darted to him, she grabbed him hand and leapt up, "Tha-th-th…first…"
"What?" He asked, "Are you broke? did I slam you too hard? are you hit?"
"Im fine!" She yelled out, she posted back up under his arm and started helping him back to the medical center. They didn't get more than 15ft before rounds impacted the ground around the two's feet. Before they could react a round slapped the back of Wall's plates and he collapsed.
"Fuck!" AK yelled as she turned around, kneeled, and opened up on the enemy. As wild as she was, AK maintained good weapons control, two shots, reacquire, two shots, reacquire, two more shots. A round zipped passed her, unphased, a round pierced her arm and coolant started leaking, another two shots, she scanned and got back up.
Wall watched the whole situation from the ground, weapon drawn and pointed at the advancing enemy. One started to open up again in controlled burst, AB tracers flying to the afternoon sky and detonations at various altitudes. He looked back at AK as she moved over to him and pulled him up by his plate carrier.
"Valley Actual, Mace two-one, five ship of AH64…" His radio phizzed out, he looked down and saw smoke, then sparks started to come from it, "Fuck!" he yelped and pulled it out, tossing it away before it caught aflame. "Why did it catch on fire fuck?!"
AK looked at the radio, then him, "I though-" she dropped as a round zipped through her head.
Wall spined around and fired at the enemy, the two assailants took cover. He looked over at the downed Doll and grabbed her by the handle of her plate carrier, he started to drag her into the culvert right next to the medical center. He tossed her into the divot and laid down on top of the doll, her weapon was still in her hand, he pulled it off her and checked chamber, it looked ready enough, he pulled the gun up and pointed it at the enemy. This was getting rough, he didn't have much longer.
"UNIT ONE, DISABLED, INITAING ALAMO."
He spared a moment to blink hard, 5 and 6 were in the red on ammo, how much time had gone past? Atleast they were still up, it sounded like the FOB was still fighting hard, maybe they would make it out. One of the two attackers peeped out, Wall fired a shot, it missed, he tried to fire another and just heard a click. He dropped the weapon and brought up his 1911.
"IM FUCKING READY YOU DIRT EATING FAGGOT!" He yelled out, his voice had gotten even more horse, "LETS FUCKING GO COCK FUCKING FUCKS!" He fired off two shots and missed. One of the enemies peeped out and fired, slapping Wall right in his chest. He jolted with the hit and almost dropped his gun, brought it back up and fired, the impact was alot more than he expected. Then more and more impacts, the two enemies were blown apart, bits and piece rained down.
His arm went limp as the remaining functioning parts of his brain processed what was happening. The QRF had arrived, the Apache's were on station. He looked off into the distance and saw an Apache, its classic G&K black scheme danced through the sky as it laid waste into some force to the east with its hydras. Time slowed and sped up, then reoriented itself, Wall looked up as two Raiders flew overhead, one of the gunners was burning something near the ECP as the second bird lowered itself and deployed ropes. A team of dolls was the first chalk, one of them looked like it was holding an M4, she looked at him and ran over.
He looked up into her eyes as she knelt beside him, she looked clam with a hint of concern. He looked down and pointed towards AK.
"Im dead kid, get her up."
She looked towards AK then him, a confused look came over her face. Words came out of her mouth, but he didn't hear anything. He looked back up and saw the Raider firing again at some target, then back down to the Doll. He smiled.
"Man…" he said as the World started to fade, "I'm fucked."
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UPDATED 3/29/2022 0200PST
Okay yeah that came alot quicker than expected, some dudes liked it its seems so I hope I can deliver a worth while story.
Its late as fuck, Ill QC the story tomorrow so if it looks weird now just give me a day or so to edit it.
If something looks weird say something killer's always room for growth!