Beyond The Thunderdome

MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN, NEW YORK

MARCH 5ST

7:00 PM

The trip back to the airport took us only a couple of minutes, but the battery cost was quite large, now I only had 20 percent of power left. Although it was only a moment, the flight, although dangerous because I still did not know how to fly with the armor, was also a moment that I could moderately rest. I am almost approaching twelve hours of continuous combat and fatigue is beginning to take its toll. My legs are killing me, my arms hurt and I can barely hold the gun, my back is not happy either with the unbalanced weight I have in my backpack.

When we got to the airport we immediately boarded one of the planes, which according to Kazumi was the one with the safest position in the formation. The faces of the soldiers to see the three young girls get on the plane were disoriented. They immediately told us to get off, and they even pushed us, but when my mother appeared again speaking and giving them orders to obey my orders, well let's just say that they raised more doubts. Understandable in fact, as even I didn't think they had to do that, but once again my mother quickly clarified the matter. After all the planes were full, they took off in various groups, first the fighter jets that would try to escort us, then the strategic bombers, from B-2 Spirit to the old B-52, which carried everything from smart bombs to junk car parts, everything that could fit on airplanes. Last were the troop transport planes, which were packed with 82nd airborne soldiers volunteering for a second jump.

image [https://i.imgur.com/FM6yxnB.jpg]

Everyone here knows this is almost a suicide mission. Jump in the middle of enemy territory, full of anti-aircraft, soldiers, tanks, and more of those damn Dolls. The hope of getting out of this alive was low, but it was something that had to be done and they knew it. These madmen were even eager to jump in and see what their luck would be. They were soldiers ready for battle, or as they called themselves warriors on their way directly to Valhalla. I really would rather not go there yet, according to some say the place has been downgraded because is under renovations and gourmet critics have even lowered their cooks two stars.

After a moment in the air, the jump supervisor approached us to give us the final details of the jump. The HALO jump or High Altitude-Low Opening basically means jumping from very high and activating the parachute very close to the ground. As you might suppose, this means having the guts to do something like that, but that's not all. Although we are going to launch a lot of things so that the antiaircraft are oversaturated and cannot shoot us all, it does not mean that they will stop doing it, it will simply be a leap of faith and hope that a bullet does not hit you in the fall, casualties are expected before we hit the ground. He also mentioned that we cannot land on the empire state as it is almost impossible, instead, we will have to fall on the streets and start climbing inside the building. Some teams are instructed to land on the rooftops of other smaller buildings around to try to secure a perimeter around the Empire State Building so that we can get to the checkpoint safely.

image [https://i.imgur.com/88Misqy.jpg]

The readiness phase lights come on, everyone stands up and lines up. Everyone checks their equipment one last time, others kiss a cross, or others see a photograph that is later stored in their helmet. The funny thing is that right now I'm in the penultimate position of jumping, and everyone is still looking at me. The fox's tail and ears may not help, but I think it's mainly the fact that I'm not wearing a parachute. Kazumi has her "drone backpack" to fly and that is obvious to everyone, she is hugging Tamamo, so it can be intuited that she will carry her. Me? I have my sword and the Arksuit but with so little battery that I prefer to save it for combat, so I do not have the thrusters on standby. My plan is to jump alongside Avalon, ride him like a skateboard, and crash the great sword into the ground at full speed. Clearly not the smartest of plans, but it will probably work. Maybe if I don't drop the sword in midair first. I will jump first, then Kazumi will come with Tama right behind me, to protect us from the shots that may appear.

Sounds of gunshots and explosions are beginning to be heard near the plane. We were already reaching our destination. There was little time left to jump.

The green light turn on and the moment of truth came.

image [https://i.imgur.com/nti1ete.png]

When it was my turn I jumped with Avalon in front of me and I held her with one hand from her guard while I fell. I began to look around me and only me the hundreds of glowing lights from the gunshots, the explosions of the bombs on the ground, several of our planes going down. Kazumi and Tama quickly approached me and hugged me tightly. Although I already had at least 7 jumps in experience, in most of them I was the pilot, so it is not something to be proud of. But none from this enormous height, under these conditions.

Suddenly I can hear bullets ricochet off the other side of the spire and even see several lights go off behind me.The anti-aircraft were shooting at me.A man who was close to us was hit by one of these bullets, a second later I could see that two different parts came out of his body to opposite sides.Some other soldiers who jumped from a plane behind us seemed to see how my great sword could protect them from the shots, so they without saying anything formed a column behind me, everything in order to survive.

We got closer and closer to the ground, but there was still no time to open the parachutes.Then Kazumi started to mention the remaining distance to reach the ground, but it was not yet time to use the parachute.A soldier near us also began to count the time until with each second the anguish increased more and more.At one point even we were already next to the walls of the Empire State Building and there was still a little left to activate the parachute.

"Now!" Someone yelled.

The entire column of men inside dispersed a bit and began to activate their parachutes.Kazumi also let go of me and activated his thruster to slow down the falling speed.And what did I do for my part?continue in a straight line without stopping at anything, the ground was already just a few meters away, there was a car right where I would fall, I just closed my eyes so as not to see.

...

When I opened them again, I was looking at the front facade of the building, below me was Avalon, a small crater, and the remains of what looked like something with tires.Once again my sword proved to be the undisputed winner, by breaking the laws of physics in which I should be dead right now.But this was only the beginning, there was still a long way to go to the finish.

The Alliance soldiers who had arrived earlier had cleaned the surrounding streets a bit but they were far from safe, the empire soldiers were also in the nearby buildings. Those of us on the ground trying to make the place safer for those who are still falling, shortly after, kazumi arrived with Tamamo and we went inside the building where we had captured the first silver to wait for the rest of the team that would help us up.

image [https://i.imgur.com/IkMKzs6.png]

The interior of the place was impressive, the whole place had a quite peculiar design, everything was the same art deco design that existed in that mansion in Aria's world. One by one the soldiers of my team began to arrive at the place, some have injuries, so they will have to stay here with the other wounded and medical officers. There were not many of us as most of the soldiers were securing the perimeter in a violent firefight.

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We are two teams, each one has a different ladder. The elevators for obvious reasons we cannot use them, so we will have to climb the stairs to the 65th floor, to the damn 65th floor. I think it goes without saying at this point, but after my body is not made for this, I was just at my limit. But we couldn't go out there and fly to that floor, because the C-Rams can identify us and shoot us. So we would have to win floor to floor again like in Atlantis and that stupid dungeon crawler.

But for some reason, despite all that I complained about, the floors were not less. The first floors were easy as there was no enemy. But as we climbed higher and higher, fences and soldiers began to appear in blind spots. And just when climbing stairs was not fast enough, sometimes we found that in some sections the Soldiers of the Empire destroyed one of the two stairs, so we had to go to the other to climb more.

On another occasion it turned out that some soldiers of the Empire did hide in low floors but did their best not to make noise, so we did not realize their presence, but later they came out of hiding and began to shoot at us from the back. , or down according to how you want to see it. That part was really tough getting shots from both sides without being sure what was happening. Tama had to go downstairs and take care of them while all of us continued to press forward. One of the toughest parts to overcome was the restaurant on the 50th floor because the enemy took advantage of what had been there and used it as the mainline of defense.

Then take me and another soldier with a ballistic shield to advance little by little to gain a little space to move.And as if our situation was not difficult, the genius had the brilliant idea of throwing smoke grenades in a closed environment like the 50th floor of a damn skyscraper.In a matter of seconds, there was so much smoke that you couldn't see anything.just white everywhere.But that didn't stop everyone from shooting for a damn second.We managed to survive because once again Tama threw her magic spear and began to go towards where the shots are heard on the other side of the room.By the time the smoke cleared and we could see something the place was almost under our control.But we also had several casualties among our colleagues.After securing the place we treated them, but they could not continue our climb, so they would stay behind with other soldiers to protect them.

We were climbing about 5 more floors when the worst counterattack of the Empire happened. Once again several Dolls came out of some part of the city and began to fly around the building and when they located us they started shooting from the outside to the inside the scraper. They were using high-caliber weapons so we had to take refuge in the innermost parts of the floor, from where we couldn't shoot them. There wasn't much they could do, it was just a matter of time before they destroyed us.

Unless I did another of the usual improvised crazy things that I think of at times like this.

The C-Rams take a second to start firing, so in theory, I could fly out of the building for that short time. If I leave and enter constantly from different parts those machines will not be able to track me and I could get rid of those stupid androids that haven't stopped bothering all day. The problem was the battery in my suit because although I had been saving it, I only had 17% left. It was not the best state to fly carelessly.

image [https://i.imgur.com/nJ7Kszs.jpg]

I told everyone to wait for me on the stairs and to continue to take care of Kazumi. Then I take a deep breath and start running towards a window at the end of the hall, shooting to break the window and jump out of it. As soon as I got out and started to fall, one of the Dolls chased me and started shooting at me, not wanting to risk more, I activated a couple of thrusters and entered through another window a couple of floors below where I was. I kept running all the way down the hall and trying to do the same thing again on the other side of the building. A Doll appeared just outside the window I was about to jump through, I summoned Avalon and with one hand I threw the sword at her, splitting it in two just before I passed by.

Once back in the air this time I flew up and tried to shoot another one, but failed to hit before re-entering the building.This time I had finished a floor above my team and a place full of empire soldiers ready to fight.I couldn't invoke my sword to protect myself because it was still falling outside.So I just had to shoot and keep running.I managed to activate the area shield before they raised their weapons, which saved my life at the last minute.As everything was a straight corridor, only with a couple of shots from my gun I manage to knock out quite a few. Since I didn't want to be there any longer, I just jumped back through the same window that I had entered.

Another Doll flew straight at me, trying to hit me with her lightsaber but was suddenly pierced quickly by Tamamo's Naginata, which she surely threw at some point. I started the engines and began to maneuver to attract the attention of the last five that remained, then I saw how a barrage of shots came towards me from another building, it was the anti-aircraft turret trying to shoot me down. I went back to another floor, this time I didn't know what it was, but two of the Dolls started shooting into the building hoping to hit me. I kept running non-stop through the rest of the floor until it was completely turned around, pieces of debris began to come out from all sides, after several attempts Avalon finally appeared at my call and used it to cover me from the shots at my side. I fired my gun and they managed to destroy the head of one.

I jumped up again and went down another couple of floors, but this time I stayed close by the window through which I had entered.Then when the next Doll approached to shoot me down the hall, I took out my gun and made a contact shot.I took Avalon and I jumped out the window again, I turned around and used my sword once more to protect myself from the shots of the other three that were left, I fired my gun but I ran out of bullets.Improvising, take the great sword, use the thrusters to make a turn, and with the momentum throw the huge object towards one of them, managing to destroy it.I go back to the building, without stopping for a moment I ran out the empty magazine and put my hand in the ammunition compartment, the armor reached the next magazine in my hand and I started to put it in its place in the weapon, all while I kept runningfor my life from the shots.

One more jump and this time the direction was up. I walked into one of the floors before the defense system fired on me again. But this time the Dolls did enter the interior following me. I ran and threw the only grenade I had with me. As soon as the explosion was over, I turned around and started shooting to try to finish them off. But one Doll out of the smoke with hardly any damage. I stepped back one more time and went through one of the doors, which to my confusion seemed like I had seen it before. What a surprise that he took me when I opened it and saw several soldiers of the Alliance pointing at me because it turned out that I was back in the restaurant on the 50th floor. I immediately told them to shoot into the hallway, and without even wondering why they did it. And with everyone's help, we managed to dismantle the last of the remaining Dolls.

As soon as I confirmed that I was safe for now, I collapsed on the ground due to my exhaustion. I took a couple of minutes and a whole bottle of water before heading back to where the rest of the team was waiting for me. It seems that at that moment I looked so bad that even one of the field doctors came to me to check my condition, but said that outside of fatigue I was fine. When I returned with Tama and Kazumi they were on the 64th floor. But thank god no major inconveniences occurred.

We broke down the door to the Control Room and killed the last soldiers of the Empire who barricaded themselves there. Without wasting time, my daughter went straight to the central computer and began to overwrite the system so that it would be under Alliance control one more time. Thinking that my work was finally over, I threw myself on the ground to rest. But once again the problems did not want to end there. Kazumi suddenly got scared and gave me the news immediately, the Empire had managed to enter the UN building.

I immediately gave the order to Tamamo that she stay and protect Kazumi.Right after I ran to the window and jumped in the direction of the place to save my mother.I looked at my wrist to see how much battery was left, there was only 7% left, it was not enough to fly.So I turn off the main thrust and only use the direction thrusters, to use them as small turbos to win imposed with which to jump between the buildings of the city or parkour as some like to call it. I had to get there as soon as possible, I couldn't leave anything to chance.