KAA's Counteroffensive!
Not even 20 minutes later, with the enemy coalition's hoogs rapidly moving to the numerous strongholds hit past the border. A few dozen figures neared their respective destination, but they could already see what was left of their soldiers in those strongholds. Throughout Kunkek's 'new' borders with KAA, although it was the coalition's border, they were attacked, and hard.
Only shambles remained, with the flames already extinguished, and whatever was left of them only flowing in the wind a small bit. There were some charcoaled corpses, but they could tell nothing was left alive even without searching. Their ammunition, supplies, and medicine were completely obliterated, too. Even the surrounding land was too messy.
They didn’t have another choice but to try to follow the trails left behind by their enemy. Their faces hardened, as this was no simple thing, and what they feared finally happened. They only hoped that ‘Heavensbane’ wasn’t with them, as it was rumored during Zyckevele’s war.
However, they didn’t expect that those trails were far too easy to be noticed. Even a lagj secret organization would’ve seen them, let alone hoogs like them. They only thought of revenge, not clear enough to realize until an ambush occurred…
… An hour later, Fox brought his few hundred agents to drag the corpses of the enemy agents and faced a city ahead. This was but the first city they were seeing, and it was in the extension of Kunkek’s northern borders and original regions.
In the middle of the group, just a few kilometers from the city, behind a small but steep dune, a person installed a small device on the ground and worked on it for a few minutes. Beside him, Fox had his chosen agents look at the city. Their sight allowing them to see a little more.
“They are alerted,” one of them said. Another blurted, “I’ll contact this with the others.”
The latter then left to accompany the agent working on the device. Fox kept looking ahead and slightly changed the trajectory of his polycoria eyes every so often. After a few minutes, the agent from earlier returned and thumbed up to indicate everyone else was ready.
That device wasn’t to contact KAA, but the other groups sent to Kunkek to continue with the operation. Furthermore, they had a similar situation, so they would proceed with one of the alternatives. Instead of focusing on killing their leaders, they would sow disorder everywhere possible. It should be the same situation in Wondurs and Gexi, from the looks of it.
“On,” Fox nudged towards his agents and HL agents before beginning to move. They crawled through the sand like reptiles for a few minutes until most of them were finally going down the dune. At once, they all stood up and employed their NUAs’ full-on prowess to rush ahead.
Waaaaaaamp, waaaaaaaaaaaaamp~! About a couple of minutes later, the city sounded with loud sirens throughout the city. The civilians weren’t even aware of what it meant, suddenly believing bombing would happen at any time, thus causing disruption in public order.
Fox flinched his eyebrows. They weren’t even there, but the city was already helping them create a lot of trouble. The citizens immediately ran about, rushing out of traffic in a few streets and others driving way too dangerously. Moreover, the police became a bit too authoritative out of nowhere. This was still when Fox’s units were just about a minute away.
Before entering the city outskirts, they spread in 5 smaller groups, each with several Vipers flying forth and Insect Snakes remaining a little behind to cover them, reading their surroundings.
The city had some military vehicles, mostly wheeled and motorcycles, but they had many police armored cars. They prepared around the outskirts, taking positions and getting ready to face the enemy, which they knew would be utterly lethal and most might not return home after tonight.
They were ready, but before they noticed, numerous explosives fell from the sky, hitting some on their heads and immediately killing them. But the rest were struck by the explosion, the rest by the expansive waves, and others from the debris and shards of armored glass.
Boom boom boom boom, bang, boom, boom, bang, boom, boom, boom…!
“Kyaaaaaa!” - “Holy shit… fuck, fuck, fuck!” - “Are you seeing this, too!?” - “Oh, my heavens!” The citizens watching nearby and from afar widened their eyes in terror. Hundreds stopped in motion and looked until the explosions ceased.
The moment they ceased and calmness showed before them, with some twitching or dragging bodies, with or without their whole limbs, they knew they were all practically dead. Immediately after, as if to further clear their minds, some shadowed figures rushed past the explosions’ line.
Bang, bang- t- rr r rr r r…! The special agents rushed above the destroyed vehicles, finishing off any police and soldier remaining. A few bullets being shot from SSs and SHs, executing the survivors, they rushed into the city and mingled between the buildings, escaping the police.
They couldn’t be located in time, or at all, for that matter. While the city police were just being informed that their first line of defense was pulverized before the enemy was even reported as seen, more explosions sounded atop the major’s building.
“Heavens dammit!” - “What the hell are those guys doing there? Don’t they know to protect that place!?” - “I swear, if something more happens, I’m going to break.” - “Protect the civilians! Out of the streets! They can’t remain here, come on!” - “What is going on!?” - “Shut up and keep moving. Hurry the fuck up!” - “Why are you hitting us!? Ah!”
“…” Fox looked from the tall corner of a building as a multitude of people on the sidewalk were forced to move outside the city center. After a few more seconds, he blinked and turned to where the major’s office was, where he could see a few Vipers flying back to clear their way.
The other agents also slightly saw them, too, becoming ready and just waiting for Fox’s command. Before pushing himself onto the roof, Fox worded at last, “Continue. Execute any authorities you find until leaving the city.”
“…” The agents were startled, to say the least. PSD wasn’t so much, but Heart Lake were taken aback. That was too much.
Having pulled himself onto the roof and starting to rush forth to jump, Fox added, not needing their exclamations or see their faces to know what they were thinking. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Memories of reading through reports of what the enemy coalition did to their cities entered their minds, making them tightly hold their weapons, but they still couldn’t do it.
Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! But Fox’s agents didn’t bother for a moment, waking the HL agents at once with the sound of SSs firing and causing tremendous panic in below. They peeked out for half a second and saw the results.
“AAAAH!” - “Run, please let me run, noo!” - “NOOO!” As people hollered, the police elements around them were shot to death, their heads turning to exploding bits smearing on the citizens.
The latter became suffocated in the middle of fear and desperation. They pushed, pulled, and thrust their shoulders and even heads anywhere to get out. The streets were filled, not just on the sidewalks, and screams were everywhere. The police wasn’t as passive as one might think.
As they were shot to death without a single citizen getting injured, and looking up proved too much a difficulty, they aimed their pistols and second-hand submachine guns and fired. The citizens were burst with bullets anywhere, killing a few each time out of rage before stopping.
Before they could demand them to surrender and get to the ground, they were shot to death by another special agent. Heart Lake watched at first, but whenever the crazed police did as much as to harden and lift their shoulders, they would take a shot as well.
Like this, ignoring the major’s office which suddenly went from private security to have an additional 2/4 of the city police, the rest of the city experienced a terrifying end. All military on the way of Fox and his units to the southern exits were executed.
Whatever helicopter the police had, far from being combatant-able, were shot down by large pistols used like never before in the police’s eyes. They had better preparation and equipment than Preut originally had as its civil war commenced, but they had no idea about defending a city from soldiers, let alone special agents.
By the time the special agents left the city, it was finally morning, and the city was at an all-time lockdown, with the civilians rushing to their homes or cuddled with the tough ground in fear. After everything that happened, the major wouldn’t go out for days, let alone attend the situation within the city.
***
Lýmoca, late morning. Presidential precinct. 7th day of the 5th month’s 1st week.
Luis walked out of his hidden chambers and into his office, which was empty, except for a hot chocolate that had been started a few minutes earlier by Roam. Luis smiled and took his cup before taking a sip. He felt more relaxed, and his body warmed up from the slight coldness.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Soon, the cold would return to the world, and these mornings would have to be accompanied by extra warmth, even if it cost his fiancée her little stamina for the day.
Enjoying his hot chocolate, Luis thought for a moment and side-glanced at the side, where he saw a few oranges on a small table beside the hot chocolate’s table. Mentally shaking his head, Luis motioned to grab one, but he felt a pair of sources of joy on his back, and his left wrist held by a pair of delicate but warm hands.
“It’s getting colder,” Lesly said. Her smile could be heard by Luis’s ears, to which he smiled. “No, not really. I think there’s still a month before we have to take care of that cold. Right now? We can still take some pain and move with the current temperature, I-”
“Shhhush,” Lesly planted her pair of delicious lips on his nape, traveling shivers into his vertebral column. He was already in the bag, but she wanted more, “Pick an orange, I want to be fed while you feed me also.”
“!” Luis’s eyes widened. There could never be a better way he’d have it. He immediately grabbed an orange and brought his hot chocolate back to the hidden chambers. Wearing only the long, thick blankets, Lesly smiled victoriously before grabbing a small cup of hot chocolate.
***
KAA’s capital, general war room. The next day, morning.
Since the operation began, Esmeralda had taken a leading position in the room, receiving the accorded communications after beginning their tasks in their respective countries.
She had been bossing everyone around, be it around the war room or afar, at Wondurs, Gexi, and Kunkek. The time limit for communications this far were absolute, but she handled them more than efficiently. Even if the Ziacas were unconvinced to be handled by a foreigner, she gained her respective respect in the operation and war room.
Bai Natasha walked in and saw the situation around the war room, with Esmeralda at the center, looking down at the diminutive, coded reports with a slight frown. Natasha walked to her and gently placed her hand on the table. “Can’t figure out?”
“Some are slower than Raging Blood’s agents, and others aren’t doing a good job. They have been caught up by the coalition’s agents.” Esmeralda simply said, not shaking her head or gesturing in any way. Natasha blinked before lifting her eyebrows.
She peeked at the table’s digital screen below the screen and further stretched her left eyebrow. Esmeralda lifted her chin a few seconds later, blinking her pretty profound black eyes and waiting for Natasha to speak up.
“You don’t have to remain here all the time. Come with me,” Natasha looked around amidst her words before focusing on Esmeralda. She didn’t wait for the young woman to react before turning around. Esmeralda opened her lips, but Natasha added, “When you lead something bigger, for something broader than an operation, you won’t be able to read it all.”
“…” Esmeralda closed her lips, falling thoughtful. She followed Natasha without a word, wondering what this ‘little legend’ could teach her that her Fox and her Nala couldn’t.
A few minutes later, they walked into a room in Heart Lake’s section of the building. It was a wide room with obscure, brown walls but a dreamy-like light coming from the ceiling, illuminating everything below perfectly.
“Sit down,” Natasha pointed at the center of the room and commanded. Esmeralda looked at it before doing as instructed, sitting cross-legged and staring at the Supreme Leader. Natasha took her coat off and showed her arms as her inner clothing became sightly transparent, perhaps working as ventilation, too.
“Breathe,” she ordered. Esmeralda blinked before realizing what she meant, “Ah.”
Esmeralda closed her eyes and began her usual breathing exercises, feeling the tiny bit of breath in her body. Natasha stared for a few minutes, her deer-like brown eyes flashing a few times before placing her left palm on Esmeralda’s head.
“Is that for… like better reading through my breath?” Esmeralda jolted a bit before freezing. She then relaxed and continued, feeling it could be normal. Natasha blinked. Her thumb slightly moved back and forth at her hairline before she remembered to respond, doing so softly, “Yes.”
… For the following four days, the situation at Wondurs, Gexi, and Kunkek, had been deteriorating; for the enemy, of course.
For the first time since the war began, the Ziacas were counterattacking. News of these movements became obvious, and Kunkek did not hide it, exposing and demanding KAA to elaborate on their violation of the secret HLS regulations!
Of course, a tiny portion from the more than 20 billion people in Resilient knew about such secret laws. After all, the secret world has only revealed their iceberg. It was only recently, with Fox’s doings, and since those Zyck hypersonic missiles destroyed the northern coalition, did the people around the world begin to feel rumors of more than they knew.
They weren’t wrong, but nobody wanted to fully reveal it. The most obvious situation would be in KAA, but being at war, they couldn’t contact with the world so freely, even though KAA had made countermeasures to not be disconnected off completely. Besides, their west was safe so far.
Thus, the explanation KAA could offer was that the coalition has violated HLS since the war began. Firstly, from Kunkek’s abuse to the neighboring K Tribe nations, which only evolved as the war continued. Secondly, by the rest of the coalition, who ‘joined in on the fun’ and did the same.
Kunkek would still not let it go, although Wondurs and Gexi dropped it. Nobody wanted to be the ‘faulty one’ at exposing the truths of this or that. Who knew what the populace around the world feel about a secret organization being bound to their governments.
Silence emerged from this in the end. But results were now showing in the anti-KAA coalition’s side. News, especially fresh videos and even livestreams, showed the assassination of the cities’ authorities being destroyed by ‘just a few’ unknown special agents.
In Kunkek, the cities were turned to trashcans. Everywhere KAA’s special agents moved, the cities turned into havoc and disorder inside out. The rural settlements were alerted, this time fearful and wanting nothing to do with it.
Inside the cities, people began mass-buying anything they wanted, for supplies, that is. The rest were either attempted robberies or mass-theft. Everything before the enemy reached their homes and their government showed their incompetency. It didn’t matter how hard they tried, their majors and governors never accomplished anything, only venting on the civilians.
It came to a point that the forces behind HL agents, and those nearer to the capital, acted rough towards the civilians. Those on the rear chased after the special agents, belonging to a small fraction of their army, while those in front were some special forces and ordinary soldiers.
Like Marcoplix, they wouldn’t leave their capital and nearby cities undefended. Their hoog agents, as information told KAA, were also focused on defending the capital. That would only have made it harder if their focus was still to take out the leaders.
Having gone through one of the alternatives, they easily destroyed the order in every city they ‘visited’. Not only Fox and Kunkek, but Wondurs and Gexi as well, with slight differences. But in Kunkek, in just these 4 days, with Fox’s group lead, the capital had become surrounded. The neighboring cities became ablaze, quite literally, throwing the citizens into despair.
It became more visible at night, when the Kunkek president could watch from his tall building, making him wonder when the time for the capital city would come. But it never seemed to come… until tonight. Just as another day began, with news of more citizens dying in the neighboring cities for ‘breaking’ the martial law, let alone the other cities in Kunkek, it happened.
The police, all of it, and soldiers, especially the special forces in their only available combatant helicopters, with some second-hand military drones; were ambushed throughout the city.
After days of moving separately throughout Kunkek, visiting most of their cities, and annihilating a lot of the authoritative forces they had throughout the routes and settlements beside the cities, all special agents reunited. Led by Fox, with Li Yachi and Jue Soyeon’s backing, they struck the capital city as one.
It wasn’t to take down the president, however, who was protected by nearly more than half their entire hoog’s special agents. It would be complete suicide even if all of them were Fox. The amount of bions, traps, and number of enemy special agents were too much.
They couldn’t just ‘go around’ them or neutralize them, much less at least one of them all in one go. This was a hoog, and its headquarters. Furthermore, they were protecting their country’s leader. There was no greater purpose, although that was only if there was a worthy lead.
Regardless, they were holed up, and PSD had never struck another hoog’s headquarters, even in their peak, let alone HL or PR. Fox did want to try, but only to test them, and after bringing the capital city to terror and distrust.
After these few days, nobody in Kunkek, as it is with Wondurs and Gexi, believed in the war they were so high-spirited for in the beginning, even with their country’s soldiers dying so fast. They were now against it, and without any help or intervention, they were demanding much better responses and attention from their government; what they were supposed to always have had.
They were afraid, and of course they were. Never did they think the war was this real, much less that it would reach them. They had just been safe and sound, far from it, knowing nothing about its terror besides the bought media. Now, they wanted it all over and done. They wanted safety.
Fox spent the whole night tormenting the capital city and testing a hoog’s headquarters. There was an enemy hoog back in Lýmoca, and it was a traitorous one nonetheless. Then, there was an improbable one. One which didn’t have PSD’s certificate to act together with them.
It wouldn’t be bad to have some experience in case there was a need of cleaning them in the near future.
By the time morning came, news also arrived. The scouts left behind informed their units’ leaders. The Kunkek army was closing in, and about 30,000 more returned from the frontlines to Kunkek to protect their country. Furthermore, they sent a few full special forces battalions along them. Considering things, Fox called it off and as enough. The Kunkek were already protesting against this war and terrified; the operation was completed by a third.
The war wouldn’t be over with just this, or turned around for that matter, but it wasn’t only Kunkek that was brought to such a sorry state.
Gexi was too small compared to Wondurs or even Kunkek. The PR elites, Lean, Kusmina, and Nikitina had a much easier time bringing every group there together after nearing the capital. This was including Fox’s chosen agents, and let the Gexi people experience the same as in Kunkek, but with more tragedy to their returning soldiers.
Being the farthest country from the frontlines, whichever soldiers they sent back, unable to use aerial routes, fearing KAA’s missiles a whole lot, more so as they’d use heavy cargo planes, their units would be more tired. Even using the railways would have taken more time, as they were all Wondurs’ use for resupplying and sending more of their soldiers.
Gexi was a little thrown off, but they still had to make it back and defend their home. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived there, all signs of the enemy were gone, further confirmed by their hoog.
As for Wondurs, it was quite different. They had the most PSD elites, and Loba. The HL were rapidly on par with the others to follow her every command, fearing and in awe of her.
As such, Not only did Wondurs receive terrors through many of their cities. Because they were the largest country in the coalition, the special agents couldn’t reach everywhere. Thus, and to make up for it, Nala commanded to leave the social order overall of the 3 largest cities beside the capital in shambles.
Flames and their smoke that went as high as the tallest buildings, and bombing everywhere through these last 2 days of 4, were only the direct impacts of her decisions to the Wondu people. There was no police nor military left by the time the 3 largest and most influential cities were left alone, only for the capital to be next. Additionally, their hoog headquarters received fatalities and destruction next.
…