…
The line of resistance tanks - though slightly diminished in number- breached the enemy line and broke holes into the Aerotec trenches. Val led the soldiers as they launched themselves into the trenches while crying out a victorious call. “
Come on! Don’t stop now, don’t stop until they’ve all been destroyed!” She jumped into the trench with mad bloodlust after tapping a button on her belt that sent a signal to TC and Dale.
The Resistance launched into a flurry of action in the smoky and dusty trenches, their shotguns roaring and belching fire while their shields dinged with the impact of Inquisitor rounds. From the tops of their tanks, machine guns fired down into the trenches beyond the Resistance's immediate view.
…
SI-75f, 'Ferrous', laughed from his place on the battlefield, secure within a bunker embedded in the trenches’ rear. His voice was tinted with human arrogance and mechanical efficiency, “Fools. Now I can succeed where 75c and the others failed. They’ve left their entire trench compound undefended, and their small arms can’t do anything to the bottom of a real tank,” Ferrous pressed a button and spoke, “Deploy thirty heavy armor units, push past their scrapheap.”
The other end of the line beeped, and a robotic voice answered, “Yes sir.”
…
In the din of the trenches, a new sound reached the ears of the Resistance: the heavy and distant thunder of tanks. Within moments, they found themselves in the shadows of armored vehicles passing over their heads on slatted tracks. Val cursed to herself before throwing herself back into the battle. There was a plan in place, but… Well, TC and Dale can handle it. Hopefully.
The tanks passed over the trenches with massive guns mounted to their chassis of heavy armor. They charged forward over the cratered wastes of no man’s land and slowly advanced towards the Resistance’s fortifications, ready to dash apart the rebels' heart.
…
Dale rushed to the last gun mounted in the scrap-wall with TC and began adjusting the new aiming module to the tank cannon while TC gave a quick but understandable rundown of its use to the gunner and his men. As soon as that was done, they rushed to the command center.
“Mr. Dale, I do believe that this is what one would call a pickle of a situation.” TC panted out as he sat down at the rudimentary display screen.
“A horde of heavy tanks coming toward us? Yeah, that qualifies, definitely. Are you sure this is going to work?” Dale sputtered.
“Dale, I did not spend the past 3 weeks altering these tank turrets just to make them into pea shooters. Of course it’ll work, the real question is, how well will they work? But there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” TC grabbed his microphone and spoke to the gun crews, “Ready?”
One by one, the crews loaded their weapons with TC’s latest shell and muttered their affirmation.
“Aim.”
Each gun aimed at the approaching tanks, now only 50 meters away at most. Each one of the fifteen guns made use of TC's aiming mechanism.
TC smiled broadly and spoke with immense pride, “Fire.”
The guns thundered from their emplacements in the walls and lobbed their shells directly into the fronts of the approaching tanks. The shells exploded with charged plasma and enough force to break a hole into the tanks’ thick armor. The ionized plasma then disabled the electrical shielding systems, allowing the conventional explosives in each shell to destroy the tanks.
Six volleys later, and the armored advance was halted, if not destroyed. As the tanks raised their guns to return fire, TC grabbed the mic again, “Switch to conventional explosives and aim for the gun mountings if possible.”
Another volley fired off moments later, and even though the Aerotec tanks had managed to fire one of their own, it was nothing against the mass of steel and rubble. the five turrets took a bit longer to destroy the concentrated advance of tanks, but soon all that remained were the hulking and burning wrecks of what had once been tanks.
TC laughed like a madman at his success, and Dale laughed with him, albeit less maniacally, “You crazy old bastard, you did it! A shell that can stop a tank in its tracks. I’ll be damned…”
“Oh, jolly good! Ha! I’m not as insane as you make me out to be after all, am I? I’ll get production of these shells going, and hopefully, that’ll be the last of any armored offensives for a while yet.”
…
Alex, along with the rest of the Resistance, cheered with the sound of the tanks exploding and going silent, and they continued their fight with renowned vigor. Alex grabbed the trigger bar on his shield and pulled it back, firing the two short shotguns on it directly into a group of Inquisitors. The recoil’s a bitch, but man is it fun.
He planted the flag when he was sure that there wasn’t anyone left to try to take it down, and then he grabbed the communicator off of his belt, “Siren, this sector is clear. Phoenix out.”
Val responded from the other end, the gunfire on her end coming through as an occasional pop, “Almost done over here, continue pushing forward if possible Phoenix.”
Alex smiled, “Understood. Phoenix out.”
Alex clipped the communicator back to his belt and drew his pistol before shouting to his army, “Come on people, let’s keep pushing all the way to the other side of the Glittering Wall if we have to! Onward!” His soldiers cheered, and they pushed forward.
Meanwhile, the battle for Castle Vulkov was in full swing.
Chapter 40
Jack hunkered down behind the corner of the building and fired his gun in a frantic plead for life. No no no no, this can’t… This can’t be right. It’s supposed to be right here, not… Not a pile of rubble… Tears fought against his eyes. Half of his men were dead, shot while descending the fire escape. Stupid, stupid, stupid me… Dammit. DAMMIT!
Jack pulled out his revolver as grief and anger took over. He turned to what was left of his elite squad. Everyone from Scottstown was dead. Four of the men from the FIVR were dead. All my fault.
“Alright men, we aren’t leaving without knowing whether or not General Vulkov is dead. If you want to turn back, I won’t hold it against you,” he choked back a sob, but all that his men heard from him was contemplative silence, “We’re taking him home, dead or alive. Even if I have to dig through the rubble myself.”
The Bulldogs shared a look between themselves in their places against the wall, and their de facto leader turned to Jack. His voice had the softness of youth but the edge of wretched experience, “Sir, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you aren’t getting rid of us that easily. Those men made their choices and they knew the risks. Don’t blame yourself for their deaths, it’s not like anyone else here has fought in a war before,” The young man put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, “Besides, we don’t wanna live forever. Let’s go save General Vulkov.”
Jack put away his emotions, locking them away. He didn’t want to be weak. He’d been weak all those years on the streets, and weakness had gotten him nowhere. He looked up, “You’re right Kenway, no need to cry over the dead, especially if their deaths weren't in vain. Let’s find Vulkov.”
…
Val stood at the entrance to the main command bunker for Aerotec’s trench campaign. The door was sealed shut, but one way or another they were going to get it open because a very important part of Aerotec military command was locked up in there, and they were going to be rather useful if she could take them alive.
She turned to the people gathered around the entrance and spoke, “Alright, now we have a chance to make a breakthrough in our little war and set ourselves on the right track to kicking Aerotec off of this planet. We're going to go in there, and we are going to capture whoever we can. Clear every room, and aim for the Inquisitors’ chests. Their heads are too valuable. Got it?”
The gathered warriors nodded and spoke their agreement. Val ordered the demolitions man to blow the door open.
…
Stan and his men were working eagerly now, hav
ing heard the battle begin anew outside an hour or two before. They worked together to tear rubble away from the entrance and finally came to a large flat piece of stone and mortar that had been a wall, the last barrier between them and the outside world. Light shined in from the sides of the great rock while Stan ordered the men up against it, and with all of their might they pushed. They managed to push enough of the rubble away so they could just barely squeeze out, and Stan ordered everyone out and into the remaining ruins of the restaurant. He mumbled to himself as he contemplated their next move, stroking the scruff of his beard. He turned to his men.
Stan spoke quietly, and his accent was clear now, “Here is plan… We fight our way over to whoever came to save us. Simple as that. No no holds barred, we fight dirty. This is our chance to live or die, and whatever happens, know that I’m right here with you all. Now, let’s move into the remains of connecting building before they see us.” With relieved faces and maddened minds, Stan and his men disappeared into the husk of the contingent building.
…
Val and the rest of the Resistance’s bunker assault force stood back. A few moments later, the demolition man backed away, having set the explosive charge on the bunker door.
“Alright, stand back folks,” he cautioned, then flipped a switch to prime the detonator, “3… 2… 1!”
The bunker’s heavy door exploded, and the Resistance charged into the apocalyptic haze. Val pushed through the smoke with two of her fellow soldiers at her sides, but then a shot rang out and dropped the girl to her left, a perfect bullet hole placed between her eyes. A new Inquisitor’s red photoreceptors illuminated the hall ahead, his menacing yet simple figure standing in the doorway. Val and her other woman froze in place and took aim.
Its voice, intentionally self-distorted, varied in maddening pitch as it spoke, “Welcome, Valerie Ballew. I assume you have come to capture me? Tough luck with th-” Thunder filled the hall as a gun discharged and the Inquisitor’s eyes fell to the floor, his body clanking against the slatted metal ground. Valerie didn’t even flinch.
The Inquisitor shouted, clearly not destroyed even if he was incapacitated, “What? No, that’s impossible! No one could have made that shot, especially not being able to see a single damn part of me!” Ferrous screeched out, dumbfounded.
Alex walked out from behind Val, flipping a pair of goggles off his face, “The running theme with you pitiful excuses for artificial intelligences,” Alex walked towards Ferrous and came to a stop over him, “Is that you all have inflated egos and far too much confidence. But that won’t stop us from carrying your little head off and analyzing every last bit of information inside.”
“You… You can’t! My body will self destruct if I go too far from my post,” Ferrous screeched.
Alex smiled knowingly, “Of course I can, your bodies have the self-destructing bits in them. But not your heads.”
Ferrous growled mechanically, “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Of course I would,” to the sound of mechanical screams, Alex began tearing the head off of SI-75f while Val began searching for the rest of the commanders and people who were supposed to be in the bunker. It was oddly quiet. Too quiet.
…
Jack helped pull McCalister’s corpse into the building. He was alive just... just n hour or two ago… I’m so sorry… He had ordered everyone into this building so they could formulate a plan, considering that any plan involving an actual building was out of the equation entirely. The sun was setting, and they would be completely surrounded within minutes if they didn’t think of something.
“We can’t just circle the wagons now, otherwise we’ll get stuck here just the same as…" Jack paused while he thought of Stan's corpse very possibly being under a nearby building, "Think guys, think, how do you attack an open piece of ground…” Jack mumbled to his men as he paced back and forth, but their brainstorming session was cut short by a raid of Inquisitors.
A wave of Inquisitors surged against the facade of the building, leaving little time for any preparation and even less time to seek cover. Jack fired a shell from his revolver into the chest of an Inquisitor that had launched itself through the window, and its husk fell to the ground inches from his face.
“Everyone, find cover! Now!” Jack yelled out just as another wave of Inquisitors forced their way into the building.
Chapter 41
Jack knelt behind the counter of what he could only assume was an Inner City apartment complex or a pharmacy, and to be honest, he didn’t have a clue. What he did know was that everything looked completely hopeless: He was down to four men, by all logic Stan was probably dead, and support wasn’t coming any time soon. Luckily, there was a lull in the fighting at the moment, so Kenway ran over to him -if running in a severe crouch could be called running.
“Mister Cabe, I’m gonna be completely honest. It looks to me like we’re just plain ‘ol fucked at this point,” The younger man chuckled, mad with bloodlust, “But if it makes you feel any better, we’ll make this a hell for the Inquisition. They may win today, but we’ll be heroes either way, and they sure as hell ain’t gonna win the war, sir.”
Jack smiled weakly and patted Kenway on the shoulder, "Alistair, you and your men don’t deserve to die by my hand because I don’t know what I’m doing. But if this is the end, well, we’ll face it with a smile, won’t we? The bastards have tortured me, killed more people than I can count, and I won’t die without taking some of them down with me.”
“Damn right sir.” The young man smiled, but he quickly silenced as a new sound reached their ears.
A human voice sounded out from beyond the windows, one that Jack was vaguely familiar with. Not this asshole again. He damn near beat me to death the first time….
Jack shouted out over the counter, “I’m sorry Keyes, but I couldn’t understand a word you said, do you mind speaking on the level of a small child? It might be easier for one of your mental capacity!”
Keyes pushed through the broken glass of the building’s front while bullets pinged off of the hyper-advanced armor he wore as if they were popcorn. He laughed, “Oh hardy har har Cabe, how many times do I have to bash your damn skull in before you learn your lesson? Clearly, the concussion I gave you the last time made you into an even more immature child. I’m afraid my orders now are much less sparing, and I’ll admit: I’ve been looking forward to this.”
...
“Santos, over here, this door’s locked,” Val spoke to the soldier with her, Jen, “Go get some more people while I pick it open.”
“Yes ma’am, right away,” Jen ran off to go fetch Alex and a squad of soldiers while Val knelt down in front of the door to insert her pick in the crude lock. It clicked open a few moments later.
Val knocked on the door with the back of her hand, “Alright if anyone is in there, now is your time to surrender. Anyone who fires on me will be met with equal and deadly force.”
There was no answer. This isn’t right… You’d think there’d be some sort of response, this is the last room that we could find. Val nudged the door open.
She had just recognized the scene in front of her when she fainted.
...
Jack popped up from behind the counter and fired a shotgun shell from his revolver before launching over the counter and rushing at Keyes. But before he could tackle Keyes to the ground and put a bullet through his skull, he found himself knocked against the wall, and his gun clanged against an Inquisitor’s foot. Keyes had simply knocked him out of action with a mechanically enhanced arm. Jack gasped for breath while a new wave of Inquisitors surged into the restaurant and occupied the rest of his men.
While Jack gasped for precious oxygen and frantically grasped for his gun, Keyes walked over to him and aimed his gun at Jack’s head. “I've waited quite a while to kill you, Cabe, especially after learning that you escaped Mister Land’s citadel. In fact,” Keyes holstered his gun and knelt down in front of Jack, “I think I’d rather savor it.” Keyes wrap
ped his fingers around Jack’s throat.
...
Val leaned against the wall -one of the few surfaces not covered in the blood of innocents- and her head spun at the sight of the gore and misery in the room. What appeared to be several families, presumably those of the leading human commanders Aerotec had put in charge here, had been executed with the effortless and minute precision of the Inquisitors.
Women, children, no one had been spared. Well, no one except for one man. He had been chained to the wall and afforded a pistol with a single bullet in it, presumably for him to kill himself with. That must have been Land’s personal input to whatever command caused this: “Watch us kill your comrades and their families, your family too, and you can kill yourself.” Sounds about right for Land. Val was glad to have a survivor to glean information from, but at the moment she was doing her best not to break down in tears. There are even babies here. All killed just the same. Some of their faces were frozen in a final expression of horror. Hell, most of them probably were terrified in their last moments, and Val… Val was pissed. I’m going to do something about this, I’m-
“Val, we need to do something about this. People need to know, even the ones in the military branch of Aerotec,” Alex said, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. He’d seen what came before familial massacres like this, and he wouldn’t burden her with those details. It was barbaric, unfitting of a large company like Aerotec, and, most of all, enraging.
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