Difference between revisions of "Reaper's First Drop: Chapter 5"

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Previous Chapter: Reaper's First Drop: Chapter 4

I was currently back at Angel HQ in Japan. It had been a year since the crash landing. We had waited but no attack had ever come. The harbor was filled with boats, the airfields with ships. Still nothing ever came. Just small skirmishes. It was more worrying than having them just attack. Most of the fighting was going on in the western front.

I sat at an old oak desk, in the only thing that marked me as an officer, my office. I was going over reports and paperwork when I came across a casualty count for the Reaper program. I sighed and started to rub my head.

"Bureaucratic red tape got ya' down." I looked up to find Rouge in the door.

"Cruiser died in the European front. I need to send a new commander for the western Death Battalion. 12 dead in the west. 2 got sniped and 1 had a premature detonation from his C4 pack. 7 dead here in the east including Joey."

"Not Uplink."

"Yeah. He took a artillery shell in the shoulder. His squad brought back the body in three pieces." I said sliding the request for a new commander to the side.

"Wolf, General Harrison would like you to see something." Sev,our artificial intelligence, said pulling a file up on my computer. I typed in my serial number and password.

"Welcome DA-E27. Would you like to view SJ78654754, or read the report first." A woman's voice, probably Harrison's AI.

"The video please." I said sipping some of my ginger ale.

"Very well."

A video popped up. I immedeatly recognized it as a infantry helmet's cam recording. The mission clock read 715. It looked like a regular day. I saw what looked like a town, or what had been a town. The buildings were in shambles and the streets choked with rubble. The helmets owner sat in a ditch. He held his carbine down the street. The air was thick with smoke and fire.

"What the heck is going on. They rolled straight through our defenses. Not even our airsupport or our artillery could stop them. They just kept coming." a voice said over the comm.

"Stow it Private. You had time to be scared before you joined the 173rd." A commanding tone replied.

Suddenly the wall of smoke down the street was shredded by bullets.

"Open fire." The commanding voice yelled.

The firefight was violent as men fell and rubble landed around the helmets owner.

"We are not giving up. This is the last sector. We will fight for every last inch. No surrender. No retreat."

Suddenly the dust and smoke was so thick no one could see and the camera spun. Something had happened. The helmets owner picked himself from the ground. He looked to the side. A building had collapsed killing the last of the defenders. All but the cam's owner.

"Sarge. Sim. Oh no. Crap. I'm dead." The man said turning. Shadow's appeared in the dust and smoke and began to walk towards the young man. He stood and fired at the hulking blackness but they didn't stop. He fired until the clip was dry and slapped another one in. He again opened fire but there was still no effect. The soldier dropped his weapon and bolted through the alley behind him. He took a few turns and found himself surrounded by smoke again. He pulled a side arm and began to fire as a shadow appeared in front of him. Suddenly a stream of fire pushed through the smoke and the young man fell backwards screaming. His helmet cam was knocked loose and rolled to the side giving Matt and Jamie a good view of the flaming corpse of its owner. Suddenly the black mass stepped forward. A mass of grey steel and armor. The hulking form was human like and stood a good seven feet tall and almost wider than a car at the shoulders. On its back was a canister and attatched to its left arm was a flamethrower. Smoke swirled around its helmet. It looked towards the camera and brought its foot down crushing it beneath its foot.

"Jesus. The 173rd. That's Nurenburg's boys. How in the world did the Russians get past the new age stonewall." Rouge said.

"That is what we are trying to find out." A voice said from the door.

"Gen. Harrison sir." We both said snapping to attention.

"Sit down boys." He said. He was in his late 40's. His black hair was in a short buzz and he looked much older than he had a few days earlier.

"That was picked up by our scavanger team. The whole town of Sumy Ukraine was levled. There is no enemy prescence. Just decimation. We lost contact at around 5 in the morning. As you can see the whole battle was over by 750 hours. We didn't find a single enemy body. This is the sixth attack like this. A town is hit. The enemy hits hard, fast, and ferociously. The fight is short, and the enemy, unstoppable. The town is raised and left empty. There are no survivors or prisoners. The only man to have come back was found in a sewer babbling and muttering about metal men." He pulled a cigar out of his jacket pocket.

"Why would they leave it. Why not fortify it and use it themselves." Rouge asked.

"They don't care they only want us dead. The question is, what was that thing at the end, and how powerfull is it." I said

"It could be a new walker type. Smaller and more armored." Rouge suggested

"No it would take to much to move it they couldn't be that small."

"Precisely. I need Four squads of Angels to check out a town close to all the attacks. It is rumored there are very little Russians there, but just before the attacks started it started getting large shipments of supplies. I believe its for the Metal men." He said. "Choose carefully and get geared up you leave at 600 hours for the western front."

I sat in a dropship flying low over the Kazakhstani countryside to some unknown town. I was nervous. We were going in with no info and only each other and the five dropships for back up. I saw the town up ahead.

"We have the DZ in sight. It's just outside of the town.We can't go in unless it's absolutely necessay." the pilot had rubbed me the wrong way since take off.

"Good. Alright get tactical Angels." I said checking my gear. I had a XM11 Carbine, two silenced P323K pistols strapped to my thighs, and a jackhammer shotgun slung over my pack. We all had new Scythe-IV armor. It was invincible. It could take anything but a straight shot from a tank. The only problem was we couldn't take the impact.

The ship dropped down and hovered as we jumped out. I signaled Alpha to hold the Drop Zone. Fox dropped in on our left flank and Orca our right. We spread out and headed towards the city. It didn't take long to reach the edges of the forest. We had about 300 yards of open fields between us and cover in the town. Well not really town. It was more of a base. Concrete bunkers, barbed wire, sentry post's. I had the Rouge and Zim from Fox team go check out our flanks and see if there was a better way into town.

They returned unsuccessfull. "What the heck is Harrison thinking sending us in with no intel. He dropped us on the wrong side of the river. We have to go here or else we get to meet some armor." Rouge said

I swore."They have armor. OK this is it boys and girls. Spread out and stagger your selves. Snipers stay behind us and cover us. The best cover we got is that shed over there and that little wall. Other than that get into town."

We spread out to keep from all going down in the first hit. 300 yards. Even with Genetic engeneering it would take us 170 seconds.

"Go" I yelled sprinting for the nearest building someone in the bunker opened fire but one of our snipers took it out before It could hit anyone. Another one was similarly silenced but not before a few rounds bounced off my armor. I heard a crack and saw one of Orca team's head jerk. He fell and slid a few feet.

"Snipers Kick it in." I was worried. These helmets could take sniper rounds to the head without trouble. It would take two or three shots, even the faceplate. 30 yards and I heard another crack.

"Wraith take him out." I said.

"Can't find him. He isn't within range of my sniper." She said back iceily. She was pissed. Someone was out sniping her.

I reached the bunker and tossed a grenade in before sliding to the cover of the cement wall. I turned back to see number 90 on the ground crawling towards cover. His whole left leg gone.

"Come on. Come on."

Another crack and his head exploded.

"What the. What kind of sniper is that." I heard Orca's squad leader yell over the comm.

"Ace hold it together. I know your team is down to half strength but you need to get the rest out so don't lose your cool. Now lets move" I was still worried though. He was right. That bullet took out our armor and not just killed 90, it obliterated him.

We were moving through the streets but we couldn't find anyone. It was eerily quiet. We crept towards the center of the town but at least the sniper wasn't dismembering us. The snipers had moved into town and set up shop in a tall building on the outskirts with Orca as guards.

"The hell is that." Rouge said over the comm. I turned to find the same hulking form as on the Sumy video. There were three of them and they all looked the same except for the fact that the one in the middle had a flamethrower and two tanks on his back while the other two had chainguns on their right arms and one tank on their backs. One of them took three quick steps and smashed the Big Dog into the wall. All we saw after that was his crumpled form and a two foot dent in the wall.

"Get to cover." I yelled diving behind a sand bag position. I had always wondered why the positions were so thick here. I tried to crouch beind it when I saw number 74 from Fox team catch a barrage from one of the chain guns. The bullets just impacted on his armor but after a few seconds they broke through and started to shred his chest. His body jerked and tremors ran through him but the wall of lead from both chainguns kept him upright. A few more seconds and the chainguns whipped around and started destroying the sandbags I was behind. The beheamoths were uncaring of the fire from the rest of the Death Angels as it pinged off their armor. I saw 108 and 40 from Fox both get caught in the path of the flamethrower. The Scythe armor's thermal conditioning held up but it wasn't long before the men inside were cooked inside, leaving two scorched but unhurt suits of armor.

"The bullets aren't even hurting them." Someone yelled over the Angel comm.

I saw Big Dog rise up from the hole in the wall. His entire left side was crushed. He took out his lighter and put it in his left hand. He had to flick the zippo open with his right hand and he jumped up wrapping his arm around the Flamethrower and holding the lighter up.

"I'll see you in hell." He yelled ramming his arm into the tanks on the things back. The next thing I saw all three of the hulking things were vaporized as flames burst across the whole street. We all stood and looked at the burnt and crushed form that had saved our lives. I kneeled down and pulled his holo-tags.

"Let's go. Daniel wanted us to accomplish the mission. Now lets do it." I said

"This is creepy" Rouge said, checking his clip.

"I don't like it either, but I guess their is nothing we can do." I replied

"This town is mostly empty except for a few super teams." Siren said

"Go." I yelled as we stormed the building that Harrison had marked as the target.

"Serpent take up position around the front, Bravo I want you down here too, Alpha you have to drop down into the courtyard while we cover you. Your job is to get into that building and find whatever you can, take everything that isnt bolted down. Even then if it looks important I want it. We will make sure no one gets in behind you." I yelled over the com.

"The hallways are to small for supers so it looks like it will be an easy job, we have to stay out here with the beheamoths." Rouge said peeking over the sandbags.

"Dont worry I have an idea." I said hefting a foot and a half long metal spike.

"Suppressive fire! Get me a bead on that squad!" Serpent yelled, opening up with her 50 cal, which soon drowned out all other sounds as she fired from her entrenched position. Moments later, a 40mm artillery cannon spewed a shell directly into the cloud of dust and debris. Soon all the rest of the Angels opened up with various heavy weapons we had scavenged from the armory in the front of the building. The three man S&D, two Goliaths and a Flamer the regulation squad it appeared, barely flinched at the onslaught. One of the Supers stopped and fired a few bursts into the entrenched Angels.

It seemed to be a thing with them. Every time the metal Goliaths opened fire, they stopped. They couldn't fire those giant chainguns while moving. They always had to brace themselves.

"Anytime, Wolf." Serpent said over the comm. She sounded only slightly anxious, which told me she was probably crapping her pants right about now. Or would have been, had she been a normal soldier.

"Keep your panties on, Serpent. They still need to move a couple yards." Rouge shot back.

"Just a few more feet..." I whispered. "Ready.... NOW!"

Rouge rose from the rubble where he had buried himself, chunks of debris falling from his frame as he sprinted towards the Super on the left. The Super reeled back as Matt shoved a spike into the joint between the Goliath's helmet and the shoulder pauldren. The spike was an improvised explosive that I had made a bunch of, using railroad spikes and lots and lots of good old C4.

Rouge gave one last punch before the Super slammed the side of his gun arm into Rouge's stomach. Matt was sent flying into the wall, which promptly fell over on top of him, burying him for the second time in as many minutes.

"Rouge!" I yelled, leaping from my hiding place on the second floor balcony of a nearby building. I slid my spike into the same Super's neck seal. It slid pretty far in, but in my haste to get their attention off Rouge I didn't put all my momentum behind it.

The Super toppled, unprepared for my extra weight. I rolled off him and straight into the Flamer's leg. He pointed his weapon at me, but I kicked it upwards, the flame shooting just over my head. I pulled my self up and dove for Rouge's battered form. I pushed the detonator mid-dive and was propelled forward towards the crumbled bricks. I ignored the searing heat on my back and grabbed a hold of Rouge's shoulder, dragging him the last couple feet to cover.

"You alright?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Oh yeah, just dandy. How are you." He groaned sarcastically.

"Loving my job, baby." I replied as debris from the explosion rained around us. That Super team was gone. I rolled over and pushed myself to my knees. "Oh yeah, I love my job."

"Wolf I'm patching Alpha into you it seems your comm system is screwed up only Echo can hear you."

"Thanks Serpant"

"Wolf, we have secured several hundred computer files, three dozen stimulant injectors, and a Golaith arm that was actually bolted down but whe blew it free, as well as some important looking stuff that I have no idea what it is."

"Good work, get in touch with your ship and have them pick you and it up on the roof. Divide what you can up between the three teams and lets get out of here. Alright Echo will take point and Bravo cover us from behind, we meet up with the snipers and get out of here."

I walked down the street covering Siren as she scouted ahead. Bravo covered our rear. A Super stepped out of the shadows. Siren dove out of the way as he pulled the trigger on his shotgun. The buckshot peppered the cement. The Super was much smaller then the others, human sized actually, his armor was black and he had what looked like a sword. He pulled his sword off his back, it was easily the length of my leg. Siren rolled to the side to avoid his downward swing. She pulled herself upright and began to fire into his chest.

"OPEN FIRE ANGELS" I yelled over the intercom, unloading my Heavy machine gun into it's back.

Bravo was a little slow but Rouge was already emptying clips along with me. Siren dodged the second swing but backed into a wall. We watched in horror as the Super impaled her on his sword.

Matt pulled a Super stim-pack we had picked up at the lab, and slid it into the injector port in his shoulder.

"Bravo fall back, find another route to the snipers. We will hold him off." My voice a lot calmer then I felt.

"Wolf that isn't a good idea. We have no idea of the make up of that stim. His blood is already a Chemical Cocktail and that mix may be unstable." Serpent said, pulling her men back anyway.

"Right now I really don't care. Rouge hold him back, I'll check on Whitney." I said.

Rouge charged forward faster then I have ever seen anyone move. I looked down, he left a bootprint in the concrete where he started. He grabbed the Super's sword arm and slammed it into the wall, obliterating the wall and making it drop the sword. He got inside it's guard and grabbing the arm holding the shotgun.

"Go" He yelled before bashing his fist into the monsters chestplate.

I reached Siren and hoisted her onto my shoulder before pulling her behind cover.

"Siren.... Siren, come on say something" I looked at my HUD. She was barely alive.

"Come on Siren." I pulled her helmet off and started to undo her chestplate. I looked at her face, bad mistake. There was blood dripping down her chin. Her lung was obviously punctured. She looked into my eyes and tried to say something. The only thing she succeded in doing was spraying a mist of blood before dieing.

Trigger, Big Dawg, Uplink, now Siren. I was quickly losing my family. I pulled my own stim and jammed it into my thigh. I closed her eyes and pulled her holotags before triggering the failsafe in the armor. It had enough explosives to blow this city block straight to Hell. I tucked the tags in my pack and looked up in time to see a Goliath, another sword carrying super and around 20 Russians spill out of a nearby intersection and head straight for us. I looked over at Rouge to see him standing over a cracked and broken super.

"Rouge more enemies decided to show up." I said

"Let's get this party started. Leave the regs to me, you can play with the bigger ones." He said pulling