Blood in the Snow - Part 2

{[War is nothing but organized chaos.]}

"Onward, to death and glory, my brothers." Eugene nodded at them as he led them towards a tunnel hidden in an abandoned building. They had worked hard making it, even going as far as reinforcing it with wood and steel. It also had dozens of lanterns lit to guide them.

Eugene stayed behind. He wasn't part of the suicide team.

Luna used her power and started giving orders to the resistance army. Moving them through the city.

Gio led the way until they reached the end. One of the Russians spoke to them. "We're inside the floating city, right outside of Clear Water's motor pool." The Russian reached into his bag and pulled out C4, gifts from Crow.

The Russian grabbed a shovel and tapped up until sand and snow came down. The moonlight shined down on them.

Gio jumped out of the tunnel first, scanning his surroundings. He counted four watchtowers and dozens of armored anti-gravity Humvees, all covered in tarps to prevent the snow from covering them up.

"It's clear." Gio extended his hand down the tunnel, grabbing Ashner, Risa, Evaristo, and everyone after.

One by one, the group crawled towards the armored vehicles. They were using them as cover.

"They have watchtowers, but they're only watching the outside." Gio pointed up. "If we can take them out before they alert the others, then we can destroy their armor with the C-4."

The locals grabbed the C4 bricks and started sticking them underneath the armored vehicles which were on top of thick rubber stands. The Russians moved silently and quickly. They spared no expense, even sticking two or three on them.

"Risa, Twila, focus on the watchtowers. If Clear Water is anything like the military, they should have two guards per tower." Ashner's eyes went towards the center of the base, where dozens of antennas spun. And a specific weapon system caught his eye. "Oh… No…"

Gio eyed it as well. "That's an advanced C-RAM. If that thing is operating properly… Then our mortar team won't land a single hit on this base… We'll be on our own."

Gio gathered the warriors. They didn't have a platoon leader, but they were willing to follow Gio since he was easily the most muscular man there. He glanced at Ashner. "What do we do?"

"We break into two groups. Gio, Evaristo, and Crow take half the men and rush into the main building. The rest of us will create a diversion and destroy their watchtowers… And their C-RAM system…"

Crow smiled. He wasn't used to taking orders, but he wasn't complaining.

Ashner grabbed Twila's shoulder. Her face burned red, but due to the cold, nobody grasped it. Ashner then spoke to both her and Risa. "Use your powers and go tower to tower. Kill the watchtower guards quietly. I'll cover you from here. The rest of you keep setting up the C4. After we finish up here, we'll fight our way inside the building."

Some of the militia nodded. Others aimed their weapons around. It was dark, and they had a small advantage. Gio smiled and nodded to the group. "Stay alive out there, boys. We'll save your girls."

The group separated, using the darkness to reach their objectives.

*******

"Delta company, position yourselves in the snow, not in the buildings… Charlie company, don't move further than you are now. Hold the line where you are." Luna fiddled with her computer. She was able to control about a hundred drones at once and had a fantastic view of Clear Water's temporary base in DC. She kept her eyes on the environment. The DC base had about five hundred meters of ice and snow before it reached the town. The city surrounded it in three directions in a U shape. She turned her microphone off and spoke to Serenity and Sapphire. "My magic has limitations. And my mana will dry up quick."

"Take ours if you need it." Serenity and Sapphire were willing to let themselves get drained until they passed out. Luna nodded.

Wong tossed Alex a camera, which he immediately attached to his headpiece. Wong wore one as well. "Luna wants to see exactly where we are… So, Alex, you'll stick with Maria and her company, I'll join Echo company."

Alex didn't argue. He wanted them to stay together, but this was war, and his skills as a sniper were better served where he was assigned.

Luna studied her computers. She had been going out of her way to learn how to use them. Technology came naturally to her. And out of all the demi's, she had gotten the hang of them, even learned how to type without glancing down at the letters. Her ears dropped, and her eyes were worried.

"Alright… But my mana will burn out after fifteen or so minutes…" Luna spoke to the group, only her trusted friends. "Depending on how much mana I take from Serenity and Sapphire, I'll be able to use Future Sight for another ten or twenty minutes."

"That'll be more than enough time." Wong let go of the button on his headset and studied the militia. They were using their cars as cover. Some positioned themselves on top and inside buildings, others on the cold floor, and some inside their vehicles.

Eugene spoke Russian through his radio and then gave the group a thumbs-up. "Mortar teams are ready. We have four on standby."

"Then we're ready… When the first bullet fires, we wait ten minutes… Then the mortar team engages." Luna studied Eugene, who nodded.

"I'll be joining Beta company." The giant Russian grabbed his gear.

A bullet echoed. Luna's ears shot up.

"So it's begun." Eugene rushed down the stairs of the building.

*******

Risa used her power. In a second, she was inside the watchtower with her katana in hand. Before the second guard reacted, Twila slit his throat.

XP:7,920 > XP:9,200

Ashner had his sights on the tower. He moved his weapon with the girls.

That's the last tower.

Risa stuck a C4 brick in the last one and jumped down, using her wind to rush next to Ashner. Twila emerged from the shadows next to him.

"We're heading after the C-RAM." Ashner glanced up. The machine was up high, and they needed to take a flight of stairs to get to it.

"Hey!" A Clear Water member stepped out a side door with a cigarette in hand. Even in the darkness, he perceived someone was rushing around. "What are you doing?"

He lifted his weapon and fired in the air.

"Risa!" Ashner gave her the order.

The demi-cat rushed in, digging her sword deep into the mercenary's chest. She dug it into his body from his collarbone. It tore his flesh and internal organs. His eyes dilated, and he coughed up blood. Risa pulled her weapon out, and he tumbled. The cat girl tried finishing him off, but gunfire rained down from above. Peppering around Risa and the dying man.

XP:9,200 > XP:9,440

Twila grabbed Risa, and they both melted into the shadows, away from the gunfire, in the nick of time. Ashner rushed towards them with Saki behind him. Meanwhile, the team continued planting C4.

The alarm rang, and dozens of footsteps rushed towards the rebels. A door opened next to Ashner and Saki. Ashner grabbed Saki, and with his hand on her mouth, he pulled her close to him behind an electrical box. The two stayed silent as hundreds of Clear Water soldiers ran past them.

"We can't save them." Thirteen rebels against a hundred or so mercenaries battled. Saki closed her eyes as their comrades sacrificed their lives. Ashner and Saki evaded the main Clear Water force and reached the stairs, making their way up towards the gun that would prevent their main assault from commencing.

Saki glanced back as she ran alongside Ashner. The last of their comrades perished.

"They're gone." Saki had fought in battles before. But nothing compared to the guns from Ashner's world.

"I know." Ashner wasn't numb to witnessing his comrades die. He just wore an invisible mask under his physical one. "Keep moving… We need to hurry before the mortar attack hits us. If we're caught up in that blast, we're goners."

The stairway started circling around the building, making maneuvering more difficult. Unfortunately, the two didn't fathom that the building also served as an overwatch for the base, and they ran directly in front of Clear Water's entire chain of command.

For a second, nobody reacted.

Ashner aimed his M4 Carbine and pulled the trigger, killing the closest soldiers through the thin walls and windows.

XP:9,440 > XP:10,380

Saki fired her rocket launcher, blowing up a portion of the wall. The body parts of the mercenaries and their computers exploded. Saki's beast nature took over. Her power created a diamond hammer. She quickly slung her rocket launcher and let her anger guide her. Her hammer crushed, de-limbed, and shattered into the bodies of strangers. She was faster than an average human and several times stronger. Ashner cleaned up after her, killing the ones she missed.

XP:10,380 > XP:11,890

"They're heading to the roof!" The mercenaries from below rushed up the stairs. They started unloading their rounds on Ashner and Saki.

Ashner gripped the C4 trigger tightly. It wasn't the right time to use it.

The rounds were ripping apart the remaining windows and destroying the walls around them. They had no cover, and rushing outside was the easiest way to get shot down. The two knelt down together. Saki created a shield with her diamond magic. It was too small, and both of them were on the ground. Ashner hugged her tightly. Saki's ears dropped behind her head.

"We can't get out of here." Ashner and Saki were pinned down. Stray bullets bounced off the shield. Saki hugged him tightly. Her legs were shaking in fear. The bunny glanced up at him, hoping he'd find a way to survive.

"Is this where we die?" Saki asked, her hammer dripping blood. Her eyes locked on Ashner's. "I wanted to make you happy."

"Happy?" Ashner wasn't sure how to reply to that.

"Yes. If we get out of this…" Her legs wrapped around Ashner's, and they shook. "Please, notice the little things I do for you…"

She's scared…

Then, the firing stopped.

"INCOMING!" A voice thundered from outside.

The whistle of incoming mortar rounds screeched. It was followed by the C-RAM coming to life and firing at the incoming explosives.

"It's too early." Ashner glanced at his watch. Only five minutes had passed. "No… Luna ordered the attack early…"

"Why?" Saki held on to Ashner.

"To keep us alive."

In the middle of the chaos, Ashner glanced at his hands.

My power… I'm so used to combat that I'm not using it. Think, what can I do… Wait… Menu, buy that!

The menu bounced.

XP:11,890 > XP:780

Level 2 – (Bought) – You can manipulate multiple types of dirt and earth at once. Easily crumbling stones and rocks, power won't exceed anything larger than a foot.

Level 3 – (Bought) – You can manipulate and crumble the earth. You are now only limited to your mana capability. At this level, you can also manipulate small items in your hands. This doesn't include metals.

Level 4 – (Bought) – You can manipulate and form creations using the earth around you. Your limitations fall on your mana. At this level, you can create earth spears.

Level 5 – (Bought) – You can create and manipulate all types of earth. Your imagination and mana are your limits.

Ashner patted the wall behind him, crumbling it and reforming it. The stairs were in front of them, so the two rushed ahead.

That's where eight or so Clear Water members had their eyes on them.

Before they fired, Twila and Risa rushed in, cutting them down easily. Risa even reached for her sidearm and unloaded the clip on them. Ashner fired away as Saki used her MK 153 SMAW and blew up a group of soldiers chasing them from behind.

Saki

Firearms – Level 1 > 2

Rocket and Missile Launchers – Level 1 > 2

XP:780 > XP:4,140

The speakers squealed and echoed.

"THE TOWN TURNED ON US! THEY KILLED OUR PATROL TROOPS AND ARE FIRING DOWN ON US!" The voice gave Clear Water the excuse they wanted to ease their boredom. "ENGAGE EVERY LOCAL! LEAVE NONE OF THEM ALIVE!"

Ashner and Saki finally reached the top of the building where the C-RAM was. It moved and fired rapidly. Its rounds lit up the sky with their red tracers. To Saki's surprise, the noise it made was similar to someone blowing a raspberry.

Twila and Risa appeared next to the two. Both exhausted from fighting, they quickly reloaded their handguns. The C-RAM casually took down the falling mortar rounds, leaving a trail of red dots in its wake and an explosion in the sky.

Ashner palmed the roof and willed his power. Crumbling the roof and creating a fissure. One that reached the C-RAM. Its foundation collapsed and broke to pieces. Making the weapon fall inside the base.

It stopped firing. But not before it tore through the wall as it fell.

"The gate is opening." Risa's gaze was on the main gate, where Clear Water members were rushing out. Mounted on their Humvees and snowmobiles, they were like a swarm of ants moving through a thin passageway.

Clear Water was out for blood. And they had a target.

As they left to face the resistance, Ashner flipped the safety of the C4 trigger. He hesitated for a second, acknowledging how many people would die at the push of that button. The guilt left him when he recalled the mercenary's violence. And the fact that Ensley wore the same uniform as them.

Ashner pushed the trigger.

XP:4,140 > XP:20,850

*******

Gio, Evaristo, Crow, and their soldiers pushed deeper inside the building. They had lost ten men and were moving as fast as possible.

An explosion shook the building, and the concrete wall near Gio cracked. But that wasn't enough to distract him. He focused his fire and gunned down two Clear Water members who were not in uniform. "The battle outside is getting intense." Gio stepped over dead bodies. His men had resorted to picking up the mercenary's weapons once theirs were spent. Gio was down to his last machine gun belt.

"There!" Evaristo pointed at a door with the noticeable 'Server Room' etched into its metal frame.

The soldiers rushed inside the room. It was filled with hundreds of black computers behind tempered glass doors, and it was ice-cold inside. Crow pulled out a small laptop from his backpack. He plugged a wire inside one of the computers. The hacker started running a computer program he had created and plugged several hard drives into different portions of the computer systems.

"How long will this take?" Gio asked.

"Something this large will take me a few minutes… Ten, fifteen… Maybe longer…"

Gio put his head against the door. "Most of the soldiers inside the base left to fight."

"I'm assuming that as well." Crow started typing into his computer. "And we still need to get out of here alive."

"With the women and children." Gio glanced at one of their men. "Where are they keeping them?"

"Our intel said they're underground in a prison."

"Prison… Then I know how to get to them." Gio handed his SAW to Evaristo and walked towards the door. "I'll find the girls…"

"Unarmed?" Evaristo raised his eyebrow. "Are you stupid!"

"Sometimes I ask myself that… But in my experience… If you go in guns blazing trying to save prisoners when the enemy is expecting you… The guards execute them out of desperation… If they're in a prison… Then I just need to get myself caught."

"That's a terrible plan." Crow focused on typing and stopped only when he talked.

"Yes… But it's the best one I have… I'm not like my friends… They plan every move ahead of time… I just act… And I'm also pretty lucky when it comes to these kinds of things… Boys, stay safe… I'll find your girls." Gio stepped out and walked across the base without a care in the world.

Most of the mercenaries were gone. Gio walked past a few rooms humming to himself until something hit his neck.

The sting of a taser.

As he spasmed, Gio smiled.

******

Wong and Alex were on opposite sides of the battle. And Luna was the furthest from the chaos. She was well protected by both demi's and humans in the rear guard.

The elf kept her eyes on both the battle and the computers as the mortar rounds started coming down. Red lasers and bullets ripped the projectiles out of the sky before they hit, leaving Luna breathless.

"Here we go." Luna's eyes turned blue. The future was at her fingertips. She smiled and gave an order. "Nobody fire at the trucks coming from DC… Wait thirteen seconds… Let them explode and burn for a little while."

The militia was conflicted and confused by her comment, but nobody said a word, nor did they disobey. Then the Humvees exploded, one after another, eradicating some of the mercenaries riding the snowmobiles. It wasn't the entire army. Barely a crack of the entirety of their force. But it was helpful.

Eugene's army stayed silent. They didn't even cheer. Luna was dead on with her prediction.

Even with all the explosions, Clear Water still had a formidable force. After the smoke settled, Clear Water divided its forces in two. Half went left, and the other went right. They were going to clear the entire city.

"Alpha platoon attack the moment you see them. Don't let them regroup, and don't let them talk to each other." Luna ordered. The rebels engaged, efficiently eradicating a platoon's worth of men. "Echo platoon, don't attack."

Echo held their trigger fingers back but kept their sights on their enemy as they sped by them on their snowmobiles.

"Charlie, attack the moment you see them. Use all your explosive weapons…"

Beta platoon waited inside old buildings. Adjusting their positions and sights as the enemy passed below them.

Fox platoon swapped out their assault rifles for heavy weapons and waited until the first wave of enemies emerged.

"Now," Luna spoke to the entire army. "Everyone attack!"

The resistance to the right unloaded their clips.

The explosions killed a few members, but they did something more helpful. It broke Clear Water's morale.

The mercenaries broke ranks and retreated.

"Now… Beta platoon, shoot them in the back, don't let them regroup! Delta platoon, push forward and keep shooting. Don't fire at each other."

Gunfire roared to Luna's right side, where Wong was. The rebels showed no mercy. Hundreds of them were dying every minute under her command. A reality Luna accepted. She was willing to let them die as long as they won the battle. But, a part of her was curious, did her father have to make these choices when he faced humankind in her world? She shook her head. This wasn't the time or place for that.

In the distance, the C-RAM stopped firing. Eugene tapped a rubber button on his radio. "Unload every mortar round. Rain hell on them."

In the distance, DC started exploding from the incoming rounds.

Luna's vision blurred. "This is bad… I'm almost out of mana…" Her eyes were flickering from blue to purple.

"Take our mana." Sapphire and Serenity put their hands on Luna, and she took it with her new power. Leaving just enough for the girls to stay conscious.

"Where's Angel?" Serenity asked.

"She'll play her role later," Luna reassured. "If I run out of mana, we won't be able to keep our advantage. And the future keeps changing."

Both girls moved their hands away from Luna. They were starting to strain from mana deprivation. It was a shame humans from Earth didn't possess mana. The blue glow in Luna's eyes blinked purple and blue again. But not before she witnessed something that dropped her heart into her stomach.

"What was that?" Luna glanced back towards Alpha platoon's location, where Alex was fighting.

*******

Wong moved an abandoned dresser in one of the homes. He used it to prone his assault rifle on it. He was making sure not to stick his weapon out the window. As targets came into view, he used the red dot on his sight, aimed center mass, and fired.

One Clear Water member fell, gripping his stomach. Wong waited a few seconds for his ally to try dragging him away. That's when Wong fired and killed both of them. A building to his left exploded, and the rebels inside screamed as it collapsed on top of them.

Wong's radio came to life. "Doctor!" It was Ashner's voice, and it came in staticky.

Wong reached for the radio. "Say again, Broken, what's your sit-rep?" As soon as he let go of the button on his radio, the echo of gunfire roared through it, informing Wong that Ashner was engaged in battle.

"Clear Wate- They have a -" Wong shook the radio. The gunfire and static were making it impossible to communicate clearly. Wong brought it closer to his ear.

"Say again, Broken, I repeat, Broken."

Ashner's voice came in clearly.

Wong's eyes widened when he grasped the new development.

"Wong." Luna's voice came to life in his ear. She was desperate.

*******

Charlie platoon was still in the heat of battle. Slowly but surely, they were pushing forward. Alpha platoon was behind them, using long-range weapons to kill stragglers and Clear Water members that panicked and started retreating.

Alex

Firearms – Level 3 > 4

* Sniper Rifle – Level 3 > 4

The incubus was inside a home, using his scope to kill his targets. He was nauseous and sick of the gore. But he wanted to live.

"You're a damn good shot." Maria smiled at him. She hadn't left his side since the battle started.

Then, a humming caught his eye. He glanced up. A monster of steel floated towards his platoon from the base. Then, it fired missiles.

Alex and Maria ducked as the explosives destroyed multiple buildings. Crumbling them, also blowing up half a dozen cars into smithereens, shooting snow and stone into the sky.

From a distance, Luna stood up as she witnessed the devastation the helicopter caused.

The war machine used AI technology and automatically locked on to human targets. Putting multiple bullets in their body from as far as eight hundred meters away. And it had three guns on its stomach.

Wong rushed forward, avoiding gunfire and explosions. He glanced up at the UH-7Y Venom. In seconds, it decimated Alpha platoon. Casually killing everything in its way.

The blast propelled six people, including Alex and Maria, out of the building as it collapsed under the pressure of a missile that nearly missed them. As soon as Alex slammed against the wall, he fell limp on something soft.

Alex's head was fuzzy, and his eardrums were muffled. But one thing was certain… He was on top of corpses.

Men who were fighting alongside him seconds ago. They were in pieces.

"RUN!" Maria helped Alex up, and together, they ran over the dead and dying. Above them, the flying machine used its guns to mow down targets. As they dashed, Maria kept firing at Clear Water soldiers. Killing them as she moved.

Alex's focus returned to the flying machine. It stopped about four hundred meters away from him and spun in circles. Unloading its rounds on everything that moved, the locals didn't stand a chance.

"That's a Venom!" A man fifty feet away from Alex fired at it. The Venom spun, and the rebel's body was ripped apart.

Alex counted four men operating the door machine guns as the helicopter spun. Two per each side of the Venom. They were slaughtering the resistance with ease.

"Don't stop!" Maria urged since Alex got distracted. The gunfire started cutting the ground around them. And Maria pushed Alex forward. His body turned towards her from the force.

Her dark eyes were clear and worried, not for herself, but for him.

The rounds hit Maria. Turning her once beautiful body into splats of red and meat. Alex tried to reach out to her, the carnage of her death carved into his memory. As he was falling, his right foot got hit by one of the rounds, destroying it from the ankle down.

For a second, time slowed down, and Alex was numb from the cries of war. Instead, his eyes focused on his missing leg and what landed on his chest. The bracelet that Maria treasured flung away from her wrist and landed on him. Her hand had mixed in with the bodies around him. He grabbed the trinket with a shaky hand. A rage tore into the incubus as his desperate sobs overtook him. "No… Maria…" It took him a few seconds for the pain of losing his foot to settle in.

Alex low crawled through the gore, clenching the strap of his weapon tightly. His body shook as the UH-7Y Venom circled around, its fifty caliber rounds ripping across the sky, illuminating its path with red tracers. Leaving behind only the screams of dying warriors. The pilot didn't control the machine guns, only the rockets. The AI was designed to kill. It was designed too efficiently.

"This is how war is fought in this world…" Alex gasped and gagged. Some of the cadavers were nothing more than mush. And the aroma of metal was harsh in the air. "I should've never come here… This world is terrifying…"

Around him, some of the militia moaned and prayed, cursed, or tried to bargain with God. They were on death's doorstep. Alex had gotten extremely lucky. His body was in pain, but he wasn't dead yet. The live feed on his helmet was still rolling, granted it was cracked. Luna's voice came through statically. Her tone was nothing but desperation. It helped the demi-dog focus on staying conscious.

"Alex! I'm out of mana! I can't keep you safe! Get out of there!" Luna begged as Alex's headset stopped working. It had gotten damaged, and it finally gave out.

"I can't." Alex used the bodies to prone his weapon. He put Maria's bracelet on his wrist. The weapon he held wasn't just a gift. It was a symbol of Ashner's trust in him. Even after all the pranks he played on him, Ashner never once punished him. Alex wasn't a fool. He accepted long ago that he was weak. "If that thing gets to the others… They'll die… I won't stop… I can't stop…"

Alex focused his reticle on the side door gunners. Even from that distance, he saw the gunners smiling and enjoying themselves.

"What joy do you find in killing people?" Alex recalled how Ashner shook his head when Alex asked to join the suicide mission.

Alex kept his genuine emotions veiled. Deep down, he was crushed that Ashner didn't believe he was strong enough for that kind of mission, regardless of how weak he viewed himself. Alex controlled his breathing, just as Gio had taught him. He waited until his body exhaled and kept the buttstock tight against his shoulder, just as Wong had taught him. Then, he squeezed the trigger slowly, just as Ashner had taught him.

The door gunner's head exploded. He wore goggles, more than likely to keep away the snow from his eyes. Alex's bullet shattered them and his skull. The left side's gunner stopped firing and collapsed inside the Venom. And another round destroyed the second gunner's hand. He screamed and rolled into the helicopter.

"That's two…" Alex adjusted his position as the helicopter spun a hundred and eighty degrees. Alex's sight adjusted on the third gunner, the fifty caliber machine gun focused on Alex. But the incubus fired first.

In the distance, the third gunner's limp body fell out of the UH-7Y Venom and straight towards the snowy floor.

"That's three…" Alex's leg pulsed, but he was numb to his pain. Maria's death pushed him to keep going. His reticle focused on the last gunner, and he pulled the trigger. It nailed his leg, ripping it clean off. Then he, too, tumbled towards the cold earth. "Four…"

Alex

Firearms – Level 4 > 5

* Sniper Rifle – Level 4 > 5

His sight landed on the pilot. He fired, and nothing happened. The glass was too thick. Alex fired again and again.

Once again, he was powerless.

From inside the helicopter, the pilot jerked her head back. Had the round been stronger, it might've gone directly through her windshield and killed her… She shook her head and put her missile's reticle on Alex. After taking out all of her door gunners, the pilot didn't mind wasting a missile on him.

She readied her joystick and flipped the safety switch for her missiles.

Alex closed his eyes as he fired his last round to no avail. "I'm sorry guys… This is it for me... But… Meeting you guys… It was a lot of fun…"

A missile flew across the dark sky.

Nailing the pilot's side of the UH-7Y Venom.

Ripping inside the pilot's hatch. Exploding and erasing the woman's existence.

Alex opened his eyes as an anti-gravity snowmobile's engine died down. His eyes focused on the street near him. Sitting on the snowmobile was Wong, holding a spent AT4 rocket launcher. He tossed it aside since it was spent and can't be reloaded.

Around him, the militia reached him and cheered as the helicopter glided away from the group. Crashing against a concrete building and ultimately exploding in a sea of flames.

Alex surveyed it for a few seconds until strong arms grabbed him and lifted him away from the corpses he was on top of. The man carrying him away was his friend.

"Wong?" He asked, still gripping his M39 sniper rifle's sling. "I feel lightheaded."

Rounds fired near them. Wong used his free hand and fired back. Expertly killing four enemies as he dragged Alex.

Alex reached for his side arm and fired. His mind was numb, but his focus was sharp. He nailed two of them.

Once they were safe inside one of the abandoned buildings. Wong quickly applied a tourniquet on his missing foot, and then he stripped Alex's armor off. He skimmed every part of Alex's body, searching for more wounds. He was covered in blood, after all.

"You lost a limb, and that lightheadedness must be a concussion… Nothing else… Thank God… We've lost a lot of people today… I'm glad you weren't one of them…" Eventually, Wong stepped away from the short demi-dog. "That was a stupid thing to do… Luna ordered you to retreat… Yet you kept fighting… Don't you know… A sniper rifle is ineffective against an armored helicopter."

"She's gone… Maria…" Alex muttered. "She died pushing me out of the way."

Wong glanced at the M39 Rifle Alex carried. Julia, its former owner, had also given her life for him.

"She's dead because of me." Alex's eyes watered, not from the physical pain but from something entirely different. "I hate this… She was there one second… And gone the next… I… I…"

Wong hugged him tightly. Alex's eyes widened.

"I know…" Wong's kindness eased Alex's mind. "Don't let it consume you right now… Not while we're in the middle of a battle… I promise I'll be there for you… But if you allow that pain to consume you right now, we might not live…"

"Okay…" Alex put the pain in the back of his mind, and he reloaded his sniper rifle.

"But… Your actions allowed us to rush into the battle without the door gunners mowing us all down… You did good…" Wong leaned against the wall. "The battle has shifted in our favor. We didn't allow Clear Water to take the city, and as of now, Eugene and Luna gave the order to attack the DC base… So we have the advantage... We might've won this battle with the guys fighting there.."

"How can you be so sure?" Alex asked.

"Because I've seen Gio and Ashner's skills in combat… Those two will never do something stupid that'll put them in needless danger…"

*******

Gio opened his eyes. He was tied up and surrounded by Clear Water mercenaries. He smirked.