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The building shook with such violence and ferocity that what little furniture remained standing fell over, shattering as it did. Her wounded, and exhausted scaled hands clung to her weapon as if it was a gift from the Demon Lord herself. Her once proud, yellow eyes now drooped with fatigue and hopelessness as she crawled along the wall under the windows to avoid being seen. Her target being the last window on the wall, the “Safest” one to steal a quick look from the world outside, but the crawling was slow and painful since she was shot in her left leg. She had been shot by an “eagle” when her and her squad had to run across the street.... out of 5 she had been the only one to had made it across and even then she almost didnt. The loss of mobility for her life, a fair trade if she would even call it that but she was alive and that was good enough for her.
Finally making it to the window she moved to its right, so that she was near the corner to help support her. Catching her breath, she slowly (like she was stalking her own pry) began to peer out the window.... only to immediately duck as the glass shattered from the shot. If she had been a moment slower she would have been dead, and with that she began crawling back to her bag of supplies in the hallway. While crawling her thoughts chalked up another defeat for her. This “animal” had ambushed them leaving her alive and now was toying with her..... “Bullshit!” she shouted out of spite. Someone of her background, coming from a long line of warriors being toyed like this was disrespectful and unfair. She deserved something better, something more “atone” to her ways of fighting. Like a one on one no weapons match were only your bare strength and skill is allowed. She softly smiled at the idea of how he would act if fought her like that.
She had to shake off those thoughts as she grabbed the bag and began rummaging through it. Hoping, and praying she hadn’t used the last of it.... “AH!” she happily chirped as her trembling hand (either from excitement or exhaustion) removed a needle from the bag. Sitting up against the wall, she removed the protective cap off and jammed the needle into her leg, cringing a bit before having it melt away into one of bliss as the drug took effect.
With her body and leg feeling better she leaned her head back onto the wall as she inhaled a deep breath of the now dirty air as her mind wondered how to deal with this “eagle”? She had SO many ideas as to what she could deal with him, but none of them were practical. She could just not worry about him and try making a run for it but there's several problems to that. First being her leg, she cant even move it that well while crawling meaning running was impossible. Second being he killed her squad....her friends, she couldnt leave knowing he was still alive. No, this was a personal matter now.
With a renewed determination burning in her heart, her very soul she began to plan and scheme as to how she could defeat the “eagle”. She was so absorbed with her wicked thoughts that she failed to notice a faint sound echoing from down stairs. It was faint at first but soon the stairs whined with protest as they were suddenly forced to support the weight of someone. Her eyes open in a flash, panic across her face as she crawled as best as she could into the room across from her hiding under the bed as the steps reached the the second floor.
Silence fell over her mind, to scared to think of something less she gave herself away as the soft yet weighted thumps moved down the hall. As her mind cleared it was then she realized her weapon and bag were still in the hallway! And just like that a pair of boots entered her vision. From under the bed she could make out the scuffs and dirt that marked them as veterans of the fighting, not some green body that just arrived the other day. No. He was a veteran, and he had stopped next to her weapon and bag meaning he knew someone was here and she was going to be found and..... She couldnt even finish that thought as she shook it out of her mind. As she thought about what was going to happen.... she was surprised, well shocked that all he did was use his boot to move it a bit before slowly walking down the hallway. It was a stroke of luck! Waiting a moment for the steps to move further down the hall, she quietly started to crawl out from under the bed and make her way to her weapon.
He was close. He could feel it as he carefully moved down the hall towards the last room in the hallway. He had seen her trying to take a look out the window when he finally shot her. These last two days had been nothing short of boring and tiring for him as he had to stay awake and watch for any sign of her. He didnt have to but he choice to stay awake to pick her off, else it would look bad if he let one get away. As he drew nearer he could see the shards of glass on the floor, meaning this was the room indeed so he un-holstered his side arm (since it was better then his main) and slowly began aiming it at the door way. Three...two....ONE! He mental counted as he quickly dashed into the room aiming his side arm at..... the floor.
He held his weapon aimed at the floor for a few seconds as his mind tried to make heads or tails of this. He was sure.... NO! Positive that the shot hit her as she tried looking out the window, but other then the shards of glass that littered the floor there was nothing else. No body, no blood stain..nothing. Just some dust and dirt and that was it. With no threat in the room he lowered his stance as he walked further into the room, and as he walked to the center of the room until he stood in the very center of it he did a turn around before shouting in rage. He stomped on the glass fragments on the floor until they were nothing more then a fine powder before turning his attention the the stand in the corner, throwing it to the ground and kicking it over and over.
“Had these past two days been for not? Had he been seeing things and actually hit all of the them when they were crossing the street?” He asked himself before saying “No! I know for a fact one made it in here... but I dont know.” Could she have managed to escape somehow without me knowing?”
He kept asking himself as more and more questions flooded his mind, looking for answers but the more he did the more he started stressing himself out more. He set his strained, tired body on the small bed that ran against the wall as he ran a hand down his face trying to wipe his fatigue away. This was his first real break he had since dropping in five days ago. Once his boots had hit the ground it was nothing short of skirmishes, and small fire fights as the men tried to regroup with each other, but most ended up forming mixed units instead since it was easier. He ended up with such a unit that was tasked with holding a cross road deemed important by their Archangel. Even if they knew not its importance, it was important to their Archangel and that meant it was important to them.
From there it was to be a straight march onward towards the city of steel, Londo, and onto the capital. But like everything in the world things went from bad to worst as they soon experienced rather quickly. With all of their Units scattered and disorganized it was hard to for their commanders to accurately estimate their strength and supplies. So instead they settled on laying “siege” to the city instead to get their supply lines and troops much needed time to catch up. The irony was instead of letting the mix units continue to capture towns and roads like they were suppose to and keep “Her” forces guessing they had unwilling showed the direness of their situation and gave her a single target to focus by combining into a single force to capture the city. Once the single to break the siege was given they had stormed the defenders located on the outskirts rather easily but once they start pressing further into the city their assault broke down into multiple firefights between isolated groups after 'Her” forces lunched several counter attacks and broke their line. Right now the battle for the city is being determine by the outcome of nothing more then “gang wars” and could remain that way until one of them grow a brain and did something, but at the moment it seemed like nothing was on either table.
He found himself holding his dog tags which he liked holding since it gave him a sense of reminder. A reminder of who he is or once was as he glanced at his tags and re-read the info on it: even if it severed no real purpose other then to take his thoughts off the situation around him. He was a soldier of the Holy Order of Saffron and until ordered other wise told he needed to keep fighting this street war, but the more he did, the more he felt parts of himself dying. Even in the letters he wrote back to his family, he could sense something was different with him but if his family noticed it he could not say and so kept writing like nothing was wrong. He sighed as he stood up not wanting to leave the bed but had too anyway. He grabbed his helm before grabbing his weapon in his other hand and began walking out of the room so he could get back to his little “home” across the street and radio in that the Eastern distract was cleared. He turned into the hall and froze as he stared into the eyes of a rather tired, desperate mamono who had her weapon aimed at him. He could read it all as if it were a book. Her entire struggle, pain, sorrow and anger pouring out into her eager hands as she placed her finger on the trigger. She had been waiting for this moment and now here was her chance to end this game... to end her pain. Her finger was applying pressure to the trigger as she braced herself for the kick, burying it firmly into her shoulder as her body started turning into stone.
She couldn’t help but notice the look on his face as she pulled the trigger. It wasnt one of worry, or shock but it was a calm, almost accepting look as her body jolted a bit from the kick. But her jolt wasnt nearly as much as his as the force was enough to briefly lift him off the ground and send him a couple of inches back. He hit the floor with a rather large thud. She held her pose as she waited for something, anything to happen, but after sometime of just listening to his labored breath she relaxed and took careful steps next to him, and was surprised to see he was young. In fact he looked no older then her, maybe a year shy of 20 and yet this “man” was responsible the death of her entire team. His rugged, and wildly unshaven face suggested that he's had little time to rest, while his hands were as black as coal from all the dirt. His uniform was worn, and sometimes torn at certain spots like around the knees from all the crouching and kneeling, but the most striking thing about him were his eyes. Even in his current state they still seemed shine, almost unscathed compared to the rest of his body.
She felt a small ping of sorrow for him as he laid there dying but she shook the thought away since she couldn’t do anything for him... besides he was the enemy and he started it. But she still wanted to know the name of her adversary, thinking back on traditions of knowing the name of your opponent, she extended her clawed hand towards his neck, when he blinked. Startled she let a small shriek loose and retracted her hand back to her as she almost leaped back a couple of inches. This must of amused him since she saw a smile tug on the corners of his lips. She saw this and reasserted her front before quickly grabbing the tags that hang around his neck and tilted them into the light....” MEYERS, DIEGO”
She read the name once more before placing the tags on his chest, and forced her body to comply and stand. She took one more glance at the dying man, almost whispering “May you die with some sense peace” before turning around and slowly began limping down the hall... or only a couple of feet before stopping next to a window as he coughed up some blood. She didnt have to stop, but she hated hearing the man choke on his own blood and no one deserved to die like that do they? No. No one did she finally decided. She turned around and pulled out the side arm she took from Diego and pointed it at him.
“Even though you murdered my entire team...my friends, and cause of that I hate you with every fiber of my being, but I cant stand hearing you choke to death on your own blood. So im going to show your undeserving ass some mercy.” She finished as her hand trembled with some built up rage.
Diego, still keeping his head on the floor replied “ I didnt kill them... he did.”
Before she could open her mouth, the glass next to her shattered in many fragments as the bullet burst through and made contact with the side of her head. One shot was all it took and she fell to the floor dead, ending her tour of duty.
Across in the other building, the “Eagle” lifted his head from the stock of the rifle and turned around. Placing the rifle neatly up against the wall as he walked too the makeshift table he had set up in the center of the room. Along with some maps of the city and his cup of food, the radio set unused, but not for long as he turned the knobs slightly to the left and adjusted it before the static went away. He paused for a moment to figure out what he was going to say before he spoke
“ This is “Eagle 2-3” Targets are dead, and Section 1-2-2 cleared.” He paused for a response and within a moment he got one.
“Copy, “Eagle 2-3” Good Work. You've done the Chief God proud today. Were there any casualties?”
He hesitated for a moment thinking about Diego, before replying.
“Diego Meyers... my “eyes” sir. He went to flush any and all remaining Mamomo that might have survived from the building, but let his guard down...”
“Im sorry to hear that Jax. We'll make sure he is buried and treated like hero. Eagle Nest out”
He was cut off by the operator, and with that he turned the knobs to the right and turned off the radio. Leaving him alone with nothing but the faint sounds of fighting off in the distance, and the wind howling at him like it was angry with him. With nothing else to do at the moment he decided upon laying next to the wall under the window he had just been at earlier and closed his eyes catching up on his sleep.
Finally making it to the window she moved to its right, so that she was near the corner to help support her. Catching her breath, she slowly (like she was stalking her own pry) began to peer out the window.... only to immediately duck as the glass shattered from the shot. If she had been a moment slower she would have been dead, and with that she began crawling back to her bag of supplies in the hallway. While crawling her thoughts chalked up another defeat for her. This “animal” had ambushed them leaving her alive and now was toying with her..... “Bullshit!” she shouted out of spite. Someone of her background, coming from a long line of warriors being toyed like this was disrespectful and unfair. She deserved something better, something more “atone” to her ways of fighting. Like a one on one no weapons match were only your bare strength and skill is allowed. She softly smiled at the idea of how he would act if fought her like that.
She had to shake off those thoughts as she grabbed the bag and began rummaging through it. Hoping, and praying she hadn’t used the last of it.... “AH!” she happily chirped as her trembling hand (either from excitement or exhaustion) removed a needle from the bag. Sitting up against the wall, she removed the protective cap off and jammed the needle into her leg, cringing a bit before having it melt away into one of bliss as the drug took effect.
With her body and leg feeling better she leaned her head back onto the wall as she inhaled a deep breath of the now dirty air as her mind wondered how to deal with this “eagle”? She had SO many ideas as to what she could deal with him, but none of them were practical. She could just not worry about him and try making a run for it but there's several problems to that. First being her leg, she cant even move it that well while crawling meaning running was impossible. Second being he killed her squad....her friends, she couldnt leave knowing he was still alive. No, this was a personal matter now.
With a renewed determination burning in her heart, her very soul she began to plan and scheme as to how she could defeat the “eagle”. She was so absorbed with her wicked thoughts that she failed to notice a faint sound echoing from down stairs. It was faint at first but soon the stairs whined with protest as they were suddenly forced to support the weight of someone. Her eyes open in a flash, panic across her face as she crawled as best as she could into the room across from her hiding under the bed as the steps reached the the second floor.
Silence fell over her mind, to scared to think of something less she gave herself away as the soft yet weighted thumps moved down the hall. As her mind cleared it was then she realized her weapon and bag were still in the hallway! And just like that a pair of boots entered her vision. From under the bed she could make out the scuffs and dirt that marked them as veterans of the fighting, not some green body that just arrived the other day. No. He was a veteran, and he had stopped next to her weapon and bag meaning he knew someone was here and she was going to be found and..... She couldnt even finish that thought as she shook it out of her mind. As she thought about what was going to happen.... she was surprised, well shocked that all he did was use his boot to move it a bit before slowly walking down the hallway. It was a stroke of luck! Waiting a moment for the steps to move further down the hall, she quietly started to crawl out from under the bed and make her way to her weapon.
He was close. He could feel it as he carefully moved down the hall towards the last room in the hallway. He had seen her trying to take a look out the window when he finally shot her. These last two days had been nothing short of boring and tiring for him as he had to stay awake and watch for any sign of her. He didnt have to but he choice to stay awake to pick her off, else it would look bad if he let one get away. As he drew nearer he could see the shards of glass on the floor, meaning this was the room indeed so he un-holstered his side arm (since it was better then his main) and slowly began aiming it at the door way. Three...two....ONE! He mental counted as he quickly dashed into the room aiming his side arm at..... the floor.
He held his weapon aimed at the floor for a few seconds as his mind tried to make heads or tails of this. He was sure.... NO! Positive that the shot hit her as she tried looking out the window, but other then the shards of glass that littered the floor there was nothing else. No body, no blood stain..nothing. Just some dust and dirt and that was it. With no threat in the room he lowered his stance as he walked further into the room, and as he walked to the center of the room until he stood in the very center of it he did a turn around before shouting in rage. He stomped on the glass fragments on the floor until they were nothing more then a fine powder before turning his attention the the stand in the corner, throwing it to the ground and kicking it over and over.
“Had these past two days been for not? Had he been seeing things and actually hit all of the them when they were crossing the street?” He asked himself before saying “No! I know for a fact one made it in here... but I dont know.” Could she have managed to escape somehow without me knowing?”
He kept asking himself as more and more questions flooded his mind, looking for answers but the more he did the more he started stressing himself out more. He set his strained, tired body on the small bed that ran against the wall as he ran a hand down his face trying to wipe his fatigue away. This was his first real break he had since dropping in five days ago. Once his boots had hit the ground it was nothing short of skirmishes, and small fire fights as the men tried to regroup with each other, but most ended up forming mixed units instead since it was easier. He ended up with such a unit that was tasked with holding a cross road deemed important by their Archangel. Even if they knew not its importance, it was important to their Archangel and that meant it was important to them.
From there it was to be a straight march onward towards the city of steel, Londo, and onto the capital. But like everything in the world things went from bad to worst as they soon experienced rather quickly. With all of their Units scattered and disorganized it was hard to for their commanders to accurately estimate their strength and supplies. So instead they settled on laying “siege” to the city instead to get their supply lines and troops much needed time to catch up. The irony was instead of letting the mix units continue to capture towns and roads like they were suppose to and keep “Her” forces guessing they had unwilling showed the direness of their situation and gave her a single target to focus by combining into a single force to capture the city. Once the single to break the siege was given they had stormed the defenders located on the outskirts rather easily but once they start pressing further into the city their assault broke down into multiple firefights between isolated groups after 'Her” forces lunched several counter attacks and broke their line. Right now the battle for the city is being determine by the outcome of nothing more then “gang wars” and could remain that way until one of them grow a brain and did something, but at the moment it seemed like nothing was on either table.
He found himself holding his dog tags which he liked holding since it gave him a sense of reminder. A reminder of who he is or once was as he glanced at his tags and re-read the info on it: even if it severed no real purpose other then to take his thoughts off the situation around him. He was a soldier of the Holy Order of Saffron and until ordered other wise told he needed to keep fighting this street war, but the more he did, the more he felt parts of himself dying. Even in the letters he wrote back to his family, he could sense something was different with him but if his family noticed it he could not say and so kept writing like nothing was wrong. He sighed as he stood up not wanting to leave the bed but had too anyway. He grabbed his helm before grabbing his weapon in his other hand and began walking out of the room so he could get back to his little “home” across the street and radio in that the Eastern distract was cleared. He turned into the hall and froze as he stared into the eyes of a rather tired, desperate mamono who had her weapon aimed at him. He could read it all as if it were a book. Her entire struggle, pain, sorrow and anger pouring out into her eager hands as she placed her finger on the trigger. She had been waiting for this moment and now here was her chance to end this game... to end her pain. Her finger was applying pressure to the trigger as she braced herself for the kick, burying it firmly into her shoulder as her body started turning into stone.
She couldn’t help but notice the look on his face as she pulled the trigger. It wasnt one of worry, or shock but it was a calm, almost accepting look as her body jolted a bit from the kick. But her jolt wasnt nearly as much as his as the force was enough to briefly lift him off the ground and send him a couple of inches back. He hit the floor with a rather large thud. She held her pose as she waited for something, anything to happen, but after sometime of just listening to his labored breath she relaxed and took careful steps next to him, and was surprised to see he was young. In fact he looked no older then her, maybe a year shy of 20 and yet this “man” was responsible the death of her entire team. His rugged, and wildly unshaven face suggested that he's had little time to rest, while his hands were as black as coal from all the dirt. His uniform was worn, and sometimes torn at certain spots like around the knees from all the crouching and kneeling, but the most striking thing about him were his eyes. Even in his current state they still seemed shine, almost unscathed compared to the rest of his body.
She felt a small ping of sorrow for him as he laid there dying but she shook the thought away since she couldn’t do anything for him... besides he was the enemy and he started it. But she still wanted to know the name of her adversary, thinking back on traditions of knowing the name of your opponent, she extended her clawed hand towards his neck, when he blinked. Startled she let a small shriek loose and retracted her hand back to her as she almost leaped back a couple of inches. This must of amused him since she saw a smile tug on the corners of his lips. She saw this and reasserted her front before quickly grabbing the tags that hang around his neck and tilted them into the light....” MEYERS, DIEGO”
She read the name once more before placing the tags on his chest, and forced her body to comply and stand. She took one more glance at the dying man, almost whispering “May you die with some sense peace” before turning around and slowly began limping down the hall... or only a couple of feet before stopping next to a window as he coughed up some blood. She didnt have to stop, but she hated hearing the man choke on his own blood and no one deserved to die like that do they? No. No one did she finally decided. She turned around and pulled out the side arm she took from Diego and pointed it at him.
“Even though you murdered my entire team...my friends, and cause of that I hate you with every fiber of my being, but I cant stand hearing you choke to death on your own blood. So im going to show your undeserving ass some mercy.” She finished as her hand trembled with some built up rage.
Diego, still keeping his head on the floor replied “ I didnt kill them... he did.”
Before she could open her mouth, the glass next to her shattered in many fragments as the bullet burst through and made contact with the side of her head. One shot was all it took and she fell to the floor dead, ending her tour of duty.
Across in the other building, the “Eagle” lifted his head from the stock of the rifle and turned around. Placing the rifle neatly up against the wall as he walked too the makeshift table he had set up in the center of the room. Along with some maps of the city and his cup of food, the radio set unused, but not for long as he turned the knobs slightly to the left and adjusted it before the static went away. He paused for a moment to figure out what he was going to say before he spoke
“ This is “Eagle 2-3” Targets are dead, and Section 1-2-2 cleared.” He paused for a response and within a moment he got one.
“Copy, “Eagle 2-3” Good Work. You've done the Chief God proud today. Were there any casualties?”
He hesitated for a moment thinking about Diego, before replying.
“Diego Meyers... my “eyes” sir. He went to flush any and all remaining Mamomo that might have survived from the building, but let his guard down...”
“Im sorry to hear that Jax. We'll make sure he is buried and treated like hero. Eagle Nest out”
He was cut off by the operator, and with that he turned the knobs to the right and turned off the radio. Leaving him alone with nothing but the faint sounds of fighting off in the distance, and the wind howling at him like it was angry with him. With nothing else to do at the moment he decided upon laying next to the wall under the window he had just been at earlier and closed his eyes catching up on his sleep.