Athena: Fall of Europe (IC)

[Theyra]

Lindsay Black-Sharrow
Outskirts of Antwerp

"The Americans must be crazy," the British sniper quipped to Herrman as he piled in, turning to look briefly at the trunk lid in mid-downward swing.

Tine hastily swung her legs to the floor to make room for Jaden in the backseat, and to get off of Marilee. The corporal slammed the door behind him, waving at the IFVs to follow as the streaks touched down and the Crab began rumbling in their direction, already beginning to fire plasma blasts. The Chieftain - or whatever else - wouldn't be far behind, and so Lindsay answered Herrman's question by stamping down on the pedal. The BMW shot away down the N1 with the surprised Germans following. The Chieftain, surprisingly, hadn't, maybe to help secure the city. Who knew with aliens? Only the Crab managed any damage, blowing away a civilian Jeep and its four Czech occupants. A pair of Blues advancing ahead of it had been torn to shreds by the return fire from the group.

The massive railyard of northeast Brussels had just come into view when fire bloomed and a mushroom cloud blossomed into view, followed by two much larger.

The pain in Jaden's leg was mostly gone at that point but, is still there. He didn't show it and addressed the group in the car with him. He breathes in and out calmly. "Can someone tell what is the plan or why we are going to Brussels? "After the base was attacked, I had no contact with anyone really or any military personal". "Or at least tell me who you guys are and....". Jaden looks back at the mushroom clouds. "I think I know what just happened and why we can't go back to Antwerp". Jaden tiredly takes out his canteen of water but before he takes a sip of it. "Anyone want some water to drink? "It's.... half full right now".

[Bentus]

The antiseptic would have caused a sharp pain the moment it came into contact with the wound, but Emilie knew that Tine had been through plenty worse before. As the medic had gone about the monotonous work of restitching the former Athena soldier’s wounds, the pain steadily dulled to a constant throb before the analgesics started to kick in. Emilie hadn’t given Tine much though, the other woman could handle a beating and there was no point in wasting what little painkillers she had left.

The work was done in an oppressive silence, Emilie focusing on the repetitive stitching motion with a deliberate concentration. It stopped her from thinking about what they’d just seen, and what it could potentially mean. Emilie’s brow furrowed as she fought to keep the image of that expanding flash from intruding upon her mind. The team had moved off of the main highway, looking to set up camp before continuing on to Brussels after some much needed rest. A few had gone off in search of supplies and to establish a perimeter, but Emilie doubted that they’d find much. The rest had started to settle down, to try and compute they day’s events.

Tine’s experience and training had done her well, and really Emilie’s actions were little more than tidying things up and reducing the likelihood of anything re-opening down the road, although the wound had still appeared painfully deep. With the end of the wound closed and the stitching tied down, Emilie let out a sigh before leaning back – breaking the quiet that had otherwise reigned.

The medic was looking up at her old friend, her eyes searching the other woman’s as if to extract some kind of hidden secret, although they seemed unable to find what they were looking for.

“Tine, I’ve done this enough times to know when I’m dealing with a wound from alien weaponry.” Emilie had adopted a stern expression, an optimist may even have described it as concerned. “And when I’m not.”

[Anowa]

Herrman
The sight me and Wladyslav wandered upon was... something, to say the least. Dozens of alien bodies lay strewn around an older looking townhouse as well as countless shell casings and plasma burns scattering the ground. Curiously I found a human arm laying amidst it all, what seemed to be the shoulder was burnt to a crisp, and the hand indicated it was the person's right arm. "Hey, Vlad. Think I found a replacement."

The man gave a chuckle, "Fuck off."

I glanced over to see him kneeling over the body of a chieftain, "Bastards put up a fight didn't they?"

"Yeah, I can't find this big bastards hammer anywhere."

That was odd, Shock hammers were heavy, almost 200 pounds, a human wouldn't be able to run away with it. So did another Simian take it and claim himself new Chieftain? I looked back to the house, the door was slightly cracked open, and inside I saw a flicker of light. I raised my rifle to ready position, seeing my unease, Vlad did the same. We both cautiously walked over to the door, and Vlad pulled it open with a creak.

What I saw within confused me greatly. More alien bodies, and at the rear of the large den, lay a single man, he was surrounded by tree branches, Belgian army uniform, right arm missing, shock hammer laying beside him; and a 'candle' with a blue flame adorned on his chest, propped up by his remaining arm. A few thought flashed through my head at that moment, first was: Did he use the shock hammer? No, he wouldn't be able to lift it with only one arm. Second: Who gave him the burial detail? That I had a suspicion about, but didn't want to confirm it. Third and finally: Why? That was obvious. Simians are warriors, they respected a fighting spirit. So why wouldn't they give a single one armed man, who held off what seemed to be an entire alien patrol a warriors grave?

Vlad spoke up, "This is something for the record books, people are going to say stuff like this never happened, that aliens are just killing machines... You don't happen to have a camera do you?"

I shook my head, "No, want me to radio the others?"

He shrugged, "They don't really know where we are, so I'll head back, see if anyone has one."

I nodded, "Alright, don't get ganked."

A chuckle, "Couldn't be any worse than what I've been through already. Right?"

I didn't reply, I simply stared at the almost biblical scene. In this moment of serenity, I began uncomfortably aware of my own wounds, the various pock marks from plasma impacts, the burn tissue over my torso and my right cheek from a close call with a plasma mortar, bullet wounds from those who cast humanity aside for their own gain. The lonely bullet scar from a lucky ARES operative... That one brought a flash of Emilie into my mind, if that woman hadn't been there with us, I'd have been dead, she was the one who made sure I was still alive at the end of that op. To that I owed her a lot, stacked on top of all the other damages done to all of us, she was there to make sure we'd live. I was stupid not to trust her, I owed her that much and a great deal more. I walked up to a wall to lean on, and maintained my stare at the Siman's tribute to humanity.

---

Wladyslav
It was a quick jog back to the camp we'd set up for the night, when I got there. It looked like Emilie was staring a hole into Tine's head, and the others were either having small talk or doing nothing, "If anyone happens to have a camera, Herrman and I need you for a bit."