Athena: Fall of Europe (IC)

by **Vacif** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 3:13 am

"We need to leave, now. Which way are we going?"

"We just got here...literally. We'v-"

"Lictors."

That one name stopped him in his tracks, like someone just stabbed his core with an icicle. His mouth hung open mid word, again covered by a tan mask. He quickly looked over his shoulder to look over his squad. Luckily the 5 of them were still with him. He gave a mental sigh of relief before Emilie starting towards the city hall building. With a Spook possibly lurking about, and at her brisk pace, there was no time or reason to object really. Even those who weren't ATHENA should know not to object, and go with it from their sudden change in attitude. "Menjünk! Mozog!" he ordered in Hungarian. "Ha valami annyira néz ki rosszul, lőni is." He explained to his squad in a serious tone. It translated into 'If it looks wrong, shoot.' One of the other soldiers explained in English roughly the same thing.

Their boots echoed through the chambers of the building as they jogged into the meeting room, or what looked like it. While it was likely unnecessary, as there were friendlies inside before them, they scanned the room with their rifles. "Őrizd az ajtót!" he'd ordered sternly. The other 5 men formed up a position by the door, watching down the hall. They didn't need one of those things sneaking in while they were planning their next move. As far as he knew, the large oak double doors were the only way into the room...minus the windows. Then spoke up the Russian who'm he'd barely noticed disappear, and pointed out the obvious, but with a more forceful tone to his plea. He would state that they were trying to figure it out their plan, simply running for the hills wouldn't be good enough. "Our best bet would likely be the Sint Annatunnel, or the Waaslandtunnel. They are close by, and can get us across the water. However Waaslandtunnel may be packed with cars, and Annatunnel is a footpath, so we'd be walking, or biking. The E32 highway is too exposed, and the Kennedytunnel is too far." He hadn't much time to observe the map, but those seemed like the obvious choice. Heading south would mean going to Brussels, and the west and north were not options. Before he could continue, a loud "COMPANY!" echoed through the hall, followed by gunshots. The other ATHENA vets knew what to do, all the Spec Ops had to do were follow suite.

by **Sonitusia** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:07 am

Having finally made contact with Carrius' crew of former teammates, Schumann felt relieved they were having better suited warriors on their side. Not to mention that French woman was the bomb. He was just about to hit on her when she mentioned, "Lictors."

The name made him cringe, having seen the effects it had done on many people under his command. 'Spooks' they were nicknamed, and they were indeed spooky. And then the firefight broke out. Someone with a distinguished Deutsch accent shouted, and shots were made.

"Leutnant, we need to move, this place is infested!" Corporal Lueder shouted, raising his G36 and firing in the general direction of the fight. Carrius had also appeared, cocking her notable Mauser C96 she was proud of. "Herr Schumann, Lueder, let's all get out of here with the others," she said bluntly, and they made a gunning retreat towards the exit, covering the other personnel inside.

"Schnell, let's go!" Schumann ordered.

Meanwhile, the first squad that had left Antwerp finally arrived at their checkpoint, quickly settling in to camp out. Little did they know that Antwerp was under siege.

by **Anowa** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 11:16 am

Yknow Irony is something I despise, when you have a building full of Tier one and special ops soldiers, the civilian shouldn't be the first to act. And they sure as shit shouldn't be running away...

"Verpiss Zurück Hier Schweine!" Honestly I expected Odetta and her fellows to fight, not bug out... assholes.

I dropped my SCAR and let it dangle by it's sling, I then pulled my HK45 from it's holster and lit up the closest Spook, (OOC: I only now realize that's a racial slur...) Coincidentally the aliens could think, and now two were down here with me, while the third was now climbing up to the civilian's position.

The closest Lictor dropped and it's fellow strode over it's body and swung it's massive serrated claws. I ducked with haste and the claw barely caught my dump pouch tearing it and several empty mags off my MOLLE, I dove between it's legs and began firing at it's back. I knew a pistol wouldn't do shit against Australia's bastard lovechild, but I hoped it would get through a chink in it's armor.

by **Cerrania** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:15 pm

Antwerp, Belgium
January 14th, 2025
Petty Officer Second Class Jessie "Twinkle-Toes" Blevkins

"Engage."

Almost as soon as the words left his lips, Jessie squeezed the trigger of his SSR Mk 20. He had designated himself the Aggressor and one of the Blues to target. The metallic pang of the silenced rifle served little to conceal the noise in these tight streets, but rather to hide the flash of Jessie's rifle. As the sniper kicked against his shoulder, Jessie watched the as his first shot punched through the Aggie's midsection, sending it stumbling back onto the ground. Without hesitation, Jessie switched his sights to the second Blue and fired again, clipping the thing's leg. It fell forward, hard, and Jessie put another round into its head to finish the job. He had hardly noticed Raymond firing next to him, but as one of the Greys fell, clutching its throat to stem the rapid spray of liquid from a bullet wound, Jessie smiled.

The smile didn't last long. The hiss of an Agressor Rifle discharge just barely missing his head sent Jessie diving into cover. Another shot slamming into the stone wall they were behind alerted Raymond to the danger, and he fired one more burst before ducking down as well. A plasma round from one of the Blues sliced through the air where Raymond had been and Jessie looked at him with wide eyes as he checked his ammunition.

"This is my last mag. Four rounds." Jessie grunted, snapping the magazine back into his weapon as Raymond checked his own.

"Two mags." Said Raymond. Jessie nodded, and slowly edged his eyes over the lip of the stone wall. He could just barely see the street below, but could only pick the remaining Blues and Greys. It seems the Aggressor had dragged itself up and was now hidden somewhere. Scanning the cityscape for anything out of place, he found his mark in the form of the glint of a rifle scope.

Jessie barely got his head below the wall when the Aggressor's shot whizzed by. Touching his head, Jessie felt for a streak of bald where the round may have just given him a surprise haircut. Then, silence. Jessie looked around frantically.

Where the fuck did the rest of the patrol go? Why can't we hear footsteps? He said to himself. He was about to risk his head and peak out into the street again when the subtle creak of a wood plank being stepped on forced him down to cover again. ET was inside the building. Looking to Raymond, Jessie motioned his head to check it out. At first crawling from the terrace, and then standing up once the Aggie's line of sight was restricted, both of the SEALs swept their weapons around the second floor. Finding nothing, Raymond approached the stairs to the first floor. Jessie watched as Raymond aimed his SCAR down the steps, and fired off a quick burst, before diving away from a barrage of rounds himself. A Blue raced up the stairs after him, and was flung against the wall as a shot from Jessie's SSR slammed into its head.

"They're in. Killed a grey. Three still up." Said Raymond, who was speaking between deep, gulping breaths. It seems his brush with death was a little closer than usual. Jessie nodded, and as both of them stood, Raymond procured a concussive grenade from his pack. It was the last one between the pair, and as Raymond pulled the pin and lobbed it down the stairs, Jessie drew his pistol, a sleek Beretta M9, and swiftly descended to the first floor. Pausing momentarily to wait for the telltale bang and subsequent cries of agony, Jessie hugged a wall on the last step of the stairs. When the signs he was waiting for came from around the corner, Jessie stepped into the room. Aiming his pistol at the leftmost target, he popped off three rounds and barely watched the Grey drop as he turned to fire on the other two. He found Raymond had already disposed of them.

"You work quick." Quipped Jessie, tucking his sidearm back into its holster and shouldering his rifle. Peeking out of the door to the shop, Jessie scanned the street. Cursing under his breath, Jessie ducked back inside and looked to Raymond.

"Aggie has a clear line of sight in the entire street. We barely have enough ammo to suppress, and I lost his position when we moved downstairs." Jessie said, now grabbing his comms unit and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This is Petty Officer Second Class Jessie Blevkins. SEAL Irregular Threats Team. My team and I are currently pinned down by an extra-terrestrial sniper approximately half of a click north of the NATO camp. The sniper is approximately one-hundred meters to our south and in a red-brick, four story building. The building has a tower on it, but shots were coming from the third floor. We are requesting fire support or armed intervention. Grid coordinates 51.2167, 4.4001. Over."

With that, Jessie motioned for Raymond to follow, and the two took a position in the stone terrace once again. Jessie scanned for any signs of either help, or the Aggie.

by **Unified Free Lands** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 6:01 pm

Anka received the call for help and frowned, debating whether she should help or not. On one hand, this guy was a SEAL, so he could go to hell as far as she was concerned, but on the other hand, she didn't want to hang around and do nothing. She hated doing nothing, maybe because of her personality and maybe because of her OCD also. Tightening her grip on her AK-103, Anka decided to act.

She checked the fuel meter on the truck that she had arrived in camp in, and saw that there was probably enough to keep going for a bit. Good. Anka climbed inside and headed in the direction of the call, and when she got close enough to the location, she stopped the truck and climbed out, staying close to the walls of the nearby buildings, her Super 90 shotgun strapped to her back. Do I wait for help or proceed to the enemy? Let's try and take this bastard out solo...

Anka grinned as she saw the building where the sniper was supposedly at, and went around the side, looking for a side entrance to enter through instead of the main one.

by **Camicon** » Sat Dec 19, 2015 6:30 pm

Marilee Thomas
Antwerp, City Hall

Marilee heard the shouting, the gunfire, smelt the overpowering ammonia fumes wafting through the building. Her reaction was automatic, raising her gun and charging towards the commotion. Though it wasn't a reckless charge, each step was measured and calculated; Marilee just happened to have a very... liberal definition, of what constituted 'risky behaviour'. The pair of doors in front of her, separating the lictors from the rest of the soldiers that had just entered the lobby, was closed. Marilee corrected the situation with two bullets, blowing the locks apart so that she that when she rammed them with her shoulder, they flew open. Her momentum carried her straight through which she turned into a roll, snapping her rifle up to her shoulder from a crouched position on the ground.

One lictor was menacing Wolfram, which Marilee quickly dispatched by emptying her magazine into it's wide-open, tentacle-wreathed maw. She dropped the empty mag to the ground, another already in hand and slamming into place before the first and even touched the ground. The remaining lictor wasn't on the ground, and not in her field of view. Trusting experience, rather than what her eyes told her, Marilee rolled onto her back, sighting up the wall behind her.

"Gotcha, fucker!"

Indeed, she did. The last lictor was perched above the doorframe, waiting for a group of people to pass through the door so that it could drop into the middle of them, and wreak havoc. It never got the chance, as Marilee emptied her second clip into it's chest. The beast fell to the ground twitching and spasming, claws thrashing the doors and frame into splinters. Only rolling backwards over her shoulder kept Marilee from the same fate. Standing up, she waited for the alien to bleed out, then a minute longer, before stepping over it's corpse back into the lobby.

"Anyone got some more ammo? I'm down to my last thirty, 5.56 NATO. Won't turn down a shotty if anyone's got a spare."

by **Sonitusia** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 2:02 am

Once they were out, the Lieutenant grumbled at what one of the Germans inside had shouted at them, apparently angry that they had made a run for it. "Sorry for having inadequate equipment and less training than you, Arschloch," he grumbled, looking at Odetta and Corporal Lueder. The Sergeant was the only one among them who would have a good chance at fighting the things inside, but she was ill-equipped with the scoped battlerifle slung across her shoulder. Battle reports that we collected said those things inside can be taken down with assault rifle rounds.

He motioned to Lueder, and the man tossed his G36 to Carrius, who caught it easily and began checking the bolt. She then handed the G3SG/1 to the Corporal. As they heard one last burst from inside, Schumann said, "Alright Carrius, you stick with your ATHENA people, I need to get the boys and girls back near the Marder regrouped and ready to take out the other hostiles in Antwerp, got it? You can take Lueder with you, but make sure he's alright."

Carrius nodded, and lead the Corporal back inside. They switched their ammo, and she tossed one of the G36's mags towards Marilee. "That's my apology gift for running as so put by our friend Herrman."

She didn't even bother saying anything to the fellow German as she passed, taking out a heat sensor and attaching it to her assault rifle. It had been awhile since she had to use the tech, but it would be necessary now that they were under attack by shock troops. "I don't run from a good fight when I know I can do it..." she muttered, joining the others as Lueder kept a safe distance so the G3 would have a better chance of being useful.

As Schumann arrived near the last Marder, one of the radio operators jogged towards him as they began to mount into the IFV. "There's a SEAL team half a kilo away that need extraction," he reported, to which the Lieutenant nodded and motioned towards two men standing by. "Max, Lebe, get on board, we've got seals to catch!"

"This is Oberfeldwebel Stauffenberg on behalf of Leutnant Schumann of the 10th Panzer Division, a Marder IFV is on its way to extract you, please stand by!"

by **Auropa** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 2:15 am

Daniel
City hall

Roughly 2 minutes ago

Gunfire, loud and thankfully heavy. That meant one thing and one thing only, the people downstairs had mounted some sort of defence. Reaching a split in the hallway junction however Daniel stopped, looked left, then right then sighed.
“Who the hell designed this place?”
It was at that moment however something familiar caught Daniel’s nose. Ammonia. In a flash of movement he turned around and raised his rifle one more time, at the end of the hallway stood one incredibly angry Lictor with murder in its eyes. Squaring his sights Daniel exhaled and pulled the trigger.

‘Click’
He tried again
‘Click’
Then once more
‘Click’

If he had a time to he probably would’ve said a few not-so kind words but here, here he took the reasonable approach and ran. He dropped his rifle and sprinted as fast as he could pushing over anything and everything as he went. Behind, the clanking sounds of the beast’s plates grew louder and faster as its hunt began. As they ran the already overpowering scent grew stronger and with it Daniel’s determination to flee grew as he darted from corridor to corridor, but with every step, the clanking came ever nearer. risking a glance back Daniel saw the creature pulling a bladed arm back for a killing stroke and managed to dive just in time. As the arm came crashing down the creature paused for a moment confused and enraged at the lack of bloodied remains before it. Then, with a roar of anger it realised its prey had vanished and began to search. Two rooms away, Daniel sat crouched behind a desk trying to catch his breath and think of a plan.

Fighting with his knife was out of the question, no one would likely be close enough to save him, so waiting was out too and he definitely wouldn’t get far running, he barely even managed to make it down the hallway before the thing was swiping at him. So that left one option, hiding. He could still hear the creature’s plate’s move as it searched and hoped it meant it didn't know where he was. That gave him a minute at best to find a place to hide. Looking around he could see he was in some relatively basic office, simple desk, cheap roof, humble door and half empty bookshelf. ’Wait! Cheap roof?’ An idea had sprung into his mind and with practiced ease, Daniel silently climbed the desk and put a hand against the roof, sure enough as he began to push a tile went up with. By the time he had moved it completely out of the way the Lictor sounded only a room away and very, very angry. It was roaring almost constantly now and had started smashing things left and right as its claws searched desperately for a kill it couldn’t quite land.
Not wasting another moment, Daniel hoisted himself up through the hole before putting the tile back in place. Then, for what must have been the thousandth time today time slowed to a crawl as he heard the Lictor enter the room and continue on its destructive tantrum. At any moment, he expected a stray claw to pierce the roof and him along with it but before the cruel fate never came to pass as the creature went silent and darted away. Meaning it had likely found new prey.
‘God help whoever finds that thing’ Daniel thought to himself. For a few moment he stayed still, partly to ensure that there was nothing waiting and partly because fear had locked up every muscle in his being. Eventually the ceiling decided to it was time to move and gave way beneath the man’s weight sending him plummeting to the ground. The small pain however was almost comforting, it filled Daniel with one thought, he was still alive.
The sound of gunfire however, made his joy short lived with a quick turn made his way back.

-------------------------------Present----------------------------------

Camicon wrote: snip

“Well if we're making a shopping list I’ve lost my whole rifle too” He said through short ragged breaths as he too entered the lobbys. Then looking at the bloodied pulp sitting in the entrance a wiry smile grew across Daniels face “I see you’ve greeted our mutual friend. Bastard nearly took my head.” Pausing to straighten up and catch his breath he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, this would make a hell of a story one day. “Is that all of them? Because I really, REALLY don’t think we should stay here any longer.”

by **Tiltjuice** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 2:39 am

Lindsay Black-Sharrow
Antwerp City Hall foyer

The British sniper passed through the doorway from the other side, now facing Marilee and Odetta. With the last of the Lictors gone, and things returned more or less to normal, she'd returned to her normal self - reserved and concise.

"I swept the other side of the hallway. Everything looks clear, now. Without orders from ATHENA, I'm going to fall back on my standing orders from the Army: patrol, observe and assess enemy formations. The easiest way for me to do that, though, is heading back south to Brussels and then to France. I have transport, so I'll wait to see if anyone else wants to come along, or if we're moving out elsewhere. If so, I'll need to destroy the car."

by **Lunas Legion** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:46 am

Roger Kendall,
Antwerp

As far as he could tell, shit had come and found them. He had no idea what the hell these mysterious 'Lictors' were, and really didn't care if the ATHENA pro-E.T killers thought they were dangerous. If it bled, it could die. Simple as. Problem was apparently these bastards were invisible or something.

That was cheating. Couldn't fight something you couldn't see.

So, he'd done the only thing he could do. He'd found a piece of cover, in this case the lip of the stairs, planted his M429 down, and waited for targets to appear in his sight range through the open door.

None did.

He waited some more. The sound of gunfire and the smell of ammonia drifted through the air. Still no targets. The gunfire stopped. Crisis over? He re-slung the M249 and readied the M27 IAR, cautiously moving out into the lobby.

"Anyone mind explaining to me what the actual fuck just happened?" He called out as he entered the foyer from the stairwell.

by **Anowa** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:13 am

I slowly stood from the ground, made my way over to one of the benches at the side of the hall, and sat on it. I said nothing for the most part, instead I simply pulled the duffel from my back and fished out the M4 I found earlier, before tossing it at the civilian, seeing as he could actually use a gun. "There ya go."

The Elder Marine came out of the woodwork and decided to ask how things went, "A surprise happened... they don't usually travel in packs..." I stood after zipping the duffel back up. I dropped the empty magazines from both my weapons and reloaded. "Stay frosty, there might be more. If you see a shadow that looks wrong, or if you see the air move, shoot it."

I heard Sharrow's goal to depart, "Corporal Black-Sharrow, as far as I know, I'm ATHENA's ranking 'officer'. I'll be honest, I don't like the idea of you going off on a trip like that, after ATHENA started getting downsized, a lot of things were declassified for it's ground troops. And if Brussels is getting attacked like it's described? Than it might already be gone. I'm requesting that you stay with us, so our manpower doesn't drop any further. If you still feel you have to head to Brussels, I won't be following, I have my own mission to accomplish, and I wish you the best of luck."

by **Vacif** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:11 pm

"Gazsi, Levi." With their names being called, the two Hungarian soldiers stepped forth. Each pulled out two magazines from their ammunition pouches, and handed them off to Sergeant Thomas. Of the 6 men, those 2 were armed with M4A1s. The rest were armed with AK-63Ms, with their marksman armed with an Dragunov. Even with the now dead Lictors, he still had a pit in his stomach. The travelling group of Lictors probably wasn't a coincidence. With the mention of a "mission", Vince raised an eyebrow. "Sergeant, what exactly is your mission?" No one had really said anything about any missions or objectives. As far as he was concerned, City Hall was a rally, and resupply point. When they got here, everyone was exchanging pleasantries, and introducing themselves. Now they were here.

by **Anowa** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:47 pm

Vacif wrote:"Gazsi, Levi." With their names being called, the two Hungarian soldiers stepped forth. Each pulled out two magazines from their ammunition pouches, and handed them off to Sergeant Thomas. Of the 6 men, those 2 were armed with M4A1s. The rest were armed with AK-63Ms, with their marksman armed with an Dragunov. Even with the now dead Lictors, he still had a pit in his stomach. The travelling group of Lictors probably wasn't a coincidence. With the mention of a "mission", Vince raised an eyebrow. "Sergeant, what exactly is your mission?" No one had really said anything about any missions or objectives. As far as he was concerned, City Hall was a rally, and resupply point. When they got here, everyone was exchanging pleasantries, and introducing themselves. Now they were here.

Those were the words, the one's I didn't want to hear. If I came clean than it'd be a security breach. If I didn't, than their trust in me drops to near zero... I sighed, "I can't tell any of you, not with what happened in Beijing and Hanover. I'm sorry, just know that I have to get to NATO's High-Comm as soon as I can." And there went the words, the one's that distanced me from everyone else. "And with the chance that...." I paused, could I mention that? Another sigh, "And with the chance of them dropping heavy armour in from orbit, time is something we don't have a lot of."

by **Bentus** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:44 pm

Before Emilie had a chance to respond to the Russian’s entrance, her eyes narrowing at him in suspicion with his sudden change in tone, the gut-curdling cry went up. Immediately, Emilie reached for her rifle as she darted out through the main doors and into the hallway. She kept the weapon ready and pressed against her shoulder, her feet carrying her straight towards the sound of the gunfire. Forcing herself to travel cautiously, in spite of the clear signs of a struggle up ahead, the woman made sure to check every shadow she passed and treat every corner as a potential death trap. She’d learned time and again that anything less when dealing with Lictors was suicide.

However, by the time Emilie made it to the actual scene of the fighting, she was struck by a wall of an ammonia stench. A number of Lictor corpses sat bloodied and splayed across the floor, their bodies riddled with bullets and thankfully unmoving. The Frenchwoman sighed in relief, lowering her P90; as far as she could tell, everyone was still standing.

“And where exactly do you plan on going then?” Emilie stated to Herrman. There was no aggression or suspicion in her voice; she trusted the man, and if he said he had a mission that he couldn’t tell them, well then she was fine with his judgment. Even if it did make things a little bit more difficult in the meantime. “Because, at least the Corporal has a destination in mind. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy the odds of finding a viable way to cross the channel and not getting killed by ET in the process.” There was more to it than that, of course. If France had turned into a battleground, then Emilie knew exactly where she wanted to be.
The Frenchwoman shot an expectant look at Artem. “Either way, I think our copains have made it pretty clear that we’ve outstayed our welcome here.” She said, gesturing towards a lifeless lictor corpse.

by **Anowa** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:22 am

Bentus wrote:Before Emilie had a chance to respond to the Russian’s entrance, her eyes narrowing at him in suspicion with his sudden change in tone, the gut-curdling cry went up. Immediately, Emilie reached for her rifle as she darted out through the main doors and into the hallway. She kept the weapon ready and pressed against her shoulder, her feet carrying her straight towards the sound of the gunfire. Forcing herself to travel cautiously, in spite of the clear signs of a struggle up ahead, the woman made sure to check every shadow she passed and treat every corner as a potential death trap. She’d learned time and again that anything less when dealing with Lictors was suicide.

However, by the time Emilie made it to the actual scene of the fighting, she was struck by a wall of an ammonia stench. A number of Lictor corpses sat bloodied and splayed across the floor, their bodies riddled with bullets and thankfully unmoving. The Frenchwoman sighed in relief, lowering her P90; as far as she could tell, everyone was still standing.

“And where exactly do you plan on going then?” Emilie stated to Herrman. There was no aggression or suspicion in her voice; she trusted the man, and if he said he had a mission that he couldn’t tell them, well then she was fine with his judgment. Even if it did make things a little bit more difficult in the meantime. “Because, at least the Corporal has a destination in mind. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy the odds of finding a viable way to cross the channel and not getting killed by ET in the process.” There was more to it than that, of course. If France had turned into a battleground, then Emilie knew exactly where she wanted to be.
The Frenchwoman shot an expectant look at Artem. “Either way, I think our copains have made it pretty clear that we’ve outstayed our welcome here.” She said, gesturing towards a lifeless lictor corpse.

I shrugged, I knew where I was headed, but going alone wasn't exactly what I called a good time, "East, that's where I'm headed. If you all are headed to Brussels I'll probably head with, at least for a bit." I really hoped I was wrong about what was going on down there, of all my greatest fears, being alone for any extended period of time is my greatest. There were more than a few times I was alone during the initial invasion that nearly made me lose it. But I held together on the sole fact that I knew someone was around. Now though, if I got lost and had to be separated from anyone? I'd probably break.

"Anyone got a SINCGARS? I'm gonna try to get someone on the horn, see if any ATHENA are still alive."

by **Senkaku** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:34 am

Antwerp

Evidently, God was working against Arkady here.
The moment he'd entered the room, it seemed, gunfire had erupted. The Germans and the Frenchwoman had rushed off, Arkady hurrying behind them warily with his Stetchkin machine pistol drawn.
Jesus Christ, you're in with the poor bloody infantry now, he thought to himself as he hurried with the others into the main foyer. The stink of ammonia hit him like a baseball bat, making him gag and twist his face in revulsion. So they smell as disgusting as I've heard, then. He tucked his Stetchkin back away- no need to be waving it around if the threat was gone, and besides, if one of the Lictors suddenly leaped up and tried to maul him, a machine pistol wasn't going to be enough to stop it.
I doubt anyone here would try and save me, either, he thought darkly as his gaze traveled around the room.

His ears pricked up as he listened to Hermann. The man was openly confessing to having a secret mission, saying he needed to get to NATO Command- and he thought the aliens might drop heavy armor to stop him? He's going east. Were they lying about the new command center in Paris?

Now that was something worth a GRU spook's time, and it might just give him a justification to both get out of the city before the nuke went off, with one or more ATHENA operators, and give Moscow something valuable.
Arkady was tempted to say something- 'I'm heading east as well', or something about where he'd last heard NATO command was, but cut himself off. If he spoke, given the distrust he could practically feel radiating off of some of the group, it would only put him in a worse position to gather intelligence.

Besides, the Corporal was revealing most of his game already, and Arkady was quite good at following people, if it came to that.

by **Vacif** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 12:57 am

Vince doubted anyone would be on the radio at this time. Most ATHENA personnel were likely either behind enemy lines, or making their way back to NATO lines. No time to be on the radio, on top of that, he wasn't quite sure of the integrity of their communications, they did need the extra attention. As for him heading east, the idea seamed absolutely ludicrous. NATO positions in the east were completely lost. The enemy practically owned half of Germany by now. The NATO HQ was in Brussels, and Mons respectively, and if Allied Command was somewhere, it was west, in France, or the UK. They'd likely fallen back from Mons by now. NATO probably wouldn't want their supreme headquarters to be on the doorstep of the war. "Sergeant, you are aware that Allied Command is...the opposite direction of Germany, yes? If this package is so valuable, it seams counter productive to march towards the enemy. If you want well....anyone to accompany you east, you will need to provide an actual destination, and a reason for going towards the enemy, with an unknown package that needs delivering to command." Vince stated deadpan.

by **Auropa** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:22 am

Daniel
“Look, your mission’s important. I get that, I really do. But marching east on foot is a death sentence. Just trust me on that. If whatever you have really is important then we can’t let the aliens get it, so I’m saying whatever it is, we take it west. From the front lines you can plead your case and hopefully get some proper heavies to watch your back as well as something fast enough to get you where you’re going whilst we all split up and do whatever we need to do.” For the last part he couldn’t help but give a quick glance towards the Russian before looking down at his new rifle.
“I’ve been talking with the men. Everyone’s only just managed to survive this far, but now we’ve taken a freakin’ Lictor ambush without any casualties. If we have any chance of making it out, it’s as a group. Besides, I doubt you’ll find another civie willing to save your asses for at least a few dozen miles.” With a small smile on his face Daniel was prepared to leave it at that, but there was something nagging at him and as he attempted to subtly scratch his back it hit him.
“Wait. Where the hell are the Germans?”

by **Lunas Legion** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:37 am

"No idea." Roger shrugged. "Didn't see anything from them during the firefight, or what little I saw of it. Dead, ran away, holed up somewhere in the building, who knows? They'll appear sooner or later, if they're alive still and didn't run away. Anyways," he continued, "I'm probably gonna be making a break for the channel and then moving along that. Either I find NATO evacuees, the channel end of a NATO defence line, or some way of crossing. The longer we're on the European mainland, the longer we're exposed to more of E.T and his little tricks. Anyone who wants to come with, feel free. Company would be appreciated."

by **Sonitusia** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:04 am

Anowa wrote:
"Anyone got a SINCGARS? I'm gonna try to get someone on the horn, see if any ATHENA are still alive."

Odetta continued to stay silent, but then Corporal Lueder raised his hand and said, "We have one outside, Feldwebel."

Carrius sighed, but she knew that Hermann meant well. His plan to move east would lead them back to their homeland, and they really did need to reconnect Western Europe with what was left of human-occupied Germany. According to her counts, there were very little units outside of Deutschland as of the current moment, save for the 10th Panzer Division and several infantry regiments that were sent to Belgium before they were abruptly cut off.

"You won't need to walk," she finally said, "we can link up with my division in Genk, and make our way back through Aachen." It troubled her greatly that her hometown was now one of the forward defensive lines that Germany had, and if it were lost, then she wouldn't have a place to call home for quite some time.

by **Anowa** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:29 pm

After being bombarded with warnings of heading East I nodded, "Yeaaaah... That's why I'm headed west.... Head along the E17 to Paris, Link up with NATO, and from there either head across the channel to England, or across the Atlantic to the US. The only thing East for me is death and broken memories." I began following the German corporal outside when I paused, "...I did say West didn't I?"

by **Camicon** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:28 pm

Lunas Legion wrote:*snip*
"Anyone mind explaining to me what the actual fuck just happened?" He called out as he entered the foyer from the stairwell.

Marilee Thomas
Antwerp, City Hall

"ATHENA took care of business while you stood 'round with your thumb up your ass, that's what just fuckin' happened." Marilee needled the American in jest. Well, partial jest.

The Canadian sergeant accepted the additional magazines from the two Hungarians with an appreciative nod, tucking them away in her tac-vest. Unlike most of the non-ATHENA soldiers she wasn't wearing any kind of hard armour; ATHENA had found early on that it did very little to stop the alien's plasma weaponry, or melee monsters like the Lictors and Tankers, and Marilee needed the additional agility that soft armour provided her.

Anowa wrote:"Corporal Black-Sharrow, as far as I know, I'm ATHENA's ranking 'officer'. I'll be honest, I don't like the idea of you going off on a trip like that, after ATHENA started getting downsized, a lot of things were declassified for it's ground troops. And if Brussels is getting attacked like it's described? Than it might already be gone. I'm requesting that you stay with us, so our manpower doesn't drop any further. If you still feel you have to head to Brussels, I won't be following, I have my own mission to accomplish, and I wish you the best of luck."

"Hey, Herrman, if we're pulling the rank card then you 'n' I are on equal footing, bud. So spill, 'cause I have a right to know and I don't plan on hiding whatever you are from the rest of the helpin'-us-stay-not-dead humans here. And lets hurry it up, 'cause I wanna get the fuck outta here 'fore ET decides to send more'a their Lovecraft bitches after us."

by **Anowa** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 3:51 pm

Camicon wrote:
Lunas Legion wrote:*snip*
"Anyone mind explaining to me what the actual fuck just happened?" He called out as he entered the foyer from the stairwell.

Marilee Thomas
Antwerp, City Hall

"ATHENA took care of business while you stood 'round with your thumb up your ass, that's what just fuckin' happened." Marilee needled the American in jest. Well, partial jest.

The Canadian sergeant accepted the additional magazines from the two Hungarians with an appreciative nod, tucking them away in her tac-vest. Unlike most of the non-ATHENA soldiers she wasn't wearing any kind of hard armour; ATHENA had found early on that it did very little to stop the alien's plasma weaponry, or melee monsters like the Lictors and Tankers, and Marilee needed the additional agility that soft armour provided her.
Anowa wrote:"Corporal Black-Sharrow, as far as I know, I'm ATHENA's ranking 'officer'. I'll be honest, I don't like the idea of you going off on a trip like that, after ATHENA started getting downsized, a lot of things were declassified for it's ground troops. And if Brussels is getting attacked like it's described? Than it might already be gone. I'm requesting that you stay with us, so our manpower doesn't drop any further. If you still feel you have to head to Brussels, I won't be following, I have my own mission to accomplish, and I wish you the best of luck."

"Hey, Herrman, if we're pulling the rank card then you 'n' I are on equal footing, bud. So spill, 'cause I have a right to know and I don't plan on hiding whatever you are from the rest of the helpin'-us-stay-not-dead humans here. And lets hurry it up, 'cause I wanna get the fuck outta here 'fore ET decides to send more'a their Lovecraft bitches after us."

Herrman
I paused, "Thomas... I'll say this once, It's classified info. You do not have the right to know. I'm 60% sure I don't have the right to know, and until we can confirm that none of us are infiltrators I won't be telling anyone about what I have to do, or what I know. All I do know is that I have to get to an Officer with the capability of distributing that info globally. Because we no longer outnumber the aliens 2:1, they outnumber us by 15:1. So if you'll all excuse me, I have to make sure I'm the ranking ATHENA personnel before I make any other decisions." With that I walked outside with the Heer Corporal, with the goal of contacting someone.

Good news, I heard several people on the radio in a myriad of languages. Bad news, all were reporting nucler detonations... east of here, meaning a good portion of Europe was a radioactive waste now... a great way to slow down an enemy with radiation resistant vehicles... Even worse is that people were suspecting Russia, which honestly wouldn't surprise me. Coupled together from that was most likely the mass exodus from Central Europe, meaning we'd have an obscene amount of civilians pouring through soon.

Even worse news is that Corporal Lueder was standing beside me the whole time. And he looked both awestruck, pale and generally unhappy. It had taken a few minutes to tune the radio into the right range, and a few more to gather everything I'd heard together. But no matter how hard I tried I had yet to reach anyone from ATHENA. I could tell from the noise inside that people were still talking, so I remained at the radio thinking over the next course of action.

by **Lunas Legion** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:03 pm

"You mean they actually knew what the hell they were looking for." Roger snarled back. "How the hell am I supposed to fight something I can't see, recognise, and have never even fuckin' heard of until..." He blinked, thinking. "Eh, about ten minutes ago at most? I'm done with you people. Expectin' everyone to be on your level and then being more indecisive than NATO back in the 10s. Time someone actually made a fuckin' decision 'round here. I'm heading to the Channel. Alone or not, don't mind either way. Better chances going by meself than with you lot."

He checked over his shoulder that his rucksack and it's many contents were still there, patted the M249, glanced down at where his M27 IAR rested, and walked out of the building without a word.

by **Sonitusia** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:09 pm

Anowa wrote:I began following the German corporal outside when I paused, "...I did say West didn't I?"

"Why did you say east in the first place, mein herr..."

The Corporal was rather intrigued the entire time as Herrman spoke through the radio, replacing the man who had been operating it awhile ago. It all seemed to be bad news, without a trace of hope in the words spoken. And, after several minutes of trying, there was no response from any ATHENA personnel out there.

"Not much can help us now, huh?..." he muttered to himself in German.

Athena: Fall of Europe (IC)

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