Project Warfighter - Operation: Legion(IC)

[Monfrox]

With the crash site now just a block away at a brisk pace, Pitt signaled for the group to fall in from their road patrol pattern.

"We'll take it slow in a column and stick to the side. Sommer, Starke, keep an eye on the inside of those buildings. I don't want any surprises."

"Right, Sarn't."

As Zweig fell in to the point position, Starke and Sommer took their's and peered into the buildings they walked by, listening and watching for any kind of movement. There was a lot of activity tipping their ears off from ahead, but that wasn't what they needed to worry about right at the moment. Still, that didn't stop the resident loud mouth from piping up.

"How come we gotta do this shit?" Alekhin asked.

"Rest of the task force has their own orders. We're assigned as the QRF." Pitt said back.

"What, are we the only QRF in the whole fuckin' lot of 'em?"

"The other squads are delivering tactical nuclear devices to designated targets around the city to try to stem off the spread of the infection. If anybody wants a transfer, just lemme know."

"...I wanna transfer."

"Okay, Alekhin. You're transferred to the point."

Sergeant Pitt grabbed Zweig's drag handle on her vest to keep her from going forward and let Alekin move from rear guard to the point.

"Why don't you go see if our guests had made themselves comfortable. We'll keep your seat warm for you." Pitt ordered, giving a sickly sweet tone.

"This is bullshit." Alekhin grumbled as she stepped out. The rest of the squad holed up over by the end building at the block. The crash site wasn't far, and they didn't need their senses to tell them that much. Smoke was rising out from a building just up ahead.

"Sommer, follow up behind Alekhin, but let her stay in the road."

"Right, Sarn't."

Alekhin started out in the middle of the oncoming lane and had her carbine up. She looked at rooftops, windows, ground level doors, down the street, back down the street they came from, and at the crash site. She wasn't sure where fire was going to come from, but one of the many Froxian battlefield philosophies was that no room or building is as clear as the one you just left. Sommer kept her eye on Alekhin, but she could hear talking or something going on down the road. Still, she kept quiet and as out of sight as she could.

[North Arkana]

"Copy that, Viggen-6-2. We'll continue ops, keep a safe secure stance out for the time being. Over."

"With pleasure. Out."

Hart directs Marc to park the Humvee in an alley, in such a way that it creates a small closed off area where they can make a quick plan with the vehicle separating them from any infected nearby.

"Alright, we'll stick together until we get with 500 meters of the target building. We'll need to cover about 2 klicks on foot, unfortunately. Once we do, Marc, you and Wren peel off and start placing those demo charges. Put them wherever you like so long they don't cause any problems for us when they go off. I'll take Fred and Reina with me. We'll rendezvous at the old shoe store across from the warehouse."

"Got it, sir."

"Remember, warm-body hostiles are in the area, we'll probably take contact moving in. Keep your heads on a swivel, and your ass in one piece. Hooah?"

"Shit, sir, you know I came from the Corps," quips Marc.

"Too bad, you're Army now," Fred says as he stands, checking the ammo in his rifle.

[Drekka]

Highway 5, Union City

28 minutes later

The serenity of the highway was interrupted by the beastly humming of the convoy's diesel engines. Even within the
sound insulated cabins of the modern vehicles, the peace was interrupted by bursts the distress signals emitted by Atlas's formerly airborne assets. Terra Cotta would have to wait.

Approaching the entrance of , Carbon couldn't help but to notice the small cluster of vehicles and humanoid
movement surrounding an overturned bank car roughly 2 kilometers away. he took the next brief second to flip his monocular down to observe the group


The monocular would reveal a baker's dozen of people with mismatched clothing and small arms, with only their grittiness and red bandana's cowling their necks and faces. Two stood over the side of the bank car, holding a mutilated zombie above the side door, as they talked to whomever was unfortunate enough to find themselves there.


They noticed as well.

"Contact front ! Short Click. Find Defilade and prepare to engage ". Carbon broadcasted to his squad.
The two vehicles veered off the road in opposing directions, hiding behind the nearest abandoned cars.

[The United Remnants of America]

Jolly

Jolly looked at Platin, the Olbarenite team leader and grunted. The humming, whistling pitch of the engines of the VTOL increased as the aircraft lifted higher in the air with its two surviving escorts. Jolly spoke just loud enough to be heard over the din, "I say we extract who we can now, meaning us. I'll get the others on the radio, so who else we can't pick up that's extraneous. This town has taken enough lives from the task force."

Jolly patted the new team leader's shoulder as he walked past the assorted Remnant plane crew, Shyluzan, Oblarenite, and Shadownian team members aboard the craft. The field commander of Task Force Atlas walked into the front of the aircraft and spoke into the pilot's ear to give him orders to head out of the city. After that, Jolly touched the side of his unhelmeted head to the radio there, "This is Atlas One-One to all callsigns. All extraneous units are to exfil at best possible moment and regroup at carrier. Any units currently extracting can converge on my position for gorup exfiltration from AO. Atlas One-One out and over." As Jolly finished speaking, he felt the aircraft turn slowly and pick up speed as it started to head west towards the edge of the city. As they flew over, the two supporting VTOLs were to break off and fly to the Revelations in order to pick up the carrier nuke team after they were finished. But there just wasn't ebough room for everyone after that; The Froxians, the Servintans, and the entirety of the city center nuke team. Jolly girt and ground his teeth, hoping they'd find their own way or possibly get gracd by a pick up from another aircraft.

Jolly - Healthy
VTOL Lead Crew - 4 Healthy
VTOL 1 Crew - 4 Healthy
VTOL 4 Crew - 4 Healthy

---

Sentinels

The Namenian Death Korps troops had run off to provide a clearing force so that the Sentinels and Charlie could move forward down the street. Tarzan and Ed carried up the rear, mowing down the undead with a dual stream of constant rounds from their LMGs. Jackie, Koopa, and the Congreveopian operator led the team down the street, getting at the intersection of the hospital and school and turning to move down it. Jack and Koopa kept Charles between them as they walked, half-crouched and weapons ready-high for any incoming targets in front of them. Luckily, the area wasn't too crowded with zombies, at least, not as busy as the area around the bus was, which they'd passed with Ed and Tarzan pinning the zombies down.

Oreo and Ninja followed the first trio with Irish straggling slightly behind. Irish was sweating heavily now, but he kept going, a burning feeling in his neck. Maybe he'd scraped himself or something when that undead had knocked him over. He swore this backpack had gotten twenty pounds heavier since he'd been walking, and he was feeling a little light-headed, but he felt fine other than that. It must've just been the rigors of combat that he'd experienced little of.

Ninja kept his rifle close, but held down. Making a shot on the move like this would be difficult, so he just kept moving with the Remnant medic at his shoulder. They must've had only a couple hundred yards to go until the school's front door, which was hopefully unlocked. If not, they'd just have to knock or shoot it in, which shouldn't be tha much of an issue.

The entire team slowed when Jolly's message came through, just so they could all hear it. Koopa was the first to speak. "Well. That complicates things. If they're leaving, how the hell do we get out?"

Jackie sighed and kept moving, "Doesn't matter, we'll find a way. First we need to drop this nuke off before we worry about anything else."

Koopa glanced at her, tilting his head, "Oh yeah. Arm the nuclear bomb, then find a way away from it. That way we have a time limit. Dandy."

Jackie sighed and glanced at the 2IC, "If we go looking for a way out now, we likely won't be able to get back to the school. So I'd rather set the bomb and find transport afterwards, that way our job is at least done."

Koopa sighed and hefted his rifle as he kept going, mumbling to himself. The others must not have heard the conversation, or had nothing to add, since they'd stayed mostly quiet. Six Sentinels, a Congreveopian, and a Namenian. Large group to take care of, and Koopa doubted they'd be finding another bus to drive to safety with...

Jackie - Healthy
Koopa - Healthy
Ninja - Healthy
Tarzan - Healthy
Oreo - Healthy
Irish - Injured

[Congreveopia]

Intersection of South Pepper street and West La Veta avenue, Charles:

“Okay, draw off the ones following us, and I can get the helicopter from here.” said Charles, ducking into one of the hospital’s entrances.

“We have enough people to handle the nuke.” said Jackie. “Take Ninja with you.”

“Helicopter’s right on the roof.” replied Charles. He was about to continue with “I’ll be fine.” when he looked over, and saw a zombie banging its head on the full-length glass window beside him. He did a mixture of jumping and falling backwards in shock, but managed to stop himself from screaming, and then fired three shots into the zombie’s head.

“Oh, I see you’ve totally got this under control.” said Koopa “I still advise taking Ninja, though.”

“Yeah, okay.” said Charles, picking himself up and walking back to the door. “Nexus, is this locked?”

“Yes.” said Nexus “The doors failed to the ‘emergency lock’ position when the power went out. Your phone will open the keycard scanners now.”

“Right.” said Charles, stiping his phone over the lock, and watching as the automatic doors failed to open.

“The doors need power to work.” said Charles.

“So does that scanner.” said Ninja.

“Right.” said Charles “Nexus, will any of the scanners or keypads work?”

“Um… no. Not without power.” said Nexus. “Sorry, I didn’t think about this. One of the ambulances around the back entrance might have a key, or you could check to see if looters opened any entrances.”

“We need to be inside sooner than that.” said Charles “The nuke squad should head off, not keep covering us.”

“Well lets get going, then.” said Ninja, from the other side of the door.

“Wait, what?” said Charles “How did you get in?”

“You shot the window.” said Ninja “I just finished breaking it enough to get in.”

“Those are supposed to be made of polycarbonate.” said Nexus “It should have been easier to go in through the wall.”

“Well they’re not.” said Ninja.

“I suppose that’s why you don’t hire the cheapest contractor.” said Charles, stepping through, still puzzled.

“It’s dark in here.” whispered Charles, as they began creeping into the reception area. “What happened to the emergency lighting?”

“I imagine that it worked quite well for ninety minutes after the backup generators ran out of fuel, and then the batteries died.” said Nexus “We are about three months too late to see it functioning, however.”

“Right.” said Charles “Give me an enhanced vision overlay then.”

Charles didn’t have any night vision systems on him, but Nexus had other ways to let him see in the dark. The enhanced vision overlay was one of them. Charles was wearing one forward facing nightvision camera, and another thermal one. Nexus took the data from these, and was able to make a crude 3d model of the room from them and the building’s architectural plans. He then used that to identify objects in the vicinity, and outlined them in various colors. Charles first saw the pink outline of a nearby desk, and then his vision was soon filled with the outlines of a vast array of things. Three of the things were zombies, that evidently couldn’t see in the dark. they had begun to walk towards the noise Charles was making, but kept walking into debris, and tripping over.

“Can you see okay?” Charles asked Ninja. Ninja nodded. They began sneaking towards a nearby stairwell, trying to avoid attracting any more attention from the zombies. As they crossed out of the small entrance into a large lobby area, they saw the hospital was absolutely filled with zombies, all aimlessly shambling around. Charles looked around, silently really glad there wasn’t any emergency lighting to reveal them.

Then Charles tripped and fell. He didn’t hurt himself through his armor, but he also didn’t fall quietly, knocking over a small table covered in pens, which all clattered onto the tile floor. Every zombie in the room turned and peered in the direction of the noise. Charles tried to sit up as quietly as possible, and looked around for Ninja. The zombies began walking towards him. Charles saw Ninja by the stairwell, gesturing for Charles to hurry over.

Something bumped the back of Charles’s neck. He screamed, and tried to roll away, but the zombie bit down firmly before he could. Charles heard the shot of a silenced pistol, and the zombie behind him dropped dead. Most of the other zombies stopped and tried to decide whether to go for the sound of Ninja’s shot or Charles’s scream. Charles seized the moment, and tossed a noisemaker as far into the corner of the room as possible. It began making a shrill beeping noise, and every zombie ran after it. Charles ran over to Ninja, and the two began heading up the stairwell to the roof.

“Check your PCU.” said Nexus, after a few seconds.

“What? Why?” said Charles. His enhanced vision overlay died. “Hello? Nexus?” he asked.

No reply came. He pulled out his PCU, and turned it on. A soft glow from its screen brightened the pitch black stairwell.

“Building’s walls are thicker than I thought. I’m about to lose contact with you.” the message read “This stairwell leads to the roof. I’ll be able to contact you when you get there. Trust Ninja. Don’t use a flashlight.”

“Trust Ninja?” Charles thought, turning off the PCU “What does that mean?”

A second later, he felt a sharp tug, and was pulled into a corner of the stairwell.

“Don’t move.” whispered Ninja. Charles waited for a second, and then heard a swarm of zombies rush down the stairwell past them, going for the noisemaker.

“Thanks.” he whispered, as Ninja let him go, and they continued up the stairs. For Charles, the area was totally dark, and he had to hang onto the handrail and guess where his feet should go as he walked up. After what felt like thirty floors worth of stairs to Charles, he saw the light around the door onto the roof ahead.

“Ninth floor.” said Nexus “Good job.”

“Door’s locked.” said Ninja, trying the handle.

“This one doesn’t lock.” said Nexus “It must be jammed. Give it a kick, Charles.”

Charles got into position to kick open the door while Ninja aimed his pistol back down the stairs. Charles ran at the door, kicked it, backed up and kicked it again, and then finally got it open with the third kick. He was blinded by the sunlight for a moment, then felt something hard smash into the front of this helmet, and fell back against the wall beside the door. There was someone standing over him with a piece of pipe, who looked like they were getting ready to swing again, then noticed something and stopped.

“Oh shit, you guys are the army!” the man said. “I’m so sorry. We thought it was zombies breaking down the door.”

Charles saw Ninja had stepped through the doorway, and was aiming his pistol at the man’s head.

“We don’t want to fight.” the person said “We’re just trying to stay alive. Wait, you guys can get the helicopter flying, can’t you? We can get out of here! Hey, guys the army’s here! We’re saved!”

“Stop shouting.” said Ninja.

“Ungh, yes, the helicopter.” said Charles, standing up “We’re here for it.”

“It’s over this way.” said the man, gesturing to the extremely obvious helipad, where a fire department Sikorsky S-70 sat waiting. Charles walked towards it, and noticed a tent pitched on the roof, and a woman inside with two children. There was also a teenage girl outside the tent, watching Charles suspiciously as he climbed the steps to the helipad.

“Pop a drone, and I’ll do an exterior check.” said Nexus “You get into the cockpit, and I’ll show you how to hotwire it.”

“Yeah.” said Charles, opening his backpack, and releasing a quadcopter, then climbing into the pilot’s seat, noticing the window had been smashed earlier to open the lock, and most of the medical gear in back was gone.

“Okay, let’s get started.” said Nexus “I’m highlighting a panel on your HUD. Cut a large hole in it.”

“Be quick about it.” said Ninja over the radio “The zombies heard us, and they’re coming back up the stairs.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Jolly
After that, Jolly touched the side of his unhelmeted head to the radio there, "This is Atlas One-One to all callsigns. All extraneous units are to exfil at best possible moment and regroup at carrier. Any units currently extracting can converge on my position for gorup exfiltration from AO. Atlas One-One out and over."

Foyt grunted at the news while Kayora took to the tactical-comms.

"Overwatch, we need a path cleared on Florence Avenue, 5 klicks north of Indigo-1-0-5. Everything whiskey of Indigo-1-1-0 needs to be sterilized. Also requesting an immediate dustoff of lagging ground forces to current position, primary concentration-point 3-3-mark-9 by nan-1-1-8 mark 1-8, be advised, there are a few stragglers bogged-down around the OP-LZ, if they're still alive they're likely holed-up in a building; drop them off at Salt Lake Park for ground-extraction and proceed to 3-3-mark-8 by nan-1-1-7-mark-8-8 for final extraction of group south. Hostile AAA should thin once you stop providing suppressive-fire and the horde moves back-in, allowing a brief window of opportunity for a no-guns extraction."

Kayora spoke dryly into the radio's microphone, trying to speak evenly and clearly even as Foyt could be heard spraying into the undead while Gibbons got their ride dismounted from the train, an old beater-truck from the scrapyard. Foyt was already tethered to the cab, standing in the truck-bed with his LMG while she and Gibbons were in the relative safety of the cab.

---

The Hurti Mil-Mi-6 callsign "Overwatch" acknowledged and made a gun-run with guns pointing out all directions as it plastered both sides of the highway while doing upwards of 320 km/hr, an impressive speed back in its day, still pretty impressively fast for such a giant steel monster as it danced through improvised flak thrown-up by the security-forces, and then by the Revenant's own CIWS. Kayora could only watch as the staboard engine caught-fire, the tail-rotor was wobbling badly... but on it flew, flying below rooftop level to avoid the deadly spray even as a sign-post ripped off the port-side landing-gear.

Adrian knew how important it was to clear a path for his Hurti comrades.

Then the tail-rotor buckled. Adrian powered-down and told his crew to brace, as the forty-ton gunship plowed into the street, inertia carried it mostly in a forwards direction as the giant rotors clawed as the concrete, slowly making the battered hulk to veer and roll towards the right as it skidded to a halt with its nose smashed into a Mexican-themed nightclub, just 1800 meters shy from their objective.

[The United Remnants of America]

The Sentinels moved on down the street, Ed in tow, minus Charlie and Ninja. It was only a couple minutes until the five Remnants and one Namenian operator reached the front door of the school. Jackie and Koopa each took a side of the door, with Oreo and Irish stacking on either side. Ed and Tarzan ran to the opposite side of the street and kneeled at roughly the same time, aiming their LMGs at opposite ends of the road to provide cover.

Koopa lowered himself down and stuck his head around the corner, tapping lightly on the glass door, which was all that was separating them from the inside. Past the dusty glass was hallways, just lit enough from outside that he could see mostly all the way through, unaided, though there were some shapes that would be an issue. "It's glass. Still intact. Who wants to do the honor? No one? Fine, I will." Koopa stood and turned his rifle around and smacked the butt against the glass. The rifle bounced off with a dull thud.

Oreo snickered, "It's safety glass, man. You think they have normal window panes on an elementary school door?"

Koopa gave Oreo a look, dropping his rifle onto its sling and pulling his pistol out. "Fine. It might be safety glass, but I doubt it's-" Koopa aimed and snapped off two shots at the glass, cracking the panes, but not going through. "Dammit!"

Jackie stepped off the side of the building and nudged Koopa to the side. She aimed her rifle at the door's lock and fired at it, a silenced round hitting the aluminum and denting into it. She fired twice more before a hole formed where the lock used to be. She gave Koopa a condescending look, which he ignored as he pushed the door open slowly, holstering his pistol and aiming his rifle ahead.

Jackie looked back to Tarzan and Ed. "Stay, guard the door. The four of us can handle this. If you hear Charlie shout or anything, go help them, understood?" Tarzan gave a thumbs up and patted the younger gunner on the shoulder to reassure him.

Koopa's glasses activated as he entered the darkened halls, the lenses detecting that a lack of light was present and that night-vision mode was needed. As Koopa looked, the dim light turned to a pale green display literally in front of his eyes. A similar thing happened as Jackie filed in behind him, then Oreo, then Irish, who needed to cover his mouth with a hand to keep his wheezing and gasping quiet from the others. Koopa moved down the hall slowly. The building was only three floors, so it wouldn't take long for them to get there.

Movement caught his eye and he threw his hand up, stopping the team behind him. Jackie came up and kneeled beside him, looking up to get a gesture. Koopa pointed straight ahead, and Jackie followed his finger. Her eyes stopped. Ahead of them was a loose knot of small forms that were milling around slowly.

"Oh my god..." Jackie raised her rifle slowly, her mind not fully processing the image before her: the gaunt, young faces, the small untied shoes, the torn and open backpacks hanging from them, with intestines hanging from the other side. She raised her fist and brought it down. A trio of popping came from the weapons of Jackie, Oreo, and Koopa. The small group barely had time to react until they were all gunned down.

The Sentinels stepped gingerly over the remains of the bodies they'd just gunned down. Killing and death hadn't bothered them. Though, killing these things, or rather the idea at shooting at what they used to be, was proving to be more than the usual gore. Koopa held his breath and kept forward. Jackie closed her eyes. Oreo said a quiet prayer for their souls and the souls of their parents. Irish gagged and tried to not puke.

It was only four flights of stairs to the door to the roof, which opened with a good shoulder shove by Koopa. As they got back outside, the green wash of their glasses changed back to the normal colors of outside. The team spread out and walked slowly towards the rough center of the roof.

"O'Malley, here's the spot" Jackie kicked at the gravelly roof and nodded as Irish walked forward and lowered himself down, unburdening himself of the backpack, which he opened so the top of the weapon, namely it's display and setting controls, could be seen and accessed. Jackie heard his wheezing now, but thought nothing of it. He may've just been tired. After all, this had been an exceedingly long mission for them all.

Irish used the nuke to hold himself up and started to tap on the keys to dial it in to a correct timed setting and prepare it for arming. "How long... Should I give us...?"

Koopa leaned in, "An hour? Ninety minutes should do. I mean, we should book it outta here anyways, and that would give us some pretty good motivation, eh?"

Irish tapped in "Nine-Zero-Zero-Zero" and pressed his thumb on the "Set" button. But instead of the satisfying click of a weapon arming itself, the button jammed itself. Irish raised an eyebrow and pressed the key again, getting the same result. "Fuck. I think it's broken.... It is broken. Shit!" Irish tried pressing the key a few more times with no different result.

Oreo was the first to speak, "So... What do we do? All this for nothing?"

Koopa replied, "No, the bomb must've been damaged from a fall or something. Must've happened before we got it.... Shit. I can rewire it so it can be detonated with no timer... But that means when we cross the wires, the bomb goes." Koopa smacked his hands and made a boom gesture for effect.

Jackie looked at Koopa, then back at the bomb. She sighed. "Well, do it. Wire it up, Koopa. I'll... I'll stay here."

Oreo put a hand on her shoulder, "Jackie, no. You can't! We can find some other way."

Jackie shook her head, "No. There isn't. We don't have the time to come up with one, anyways. Do it, Koopa. Then get the others out of here as quick as poss-"

Irish stood up and shook his head, "No, I'll do it."

"No, O'Malley, you won't."

"Well, I can't go back. I have to stay."

The others looked at him quietly. He realized they were confused, so he hurriedly unbuttoned his outer shirt and pulled it and his tee shirt aside, showing a web of black, bulging veins. He explained as he showed them. "I got knocked on my ass by a zombie. I thought I was safe, but it must've gotten me, a bite or scratch I didn't catch. I'm... I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner. I was trying to ignore it. So, I can't go back. I'm about to pass out as it is. Just... Koopa, rewire it, lemme sit here... Contact me when you're safe, alright?"

Oreo and Koopa looked at Irish, then they looked at Jackie, her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open. She turned her head slowly to Koopa and nodded. Koopa sighed and closed his eyes for a second before dropping to his knees, pulling out a knife. He began to pop the panel off the nuke to pull and cut wires, making it a simple 'press n' boom' nuclear weapon....

[Greater Soviet Ukraine]

Crashed Van, Santa Anna Freeway
Vladek was the first one to dig himself out of the van. "Is everyone okay?"

Some groans were heard from within the van, but no screams just yet.

He started to pull out his squadmates from the crashed vehicle. First Oleg, then Viktor, then Nikolai. All three looked fine.

"Where's Igor?" Vladek asked. Nikolai shrugged, and Viktor started reaching in the car. "I think he was here... oh shit!"

Igor was slumped on an airbag, covered in blood. Viktor quickly pulled him out an laid him on the ground. Oleg started to take a look at his wound.

"It seems like the blood is coming from the knee. Oh crap. His knee got destroyed by the crash. God... I need a tourniquet."

Viktor and Nikolai watched, faces grim, as Oleg applied the tourniquet. Leighton called out, “We need to get there then! Ukrainians, you ready to move? We’re at, um, Santa Ana Freeway near The City Drive South. Goal is St. Joseph Hospital. Let’s go!”

Nikolai came over and picked up the unconscious man in a fireman's carry. "Move! We'll switch every 15 minutes, but don't stop. You here that? Don't stop!"

The team started following Leighton at a breakneck pace. Oleg frowned, and then asked, "How are we going to check his pulse?"

Nikolai responded, "We improvise. We have to get him out of here as soon as possible if we want him to live."

Blood was still leaking from Igor's wound at a reduced pace, but it was enough for the zombies to smile from miles away. Soon, a horde had gathered behind them.

"Just keep on running, keep on running." Nikolai muttered to himself.

"About time. Switch!" Nikolai slid Igor off his back and into Oleg's waiting hands.

"How's his pulse?" Nikolai asked.

Oleg felt Igor's neck for his cartoid artery, and then threw him on his back in a burst of adrenaline. Panting, he said, "Losing him."

"Faster! We can't lose a man we have a chance to save."

They ran faster.

[Congreveopia]

Helipad on St Joseph Hospital, Charles:

“Exterior check is complete, how’s your concussion doing?” asked Nexus.

“Concussion?” asked Charles, priming the engine for the third time and then clasping two wires together underneath the dashboard. The magnetos spun the rotor around a few revolutions, but the engine didn’t start.

“From when you were whacked in the head with a piece of pipe.” said Nexus “I mean, I don’t know, but the accelerometer in your helmet suggests that you should have one. Also you’re pretty out of it.”

“Yeah, okay.” said Charles, looking over the instruments and getting ready to prime the engine again. “Can I fly with a concussion?”

“Well we’re about to find out aren’t we?” said Nexus “I think you’ll be fine, but I honestly don’t know. I’ve got records of people flying fine with concussions, and records of people crashing because of concussions.”

“Well that’s great.” said Charles, priming again “Why isn’t this starting, Nexus?”

“Hasn’t been inspected in three months.” said Nexus “It’s anyone’s guess what’s wrong with it, really. You’ve only got about three more tries left before you drain the battery, by my estimate.”

“Should we open up the engine and take a look?” asked Charles, failing to start the engine for the fourth time.

“We don’t have time.” said Nexus “Ninja and the guy who hit you are already struggling to keep the stairwell door shut against the zombies. Fifth time’s the charm?”

“Okay.” said Charles “You said I’m pretty out of it. You’re right. I don’t trust myself to choose whether to take these people or not. I mean we have what… twenty people to get out already?”

“Thirty, not counting these five civilians, and your helicopter will take 19.” said Nexus “There is no question. We can’t take any of them. I doubt we’ll even be able to take all of our own troops. You should tell Ninja; make sure he won’t resist this action.”

“Okay.” said Charles, toggling on his radio “Ninja, we’re going to need to leave these people behind to get all of our guys out. Are you okay with that?”

“Confirm that we can’t extract everyone.” replied Ninja.

“Nexus said we can’t.” said Charles “We might need to leave people behind even without taking these civilians.”

“Would the children be a problem?” asked Ninja.

“Nexus?” said Charles, stopping communication with Ninja.

“Unsure.” said Nexus “It’s a good idea to take the two young ones for now, though. The fuel cost in the first flight will be negligible, and we can shoot them afterwards if we don’t have the fuel to keep them. If we say we’re saving the children, it will probably serve to placate the parents greatly.”

“Do not let any news agency ever hear you said that.” said Charles, before switching to talking with Ninja again and saying “Yes, we can take the two youngest children.”

To Charles’s surprise, he heard a rumble from overhead as he tried to start the engine for the fifth time, and the blades started spinning.

“Okay, you need to act fast.” said Nexus “The civilians will be trying to board shortly, and if they get on, we will probably need to kill them to get them off safely. Tell Ninja to get the children strapped in, and tell the others to guard the helicopter.”

“Ninja, get the children strapped in.” said Charles. He then leaned out the window and yelled out “Guard the helicopter until we have your kids secure!”

“I don’t think I can hold this for long!” called out the man, as Ninja ran away from the door to collect the children.

“Should we try the first engine now?” asked Charles, hastily checking the readings from engine two were within acceptable parameters.

“No, it would need serious repairs before it would work.” said Nexus “No point risking starting a fire.”

Charles readied his pistol and put it on his lap. Ninja was running while carrying the younger of the children while the mother helped the other along to the helipad. The teenage girl had grabbed a baseball bat from somewhere, and was waiting at the bottom of the stairs up to the helipad. Charles heard a crash, and the door to the stairwell sprung open, throwing the man to the ground. A zombie leapt onto him, but before it could do anything more, there was the crack of a gunshot, and it dropped. Ninja ran along, holding the child in one hand and firing backwards with his other. Twelve more shots, eleven zombies dead, and then his pistol’s clip was empty. Charles leaned out the window and fired his pistol at the zombies as they swarmed up the stairwell. The man had gotten up, and he lashed out at one with the pipe, knocking it down. He drew back to hit another, but was tackled by two more before he could act, and was obscured by others rushing forwards before he hit the ground. There was one scream, and then nothing more. Ninja was at the helicopter, and placed the child in a seat. He got a seat belt on her, then accepted the second from the mother and began strapping that one in as well. Charles reloaded.

The girl at the bottom of the stairs lost her nerve as the zombies drew closer. She turned and ran up the stairs. Ninja and Charles both fired at the zombies behind her as Charles watched the rotor crawl up to speed agonisingly slowly. The girl tripped and fell. She screamed. The mother screamed and ran towards her to help her. Ninja took the opening, and slammed the door of the helicopter shut. The girl got up, and ran towards the helicopter. She pulled at the door. Ninja had locked it.

The mother dropped to her knees and begged as the zombies ran towards the stairs. “Leave me, just take her to safety!” she yelled.

“I am so sorry!” yelled Charles.

“This is the correct thing to do.” said Nexus “You, more than anyone else, can appreciate that this is highly likely to save lives in the long run.”

“Your children will be safe!” yelled Ninja “We don’t have the fuel for anyone else!”

“She’s my child too!” screamed the mother “Please! We worked so hard to keep her safe! Don’t fucking kill her now! You can save her!”

The girl had been briefly stunned at the realisation that with salvation so close, she was suddenly being left to die, but her shock turned to anger. She smashed the baseball bat into the side of the helicopter, denting the metal of the door. Tears were streaming down her and her mother’s face.

“You are making the right choice.” said Nexus forcefully, as Charles watched her smash the bat into the side again, the collapse to the ground in despair.

The zombies swarmed up the stairs. They grabbed the mother. Ninja shielded the children's eyes. The girl turned and watched her mother get torn apart. Charles pulled back on the collective, and the helicopter lifted away from the pad. Ninja saw a zombie lunge for the girl, but she rolled away. More surrounded her. She tried to scramble away, but some of the zombies grabbed her and pulled her back. Ninja raised his rifle and put a bullet through her head. Then Charles turned the helicopter towards the school and flew away.

[Congreveopia]

Charles, S-70A Firehawk, approaching the school:

“Nearing the school.” said Charles “My vision’s gone a bit blurry. Can you compensate?”

“I can adjust your HUD.” said Nexus “Nothing I can do about the real world. Give me the point that looks most in focus.”

“Um, twelve-five.” said Charles, as a grid of different focus options appeared in his vision.

“Again.” said Nexus, adjusting the grid.

“Nine-two.” said Charles. “Yeah, that’s better. Can I get an overlay of a safe area to touch down on the roof?”

“Nowhere on the roof is safe.” said Nexus “We went over this. It’s not built to support a helicopter. You’re just hovering this a few inches off the roof.”

“Oh, okay.” said Charles “Can you give me an overlay of where I should do that?”

“No. It will lag too much, and make you crash or get sick.” said Nexus “Your vision isn’t too blurry. Fight through the headache and keep your focus outside the cockpit.”

“Fine. Fine.” said Charles. “How about some painkillers?”

“This armor doesn’t have localised painkiller distribution.” said Nexus. “And you’re near enough to passing out already. Focus now. You’re coming up to the target.”

Nexus knew that Charles wasn’t flying well. He hoped that one of the sentinels up ahead knew how to fly, or else he might have to teach one of them. For now, though, Charles had to reach the roof and hover the helicopter, and Nexus had to make sure he succeeded in that task.

“What’s the distance to the building?” asked Nexus.

“Umm… not sure.” said Charles.

“You should know at this stage of the landing.” said Nexus “What’s the distance to the building?”

“Nexus, report my distance from the school ahead.” said Charles.

“That’s cheating.” said Nexus “You’re twenty seconds out. Start slowing down.”

“Slowing down.” said Charles, pulling the nose up.

“Lower the collective, or you'll start climbing.” said Nexus “A bit more… Not that much!”

Charles inelegantly brought the helicopter down a lurching descent towards the school, and finally turned on the auto-hover two feet above the roof.

“Too high.” said Nexus, as the sentinels gave the wobbling aircraft plenty of clearance “Bring it down more.

Charles turned off the auto hover, and lowered the collective. The wheels thudded onto the roof, which gave a loud creaking sound but held.

“Well I guess this school’s roof is a bit overengineered.” said Nexus. He took control of the speaker on the outside of Charles’s armor and shouted out to the sentinels “Charles took a blow to the head, and is a bit disoriented right now! Do any of you know how to fly a helicopter?”

[The United Remnants of America]

School Rooftop, Sentinels

Irish sat beside the nuke, looking at his team mates with a long gaze. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and his face was beginning to go pale due to the infection taking over slowly. It was beginning to shut down his body systems, so he had a limited period of consiousness left before he would pass out and be unable to detonate the nuclear weapon. The rest of the team looked back at him, Irish mouth a phrase he hoped the others would understand. Remember me. A simple request for a little-known rookie.

Jackie, Koopa, Tarzan, and Oreo turned towards the helicopter, leaving Irish behind for good. As the team walked towards the helo, crouching slightly to try to avoid the brunt of the rotor downwash, Nexus' call for assistance blared over a tinny speaker system coming from the pilot, who appeared to be a drunk-look Charles. As the four of them pulled the door open and hopped into the passenger's compartment, Koopa yelled out to be heard over the sound of the helicopter's motor, "I've screwed around on flight sims, and I've controlled aerial drones. Is that close enough?"

Koopa pushed past the rest of the Sentinels who were strapping into seats beside the strange, traumatized looking child and Ninja, who seemed uncharacteristically shaken for such a stoic man. The Remnant slav settled himself into the copilot's seat and pulled on a pair of headphones, flipping them on, looking down between his legs at the control panel, dials, and sticks, "So... This is... The collective...? Sure, yeah. Something like that." Koopa eased gently back on the joystick, biting his lip beneath his mask, hoping he wasn't going to kill everyone aboard...

[Greater Soviet Ukraine]

Santa Anna Freeway, Alpha Group
"Switch!" An exhausted Oleg passed Igor on to Viktor. "Whoa! You almost dropped him!" Viktor caught him and checked his pulse.

"We're losing him." Viktor said, his face grim.

"Faster! Fast as you can! Use all the endurance training we gave you!" Nikolai yelled.

Meanwhile, the horde was closing in, and they had no way of knowing when the helicopter is going to come.

Oleg stumbled a bit, but Nikolai caught him and pulled him back up. The delay had wasted precious seconds, and the zombies were within 50 yards of Alpha Group. Nikolai looked at Oleg, who's face was as pale as Igor's, and said, through heavy breathing, "Okay, we're almost done. Do you have it in you....... to put some distance..... between us and them?"

Oleg silently nodded.

"Go!" Nikolai put on a burst of speed, but Oleg collapsed. "Shit!" Nikolai yelled, and yanked him up. The horde was so close he could smell the stench of decay emanating from their body and the musty odor of the viral secretion coming from their mouths. Nikolai almost gagged from the stench, but he held his vomit in and kept his nerve. In a burst of adrenaline, he carried Oleg on his back and sprinted forward, catching up with the rest of the group. The helicopter was visible on the horizon, getting closer every second.

Soon, the helicopter was only a few hundred yards away from them, Vladek start firing his pistol in the air. "Here! We're here!" He prayed to God they did not think he was a frustrated enemy taking potshots at them.

Luckily, the pilot got the signal, and began to descend. Vladek looked back at Viktor, and nodded towards Igor. "Give him to me once we're on the helicopter."

The helicopter was literally right in front of them now, and the pilot started lowering the wheels to the ground. It wobbled a bit, but managed to land at a relatively empty spot on Santa Anna Freeway without making a hole in the concrete or making the bridge collapse. The door slid open, and the Congrepovians began climbing in the helicopter.

Vladek was pulled up by a soldier, who seemed like the Remnants they saw in the parking lot earlier. Vladek gave a weak smile and muttered, "Damn, am I glad to see you." The Remnant did not respond, and started pulling up Igor. Viktor came in next, his face covered in sweat from exertion, and Vladek helped him down to his seat. Oleg and Nikolai came in last, both of them like living zombies. Vladek felt Igor's pulse, and then checked his wound. "He bled out." He announced in an emotionless tone to the passengers, and then looked over to Nikolai. "Orders, Sergeant?"

Nikolai put his face in his hands, and then looked down at the floor of the helicopter. "It's been a long day. Let's just get him out of here in one piece."

---

Ending Music

---

[The United Remnants of America]

School Rooftop, Union City

2nd Lieutenant Zane "Irish" O'Malley, the operator of the Sentinels 3rd Special Operations Squad, sat on the rooftop, watching as the helicopter flew off, on its way out of the city.

Irish's breathing was ragged, and his head throbbed. Irish pulled his sleeve up and looked at his arms. The veins on his arm looked black and sickly, no doubt from the disease or virus or whatever it was coursing and spreading through him. He leaned his head back and unfastened his helmet, tossing it off the roof with a strained throw. Not like he needed it anymore.

Zane leaned against the backpack that was open, the cruicuitry spilled out of the top. Koopa had managed to install and rig a simple button-press detonator on the nuke so Irish could "push and poof." It was a deceivingly simple mechanism for such a destructive force. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his gloved hand, smiling as he thought of Koopa, and then each of his teammates in turn, both living and dead. They'd all been his friends, idols, confidants, firendly rivals. Some of them were dead, now, killed aboard the Revelation. The rest were flying away, out of the city in the helicopter. He'd ensure the living would continue while simultaneously meeting again with his old friends.

A gasping sigh escaped his lips as he shifted his weight. Zane wasn't a completely religious man, but he could see the value in praying right now. He could definitely see the merit in it now...

A blinding glare caught Irish's eye. He looked and saw it was in the direction of the Revelation. The glint was so bright, Irish had to quickly look away while his throat caught. He knew what that was, on the other side of the city. He knew it was the blast, and he knew it would only be a couple seconds until the blastwave got to him.

Irish plaed his thumb over the black button and blinked a tear away. He could just see the faces of Peters, Stein, and Mosconi. They were smiling and waiting for him. Irish smiled back as he pressed down on the button. The faces of his friends were suddenly whited out by an intense flash of light and what felt like a warm breeze, and then Zane O'Malley joined his friends.

[Congreveopia]

“Official hearing regarding decisions made by Nexus during the International Task Force Atlas operation known as Legion. Justice Mark Green presiding. Analyst Mark Nelson presenting the results of the inquiry. Mark Nelson will speak as the prosecution in this affair, and Nexus will, as always, defend himself. Recording Officer Gibson, please state the time and location.”

“It will be fifteen seconds past the eleventh minute of oh-three-hundred hours at the mark… mark. We are in the Molica wing of Data Command West. Level two basement. Meeting room nine: ‘Daffy Duck’. Tape recorder is running, and I am now begining manual transcript.”

“If you would present your case, mister Nelson. My wife is expecting me home.”

“Certainly. Firstly, though, I should recognise Nexus for bringing this entire affair to my attention. It should be noted that he correctly reported this, as he is required to bring events that he believes we would consider troubling to the attention of Data Command staff with sufficient clearance, such as myself.”

“We recognise that, mister Nelson. Nobody expected you had found the skeletons in Nexus’s closet.”

“Yes, okay. Anyways, Nexus did, in the course of this operation, cause the unnecessary deaths of three civilians: Mister Joseph Webber, Miss Cynthia Ross, and an unidentified teenage girl.”

“Nexus. I am absolutely certain you have a complete explanation.”

“Indeed. I can conclusively prove that my actions were weighted to achieve the highest chance of success. The relevant recordings are unmodified, and have been moved to servers outside my access. Using the data on these, and statistical prediction, I can show that any other choice would have resulted in greater predicted loss of life over the long term.”

“For the sake of the hearing's recording, Nexus, please briefly explain why the deaths were unnecessary, and yet occurred anyways.”

“If it would benefit the recording, very well. At the time that they could be saved, I was presented with information that led me to a conclusion later proven to be false. I decided to save two of five civilians, believing that taking all five aboard an evacuation helicopter would overburden it to the point that it would have insufficient fuel to reach a nearby carrier. My estimation of the helicopter’s fuel quantity was based on the cockpit instrumentation, which indicated that the internal tanks were roughly seven-eighths full, and the external tanks were empty. Once in flight, the rate of fuel drain and the handling of the helicopter indicated that the external tanks were in fact nearly full, and the fuel level gauges for the external tanks had failed. At the prior point where the helicopter was in a position to rescue the civilians, there was insufficient time to perform a manual check of the fuel levels in the tanks, and analysis of other cases of societal breakdown similar to that of Union City suggested that it was likely that the helicopter’s external tanks had been drained for fuel during the three months it spent unattended. The decision to guess the tanks were empty was the wrong one to make in the given instance, but statistically, it was the choice that should have saved the most lives.”

“A full explanation of the statistics is beyond the scope of this hearing. We will trust that Nexus is being honest in this regard. Unless there is any further information, I believe we can all go home now.”

“Actually, there is. Nexus felt there was sufficient precedent to ignore the deaths of the three civilians. The record will remember that after the Archibald Dam incident, a similar defense absolved Nexus of the deaths of over six thousand individuals by his own action. In this instance-”

“I will speak for myself with regard to this, thank you, mister Nelson. The behavior of mine that I believe one may find concerning is the fact that I have chosen to withhold the information I have presented here from the Congreveopians that participated in the operation, and the helicopter pilot specifically.”

“This action is surprising, Nexus. I understand that it’s a morale boost to the troops to know they murdered for a reason rather than in vain, but surely the cost of them no longer trusting you if they discover this outweighs that gain.”

“The cost of them discovering me lying to them, and their subsequent distrust, is why I do not often lie to them. Here however, I am confident they will not discover my lie, and it is to the greater good of Congreveopia for me to contain the truth. The people who know what has occurred are currently Justice Mark Green, Analyst Mark Nelson, and Recording Officer Chelsea Gibson. The pilot of the helicopter had suffered a head-injury, and did not notice the abnormally slow fuel drain. None of the others aboard the helicopter were sufficiently trained to be able to notice the fuel drain rate was unusually slow. Shortly after it reached the carrier it was heading for, it was pushed overboard to clear space. There was no inspection of it that checked the fuel levels before it was jettisoned, and, within a year, the fuel tanks will have decayed to the point that deducing the truth regarding them will be impossible.”

“Nexus, could you clarify for a moment. Please confirm that I was the only analyst to see this.”

“You were. I altered the footage that all the others watched. Had you not brought this to a hearing, I would have told others the truth until one of them chose to start a hearing regarding it.”

“Nexus, you are commended for bringing this to a hearing. This is an action that merits a hearing to discuss it. However, if this goes wrong, you are the only one who pays the price, and as such-”

“Justice Green, if the Platinum Soldiers are less effective, we all pay the price. It is just in subtle ways.”

“I revise my position, then. Nexus, you continue to do what you conclude is best for the future of Congreveopia, and the future of mankind. I will not dispute you in that effort just because you have begun lying to people to achieve your goals. I only order you to remain truthful in these hearings.”

“That I will, Justice Green.”

“Then this hearing is closed, and Nexus will proceed as he originally intended to. Thank you for your time Nexus and Chelsea. Thank you for your effort, Mark. Recording Officer Gibson, please send all records of this hearing to be secured. You may now cease transcribing and stop the tape recorder.”