"Aegis;
The protection, backing, or support of a particular person or organization."
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March 21st, 2014/
Tehran, Iran
0915 Hours
“Fuckin’ hell! Why’d they shootin’ at us in the first place?!” Scott yelled as he popped out of cover and sprayed the pillar that one of the Russians took cover behind, pinging uselessly off the shattered concrete.
“It’s either we shot them first or they were going to bust our asses!”
“I’d say we shot them first!” Scott quickly rolled out of cover as soon as the T-90 rumbled, letting loose a searing shell headed for where he took cover, obliterating it in one shot.
“Garrett! Can you give us some cover fire?” Hershowitz barked into his radio over the sounds of the Russians’ weapon chipping away at the wall he took cover in.
“Can do, but it’s gonna be limited. The bloody buggers are hidin’ in the shadows. I’ll try to draw them out!” Garrett responded as Miles, who was busy watching the conflict with his M249 at the ready, walked around alert.
The crashed Z-11W’s husk rolled around aimlessly, recoiling as Hershowitz’s SCAR-L’s bullets pinged off it, trying to gut two covered Russians who occasionally popped up to let loose their rifles.
The T-90 then rolled backwards to get a better angle on the two pinned down Marines, the KORD gunner letting streams of FMJ bullets at their withering cover. Another sharp crack from Garrett’s M82 sent an open Russian operative swirling back into the inner sanctum of the palace. At this, another sniper far away, unnoticed by the ex-SAS marksmen, began to recalibrate his aim for him.
Hershowitz was on to an end, his mind scrambling on what next to do as he ejected the empty magazine from the SCAR and pulled out a fresh one. Scott however was beginning to pull out the anti-tank launcher from his back when another loud crack of a sniper reverberated.
“…Shite! That was a bloody close call! You’ve got a sniper up there in the roofs, be aware of that!” Garrett muttered as he quickly stood up and rushed back to the staircase behind, Miles stumbling from the sudden shot.
“There’s another fuckin’ problem there! And it’s pinnin’ down our sniper!”
Hershowitz’s mind stirred as he tried to identify who was the immediate threat; the tank or the sniper. Grunting in anger, he managed to make up his troubled mind.
“Take out the tank first! Garrett, get to cover ASAP! The sniper’s the secondary, tank’s our primary!”
“Roger that, sir! We’re movin’ downstairs!” Garrett clicked in as they sprinted into a hallway and hugged a wall, Miles taking up a breaching position.
“Breaching!” Miles slammed the door open and immediately held up his M249, to nobody’s surprise as the room, once a home to some poor Iranian family, was deserted. “Clear!”
“Got it! Movin’ in!” Garrett said as he ran into the room, the MP443 also held up into the air as he entered the kitchen of this abandoned residence.
Meanwhile, Hershowitz was frantically deciding what to do, and in a last ditch attempt he pulled out the radio and yelled for help, not expecting a response.
“This is Delta 1-3! We’re under heavy fire from RU ground troops! Is there anyone who can respond, over?!” He slotted the radio back in and rose out of cover to raze the well trained and equipped Russian operatives who pushed on, one of them disappearing underneath the floor trying to flank them.
It was then Hershowitz heard a gruff voice tear through the static of the radio.
“This is Retribution II, what’s your status?”
He pulled it out again as he rolled out of the cover. “Thank fuckin’ god! We need immediate fire support down at Azadi Palace. We're being pinned by a hostile T-90 and several RU troopers, Retribution! Where the fuck are you?!” He said as he heard the audible thumping of boots and Russian chatter coming up the stairwell in the interior of the second floor.
“Copy that, we’re having visual with the palace, approaching combat zone for immediate fire support. Stand by,” Retribution’s operator chimed in as their M1 Abrams, which had survived four days on end from both PLR light fire and natural hazards, rolled on the street beyond them, around the apartment block that Garrett and Miles were stationed in.
“Garrett! Get a visual on that vehicle!”
“Roger that, sir!” Garret ran out into the hallway and slid into cover, a window stationed into the wall. He peeped out and saw the golden hull of the US’s trademark armor rolling down the street.
“I see ‘im! Damn, we've hit the jackpot today with a friggin' tank!”
“Good to know that, Garrett! Retribution, we’ve gone FUBAR, not gonna last any longer!”
“Copy that, crank up the engine Fields!” Now Hershowitz could hear the rumbling of the Abrams as it approached the broken palace, and the muttering of a trained Russian as he reached the second floor, his beaten carbine trained on the surroundings. Hershowitz, out of sight from the night clad Russian, behind a wall, grunted in frustration before he came out of cover and sprayed the area with rounds, sending the Russian stumbling for cover as he also let loose his rifle.
Scott however had his launcher raised up and behind cover, his fingers already having found the trigger and primed to fire it. The T-90 fired again into his position, sending millions of concrete pieces everywhere up into the air. He held his breath hoping that the rocket would hit and left cover, ignoring the pain of having so much debris hit him in the face.
“Firin’ launcher!” The launcher flared and send an explosive warhead screaming into the tank. It exploded to his relief, and the T-90 immediately backpedalled its way out of the SMAW’s line of fire. It was then the hidden Abrams also fired its main gun into the side of the fleeing T-90, causing it to visibly slow down and attract its attention. The two Russians below spun their heads to face the threat and so did the PLR who had so far remained hidden during the whole firefight.
“Load in another shell, Private! Blow this sucker sky high!” The captain of the tank bellowed as the Abrams closed in for the kill, soaking up the rounds of the now exposed PLR soldiers who split up in an attempt to confuse the tank.
“AP shell loaded, sir!”
“On my mark… FIRE!” The Abram’s main gun shook the foundations of the palace again, pummeling the side of the now aflame T-90, its threads disabled.
“Good shot!” Scott said in delight before he saw on the other side a PLR soldier wielding an RPG. “Shit! Retribution, you’ve got a fuckin’ RPG on the second floor!”
“Copy that, pulling back!” The Abrams backed away to the PLR solders’ horror as one of them was grinded underneath the treads of the tank. Scott saw the RPG release its deadly warhead before a burst of his carbine killed the holder of the launcher, sending his corpse spiraling down from the second floor with a sickening crunch.
The disabled T-90 then proceeded to load in its one last shot, sending it screeching for the Retribution’s armor, scorching it in its attempt before the operators of the critically damaged tank hastily climbed out of it. Retribution shuddered but managed to load in its finishing shot.
“FIRE!” The Abrams let hell break loose as the T-90 exploded in a cloud of raining dust and steel, .
“Yippee-k-i-ay! Motherfuckers!” Scott victoriously said, turning his attention now to the Russian that Hershowitz was now engaging.
“Scotty! Help me gut this fucker!”
“On it!” The Texan slid behind a toppled couch in the hall of the interior, and promptly opened fire on the Russian who was behind a pillar. The Russian grunted before he popped out of cover and fired his A-91 in response, only to have his gas mask cracked as a round gored through his head.
“One down! Two more Russians to go and a whole shitload of PLR to take out the trash on!”
“Retribution here, we’ll handle the PLR! Take care of the Russians! Load another shell in! HE this time!”
“Aye, aye sir!” The fleeing PLR soldiers were blown up by a reversing Retribution who was finishing the last of them. Some of the stragglers had their heads popped by Garrett’s deployed M82 from his vantage point, the other window occupied by Miles's lethal M249 LMG.
“Suppressing fire!” The M249 jittered and massacred the last three of them.
The Russians were faring no better as they scrambled inside of the palace in a close quarters deathmatch. Scott and Hershowitz also made their move as the USMC engineer let loose another burst of his AK before he dove into cover to reload. The Russian sniper far away was grunting in frustration, lining up his lined SV98 at the two Marines who constantly swapped cover to engage his comrades.
“Garrett! Can you take out the sniper while you still can before he- A shot screamed next to Hershowitz and nearly hit his chest, earning an angered grunt as he laid down a rain of bullets to engage the covering Russians across them.
“Suppressing! Get ‘em Scotty!”
“Will do!” Scott leveled himself out of cover and let loose an accurate burst of rounds towards an unfortunate operative, first punching his body full of bullets before he was finished off with another bullet through his helmet.
“Two down! Garrett and Miles, it's clear to get down from your point! Retribution’s got you covered!”
Garrett, at this promptly complied but before he left, he ascended once more to finish off the RU sniper far away. “Lemme finish off the bugger first! Miles, get your ass down there to help them!”
“Got it, sir!” The machine gunner descending the spiraling stairwell before he saw the bright morning sun again and sprinted towards the ruins of the palace, the Retribution’s crew guarding his advance.
Garrett was all too busy calculating the wind direction and elevation, having no need for a spotter at this distance or at all, due to his status in the SAS. Finding his mark, he held in his breath for the finishing blow. “Good night, ya' arsehole…”
The American bolt-action cracked once more, sending a high velocity projectile headed for the unfortunate RU sniper who took one last look before his head was gouged out by the bullet. He won't be seeing his family again, “RU sniper down!”
“Thanks, Garrett! Now get down here! Retribution, move in to help cover us if you’re outta PLR!”
“Will do.” The Retribution’s engines rumbled to life as it advanced into the ruins to engage the last Russian black ops operative.
The operative cursed in Russian, no more options and no more escape route. His primary objective was to get into Iran, retrieve the stolen nukes from the PLR and quickly evacuate while leaving no witnesses in order to cover their trail. But his comrades and their armored support were now all but living, the T-90’s crew probably ambushed by PLR patrols further east.
But he wasn’t going down without a fight. Sprinting out of cover while bellowing a war cry, he let loose a hail of bullets from his vastly customized AEK-971 and was promptly ended by the freshly arrived Retribution II.
The skirmish at dawn was over, the two soldiers above sighed breaths of relief and made their way down to the awaiting crew of the Retribution, also survivors of the earthquake.
Reaching the ground, the crew of the Retribution opened up the hatch of their tank to greet these fellow Marines and upon seeing them, immediately saluted.
“Sir! I am Captain Alex Noah!”
“Private David Fairfield!”
“And Corporal Sam Evern!” Hershowitz cracked a smile, now something had been given to them as an answer for their prayers.
A battle ready tank and these brave souls, out of all options in a shattered wasteland.
---
Half an hour earlier,
Rainbow Dash now sat in the living room of her mansion in Cloudsdale, trying to memorize the details of what the description said about Blazer’s Point before she actually tried it out.
“Yadda yadda here… Annnnd I’m done!” She shut the book in impatience and stood up, stretching her wings for her performance. But first, she was going to have to call her friends to demonstrate what would happen.
Swooping down below back to the tree house after a lousy two, very mind nulling hours, she dropped down onto the ground gracefully and tapped the door again. The door opened, revealing a wide awake Twilight who was surprised to see her friend again down on the ground.
“Oh, hi Rainbow! What are you doing here again? Unsatisfied with that old book you borrowed?”
“Um… That and I really, really, REALLY need you for one thing!”
“Let me guess… You’ve learnt that trick you found and now you want to demonstrate it somewhere far from my house… Riiight?”
Rainbow had a feeling about her know-it-all unicorn friend and this exact situation. But she acted as if she was surprised. “Whoa! How’d you know?”
“Let’s say I had a feeling about it when you put your hooves on that book,” Twilight replied as she trotted back into her residence. “Let me get some of my stuff out, I’m actually curious about that old book!”
“O-okay… that’s nice to know, Twi!” Rainbow Dash replied as she caught sight of Spike wondering around aimlessly in the residence and her pet owl just staring out of a window.
Spike turned his head, revealing his bed eyes. “Oh, hey Dash.”
“Hey, Spike.”
“What’re you doing? Waiting for Twilight to get her stuff?”
Darn, everybody knew what she was going to do next, maybe they knew what was going to happen during her attempts at Blazer’s Point…?
“Of course! Why am I still out here then?”
“That’s a good point…” He yawned and disappeared from her view. Minutes later, Twilight came out prepared for today’s performance and also ready to take down notes on the book’s intricate maneuvers.
“Well, I’m ready!”
“Twilight? Should we call the others first..?”
“Hmm… sure! Why not?” She gleefully replied, Rainbow just deadpanned at her. It was clearly obvious over the course of the days that such events had to be attended by their friends, the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony.
“…So where do you wanna meet up for my performance? Some deserted range on AJ’s farm? Or that spot where we have picnics all the time?”
“Err… I say we do it at our spot as usual!” Rainbow, at this, immediately began to flutter her wings.
“Well then, get everypony up and running ‘cause I’m gonna go there first!” She sped away, leaving Twilight with her inventory alone outside the library.
“Oh brother… I guess I’m going to have to get everypony up by myself…” Twilight groaned as she began trotting away to a faraway carousel where her friend and the Element of Generosity, Rarity, stayed at with her little sister.
Take plenty of notes, Twilight Sparkle, because you won’t be seeing Rainbow Dash again for a good while.