March 21st, 2014,
Markaz,
Tehran, Iran,
The storm of streaming projectiles slowed down the time for all of the beings in the area. The first one to actually hit anything besides the arid atmosphere of the city was Garrett’s surgically precise shot, striking the technical with Rainbow Dash at the engine block, causing it to stop functioning amidst the sounds of the screaming shells and bullets. The next projectiles to strike was the soaring missiles of both Gunslinger’s Javelin and the Humvee’s, both destroying the technicals that flanked the main one in a burst of fiery flames and metal
The duel between the twin heavy metal giants was started with the T-90’s AP shell striking the front portion of the Retribution, causing it to roll back and shudder from the impact, also causing a plate or two to fall off.
The T-90 was struck by the Abram’s AP shell directly onto the turret, causing the barrel of the tank to spontaneously combust and permanently removing its capabilities to neutralize anyone.
The shot technical eventually grinded to a halt due to the engine block being penetrated by a 50.BMG and the PLR soldier grunted in frustration behind the wheel as the battle continued, the hostage and him being in the middle of it.
“Lock on to that T-90!” Noah barked at Gunslinger who was busy loading in another missile and at Miles.
“Give me a second, sir! I’m reloadin’ this shit!”
“Missile loaded and firin’!” Miles yelled as he pulled the trigger and launched the killing missile into the broken T-90, blowing it up in a mere second. The PLR soldier inside the technical pulled out his AK and fired through the window, causing Gunslinger to get distracted before a PLR soldier’s bullet nearly gutted his face, his co-pilot carving a wide cave in his assailant’s head.
“Thanks for that save!” The co-pilot grunted in response as he reloaded the M417, grasping for a magazine. The Javelin was finished reloading and Gunslinger heaved it up for one last launch when he was reminded of something more important.
Medevac.
“Shit! Retribution, I’m gonna ditch the ‘lin! Have to contact command before we get lost in this hellhole!”
“Affirmative, we’ll cover you and the Marines in the meantime, over!” Noah responded to the pilot who rushed into the cockpit of the Osprey to contact command while the Retribution loaded another shell in, to the PLR’s horror. Their numbers were dwindling rapidly and to add to the embarrassment of the PLR, they were getting stomped on by a measly tank and a squad of Marines.
The firefight had tone down significantly, with the remaining PLR forces now on the run from the advancing marines as they pushed on towards the technical with the hostage inside. “Go, go, go!” Hershowitz barked as he fired upon the fleeing PLR, killing some of them while Scott was busy taking care of the gunman inside the technical.
Rainbow Dash however was totally scared out of her wits and tried to scream for help, hoping that whoever saved her earlier on will save her again. She may be Equestria’s fastest flyer, but nothing could prepare her for something this dark and violent. Hearing the thing in front of her shout a war cry before a splatter of blood covered the chair he was in, she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.
Meanwhile, the two marines were secured outside the technical, the gunman having been taken care of. With Gunslinger frantically trying to re-operate the radio and the crew of the Retribution guarding them, they were not afraid of anything hostile. Hershowitz looked into the backseat and found the cyan pegasus battered and taped, trying to muffle something to her savior. Gripping the handle of the door, he yanked it open and called Scott over to assist him.
“Scotty! Here, help me with this one!” Hershowitz waved Scott over as he stowed away his SCAR and reached out to pull off the duct tape over Rainbow’s mouth. Scott was shocked to find Hershowitz helping Rainbow out of the vehicle and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The battle had just ended with only casualties on the PLR's side, minus Gunslinger's co-pilot.
“Well, I guess that means you ain’t lyin’ ‘bout the whole thing!”
“Shut up!” Hershowitz barked as he heaved the pegasus who muttered something along the lines of ‘thank you’ to the Lieutenant. Everybody who laid their eyes on the heroic Lieutenant, his friend and the pegasus couldn’t say anything more. “You okay back there?”
“I’m…alright…” Rainbow muttered, still too terrified by the storm of projectiles that she was tortured by through the intense car chase as the Lieutenant heaved her to cover.
Garrett who had disembarked from the vehicle stood in disbelief a little more than a few steps away from the downed pegasus and the Lieutenant. “That’s bollocks…. Must be a dream!” He said before he slapped himself to snap him out of his dazed state, only to find that this was indeed reality.
“It ain’t a dream, Garry old buddy,” Scott replied as he un-holstered his M1911, his MTAR just fresh out of magazines. “I’m seeing it too.”
“No bloody shit,” Garrett responded as he watched the Lieutenant tend to the frightened pegasus who quivered. He could only sigh in dismay and turned his attention back to the wounded co-pilot of Gunslinger who laid against the Osprey, not even budging as his comrade was still trying to contact command.
“Hey, look up,” Hershowitz said, Rainbow looking up towards her savior’s eyes and snapping out of her sudden homesickness. Where she was stood a ruin of a city almost as big as Manehatten but more arid and wrecked.
“You’re gonna be alright, okay?” He spun his head to look at his fellow Marines who guarded him and Rainbow before turning back his attention to the pegasus. “We’re gonna be fine.”
“H-how’d you know t-that?” She quivered as she looked around, moving her hooves on the asphalt.
“I’ve been in a lot worse than this, trust me. You don't like to see what happened before this,” Hershowitz replied, trying to forget the day he lost almost all of Delta due to a PLR ambush.
He then got up but was promptly called back by the weak groans of the pegasus, exhausted from today’s chain of events. “Deep breathin’, just deep breathin'.” She nodded and let out a slow and refreshing breath, easing her worries.
“S-sir…?” Hershowitz looked down at her. “W-what happened here…?”
“Earthquake about four days ago. Our boys in the 1st Recon got scattered across the whole of this backdraft country,” he responded, trying to make as much sense to the confused pegasus. “So we’ve been fighting for survival.”
She gulped, confirming her worst fears. Although she had heard tales of valor from battered soldiers back in Canterlot, this was the real deal.
“Listen,” he spun towards the Osprey as Gunslinger ran out, his hands waving at the Lieutenant who waved back. “We’re gonna get you and those two guys outta here, it ain’t safe staying around here for long.”
“H-how?” She stammered. At this, Hershowitz got up and walked over to Gunslinger who had stopped, leaving behind the pegasus who looked up to the skies, hoping that it was just a bad dream.
“Gunslinger!” Hershowitz beckoned to the pilot, who held out his hand to shake with the Lieutenant.
“Hershowitz! I thought I’ll never see your sorry ass over here!”
“Same here,” Hershowitz replied, shaking the hands of the pilot before looking at the crashed Osprey. “So how’s the status of our pick up?”
It was then Gunslinger’s head drooped down lowly. Hershowitz immediately picked up on this. “Sorry to say, but I think we aren’t going to get any medevac soon…”
“Why the fuck not?” Hershowitz said, his hope for rescue slowly diminishing.
“The damn radio’s gone, the crash totally destroyed it.”
“Fuck…” He strode over to the hull of the Osprey before he slammed it out of pure anger, causing the pilot to stumble back. “FUCK!” Scott spun his head to face his angered friend, and so did the rest of them.
“Our way out, fucking gone!” He shouted in frustration. He didn’t want to stay in Iran anymore, he wanted to go back home to his family.
“Sorry…” Gunslinger said as he rubbed the back of his head in dismay before attending to his co-pilot, who began coughing out spats of blood. Hershowitz took a look at the wounded co-pilot and immediately began to wither away his rage. Scott walked next to him and put a firm palm onto his shoulder.
“Listen, bud,” Scott began, Hershowitz relaxed. “I know you’re mad and shit, but that doesn’t mean we’re gone,” Scott continued, Hershowitz nodded. “Even if we can’t get back to base, we still are a team. Fightin’ as a team, workin’ as a team and most importantly, survivin’ as a team.”
“He’s right,” The both of them turned as saw Garrett with his MP443 at hand walking towards them. “We still are a band of brothers.”
Hershowitz’s rage finally nulled, he began to bulk up. “You guys are right to the max,” he replied, causing the two of them to also lighten up.
“Indeed, you bastard.” Hershowitz gave Garrett a playful shove before turning his attention back to Rainbow, who had trotted up to the trio.
“So what’re we gonna do now? We have Gunslinger and his wounded friend,” He looked down at Rainbow again, who tried to smile. “Plus her too.”
“I don’t know, should we find a place to set up base for a while? Isn’t that what people always do during disaster movies?” Scott replied, scavenging for ideas.
“Sounds like a plan, but the PLR are definitely going to come back with a bigger force since Iran’s under their control.” Garrett and Scott nodded as the Retribution wavered in the background, along with the Humvee Miles was still in.
“Take the risk, we can’t move any farther until we find another Humvee. The chances of that is practically one to a million fucks!” Scott replied as he checked his M1911.
“Alright, then we’ll go with the base idea,” Hershowitz agreed before contacting the crew of the Retribution.
“Retribution here, what’s our status?”
“We’re fine for now, but we don’t have any evac enroute sooner or later. So that means we’re gonna have to find a place to settle down until command sends in a task force to bust our sorry asses out of this place.” The Retribution’s crew was silent for a while until they responded.
“Affirmative, sounds like a good idea anyway.” He sighed a breath of relief, before kneeling down to converse with the cyan pegasus, who looked surprised at the Lieutenant who looked as if he was conversing to the air which responded back.
“So what’re we gonna do now, sir?” She asked, feeling a lot more confident.
“Well, we’re gonna find a place to set up camp for the day and hope that the guys who kidnapped you is not gonna stab us while we’re sleeping,” Hershowitz responded. “And in the meanwhile, we’ll try to help you since we know you just fucking dropped out of the sky.”
She tilted her head at the use of obscene language by the marine, but shrugged and went along. “Thanks, sir.”
“You’re welcome, still need a brief breakdown of us before we go?” Hershowitz asked the cyan pegasus who was busily observing the ruined remains of Markaz, snapping out of her trance and paying attention to the marine.
“Err… well, what are you guys?”
“We’re Marines, part of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion,” Hershowitz responded as he ejected the clip of his SCAR to check his ammo levels before inserting it back.
“Um… that’s pretty awesome and stuff, but what are you?”
Hershowitz pondered for the answer. “We’re humans, ever heard of them?”
“Err…. The only times I heard about humans is when Lyra’s ranting about them at her house,” Rainbow answered, rubbing her head.
“Okay…” Hershowitz replied as the Humvee honked, signaling the impatient machine gunner. “Well, there goes the discussion time.” Scott made his way towards the Humvee, opening the door to the driver’s seat and planting himself firmly onto the chair.
“We’re gonna move out now, better get your ass moving if you don’t want to get left behind,” Hershowitz said gruffly as he and Garrett walked towards the Humvee, Rainbow following suit.
“Err… yes, sir!” Rainbow stuttered, causing the two marines to chuckle. The faraway pilot and co-pilot saw them beginning to move out and decided to tag along, not wanting to be left behind. Gunslinger’s co-pilot grunted as he tried to raise himself up, needing Gunslinger himself to help him up as he clutched his injuries. Making their way towards the Humvee, they knocked on the window of it, causing Scott to roll it down.
“Sorry, bud. We’re outta room here.”
“We see that,” Gunslinger replied as they turned their heads towards the tank. “Maybe we can hitch a ride on the tank like that game…?”
“Maybe, if some jackass predator alien thing doesn’t jack it first,” Scott jokingly replied as he watched them stumble away towards the tank, before Gunslinger heaved his friend up onto the tank before he himself got onto the tank.
“Retribution here, you sure you guys can stay on the tank…?”
“No worries, we know what we’re doin’!” Gunslinger responded as he shot a thumbs up towards the Humvee.
“Well, we gonna move now, sir?” Scott asked Hershowitz with Rainbow on his lap, looking outside at the remains of the park.
“Yep, let’s go before they send in another group,” Hershowitz replied as Scott hit the pedal, causing the Humvee to drive forwards to Rainbow’s sudden surprise.
“Whoa! What’s this thing anyway?”
“It’s called a Humvee, basically it’s kinda of a motorized carriage that can take a whole lotta punishment,” Scott replied instead as they proceeded in front of the tank, which rumbled to life.
“That’s cool…” Rainbow said before letting out a yawn, spreading her blackened wings to the Lieutenant’s and the sniper’s dismay. “I’m kinda sleepy…”
“Well, go ahead and take a nap, it’s gonna be a long ride,” Hershowitz said as he relaxed himself. The convoy was well on their way to set up base somewhere inside the city.
Today’s run of the mill event’s had just ended, but that doesn’t mean that the action doesn’t stop.