Titans of war

by Trigger_Finger

Chapter 5

The brothers known as ‘Flim and Flam’ had done a superb job on the tank, even fixing the damaged plates and making the vehicle look brand new. “Do you have any idea how they did that?” Ivan asked and the rest of the crew, plus Luna, just shook their heads.

“Uhm… commander… you might want to see this… north, there’s smoke.” Dmitry stated. Vlad opened the turret hatch and looked through his binoculars.

“Head towards the town.” Vlad ordered. Dmitry quickened the tank’s speed until they were at its maximum. Minutes later they were all awestruck by the horrors of the town. Dmitry stopped the tank before doing a full rotation and observing the area for their enemy but finding no signs of its whereabouts.

“They aren’t hear sir.” Dmitry informed his commander. The driver killed the tank’s engine and the group disembarked the tank before all stomaching their lunch, trying painfully to keep it down.

“That’s not right…” Ivan stated. “I have done bad things in my life but this… this goes beyond anything I’ve ever done.” He muttered. The group searched the town for where the M1 might have traveled.

Luna trotted along with Dmitry and Vlad while Ivan rummaged through destroyed buildings. Luna broke the silence. “So… Dmitry, before this, what did you do?” Luna asked, curious of the young man’s past.

Vlad answered rather regretfully. “He had taken university.” He replied and Luna raised an eyebrow.

“Why is that bad?” She asked and Vlad placed his palm over his face and grimaced.

“Because he could’ve done anything… anything he wanted but instead… he becomes a tank driver.” He groaned and Luna tilted her head to one side in confusion, curious to why it was a bad decision.

“But sir, I wanted to serve my country, like my father, and my father’s father.” Dmitry countered and Vlad rested a hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“Yes, but you should’ve done it where your intelligence could be used to its full potential…” Vlad began but Ivan interrupted them.

“OVER HERE!” He yelled and the group rushed over to the Russian man. He was standing by a well where a younger, dead, man lay in the sand. Ivan gave him a small kick just to make sure he was dead but suddenly there was there was a PING and the safety lever from a hand grenade spat out from underneath Deny’s body.

Ivan’s eyes went wide as he realized his fatal mistake. He turned to try and run but it was too late and the grenade hidden underneath Deny’s body erupted, sending Ivan’s body hurtling through the air then to a clump on the ground.

“IVAN!” Vlad yelled before rushing over to his wounded friend. Ivan coughed up blood as he reached his palm to Vlad’s cheek.

“I… am sorry comrade… I should’ve checked his body… first…” Ivan gasped before painfully passing away. Vlad stood up and roared angrily as he began kicking loose sand into the air.

“Jesus Christ… they booby-trapped their dead…” Dmitry commented but Vlad shook his head.

“No… he wasn’t killed… he was murdered… look, the rounds are placed to closely together to have been made during a firefight… and then there’s a round right through his skull, meaning he was executed.” Vlad informed the young tank driver who in turn gulped.

“They… killed their own man… then booby-trapped him?” Dmitry gasped and Vlad nodded before spotting tank tracks in the sand. He looked to where they led and spotted a canyon. Luna trotted over and looked to the canyons that Vlad was looking at.

“Those canyons are like a labyrinth… once you enter, you might get lost and never escape… well unless you’re a pegasus… or if you manage to climb out… or follow your tracks back to the way you came…” Luna stated. Vlad nodded then looked to the others.

In the canyons…

The M1 treaded along roughly as Jackson now operated the tank. James was operating the main gun and had taught Trixie how to reload the gun, and thanks to her magic, it was rather easy for her to do. They had all been silent about everything that had happened.

“Sir… how did you know that Deny was planning a mutiny?” James asked. Alex let out a rather irritated sigh.

“I just know, let’s leave it at that.” Alex stated. Suddenly the tank came to a stop. “Driver, why are we stopping?!” Alex yelled.

“Which way sir?” Jackson asked, curious to which way they should go. Alex popped open the hatch and looked to the fork in the road. Each way travelled down a passageway of cliffs and canyon passages.

“Go right.” Alex replied, just as he sat down and shut the hatch. The tank thundered down the trail just as a 120mm shell slammed into the side of the tank. “FUCK!” Alex roared.

Jackson checked the scanners. “SHIT, IT’S THAT T90!” He yelled. James swung the main gun towards the opposing tank and fired, but missed horribly. The shell flew off into the distance and collided with a cliff that crashed down and blocked the two tanks into the trail.

“TRIXIE, RELOAD!” James yelled. Trixie was busy reloading just as a second shot from the T90 whizzed past, missing their tank by mere feet, and erupting against a cliff side. Shards of rock splattered out and harmlessly slammed against the tank.

“Gun ready!” Trixie gasped fearfully. James took aim and fired a second shot that collided with the frontal armour of the T90, leaving it in a fume of smoke.

“I GOT IT…” James began but cut himself short as the T90 sped through the smoke. He gulped. “TRIXIE!... RELOAD!” James yelled. Alex took aim with the remote M2 and began firing, the armour piercing rounds slammed into the T90, penetrating it by a few centimeters but not harming the occupants.

Jackson swivelled the M1 down another trail just as the T90 fired a third shot which slammed into the left side of the M1. Shrapnel burst through the tank and wounded Jackson who screamed in pain and lost control of the tank.

Alex’s eyes went wide as he slid down into the driver section and took control. Several warning alarms blared inside the tank as lights flashed, illuminating the inside in a blaring red light pattern.

“WE GOT A FIRE INSIDE!” Alex yelled as smoke began filling the tank. He slammed the throttle sticks forwards and the tank began thundering along down the trail. James took aim with the main gun. The T90 fired before he could and the shot slammed into the front of the turret, failing to penetrate but rocking the entire tank.

“WE TAKING FIRE!” James yelled.

“Gun is loaded!” Trixie yelled. James took aim and fired just as the T90 fired. The one in a million chance happened and the two rounds collided, both erupting upon impact.

The M1 swivelled down another trail but Vlad yelled to Dmitry. “STOP!” He ordered and Dmitry immediately brought the tank to a screeching halt. Luna looked down from the commander seat where Vlad had posted her, Dmitry looking up from the driver seat.

“Why are we stopping sir?” Dmitry asked curiously. Vlad waited for a moment before letting out a deep exhale.

“We no longer have the element of surprise. We need to follow them and wait for another opportunity to strike.” Vlad replied.

Elsewhere…

Alex slowed the tank and it rattled as it came to a stop. Jackson groaned as James slipped down and began tending to his friend’s wounds. The internal fire had fried a lot of the electronics but all the main controls were still operational, only the sensors had really got fried.

“Jesus Christ… that thing’s gonna kill us…” Jackson gasped as James applied ointment to Jackson’s burns. Alex scoffed at the comment.

“No it won’t.” He scowled. Jackson looked to him.

“Hey! Did you miss something we didn’t?! That thing nearly annihilated us… we should… just abandon the tank… go on foot, you know? Park the M1 up ahead then back track, wait for that monster to pass then just go out the way we came.” Jackson suggested fearfully.

“No… that T90 is no monster. It’s just some supped up T72. Back when I was in Iraq, I fought dozens of T72s at a time. I completely annihilated them without breaking a sweat… my tank was struck by several shells from T72s and just kept going like nothing was wrong. RPGs, heavy machineguns… didn’t do a thing. Just kept going like nothing was wrong.” Alex snarled.

He continued on with his speech. “That T90 is a piece of junk… it’s stone age technology built by the Russians. This M1 is space age technology in comparison. We outclass that thing in everything. It doesn’t stand a chance.” Alex hissed.

“THEN WHY THE HELL’D WE GET OUR ASSES KICKED?!” Jackson yelled back, half in pain but the other half in fear.

Alex grimaced. “We didn’t lose! We just moved forwards!” Alex yelled back. James finished wrapping the medical gauze around Jackson’s shoulder. “Now get back in the driver seat and get us moving.”

Author's Note:

I gotta say... I'm starting to love Alex, not in a homosexual way. He's just got this... unpredictable insanity to him that I absolutely adore (In that bad guy kind of sense) I always like the badguys in stories, how bout you as readers? Do you tend like the better people in a story or the dark characters?

Comments

[Elitrino]

I like all of the characters.
Exept Alex, he`s an unstable stupid b*tch.

[Naesthebrony]

Alex must be stoped...

[Mogss]

2636290
True.