Another chopper vaporized in the air, smashed open by a flak shell that ripped through it's fuselage from the front to the back. Blades spun away from the burning wreck as bodies began showering out of the carcass onto the snowline of the ridge below, among the agents, the Verbenschwa, the snipers, all firing at the Grey Dawn and Black Marchers as they tried to pull back into a deeper position amongst the hills that they had been caught between as the vicious fighting engulfed them. Bodies cloaked in heavy black body armor and ones in snow white jackets covered the valley floor with crimson specks against the pure white, as the blizzard picked up. Another chopper, losing control of it's engines, was whipped into a side of the ridge to explode into a fireball as the equipment delivery courier was shattered.
"Where the utter hell is our air support?" Cambridge had to shout over the sound of dozens of choppers flying through the air right now, still thick as hundreds of agents and Verbenschwa swept down from the skies. The chatter of machine guns and self propelled anti aircraft artillery batteries thundered through the valley. "We were promised air support before we left, damn it!"
Yulai ejected a cartridge, his face wrapped in a thick scarf but blanched and frightened. "The hell if I know, mate, communication lines are worth less than a bag of horsehockye in this damn blizzard."
"Where the hell is Delta then, he's got most of our damn radio equipment and the command link for our squad to the Tactical Network? Don't tell me you gave him a sniper rifle or something of that sort."
Yulai leaned on his stomach and sprayed a Black Marcher position with gunfire, two bodies falling out of sight, struck by bullets or not no one could say. "Yeah, I did, and he's gone crazy. Perhaps that wasn't a great idea on my part considering that it was like giving a shotgun to a manic psychopath."
An artillery shell exploded a bit farther down on the ridgeline, showering everything with a geyser of snow ejected up into the windy tempest raging above. Cambridge cursed and rolled away from Yulai, grabbing a spare Dai-Ichii rifle and jamming another cartridge into it. He attempted to stand and dash to a position of cover established from makeshift entrenched positions, but a bullet cracking over his head quickly put a stop to that and forced him to crawl forward to where Nova and Theta laid side by side, picking off enemies as they stuck their heads up above rocks and outcroppings against the rocky, snowswept cliff on the other side of the valley. It seemed that the Black Marchers and the Grey Dawn had temporarily called a ceasefire regarding their differences and had chosen that shooting at government agents would be a more rewarding exercise.
Perfect, Cambridge thought dryly. Nova had a bloody wound above one eye where a bullet had swiped him, turning the olive skin around it a crimson mask, while Theta was wrapped in a balaclava and kept his expression seemingly the same as one target dropped, than a second. If they were cold snipers obsessed with their job, Delta had to be the equivalent of a damned glacier, albeit with the psychotic tendencies of a mass murderer. The thrum of an anti material rifle echoing throughout the howling wind no doubt belonged to Delta, enjoying himself immensely with his smooth, emotionless face on. Cambridge didn't have the heart to pick off the stragglers on the valley below, the ones missing arms or legs where a bullet had exploded and torn the limb off, though Delta had no problem with that and perhaps relished it more often than not.
"Epsilon, you there?" Cambridge spoke clearly into the comm device, watching as Bloody November squadron cut their way down the slope in a bloody swathe, gunshots rattling off left and right as they dodged into positions one by one. They were in their element here, much like Delta and Oxford who was undoubtedly smashing his way through defensive lines to take out a anti aircraft artillery battery before more choppers arrived on the scene, as well as jets... possibly. With the weather conditions what they were, Cambridge wouldn't be surprised but more infuriated to hear that they would call off their promised air support that they had heard about. More than likely a few bombs and missiles would drop onto their positions even if they dropped the brightest flares known to man onto the target positions, as well as lazing them as well.
"Yeah Cambridge, I'm here."
"You having interference problems on the comm lines and on the tactical network as well? Trying to find out if our air support is working or not in this damned blizzard."
"It's not working for me, but the Verbenschwa guys are getting feeds loud and clear, but they are using a different line and bandwidth than what we are using, so I dunno what the hell the problem is. I'll try to find out immediately, and get back to you on that."
"Alright friend, sounds good to me, I'll check back in soo-"
Cambridge was cut off as a vicious burst of static screamed and pulsed in his ears from the communication piece. He ripped it out and flung it into the snowline, cursing as he rubbed his ear as what felt like blood trickled out of it. All along the ridgeline, agents were doing the same thing, looking around confused while the Verbenschwa troops pressed their hands to their ears, staring at the agents around them.
Picking it gently up off of the snow, as if it might explode in the palm of his hand at any moment, Cambridge reinserted it into his ear to hear a rush of white noise and snow in the background, like you might hear from a television set. A crackling series of beeps followed, punctuated by gunshots from the valley floor. A calm man's voice came on the line and spoke softly.
"This is Broadcast Station Sierra Delta reporting, orders for Verbenschwa forces given, execute your orders as they pertain to you."
Cambridge was still trying to figure out what that meant when the first gunshots on the ridge rung out again. He turned slightly to see a Verbenschwa sniper with a sidearm out, pointing down at an agent screaming for mercy as the black coated special agent squeezed the trigger several more times. Others along the line whipped out their own sidearms, aiming for agents as well, and squeezing of rounds as fast as they could, as other agents opened fire on them. Theta and Nova rolled to cover each other, laying down a barrage of bullets on a smattering of Verbenschwa agents clustered together.
A small click was heard by Cambridge from behind. He turned slightly, into the barrel of the gun that Jorge held, smiling all the while as his scarf fluttered lazily in the wind.
"I should have offed you long ago, you pathetic runt. Your friend cracked my damned skull when he was beating me to a pulp, but now I will have recompense in your death and in his. Any last words, before I spread your brains across the ground?"
Cambridge spat at him.
Jorge grinned wider. Another click, as the hammer of the pistol was drawn back.
"Hope you enjoy hell, bastard."
Cambridge uppercut as viciously as possible, driving his fist into Jorge's stomach. The other man acted as if he didn't feel it, but loosened his grip on the pistol as Cambridge grabbed him by the throat and drove his knee into Jorge's abdomen. In response to that, Jorge wrapped a massive hand around Cambridge's throat and began to squeeze as hard as he could, picking Cambridge bodily off of the ground as he laughed. "You think you can hurt me, you pathetic waste of flesh?" The fingers were digging into Cambridge's throat like knives. He choked and rasped for air as they constricted more and more. "You think you can stop what has been set in motion? You are powerless before me and all the others! Your pathetic order of agents will be turned to ash by the end of today, from Washington to the northern mountains, to Rome itself, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!"
Cambridge raised one hand and pointed at Rorge as a thin, whistling sound emanated from his throat.
"Pointing isn't going to save you."
Cambridge thrust his finger forward and pointed again.
Jorge never saw the large, metal pole that smashed into the side of his neck. His grip slackened immediately, sending him tumbling over the edge of the ridge while clutching at his own throat as Cambridge scrabbled to try and stay up on the rocks. A strong hand reached down and grabbed his forearm, yanking and pulling him up with a strong force.
"Ready to go, friend?" Epsilon said through the black scarf.