God Complex (2)

Anne's Perspective

After deciding on the course of action, I and Marie rushed down the hill. In front of us laid the huge Station Alpha 06 but between the station and us were a huge number of vehicles and five Gorkem Advanced Siege Tanks aka GAS tanks with anti-grav modules fitted onto their tracks, making them hover over the ground like specters.

The Gorkem tanks or GAS tanks were specialized MBTs of the Caliphate with a siege specialization. Their 250mm cannons can fire anything from emps to heavy-caliber ballistics and add that with an anti-grav module, they are as mobile as a drone in the air. Of course, being siege specialist, they suck a lot at close range and not only that, from the intelligence retrieved, it is also speculated that they have traded quite a lot of armor in their backside to make room for more ammunition and lighter weight. Everything that we need to make this sneak attack successful.

But before getting to the juicy tanks we need to get across scores of people. Silently.

As we reach nearer to the caliphate convoy, I switch my Nova Arctica rifle from it's ballistic mode to laser mode and feed it a hydrogen fuel cell. Taking a moment to charge, the always cold rifle starts to buzz with a blue light and a slight amount of heat.

"Three tangos. 20 meters. Taking down."

Ave's voice came from the encrypted comm we set up at the last minute and by the time we reached the edge of the convoy, two thuds were heard.

"Let's go."

We moved in silently and not far from us, we saw three bodies, two of which were lying down on each other, a single hole passing through both of their heads and the third guy had a hole in his neck. Deadly.

"Sheesh! Lil' bro's freakin' deadly!"

"Okay, listen up," I say, crouching down. "Give me the explosives."

"What's the plan?" she asks while handing me the bag of explosives. I open my tablet which had an enlarged map of the area with the five Gorkems marked with big red dots while the smaller vehicles marked with yellow dots.

"Look, these are the targets but there are a lot of vehicles and tangos between the tanks and us. You cannot go with me or else they might spot you. So, I want you to stay here patiently. I will try to clear every tango but after setting the charges, I will move to the next target while you take care of the rest. If I, by any chance, get detected, you will distract the tanks for a while. Is that alright with you?"

"Yea, yea, you can count on me, baby sista!" she pulled the latch of her sub-machine gun making a good click sound and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Just don't end up dead."

"Rog."

With the troublesome log taken care of, I sneak into enemy territory under the careful eye of Ave.

"Five tangos on your right. I will take three, you take the other two."

"Copy."

Taking aim through the corner of a vehicle, I spot the five tangos. They were sharp but not sharp enough.

"3…2…1…shoot!"

Psst! Psst!

Zmm! Zmm!

"Khare—Khaa!"

The last guy was just about to scream when a bullet hole suddenly appeared in his throat. He looked astonished and gasped for breath as he fell facedown onto the methane snow.

"Do you have a fetish of piercing a hole in the neck of the last man?" I ask over the radio which garners a small laugh from Ave.

"I wish."

After taking down nearly a score of men, I finally reach the first tank.

Crouching down near the back of the tank, I set a thermite charge on each of the two anti-grav modules and wiring them to a bigger explosive charge on the armor above the engine.

After leaving the area just the way I came, I report over the radio, "Charges set. Moving onto the next target."

"Good job."

The next two were as easy as the first one and was done before the enemies could react but when we were on the fourth tank, I was spotted.

"Sis, you've been spotted. T5 is taking aim at you. Get the hell outta there!" Ave bombarded over the radio but I wasn't finished arming the fourth charges yet.

"I know, I know, I know. Just buy me a minute!" I wired the charges as fast as my bulky arms could but right as I was finishing, I heard a supersonic bullet crease through the air before striking the fifth tank.

Zzzzzzzzzzoooooooppppppp—TINK!

BOOM!

There was a small explosion and one of the anti-grav modules of the fifth tank blasted on itself, exposing its innards.

"Dammit! I've been spotted—"

BOOOOM!!

A much bigger explosion rocked the valley as the fifth tank mercilessly fired its explosive shell onto the top of the icy hill where Ave was. Taking this chance, I immediately dashed to a new cover.

"Ave? Come in, Ave? Are you there?"

My heart was beating faster than an athlete's, fearing the worst but Ave's voice was heard soon.

"I'm alright *Cough*. Did you set the charges?!"

"I did." I sighed in relief in my heart. "But I don't think I can set the charges on the fifth one."

There was silence for a while before Ave spoke up, "Can you throw thermite in through the anti-grav module, if I distract the tank for long enough?" he asked.

I peeked through the side of the vehicle and looking at the smoking innards, I replied, "Roger. I can do that."

"Good! I will rotate to the next vantage point to provide support."

"Rog."

But before going for the fifth tank, I need to take care of the first four.

I retreat from my position immediately and detonated the charges at a safe distance. Instantly, four fizzes were heard before the tanks went silent.

It… should be …right now—

BAAAM!!

The four explosive charges set detonated simultaneously making a huge explosive noise that rocked the area around, especially the thermites on the anti-grav modules which resulted in a small gravitic anomaly resulting in tanks and the smaller vehicles around it to skyrocket up before diving down in a magnificent firework.

This caused a chain reaction as the various ammunitions in the smaller vehicles set off one after another going as far as affecting the fifth tank. The gravitic anomaly from the combined four was strong enough to distort the emp-field around the Station Alpha 06 but also destroyed the other anti-grav module of the fifth tank. The tank instantly dug into the methane snow and had its mobility reduced to the bare minimum.

"Nice." Ave said as he enjoyed the fireworks from high above.

"Guys, I got chatter from the base. It seems like the battalion hasn't retreated yet."

"Roger that, Marie but we're not going without taking down the fifth one."

"Heh! I knew you would say that. Let me give you some heavy support then!" she grinned behind the radio and before long grenades started popping up from place to place. This girl…

But it seems like she had an effect. With the fifth and last tank distracted, I sweep under its radar stealthily. Taking down any unfortunate tangos on the way, I came near the exposed innards of the tank in no time. I took out the bag of explosives and started to devise which explosive would be best. In the meantime, I heard a few supersonic sniper shots hit close to where I was.

Ave was doing a great job at keeping the tank busy but there was a problem. The high explosives which are best to destroy soft targets were all finished leaving only the hard explosives which are good for piercing armors and a bunch load of thermites.

"Just my luck!" I cussed under my tone before picking out one of the thermites and throwing the whole bag into the smoking innards. Tossing the thermite into the area, I dashed in the opposite direction but the blast came sooner than I expected.

BAM!

The shockwave of the blast threw me a few meters away but my exoskeleton shielded me from any damage. I fell flat on my face but turning around, I saw the entire side hull of the tank blown apart while the ammunitions deck was catching fire soon. The hatch of the tank was opened suddenly as a man in dark-green escaped out. The man looked at me in surprise but took out his pistol in a split second. I, too, scrambled for my rifle or pistol but I was too flabbergasted by the blast. Fortunately, before he could squeeze the trigger, a supersonic bullet creased through the air and blasted his whole upper body away.

Zzzzzzooooooommmmmmmm!

The sound wave hit my ear a little later as the lower half of the crew fell to the ground.

"Goddammit! I wasted an SS bullet on a freakin' crewman!"

He cursed over the comm but I couldn't be more thankful to him.

"You better get away from that tank, sis. The explosion would be…phenomenal."

As soon as he said it, I picked myself and my rifle up and dashed as far away as possible. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough.

ZZZZZZZZ—BOOM!

Right before the explosion happened, a sudden feeling of weightlessness came over me as I was lifted up, then I was dashing into the ground but right before hitting the ground, the explosion came and I was flung away.

By the time I reached the ground, my vision had gone dark.

"Anne?! Are you there, Anne? Come in, Anne? ANNE!!"

…

'White… ceiling…' was the first thing that I see as I slowly open my eyes. The pain was flushing through my body and I could feel the sedatives in me but even then, I turned my head around.

There were more than a hundred beds laid around, each filled with a bloodied and injured body. Ventilators, iv bags, monitors, everything was crammed in the small space which we called the Medical Wing and even then, there were injured soldiers who were without one.

I looked at my body and saw that I was mostly wrapped in bandages. The explosion might've been too phenomenal.

"…ha…ha…" I mutter a dry laugh but it did catch the attention of one of the doctors who rushed towards me.

"Are you feeling alright, sergeant?"

"Ser...geant?!" I ask feebly and with a lot of confusion.

"Oh! My mistake. Miss Anne, are you feeling okay?" he asked, changing his narrative a little and even though I was hella curious, I nodded.

"Good. Your readings show that you're mostly alright. The only thing that remains are the sedatives but they will wear off in a few minutes. I will inform staff-sergeant Marie, immediately."

The hell…

Soon enough, Marie rushes in the medical tent in her heavy gunner armor and immediately spots me. She hurries towards me, knocking several beds with her heavy armor but the occupants weren't angry at her at all. I wonder why…

"Anne, yer finally wake… thank goodness, I thought ya had kicked the bucket in ta't explosion!" she said in her childish accent.

"God…I bet you wanted me to kick the bucket in that, didn't you?" I said, glaring at her which she didn't quite try to hide.

She smiled cheekily at me.

"Well, if ya had kicked, I wouldn't 'ave a mate to play with." She says and honestly, I can't think what this girl would do without me…sigh…

"Anyway, how's the base?"

No sooner did I ask her; her expression turned a little troubled.

"Let's go somewhere else." She said as she talked to the doctor that was attending to me. After getting the green light, she helps me onto a wheelchair and takes me out of the medical wing.

"So, what's the matter?" her actions were turned obviously made me a little skittish.

"We're… in Gamma Station 09 in the third line of defense." She answered with a hesitant tone.

I look at her stupidly for a while and couldn't help but say, "You know what… take me to Ave. He's better at explaining than the dumb you."

"I'm not lying…" She looked troubled and continued, "The base has transformed terribly in the past three days you were asleep. After we destroyed their backlines and repelled their attack, the lieutenant hastily ordered a retreat to the beta lines even going as far as leaving some of the wounded behinds. Two days later (Yesterday), the Caliphate once again launched an attack on the beta lines, specifically targeting us, it seems.

We lost many good soldiers yesterday too, even the previous beta station commanding officer was lost and our lieutenant didn't hesitate to take control of his soldier and retreat back into the gamma lines, leaving a hole in the defensive lines. And now, we're being a burden on the gamma lines and are on orders to retreat further back. The gamma line commanders aren't confident in our ability to hold the lines anymore. They are seeing us as nothing but bad luck."

My mouth became a small 'o' after listening to her and there was only one thing which I could say. "Is the lieutenant out of his goddamn mind! Who gave him the order to retreat? Does he even have the authority to fall back so much?"

Marie smiles wryly and replies, "He didn't before but it was Uncle John who put 'im there. And his words have a lot of authority here. Remember how he brought the three of us together. Uncle John had to put in some good words for him to get him in this position so that he could request all three of us in the same battalion."

"So, does that mean it's all our fault that everything came to this?" I ask, feeling more and more dejected.

"Hey, look at the bright side, sis! You got directly promoted to sergeant while I became a staff-sergeant. Ave became a corporal specialist and the second-in-command of the sniper platoon. And not only that, guys from the alpha base look up to us for killing those tanks back then, so I won't say it's a total lost cause."

I sighed, not because I got my rank but because our relationship with the other soldiers was still in a good position. If they, by any means, started hating us then our life in the base would be as hard as walking on burning coal.

"Fine, take me to Ave. Let's see what he's gotta say."

Marie looked a little skittish when I said Ave's name. "*Sigh* It's better if you talk to him." She said as she pushed me to where Ave was and surprisingly, it was the command post.

…

"You want me to suggest your next course of action? Fine, I will suggest and my suggestion is—GET YOUR GODDAMN ACT TOGETHER, LIEUTENANT!!!" a loud bang was heard as someone bashed a table in the command post. As Marie, quite shamelessly, opened the door, I found it was Ave was smashed the table with his hand.

His normally cool and collected face was flushed with blood as he looked at the lieutenant with hatred as if he killed his mother. I was quite shocked by this sudden change of personality.

The room's few occupants looked at Marie who was unfazed by their 'wtf' faces as she beamed towards Ave.

"Hey baby brother, Anne is awake. C'mon," she said, waving at him.

Ave's flushed angry face calmed a little as he looked at me before he turned back towards the lieutenant as he slapped a few report papers onto the desk and said, "Look here, lieutenant. We don't need to hide and run. The caliphate's soldiers are quite far away from their supply lines. Let my team and one support team go, we can take care of them. I promise you." He said sincerely but it wasn't the lieutenant who answered him.

Beside the lieutenant, there was a younger girl who wore the second-lieutenant badge said, "I'm sorry corporal but this isn't what the HQ ordered us to do. The HQ's orders are crisp and clear. Retreat and regroup with the Fifth Europa Battle Group."

"Who asked you, slut?!" Ave retorted angrily at her, "I'm talking with the lieutenant, not you, you piece of bullcrap!"

"Watch your mouth, corporal." The lieutenant said with a furious expression, "Did being a Chowdhury make you belittle the military hierarchy."

"It doesn't fuckin' matter!" Ave snaps back. "Give us the goddamn order!"

He insisted but the lieutenant sternly shook his head, "You've heard the second-lieutenant and her reasons. Going against it would mean disobeying direct orders from HQ and I don't want to lose my precious career because of some petty rivalry."

"This is the fuckin' caliphate—" He abruptly stops and crumbles the paper he slapped on the table and throws them away.

"You know what. I don't fuckin' give a shit about your authority or your freakin' orders."

The lieutenant smiles at him, "Unfortunately, this is my base and therefore my words are the law. Like it or not, corporal."

"HHYYYAHHHH!!!" Ave punches the military table in anger resulting in a big bam but the table didn't creak. Military tables are a different kind of weapon in itself and thus Ave hurt his knuckles severely with his punch before bolting out of the room.

Marie followed him with me in the wheelchair.

…

"So, what happened back there?"

"Bloody shit is what happened there! That goddamn vixen and lunatic pair is doing nothing but killing us one by one—"

"Talk in English, Ave."

"Grrr…ha…fine. The day the base was attacked, we lost a lot of soldiers and even second-lieutenant 'Bengal' was KIA. The HQ sent that girl beside lieutenant, codenamed 'Vixen' as a replacement. Who knew that she really was one…. Anyway, they stayed a whole day holed up in their bunker before coming out together like a happily married couple and announcing that we're retreating to beta lines. They didn't even fuckin' talk with the other sergeants and officers in the battalion and even gave orders to leave our brothers!

We retreated for four days and now even after joining with the Gamma 09 Station, they want to retreat further back."

Ave sighed tiredly as he sat with his head hanging down.

"Not only that. Word is around in me ol' radio that HQ is thinking of re-tasking the battalion in one of the neutral zones. It's only a little chatter but the notion is pretty solid. Even the second-lieutenant of the Gamma Station knows that."

"It's alright, Ave. I get it, you lost your mentor and it's hard to take it just like that. Just…give it a little time."

I pat him on the shoulder, trying to calm him down but I can hardly feel what is going on inside him. His mentor was our second-lieutenant 'Bengal', a war veteran from the Mirkwood school and the leader of the sniper platoon which has been decimated from 24 snipers to just 4 snipers including Ave. He just lost 90% of his friends in a single battle and now he's being forced to retreat with no sight of revenge in view. It's quite normal for him to erupt like how he did.

"If you've got time to console him like that, you can also make him not punch tables like he's super Saiyan or something." Said a mature voice and turning back, I saw a red-haired guy walking towards us with a medical kit.

"What? Did you think I would die so easily?" he grins at me but I simply roll my eyes.

This guy is a senior from Ave's sniper school, codenamed 'Ruby' because of his red, ruby-like hair and like Ave, was a prodigy with un-matched sniping skills. How good was he? If Ave's called the slimy-bastard because of his short height and uncanny agility, then he was called 'The Perverted Sharpshooter' because of his vast, almost perverted knowledge of the human body. Nnd together they were known as the 'Death-Loving Duo'.

Also, they were boyfriends.

Ruby crouched down near Ave and slowly removed his gloves which were stained by blood from bashing the table.

"Tsk! This guy is going to kill himself before the caliphate's soldiers get him." He laughed but Ave only rolled his eyes.

"It's just a scratch."

"Yea, if that's a scratch then the hole in my ass is my nostrils. C'mon, stop being such a drama Queen!" he said as he applied antiseptic on the wound.

"That fuckin' lieu—Ahhh! Slowly, idiot!" Ave screamed.

"That's better." He smiled. After sanitizing the wound, he applied first-aid and bandaged the wound.

"Now, I would better tend to Fox and Li. You better take care of yourself." He kissed Ave lightly before moving going to where the last two members of the sniper platoon were.

Marie grinned shamelessly and poked Ave, "You two lovebirds are still going in this heat of battle."

But Ave only rolled his eyes at her.

…