Inglorious Return IC

[AlWayZFrE3]

"Damian, run!"

Shadow watched as his father was gunned down by a lucky soldier. His mother saw it too, and ran at the man, firing off her MP5K at full auto. She roared at the soldier, and Shadow caught on fast. He charged the man from his flanking side, drawing his machete and decapitating one of the men hiding behind cover as he did. Shadow didn't bother with his sniper. It was too close to be effective. Checking his sides, Shadow realized that there were no other soldiers. They'd killed off the entire team.

So he threw aside his reason and nearly flew across the dry land at his foe. He watched as the large man drew two shining pistols and shot his mother. Then he watched as the man turned, looking for the missing target, and put one in Shadow's chest. As he fell, Shadow roared in rage.



Shadow shot bolt upright, roaring at nothing, in the back of his truck. He had his blade up already, arced over his head like a scorpion's tail. A moment passed before his breathing steadied, and he forced himself to sheath the blade before his companions saw it. He didn't know them well, but he did know that drawing a weapon would be a little wierd with no enemies around.

Cracking his neck, Shadow sheathed his weapon, adjusted its placing to be more comfortable, then slapped his hand on the edge of the truck and flipped over the side onto solid dirt. The sun was just rising in the distance, painting the sky in a bloody red. Shadow smelled the acrid scent of a fire not far away and smiled. 'Damned inexperienced boots,' he thought. 'I smell breakfast...in the form of field rations...and a smuggled bottle of whiskey...nice.'

"Wakey wakey people!" Shadow yelled, banging the side of his old red Chevy and scratching his ears under the urban camo bandana. "I smell breakfast about a mile upwind and they got somethin' nice with them!"



Master Sergeant Anderson gently ran the wire of a cleaning brush down his rifle as he listened to his superior. He'd been with a SEAL team for more than a year now, ever since a bit before those three wolves killed off his entire unit. He'd learned since then. Even a small bit of mercy was overdoing it.

"We need a special specimen of wolf," said the scientist calling the shots today. "It is a rare breed of gray wolf and feline mix, we believe, locally known as Riharian. They are quick, reflexive, almost primal in nature, and always appear to be completely black furred. There appears to be a few located around former Texas, in the general Houston area, I believe. A group of new Marines have been sent there to recon the area, but this is a distraction. Your team will be dropped via hellicopter inside Houston city limits and will proceed south to search for them. Should you find any variants of weasle, amphibian, reptile, or avian, you are to temporarily deviate from the first objective to secure them and drop them with the second team. As of this moment, you are active. ETA should be around six hours. Good hunting."

Anderson stood and saluted, then turned to his squad. "You heard the man!" he barked in his drill sergeant voice. "Suit up and get to the helo! We move light and fast! If you see anything that has anything but skin, open up with the tranq guns! Only use solid lead rounds if you are being fired upon! Move out!"



(Yay for last minute improv I forgot that I put Anderson as a SEAL and not a Marine! *Facepalm* so that's fixed now. Have at it, guys!)

[SliceOfDog]

Charlie, who had been sleeping hunched next to the cab cradling his shotgun, shot upright seeming awake instantly. However, his eyes seemed distant as he quickly patted every pocket on his coat in turn. When he had finished, and still without acknowledging his surroundings, he cocked open his shotgun and tapped the two slugs in the breech. He blinked, and looked to Shadow.

"Breakfast?" he looked at the five watches on his left arm, then flicked open a pocket watch, and finally glanced up at the sun, shielding his eyes. "Yes, that sounds about right. Breakfast time it is" He clambered out of the truck and stretched "What are you planning? Grabbing it while they're out on patrol?"

[Dusty]

Nothing but dirt, sun, and burnt grass.... Yep its Texas alright, Matthews thought as he gazed at the burnt earth that flew below him. He sat in the crew compartment of a V-22 Osprey, one of the few flying vehicles that the Corps managed to store before the nukes began to fall. It amazed him that the thing still flew, especially considering the not so ideal weather that nuclear fallout tended to leave behind.

"We're coming up on the city limits, got radio contact with the boots," the Pilot announced. The usual pre-drop tremors rippled through the group. Each man was different, some stopped mid-conversations, others told some jokes to the men around him to lighten the tension, and others simply sat there. Anderson was one of these. Matthews assumed by the lack of interest and ritual behind his pre-mission behavior to mean he's done this so many times before it didn't even phase him.

Matthews however, was not so seasoned. This was only his second retrieval Op, and first as an element leader. He wasn't sure what Anderson saw in him, all he knew was the lives of six men rested on his shoulders. With practiced precision he slid the bolt back on the rifle in his lap, inspected the chamber, then closed it before dirt could foul it up. He then reached in the satchel strapped to his leg and retrieved a twenty round box mag of 7.62mm NATO. Bigger then the usual 5.56 most others preferred, but when your fighting something thats more animal then person it paid to have some knockdown power.

"Two minutes!"

[Arratra]

Not too far away, a single lizard anthro tracked the V-22 using a pair of salvaged military binoculars.
"Crap, and all I've got is a measly 9mm," he grumbled, lashing his long, thick tail in the dirt.
He lowered the binoculars and looked back the way he had come, then sighed.
"If only I still had the Wardragon," he muttered, unholstering his pistol and checking the load. He then cocked it, holding it ready should anyone, or anything, sneak up on him. He also considered drawing his sword, but thought better of it for now.
"Well, here goes," he said, moving forwards at a quick jog.

[AlWayZFrE3]

Recruit Jason Abernath established contact with the mixed spec ops team coming in. "Foxtrot Actual, this is Hotel Lima Six, copy over?"

The pilot coming in answered right away. "Copy, Hotel Lima Six, Foxtrot Actual inbound but quiet. Omega One will be handling the coms. Requesting a more direct line of approach?"

"Copy, Omega One. Working on optimal approach vector," Abernath said, then turned toward his senior recruit. "What do you think, Rob? South south west on the busted up highway or north west on the old football field?"

Hotel Lima One, Corporal (metaphorically) Robert Patson, considered a moment. "I'm liking the football field better. Provides cover from snipers and makes it hard to see how many of us there are. Give them that one."

"Aye, sir," Abernath responded, already turning back to the com unit. "Omega One, this is Hotel Lima Six. We recomend coming down on a north west approach and land inside the football field at your one o'clock. Copy over?"

"Roger that, Hotel Lima, Omega One coming down quick and getting up quicker. Be on your toes, boys, these soldiers got pull."

"Alright, ladies, pack it up!" barked One. "You heard the man, time to impress some officers!"


Anderson cracked his neck slowly, then stood, finally moving, and pulled a clip from his pocket. It was always his first clip that came from the most inconspicuous place that he chose. Checking the rounds, he smacked the clip on his head, a custom back in the abandoned tube where dust was everywhere, and slapped it home. With a simple thumb motion, he racked a round into the chamber, then pulled up the entire weapon and checked the sights. Satisfied, he strode to the back of the Osprey.

"Mister Mathews," he rumbled, clearly heard even among the noise of the chopping wind outside. "I believe this is your show. Take 'em out, son. I'm just the team marksman's spotter, as far as you're concerned."



Shadow cracked his neck and knelt, as if about to run. "Oh, hell to the yeah, bro," he growled. "Take the truck and set up with my rifle on that big hill with the clear line of sight at the football field to the highway about a mile and a half back the way we came. If you see anyone about to bust me, tag them or let me know, yeah? Be ready to haul it, though."

In no mood to plan, Shadow shot forward in a dead run, skimming over the ground almost without touching it at all. He followed his nose, but stuck to cover. Abandoned buildings, most of them nothing but rubble, littered the entire area. The 'hill' Shadow spoke of was no more than a large, collapsed skyscraper that had tried to hold its shape. The climb up would be a challenge, but between the view and how fast Charlie could get there, it was worth asking it of the weasle.

As Shadow soared across the desert landscape, he remembered that his dumb ass had forgotten a ranged weapon. 'Ah, well,' he growled inwardly, 'I can do a sneak for once.'

Finally, he reached the SEAL camp, and sure enough, it was set up and still smoking. "Newbies," Shadow growled. "Ain't got enough brains among them to spit straight."

Shadow checked his direction, then waved in the general direction of the hill. He made a gun with his hand and dropped the 'hammer' that was his thumb, signalling to take a shot if anything was near.



(Sorry I took so long looooong ass day.)

[Dusty]

Matthews tensed as the burden of leadership was passed. "Yes Sergeant. I'll do my best. Rifles ready foxtrot! We're coming in!" he ordered as the tail ramp slid open. The charred remains of downtown Houston rose forbiddingly below them. What was the population of the city? A few million? Now all dead or mutated animal freaks, he thought to himself. The terrain below began to rise as the Osprey dropped to a nap of the earth approach towards the stadium.

"Thirty seconds!" The pilot yelled.

"Stand up!" Matthews ordered. The crew cabin came alive as the special forces operatives stood. The jitters and rituals were over. It was party time. The lip of the stadium wall passed underneath. The entire southern section had collapsed, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble. Good place for a sniper, Matthews noted. "Eyes and Ears boys. We're in the wild west now!"

[AlWayZFrE3]

Hotel Lima One broke from cover just as the Osprey began to rise and made a quick jog over to the dispersing squad. Abernath couldn't help but think that this was a bad idea. 'Whole damn south is open to snipers,' he growled at himself. 'That was stupid even for newbies.'

Still, they ran low and fast, holding up their trigger hands to show they weren't hostile. Hotel Lima one came up to the aparent leader and saluted crisply. "Sir! Hotel Lima reporting for squad retrieval, sir!"

Anderson shook his head and pointed at Mathews. "Get your squads straight, son," he growled at the recruit.

Embarrassed, Hotel Lima One painfully turned himself to the younger, though still elder to him, soldier. "Sorry, sir. Hotel Lima, here for squad retrieval, sir."

[SliceOfDog]

Staring at the rifle, Charlie began to say "But what if they-"
When he looked up the wolf was already out of hearing distance. He stared for a second, then snapped to his senses and jumped into the truck's cab, throwing the rifle into the passenger seat. Tapping each pocked quickly, he nodded to himself and then spun the truck around, driving in the direction the wolf had given him. Once he arrived, he jumped out, slammed the door, opened the door, grabbed the rifle, slammed the door and ran to the so-called 'hill'. Charlie made the climb as quick as he could, but with the unfamiliar bulk of the rifle it took slightly longer than expected. Once or twice small chunks of rubble fell away in his hands, but it wasn't too steep and stable footholds were easy to find.

Reaching the top, he sat down, wiggled his back against an angled slab so that he was in a sitting position, and placed the rifle between his legs, the weapon pointing out to the stadium. He froze.

That looks a bit like a...

He shielded his eyes from the sun and squinted, but as he lowered his eye to the scope a bright reflection kept catching it, making him blink and pull away. Irritated he stared at the gun, and then at the ground. For a second he couldn't see the source, but then he did: about 15 feet away there lay a very broken but still recognisable watch. It was caught in the rubble, but it's broken face just caught the sun at the right angle to shine in Charlie's face. He groaned, blocked the reflection with his hand, and stared down the guns sights.

He swore.

A helicopter. Soldiers. Lots of them.

He glanced involuntarily over to the watch, then resumed his vigil. He wondered where it was exactly that the wolf would be heading, and hoped the two groups would not cross paths. Bullets were scarce these days, and if the wolf died Charlie would probably not be far behind, particularly if he'd been seen shooting humans. He looked desperately, seeing nothing, and then... yes! A flash of fur. He looked again. The wolf! He was searching through a camp of some sort, probably the soldiers', turned and signalled. Charlie could only just make it out, and didn't fully understand, but then there was only a limited amount of things it could mean. He lifted his hand into the air and waved frantically back in the opposite direction of the troops, hoping the wolf could make it out, but at such a distance it might be impossible, or simply seem like a wave to show he understood. He nearly called out, but knew that would be even more useless, and a lot more dangerous.

His eyes flickered towards the watch again.

[Arratra]

Leonidas crouched behind a rock now, his armour's dusty surface not reflecting as much light as it would if it were clean... like it had been less than three hours before.
"Of all the cruel ironies," he grumbled, pulling out his binoculars and peering through them at the soldiers... and then he spotted the flash of movement.
"Wolf," he muttered, zooming in closer, before storing his binoculars and running at an angle, crouched low so he stayed beneath a ridge that was there and stayed out of sight of the soldiers.
His bright orange-yellow scales were none too good for hiding, so he had to stay out of sight. A real bother, especially since all he had was a sword, which was useless beyond extremely close range, and a measly nine millimetre pistol.

[AlWayZFrE3]

Shadow saw his companion wave, then cocked an eyebrow. 'The hell could he mean?' he thought. 'Well, no fire. I can grab a couple MREs and hightail it back safe enough. Wait...aw, damn, that's...yep, airplane exhaust.'

Now he understood. Shadow bolted into the open, grabbed up whatever packs of food were laying around, snatched a bottel of old school Jack Daniels laying by the fire, and hauled ass. He made good time through the buildings, considering his load. He had about three meals' worth for both him and Charlie. As he ran, Shadow kept looking back, listening, sniffing. Nothing followed him, so he kept running. Finally, he made his way to the top of the small nest he'd assigned Charlie with and dropped the food, then held up the bottle. "Hey, man," he said casually. "Feel like havin' some stupid fun? Let's get the hell out of here and chow down. I don't want to be around when they find out I raided their camp."

[SliceOfDog]

Charlie looked up for a moment, and then dropped the gun and dived to the side. Ignoring Shadow's comments he scrambled for the watch and, when he grasped it, tugged gently and prised it loose from the rubble. He held it up to the light and examined it, mumbling to himself. He noticed with dissatisfaction that the strap was broken and the face smashed. It had of course also stopped working long ago, but he expected that. He pocketed it before returning his attention to the wolf. "I'm sorry, did you say we'd better go? Because I think that's a very good idea"
He glanced nervously over in the distance, but without looking through the scope could make out nothing in particular.

[Arratra]

Leonidas heaved himself rapidly up the slope, not bothering with stealth. He tumbled down the other side, dirt going flying and coating his armour and face.
"Ow," he mumbled, looking up... only to find himself right at the feet of Shadow.

[Dusty]

"Okay sergeant. I need to know where your advance squad has set up camp. That will be our staging point. I hear we're after some sort of wolf-cat mix, brief your men," Matthews said to the nervous looking squad leader.

"Yes sergeant," he muttered before clicking the transmit button on his headset. "Hotel-Lima six this is Hotel-Lima one, whats your location over?"

The grainy response followed a few seconds later, "This is Hotel-Lima 6, we've set up our camp at grid X-ray, we're near the highway. We've been scouting the surrounding area and should be back at our camp spot momentarily."

"Roger that 6. Be advised Foxtrot Squad has just landed. They should be moving to link up shortly," Hotel-Lima 1 said as he broke the connection. Any conversation was drowned out as the roar of two Ch-53 heavy lift choppers reverberated through the football stadium. Dangling from the bottom of each aircraft was a fully loaded and combat ready Humvees. Gingerly the choppers lowered each vehicle on the ground. When both vehicles were resting securely on the sun baked field the two choppers released they're cables and took flight.

"Foxtrot squad, our rides our here. Saddle up, we're moving out," Matthews ordered. The somewhat idle group of soldier quickly snapped into action; swarming over the vehicles to make sure they were still in combat ready condition. Matthews then turned Anderson, "Sergeant Anderson, you've had experience with these Riharians correct? How common are they exactly?"

[AlWayZFrE3]

Anderson closed his eyes for a moment. "They're pretty uncommon. Rare breed," he said, sagely tone to his voice. "Took out a family of them a while back. There was a male, a female, and a young one. Tore my squad a new one and ripped it in half before we could bring the male down. Female and kid took out the rest before I could tag them. That little one, even, took out my heavy weapons specialist. Their reflexes are terrifying at best, they're all strong and fast, and if you get within ten yards of one and walk away, better be thanking whatever god you worship, cuz it's a miracle."

Anderson then smiled evilly at the recruits. "Makes you all warm and fuzzy inside, don't it son?"



Shadow cocked an eyebrow and drew his machette. "Scuse me," he growled at the thing in armor that had just dropped nearly on his feet. "But I don't believe I invited you to this party. Care to explain yourself before or after I disect you?"

[Arratra]

"Wait, wait!" Leonidas hissed, "The soldiers are going to hear us if you attack me. Besides, I've been on my own for a while now.I could do with some company... Wish I still had the WarDragon, though; I'd be able to offer more."
He held up his hands, which were currently empty. He had holstered his pistol to climb the ridge, and his sword was still strapped to his side.
"I've been on the run from the soldiers since they attacked my home in a automotive factory. My parents were killed, but I managed to escape in an APC we had created, which I had named the WarDragon. I lost the Wardragon a few hours ago, though..."

[AlWayZFrE3]

Shadow cocked an eyebrow. "Well, the Dragon thing is lost now, dude," he said. "Charlie," he turned to his companion, "What do you think about this, amigo? Should we keep him?" His last comment was laced with humor and mocking tone. Shadow wasn't taking this seriously.

[SliceOfDog]

"What I think," Charlie said skittishly, staring into the distance and hopping very slightly from one foot to the other "is that we should get back to the truck ASAP and get the hell out of here. We can interrogate him later, ok?"
He looked the newcomer up and down, and rubbed his hands together nervously.

[AlWayZFrE3]

Shadow thought for a moment, then took his rifle back and began the descent, but not before shoving the new supplies into the hands of the new guy, though he kept the bottle of whiskey. "New guy carries the bullshit," he said. "You ride on the far side of the cab, away from me. Let's go, Charlie. Don't want to have a few SEALs breathing down our tails, now do we?"

[Arratra]

Leonidas had been expecting that, so he wasn't surprised. He shouldered the supplies, and slipped down the hill as well. His movements were actually near silent; the only real problem he had with hiding and sneaking was that his colouration was far too bright for his liking. He would have much preferred to be the normal grey colouration of his breed.
"I don't think we've been spotted yet," he said quietly, but loud enough for his two companions to hear, "Let's keep low and quiet. And pray that the VTOL doesn't come back."

[AlWayZFrE3]

"The plane's not coming back," Shadow said as he hopped with stunning agility over obsticals, giving an unnecissary flourish to his movements. "The government needs them to dispatch other teams throughout the planet. They're not going to keep one around even if it's for a major hit. Be more worried about snipers aiming for your head and making it explode."

Shadow arrived at his truck and hopped in, quickly starting it up. "Hurry up, you two," he said casually. "Charlie, come on. grab an MRE from the new guy so we got something to eat on the way out of here, if you don't mind."

[Arratra]

"My name's Leonidas, not 'new guy'," the lizard shot back, sliding surprisingly quickly into the back, his pistol levelled out at the wastes, "Hurry it up! I'm getting a bad feeling."

[SliceOfDog]

Charlie trailed slightly behind, his speed sacrificed through careful and subtle footwork, to which he paid adamant attention. At times he dropped to all fours to slide quickly over obstacles. When he reached the truck, he took yet another tap-check of his pockets, and then at Shadow's command he turned to Leonidas and grabbed the first pack of something looking like food. He held it out to Shadow and then hopped into the back.

"I don't really know what an MRE is," he said apologetically, looking at the packet, "but that one's food I think"

[AlWayZFrE3]

Shadow took a few seconds to turn and look right into Charlie's face. "Seriously?" he said. "We've been traveling together for, what, a few months now and you don't know what an MRE is." Shadow shook his head. "It stands for Meal Ready to Eat. The military's primary food source in the field. Go ahead and pop it open, man. The instructions are clear enough on how to heat it up."

Then Shadow started the truck and threw it into gear. He looked around, being careful of anything hostile, and stepped ont he gas. Quickly, before the soldiers came back, he flew down the highway and toward the city. They needed to trade some stuff and get some ammo, if nothing else. Maybe find a weapon for Leonidas, as the dragon like thing called himself, that didn't look like a peashooter.

[SliceOfDog]

"So..." Charlie said timidly, looking over to Leonidas as the truck moved away and he opened up the food packet "Uh... I'm sorta new to this whole 'interrogation' thing, so how about you tell me about yourself or... or something? Oh, er... how about... what are your plans? Like for after we get away from these soldier guys?"

[Arratra]

"Already told you two everything worth knowing for now, don't have any plans. Just surviving day-to-day right now."
Leonidas holstered his weapon now, sitting down and looking out the back of the truck.
"Wish I still had the WarDragon, though."

[SliceOfDog]

Charlie shrugged.
"I wish I still had my parents, a home and a reliable supply of food... present company excepted, of course" he motioned to Shadow and smiled humourlessly, but it was fleeting and weak. He continued with a heavy sigh.
"Life..." he paused and stared into the distance, frowning "Life is cruel sometimes. I suppose we just have to keep going regardless of what gets thrown at us. And what gets taken away..."

[Arratra]

Leonidas nodded, his eyes distant. After a moment, though, he coughed, and brought his attention back to the here-and-now.
"I can help forage and scavenge," he said, "I've gotten rather good at is over the past few months."

[Dusty]

The sweltering heat of the radiation baked city was enough to make even the Humvee a miserable place to be. The SEAL team had been split amongst the two vehicles. Matthews was currently sitting in the passenger side seat of the first vehicle. "Hey, Mike pass me a cold one will ya'?" the driver asked, referring to the bottles of purified water kept in a cooler.

There was a short silence as one of the SEAL passengers rummaged through the supplies in the back. "Sorry man, cooler's out," he said as he passed a near boiling bottle up front.

"Jesus could this place be any more miserable?"

"Life is cruel sometimes, just gotta live through it," Matthews said as he scanned the broken highway in front of them. The city's infrastructure hadn't aged well, the former highway was pitted and cracked, rusted street lights and cars dotted the bleak landscape. I just don't see how anyone or anything could live out here, he mused.

His thoughts were interrupted when the radio burst with static. "Foxtrot-Actual this is Hotel-Lima Six. We're back at camp but it looks like someone beat us here. Some of our rations are missing."

Matthews grabbed the Mouthpiece and brought it up to his face. "Are you saying you left rations unguarded? Did you at least have your recon drone up?" he asked incredulously.

The other squad leader was silent for a moment as he tried to word his answer to take the least amount of blame, "Sir we thought we were alone out here. We had already scouted the perimeter, we had no way of knowing anyone knew we were here."

"Stow it Sergeant we're on our way. Just make sure they didn't make off with any of your weapons," Matthews growled with a hint of frustration. "Alright boys now we at least know someone is around here. Keep your eyes open."

[AlWayZFrE3]

Anderson was just sitting in the back of a Humvee, calmly staring out into space. Then he saw it. The old, beat up truck going along the bumpy road, and the three anthros inside it. For a moment, Anderson cocked an eyebrow, unconcerned. Then he saw a flash of black as the truck came a bit closer. Then another flash, this one of silver. The truck was too far away, a couple hundred meters, for him to get a good glimpse. Anderson reached into the bag of a fellow team member and pulled out his binoculars, then looked out. "You little bastard child," he growled. "Our war isn't over after all." Then, louder, he pointed and grabbed the driver's hair, pointing him in the Riharian's direction. "Turn to starboard!" he roared. "Riharian in the truck far starboard! After it!"



Shadow saw the Humvees, but disregarded them quickly. If he looked like he didn't care, maybe they wouldn't notice the speck of dust trying to keep away from them. Then he saw the glint of field glasses. "Oh, shit," he said. Shadow reached back, through the window just behind him, and yanked his rifle around, then balanced it on the window and took aim.

Sighting carefully, Shadow fired. The round slammed into the bulletproof window that would have otherwise allowed him to kill the driver. "Fuck," Shadow cursed, tossing his rifle back into the back. "Hold on guys," he said to his friends, "life's about to get overly complicated again. SEALs to our nine o'clock." That said, Shadow started pulling away, aiming to his right and away from the SEALs that he knew would catch him eventually. His truck was good for its age, but the Humvees were built to last and no amount of tuning and mechanical work would save them. It would be a fight. And the fight would be soon.

[Arratra]

"No shit!" Leonidas yelled, having spotted them as well. He drew his pistol, swearing viciously under his breath as he hid behind the tail gate.
"How much ammo have we got?" he asked, "I've got five clips for my pistol."