Chapter 34: Choices

Schmidt

“Simmons watch out!”

Daniel threw himself forward and tackled Simmons from the left, saving her and himself from a series of gauss rifle rounds fired at them by a stolen Sapphirian APC from further down the road

For the second time in a row.

He jumped off from Simmons afterwards and then dashed off from the street straight through the blown-out walls of a mechanic shop, with the Esmosian closely behind him. The APC followed after but even the gauss rounds were not strong enough for it to shoot through central Blackfortress’s reinforced building walls. Daniel took this chance to put his last magazine into his rifle, and then he turned to Simmons who was doing the same. “Ammo?”

“Five more shots,” she replied quickly. “…after that I’m down to my handgun.”

“Then make them count! We’re almost out of this mess!”

Daniel’s plan to draw the remaining enemy force away from the city hall seemed to have worked flawlessly, and them continuing to run to a completely different way than Riley's squad achieved the desired results. What he forgot to consider however was that he had three clips left at the start of the whole thing. Now he had one. At this rate, he would have to use his detachable left hand as a makeshift throwing weapon.

The other thing he didn’t count on was the city’s PA system turning on, announcing the damage to the nuclear powerplant and the imminent meltdown.

After finishing the reload, he waved at Simmons to follow him and the two busted through the backdoor of the mechanic shop, ending up in an alleyway behind it. He was about to ask for directions when his radio turned on.

“Schmidt pick up the fucking radio!” yelled Dresden. Daniel could hear the sheer desperation in his voice. “We’re kind of in the middle of something!”

“McConnel, Norton, and Becket stayed behind! They want to prevent the meltdown!”

Daniel stopped dead in his tracks, and Simmons immediately turned to him. His blood froze and boiled up at the same time as he felt desperation take over his body, but before he did anything Simmons reached for her helmet.“Get the warbird away from there!” she exclaimed, “We’ll get them out of there and meet you outside the city center!”

“How the hell are you–”

“I said go! None of us are getting out of there if you get shot down!”

He could almost hear Dresden waging a war in himself over this decision, but Daniel didn’t have time to listen to that. He ran forward while Simmons was still on the radio, towards the city hall. They were about a kilometer away from it by now, but Daniel would sooner shoot himself than leave his friends. They would either need to get to the tunnels or take over the powerplant again, but they couldn’t accomplish either on their own. As such, Daniel was going to bust his ass to get there.

It’s what Cole would have done, and he sure as hell was going to do the same.

“Sergeant wait up!” Simmons yelled after him.

Daniel didn’t stop but sprinted as hard as he could down the alleyway, hopping over dumpsters and all sorts of junk as he did, occasionally tipping over one thing or another. He could hear the APC and the NAF squads that followed them from the gas station getting closer and closer.

When he arrived at an intersection going through the alleyway, he ran out to the open street.

nd if it wasn’t for Agent Simmons yanking him back, he would have run straight into a speeding pickup truck.

He fell down to the concrete sidewalk along with Simmons, while the red pickup truck drifted off the road, breaking hard as it turned to the right, eventually crashing into a lamppost. Daniel slowly picked himself up from the ground, around the same time the driver slammed their door open on the opposite side of the truck.

A somewhat older looking man with a blonde mustache and a black beret came limping out of the car, welding an NAF assault rifle. He had numerous dents and blood marks on his armor, but his face was unmistakable.

Captain Leonard Kingsley. The traitor.

And Cole’s killer.

The searing rage inside him that he felt over all the bullshit that they had to deal with reached an uncontrollable point as he locked eyes with Kingsley.

“You motherfucker!” he yelled as he jumped up from the ground. He set his rifle to full auto and pretty much emptied almost the entirety of his magazine into the car and the person behind it. With him shaking so hard from the anger inside him and the car serving as cover only a few hits connected with the traitor, but it was enough to send him down into the cover of the vehicle. Daniel ran forward to finish him off, not thinking about anything else.

And it was at this moment that the NAF squads chasing them arrived.

They opened fire at Daniel right away, and with him being in the middle of the intersection he dashed towards the other side of the alleyway they came out of. But it didn’t help.

He got shot from behind, causing him to almost drop to the ground again, but he was able to scurry behind one of the building walls in the alleyway before he suffered anything worse. He felt extremely lucky for a moment, but when he looked back, he realized why he didn’t die.

He didn’t see her getting hit the first time.

Or the second time.

What he did see was Simmons firing at the enemy to get their attention away from Daniel, all the while taking bullet after bullet that was intended for him. After the fourth shot, she finally fell down to the ground.

Without hesitation Daniel fired all of his remaining ammo at the enemy, taking down one of them, after which he ran out to the street and dragged Simmons down into the alleyway, who collapsed down to the ground right after.

The woman had four more holes in her armor, one right below her neck to the right, one below her ribcage, and two more in her left arm which was now completely limp.

Daniel dragged himself and Simmons behind one of the many metal dumpsters in the alleyway, and after taking her handgun he fired off a few rounds at the enemy in hopes of keeping them away.

Right now, that was about the only thing he could do, since he couldn’t treat Simmons in the middle of a firefight, and he had no weapons that he could use to fight back properly. They exchanged fire a few more times when he heard someone yelling from the street.

“Leave them!” yelled someone who sounded a lot like Captain Kingsley. “We need to exfil before the plant blows up!”

Daniel leaned out from behind his cover and fired off another round. “You’re not going anywhere you fuck!” he shouted.

Kingsley didn’t say anything, but the enemy fire had died down all of a sudden, and Daniel heard a car engine turn on.

“I’m afraid I will Sergeant!” yelled back Kingsley. “…unless you’re willing to sacrifice yourself and that terrorist to come after me!”

He gritted his teeth as he gripped Simmons’s handgun even more tightly. He was about to charge out and do… something. He didn’t know what he would do against five people with a pistol, but he wasn’t going to let Kingsley get away. He couldn’t. Not after he killed Cole and so many others.

But what about his squad? The ones who were on their own to try to stop a reactor from melting down? Those who stood by his side throughout the entire conflict in Blackfortress? The ones who were with him for even longer? Could he just leave them behind?

And would he be able to live with himself if he left behind Simmons, who would bleed out if she didn’t get immediate aid? She would die the same way James did when they arrived here.

As he gripped Simmons’s handgun with his metal arm in an effort to make him more confident about his choice, he felt someone grab his shoulder weakly.

“Go… get him…” Simmons whispered.

He turned to the half-dead agent. The one that was a former terrorist. The one that shot his arm off, crippling him for life. The one who was telling him with full confidence to leave her to die.

But as he looked at her, he could just about see through her helmet’s visor, and for a single moment, her hazel brown eyes locked with his. And those eyes said something very different.

I would have dragged you out of there even if I had lost both of my legs.

It was at that moment, as he remembered his own words to Cole all those years ago, that he finally knew what the right choice was. He holstered the agent’s pistol as he stood up from the container.

“This is not over Kingsley! I’ll find you!” he yelled to the street.

As he expected, Kingsley didn’t say shit. All he heard was the pickup truck slowly rolling out, but instead of listening to it he leaned down and threw one of Simmons’s arms over his shoulder. He grabbed her side with his other arm, and after both of them got up he began running towards the remnants of Rhino squad. He heard Simmons whisper something along the lines of “why”, but he tuned it out purposefully.

Kingsley would escape, and they would have to keep hunting him once the fight here was over, but there sure as fuck wouldn’t be a later for Simmons or the rest of Rhino if he abandoned them now. Even Simmons was worth more to Daniel than Kingsley’s head as far as he was concerned, and the same went for all of his squadmates.

The two of them moved as fast as they could until the pickup truck along with the APC behind them drove away, after which Daniel put Simmons down next to a wall to catch his breath. After giving her the single shot of morphine that he saved for himself, he also tore apart most of his shirt in order to make bandages for Simmons, who just kept shaking her head as he was treating her.

“Just… why…” she asked at the end, barely able to speak from her injuries.

Daniel looked straight into her visor. “Because I am not leaving anyone behind,” he stated confidently, and after picking up Simmons again, he continued. “…especially someone who took four bullets for me.”

With that, they continued their way down the alleyways, towards the collapsed building where Langley's Warbird was supposed to pick up Riley's team.

As they passed numerous buildings and intersections, getting ever closer to their goal, Daniel heard gunshots form closer and closer. The thing that caught his attention the most however was his radio.

“Dan, you here?!” asked North.

Daniel almost tripped over as he gripped the radio. “You bet your ass I am! Simmons and I are on our way to lend you a hand!”

The sound of North’s machinegun constantly firing made it impossible for Daniel to hear what he replied with. As soon as he stopped firing, he continued. “Right but you might want to hurry it up! Not sure how long the powerplant will play nice…”

“Will do! Where’s the RV?”

Someone else took the radio on the other side. “City hall,” Riley said. “Tunnels are the fastest route we have into the powerplant, and if we don’t get there in time, we should be safe from the blast down there.”

“Right. We’re on our way!” He replied then lowered his radio for a bit then turned to Simmons. “You’re hanging in there?”

Simmons, still limping, did her best to nod. “It’s not… as bad as it looks…”

He looked her over and concluded that she was most likely lying. They once again stopped on the sidewalk of a street as Daniel reached for his radio again. “Langley, you there?”

“We’re still in the air, yes,” she answered. “What’s your status?”

“Simmons got critically injured and I’ve got shot in the back. Can you land anywhere near us? We’re at…” Daniel took a look around for a street sign. “…Ranken Avenue 97.”

He could hear button presses from the other end as Langley messed around with her GPS. “There’s a small basketball field not too far from your position. If you two can get there, I can pick you up.”

“You only have to pick up the agent, I’m staying. But don’t worry I’ll get Simmons there.”

“Roger, but you really shouldn’t be running around with an injury like that!”

“Don’t have a choice, Major. Schmidt out.”

He was about to pick Simmons up again, but as he turned around he saw that she was already standing on her feet, using her rifle as a crutch with her one working arm.

“You really shouldn’t be–”

“Sergeant, I can take care of myself!” she said somewhat harshly, clenching the "crutch" tighter as she did. “…I’m just slowing you down.”

“If you’re suggesting that I leave you behind, forget about it.”

She shook her head and stepped away from Daniel, her right hand clenched into a fist. “You’ve got a reactor that’s about to meltdown and turn the city center into a radioactive ghost town, and your biggest worry is me?!” she snapped “Do you know how irresponsible that is?!”

Daniel blinked but didn’t say anything.

“Get your ass to your squad already! The mission always comes first Sergeant, not some worthless lowlife grunt like me!”

He simply stared at Simmons, not knowing what to say.

Possibly for the first time today, under the mask of her past as a former insurgent and current position as an intelligence agent, Daniel could finally see the person behind that helmet. A person, who seemed to have no self-esteem and self-worth anymore, and didn’t care whether she lived or died.

And he knew all too well what that was like.

He stepped a bit closer to Simmons and grabbed her non-limp arm. “You’re right… but Simmons? You’re not expendable.”

Simmons looked away for a moment, and even through the helmet, Daniel could see those same set of longing eyes that he did before at the city hall. He had to give credit to the woman for doing such a good job at masking herself most of the time. “…don't worry about me,” she said again, a bit more reluctantly. “Just get going.”

He gave her one last bit of encouragement in the form of a salute, but after he took a few steps he stopped. There was one more thing he had to say, and he turned back around. “Thank you, Katey. For saving my life back there.”

Simmons did her best to straighten herself out and was about to raise her hand for a salute but suddenly decided against it. “It’s…” she said reluctantly “…it’s Katya, actually. Katya Rozanov.”

Daniel smiled as he saluted with his robotic arm, which Katya eventually returned, and he could imagine the smile behind that helmet. Though the moment only lasted for a few seconds, it felt longer for Daniel. More meaningful. Afterwards, he turned around with one last nod and dashed off, towards the city hall.

Hopefully for the last time today.

* * *

Corporal Thomas Norton tossed away his machinegun as it finally ran out of ammo. As he pulled out his sidearm, Nick fired off another shot from his shotgun at the guard standing near the city hall’s back entrance. He pulled the pump back, but when he saw that he had no more shots, he too threw away his gun.

He leaned back behind the checkpoint building and turned to North. “Any ideas?”

He, Nick and Riley had managed to get away from the collapsing apartment building just in the nick of time, and to their luck, the collapse ended up burying most of the enemy vehicles. They were able to get to the city hall quite fast after that, but what they forgot to consider were all the guards that they simply ran past on their way out of the hall. Because of that, they were forced to go around the building and try their luck at the back entrance at an underground garage.

North quickly peeked out towards it and spotted about six soldiers and mercenaries before he had to duck away from the shots. He turned to Riley, who was at the other checkpoint building, trying his best to get that centuries-old rifle to work. “Riley, you’ve got any cans or a grenade?”

“Uhh…” he checked his pockets. “Nope!”

“Okay, then we’ll try something else!”

He leaned closer to the edge of the structure. “Hey! Mercs! I have a proposition for y’all!”

Nick and Riley both turned to him with raised eyebrows, but North just waved them away.

The enemy fired a few more shots at them, but eventually, the fire died down. A woman from the garage barricade yelled over to them. “Then speak fast!” she said with a strong accent.

“I don’t know who your Commander is now, or what he or she wants to accomplish by blowing up that reactor,” North started, and slowly took a step away from the cover. “…but you’re gonna get your ass fried by radiation if you don’t find shelter asap!”

The woman on the other end, who was wearing a black mask of sorts with a pair of NVGs on her forehead, raised her gun again. “Tell us something we don’t know already!”

North was about to speak but Riley stepped out. “There’s a nuclear shelter close by! I can tell you where it is if you stand down!”

A few of the soldiers glanced at each other, but most of them were still aiming their guns.

“And why on Azuno should we believe you?” asked one of them, who had a dark grey and blue scout helmet on his head. It seemed similar to Simmons’s.

North turned to Riley, quickly shaking his head. Bluffing was the best weapon they had, but if they told them about the tunnels that could lead to them getting flanked on their way to the powerplant. And if Riley told them that he was a local, that would also have been a bad idea.

Riley, as an answer, just sighed and stepped forward. “Because I live here!” he said, taking off his helmet. “…and I’m pretty sure some of you do as well!”

North tensed up as one of the enemies aimed their weapons, but the woman quickly raised her left fist in the air, signaling for them to hold fire.

Riley took another step forward. “I had the chance to speak to some of you today… I know you’re here thinking you’re doing the right thing, but… fucking hell, just look around you!” he exclaimed as he waved at the ruined city hall and the smoking buildings all around them. “Does this seem like the right thing to you? You’re about to make an entire city unlivable for decades to come!”

North noticed Nick walk up to him from behind, and he seemed just as confused as he was. He wasn’t sure how, but it seemed like Riley was getting through to some of those soldiers, as a few of them lowered their weapons a bit.

“You’ve got a choice to make here,” he continued. “…you can either shoot me in the face and then irradiate the entire city, or you can take door 97 in the hall and head to the city-wide fallout shelter and then go home safe.”

He put his helmet back on.

“Your commander is not here anymore. This is your choice now.”

The enemy soldiers at the barricade exchanged a few glances between each other and Riley, but neither side said a word. North's heart was beating through his throat as he was waiting for someone to speak up or lower their guns, but none of them moved an inch.

Eventually, it was the blue-helmeted soldier who lowered his weapon and then tossed it to the ground. “He’s right!” he shouted. “I’ve got a sister back home, and I sure as fuck want to see her again instead of dying here for nothing!”

The woman in the center immediately turned around. “Tower?”

“Bolt, you know this is wrong!”

The two stared at each other even more tensely when out of nowhere another soldier dropped their gun. “Screw Swordfish and this op! I’m not getting paid enough to get fried...”

One by one the enemy soldiers all either dropped their guns or started arguing with each other, but the point was that they were distracted. North nodded at Riley and the three of them quickly moved down towards the garage, keeping their remaining weapons holstered. They were about to go inside when the blue-helmeted soldier, apparently called Tower, spoke up. From this distance, North could see his emerald green eyes.

“Yo! Question!”

“Yeah?” asked North.

“What happened with your Sapphirian Captain? The one with the gruff voice and the “better than you” attitude?”

North raised an eyebrow, not knowing why the soldier was asking this. Before he could answer Riley stepped closer to them. “Brown died at the tower. Blew the tunnel entrance on himself to give us a chance to escape.”

Tower stared at Riley for a few seconds, and slowly lowered his head. The masked woman next to him patted him on his shoulder.

“You knew him?” Riley asked.

“Sort of…” he said in a low voice. “…you three best get going now though. Not many of us are left in the city but I don’t think they’ll be as susceptible to your offer as we were.”

“How many are we talking about though?” North asked. “…Dozens? Hundreds?”

“About forty at the plant, a few more here at the hall, some stragglers down south…” recalled the woman. “...and that's it. You killed everyone else.”

She stared straight into North’s eyes, and for a moment he felt something resembling regret. He did his best to stuff it all the way down given that these people were murderers, but as much as he wanted to hate them, they were humans too.

Just like the GRID agents in Blegodon, these people were happy to waste human lives left and right to make a political statement, and according to Riley, they were all thinking that they were doing the right thing. It was sickening, but as much as he wanted to say that he was different, the fact of the matter was that pretty much every soldier who ever picked up a gun and shot someone else believed that they were in the right.

In a way, these people were not at all different from him, except that they had a choice in their occupation. North didn’t, though by this point he wasn’t sure if he could do anything else ever again.

Not knowing what to say, North just nodded and followed Nick and Riley deeper into the city hall. Much to their delight the rest of the soldiers in the hall let them pass too, so North took this chance to radio Daniel.

He was about to press the radio’s “speak” button when he heard a series of explosions far off in the distance.

“…the hell was that?” Riley asked perplexed.

North gripped the radio. “Dan, you here?”

“Yeah and I have a question!” he said. “…which one of you just called in an airstrike?”