So far the drive had been quiet and a bit awkward. The younger man had been quiet through the drive so far. Roman was sure the man would break and run the first chance he got after being shot at. Something about the kid made him seem like he wasn’t ready, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to be mean but having one more thing for the bad guys to shoot at wasn’t that bad of a thing either, made his job a little easier. The Russian was about to say something before a radio call came through.

Heavy static and garbled speech slowly cleared, [color=ed1c24][u]“-his is an open distress call from Field Commander Salem of Squad Last Down. If you hear this we are immobile, but the 'junk' is still secure. We are at the crossroads just north across the Midgard Bridge. Our snipers, Calibre and Executive Commander Aether are keeping the pursuers at bay, but ammo is low. Engineer Sato and Liaison Xavier are still alive and firing away. Behemoth is KIA and Bunny is MIA... I have enjoyed serving my time as Commander, and I am proud to have served and lead this Last Down Squad.”[/u][/color]

A moment of silence and more garbled speech as the radio was filled with a burst of white noise. [color=ed1c24]“[u]I... I-I have a daughter. Her name is Kaia, and she is beautiful.”[/u][/color] the radio cut out and went back to white noise and garbled voices.

Both of the men seemed to just look at each other and then back toward the base in the distance. Roman wanted to fight, but he was unsure If there was still going to be a fight at the NO base by the time they got there, [color=0072bc]“Steve. Do you know where this Midgard bridge is?” [/color]he knew what this meant. He would be getting in between a force of NO’s and this unknown squad who could very well be just as dangerous. “[i]Nothing ventured nothing gained[/i]” he thought to himself.

Steve was quiet for a moment, he seemed lost in thought as he tried to think, [color=f26522]“ye-yeah I know where it is. It’s not that far out of the way.”[/color] The young man seemed a bit shaky but otherwise alright. [color=f26522]“So what are we going to do when we get there? Do we have any kind of plan?”[/color] the kid was right he really didn’t have a plan.

“[color=0072bc]Well since you know where it is you drive[/color]” a bit of awkward swerving and repositioning as the two switched places while the truck was still moving. [color=0072bc]“Here’s the plan, you drive I shoot. If the vehicle wrecks take cover at the wreck and aim for drivers, shooters, wind shields, tires, and engine blocks. If we eliminate their mobility, it will be easier to take them out.” [/color]Roman quickly reached behind them into the back and put two rifles on his seat and another next to Steve with three full magazines.

[color=0072bc]“We have limited ammo and nothing to reload. Pick your shots carefully and don’t spray in pray like you Americans are used too.” [/color]Roman began to quickly clean what he could off the rifles and do a quick inventory of what they were able to get off the men from earlier. [color=0072bc]“9 full magazines, 2 half magazines. One rifle that ain't worth a dam, 3 AK’s that will work, 2 9mm pistols with two mags each.”[/color] So far it's okay, he can definitely work with this. [color=0072bc]“2 smoke grenades and 3 frag grenades, don’t rely on these you can’t get inside them to clean it so you can have one of each with a pistol and that rifle.”[/color]

Honestly he didn’t trust the other man with these but hey if it’s stupid but it works it’s not stupid. He took a moment to try to remember where he heard that from when Steve spoke up from the driver seat, [color=f26522]“hey I don’t know if it matters or not but those guys you killed, they were the local enforcers, and we would see them a lot around town. Anyways the big guy liked to carry around a rocket launcher with him I think.”[/color]

A short pause from Steve as he turned down the dry riverbed. The road continued to get worse as they drove towards smoke in the distance, [color=f26522]“maybe check under the seat? They took it with them whenever they did negotiations but never fired it.”[/color]

A rocket launcher would be useful, the other NO wouldn’t pay entirely too much attention to them as they were driving one of their vehicles. He doubted that he would get more than one shot off though. Going to have to make it count while he lifted up the bench seat in the back. Sure enough under the seat was an RPG launcher and 1 Rocket. Carefully even through the bumpy ride Roman picked both items up and moved them to the front seat where he immediately started inspecting them, [color=0072bc]“yeah this will work.” [/color]He thought out loud.

>>>

They hadn’t been driving along the river bed for too long. In the amount of time it took Roman to get all the weapons sorted they had nearly arrived at the bridge. They were still in the dry riverbed although a rough road it did allow them to approach unnoticed. [color=0072bc]“Alright Steve get us up there, and we will assume any formation the NO are using to get in close to their biggest target.”[/color] The other man didn’t say anything but did start turning up hill and out of the small gorge.

In the distance they could see the source of the small cloud of smoke. It looked like a transport vehicle carrying something on a flatbed. Whatever they were carrying was concealed by a tarp but the reason they had stopped looked like some severe damage to the front end. Behind the transport where several vehicles, some had stopped but others were still gunning straight for the transport. The largest of the perusing vehicles was a rather large lightly armored vehicle that seemed to be breaking off from the main group. A few smaller trucks followed it. Roman could only figure that it was trying to draw some fire from the transport.

The masked man pointed out the larger vehicle, [color=0072bc]“that’s our target, try to intercept it just make it look like we are going back toward the main group.” [/color]Steve nodded and started turning towards the other NO vehicles. While he was doing that Roman checked the RPG one more time before putting the other grenades and mags in his pockets. He even took the time to put a few of the mags in Steve’s pockets as well.

There was no going back. The duo were committed, the transport had seen them but only flashed its lights a few times before continuing on. As they slowly drew closer to the vehicle Roman opened his door and stepped one foot out onto the running boards propping the RPG up and towards the damaged flat bed. He was trying to make it seem like he was going to fire it at them but only needed the other transport to see him do this.

It was risky sure. It made him a target to the people they were here to help. A priority target, man with a rocket launcher pointed at them. But, he was hesitating. He had a clear shot at the flat bed, but he did nothing. That was until they were fifty yards from the NO transport. Almost like a radar finding a new target the masked man snapped to the NO transport and fired. A puff of white and the flash of a rocket streaked through the air finding its target in the side of the armored transport.

The transport erupted into flames the other vehicles following it swerved and circled back momentarily confused by the sudden attack before doubling back towards the truck that had fired the weapon. The slight thrill of seeing his target get hit made the man laugh. Throwing the launcher back into the truck he grabbed one of the rifles and began taking shots at some other vehicles. The Russian aimed for tires and drivers trying to knock out as many vehicles as he could while also drawing as many of these NO away from the flat bed and back toward the main group.

“[color=f26522]White knuckle ride![/color]” Steve spoke up clenching his hands on the steering wheel. Shots began coming into their vehicle now. Shattering glass and puncturing metal. The small back windows shattered first followed by a few shots into the side of the truck, [color=f26522]“well I think our covers been blown boss.”[/color]

Steve’s humor was a good sign, it at least showed Roman he wasn’t going to freeze up just yet. Still, there was a fight to win. The former Russian wanted nothing more to take out these vehicles and engage them in close combat but that would have to wait. For now, he knew of one thing they could do to slow down these barbarians. “[color=0072bc]You’re not going to like this but I need you to get us into the center of those guys over there than double back around towards that flat bed.”[/color]

Steve didn’t say anything, but he was sure he saw the young man smile. This guy was turning out to be quite the adrenaline junkie. Honestly he was glad the young man came along. But he knew he couldn’t dwell on why the man was here or who he was, after all there was a battle to win. And he intended to win.