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runmakitarunDushka is still on the left flank. Pinned down, but under cover. Old Katarina (the only Katarina now that Katya's gone) has the right flank under control. Boris and Nina are setting up the machine gun on the second floor of the old flower shop.
But the Reds are armed too, and they're shooting back. Timosha takes a round through the left leg. When Rita rushes forward to drag him into cover the dying starts; the bullets rip through her face, mangling the cheekbones that everyone admired. On the right a grenade leaves the squad without any Katarinas.
"Vanya, we need those mortars and we need them now!"
"Already on the way, Maki. You should hear them now."
Boris has the machine gun in action now. Its steady fire takes on the rhythm of the battle itself. And, distantly at first, but growing louder, the whistle of incoming mortar shells.
The Reds can hear them too. There's no overhead cover in the park. Anyone still there in fifteen seconds is going to be dead. With Dushka and Klara on the left, and with Boris and Nina covering them, there's no chance for the Reds to break out on that side. But Katarina, Timosha, and Rita are all down, and that means there's a chance that the Reds could push through and get into the buildings on the right.
She's running, sprinting for the position Old Katarina was holding. And there they are, five Reds, trying to make it across the street into cover. Another few seconds and they'll have it, too. So she doesn't give them those seconds.
Guns are terrible weapons, but never more terrible than when they come unexpectedly. Three of the Reds are down by the time the other two can figure out where the fire is coming from. The fourth goes down while they try to turn their weapons to meet the new threat.
A pair of pistols steam in the cold air and click empty just as she barrels into the last one and they both go down in a tangle. He's bigger, almost twice her size, but the outcome is decided before they hit the ground. She's smaller than him, and weaker, but she hates. The fall leaves him dazed just long enough for her to draw the knife from his belt.
The first strike (for Timosha) is in the gut. There is a yell as he explosively exhales, and then a panicked wheeze as he discovers that he can't catch his breath.
The second strike (for Rita) is across the inside of the thigh. Arterial blood begins pooling on the ground, and his eyes begin to glaze over.
The third strike (for Old Katarina) is in the eye. In under the angle of his faceplate and into the brain. His body stills as he leaves the war in Bahamut in the only way possible.
The fourth strike (for Katya), the fifth (for Sergei), the sixth (for Dmitri), the seventh (for Lara), the eighth (for Olga), the ninth (for Oleg), and the tenth (for Lana and marik and Misha and filya and....). Each of them unnecessary. Each of them utterly necessary.
And the mortars fall. And the Reds die. And Makita sits on top of a cooling corpse spattered with blood and weeps for her dead as she has done so many times before.
And as she has done so many times before, she takes a deep breath, dries her eyes on her sleeve, and stands up. She starts to walk away, back to her squad, but pauses to kneel and pull the warm fur hat from the dead man's head.
She promised Stephanie that she would get her one.
But the Reds are armed too, and they're shooting back. Timosha takes a round through the left leg. When Rita rushes forward to drag him into cover the dying starts; the bullets rip through her face, mangling the cheekbones that everyone admired. On the right a grenade leaves the squad without any Katarinas.
"Vanya, we need those mortars and we need them now!"
"Already on the way, Maki. You should hear them now."
Boris has the machine gun in action now. Its steady fire takes on the rhythm of the battle itself. And, distantly at first, but growing louder, the whistle of incoming mortar shells.
The Reds can hear them too. There's no overhead cover in the park. Anyone still there in fifteen seconds is going to be dead. With Dushka and Klara on the left, and with Boris and Nina covering them, there's no chance for the Reds to break out on that side. But Katarina, Timosha, and Rita are all down, and that means there's a chance that the Reds could push through and get into the buildings on the right.
She's running, sprinting for the position Old Katarina was holding. And there they are, five Reds, trying to make it across the street into cover. Another few seconds and they'll have it, too. So she doesn't give them those seconds.
Guns are terrible weapons, but never more terrible than when they come unexpectedly. Three of the Reds are down by the time the other two can figure out where the fire is coming from. The fourth goes down while they try to turn their weapons to meet the new threat.
A pair of pistols steam in the cold air and click empty just as she barrels into the last one and they both go down in a tangle. He's bigger, almost twice her size, but the outcome is decided before they hit the ground. She's smaller than him, and weaker, but she hates. The fall leaves him dazed just long enough for her to draw the knife from his belt.
The first strike (for Timosha) is in the gut. There is a yell as he explosively exhales, and then a panicked wheeze as he discovers that he can't catch his breath.
The second strike (for Rita) is across the inside of the thigh. Arterial blood begins pooling on the ground, and his eyes begin to glaze over.
The third strike (for Old Katarina) is in the eye. In under the angle of his faceplate and into the brain. His body stills as he leaves the war in Bahamut in the only way possible.
The fourth strike (for Katya), the fifth (for Sergei), the sixth (for Dmitri), the seventh (for Lara), the eighth (for Olga), the ninth (for Oleg), and the tenth (for Lana and marik and Misha and filya and....). Each of them unnecessary. Each of them utterly necessary.
And the mortars fall. And the Reds die. And Makita sits on top of a cooling corpse spattered with blood and weeps for her dead as she has done so many times before.
And as she has done so many times before, she takes a deep breath, dries her eyes on her sleeve, and stands up. She starts to walk away, back to her squad, but pauses to kneel and pull the warm fur hat from the dead man's head.
She promised Stephanie that she would get her one.
