2012-08-07 We Still Dream

The jungle humidity is something they never trained us for. They told us about the bugs. They said it would be miserable. They even said it would be hot... HOT doesn't quite cover it. It was like a film of sweat and grim covered your entire body the moment you wake up. Nevermind that jungle smell. Raw vegetation mixed with the smell of fresh dug earth filled their nostrils. That and the smell of expended munitions from the heavy bombing this place had received earlier that morning.

Their mission was simple find the tunnel complex Alpha Company found yesterday and investigate. Alpha Companies tunnel rat had been KIA'd early in the week or they would have done it themselves.. Instead it fell on her Psylocke's team to do the dirty work and their work was dirty.

Psylocke's hand went to the com link at her throat, "Alright, we're near that tunnel complex. Kitty, you're going in that bunker find any intel you can and then wire it to blow. Victor and Jennings, you're on security detail with me up here." She always hated these types of missions, but someone had to do it. "Copy?"

Kitty dug herself in to the suck, she'd been on dirt almost two weeks and was already starting to realize this whole draft business was for the birds. Walking through ankle deep jungle waters, sometimes disappearing beneath it's depth, always worried about foot rot. Machine gun up above her head as they sucked it up and did the work.

It wasn't pretty work.

Now, she crouched in some foliage looking through her scope at the tunnels she was going to have to go down in... being small had its perks, but it also had its drawbacks. "Copy that sarge." Said into her communications.

The sixties weren't known for their technology, but whatever... it was a dream.

The small mutant crept forward, curled down into the funky smelling dark hole weapon first and disappeared into the thick of it.

"Copy." He moved forward more aware of his environment than any, save for one, but he wasn't there. Standard army green fatigues, M-16, the whole shabang. And why not, it wasn't like the first shots would be putting him down. He scanned the jungle looking for anything that would give away Charlie. Anything the VC willing left for him to discover. He knew it would be a sound or a scent that would be the give away but he scanned anyways. Just in case.

Jennings, loud as usual came over the com, "COPY!" His standard issue M-16 with slight modifications was limp in his arms, barrel pointed at the ground. He was a liability, always was. He was sloppy. Even his gig-line was busted and crooked. The sound of his voice echoed across the trees and was silenced by the "RATATATATATAT" of heavy machine gunfire.

The jungle explode into motion and not that good motion like you see in the movies, but gunfire everywhere. Gun nests all around them opened up on their location. A hail of bullets showering Sabretooth in the point man position.

Psylocke was lucky to have a soldier like that intrusted to her. Hell if it weren't for him taking that stream of fire she would have been toasted right there. She made a mental note to thank him later, but now she was moving fast. Darting off to her left and diving headlong behind some thick foilage and a downed tree. "VICTOR! ON YOUR FEET! YOU GOT A BREAK WHEN YOU GOT THIS JOB!"

Meanwhile, Kitty is plunged into darkness, the sound of the gunfight behind her deafening but falling away as she slunk deeper into the tunnel. She could swear she heard voices echoing off the walls. Maybe she was just imagining it.

In the cramped space of the small tunnel, Kitty could barely stand much less level her M-16, so it was slung on her back in favor of the M1911 sidearm held at the ready position in front of her as she crept through the small area.

Checking every corner as she rounded with the barrel leading, ready to snap off shots as she cut through the zig zagging area of networking tunnels and crawl spaces towards the command and central intelligence center. No sense asking how things are going on the surface, by the sounds of it, it's getting hairy, no doubt because Jennings put himself out there all gung ho without a care in the world.

Drugs are bad.

"It's always the same," Victor thought. Some poor schmuck had to be first, and then, after they died, it was his job to go in and take the heat. Not that he didn't enjoy the satisfaction of ripping out throats or splattering kidneys. It was just the principle of the thing. If you wanted the job done right you sent his squad. So why not just send them first? Why not send only them? They would return. How many others never had a chance in this shit?

He watched the holes in his chest slowly fade. He rolled onto his stomach and remembered he wasn't here for fun. He took the standard kneeling firing position and started letting off rounds at different muzzle flashes. He taunted, "You're gonna piss me off in a second!"

Psylocke was pinned down behind the makeshift cover, dirt and wood shavings showering over her as the soldiers manning those nests unleashed on her position. She needed to see what she was dealing with. Her eyes fluttered shut and the world dropped away as she sent her consciousness out to scout for her. And it didn't take long to find what she was looking for.

About thirty meters out to her 12, 3, and 9 were the gun nests, paltry things in the grand scheme of things but in this instance they were bad for business. Two men were manning each one, a shooter and a spotter, the latter helping with ammo changes. This was going to be cake.

Her hand going back to her com link, "Victor, three nests, 12, 9, and 3 o'clock. You grab 3, I'll grab 9, and we meet in the middle." Things weren't as bad as they seemed until she sent her awareness down.

"Kitty! You are not alone down there." There were dozens of VC scrambling around in those tunnels, no-doubt trying to flank them.

Kitty heard the warning just as she rounded the corner on a group of three VC creeping up towards the same hole she'd entered. Her pistol came up quickly, snap snap snap, three quick triggers and she dropped them in a heap.

It was muscle memory that brought her back around the edge of the corner, tugging a grenade from her vest and pulling the pin between her teeth, flicking off the trigger with a clink'ting, and hurling it back over her shoulder down the tunnel into the darkness. Thick Vietnamese letting her know there were more soldiers behind the ones she just killed.

Down onto one knee, covering the exposed side of her face, with her pistol pointed out in a manner ready to shoot any lucky enough to survive the blast.

One clip down and the second came up to replace it. No thinking, just reacting, just the training, and the dull burn of live rounds that periodically found their mark. Victor felt his insides replacing the lost space that organs occupied. These poor bastards had no idea. A bullet caught him in the jaw, ripped the right side of his face away, and dropped him to his back. In the haze he felt tendons be reborn and with his tongue he felt his teeth return. He growled as he rolled to his knees and burst forward on all fours leaving his M-16 on the ground. He heard where they were hiding, and now it was play time.

Psylocke wasn't much for the jungle but the jungle lent itself to her craft. She spared a brief glance over the log towards her first target and saw plenty of treeline coverage on the way until about ten meters out. She sighed. It was never just easy.

She jumped from behind her cover and hitting an angle that would take her out to the far side flank away from the middle nest, she didn't want to end up in a crossfire. She could hear the bullets tracing her line and it seemed to her they were catching up to her. She reached the first set of thick trees she had been running for just in time. She sent an image of herself to the gunner of that nest, even as she slid to a stop behind the large trunk of the tree. The image continued on the same path she had been tracing through the forest.

This was her only chance, she rolled back out the way she had come in and charged straight at the nest. The sound of her katana coming free from it's sheath was muffled by the gunfire. As she came into clear view of the nest she could see the spotter's eyes wide with fear at her charging them. He hadn't gotten the image.

Big badda boom. Viet-nuggets. Kitty whipped back around and moved quickly, letting her eyes adjust to the gloom now that the lights have been busted by the explosion, but still taking care to take each angle carefully. The VC were far more acclimated to these conditions than the young soldier was.

"Sarge, I'm in the main room, going to start wiring the place once I've done a search of the area." She knows they're busy, but it never hurts to keep everyone topside abreast of the situation down below.

In a fashion akin to a beast, Victor felt his limbs move in perfect timing. The bullets were cutting through sections of the brush but they were missing him. Maybe the fear was reaching his enemy as they knew he was not a normal man. He cut sharply to the left, drawing the fire away with each stride. "Soon," he thought. He took to leaping from the ground and shouting at the two men in the nest that was his target.

The return fire continued but grew more erratic as the men realized he was almost there. Then he was gone. He faded into the dense underbrush and crept right up to the machine gun. Over their VC chatter, Victor rose to stare them in the face and scream before grabbing the barrel and bending it downwards, his hand seared from the heat. He then preceded to pick the gun up, destroying the cover the nest had, and using it like a club to beat both men to a horrible death. Convinced the men with no faces were disposed of he threw the remains of the gun towards the next nest.

He saw the fine edge of her sword descending on the gunner next to him. He was trying to call out to him but it was way too late for that. The heat of his comrades blood sprayed across him as that blade cut through skin and bone. He pulled his side arm and had full intention of using it on her but that woman was faster than he was. Her purple eyes reflected his fear back at him as the cruel blade came for him.

Charging at the nest Psylocke sent a wave of kinetic energy towards the roof, blasting it clear. The gunner was so caught up in her illusion that he had no idea what hit him as her blade cut through his face like nothing. The second soldier drew a sidearm, her blade came back up the blade angled for the cut, his hand came free as the blade passed through it at the wrist, and the downward slash tore the man's face and chest open.

She let a heavy breath out and turned back towards the last gun nest, "Copy that Cat. Victor how are you doing over there?"

A small table in that main room caught Kitty's eye, they weren't maps or troop placements. It was a schematic. Something big.

Kitty moved quickly to that schematic, unrolling the plans ontop of the table with a small flashlight pointed down over the lines after setting up a quick trigger claymore behind her in the doorway to give her a bit of breathing room in case someone caught on that she was in there.

"Got something big, sarge."

Rerolling it and slipping it into a case on her belt while going about setting up a systematic link of C4 to explode on a twist switch. It was a lot of wire, but that's why she didn't carry much ammunition, demolitions was an ugly business. "On my way back topside."

He picked up one of the dead men and advanced towards the next gun with him on his shoulder. Bullets found their mark but buried into the corpse that was his make shift shield. Over the com he joked, "Oh the humanity, mama. Oh the carnage. A man came running at me with little Jimmy on his shoulder." Victor stifled a chuckle but his mind was laughing loud enough for the VC to hear and understand.

Before he closed to striking distance, he politely threw the body towards the opening of the next nest where its leg managed to get lodged. The men in the nest frantically trying to push the corpse out.

Psylocke came out of the nest in a full sprint. She knew she had a good distance to cover before she could deal with the last nest. Movement to her right caught her eye. She put the brakes on quick and took some cover before letting her eyes focus in the direction of the movement. It didn't take her long to see the dozen or so VC were creeping out of a foxhole not twenty feet from her. They wouldn't be going home for dinner.

The two men in that nest worked hard to dislodge the corpse of their fallen ally and brought that terrible weapon to bear on the beast of a man in front of them. He had taken so many shots already but fear drove them at this point. They knew.. Scratch that, they hoped he would die.

From behind Kitty, "Whatcha got there, love?" The voice had an accent to it that was unlike anything she had ever heard. Turning she saw a white haired man in fatigues, a black eye patch, and twin revolvers in his hands. "I'll be needing that back before you leave, of course."

Kitty spun on the sound and brought her pistol up to the ready, but it was entirely too late for all that. Once the white haired man had a bead on you, that was the end of it. His revolver whipped out of it's holster like some gunfighter and blasted the M1 right out of her grip, pumping another fanned two rounds into it to juggle it before revolving it over his index finger and pushing it back down into the holster.

Kitty was.. ya know how it goes.. a little at a loss for words. It makes sense in this situation, "Would you believe no?" Shaking her head slowly as she watched the man, reaching up for one of the grenades on her vest as if he /wouldn't/ shoot her to take it. He'd be wasting his bullets, since she's phased, but it's not like he'd know that right?

The distraction of their friend's leg finding its way into their machine gun hideaway was all Victor would need to close the distance unseen. Unfortunately for Victor the gods saw fit to place a covered pit in his path which his left leg sank into. As the pain of punji sticks sank in, Victor fell to his back. He was about to pull them out before bullets ripped into his shoulders, neck, and chest. He was dog food, or so it seemed, because the bullets stopped. Victor's body started to repair what was done, thankfully the foliage would hide him until it was too late.

Psylocke barreled into the squad of VC soldiers like a drunk uncle at Christmas. All cursing and elbows, breaking everything in sight. The first man caught a booted heel to his lower back, the crack of his spine alerting his friends that something was amiss. The impact of the kick carrying him into another as she came past him. Her blade worked fast and hard. A cross cut spilled entrails to the jungle floor, she used the momentum to turn a full circle. She ducked into a crouch as she spun and caught two more at the knees. She watched as a barrel of an AK-47 leveled on her face the finger on the trigger squeezing. Faster than a blink grabbed that barrel and redirected it, the bullets tearing through another soldier. She plunged her blade into the man's chest and left it there. His grip loosened on his rifle and she spun it in her hands quickly until her finger felt the trigger and she started strafing. A hail of bullets finding the rest of the men.

When they were all down she came back over the com, "Victor? Give me a report!"

The pistol whipped out again, bullets flying at Kitty but passing right through her as she rushed towards the white haired man, through him, and back into the hallway at a dead run. That is made more complicated as she's forced to crouch into the tunnels, but she's trying to put at least a little distance between her and the explosion she's about to set off..

She doesn't have time to let him get to disarming things, however, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

and twists the trigger, pushing it down onto itself and diving... the explosion is going to throw her so far into the earth or towards the sky... it's really a toss up, but it's going to make a mess of things for sure. Not enough time to really think about that.

He felt whole again, but different. Victor pulled the punji sticks from his boot and centered his vision on the machine gun. That's when it happened, he didn't run- he didn't need to. He rose off of the ground and hovered above the machine gun and the men inside. From his eyes a blast of heat engulfed the nest and men writhed in pain screaming. Over the com Victor flatly states, "I'm flying." We he realizes, he screams, "Hell yes!"

Psylocke has seen some big explosions. Hell, she has set some off in her day, but the one that ripped the earth apart was one for the books. She hit the deck from the shaking that accompanied it. She couldn't help but hope Kitty got clear before that went off. There was a terrible foreboding that came along with that explosion.

"Everybody, status check NOW!" She normally wasn't all that snappy but it felt good to yell at people every now and again.

Her little moment was ruined when she realized that the ground was still shaking. Not the shake you feel from a explosion, but something different. Almost like an earthquake or something. Then she saw it.

A mountain of metal rising out of the earth not far from where she had just seen the blast. It had guns and rockets mounted on it and it looked fearsome. Were those arms? Oh shit it was looking at her.

Kitty was thrown like a baseball, hurtling through rock and dirt and all sorts of unmentionable structures until she tumbled out of the earth and flopped onto her back in a two inch puddle of leach infest water.

This is why people hate jungles.

Coughing, she sits up and glances back at the whining sound coming from back behind her, crawling over and grabbing her M-16 to move quickly back in the direction she'd flown and back towards her unit, "PFC Pryde reporting.." Snap snap Snap, three pulls of the trigger, one dead VC. Down on her knee.

"What the hell is that thing?" Raising her weapon to gaze at the mountain of metal, "And does it come in pink?"

Victor was amused with this new change of events and descended lading lightly on his left foot, which felt much better. He turned to the machinegun nest and blew it away, literally, with a gust of wind from his mouth that made the underbrush flail and carried the men inside into the trees. One found his mark and made one as his head splattered against a trunk. "I could get used to this. dun dun dah, Super Vic!" He was too enthralled with the new him that he missed the giant robot completely. "I gotta see that guy and get a cape..."

The behemoth shook the dirt and debris from it's large frame and loomed before the trio of would-be 'hero' types. The white haired man could be heard laughing over an unseen PA, "STOW THAT BULLSHIT ELLIAS!" A barrel on one of the arms of the gigantic arms produces a warhead shitting fire as it speeds to a point directly between the three.

A mushroom cloud billows over the canopy that can be seen for miles.

Betsy wakes from her sleep with a start. On the TV, Platoon is running. Willem Defoe's character is running from a horde of VC as he is left behind. She is glad that was all a dream but this part always makes her cry.