Oh, Snow!

"Ah, man, that was…"

Cooper coughed and broke free of the debris of the bombs' shockwave. He picked up his M416 and wore the SMAW on his back. "Well, time to get movin'."

After walking through the woods for an hour, he found the US military base in a clearing.

"Hey, Jacob! Wait up!" he had to run as fast as his legs could carry him, to grab the tip of the rear flap of the last gunship departing. He climbed aboard as the flap shut tight and the darkness of the interior approached his eyes. His pupils adjusted to the dim, red light inside.

"Where have you been, Black? We've been looking all over for ya."

"Looking? Does leaving me here, alone, count as 'looking' for me?"

"Aw, c'mon, Cooper! We were just kiddin' with ya."

Cooper frowned as his breathing returned to normal.

"So what's the plan?"

Dan Walker cleared his throat. "Gentlemen, it has been a successful operation. But, according to the intel the scouts have gathered from the bombing site, there's another one of these Russian fortresses at Zhigansk. There has been a change of plan. The nuke has been transported to that depot. So we're gonna have to control our patience and temper. Remember – the Russians aren't our enemy. Only kill those who try to kill you. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"10-4."

"Roger."

"Affirmative."

Cooper Black removed the gadget from his forearm.

"This," he showed the others. "is called the FLAW, Fast Light Armor and Weapon. I got this from Symbiocyte on the day before we left. It has a grappling hook attachment, a homing flare launcher, a tungsten shield, a built-in RLC, and ofcourse a laser-lock-on homing system that calls in a wave of GSFERs. Neat, huh?"

Everyone just made a bored face and clapped their hands in false awe.

"Okay, so are you done yet, Black?" Dan Walker didn't feel pleased by the 'waste of time'. "So let me continue… when we'll reach the air depot of the fortress, one of us will steal a plane and attract some military attention. This will let the others safely pass through the Zhigansk fort's security. Then we might get a chance to capture the nuke before they smuggle it away again."

"And who's going to be the 'plane-stealing' person?" Cooper felt all the eyes stare at him silently. "Oh…"

***

BOOM! The AA towers collapsed by the impact of B-2 bombers. The fortress at Zhigansk was epic. Hell epic. It was the size of sixteen Olympic-sized stadiums. Alarms blared. Russian marines flooded out of their barracks and mounted turrets.

"Move, move, c'mon! Don't just stand there!" Dan Walker led the squad in a long column formation towards the 'Azak' landing site. "Black, you go get some flanking fire on those 11.8 mm coaxial secondaries! Beware of secondaries!"

They crouched and avoided being blasted by heavy artillery. The snow and rock was being thrust into smoke clouds as the RPGs and missiles landed on the ground.

Before the B-2 could escape, the Stingers hit the wide hull of the plane. It exploded like a metal firework star.

The squad was just 900 metres away from the Zhigansk fortress.

A howitzer cannon launched a shell.

800 metres.

The shell was aimed at the US marines.

700 metres.

A Russian SU-25 jet flew overhead.

600 metres.

The SU-25 was heading towards the squad. Its LMG turrets were ready to shoot.

500 metres.

TASH-IOOU! The heavy long-range flak cannons barraged at Cooper's team. Each shell crackled and popped like spherical fireballs.

400 metres.

Everyone sidestepped as the SU-25 tried to shower them with bullets. Li'l Jacob almost got shot by a RPG. Rogue Jacob began assembling a SMAW. Dan Walker commanded them to continue running.

300 metres.

Instantly, rocket artillery got activated in the fortress and the path ahead was blocked by a stable rain of firepower.

"Fallback, and follow me!" Sgt. Dan Walker led the troops to the cover of some icy white bushes. The snow from the ground and the whiteness of the bushes might help in camouflage. Rogue Jacob had to prone to get over there.

More SU-25s had arrived and were pinning them down. Luckily, the smoke produced by the impact of the shots hid the US marines from view. More US marines joined in, from the southern side.

A BK-177 chopper beheld more elite troopers from the American side, who suppressed the attacks against the flak cannons.

One of them loaded a Stinger and slid open the helicopter door. He aimed at one of the seven SU-25s flying around them, this way and that. He pulled the trigger to unleash a homing missile that hit the core of the jet. One down, six to go.

The 'Lizardshitter' squad (Dan Walker + Cooper Black + The City Dogs) had to wait until their turn. It was a fight of heavy weaponry; they had to have patience for letting the other squads breach a hole in the security system. It was absolutely impossible for puny infantry to make even a tiny dent in the fortress's walls.

The fortress was built on a plateau with double layers of walls for primary defense. Atop these double walls, Russian troops patrolled around the scenario, looking out for intruders. Many watchtowers had been set up for this job. If any soldier did find any intruders near them, all he had to do was alert one of the watchtowers. Then alarms would blare and everyone would mount their weapons – LMGs, MG nests, flak cannons, RPGs, AT turrets, AA towers, stored fighter/bomber aircraft, and even LAVs.

A Growler LAV (stolen from the Americans) was advancing from the western side to aid against the siege at the southern side. A MG turret was attached to it, mounted by a Russian mongrel. The driver was accompanied by another soldier, firing away at nearby US marines with an AEK-971.

The Growler turned round the corner and the menacing BK-177 was in their line of sight. The driver muttered something in Russian, "Get the helicopter! Kiril, mount the MG. Sikorsky, fire up the Stingers."

"Got it, Mir," the person named Sikorsky held out a Stinger on his shoulder. "Fire in the hole!"

The missile directly hit the chopper midair. The helicopter's rotor blades got carried away by the explosion. As for the marines onboard, they had been roasted by the bitter flames. The empty shell of the burning BK-177 dropped onto the snowy ground.

Back at the eastern side, the Lizardshitter squad's path ahead was still blocked by the continuous showering of the rocket artillery. In the meantime, Rogue Jacob had set up the SMAW but only had one shell left. The ammo drops were on the southern side. Great, now he had only one shot at this. All he had to do was aim for the tall communication antenna just within their range. He took a deep breath. He let it out again.

The SU-25s zoomed across their hiding spot.

"Did it see us?" Carl asked Cooper. "Oh, we're so doomed! Quick! RJ, what're you waiting for? Go! Go, this is your chance!"

Rogue Jacob took another deep breath and lifted the AT to his shoulders. He ran like Sonic the Hedgehog, going closer and closer to the rocket artillery shower.

250 metres.

He closed his eyes and thought of his parents, his target, his country. "FOR AMERICA!!!"

He ran straight through the curtain of death. He did it! He made it through! He locked onto the red-and-white striped tower-like structure and released the missile.

The missile hit the antenna and split it apart. Its top portion creaked off its center of mass and landed on top of the rocket artillery trucks.

But the Russians hit RJ with a MG.

"Ha-aaaaaaah!"

He dropped to the snow with a spray of blood.

"Nooo!"

"Jacob!"

"Brother!"

"Bud!"

Rogue Jacob was injured bad. But he didn't give up. He used his M416 to launch a grenade into the MG nest. He killed the Russian bastard who had shot him in the first place.

Although he was this close to death, he had hopes to survive. He had hopes to live. He creeped towards the walls, with his hands. He slung himself against the wall and leaned on it. He waved a bloody hand to the others and smiled.

But the smile faded away as his soul left the Earth.

Out of the skies, a ballistic missile landed at the western side. Moments later, a huge mushroom cloud was observed, followed by a booming sound. Weirdly enough, the mushroom cloud was covered with blue-white electric sparks.

"It's an ICBM!" Dan Walker was shocked to see such an explosion. "But it's also of the type I've never seen before!"

Cooper Black charged towards Rogue Jacob. He had some hope left that RJ was still alive. He had already lost Exodus Luke and his brother. He couldn't afford to lose any more friends.

He reached the walls and began tugging at Rogue Jacob's dying body with his grappling hook. He pulled and pulled.

A gunship had arrived near the squad's cover, with its rear flap facing towards the west. The flap opened and six soldiers quickly marched to Cooper Black and took the burden of a body away from him.

"Take him to a hospital or a medic, quickly!" Cooper watched the half dozen marines carry RJ's body to safety. "I said QUICKLY!"

When the gunship was out of sight, he turned towards the 40 feet high walls of the damnable Russian fortress. "Ghost Walker, you're sooo going down!"

He charged towards the walls with the FLAW on his right forearm. He shot the grappling hook at the concrete and began accelerating towards it, like a magnet being attracted to a large slab of metal.

When he set his foot onto the wall, he released his grip hold just as he shot the grappling hook towards another destination. He released the grip hold once again and climbed atop the first wall.

"Intruder!" a Russian spotted him from a watchtower, 100 metres away, on the side of the second wall, 10 feet higher than the first.

The first wall, on the eastern side, was empty; it had been swept clean by missiles launched by a F-117 stealth aircraft, hidden high above the clouds. Only the dead, bloody corpses of the Russian soldiers remained on top of the wall.

The MG nests had been cleared, the RPGs were lying at the feet of their dead users, and the Stinger soldiers had fled to the second wall.

The distance between the two walls were covered by snowy padding. A few AA towers and flak cannons remained vigil on top of the padding, unmounted by anyone.

The first part of Operation Ghost Striker had been accomplished. But the trouble was yet to begin.

An AP Zenite turret aimed at Cooper Black from atop the second wall. Before he could think of anything, the enemy opened fire.