JiU and her team arrived at Washington at night. Luckily there was no attack on her convoy along the way to DC. They helped unloading the wounded from the convoy when a soldier came looking for her.
"Rabbit! Is someone called Rabbit here?" The soldier shouted amidst the chaos.
"Boy, I really need to change my callsign....." She shook her head and went towards him.
"Rabbit here. What's up?"
"Ma'am the colonel requested for you and your team. If you follow me please." The soldier replied. JiU called the girls and followed him to the command room.
"You're Rabbit?" Ackham asked.
"Yes. Who am I speaking with?" JiU saluted.
"Colonel Ackham. Thank you for your service." Ackham shook JiU's hand.
"What can I do for you, sir?" JiU asked
"Your CO is looking for you. She's sorting the men as we speak. Follow me." Ackham answered and started walking. JiU and the girls followed suit. If he said CO, that means CL is here.
"What's the situation in DC, sir?" JiU inquired
"FUBAR. Sporadic fighting everywhere. Some of the ground troops were cut off and behind enemy lines. A lot of civilians are still trapped in crossfire." Ackham filling JiU up.
"So your order?" JiU further asked.
"That's not up to me. You are independent body in this. Your CO will give your orders. But I assure your help is greatly appreciated. She's in there. Good luck, soldier." Ackham shook JiU's hand again and left.
JiU entered the staging area and saw CL was briefing the Rangers and Delta. They found a spot and listened through the briefing. The mission is simple; the Rangers will reinforce the advancing while the Delta, 21, Red Velvet, and her team will do a SAR (Search and Rescue) from the rear and box the enemy into the killzone.
"Do this right, we will paint DC with their blood by dawn. Any civvies we found, push them back away from the AO. Ackham will prepare to receive them. Load up. We go in 15. Grab some chow if you can. It's gonna be a long night. Dismissed." CL ended her briefing. Everyone moved out of the staging area to do their things. JiU and the rest went forward to greet everyone.
"CL unnie!" JiU ran up and hugged her tightly. CL patted her head and greeted the others.
"Hey, dipshit." Irene nodded to SuA.
"Hey, jackass. Still alive huh?" SuA smirked at Irene.
"Not until I put a Colombian Necktie on you first." Irene grinned and hugged SuA. SuA returned her hug.
"John! What are you doing here?! What's with the gears?" Dami surprised as she saw John with the 21.
"You crazy? You're the president for fuck's sake. What the hell are you thinking going out in the field?!" Handong yelled at John.
"I rescinded my position. Besides, I would be at ease more when I fight side by side with my daughters." John chuckled.
"You're out of your mind! Get back, now!!" Handong pushed John back.
"I know you're worried about me. Don't be, okay? I'm fine. Besides, I'm fighting along with 21. See you on the field. Watch each others back, okay?" John smiled and walked away. Suddenly he felt his back were tugged.
"Don't go...." Handong tugged John's back, her face wet with tears. Dami was right beside her, holding her tears back.
"Don't forgive me that easily. I don't deserve it. Not after what I did to both of you. Stay frosty out there." John tugged away from Handong's hold and regroup with his team. SuA and Siyeon watched and went for them.
"Don't worry about him. He'll be fine. He has 21 with him." SuA patted Handong's shoulder.
"Come on. We're up next." Siyeon took Dami's arm.
"All right! Let's roll!" CL shouted to the men. All of them moved in on their respective carriers, ready to jump into action.
"Dami, Handong. You don't have to worry about John. He's in good hands right now. CL unnie will look after him, so keep your minds at ease, okay?" JiU looked back to them at the back seats.
"Yeah. Don't worry so much, okay DongDong?" Siyeon smiled at Handong.
"Don't call me that!" Handong chuckled through her tears.
"Now that's a good face. Alright girls. Mask on. Let's free DC tonight." JiU yelled as she put on her face mask.
-
"Rendezvous with the Rangers. They're amassing troop for retaking Whiskey Hotel. Go." JiU briefed the soldiers she saved.
"Roger. Thanks, Rabbit. There two more teams 300 meters from here. Help them pulling back." The soldier shook JiU's hand.
"Wilco. Any intel of the enemy strength?" JiU asked.
"No, but they were hit pretty bad and surrounded. There might be civvies with them. Just get them out." The soldier replied.
"Okay. Go now. The challenge is Star, the countersign is Texas." JiU added.
"Lazarus, what's the sitrep?" JiU called for Irene.
"RABBIT! NEED ASSISTANT! WE'RE PINNED DOWN! WE GOT APCs AND HINDs ON OUR ASSES AND NO ORDINANCE TO TAKE THEM DOWN. HOW COPY, OVER?" Irene screamed through her comm.
"Hang tight, Lazarus. We'll be there. RV is pinned down hard. We're going for them. Let's go!" JiU waved at the girls and moved out.
Irene position was hit hard. All the American soldiers were down; killed or decapitated. Only Irene, Seulgi, and Joy were resisting against the horde. The civilians were picking up the guns and fought back. Yeri was hit pretty bad. Her stomach was torn opened, spilling her guts to the ground. Wendy was trying to patch her up, but she was hit too. Half of her face was disfigured, but it didn't stop her from performing her duty as a field medic.
SuA immediately ran to them to assist. Handong and Siyeon were covering and pulling the civilians out from the combat zone, while JiU and Dami joined Irene in the firefight.
"How the hell did this get so fucked up?!" JiU shouted to Irene while returning fire.
"No idea. Must be along the path of their supply route. Shit! Crow, Viper! We almost lost our left flank. Go!" Irene ordered Seulgi and Joy. They immediately filled in the left flank.
"Rabbit! Civvies out. Green on ability!" Handong reported.
"I can only make one EMP. I'm almost drained." JiU replied while concentrating the energy ball in her hands.
"As long as the vehicles out. Viper, Siren. Get ready to rush in. We're dry on ammo. Time for CQB." Irene gave her order.
Siyeon and Joy readied themselves, waiting for the signal. Siyeon took out her talons while Joy put on her tiger claws. JiU threw the energy ball to the center of the enemy troops, bursting in a large radius. The EMP burst disabled the APCs and the Hinds and throwing the enemies into confusion.
"NOW!!" Irene shouted, rushing onwards.
Siyeon and Joy were already in contact with the enemies, engaging into close quarter battle (CQB). The other kept their fire until they were in range. The firefight turned into hand to hand skirmishes.
Siyeon and Joy really went overboard with their engagement. The enemies were torn into pieces by them. No mercy was shown at all. Joining later were SuA, Wendy, and Yeri.
"That's for the RPG, asshole!" Yeri smashed the enemy head against the ground, smashing them into pieces.
In 10 minutes, the area of operation (AO) was painted in red. The enemies flee for their lives. Their surrounding went still.
"Fuck.... For a moment I thought I'm going to die..." Yeri exhaled in exhaustion.
"You and me both, love." Wendy hugged Yeri and kissed her head.
Irene stumbled down in exhaustion. Seulgi ran towards her, in panic.
"Lazarus! You okay?" Seulgi shook Irene in panic.
"I'm fine, Crow. Just tired." Irene waved her hand. Seulgi pulled her up on her feet.
"Thanks, Rabbit. I owe you one." Irene thanked JiU.
"You don't owe me anything, Lazarus. You'd do the same if it was me." JiU grinned.
"We need to resupply. There's two more teams stuck in the ditch 500 metres from here." JiU ordered.
"With what? We're deep behind enemy line." Yeri questioned JiU.
"With that." Dami pointed at the fallen soldiers.
"It's a bit morbid, but we have to. We got a long way to go, Atom" Wendy assured Yeri.
They nodded in agreement, and went to scour through the bodies for ammunition.
"Sorry... But we need it to save your brethren." Joy closed the fallen soldier's eyes and pay him a prayer before searching his body for ammunition.
Each of them pay their respect at the dead soldiers before searching their bodies. They laid bodies to rest in proper position and tagged them for SARs team to recover later on. Once they filled up, they reconfirmed the teams' locations and splitted up according to their plans.
"Stay safe, girls. See you later." Irene bid her farewell to JiU and her team and made her way to the next objective.
The next objectives weren't as much harder than the previous but the resistance from the enemy is quite substantial. They managed to complete their objectives without further casualties. JiU called CL to report.
"Good job, Rabbit. Lazarus has made her way to Whiskey Hotel. We will wait for you there. Athena's out" CL responded.
"Okay, we're going for the final push for Whiskey Hotel. Red Velvet and 21 are waiting for us there. Let's move out!" JiU yelled to her team.
-
"Hammerdown is in effect. I repeat, Hammerdown is in effect. If you are receiving this transmission, you are in a hardened high-value structure. Deploy green flares on the roof of this structure to indicate that you are still combat effective. We will abort our mission on direct visual contact with this counter-sign." The transmission rang throughout the White House.
The 21 division were giving their all in an attempt to retake DC back from the hands of the enemies. JiU dare to say this has to be the hardest mission they have ever do.
"What's Hammerdown? What were they saying?" Siyeon yelled through the gunfire.
"Shit! Control Command has assumed the city has fallen. They going to flatten the city!" Handong yelled back.
"WHAT?! But we still got boots on the ground here. The fuck they're trying to do?!" JiU stopped firing upon listening to Handong.
"Rabbit, we need to get topside and marked our building. If not, we're gonna get blown to bits!" Dami urged JiU.
"How much time we have left?" JiU asked Dami. Dami pulled two fingers out indicating two minutes.
"Goddamnit, one after another. Pushed in harder! I'm granting green on ability. Go!" JiU put down her rifle and shot thunderbolt to the enemies. Down on the 21 and Red Velvet locations, glimpses of ability usages can be seen. CL and Irene must have been desperate for time too.
They rushed topside, charging recklessly and obliterating anyone or anything on their paths. Their bodies were riddled with gunshot wounds but it didn't stop them from marking the building. The enemies were perplexed by what they had seen. They shot and blasted them but they still can move and fight. Some of them turned tails but the one who stayed became the object of unleashing their wrath.
"GO, GO, GO!!!" JiU screamed.
Siyeon rushed upwards, punched the wall of the room and destroyed it to give the jet fighters a better view of her marking. She popped her green flares and waved them. Dami followed suit and did the same. The jet fighters aborted their bombing and flew past them, bombing any other unmarked structure.
Siyeon lost her balance and stumbled down, only to be caught by Dami. Both of them were drenched in their own bloods, from head to toes.
"Hey, hey.... You okay?" Dami patted Siyeon's cheek. Siyeon coughed out blood and her breathing laboured.
"Yeah.... Took too much rounds. God, that's hurt..." Siyeon heaved through her words.
"Medusa, I need you up here. Siren's down." Dami reported to SuA.
The rest of them came topside. SuA ran towards Siyeon to check on her. Luckily, she was just suffering exhaustion due to her countinous rapid regenerative ability. Suddenly, their comm activated.
"Rabbit, where are you?" It was CL.
"Still kicking. What is it, Athena?" JiU asked.
"All of you, get to my position now. It's Diablo..." CL trailed her words off. JiU doesn't feels good about it.
"Girls, we need to get to Athena's now. Something's wrong with Diablo." JiU urged all of them. SuA carried Siyeon on her back and all of them ran towards CL's location.
"Athena, what's wro- Oh... Fuck...." JiU stopped upon seeing John's condition.
John were battered. He lost his right side's limbs and bleeding profusely from his back. Dara did her best to stopped his bleeding. Dami and Handong screamed upon what they saw, they rushed to John's side.
"SuA! Help! Do something!" Dami yelled at SuA. Handong cradled John's head in her lap.
"Sorry, but I have no more injection left...." SuA replied slowly.
"JiU, your blood! Plea-" Dami stopped when she felt a hand touched her cheek.
"Da...mi... Handong..." John spoke weakly. Dami grabbed his hand and put it in her cheek.
"John! John! Stay with us!" Dami broke into tears.
"My daughters..... Forgive me..." John wheezed. Tears fell from his eyes.
"We forgive you. We forgive you! PLEASE, JIU!! SAVE HIM!" Handong screamed at JiU. JiU took out her knife to draw her blood, but John stopped her.
"No.... This is it for me. My penance for the sins I've committed to my daughters..." John took in one last breath, and laid still
"John... Papa!! PAPA!! NO! NOOOOO!!!!!!" Handong screamed while hugging John tightly. Dami hugged John's body and wailed loudly.
CL broke into tears and kneeled on one knee. The rest of them followed as a sign of paying their final respects.
"Goodbye, my love. Wait for me on the other side..." CL muttered under her breath.
DC has been freed. But at a great cost. The casualties were too great and the war is only halfway done. New York is still under a tight grip of the enemy. Handong carried John's body in her arms as they made their way back to the command post (CP).
The rest of the troops were already in celebration over the successful retaking, but went gloom upon watching Handong. What she was carrying. They all went to the casualty collection point (CCP) to register John's death. It was not long after Ackham burst into the CCP to search for John. He grabbed CL's arm and turned her around.
"Where is he?" Ackham panted. His face was grim.
"He's gone. I'm sorry, Bob." CL looked into Ackham's eyes and pointed towards John.
Ackham rushed by John's side, fell into his knees in grief. He broke into tears. The CCP went quiet when they realized that it was their president who laid on the ground. Ackham turned to CL for explanation.
"How did he die?" Ackham asked CL.
"Indirect contact with RPG. He didn't realize it until the last moment. Took off his right limbs and almost tore his body into half." CL explained to Ackham. Her voice wavered by sorrow.
"Reckless fool. I always hoped for once he thought about himself rather than others. I begged him not to go..." Ackham sobbed.
"He did his best for his country. Don't rob that away from him." Dara patted Ackham's shoulder.
"Damn it, John.. Damn you!" Ackham punch the ground in agony.
-
John's funeral was held in DC amidst the battlefield the next day. All of the survivors attended his funeral, soldiers and civilians alike. He was burnt on a pyre, a funeral fit for a warrior. The fire was lit by the love of his life, CL.
As the fire roared in the dark of night, the it lit the embers in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians, turning it into raging fire. They watched their president sacrificed his life in the name of freedom and fell for his country. They need to take back their country, by whatever means.
CL briefed Ackham on everything of Harrison's doing. Ackham couldn't believed his ear. A fellow American brought the whole country on its knees for the sake of profits. Ackham was enraged. What more was that the situation became dire and sensitive since the government higher up is involved in this coup. Now they really don't know who they should trust.
"Athena, Lazarus, and Rabbit. Help me rooting out these cocksuckers. I'll provide everything you need to bring Harrison to justice. Just as John's name etched in history as the symbol of freedom, Harrison will be marked as traitor of the nation." Ackham gritted his teeth in anguish.
"Consider it done." CL nodded. Before parting ways in search for Harrison, they made a final toast with water for John.
According to Greek mythology, the dead would always drink from the River Lethe in the depths of the Underworld, in order to forget their past, corporeal lives. As a result of this story, the Greeks would always toast to the dead with glasses filled with water to symbolize their voyage, via the river, to the Underworld.
"For John. A good lover, a great father, and a motherfucking excellent soldier and comrade. May Hades pissed his pants when you came knocking into his domain." CL raised her glass. The other followed and drank their water.
"See you girls later. Don't die just yet." Seulgi bid her farewell to JiU and her team.
"You too. You still owe me 200 bucks!" Siyeon yelled at Seulgi's back.
"Alright. Time to go. See ya unnies." They ran towards their carrier and started their next mission.
"How many hours from USA to Russia?" Siyeon asked Dami.
"No idea. But wake me up when we're there." Dami smiled.