Battlefield 2078: A New Friend

Chapter 1: New Recruit

"I am not the leader" said Cut as he exchanged a glance with Wolf standing behind him.

"Might i ask who is?" Irion the leader of the Ordinack race said in his low voice that seemed like it could be heard from miles around just by its tempo.

"That would be me!" said Bat from the entrance way with his arm slung around Dark's shoulder so his shattered leg wouldn't drag on the ground. "My name is Joe but call me Bat while i'm on the job and i'm still working." "What in the hell is going on here Cut?"

"Well this is Irion he is the leader of the Ordinacks which are the aliens outside." he said pointing at Irion "he is a good guy like us trying to destroy the Volrachts."

"I see" Bat said as he winced in pain trying to make his leg adjust to a better position. "So Irion thanks for calling off your forces Dark couldn't handle them all and when Wolf went to find Cut i thought i was going to die." "No offense Dark" he said looking to his right to look at Dark.

"None taken you heavy bastard." said Dark with a groan. "Wolf give me a hand here!" Wolf ran over to help Dark as Irion turned to look at Bat.

"What happened to your leg?" Irion said as he examined it more closely.

"One of your soldiers got me pretty good." he said as he lifted his other arm up to let Wolf get under and take some of Bat's weight off of Dark.

"I am again terribly sorry and hope you are not angry." Irion said hastily.

"It's okay" said Bat as he hobbled closer to where Cut was still standing. "Cut open a com. link between me and the cap'n."

"This is captain Belisle here" he heard her say from the other side of the com link. "You didn't destroy the neo-aliens?"

"No need to!" said Bat a little excited "it seems they hate the Volracht as much as we do!"

"Good thing because they have a hell of a fleet out here we wouldn't stand a chance!" said Belisle who sounded like she couldn't believe what she was hearing."

"Okay now meet us in the hanger because I want to get out of here!" he said back taking a final look at the large room they where all in. "Bye Irion you don't mind staying in orbit around the planet until we come up with a plan for the final downfall of the Volracht do you?"

"I do wish to be part of the planning stage Bat" said Irion looking around the room to see what Bat was looking for.

"Okay it is only fair right?" said Cut as he switched the weight from his left leg to his right one.

"Cut is right do you have any means of getting to the surface?" said Bat focusing his gaze on Irion.

"I can provide my own transportation to the planet's surface i would only like that i am not attacked or feared in any way." said Irion.

"We can't guarantee the feared part but you will not be attacked." said Dark with a nervous laugh.

"Fine then i shall depart to the headquarters of your army as soon as possible." said Irion as he began to stand up. "But first i need the location of the base." After exchanging coordinates and what day and time he should show up captain Belisle came on the still open com. link with Bat.

"Okay boys i'm here this place looks a lot different without those aliens shooting at us." she said.

"Okay we will be right there." said Bat happy to finally get off this ship. "We need to go now Irion come down on the day we planned and we can plot the Volrachts destruction."

"Yes sir" said Irion as he turned around and walked off without making a sound.

Chapter 2: Out of Commission

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR LEG!?" screamed captain Belisle when she saw Bat's bloody and the shape it was in.

"Thos guys know there way around a particle beam I can tell you that." said Wolf as he sat down in one of the chairs and used a rag to stop his own wounds from bleeding.

"Why are only two of you hurt?" "I don't get it" she said staring at Bat's almost dismembered leg.

"We decided to split up" said Dark as he tore off Bat's pant leg so it wouldn't help any infections.

"Split up!? are you crazy? you sound like an old scooby-doo cartoon!" said Belisle as she turned around to walk back to the pilot seat. "At least one of the two groups gets attacked in that show and I guess you where the unlucky ones."

"No use complaining about it now." said Dark as he examined the leg more closely. "Just take us back to the base we need to get him to the medical center right away."

"Fine then but scare me like this again and heads will roll." said the captain making a guillotine motion with her hands. It took a long time to get to the planet's surface as they had to weave through all of the Ordinack ships so they wouldn't crash. They landed in the AV about twenty hours after they lifted off from the Ordinack hanger. The other soldiers that had fought on the outside of the ship taking out what seemed to be important pieces of equipment.

It took them a while to get to the medical center but when they finally did the staff took immediate action the wrestled him from Wolf and Dark's arms and carried him to a stretcher. They hoisted him up and took him into a room with no windows and told the remaining team to wait for some news on their friend.

"What do you think is going to happen?" said Wolf as the thirty minute mark went by on the clock.

"He's going to be fine!" said Cut in his cheery voice "The Joe i know from all those years back wouldn't let a broken leg do anything to him."

"I guess you're right" said Wolf relaxing a little.

"I just hope the poor guy won't have to give up being an SMO and get a desk job." said Dark as he rolled over on the five chairs his body length took up lying down.

"No no that's not going to happen for a long time." came a voice from the doorway.
"I am one of the doctors helping your friends leg in there and he is going to make a full recovery."

"Oh yeah!" yelled Wolf as he leaped from his chair and hugged captain Belisle. "I knew nothing could get to Joe!"

"Nice man!" yelled Dark as he fell three feet from the chairs he was trying to sleep on.

"Thank goodness" said the captain with a sigh. Cut didn't say anything but rather squealed in delight and ran around in circles obviously being the most worried person for Bat.

"Calm down Connor" said Dark as he stood up from the floor and walked towards Cut. He stopped his giddy rambling and sat down again staring at the doctor expectantly.

"Sadly he is not going on any missions for a pretty long time." the doctor said drooping his head low.

"Wait what!?" said Wolf "No missions? but the big fight is coming up!"

"His leg could give out again and then he would just become another problem for you and your team. It's best for all of you if he stays here and gets some rest." said the doctor looking at Wolf.

"You know he's right Gary." said the captain. "There is nothing he can do for you until he gets better."

"Is there anything we can do to help the guy?" said Dark as he cracked his stiff neck.

"Yes there is." said the doctor who seemed to be getting annoyed "You can go about your lives and leave your friend in the care of the professionals" "He is going to be fine."

"Okay guys let's get going before the doc pops a plug." said Belisle mocking the doctors obvious hair plugs.

Chapter 3: Preparation

"Man it's been a few weeks since Joe's hospitalization do you think he's okay?" said Cut as they waited what the final verdict would be on when the final Volracht battle would be.

"He could be dead for all we know" said Dark. "None of us have seen him since the day he got in there right?"

"No i see him all the time" said Wolf sarcastically "I hired a wizard to cast a healing spell on Joe's leg but he did it wrong so now he is a newt." Everyone laughed but nobody really thought it was funny that their friend was hospitalized for weeks. Suddenly the door of the meeting room opened up and a few important looking people walked out but colonel Ranns was nowhere to be found. Through the door you could see Irion standing up and walking towards a special made opening in the wall for him to get in and out of the room.

"Damn guys!" came Bat's voice from inside the room "What? did you forget i was in the hospital or just don't like me enough to visit?" Bat hobbled out from the left side of the door with a grin from ear to ear. He was walking on crutches and a cast on his right leg. "Get over here you bastards" he said with a chuckle.

"Joe!? where the hell have you been?" said Cut as he ran over to Bat stopping just in time to not topple over on his friend.

"I have been in rehab for a week or two" said Bat looking at the rest of his team.

"So you are a part of the big meeting now eh?" said Dark walking over to the doorway.

"Yep they needed me to confirm you guys where good enough without me to get the job done."

"Did you make them change anything?" said Wolf joining Dark in the doorway.

"Yes those missions where very difficult" said Bat as he walked over to the door. "I made them give you harder jobs" he said with another huge grin. "those missions were boring nothing but looking over the base and to make sure the bomb hit right on the target." "Now you're planting the bombs inside the building to get a better destructive blow to the Volracht."

"You can always count on Joe to get you out of boredom eh?" said Cut following Bat to the door and making a path for him to walk through.

"Get out of here guys you got to get ready the mission is tomorrow" said Bat as he passed Wolf and Dark. ECHO team all went back to their room besides Bat who went for another rehab course on his leg. As everyone was falling asleep all of the team thought the same thought. Are we good enough to beat them or are we going to fail.

Chapter 4: The Beginning of the End

"Wake up boys!" yelled captain Belisle from the open doorway. "You're late!"

"Come on mom five more minutes?" said Cut as he did his usual routine of falling off of the top bunk where the light couldn't reach so all that was heard was a loud THUD! "OW!" said Cut picking himself up.

"Come on guys this is going to be fun!" said Dark as he put on his SMO suit and walked over to the door with captain Belisle becoming more impatient.

"Not without Joe" said Wolf as he slid on the pants of his suit.

"Don't bring him up please?" said Dark with a groan "We all know that but don't admit it man!"

"Is everyone dressed?" said the captain mostly talking to Cut because he hadn't emerged from the darkness yet.

"Yes i am" said Cut stepping out of the dark and squinting in the light.

"Let's go then!" said the captain who broke out into a jog to the AV. The three followed her and as usual pulled the big green tarp off of the old HP-95 and jumped inside.

"Now i miss the Ghost" said Wolf as he looked around the craft.

"Come on man! we where flying in this thing on our first mission!" said Dark "It's a classic!"

"You make it seem like this thing is old." said the captain taking the pilot seat.
"It's still a prototype and the thing still works great"

"Onward to victory!" yelled Wolf trying to get into the conversation.

"Your wish is my command" said the captain as she pulled a lever and the engines roared to life. The ship launched off like it always did and began to fly at a pretty low altitude. ECHO team just talked about how this was going to work out and who was going to do what when we got there. As they began to see the giant bee-hive shaped building they knew the time had come to get ready for full on stealth or death.

Chapter 5: Bat's Mission

At five in the morning Bat got up and went to the AV. He had a plan all worked out in his head. He had gone through enough rehab to have a little more than half the strength back in his leg so he was walking without the crutches but still had the cast. He opened the door to the AV and ducked behind a crate of tools for repairing these ships. It was plenty big enough for him to be hidden well enough to not be seen. Bat pulled out a knife and cut away at the cast for about half an hour. He finally slipped his leg out of it and wiggled his toes around. They were still difficult to move but his boot would take care of that he slipped on the boot and walked a few steps to make sure he wouldn't have a limp. He walked perfectly normal. YES! he thought as the first workers of the AV came in to check on all of the ships. The first thing he saw around the corner of the crate was the green tarp over the HP-95 and he knew he would have to get over there somehow.

"Too many people around" Bat grumbled to himself. He waited another hour or so still waiting for his break to run for the ship under the tarp. That thing is so small compared to the Ghost he thought as the outline of the ships wings where jutting out about the third of the length of the Ghost's wings. After another hour of waiting he heard voices coming from the other side of the crate. It's my team! he thought as Cut walked into view. If i went with them they would leave me here and knowing Belisle she will call the medics on me that idea is out of the question.

It was then that an idea struck into Bat's mind. I need a new pilot for today but who could it be. He decided to wait until the HP-95 took off before doing anything. Bat saw the team saying something from the opening in the side of the craft but he was too far away to hear any of it. He looked around for the tell-tale uniform of a pilot but only saw a few people wearing them. AHA! he found one that was perfect. This pilot was a little pale in the face and shorter than most people. He had short brown hair and looked like he was about a small enough person to overpower and make him take Bat to the landing zone.

At last the HP-95's engines flared up and the ship shot off into the air and out of sight. Now's the time to act. Bat walked around for a little while to make sure he had no cramps or sleeping limbs. He was ready to go. Bat walked out from behind the crate and walked around the AV casually as iff he was just visiting. "Hey you!" Bat yelled over a small crowd of people who seemed to ignore him. Bat's target looked over at him and turned to face him but he didn't move. "You there! What's your name?" Bat said when he was close enough for people not to hear him.

"Me?" the pilot said pointing at himself. "My name is Nathan but my friends call me Nate."

"Do you consider me a friend? said Bat as he took a step closer to Nate.

"Sure! any person of the army is considered a friend." said Nate as he laughed.

"Good well as your friend i need you to do something for me" said Bat leaning closer to Nate so he could whisper to him.

"What kind of thing?" said Nate in suspicion.

"I need you to find an excuse to take a craft and fly out of here" said Bat in a low whisper. "Then i need you to take me to a special spot safely. Got it?"

"Whoa! slow down man! I don't even know your name and you want me to bend the rules for you?" said Nate in a just as low whisper.

"Oh yeah! i forgot to introduce myself." said Bat talking in a normal tone now. "I am Joe." he said holding out his hand.

"Wait? THE Joe of the SMO's?" said Nate shaking his hand.

"The one and only!" said Bat in an excited tone.

"Well why didn't you say so Batty anything for a high ranking SMO like your self" Nate said running off to talk to a commanding officer. Bat couldn't here what he was saying to the officer but Nate pointed at Bat a few times making him wonder what had been said. After a while Nate ran back. "Ok jump in!" he said to Bat.

"Thanks man I knew I could count on you." said Bat turning around to face the rest of the parked ships.

"How may captain Rooney assist you in your travels sir." said Nate as he jumped into a pilot seat.

"Where is the passenger hold?" said Bat looking for a door to climb into. "This thing is nothing but a plane with no engines or propellers."

"The passenger seat is right next to me" Nate said as he looked to his right.

"Sweet i got shotgun!" said Bat walking around the other side of the ship opening the door and climbing in.

"And away we go!" yelled captain Rooney as he flipped a switch and a low humming noise came from all around. The craft shuddered and started to lift off. When it got about thirty meters high it blasted off into the sky disappearing from sight in just a few minutes.

Chapter 6: Hostage Situation

"Okay we need to get in there and plant those bombs." said Dark as he saw they were descending. "We are not going to split up because we all know what happened las time." Everyone nodded in agreement and jumped out of the HP-95.

"We are going to get in and get out I hate this place." said Cut who was constantly looking over his shoulder.

"What?" said Dark with a grin "you afraid of the dark?"

"Heh real funny" said Cut sarcastically. "By dark do you mean you? or the darkness?"

"Both?" said Wolf making Cut jump.

"I'm not scared i just don't like being in enemy territory." said Cut almost swallowing his tongue. The three made there way along the path that led to the building. Most important buildings had walls around them but this structure was to heavily defended they wouldn't need it.

"Okay i'm going up ahead to do some recon can I trust you two to keep a low profile?" said Wolf as they stopped to see if any Volracht were patrolling the perimeter. Dark and Cut nodded as Wolf turned around and crouch-walked all the way over to the nearest tree. After taking a while to see if he could advance he moved out from behind the tree and moved forward. There was no enemies nearby and no spotlights near his position so he sent a silent message that said "It's clear move to my position" on Dark and Cut's visors. They did as they were told and caught up to where Wolf was ducked down.

"What should we do now?" said Cut while looking around.

"You two go the left door leading to the munitions room while i go for the lowest level of the structure to make the building fall and collapse." said Wolf. put a nav point here so you know were to meet up. When everything was said and done they split off into their groups They each went to the objective and were out of sight. Wolf ran down to the side of the building slowly walking around a few boxes with his gun at the ready. While he rounded a corner of the door he found CLANK! as a Volracht smashed Wolf upside the head with his gun and dragged him away.

Chapter 7: The Munitions Room

"Okay let's juts plant the bomb and get away from here" said Cu as he and Dark walked away from Wolf's position.

"What we're not going to have any fun?" said Dark a little disappointed. The two walked around for a little while and found a door. Dark opened the door and went inside. After a minute or two later Dark came back, popped his head back through the door, and said "I found the munitions room!"

"Let's hope Wolf has had the same luck as us." said Cut as the door hissed shut behind him. Cut followed Dark for a pretty long time slowly taking turns and constantly hearing the low mumbles of Volracht around some corners.

"Not that much farther now." said Dark as he looked down a corridor with a few doors on the sides. Dark went ahead and opened the door he thought to be the munitions room. "Get over here!" said Dark as he went back into the corridor to see if Cut was following him.

"Fine then!" he said walking the rest of the length of the corridor. He walked through the door and looked around. The room ahead to be the size of the AV if not bigger and all that was in here was boxes. Boxes everywhere from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling in giant piles. Weapons and ammo where scattered across the walls. Cut pocketed a fore-arm sized gun that looked like it could serve some use when they got out of the complex. It looked like an Ordinack weapon except this weapon had a bayonet that looked more like a sword. "Look at what I found!" said Cut holding up his newly acquired gun "this thing looks so cool!"

"Just because it looks cool doesn't mean it will help you at all." said Dark as he glanced at the gun. "Okay now the bomb is planted and we are ready to leave" said Dark standing up from his microwave sized bomb.

A loud CLANK! came from the other side of the wall as the duo froze staring at the still closed door. "What the hell was that!?" said Cut as he heard the sound of something falling over and being dragged away.

"I don't want to find out" Dark whispered across the room. Just then he heard a repeated beeping. Dark went through his visor settings and found the team health level mode. A big red dot was over the head of a diagram of Wolf's body. "Oh god we got to get out there!" They broke into a sprint and stopped in front of the door Cut was the first to take a step through the door. As he looked to his left he saw an arm suddenly disappear around one of the corners.

"I found Cut!" whispered Cut from the hallway. "Follow me!" Cut lead Dark along the wall of the corridor and looked around the corner the arm of Wolf had been dragged around. He then heard the sound of a door hissing shut and knew where to find his friend. "hold on a second" said Cut not bothering to look behind him. The door hissed open as the dark outline of a Volracht walked out of the door, looked both ways and walked in the opposite direction of Dark and Cut.

"Can we go now?" asked Dark as he looked over his shoulder.

"Yes we can" said Cut as he rounded the corner and ran to the door his friend was behind. He opened the door and as expected the limp body of Wolf was lying there in the middle of the room. Dark ran over and tried to wake up his friend. Dark shook him around and slapped him in the face a few times but to no avail. "I will just carry sleeping beauty." said Cut as he walked over and slung Wolf over his shoulder.

"I'll take that" said Dark taking the gun from Cuts arms.

"Take care of it for me." said Cut with a grunt. Just then he heard the sound of loud footsteps coming from the other side of the door. It was obviously a Volracht coming to check on the prisoner thought Cut. "Get ready to use that thing".

The door opened and Dark ran in front of the thing and yelled "Die you bastard!!" The room fell silent and then a click could be heard. The Volracht stood there surprised and trying to regain his train of thought. "This thing has no ammo!?" screeched Dark as he rolled out of the way of the Volrachts long awaited charge.

"How was I supposed to know!" said Cut as he tried to make his way to the door. Dark leaped at the Voracht and buried the bayonet deep inside the Volrachts stomach. Blood spewed all over Dark making him gag for a second. In that second the Volracht grabbed him by the head and lifted him up so he was eye level with Dark.

"OH GOD!" yelled Dark as he jabbed and stabbed at the monsters head but couldn't reach. He pointed the blade at the beast's arm and stabbed causing another deep gash to the Volracht’s collection. The Volracht let out a deafening screech as he flailed around with his arms almost hitting Cut but he jumped away. Dark then cut along the aliens leg causing it to fall over. "Die damn you!" Dark yelled as he stabbed the monster in the back of the neck until he felt the ground not letting the blade go any farther.

"Let's get out of here!" yelled Cut sprinting as fast as he could down into the hallway. Dark followed him but as he left the room he heard the raged roar of a Volracht who had come to check out what all the screaming was about behind him. That was all the encouragement he need to get his ass out of there. He followed Cut to the exit door before they realized Wolf hadn't placed his bomb in the basement of the structure. It's to late now we need to get out of here they both thought. They know we are here and it's a matter of time before they find the bombs us two placed. The duo exchanged glances and nodded. They each knew what to do. Cut ran of with Wolf still around his shoulders while Dark brang up the rear calling for captain Belisles pick up.

"Hey! pretty lady we need a pick up fast and prepare any medical supplies you have on board Wolf might have a concussion." said Dark into his com link.

"Sorry you're not my type" said Belisle from the other end of the link.

"That's disappointing" said Dark sarcastically "we need a pick up as usual when can you be here?"

"I will be there before you know it." she said. Just then a loud roar erupted from nowhere and was followed by the grunts of Volracht ready for the attack.

"Oh hell no!" yelled Cut pointing behind Dark. "Take cover!" Cut ducked behind a tree and Dark scrambled over into a small ditch. They didn't even have enough time to pull out their guns. "Now I really wish I had some ammo in that gun of yours." After a long time of being shot at with the familiar TAKA TACKA TACKA of Volracht gunfire they heard was a complete de-ja’vou as the sound of a craft could be heard over the gunfire.

Chapter 8: The Rookie Who Saved the Day

"What the hell have they gotten themselves into this time" sighed Bat as he saw the flashes of guns firing over the valley and trees.

"Seems like i have another person to look after." said captain Rooney from Bat's left.

"Another person?" said Bat as they passed over the battle field. "Who is the first?"

"Her name is Savannah but if you knew her at all her name would be captain Belisle" said Nate with a chuckle "She's my cousin and in the air force like me." Bat looked at Nate dumbfounded "What?" asked Nate when he noticed Bat looking at him funny.

"She's your cousin?" Bat was finally able to ask.

"Yeah! What? do you know her or something?" said Nate turning his gaze back to the control panel.

"Know her!? she's my private pilot!" yelled Bat.

"Well isn't that cute!" laughed Nate making the ship shake a little.

"Yeah well are we going to help my friends?" asked Bat snapping back into the situation.

"Oh hell yeah!" said Nate as he turned the plane around. "Let's get them." The clear flashes of light from the gun fire over the trees. "Well we have an assortment of bombs which would you like to drop on those bastards."

"Well would you be able to drop all of them?" said Bat as the light got closer.

"A fine choice sir" said Nate as he flicked a few switches making the ship rattle. "Three...two...one BOOM!" yelled Nate as the instant he said boom the bombs exploded below them.

"How well was that strike boys!" yelled Bat over a com link he made with Cut.

"Well isn't it the knight in shining armor!" yelled Cut from the other end of the link.

"Well i brought a friend!" said Bat looking at Nate who was still beaming with pride because of his perfectly executed bombing run.

"Who is it?" asked Cut.

"It's a friend of the cap'ns" laughed Bat "She might like to see him"

"What is it her husband?" Cut said sarcastically.

"Something like that" whispered Bat. "Should we pick you up now or?"

"I would really like to get out of here" said Cut who seemed like he was getting more scared by the second.

"Okay we are coming down now." Cut heard Nate say in the background. The plane stopped mid-air and descended faster than most ships normally did making Cut a little nervous. But the craft landed without damage and they all got on and awaited Belisles arrival. She didn't take long to get there but she looked like she would rather have not gotten there at all.

"Hiya Cousin!" yelled Nate from the wing he was sitting on.

"What is this creature doing here!" Belisle screamed as she walked over from the HP-95.

"What? You don't like seeing your long lost cousin?" asked Nate laughing a little.

"Long lost? HA! more like thrown out." she said staring at Bat. "And what are you doing here you should be in the infirmary!"

"I brought him over" said Nate trying to help Bat out of his position.

"Yeah Nate's a cool guy when you get to know him." said Bat returning the favor.

"I'd like to see you say that when you hear about his past" scoffed the enraged captain.

"You haven't forgiven me for MY LIFE OF CRIME" said Nate making himself sound like a mafia godfather.

"More like stealing food from people" said Belisle "Even grand-theft auto!"

"I've told you a thousand times i-" began Nate but his cousin interrupted.

"Yeah yeah ell it to the judge!" yelled Belisle as she spun around and walked away. "Come on boys lets go home." Dark and Cut followed her but Cut turned around and picked up Wolf's still limp but breathing body.

"I think i'm going to stick with Nate!" called Bat from the tip of the wing he had laid down on.

"Thanks man" whispered Nate as he slid off the wing.

"For what?" said Bat as he slid off the wing after Nate.

"For saying i'm a good guy" said Nate scratching the back of his neck. "Ever since i got out of prison she's been on this whole Nate is the worst person on Athol thing."

"No problem!" said Bat climbing into the passengers seat of the plane. "You might have made some bad choices but i think you've turned your life around."

"Thanks i needed that." said Nate as he stated the engine of the plane. As Dark was asleep and the captain was grumbling to herself in the front of the craft Cut remembered something. I forgot to detonate the bombs!! He rummaged in his pocket and pressed the button on the top of the square detonator. The trees around the craft shook violently and he knew that the bombs shockwave caused it. As the dawn broke on the horizon Cut began to fall asleep.

Chapter 9: A Job Well Done

Everyone was awake and moving by the time the AV came into view. Nobody really wanted to talk after the fight Nate and captain Belisle had the night before. By now everyone just wanted to know what they had to do now that the base was taken out. Finally they entered the AV but nobody wanted to do the trademark jump from the sky. Wolf had finally woken up from his "coma" which is what Cut called it. "I got $10 on we are going to have to somehow poison the Volrachts and take them down from the inside out." joked Wolf still a little hazy from his smack over the head.

"Oh yeah? well i have $15 we have to bomb them again." said Dark as they began the short walk over to the exit of the AV hanger.

"What took you!?" came Nate's voice from behind them.

"Yeah!" agreed Bat.

"Are you going to get in trouble with the man because of you breaking out of the hospital and persuading Nat to bring you to the mission?" asked Dark when they got a little closer.

"Well i saved you didn't I?" said Bat putting his hands behind his head.

"I guess so" said Dark looking at the floor. "Are we even?" he said referring to the time Dark had saved Cut and Bat from the raging Volracht about a month back.

"I thought you'd never ask!" laughed Bat "Yes we are even."

"What about Cut?" laughed Dark along with Bat.

"Damn he's going to have to save the team to get even with us!" chuckled Bat.

"I heard that!" called Cut over his shoulder.

"You make it seem like it's a secret!" yelled Bat back to him.

"Who says it wasn't" said Cut a little softer this time as he started to blush a little. "Hey Savannah! Why don't you like your cousin at all he seems like a good guy?" She just glared at him and Cut took the hint.


Right before he went into the lobby outside of the AV Bat turned around and yelled to the now waving Nate "Hey man i might be needing you in the future i'll keep you posted!" Nate just saluted at Bat as he spun around and walked over to someone he didn't know and started to talk to him. As the team walked back to their room Bat and Dark teased Cut a little about how he was always the damsel in distress on almost all of their missions.

"Admit it we all know you're to lazy to do anything i mean Dark saved you on our first ever mission then i just saved you at the battle of 2078 then just not too long ago!" joked Bat as they got close to their room.

"Yes but who do you think carried Wolf all that time when he got knocked out?" countered Cut.

"You owed him one!" said Dark "He and Bat helped us in the battle of 2078!"

"Actually if you count that one it means you owe me one!" laughed Bat pointing at Dark. Wolf spent the entire time just laughing at the whole situation.

"Touché" said Dark. Their room finally came into sight as they rounded a corner.

"Man am i tired!" said Bat as he jumped onto his bunk and rolled over onto his back.

"Same here" said Wolf as he shook until his pillow had lowered a little bit. As they all were falling asleep the rest of the Volrachts downfall was being plotted and the team might not like what they were going to hear the next day.

Chapter 10: Step Two

"Today’s the big day fellas!" yelled Wolf as he woke up.

"Oh man this is going to be fun!" yelled Cut as he performed his daily routine of rolling off the top bunk and landing on the floor.

"Okay guys let's get down to the meeting room they should have the mission planned out by now." said Bat as he started to put on his suit. Everyone finally got finished suiting up and headed out for the meeting room.

"Hey i have been waiting for you!" came colonel Ranns's voice from the doorway.

"Damn colonel don't scare me like that" said Wolf clutching his chest.

"I can't thank you guys enough for taking out that Volracht base" exclaimed the colonel. "They had casualties in the thousands!"

"That's not usually something celebrated sir" laughed Cut.

"We are at war soldier" chuckled Ranns "enemy casualties are good but anyway Irion and I have one last mission for you guys go to briefing an take a look." The team looked at each other and turned back around. Luckily the meeting room was not far away from the briefing station so they got there within a few minutes of teasing Cut some more. As usual that strange plug came down and shot into the slot displaying the mission briefing.

Mission: YOU ARE TO ESCORT HALF OF THE FOURTH NATIONAL ARMY AROUND ATHOL AND TAKE OUT ANY REMAINING VOLRACHT BASES ALONG YOUR TRAVELS.

"These things get shorter and shorter as time goes on don't they?" said Bat. The team went to the AV to see Nate and Savannah talking while sitting on the edge of the HP-95.

Nate got up and walked over to Bat and said "Savannah has decided to give me a second chance. Thanks man."

"Well i'm glad to have you aboard" said Bat holding out his hand. Nate shook his hand and waved at the rest of team ECHO as they walked by. "I can shoot one of those old world quarters with one of these babies" said Nate as he and Bat started walking towards the awaiting captain Belisle.

"Hey cap'n!" Bat yelled as she got up too get in the pilots seat. Bat and Nate joined the team in the passenger hold, took a seat, and within five minutes where on their way to circle around Athol's surface and one by one take out the remaining Volracht forces.

END OF BOOK 3
( i might not start book 4 for a while so don’t hold your breath....please?)