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The fly up river took the entirety of two or so minutes. We were coming around a river bend when I spotted six gunboats in the middle of the river with a barge in between them. All seven boats were crawling with MPLA soldiers.

"Coming on the convoy now", Hudson said.

"The barge matches Dakarai's intel", Issac said, "Wyatt's gotta be inside!"

"We gotta get close!", John said emptying a magazine from his SAW into the men on the barge as I broke off to attack the multiple gunboats armed with 50 caliber machine guns, "bring us along side Hudson!"

Hudson maneuvered the helo closer to the barge as a man with an RPG stepped out and cut lose. The rocket slammed into the side of the Chopper and sent it into a tail spin. If I wasn't currently getting ripped at by a machine gun, I would have gone to help as John and the others jumped. He landed on the boat, the others landed in the water. From the air I could see John steal a wicked looking blade from one of the MPLA soldiers and bury it into his neck, making me cringe, not so much out of disgust as it was just brutal....and slightly awesome.

"See!!", Siazach laughed in my head, "you found that amusing. You continue to prove me right with each passing day."

"Please go fuck yourself with a meat hook", I snarled as I took a 50 to the back left leg, the side of my face and to the chest, throwing me around like a rag doll.

He just laughed, and laughed, and laughed. This demonic, schizophrenic laugh that made my scales crawl. The sooner I got these cards placed the sooner I could get this...this demon out of my brain, get some training and join Raven for good.

"You'll never be rid of me", Siazach laughed, "soon you will be my slave, you will bow at my feet and the Earth will be my foot stool. You think becoming a solider will help you? It won't. Your future is sealed."

"Not if I can help it", I growled as I tossed a grenade down onto one of the boats as John and the others finished clearing the barge, "now get lost, I have work to do."

Siazach laughed gravely and his presence vanished.

"Fucktard", I muttered. I couldn't help but take notice at how strong my language had become since this ordeal started,. Some of the words I'd used over these past few days I didn't even know I knew. My guess was that I'd heard my Dad say them while he was drunk, and then use them to describe himself once he sobered up. My father wasn't a bad man, I wouldn't trade him for anyone. But....I couldn't help but fault him for what he did. He knew one little sip was all it would take to put him under, and sometimes he chose to drink anyway, choices that ultimately led to him and Mom dying in a car wreck, my Dad had been speeding because going fast calmed him down, and they had hit a guard rail when my Dad lost control of the car. I was at school when I got the news. Shaking myself from the thoughts, I flew up aways until I had an over view of the barge. Below, I could see John and Hudson get access to a cargo container and seem to revolt with disgust as it came open. I got on my coms to Issac.

"What's going on down there bro?", I asked.

"we pulled the container open", Issac said, "it's full of bodies...Wyatt's in the back."

I gulped and checked the box of cards, expecting to see another piece of etched obsidian, but didn't. I pulled out Wyatt's card, the Archer, finding it was transparent.

"In danger of death but not deceased", Siazach said.

I sighed, "thanks for the tip."

"This might be a stupid question Issac", I said, still worried for Wyatt, "but is Wyatt?"

"Wyatt's alive sister", Issac said sounding and looking, quite relived. I breathed a sigh of relief myself. I was happy that I hadn't lost another person before I could place their card.

"Thank you", I mouthed as I placed the cards back in my vest. I was about to fly down and meet them when an explosion rocked the air, forcing me back. Hovering over the barge was a Russian attack helicopter. How had I not seen him roll in!?

"Did I mention I can make things scent, auditory and visually invisible to you?", Siazach sneered.

"No!", I growled, "but then again, your from hell so why would you!?"

He laughed evilly before his presence once again faded. I let a burst fly at the helo, but my bullets just bounced off it's hull and turned his attention straight to me. Four or five rockets flew from the pods on it's wings accompanied by a burst of about 50 or so high caliber rounds. The rockets missed, but I took about 17 of the 50 rounds from the hinds machine gun , many of which went through the membrane on my wings. It didn't knock me out of the sky, but it came pretty close. If the holes had been any bigger they might have been a problem.

"John!", Hudson yelled over the radio as I rolled out of the way of more rockets, "use the TGM and blow that fucking hind out of the sky!"

On deck I could see John pick up what looked like a rocket launcher. One of the two men in the hind motioned to his partner and then the Helo started to turn back around at the barge. In an attempt to keep his attention off my friends, I put my cross hair on the tail of the hind and emptied the current clip of almost 500 rounds into the back end of the hind, doing little, if any damage. There was an audible click as my Dillon moved to my side and the empty ammo box popped out. I turned my head and I could see the next box cycle from the cylinder into place. There were two hooks that went into the box and grabbed the belt, yanking it up into the chamber and then an unseen hydraulic system charged the bolt. The status on my HUD turned from a red "RELOADING" to a green "Ready, 1000 rounds in chamber". I turned my attention back to the hind as John let the TGM rocket fly from the launcher. It smashed into the top rotors of the hind and sheered them off, sending the copter plummeting into a near by house as the barge ran aground, braking into two distinct pieces in the process. Wyatt was the first one off the crashed barge, even before the others had recovered from the jolt. He swam a few feet to the banks of the river and washed the blood and dirt off his face as the others made ground.

I sighed, "we probably just attracted the attention of every gun packing fool in this area."

I pressed the button on my radio, "Dakarai? It's Emelia, are you there?"

Static.

"Dakarai", I called again, "it's Emelia, you there?"

Static.

"Am I not on the right channel?", I asked myself as I landed in a small cluster of trees so I wouldn't get caught with my guard down. When I pulled my radio out of my vest, it had a bullet hole in it. Judging from the size of the hole, I must have taken an AK round from one of the boats, but then again, I had been able to talk to Issac just fine.

"How unfortunate", Siazach laughed.

"Go fall in a ditch", I growled as I started trying to get some kind of reception, "I haven't time for your games demon."

Siazach laughed and once again faded away.

"Why can't that fucker leave me alone?", I asked myself, "worst kind of demons are the sarcastic kind."

I played with my radio dial until the static cleared up a little and then tried to call out again.

"Dakarai", I called, "It's Emelia. Sir, are you there?"

"My Eastern friend", Dakarai's deep voice responded, "what do you require of me?"

"We need Evac", I said, "we made a ton of noise on the barge and Wyatt's pretty fucked up. There's also an un specified amount of MPLA in the area."

"What is your location?", Dakarai asked, "I can be there in two minutes."

"Were about...three or four minutes up the river from where we departed, I don't know where exactly, but I can see a large radio tower with a flashing light on it. The barge is also wrecked on the river bank about 60 yards from my current position and there were two bamboo huts, one of which now contains a fried Russian Helicopter."

"I know exactly where you are", Dakarai replied, "I shall be there shortly with EVAC and fire support, until then, just stay alive."

"Yes sir", I said, "out."

It was convenient the call ended when it did because I lost reception that same second.

"Damn radio", I said flaring my wings, "okay, I need to get back into the air."

I rocketed up about 1000 feet. At that range I would look like a little more than a big bird, but I could still see everyone on the ground pretty clearly. Around the base of the radio tower was a small, six or seven building village. I could make out quite a few piles of trash and a few old rusty trucks. Patrolling around the perimeter of the area were about five or six Cuban mercenaries and I could see a few more in the grass, seeming to be drilling new recruits on weapons handling. When I took a closer look, I realized the recruits in question were about 12 or 13, little kids. It took every bit of restraint I had to avoid emptying the remaining 932 rounds in my box into the Mercenaries. I wanted to end them all, right then and there, especially after the man, tough calling him that might have been giving him too much credit, viciously backhanded one of the kids across the face.

I growled, "do that again, hope you like the taste of .308."

Then, though it was faint, I could hear some shouting, a button pressing, more talking and then an alarm sound. Acting on a hunch, I broke off from my path around the village and circled around back to the crash sight. I could see five or six mercenaries inspecting the crashed barge and helicopter.

"Crap", I sighed, "they found our mess."

I pulled one of the grenades out of my vest, pulled the pin and tossed it down into the flaming wreck of the helo. When it went off, it killed two of the six men and wounded another. They started shouting in Spanish, a language I spoke pretty well, but I was too high up to really make it out. I circled the crash sites again, trying to see if I had missed anything, or any one, when John came over the radio.

"Emelia", he said, "how high up are you?"

"Reception", I said, "well how bout that? I read you John. I'm about a thousand feet up, what ya need brother?"

I guessed that it didn't go through because after a few seconds, John called me back.

"Emelia", he said, "do you read me?"

"I read you John", I answered, "my coms are screwy, what do you need?"

"I need an overview of the village with the radio tower", he answered.

"Rodger that", I said, "I gotta circle back around so gimme a minute."

I circled back around to the village, flying as low as I felt comfortable. The number of guys on patrol, at least that I could see, hadn't changed, but shit...there were a lot more smells. I couldn't tell if they were animals or what, but I figured I was safe to assume that they were hostile targets. I did find it interesting that these guys seemed to be relaxing, despite the fact that there was an alarm ringing.

"I don't see much of anything except a few Cuban looking guys having beers", I told him, "proceed with caution because I can smell a lot more than I see."

"Rodger", John replied, "out.

I continued to circle around the village, keeping an eye on John as he set a few traps and then entered a building. About two minutes later, there were three quick gunshots, bang, bang, bang, and John jumped out of the back of the building before it caved in on itself. He leaped over his traps and ran back to Hudson and the others as I dived low and dropped a few live grenades as well as letting a 250 round burst fly from my mini. I tossed a few smoke grenades into the clearing to hide John's traps as well as cover their escape. I lowered my altitude to just barely above the tree tops as I came back around for another run at the badguys. The fields were ripe with targets, the Radar on my HUD was just one big, red smear, there had to be a hundred of them down there.

"John what's going on down there?", I yowled, "my radar is going nut's with red blips!"

"Were compromised!", John shouted, "how much ammo you got left!?"

"Enough for you to get to the beach", I answered, "I'll hold 'em down, you guys get out!"

I stiffened my wings and dove down at the Cubans. Letting my remaining 700 rounds fly at the Cubans. They fell under my Dillon like grass under a mower as it ejected the spent box and loaded in a fresh one.

"My Eastern friend", Dakarai said over coms, "I am inbound in a Russian Hind from the south and have brought several gun boats with me for fire support, do not engage."

"Rodger that Dakarai", I said as I circled around for another run, "I could use some help from your hind!"

"Your wish is my command", Dakarai said.

His hind began to hover at the banks of the river as I swooped over him. Once I was clear, he let a barrage of rockets and machine gun fire into the woods, finishing what I had started. Dakarai turned the helicopter to the side.

"My American friends!", he laughed, "you thought I would forget about you yes!? Ha ha! You were wrong!"

The hind landed, and my friends loaded up. As the hind lifted off, Siazach's appeared, floating about 500 feet away. He didn't say anything. He smiled gravely and pointed his chained, bony hand down into the clearing. There were two men, both armed with rocket launchers. Before I could turn to engage, one of the launchers cut loose, the projectile slammed into the tail of Dakarai's hind, throwing him and Wyatt from the vehicle. I dove down and grabbed them both as Dakarai's gun boats arrived.

"Move aside brother", Dakarai said commandeering an MMG, "these men are mine!"

Before Dakarai could target them, the other launcher cut lose and blew the hind in two pieces. I spun out before slamming into the other bamboo hut that sat on the beach. I could smell the blood...Hudson, Frank and John, but mostly John, he must have taken the force of the explosion.

"John, Hudson and Frank went down in that fireball!", I shouted as Cuban soldiers poured out of the dense jungle, firing their AK-47's wildly, "Dakarai! I need covering fire! They don't have that long before the fire reaches the Hind's fuel tank!"

"Go my Eastern friend!", Dakarai shouted, "we will suppress the enemies!"

There was a burst of machine gun and cannon fire from the boats as I dove down to the wreck of a chopper. Hudson was crouched, with his pistol in hand, a large gash straight through his left arm.

"Hudson!", I shouted.

"Emelia!", He replied, "don't worry about me, I just have a fucked up arm! Get John before he burns to death!"

I sniffed the air and quickly located my commanding officer. Calling on everything I had, I heaved the battered chopper off of him, and almost threw up at the sight that awaited me.

John had been burned to a crisp. His chest was caved in on itself and he had a piece of metal sticking out of his right eye socket. There was a puddle of brown ash underneath him that I assumed was brunt blood. His vest was melted on him and his fatigues were burnt almost all the way off. My heart stopped, everything seemed to stop. I could feel Siazach's appear next to me.

"If I had an ounce of humanity left", he said gravely, "I would feel sorry for you. But unfortunately for you, that part of me died millions of years ago."

I jumped away from John and tackled him, using his rib cage as a handle to hold him down.

"If you bother me one more fucking time before I get those cards place I will brake you into a million tiny pieces!", I roared, "Do you understand me! I don't have time to deal with your antics demon!"

"Yet you take time to threaten a million year old being who, you seem forgetful, has your life in his hands and can terminate it at any time he wishes. Emelia, you amuse me so", Siazach said, "your greed will be your downfall, you like all others on this pathetic Earth will very soon call me your master."

I growled and looked him in his dark eyes, or more eye sockets, "I will never bow to you", I hissed, "I bow to no one."

Siazach smiled, "in time."

He vanished as I turned my attention back to John. Medics had now rushed from the boat to aid Hudson and help me with John. One of the medics pulled out a small, cloth stretcher as an American Chinook showed up with Holland on broad. He was in a full combat load and had a M16 over his shoulder. Two American Medics came over and started to assist us further.

"Shit I've never seen anything this bad", the American medic stated.

"Third degree fuel burns to 99% of his body", Dakarai's man said, "we can't pick him up without hurting him further."

"Lets make it quick then", I said, "help me.

Me and two of Dakarai's men lifted John up and onto the stretcher. When we did, both his legs and one of his arms came off, causing me to double over and puke. Holland and Dakarai walked up to me and helped me to the chopper as Hudson, Issac and Wyatt, all beaten to hell, joined us. Frank wasn't here. We all knew what that meant.

"Will he make it?", I asked as we lifted off.

"I don't know", Holland said, "but if he can, then where were going will ensure it."

"Where are we going?", I asked.

"Chyane mountian", Holland said.