Chapter 8: The Second Battle of Rome
Hans sucked in a deep breathe as the order to move out was passed along the line. Ahead of him and the other Roman troops was the massive, completely open, no-man's land that had formed overnight. The crumbling parking lots and slowly eroding streets created a man-made desert of pavement. Any wreckage, trees, or anything to break up that flattened ground had been removed long ago to make this kill zone for the Romuluses. Ironic that their killing field was now being used against them...
Past the sea of cement, nearly a half mile away, was the wall slowly being made by the Society. Abandoned cars, pieces of debris, even just dug up dirt, was being used to make that wall. A wall that would trap them inside a cage of their own making. But Captain Fletchett wasn't going to let that happen. The men and women of the Northern Defense weren't going to let that happen. The Society had gotten off without paying for their crimes for too long, and today, today they were going to start paying up.
Hans got an aggressive smile as he hefted his Typhoon and moved out. The Captain had pulled First and Second Battalion down for this push, and even took a company from the Third. Over 2,000 other Roman soldiers were marching with Hans, heading to punch the Society's teeth in. If they thought being out of range of the Romuluses would keep them safe, they were going to learn the hard way how wrong they were. And his Typhoon was going to be helping with that.
Arnold, Hans' loader, looked a bit less sure of things. He grunted as he shifted the tripod mount and let out a worried sigh. Hans shook his head at his friend and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Chill out, man. Everything's going to be fine. We got the Romuluses covering us for the first half of the march and the bombards for the second. Nothing the Society can throw at us can weather either of those. And even if they do, they still got to get through the maelstrom of 2nd Company!" Hans said, making sure to yell the last part. A cheer of woo, woo, WOOOOOO, came in response as the others in the company took up their cry. Arnold missed the first woo, but made sure to join in after it. He looked a lot more confident thanks to the familiar cheer.
"You're right. If those outsiders can beat them then we sure as hell can, right? Yeah.. Yeah we can win this!" Arnold said, more to himself than to Hans. Hans didn't mind, he was just glad his buddy had gotten his nerve back. Arnold would never live down being nervous after their easy win and Hans didn’t want that for his buddy.
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"Colonel, you get Captain Fletchett on this line RIGHT NOW!" Terence yelled as he grabbed hold of the handrail of the jeep. Dixie was driving with wild abandon as they raced towards the Northern Command Center, hoping to arrive in time to stop this madness. While Terence's right hand held on for dear life, his left keep a tight grip on the radio.
"I...I would love to, sir, but he isn't here an-" the Colonel started to say, but Terence had had enough of his stalling. It seemed Fletchett's insanity had spread to his subordinates and they were stonewalling the Commander from calling the attack off. Realizing he was wasting his time with the idiot, who was going to be in the stockades when they arrived, Terence changed the radio's frequency.
"Motor Pool, this is Commander Andron do you copy?" Terence said, taking a different tactic with this disaster. There was a moment of silence before a nervous voice answered.
"Y-Yes we...we copy you Commander. I-Is something wrong?" the voice asked, obviously worried on why the Commander of the entire army would be calling them. Thankfully for them, Terence's anger had other targets.
"Yes, but not on your end. I need you to get your fastest vehicle to the Phoenixes location. Find their leader, Darius, and bring him to the Northern Command Center ASAP, understood?" Terence said, bracing a bit as Dixie took a hill fast enough to leave the ground for a solid second. The voice stammered a bit in a way that sounded FAR too much like an excuse and Terence was in no mood.
"I SAID UNDERSTOOD?!" Terence yelled through the radio, making sure his voice had an edge of threat to it.
"Y-YES, SIR!" the voice said before muffled yells of orders came through. Seemed the man had gotten the message. Satisfied that his orders would be done with all the speed they could, Terence turned the radio back to the general frequency and focused on hanging on.
"Why did you want Darius, sir?" Dixie asked as they hit a, thankfully, straight and level area.
"Simple, I don't know anyone else who might know a way to salvage this mess if we don't get there in time," Terence admitted. If his worst fears, hell if even HALF, came true then Terence was going to need every bit of help he could get. It was tempting to bring in the whole outsider army to try and help, but that would require far more attention, and threats, than getting a single outsider delivered. Attention Terence didn't have at the moment.
Dixie nodded in understanding before speeding the jeep up even more. Terence, despite being more than a bit worried, didn't ask her to slow down. If anything, he willed her to go even faster. Thousands of his soldiers' lives depended on them getting to the Command Center minutes ago.
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Captain Fletchett smiled as he looked at the giantesses behind their incomplete wall. Thanks to his binoculars, he could see them mumbling to one another, looking somewhat worried. He KNEW this attack had been the right call. And judging by their reactions, which was backing away and nothing else, he was very right.
So far, nothing even remotely like an attack had come their way. Though, to be fair, they were still inside the Romuluses range of fire. But still, one would expect some kind of reaction other than just talking from the Society as his force moved toward them. Bah, those damn outsiders had given the overgrown women too much credit and the damn Commander had let himself be poisoned by their cowardice. But Fletchett knew his men could win this fight. He would show the superiority of Rome to both the outsiders AND the Society!
Yet superiority did not mean stupidity. Fletchett was well aware of the damage a catmonster or, heaven forbid, a giantess could do if they got close enough. Which was why he had brought the bombards with him. Now that he was nearing the edge of effective range for the Romuluses, it was time to deploy them and extend his protective screen. With them covering his troops, he could move close enough to start making attacks on the wall itself. Hell, he might even be able to hold long enough to move the Romulus's up. But that was for later, right now he needed the bombards ready.
"Set up the bombards! D-Company, defensive positions! All other units, hold position!" Fletchett ordered as he lowered his binoculars. Acknowledgements came from the Colonels of the different sections as the army came to a halt. Fletchett looked back from his open-air command vehicle and watched as the bombards were deployed.
The huge cannons looked like over-sized anti-tank guns from World War 2, though without the bullet shield. The weapons were hauled by trucks, but had to be detached before their use, the recoil was just too strong. Once deployed, they used long, sturdy struts to keep them from being flung back by their own recoil while their transport trucks waited for them to move again. The crews of each gun began the process of setting them up while his army held its ground.
Fletchett waited for the ready response from each of the twenty bombards before facing back toward the wall. He didn't need to use his binoculars to see that the giantesses had moved even further back. That's right, we're coming for you...and there is nothing you can do to stop it...
"All troops, advance!" Fletchett ordered as the army began to advance again.
They had barely got fifty yards when four catmonsters slipped out through the holes in the walls and began to rush their position. Fletchett grimaced as he saw his lines waver in reaction, yet couldn't help but feel the same fear hit him. Seeing the massive, building-sized womenbeasts charging at him, their mouths already watering in anticipation, was.... well horrifying didn't quite do it justice. But Fletchett wasn't going to let their size intimidate HIM into inaction or his fear get the better of his judgement..
"Typhoons to the front! Stop gaping at those monsters and KILL THEM!" Fletchett ordered, yelling to snap his officers out of their stupor, who then yelled at their soldiers to do the same. With his men back under control, the typhoon teams moved up and began to set up their man-portable cannons. They should be more than enough to stop the four beasts, but should be and would be were different thing. The Typhoons had never been tested in real combat against catmonsters.... Fletchett’s worry grew as his teams seemed to be having trouble getting them set up.
Under normal circumstances, the teams could get the cannons set up and ready to fire in less than a few seconds. But those conditions had never been when four catmonsters were barreling down on them, hissing and roaring in hunger. Fear and stress was taking its toll on his soldier's abilities and Fletchett had to bite his tongue not to cuss them out. This was their first fight, of course there would be mistakes, but he had planned for this.
Lowering his fist down to give the signal, the bombards behind them opened fire. The twenty cannons roared in fury as their shells flew toward their targets. The four catmonsters rage turned to agony as explosions erupted over them from the bombards' fire. One had half her head split open by a lucky shot and skidded to a halt. Another had both of her arms nearly blown off and her charge turned into a crawling and scampering retreat. The other two received the same and the charge was blunted with ease. Cheers erupted from his men and Fletchett smiled in triumph. That's right... your size doesn't mean anything with THIS kind of firepower leveled against you. It was time to finish this.
“First Battalion, advance!”
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Terence was jumping out of the jeep before Dixie had even got it fully stopped. He, practically, sprinted into the command center and made a beeline for main area. None of the guards tried to stop him and the few who thought about it reconsidered when they saw his face. Terence barreled into the command area and growled as he saw the Colonel still talking to someone.
"C-Commander! I di-" was as far as Terence let him get before he grabbed the man by the throat. He gasped in pain as Terence nearly lifted him from the ground. All work that had been going on in the HQ stopped as the Commander of the Roman army began to choke out one of his own people.
"You are RELIEVED. No, under arrest, and you better thank God that is all you are," Terence growled out before dropping the ex-Colonel. The idiot gasped and panted to get back his breath and Terence gave him one last look of disgust.
"Get him out of here, and get Fletch- no, the entire force out in no-man's land on the radio NOW!" Terence ordered as the HQ suddenly erupted back into activity. Two guards rushed over and began to drag the fool away, eager to be as far from their Commander as possible. The others in the command center began to scramble to get the force on the radio or to look as busy as humanly possible.
Satisfied he had done what he could, Terence stormed over to the window looking out over no-man's land. He grabbed a pair of binoculars and cursed as he saw how far Fletchett had already gotten. God dammit, he was well out of range of their rifle turrets and-
"Commander!" Dixie, who had been happy to silently follow her furious Commander, yelled as she pointed up. Terence followed her finger... and his blood froze in his body. No....
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High above the bombards position, a terrifying sight began to descend from the sky. Fifteen faires, all of whom had hidden in a cloud bank, dived straight down toward the large cannons. Each laughed and giggled as they rocketed down toward their target as horrified soldiers began to hear the warnings coming from their radio.
The bombards were powerful weapons, but clumsy and slow. Getting them pointed up to engage the fairies would have taken time, but might have been possible. Getting them reloaded AND turned, however, was just not possible with how fast the fairies were coming. With the bombards helpless, D-Company had to make up for them, but their typhoons hadn’t bothered to set up... And while rifles could hurt fairies, they couldn't stop their massive bodies from crashing right into them. Or punch through the fairies magical barriers.
Most of the fairies managed to erect barriers of wind to blow the hail of gunfire off target, but a few were still clipped or didn't react in time. To the soldiers horror, however, this only made the descending fairies literal bombs of flesh as their massive bodies plummeted to the ground. The Roman soldiers began to scatter as they realized their situation, which made the gunfire sporadic at best. And that left the fairies mostly clear to carry out their mission.
Of the fifteen fairies that had dive bombed the bombards, eight arrived mostly unharmed. They pulled up just before hitting the ground and strafed the crews of the bombards with their magic. Men and women were sent flying into the air by the powerful blasts of wind before crashing down at near lethal heights. The lucky ones managed to land on an arm or a leg, badly injured but alive, the unlucky however would never get up again.
The other seven fairies crashed into the ground with enough force to send massive dust clouds flying. Entire squads of soldiers, and even two of the bombards, were completely flattened under the crashing fairies, sending the already high casualties even higher. Worse, two of the fairies had managed to slow their crash just enough to survive the fall. They both began to rampage through the Roman lines, sending even more flying with their magic while crushing others beneath their bodies. One even snatched up a bombard and began to use it as a club.
The surviving Roman officers and sergeants tried to rally their men, but the shock of the sudden surprise attack, mixed with the Roman's lack of experience, was making it a nigh impossible task. More than a quarter of the soldiers simply fled, dropping their weapons and anything else they had to try and sprint back to the Roman lines. Another quarter were either dead or so badly wounded as to be useless. And the last half were so scattered, confused, and stunned that they were unable to mount any effective counter-attacks. D-Company was falling apart, but that was a minor problem compared to the bombards situation.
Fletchett had brought twenty bombards with him on the attack. Thanks to the sudden attack, three had been utterly destroyed, seven had lost most, if not all, their crew, and the other ten were so busy fighting for their lives that any thought of reloading, much less firing, the guns was out of the question. The bombards were all out of action.
Which made the sight of an entire wave of over twenty catmonsters pouring out of the incomplete wall toward the forward troops beyond horrifying. Even worse, more began to emerge from a manhole on the flank of the forward troops position. More than thirty catmonsters, ten of which were coming from the flank, were racing toward the Roman's lines...
The giantesses were not whispering anymore, they were laughing...
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Hans could only watch, mouth open in horror, as the fairies began to decimate their back ranks. The bombards that were supposed to cover them... were being destroyed. D-Company was being slaughtered and the air was filled with screams, gunfire, pleas, and laughter...booming, cruel laughter.
Fear and panic began to worm into Hans. They...they were supposed to be unbeatable... The Society weak and... and easy to beat, but this... Those were just fairies, FAIRIES, the weakest and smallest things the Society had. And yet they were butchering D-Company like it was nothing. A full company couldn't stop a handful of the giant-winged girls. Which meant....
"O-Oh God...." Arnold said, barely above a whisper. Hans turned to look at him before following his terrified eyes. From the incomplete wall came not four, not ten, but twenty of the massive catmonsters all charging straight for them. Like a virtual tidal wave of furry flesh, licking lips, and deadly claws, the next wave of hungry death moved toward them. Hans fear hit new heights and he began to tremble in fear. This...this...no..he....he didn't....want to die...like this, no NO NO!!!!
"Stay on your weapons! We can still stop them! Get those things loaded NOW!" a familiar voice yelled from somewhere. Hans pulled his eyes from the mass heading toward him and saw Captain Fletchett moving through the ranks, shoving people back into place and yelling for order. He... he wasn't scared... he wasn't....stop them... Hans glanced down at the typhoon in front of him and...and locked his jaw.
"Come on Arnold, load me," Hans said as he grabbed the Typhoon and got ready to fire. Arnold looked at him as if he was crazy, but Hans glare seemed to get him to snap out of his own panic. The Captain was right, they still had a massive amount of typhoons to send at the beasts. It might be just enough, with the rifles, to keep them back. No, it WOULD be enough! They were Romans, they COU-
"SHIT THEIR ON THE FLANKS!" someone yelled in panic causing Hans to stop mid thought. Hans and Arnold turned to see another catmonster crawling her way out of the manhole...a manhole that was almost perfectly aligned with their flank. A flank that didn't have near enough typhoons. And another catmonster joined the first...and another...and another...and another....
Hans turned his head to look at the Captain and, for a brief second, saw the confidence shatter. The same despair and horror that Hans felt was on his leader's face. And that brief second of doubt was all Hans needed.
"Arn-" Hans tried to say, but his friend was already gone. Hans turned and saw him fleeing back to Rome...and he was not alone. In fact, nearly everyone was fleeing in terror, leaving their weapons behind as they fled from the unstoppable death thundering toward them. Hans didn't blame them, because he took off after them. He hadn't signed up for this, to be devoured alive by some fetish-turned nightmare. Fuck the Captain and fuck Rome, he wanted to LIVE.
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"Stand your ground! Stop fleeing and FIGHT! GET BACK HERE!" Fletchett yelled in fury as more and more of his soldiers fled. The damn fools! Didn't they realize running was pointless?! Those catmonsters would catch them all with ease and devour them all! But sense and reason were two things none of his soldiers had anymore. All they had was fear.
Realizing the his army was utterly broken, Captain Fletchett did the only thing he could. He turned from his soldiers fleeing back and sprinted toward the typhoons they had left behind. Loading the thing as quickly as he could, he raised it toward the approaching horde and fired. A few others, crewed by the braver soldiers, fired as well. The slugs hit their targets... but simply didn't have the mass or number to do anything more than piss off the approaching horde. Fletchett didn't care as he rushed to reload the cannon again.
How had it come to this? How had they set this up so perfectly? How had he been so foolish?! Some part of him had feared the outsiders were right, but...but...
Fletchett stopped mid reload as he realized what had been the tipping point. Of course... it was them. They had agreed with him, hell PUSHED him to this an-... No... The traitors... This was... this was a trap. They had goaded him to do this, told the Society how to counter his plan, told them of the underground area! He had to get back and warn-
Fletchett's thoughts never finished as a catmonster snatched him up and swallowed him alive. Those brave men and women who stayed came to the same end and the catmonsters, not satisfied in the least, began to give chase to the fleeing soldiers.
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Terence lowered his binoculars as the slaughter began. With no, effective, rearguard the catmonsters plowed through the broken troops, snatching up men and women at their leisure. A few turned to fire back, only to be crushed or devoured for their trouble, while others just keep running till they were snatched from the ground. The lucky ones were crushed, sliced, or chewed up before they were eaten... but far more were simply dropped into the waiting maws of the monsters. Terence couldn't hear their screams and pleas, but he could imagine them. Hundreds of soldiers were being devoured by the giant beasts...and there was nothing he could do.
The bombards were still fighting for their lives against the fairies and the rifle turrets didn't have the range to hit the catmonsters. Even worse, more faires were flying in from the wall to join the massacre, giggling the entire way. The giantesses watched from the wall, laughing, pointing, and even cheering as their "pets" butchered hundreds of people. Dammit he should have stopped this, should have seen this coming, should have...should have...should have.....
Meows, gunfire, laughter, giggles, and the occasional scream mixed together into a nightmare of sound. Terence's hand tightened around the binoculars as he racked his brain for someway to stop this, someway to save his sol...wait...
Terence looked up and... that hiss.... it didn't sound quite right. It was almost li-
Suddenly, a massive figure blasted past the command center, its steps causing the entire structure to shake. Terence gripped the edge of the window to steady himself as he turned to watch the figure charge into the battlefield. A sudden wave of relief washed over him as he saw Pyrrha, the platform and its cannon back on her, sprinting toward the battlefield.
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Sanders clenched his jaw as the horrid scene of carnage appeared before them. He made sure his machine gun was loaded and ready as he moved to stand near the edge of Pyrrha's head. Gabby grabbed onto his belt hook as she wrapped her arm around a bundle of Pyrrha's hair. She gave him a grave nod and Sanders turned back to the battle.
"Sanders, we need to save the bombards first. With them secure, we can make a fallback position for the rest of the soldiers. Have Pyrrha move parallel to the fairies and we will take care of them," Darius said from the radio they had borrowed from the Romans.
"Understood. You heard him, Pyrrha, head for the guns first," Sanders said as he braced himself for the battle. Pyrrha answered with a jarring nod and turned to head for the battle still raging around the bombards.
Pyrrha's charge slowed as they neared the battle and she began to have to focus on where she was stepping. A number of Roman soldiers had started to flee the fight, but they were slowing as Pyrrha appeared. Though whether that was out of awe at her size or from renewed morale was debatable. Sanders leaned out a bit, getting a grunt from Gabby, as he tried to make himself more visible.
"Stop running! We can still win this fight! Get your weapons and fight with us!" Sanders yelled before moving back a bit and firing a burst at the closest fairy. The fairy, who had been busy crushing anyone near her with a cannon, didn't have time to even react to their arrival. Instead she gave a short cry of pain before going silent forever. She flopped forward, dead, as the platform erupted with its own gunfire.
The Shadows had "acquired" a number of Roman rifles and they had been given to the soldiers on the oval during the short trip here. Those rifles rumbled out along with the whoosh of rockets as the Phoenixes showed the Romans how it was done.
Two more of the giant girls were brought down as rockets and gunfire slammed into them. Seeing that the Phoenixes had the fairies on the ground taken care of, Sanders turned his attention to the ones still in the air. He fired a long trail of gunfire after one and managed to clip her wings. She spiralled down before crashing into the pavement a good few yards away.
The sudden reinforcement and killing of the immediate threats were enough to rally the surviving Romans. Gunfire from their positions picked up as some of the fleeing soldiers turned back. The remaining fairies, now facing a far more secure position to try and strafe, decided they had no interest in smashing into the ground like their sister. Instead, they peeled off and began to retreat back to the Society's wall. Two more were brought down before they could, but most managed to flee. It was just as well, though, as the bombards were secure.
"Sanders, have Pyrrha drop myself, William and Gerard off here. We'll get the Roman's organized while you delay those catmonsters. Do what you can, Sanders," Darius ordered from the radio again. Sanders gave a short understood before looking out at the sea of fleeing soldiers, and the mass of catgirls chewing through them. A wave of fear and revulsion washed through Sanders as old memories came erupting forth, but he fought them back as he thought of the hundreds of people still out there. They were doomed without his help and he was NOT going to let his past stop him from saving them.
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Hans didn't bother wiping his eyes as he focused on running. Tears of terror were streaming down his face as the horrid sounds drove him to go ever faster. Rumbling meows, scream of pain and terror, pleas for help and mercy, and the horrid gulping that silenced them... Hans didn't want this, didn't want to die, didn't want to be eaten alive and have to watch himself dissolve, to know he died for NOTHING and-
"AHH!" a new scream joined the noise, but this one was all too familiar. Hans, instinctively turned and saw Arnold on the ground, having tripped. The terror and fear that had gripped him urged him to go, to ignore his friend and save himself, but Hans couldn't do it. Terrifying beyond reason, Hans still stopped and ran to his friend. He just...he just had to help.
"Come on!" Hans said as he hauled Arnold to his feet. Arnold scrambled like mad to get his feet under him and stammered out a mass of thank yous. But no sooner had the two turned to start running did a massive earthquake send both tumbling back down.
Hans rolled back over and froze in terror as a massive face looked down at him. The face might have been cute at one time, but the blood stained over its lips and the hungry look it had erased any such illusions. The catmonster loomed over them like a building and her eyes sparkled in joy. It licked its lips in anticipation as its maw opened wide. Hans could almost swear he heard screams and pleas coming from the mouth as it moved closer and closer. This was it...this was how he-
Suddenly, the face seemed to explode and Hans found himself completely drenched in blood. Hans stared at the open air where his doom had been and...and....and....and.... A sudden rumble shook him out of his shock and he looked down to see the catmonster's body lying in front of him, its head missing. What...what the hell?
More rumbling, this time from behind him, caused Hans to turn and his jaw would have fallen further if it could. Charging toward them was another catmonster, but this one was a good deal bigger and, more importantly, had a large cannon mounted on its back. And...was there someone on its head?! That was...ins- wait...
"The Hero....the hero!" Arnold gasped out as his realization came a bit sooner. It...it couldn't be, but who else would be riding a catmonster? It...it was really him... the Hero of Rome. The Hero had come to save them! He was here!!
The cannon on the catmonster's back turned as smoke still drifted out of it. It paused for a second before a loud WHOOSH erupted from it. Another catmonster was decapitated as a massive slab of metal slammed into its head and its body stumbled forward a few steps before flopping to the ground. Sweet Jesus... the outsiders had that kind of firepower?!
"You two, quit sitting there and come on!" someone yelled, pulling both Hans and Arnold from their stunned awe. They turned to see a sergeant with a radio to his ear who was yelling at pretty much everyone around him.
"Commander Terence has ordered us to fall back to the bombards! We are making them our rally point! Grab what weapons you can and fall back, the Hero will cover our retreat! GET THE FUCK UP DAMMIT!" the Sergeant said, apparently having regained his composure with the arrival of the hero and the Commander. Hans looked back and was shocked to notice that the fairies that had been attacking the bombards were gone, apparently driven off or killed. When had that happened?! Fuck, he had been so focused on running he hadn't noticed anything going on around him. Wait, if the bombards were secured then...
Hans and Arnold looked at one another and an unspoken agreement went between them. They looked around before spotting a typhoon that had been discarded by someone during the panicked retreat. They rushed over and grabbed it before taking off for the bombards again. Other soldiers began doing the same and grabbing whatever weapons they could find. A few fired back at the catmonsters still giving chase, but most just focused on retreating. And that was the proper word because they were no longer fleeing, they were falling back.
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Sanders felt a satisfied smile break through his face. The giantess' laughter had died away as he, Pyrrha, and the soldiers on the platform put down catmonster after catmonster. Of the thirty of so that had been massacring the Romans, only a small handful were left. They had been so focused on the buffet before them that most had never even noticed Pyrrha rushing to put them down. By the time they did take notice, half of them were already dead. Even better, the remaining ones turned their attention to Pyrrha rather than the retreating soldiers
Sanders yelled in fury as he sweep a barrage of fire at at catmonster lunging in from the side. The bullets blasted through her face and its lunge stopped dead as it clutched at its ruined eyes. It was all the time Pyrrha needed to plunge her claw into her throat and put her down. At the same time, the loud WHOOSH of the cannon echoed as another catmonster was made a head shorter. Rifles and rockets continued to blaze away from Pyrrha's side as the Phoenixes tried to keep the tide of furry death from the retreating soldiers.
"Keep it up, we can win this!" Sanders said into the radio as he fired another burst. They were doing it, they were holding them off and if they could keep it up just a bit longer...
"Ahh!" Pyrrha cried, suddenly, as her ears began to twitch. Sanders was about to ask what was wrong when he noticed something. Back at the massive wall was an all too familiar figure... Lutice. And in her mouth was.... oh no...
Pyrrha hissed in annoyance as the sound only she... and the catmonsters, could hear continued. The catmonsters seemed to stop mid attack as their own ears twitched at the noise. And then they all, almost as one, turned to look at the bombards.
"No, PYRRHA STOP THEM!" Sanders yelled as he turned his gun onto the closest catmonster. He fired a full barrage of bullets into its arm to make sure it couldn't rush forward, but he could only hit one, and there were still nine alive. The other eight leap forward and began to charge right at the bombards, ignoring the soldiers who were still retreating. The cannon turned and fired one last time and managed to clip another, but seven catmonsters were still heading right for their last line. Even worse, Sanders could see another horde gathering behind the wall, just waiting for the signal. If they lost those bombards....
With a relieving boom, one of the bombards opened fire. Its shell smashed into a catmonster's arm and sent her collapsing to the ground. It wasn't alone… Most of the surviving bombards all opened fire and were joined by typhoons and even rifles as a mass of firepower was thrown at the approaching beasts. The catmonsters weathered the barrage for a few seconds, but they were not immortal. The last one fell a good three yards from its objective. Darius, William and Gerard had done it, they had gotten the bombards back in action.
Sanders gave a sigh of relieve as he turned to look back at the wall. The giantesses frowned and shook their heads at the surviving Resistance fighters while Lutice seemed to stare right at Sanders. Sanders was sure Lutice could see him thanks to her visor and he made sure to return her glare. Pyrrha hissed and roared at them while the waiting catmonsters began to paw and wiggle in anticipation.
But Lutice broke the glare off with a slight smirk before turning away from the battlefield. Most of the giantesses followed her and began to herd the catmonsters back. A few stayed to watch, but not enough to make an attack with. The second battle of Rome was over....
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The Society had had its fill of bloodshed for the day and the Resistance forces retreated back to the turret line without trouble. The surviving bombards were hauled back into position while the battered and bloody survivors limped their way back home.
The dead Romans, those that could be found and were not simply splatters, were taken back while the monstergirls were left to rot. Of the thirty-four catgirls that had taken the field, only three had managed to return, though all three were badly wounded. Of the twenty or so fairies, ten had been killed while the rest, save one, had managed to retreat.
It was a nasty toll for the Society, but one they could easily pay. Doubly so as not a single giantess had been injured or even taken the field...
For the Romans, the attack had been devastating. Of the over 2,000 soldiers who had marched out, less than 1,000 returned. Company D and the bombards crews had taken terrible loses with almost 45% of their troops either dead, wounded, or missing. But that was minor compared to the forward troops...
First battalion had, effectively, ceased to be. Their casualty rate sit somewhere near 85% thanks to much of their forces being the lead elements. While more than a few stood their ground when the units had broken, their heroic acts had cost them everything. Including their Captain. Second Battalion was only marginally better with close to 60% dead or missing.
News of the disastrous attack spread quickly and morale in Rome plummeted. Rome had had its first experience in trying to battle the Society, and it had been a costly learning experience. And yet the attack had not been a complete and utter disaster. For the attack had given Rome and their new allies a rare prize. A live fairy…
Why did you not follow Omega-plan?-
I did not expect the "hero" and his master to arrive so quickly. Plan was on track to proceed but could not be initiated with their arrival. -
Why not? Is one catmonster too much to deal with?-
"Hero" is a well known, rallying figure. His master would use this to bring loyal forces together. Might have managed to hold or, worse, managed to escape with Alpha-Priority target. Too risky..-
That is NOT your call to make!-
It is. Do not think I am lesser than you simply because of my size. Remember who is higher ranked. I will move when I deem fit, not before. -
Fine. Your information was put to good use. All scout teams were eliminated. No help will be coming for these insects.-
Good. And to make up for undercutting your command here, I am giving my clearance for your pet project. Tell Command I approve of their use. I will admit to being eager to see them in action.-
Thank you. Forward targets to me and they will be sent ASAP.