Killing the people on the ground was easy. I was tens of feet tall and weighed tons. No human could kill me on their own. I had to watch out for the tank, but that was only threat. I could punch and stomp on the police cars and vans. I needed to be careful. I did not want to suffer any critical damage. It would make it very hard to get out of here if something bad were to happen to me. I saw the tank aiming for Alpha. I launched myself at it and disabled the cannon by squeezing the barrel closed. I was not able to blow it up myself, but it was a win as long as they could not fire any anti-air ammunitions at us. Luckily, I was not fighting on the ground for long. With all of the commotion and chaos, several Lunusaris rebels began taking to the streets. They probably had prepared for this long in advance. They had rifles and rocket launchers. I could resume my intended post and continue overseeing the battlefield. It was a hardfight battle, but Alpha was simply too inexperienced to beat the Su-35. However, a lucky rocket from an overzealous moon worshipper provided the distraction Alpha needed.
Like a scored lover, the aeromorph turned his back and looked down to find the offending combatant. He found the man and loosed a missile of his own. The few people down there ran away like bats out of hell. It was not even close to enough and most of them got obliterated by the well-placed explosive. Alpha then shot towards the preoccupied fighter jet and let loose with his cannons. Alpha grabbed him by the wingpack and continued to spray. It was denting and warping the armor, but the bullets did not penetrate at first. It was not until they were at point blank range that they got through. The captured aeromorph could not do anything to stop the onslaught from my comrade. Damage in the dead center of the body like that was likely to be critical. The injured fighter screamed out loud in agony. We saw the lights fade from his eye displays. He then fell from 486 feet in the air. It was a loud and painful crash, but he was still alive from the way the display flickered and his right arm reached out in the air. After he crashed hard on the street, the rebels took over. They ran on him instantly.
My enemy was unable to defend himself at this point. He cried out for mercy. They had none for him. "Backup! I need Backup! Why won't anyone respond!?" he cried out in despair. I did not feel any sympathy about this. The angry Lunusaris blew him up with RPG blasts and grenades. They then fully dismantled him with electric hack saws. Alpha and I just watched as this happened from above. "Seves him right!" Alpha spat testily. I turned to him. It was a weird thing for him to say. He was more of a positive guy. He shrugged and said "What!? He was looking down on us the whole time. He even turned his back to me to kill those people down there." So, it was the pride of a warrior that was motivating this. For an NPC, he was made to fill a role. This was sure part of it. I was not going to stop him from thinking this way. It would help us out in this deployment. We finished up in the city with totally destroying the train tracks at the railyard behind the warehouse. It was a major victory for all the Lunusari faithful. I paused Alpha from leaving so we could hang out. We were hailed as heroes.
I said "If we win, we will be known as the heroes that liberated these people." Alpha looked pretty conflicted. I looked at him and just waited him for him to tell me what he was thinking. I knew he would sooner or later. "I know a hero is a hell of a title. I'd be happy, but it's not what I want. I want... to be a hero for my own people." he said. It was a noble thought. I pat him on the shoulder. "After that fight, I think you're a hero to me." I said to cheer him up a bit. He smirked and slapped my hand away. I shook my hand out and said "Well, fuck you then." His eyes widened and he grabbed my hand. He quickly said "No no no. I know I have a long way to go before I can measure up to the expectations I was made to meet. Thank you though." I told him we were okay. He obviously did not mean anything bad by it. There was nothing left to do if he was not into basking in the glory of the win though. That was a big milestone in this campaign. We did not fly directly to the mountains. We really did not want to be tracked so easily. We were the second group to arrive. Gamma and Epsilon were back.
