"We've officially lost the northwestern coast! The Russians have pushed back all our forces. All major cities are under attack: Seattle, San Francisco, Olympia, we've lost contact with all of our leads in each area."

"What about that one on the monitor?"

"That's a special operations deployment, callsign STORM. They're ten klicks outside of Seattle."

"Get me control of that unit, I need boots on the ground, and they've just been volunteered."

"Yes, sir! STORM-01, STORM-01, do you read?"

"This is STORM-01, callsign Ridge, I read."

"This is overlord, you are now under our operational control. We've got two APC's inbound on your position, link up and move into the city. The Russians have set up a jammer somewhere inside the Seattle city center, and our satellite feeds lead us to believe it's on top of the space needle. We can't get any air support into the city until that jammer is dealt with, do you copy?"

"Roger, sir. What's our objective?"

"Destroy the jammer, at all costs, we need to take back the west coast. The Jammer is full spectrum, meaning if it's anything like those we've dealt with on the east coast it'll block all radio contact while you're in it's sphere of influence"

"Don't worry, sir… STORM is on the block and rolling."

Gneiss-US Special Forces deployment, STORM

I was pinned down behind a bullet ridden hybrid car, and more rounds were flying over my head. We'd moved right into the city, and the two APC's- BADGER-1, and 2- were being extremely helpful, that was until one of them was blown to bits by a HAVOC. Now we were forced to take a ten minute detour, that had landed us dead in the center of an ambush.

"We need to move up!" I heard Ridge shout somewhere nearby, and I leaned out of cover to fire a few rounds from my HK416. I snapped back behind cover as soon as I'd leaned out, and the bullet storm intensified. I felt the heat from the rounds sliding over my head, and I clenched my rifle close.

"Would if I could!" I shouted out, and suddenly Ridge slammed into the car's side next to me. He was panting, and fired a few rounds over his shoulder, before he was blocked behind the vehicle as well.

"We've got a machine gun up left." He explained to me.

"Oh, yes, because I can do something about that." I replied sarcastically.

"Stow it and blow it, Gneiss!" Ridge handed me a grenade launcher, and I nodded to him. Then, without hesitation, I leaned out of cover, just as he did. I spotted the machine gun pinning me, and, rather than blasting him directly, I blasted a building over our attackers. The wall of the building came crumbling down, and I heard the gunner scream as he, and his backup, were buried by rubble.

"Are we clear?"

"We're clear!"

"Let's get that armor rolling." Ridge shouted, and the APC was immediately chugging forward. I stood, and stretched my legs. I didn't know how long I'd been pinned behind that car but it was at least a few minutes. I saw medics attending the wounded, and I turned away.

"Gneiss, our humvee got blown to shit, we're legging it from here." Igneous walked past me and punched my shoulder. I growled under my teeth, but eventually sighed.

"Alright, I'm moving." I groaned, as I shouldered my rifle.

"We're way too exposed out here on the roads, we're going to split up from here out," Ridge was standing by a humvee shouting orders, "STORM, we're moving through the buildings with the SPEC troopers. The last Humvee and the APC will roll on like normal, and split up at the next crossroads. One of us will get to the city center, and the ones who follow behind will provide cover once you enter. Now let's move!"

"Let's go." Igneous and I turned to a near skyscraper as Ridge stepped past us to the door. I brought up the rear, and watched as the rest of the troops loaded into the APC. Then I closed the door, and turned to follow the rest of my squad. There were twelve of us, STORM, it was my squad-Ridge, Igneous, and Me- then there was the rest of the special operations soldiers with us. I hadn't taken time to learn their names.

"What are we going to do when we get to the space needle?" Igneous asked, as we climbed a staircase.

"Burn the jammer." Ridge replied sternly as he kicked open a door.

"And then getting out? I don't think the Russians are going to take to kindly to us destroying the only thing keeping them from getting roasted by a hundred air strikes."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes."

"Yea, that's real comforting." We had been walking through an office building, and we came to a broken in wall. I looked up, and saw that a skyscraper across a few blocks had been damaged, and had fallen against the one we were currently in.

"Wow, look's like we've got a bridge." One of the soldiers said, and slung his rifle over his shoulder.

"The city center is that way. If we kept to the buildings and moved one by one it could take a hell of a lot longer to get there…" I muttered, "We could cut across up there. Looks like it'll take us at least four or five blocks over… that's a hell of a lot of fighting to bypass."

"That's a good point, Gneiss. Alright, let's move." Ridge said the words, and we were climbing. It took us a few dozen flights to reach where the buildings met, and by that time I'd realized a few things. The building we'd be walking across was unstable, and damaged. While I didn't want to fight through half a dozen blocks of Russian infantry and armor, walking across a deathtrap of metal and glass wasn't too appealing either. By the time this was in my mind, though, we were already stepping into our makeshift bridge.

"Watch your step." Igneous muttered as he marched ahead of me. I took a deep breath, and followed him slowly. The only thing beneath us was glass, and a few hundred foot drop. I saw others crossing to my left, and I glanced down at the ground beneath us. The adrenaline kept me moving, and I'd already crossed a street. We were above a building, and about to step over another street, when I heard it. The APC's engine was unmistakable.

"BADGER-2 is right below!" Igneous shouted back to us, and we all looked down. The APC was engaged with two dozens infantry, and I saw the grenade launcher attempt to thin the attacking force, but I also saw a Russian with an infrared marker. The same marker I'd seen before BADGER-1 was hit.

"They're calling in a HAVOC!" I shouted, and practically on cue an attack chopper swung around the corner of a nearby building. I recognized the sleek metal. It was the chopper that had blasted BADGER-1, and I watched as it did the same to BADGER-2.

"Shit," Ridge was on the group immediately, "BADGER-2 is down, what's the status on the Humvee, anyone have eyes on…" Ridge paused as he listened to the response, and I kept moving, then I froze. The helicopter hadn't left, and I saw it adjust in our direction.

"Ridge!" I got his attention and pointed at the chopper. He stopped talking, and looked up, just as the chopper's minigun spun up.

"Move, now!" Ridge shouted, and we all suddenly ignored the fragile glass under our feet. I heard the first few rounds fly, and the glass start shattering. I had made it just over the next building, and without much thought, I jumped and slammed both feet onto the center of a window. I felt about ten or twelve feet, and landed on the rooftop. Igneous landed next me, and I immediately looked up. Ridge was still moving, and so were the SPEC troops. I saw Ridge make it to the next rooftop, but only two SPEC troops made it before the minigun caught up to them.

"Well… so much for an easy shortcut." Igneous groaned as he rolled to his side.

"Stay down!" I barked, and watched the chopper. We had landed behind a vent, and the chopper was hovering at the same corner. Then it pulled away, and I let out a sigh. Then I rolled to my feet. Igneous stayed on the ground, and took a deep breath.

"Can we just… not?"

"Come on, it's not much farther. Just a few blocks." I said, as I started down a fire escape. Igneous followed, and soon we had descended nine stories to the alleyway. I set my boots down gently, and looked either direction. The sun was setting in the distance, and the street was darkening.

"Looks like they all followed Ridge and those troopers."

"Well that's good for us." I said, and moved quickly to a nearby car. Igneous followed me, and I peeked around the car and saw a shopping center, "That Starbucks. Let's head in there."

"Now's not the time for a cup of coffee."

"It's an entry into that shopping center, we can cut right through to the space needle. Ridge and the SPECs are in the office buildings a few down. All the troops will be focused on them. We'll get to the needle, and burn the jammer."

"... Get to the needle, burn the jammer… easy." Igneous muttered. I nodded, and we moved quickly. Igneous was the first one in, and I followed, but he had frozen. Ahead of us was the counter, and behind it was a completely oblivious Russian soldier. Igneous suddenly reacted. I watched in shock, as he grabbed a coffee pot, and slammed it over the soldiers head. The soldier crumpled, and Igneous dropped the shattered pot

"Dude…" I looked to him, and then soldier.

"I just reacted."

"No, that was a good reaction." I nodded, and he shrugged, then we stepped over the unconscious soldier.