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Cidel City Hall
8:36 PM, I-Day

"What do you have to report on the invasion?" asked General Boskar Lavanor.
"One gas station was destroyed, and fifty soldiers are dead in the three major coastal cities. Around twenty of them were killed in Cidel City," said Major Haegon.
"Twenty!?" asked the General.
"Yes sir. Eleven were killed in several attacks across the city ranging from bars to grocery stores. One of our two-man patrols has gone missing near the store called Cidel City Electronics. There were four survivors in the store called Jeff's Hardware. One of them was shot in the knees, another was rifle butted in the head. Sir, I believe that a resistance is forming," said the Major.
"The resistance could grow quickly. Destroy it," said the General.
"I would, but I don't know anything about it. Everything is pure speculation..." said the Major.
"Well, come to me when you have something useful!" said the General.
"Yes, sir," said the Major before leaving.

Dom walked down the steps from a room he had set up on the 5th floor. It was about 11pm. He was wearing a grey turtleneck with a light black jacket overtop of it. He was wearing a black stocking cap on his head and pulled it down to his eyes. He had his sword across his back and he was carrying the hunting rifle from earlier. He walked up to Septim at the door. "I plan on going hunting a little bit tonght. I want to get a few items for the group and myself. I feel like getting a scope for my rifle. You don't mind do you?"

"Not at all." said Septim as he picked up a black backpack and handed it to Dom. "You may need that."

"Thanks." said Dom as he put it on. He walked over to the manhole and climbed down. Septim closed it after Dom left and then everything went black. Dom turned on his flashlight and walked down the stench filled tunnels for about fifteen minutes before figuring out that he was near a hunting store on the map. He climbed up the manhole and found that he was the in the basement of an apartment across the street. He walked up to a window and looked outside. It was dark and only the streetlights gave any shelter from the shadows. He saw two soldiers walking up the street, meet at the corner, and then walk away again. He climbed the steps until he came to the third floor of the apartment and waited for a minute.

Dom lifted his rifle to his eye and looked at what he could see. There was a sight on the rifle, but it was not very accurate at long ranges he was sure. He aimed at one of the soldiers as they walked back and forth and fired. The bullet went off to the side of one of the soldiers by almost a foot. Dom cursed and worked on lining up the sight. The soldier, meanwhile, had jumped and started aiming his gun around all over the place. Dom worked the bolt on the rifle and fired again. This time the bullet stuck the soldier in his sternum and he fell off of his feet. Dom cursed once again and worked on the sight once again. "Supposed to nail the f*cker in the face." he muttered to himself. The other soldier had gone to the corner and saw his partner on the ground. He ran over just as Dom was aiming again. He fired a third bullet and it struck the base of the soldier's skull from behind. The soldier fell face first onto the ground and did not move.

Dom stood up and reloaded his rifle as he slowly walked down the steps. He looked around for anymore soldiers before quickly running over to the two bodies. He dragged one of the bodies over to the apartment as quickly as he could before dragging the other one. He removed their IDs along with any weapons and items they had. He then shrugged as he removed the uniform of the one soldier he shot in the head and threw it into the backpack not knowing if it would be useful or not. He then ran across the street to the hunting shop and went inside. He wandered around the place looking for scoped rifles. The shop looked like it had been hit by a tornado because everything was everywhere.

He finally found a rifle similar to his along with a scope. He tried it on his rifle but it would not work correctly. He cursed under his breath, but threw the rifle and scope into his backpack as best as he could. He cursed again when he realized his backpack was full to the brim. He sat the backpack down and walked out of the building. He saw that a just down the street was a some sort of clothing store. He looked around for more guards before running across the street and sticking to the shadows. He walked in the broken doors of the store and raced around until he found some backpacks. He grabbed three and began throwing random clothes into them. He also threw in some things he thought Maria would love. He chuckled to himself that he was out in the middle of a city conquered by an enemy country and was thinking about women. He found some balaclavas masks and thought they might be useful. He threw about ten of them into a backpack. He then saw a black beret and immediately fell in love with it. Dom used to watch war movies as a kid and he always loved berets. He grabbed three of them and put them into a backpack.

Dom lugged the backpacks back down the street to the hunting shop where he finally found a scope that worked with his rifle. He loaded everything he could into his backpacks along with some more rifle rounds. If any soldier had been walking down the street at that time, they would have seen a man dressed in black and cursing as he hauled overstuffed backpacks. It would have been a spectacle for anyone really. Dom carried the backpacks down into the sewer one by one until finally he felt he had enough. He unfortunately found that he could not possibly carry everything in one trip. He dropped another swear word as he picked up one of the backpacks and carried it for awhile. He then dropped it, walked back to the other two backpacks, and then carried one to where he was before. He continued this process until he was back at the hotel.

Dom had to get Sam to help him get the backpacks up the ladder, but he eventually did. He looked around for Septim, but decided it could wait until the morning. He looked at his watch and found that it was almost 1am in the morning. "Jeez my back is killing me. Damn backpacks...what was I thinking...?" Dom muttered to himself as he walked upstairs to his room with help from Sam. Dom opened his door to find Maria sleeping in his bed. Sam looked at Dom who laughed lightly and ran his fingers through his hair. The two dropped the backpacks in the room and Sam went off to sleep. "Thanks Sam, I owe you one." said Dom as Sam walked away. "No problem Dom, take it easy." said Sam. "I always do." said Dom mostly to himself. He walked into his room, locked the door, and fell asleep on a couch because he did not want to wake Maria. He was exhausted and did not want to wake up for quite awhile.

After Dominic Kaine left the hotel, Septim got five men to make several molotovs (named after Ivan Molotov, a Marforian General who had his men use them as cheap grenades). After each had two ready, he had them put them in their jacket pockets and each grabbed a lighter. Each had a Marforian pistol as a weapon, along with two clips of ammunition, the assault rifles could not be concealed. They then grabbed backpacks (which had food, a flashlight, and ammunition) and left the hotel through the manhole.

***

Septim was in one part of the city, he had two molotovs with him and a folded up balaclava was on his head, made to look like a beanie. His men were at different parts of the city. Each member was to throw a molotov into a building. Septim was approaching a Marforian roadblock, his hand was on his molotov inside his pocket. There was a large crowd gathering, protesting the invasion.
"Citizens! We will use force!" yelled the commander.
As Septim weaved through the crowds, the commander yelled threats at the crowd. Then, Septim stopped moving and pulled a molotov out of his pocket. With practiced skill, he took out the lighter and flicked it open. A flame sprouted out of the top as he lit the wick. He then gave the molotov a small throw. It landed where the commander was and promptly lit him and a few other soldiers on fire. By the time realized what had happened, Septim had vanished with a large portion of the screaming crowd.

***

"Send out the garrisons! We have five fires at five different roadblocks!" yelled the Major as he gave hand signals.

A few minutes later, a bulk of the men garrisoned at the fort was gone, putting out fires and trying to find who was responsible.

***

"Go!" yelled Xarxes as him and around twelve men came from the sewer. Most were armed with Marforian assault rifles. They were in the now in the heard of the lightly guarded stronghold. He saw several signs in Marforian, but when he saw the building labeled "Weposks!", he knew it was the armory. Due to the fact that most of the garrison was guarding the borders, they managed to sneak through the stronghold with no trouble. There were two men guarding the armory. Xarxes and Allan managed to kill them with their knives. Xarxes took the key to the armory and unlocked the door. Allan and Frank dragged the two soldiers inside, and Xarxes had his soldiers grab as much as they could carry. After three trips, they had three light machine guns, two RPGs, a few backpack loads of grenades, several sticks of MarTex plastic explosives, assault rifles, MarSMG-24 submachine guns, MarSG-28 shotguns, MarSR-24 sniper rifles, many MarSA-45 pistols, and a lot of ammunition. After closing the manhole, they decided that they definately could not carry all of it back in one load, so they came back several times. On the second return, they heard an alarm above and smiled. The Marforians would never find out how the Resistance had infiltrated their guard.

***

Septim was back at the hotel by the time Xarxes and the twelve others were back with a lot of the Marforian armory. He helped them carry a few loads back, and when they got the third load back, Dom was waiting at the hotel.
"Hey Dom," said Septim, "Looks like we got some firepower..."
Dom looked at the weapons and then looked at his rifle. "Sorry Septim, I like this rifle better. I finally got the thing lined up after last night. You guys sure took awhile. I must have been sleeping in pretty well. Of course I was out kind of late myself. I have several backpacks up in my room that you may like. I got one hunting rifle with a scope, some balaclavas, a few berets, assorted clothing, two assault rifles, a Marfonian uniform plus identification, and who knows what else. I am sure it will all be useful. If you excuse me I would like to organize some things in my room." said Dom as he turned around and headed up to his room.

Dominic opened his door to find Maria cleaning up the room. "I don't think I had the housekeeping sign on my door miss." joked Dom as he walked in. Maria turned around and ran over to Dom, throwing her arms around him. "Hi Dom! How are things going down below?" she said as she kissed him on the cheek. Dom blushed. "Fine...apparently we got a large number of weapons from a Marfonian armory. Are you okay?" he asked as she released him finally. "I am fine...I guess I have to find something useful to do around here so I started by cleaning up our room." she said as she fixed up the bed. He heard the words 'our' and was about to ask her when she decided that, but then convinced himself not to.

Dom walked over to the three backpacks and opened one of them up. He pulled out some of the clothing that he liked for himself and then some for Maria. "Hey, want some clothing? I don't think you had the chance to go shopping before we brought you here and wearing the same clothes everyday is rather uncomfortable." She saw the clothing and almost screamed with excitement. She grabbed the clothes from Dom's hands and ran into the bathroom that connected to the bedroom. She came out a few minutes later wearing a black turtleneck and some black pants. She also had apparently snuck one of Dom's black berets. "Well? How do I look?" she said before giggling. "Like one of those freedom fighting girls you would see in a movie." Dom replied. "I better go downstairs with the rest of this stuff and see what Septim wants done with it."

Dom picked up the two remaining backpacks before walking downstairs with them. He set them on the ground in front of Septim. "Here are the important things of my travels."
Septim looked inside, and turned to two of the rebels.
"Take the rifle and the ammunition up to the armory. Take the other things to the storage room," said Septim.
The two men grabbed the items and walked off up the staircase, Septim then turned to Kaine.
"We'll be getting a generator soon, then, hopefully, we can get the elevator working, that'd be nice," said Septim, "Actually. We heard that the Marforians are transporting a big industrial one to a POW camp nearby. We'll ambush the truck, want to come?"
"Gladly...want me to use my rifle on this one?" said Dom as he removed it from his shoulder and sat the butt upon the ground. "I bet you I can get one of those soldiers on the first shot this time."
"Good, you will lead Delta squad, I will lead Alpha squad, Xarxes will lead Beta squad. Come here," said Septim as he walked over to a laptop, on it was a map of the supposed ambush area with several lines on it.
"Your squad will follow the blue line, mine the red, Xarxes's will follow the green. The generator is large, and cannot fit in a manhole. We will either need one of our men to dress up as a soldier and drive the truck to a larger access port, or we will need to take it apart. I'll let you decide, Kaine."
"Well, I got a Marforian uniform and ID from one of the two I killed last night. If we get someone who looks like the face on the ID, we could get a truck in there somehow. Hopefully he won't have to speak and just has to show his ID. We could drive the truck to one of the sewer entrances by the coast...those usually have larger openings, but I could be mistaken. Taking it apart seems like it would take awhile, but it could also save us the trouble of having to be in the open. I cannot make this decision so easily."
"Taking it apart would be foolish I suppose. We would be in the open while taking it apart, that would be dangerous. Lets take our chances with the truck," said Septim.

***

An hour later, three groups of four men, along with Septim, Kaine, and Xarxes, were gone from the hotel. Each man was armed with a large weapon such as an assault rifle or a shotgun, along with a sidearm. Each man also had a backpack with medical supplies, a flashlight, and a bit of food. One man had a uniform in his backpack to be used for a disguise. At one point they split up in order to get into positions.

***

"Clear," said Septim as he climbed out the manhole.
Following him out was Allan, Frank, Billy, and George. Billy was the man that looked like the soldier on the ID. The signal for the ambush to start was Septim's squad firing their weapons, they had no other form of communication.

***

While Septim's squad was getting into place, Xarxes's was doing the same. Hopefully, Kaine would be able to snipe the driver through the side window. Or else there'd be no way the truck would fool a soldier at a roadblock.

Dom was in a window along where the ambush would take place. He had his rifle at the window and waited. Sam was down near the doorway with Maria, who would distract the driver just long enough for Dom to knock his head off. Sam would then shoot the passenger of the truck as soon as Dom fired. It would not take any time at all.

Maria was sitting on the step of the street when the truck started coming. She ran out on the street and waved her arms around frantically. The driver slammed on the brakes and the passenger got out. She began acting all distressed and threw her arms around the man. Dom took the cue and raised his rifle up to his eye. He had an easy shot on the driver, who was leaning out the window to find out what was going on.

Dom fired and the driver's head snapped sideways before he slumped down in his seat. Maria pushed the guard away from her and Sam fired a burst into him. He ran out into the street and dragged the body away. Maria disappeared from sight like she was supposed to. Dom had already dragged the driver from the truck and used a cloth to wipe the blood off of the side of the truck as best as he could.

Septim and his squad then ran out while Xarxes and his squad escaped through the sewers. They were only to be used if Dom failed, and would now be running to the other sewer port in order to help Septim and his men unload and carry back the generator. Septim ordered Billy to get into the drivers seat while Septim and and two others hopped into the back of the truck. One of the men wiped the blood off the side with a rag before hopping in himself. The truck was gone within a minute.

***

Five minutes later, the truck stopped.
"Ideni," said a man.
Billy said nothing as he handed over the identification card, the man looked at it, then looked at Billy. He then gave it back and said a word Septim didn't understand. The truck soon pulled off, and Septim knew that everything was fine.

***

The next time the truck stopped was the last. It parked at the side of the road and the sewer port opened. Xarxes and his men jumped out and carried the generator into the sewer port while Septim and his men kept watch. After two minutes, the generator was in the sewer, and Billy got into the truck to drive it to another location, away from the sewer port. Septim, Xarxes, and the two squads were gone.

***

"They're back!" said Harrison as Septim and Xarxes flashed a flashlight up the manhole. A few men had used chisels to cracked away the conrete to make up for the large generator. They threw down four ropes and the men tied the ropes to the generator. It was then lifted up by the men. A minute later, the generator was up, and the men were breathing quite heavily.
"I'll get O'Neil on it," said Septim as he sat against a wall, "Good thing that had wheels on it..."
O'Neil, a former electrician, began hooking it up. A few hours later, the generator was hooked up to the old circuits. The generator was a Marforian inovation that ran solely on solar panels, so the resistance would be well powered. After a few more hours of fixing the problems in the hotel, the generator was up and running. The old elevator wasn't safe yet, but at least they had lights. Septim made sure that blackout curtains were put up in the rooms that would be used. A lot of the hotel still had issues in the circuits still, but O'Neil would fix that later. At least they had power.

Dom, Sam, and Maria began to head back to the hotel immediately after Septim and his men took the truck away. They went down into manholes and regrouped a few blocks away from the hotel. "Sam, everything go alright?" said Dom as he walked over to him. "As far as I know Dom...we won't know until we get back to the hotel and maybe have to wait a little bit." said Sam as he led the way. "You did good Maria...I hope you are okay." whispered Dom while walking next to her. "I am perfectly fine. I did not look." she whispered back.

The group made their way through the sewers until they finally reached the hotel and climbed up. They had to wait a short time, but Septim and the others showed up with the generator. Within a couple hours everything was hooked up and the hotel had power. "Things may get more comfortable around here hopefully." said Dom mostly to himself.

"General," said Haegon.
"What?" said the General.
"We have received...disturbing reports," said the Major.
"Well? What is it!?" asked the General.
"Generator 12-7B has been stolen, and the armory at Stronhold-4B has been raided," said the Major, in fear.
"What!? What the hell is the matter with you!?" asked the General in rage.
"Sir, it isn't my fault! There is a resistance!" said the Major.
"Where the hell were the men?" asked the General, trying to calm down.
"They were putting out fires caused by molotovs!" said the Major.
"Molotovs? God dammit, how many died today?" asked the General.
"Two in the raid, two when the generator was stolen, and three were killed by the fires. Another four were badly burnt," said the Major.
"Dammit...dammit! Raise the alert level. Anybody protesting will be shot on sight," said the General.
"Yes, sir," said the Major with a small smile as he left the office.

***
A young woman slept, surrounded by three enormous dogs: A Great Pyrenees, A Marforian Huskey and a Rouland Shepherd. They were all dutifully keeping watch over her and were formed around her in a tight circle. The Shepherd, named Rusty, lay with his head on her lap, the Pyrenees, Blitz, behind her and on one side, the Huskey, , on her other side. The young woman herself, Molly, was dozing lightly in the comforting circle of friends.

"Alright, we got power and guns, we're in business. Bad news is that Marfor has stepped up its security after our actions yesterday. They're going to be on the lookout for anything, and I mean ANYTHING, suspicious. So today, we are going to lay low. But tomorrow, there is a military rations truck driving to one of their strongholds. There is probably going to be about two vehicles escorting it with the increased security, and around ten men. Four in the front car, four in the back, and two in the truck. We need that food, so today I will work on planning that operation. I plan to use Kaine and Xarxes, along with their squads. We're also going to have to start learning their language if we're going to get anywhere. When Farilor raided the electronics store, he also grabbed some language discs. So if you feel like learning Marforian, a computer is waiting. I picked up a bit of basic stuff earlier, but that stuff is hard to grasp. Saying this one more time, nobody is going anywhere today, stay here," said Sepitm as he stood in front of his assembled men in the old hotel conference center. After he was done, he stepped down from the stage and approached his wife.
"How was it?" asked Septim.
"Great," said Catherine with a smile, "I always thought soldiers were..."
"Well, I'm not a soldier, I'm a freedom fighter," said Septim before kissing his wife. He then turned to John.
"If you'd like, you can play on one of the computers," said James with a smile.
As John ran off to play one of the few computer games, James turned to his wife.
"This hotel, this whole country, is no place to raise a child," said Septim.
"I'd rather it be here than out there," said Catherine.
"True," said Septim before his wife kissed him again.
After talking with his wife for a while longer, Septim began his work on the raid plans.

Dominic woke up on the couch again and found Maria sitting next to him. "Good morning Dom." she said before standing up. Dom stood up also and cracked his back, sore from the couch. He walked over to a bucket of water he had in the room and washed his face. "Are you coming downstairs?" asked Dom as he turned towards Maria. "No, I will stay here for a little longer. You go ahead." she replied. "Alrighty." Dom said as he walked out the door.

Dom was now wearing his black beret, a black short and jacket along with some black jeans that he swore some goth would probably have worn. He didn't care though because camoflague was what he was looking for. He did want to go to another clothes store and hopefully find some sort of camoflague like he had seen in the movies. He walked downstairs and found Septim, but found out that there would be no going outside of the hotel for the day. Slightly discouraged, Dom turned to go back up to his room and was also handed some CD to learn the language. He shot a look at Septim, but decided it was better than nothing. He took a CD for Maria and turned back towards his room.

Dom walked back up to his room on the fifth floor and sat down on the bed with the CD. He handed Maria her CD and leaned against the wall while on the bed. She did the same and they both tried learning the language for almost the entire day before becoming bored with that.

Day 3
2 Days after I-Day
The Paradise Hotel
12:24 PM

After a trip to where they would ambush the truck and several plans that Septim knew would fail, he had one that would work. It would have plenty of room for unexpected surprises that the Marforians could toss at them, such as an extra truck full of troops, and maybe even a tank. They would have three squads of five, one of which would be led by Farilor, the other by Xarxes, and the last by Septim. Kaine would be at a good vantage point with or without a spotter. He would have a light machinegun at each side of the road, and Xarxes would have the RPG launcher. Depending on how well guarded the convoy is, they might or might not have to use it. The two heavy machineguns would pound the front and rear car full of lead so that the men inside are dead while Kaine would again snipe the truck driver. If they have an extra truck full of troops, they would use it on them as well, along with their assault rifles. If they have a tank, they would use the RPG to destroy it if Xarxes can figure out how to use it. Finally, they will back the truck into an alley, unload all the food into stolen shopping carts, and the truck would then be driven out onto the street and destroyed. Hopefully all in under four minutes.

Day 3
2 Days after I-Day
City Hall
9:28 PM

"General, the rebels did nothing today," said Major Haegon.
"Good, but that doesn't mean they've given up. What shipments are going out tomorrow?" asked the General.
"There is two, one is ammunition, the other is food," said Haegon.
"They have weapons, but they don't have food. Have an extra truck go with the food shipment, actually, go with it yourself as well," said the General.
"Yes...sir," said Haegon nervously.

Day 4
3 Days after I-Day
Loarten Street
8:22 AM

Septim and his men were in position, one of his men had figured out how to use the weapon after a day of working with it. One of Farilor's men had the same skill, and Xarxes thought he knew how to use the RPG, though he could not fire it anywhere and really had no idea. Kaine was in position as well at a good vantage point, Farilor had temporary command of Kaine's squad. All of the squads were on the roofs, and each could see eachother. The signal for the machineguns to start firing was Septim holding up his hand. When the machine guns began firing, Kaine was to take his shot. At 8:30, Septim saw the convoy approaching. As expected, it had an extra truck that was more than likely full of men. Once between the three squads, Septim held his hand up, and the two machine gunners began firing. The front and back car were pumped full of lead almost right away, killing or severely injuring all inside. They then turned on the truck that men were running out of while Kaine was taking his shot.

Dom was sitting on a rooftop that was ahead of the convoy. He was of course out of sight and waited patiently. He peeked over the edge of the roof and saw that the convoy was coming. He checked his rifle, careful to make sure he loaded it properly. Just in case, he unloaded it and slid three bullets into it smoothly. He chambered a round and slid another in, filling the four bullet capacity. He turned around so that he was on his knees and looked through the scope at the convoy. There were a number of vehicles in it probably loaded with troops, but he knew that they had the element of surprise.

Dom then aimed for his target which was the food truck. He aimed at the driver carefully and pictured himself firing a bullet right through the windshield. Then the machine guns began firing at the first and last vehicles. He then saw the extra truck get sprayed with bullets, but knew he had to take his shot. He aimed at the driver of the food truck who was frantically trying to get out of there. Dom breathed in and held his breath before firing a bullet. His rifle jolted slightly as the bullet exited the barrel and flew down the street, through the windshield, and into the neck of the driver. Somehow the driver was still alive. Cursing to himself, Dom worked the bolt on the rifle and aimed again before firing. The bullet struck the driver's chest, finally killing him.

Dom saw the truck grind to a halt and he worked the bolt of the rifle again and aimed at the passenger, noticing that it was an officer. Could be someone useful if he doesn't escape...
Dom kept his rifle aimed at him, hoping to shoot and not kill him if the man ran for it.

Molly had spent the previous day and night learning Marforian. She had always been good at languages, having learned several others already in and out of school. She decided the day spent laying low had been spent well. She kept it up til four in the morning and spent the rest of the time till the mission sleeping. Blitz woke her up at the appropriate time. "Thanks," she muttered, putting on some clothes she had filched for camo - a grey tank top and loose plack jeans with a black peacoat. She actually looked quite fasionable, if not covered with dog hair.

She was on the roof with Dom. She decided that she didn't want anyone taking out the sniper. The dogs lay around them. "Good shot," she said quietly, but loud enough to be heard. Her brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail and her ice blue eyes gleamed as she watched the commotion below. She pulled a grey scarf over her lower face, covering her petite nose and full pink lips. Her skin was very pale, like she never went out in the sun before. She muttered something in Marforian, just to make sure her accent sounded natural.

Dom kept looking through his scope without looking away. "You think this guy who is sitting in the passenger seat of the truck is important? He is wearing an officer uniform of some kind but I cannot see. All I know is that he is losing a leg if he runs." said Dom while keeping his hand steady on the rifle. "I wonder what Septim and the others are waiting for. They need to sweep him up quickly and get him if they want him. Otherwise I will assume they want me to bag him." continued Dom. "By the way...what is your name? I never asked when you came up here." said Dom.

After a few seconds more of firing, Septim gave the order to stop. He then pointed at the truck, and the two squads: Farilor's and Xarxes's, ran down to the truck. Xarxes looked inside and saw a mess. Eight soldiers were in the truck riddled with bullets. None were alive, all had around twenty bullets in them each.
"Clear," said Xarxes as he tried not to vomit.
Septim's squad, meanwhile, ran down and rifle butted the Major, knocking him out.
"Keep him, he looked like an officer, could have intel. Kaine did good not to shoot him," said Septim, "Get the body out and back the truck up to the sewer."
A few minutes later, the food was loaded and the truck was driven out into the street. A minute after that, the resistance was gone with a large supply of food and a Major full of information.

***

"Good work men," said Septim when they were back at HQ, he then noticed a woman with dogs that he hadn't noticed before, "I don't believe we've met, I am James Septim."
She laughed lightly and shook his hand firmly. "My name is Molly. Molly O'Reily. The dogs are Rusty, Blitz, and Zeppelin," she said, pointing them out in turn. "By the way, I can interview the captive. I think I know more Marforian than anyone else here," she said quietly.
"Pleased to meet you. The prisoner is in room one-oh-nine and is well tied to a chair. There are several tools if you'd wish to use them, such as pliers, a saw, and a few other things. Enjoy," said Septim before walking upstairs.
"My name is Dominic Kaine, but mostly just called Dom. I guess I am the sniper and scout of the group, even if not that incredibly skilled." said Dom. "I am not too fond of dogs though...bad experience as a kid. Sooo just don't trap me in a room with them." said Dom as he laughed lightly.
"Dom...You wanna help me interrogate this guy? I could use some muscle," she said with a smile. "I don't think I could saw off his leg even if I really wanted to." She rubbed Blitz's head lightly. "You'd have to put up with Rusty though. He's the scariest." The Shepherd seemed to give a goofy smile with his tongue hanging out. "That's my good boy!" she said, crouching down to scratch him around his ruff.
"Eh, sure I guess. Not sure what good I will be." said Dom as he sat his rifle down and walked towards the room. "Not too keen with that dog though. Scares me to death..." he continued. He walked down the hallway and opened the door before walking in. "Good day to you kind sir. Would you care for a refreshment?" joked Dom as he looked at the officer.

***

"I'm not dead yet," said Septim with a smile as he entered the room and looked at his wife.
His wife embraced him and gave him a kiss, and Septim returned it with passion. Afterwards, he simply sat down with his wife and child and enjoyed their company. Even in the midst of a wartorn world, he had a lot to be thankful for.

Year 2, Month 2, Day 14
Two years, two months, and thirteen days after I-Day
The Paradise Hotel
11:22 PM

"That seems like a good reason not to attack," said Septim.
"Those tanks'll blow you go hell," said Haegon.
"Exactly," said Septim, "That supply route looks like it'd be good."
Suddenly, downstairs, shots were heard. Septim took out his pistol and Haegon took out his.
"What the hell is that!?" asked Septim.
Xarxes then stormed into the room.
"Sir! The Marforians have found the hotel. We're being attacked!" said Xarxes, "There's only a small patrol down there now, but they're bringing in a tank to take the whole place down!"
"Get everybody you can to the escape route, now!" said Septim.
"What about you?" asked Xarxes.
"I'll help hold them off," said Septim.
"No!" said Xarxes.
"Yes, I'm the Commander, that's an order. I am not going to escape while my men bleed," said Septim.
"But!" protested Xarxes, but Septim cut him off.
"Get out of here," said Septim.
Without a word, Xarxes and Haegon ran to the elevator and Septim walked in as well, he got off at the second floor and grabbed a submachine gun from the armory. He then walked down the stairs to where the firefight was happening and jumped behind some sandbags they had prepared.
"Sir?" asked one of the soldiers.
"Hello soldier," said Septim as he blindfired over the sandbags in the general direction of the door.
"Sir! Get out of here!" said the soldier.
"I think I'll stay..."
With that, the battle began. With Septim's appearance, the morale of the resistance fighters grew, and they were able to hold off the Marforians long enough for Xarxes and Haegon to evacuate the headquarters, including Septim's twelve year old son. Eventually, Septim was shot in the arm while blindfiring. Septim ordered his men to retreat as he heard the tank approaching. As they ran up the stairs, the tank shot into the first story, and the building began to collapse. The six remaining men (out of the original thirty defenders) ran to the window where a fire escape was situated.
"Get outta here!" yelled Septim as he readied to use a pistol with his remaining useable arm.
"No sir, you get outta here," said one of the soldiers as he pushed Sepim out the window onto the fire escape and turned around. Running up the stairs were several Marforians. The soldiers readied their weapons for the last fight as Septim ran down the stairs.
"Long live Cidel!" roared the soldiers in unison before the firing started. When Septim reached the bottom, he found that the ladder was up, as he tried to pu*beep* down, the building started collapsing and Septim was rocked. He then looked down at the bottom and decided to jump. He landed with a snap and fell onto his broken leg just as the building collapsed, luckily in the opposite direction. The soldiers ran into the alley a few minutes later to find Septim on the ground in serious pain from the gunshot wound and the broken leg.
"Take him back to HQ," said an officer.
One of the soldiers knocked Septim out, and all went black.

Dom was busy planning a surprise ambush on Marforian patrols when two of his men rushed in. "Sir, Xarxes and Haegon just arrived out of breath saying something about the hotel was under attack!" said one of them. "WHAT!?" said Dom in surprise and fear. "Show me them." he said and followed them out of the room and down to the ground floor.

Xarxes, Haegon, and a number of other people who escaped from the hotel were all gathered. "Dom, we think Septim was captured or killed...we are going to contact Major Brukon in the Marforian military to tell us if he is dead or alive. He will let us know tomorrow because we have to be careful when contacting him. His aid for us must remain as hidden as possible." said Xarxes.

Upon arriving at the Marforian HQ, Septim was given emergency medical treatment for his bullet wound. Septim was knocked out while worked on, but when he got up he found that they had not given him painkillers. His broken leg had also been taken care of, and he was now tied up in a cold room. After an hour of waiting, a man walked in. He looked to be from Valkond.
"Hello Doctor Septim," said the man in Marforian.
Septim looked up and said in perfect Marforian: "Hello...scum..."
The man was taken by surprise by the rebel's knowledge of his second language, but he pressed on.
"Will you tell me the location of the other rebel bases?" asked the man.
"There are none," said Septim.
"Now now, I don't like liars..." said the torture expert as he walked to a table in the corner of the room, he took out a pair of pliers. He then walked over to the other side of the room (out of Septim's view) and pulled a large device in front of Septim. He then put Septim's fingers inside of the holes and pushed a crank around, holding his fingers in place.
"Now, every time you lie I am going to pull a fingernail..." said the torture expert.
Septim said nothing.
"Saying nothing counts as lying, Doctor," said the torture expert as he grabbed one of Septim's fingernails with the pliers.
"3...2...1..." he said.
Then, he ripped one out, Septim barely supressed a cry of pain as the man put the fingernail in a pan.
"Dang..." he said, "So...going to lie again? We have nineteen more to go..."
Septim said nothing, and the pain continued...and continued...and continued...

The next night came around and Dom knew he had to meet with Major Brukon. He had to know if Septim was alive or not and what to do afterwards. Dom walked into his room and got dressed for his mission. He put on his nighttime fatigues along with his black beret. He grabbed his rifle, a pistol, and put some ammunition in his pockets. He headed for the door, but Sam stopped him. "Let me come with you." he said as he grabbed Dom by the shoulder lightly. "It would be too dangerous with you with me." Dom replied but Sam persisted. "I can help you and I have learned much in the past years." Sam said until finally Dom gave up. "Alright, dress yourself and grab a rifle. We leave immediately." Dom said.

Ten minutes later they were both in the sewers heading for an abandoned grocery store. The two took fifteen minutes getting there carefully until they climbed out in the basement of an apartment. "To the roof." Dom whispered, letting Sam lead the way. They got to the roof and the two peeked over the side. Major Brukon was standing by a vehicle with two men in front of him. One was apparently wondering how they got a flat tire while the other stood around on guard. Every once and awhile, the major would rub his fingers across his throat in a slashing motion. Dom understood the signal and pulled Sam closer. "The major needs us to kill the two men with him in order for us to speak to him." whispered Dom. "You take the one on the right and I will get the one standing up. Fire on three."

Dom sat down for a moment and opened the chamber of his rifle. He unloaded and reloaded his four bullets before slapping the bolt down. He rested it on the edge of the roof and aimed carefully. Sam had done similar actions and soon the two were aiming carefully. "One...two...three!" said Dom right as he fired. The two bullets flew through the air. Sam's bullet struck his target in the throat instead of in the head while Dom's bullet struck his target right in the nose.

Major Brukon knew that there was someone out there, but he was still surprised when he saw the guard next to him suddenly lose his face. His driver next to him had been shot in the neck and was clutching at his throat, reaching for the major's leg as if asking for help. Brukon merely kicked the foot away and waited for the man to die. Dom then snuck over while Sam covered him. "Major...pssst!" said Dom as he hid on the other side of the vehicle. Major Brukon did not move, but he talked aimlessly. "I am hoping you are a high member of the resistance. Your leader James Septim has been taken captive. You have truly made a grave error by letting him be a combatant when he is more important in leading. He is being held captive at the Marforian headquarters and is almost certainly being tortured gruesomely so that he will reveal your locations. Go quickly for I do not have time to waste. Shoot several bullets through the windows so it may look like an ambush. I will drive back and say I was attacked and my guards were killed while being very brave." said Major Brukon.

Dom took his pistol and fired several times through the window and sides of the car before running off. Major Brukon did not look at Dom as he left, but simply got into the car and drove off recklessly. Dom raced back to Sam and told him everything before racing back towards his base of operations. When he got there he told everything and everyone was suddenly dedicated to freeing their imprisoned leader before anything else could happen to him.

Septim was in the room, his fingernails and toenails were all gone, and there were pins through them. He was in massive amounts of pain.
"Well, if you aren't going to be cooperative, we will just have to take off something that won't grow back...hmmmm...ahh! Your eye, nothing more important to a soldier than their eyes!" said the torture expert as he grabbed a tool from the table. The blade was round and it looked to be made for cutting out eyes.
"Ready?" he asked mockingly.
"F*** you..." said Septim.
"Wrong answer," said the torture expert before beginning his work.
"Fun! Eh? It's fun isn't it!?" asked the sadist as he cut out Septim's right eye.
Septim screamed out of pure, unimaginable pain as the cold metal tool cut out his eye. A minute later, he was holding in his screams as the man was holding the remains of Septim's right eye.
"Well, wasn't that fun?" he asked.
Septim said nothing, and the expert laughed.
"Never met one as hard to crack as you, but tomorrow, we'll do the left!" said the man before leaving. Several medics came in a few minutes later to make sure that the wound would not infect, they didn't want their information to die, afterall.

Dom knew that he did not have much time. He decided that some sort of diversion would be needed in order to reduce the troop numbers around the prison, which was where Septim was being held. "I will cause a diversion on the other side of the city. They will most likely send in reinforcements from the prison to help, but don't expect too many to leave. They know they have an important prisoner." said Xarxes. "Alright...but be careful. Start the diversion at 3am, which gives us enough time to plan ambushes. Sam, Jacob, and myself will be going to the prison." said Dom. "On second thought, I will take Bernie with me for surveillance."

It was about 2:45am when Dom, Sam, Jacob, and Bernie were on a rooftop opposite the jail. The guard that was on the roof a moment ago was not going to be moving again. Sam hid the body under some debris before sitting down. "Alright, Bernie you will wait here with Jacob and cover us if we have to make a quick escape. Don't be afraid to use those rifles if you need to. Don' get yourselves killed alright?" said Dom. "Got it Dom." said Bernie. "No problem." said Jacob.

Dom and Sam went downstairs and crossed the street almost invisibly until they were next to the chain link fence outside the prison. Sam cut a small hole and the two men slipped underneath of it before moving towards the prison building itself. There were about three dozen men patrolling around in some way. They were mostly in groups of four, which made it not good for Dom. Then suddenly a siren started going off and about thirty of the men were soon scrambling into trucks and racing off through the front gate. That left about six men outside and an unknown number inside.

Dom was thinking of having to fight his way inside when Sam pulled on his shirt. "Dom...look, a vent over here..." whispered Sam until Dom looked over. "It looks large enough...I think we can fit into it." whispered Sam as he pulled out a coin and unscrewed it. Dom went first with his pistol out and slowly crawled into the darkness. Every once and awhile he would look down through the vent and see a guard or two walking around. Soon he saw a man who looked important walking in through a door. Dom followed the vent so that he was above the room. He then saw Septim, his leader, directly below him. He had to fight to keep himself from gasping at the sight in order to keep himself hidden.

The Marforian man soon walked over to a table and picked up a strange object. "I hope you enjoyed your other eye while you could. I decided not to wait until tomorrow, but to just take care of it now. It will not matter if I wait or not. You can still speak if blind. Now tell me...are you ready to talk now?" said the man. "F*** you...' said Septim in a defiant reply. "Fine then...go blind you dog." he man spat as he moved to put the object against Septim's eye. Dom looked behind him at Sam and held up three fingers. He then aimed his pistol at the head of the man and fired. The man's head snapped backwards and he slumped against the wall with blood oozing out.

Dom then popped out the vent covering and landed next to Septim. "Don't move yet...let me free you and get you out of here." said Dom as he untied Septim. "Get into the vent." said Dom as he crouched down, ready to lift Septim up into the hole. "You will need to pull me up."
As soon as he was untied, Septim ran to the torture expert's corpse and grabbed his clothes, managing to prevent the blood from staining them. He then put them on (the leather gloves covering his lack of fingernails and the shoes covering for his lack of toenails). He cleaned himself up and hid the body in a shadowy corner of the room. The officer's hat somewhat concealed his identity.
"I have a better idea," said Septim, "You guys go, I owe it to the guards to do this..."
With that, Septim walked out of the room and past the guards. Without turning, he spoke several words in perfect Marforian.
"No need to send in the doctors. He is fine, but in great pain. I am concerned that their intervention will cause the pain to be lifted," lied Septim.
"Yes, Major Rakon," said the soldiers, saluting.
Septim smiled as he continued and soon reached the prison control. Inside were two men and a guard. Without a word Septim drew his pistol and shot the guard, he then turned and shot the two men, all three shots struck them in the head. He then ran up to the prison control and hit "Emergency Release". An entire cell block of POWs was released, but they would not stand a chance. Septim quickly grabbed the guard's assault rifle, pistol, and ammo and tossed them down to the prisoners. He then performed a Cidellian Military Salute before running from the prison control room and down the stairs. He then ran out the doors, past the guards who were preparing for battle, and into a staff car.
"Get me the hell out of here," said Septim in Marforian, imitating a worried officer.
"Yes sir!" said the driver.
The driver shifted the car and drove off, a few miles away from the prison, Septim looked around and saw a familiar manhole in an alley.
"Stop the car," said Septim in Marforian.
The car stopped, and Septim jumped out.
"Go back to HQ," said Septim in Marforian.
"Yes sir," said the driver before driving off, the driver had obviously never seen the Major before (the reason being that the Major usually drove himself). Septim was thankful for that as he opened the manhole, got in, and closed it. An hour later he climbed through the manhole into Kaine's base, Kaine was waiting.
"That was fun," said Septim, "Gave those soldiers a chance at freedom, and if not, a soldier's death."
"I believe that Bernie and Jacob would have helped protect a number of them from any guards. They were outside the prison with rifles in case we needed to make a quick escape. They should arrive soon enough." said Dom as he embraced Septim for a moment. "We thought you were dead until we contacted the major. Nice to have you back sir." said Kaine.
After waiting for several minutes, Bernie and Jacob showed up with several dozen freed prisoners. Bernie had a bullet through his shoulder, but was okay. "We managed to shake the guards off. One had a lucky shot though, but he didn't live to see where we went." said Bernie as he grimaced. "Alright take him upstairs and see if the bullet is still in the wound." said Dom as Bernie was helped by Sam.
Septim then sat down and looked at one of the soldiers.
"Would you get me a mirror?" he asked.
A minute later, he had a mirror in his hand and was looking into an empty eye socket.
"Hmph, sorta liked that eye too. Guess I need an eyepatch," said Septim.
One of the soldiers ran to the infirmary of the building and grabbed an eyepatch. He then handed it to Septim, who put it on.
"Now that my eye socket is covered, I can get to more important matters. Thank you, Kaine, for getting me out of that hellhole. Thank you all, but we need to get to work. But first...Xarxes, could you get Catherine?"
"Yes sir," said Xarxes before walking up the stairs, a few minutes later, he came back with Catherine Septim.
"James!" said Catherine as she ran up to Septim.
Septim said nothing as he received her embrace, and smiled before kissing her. John came down the stairs and hugged his father as well.
"James...your eye..." said Catherine with concern.
"Depth perception might suffer a bit, but I'll be fine," said Septim with a sarcastic smile, "More worried about the nails though, when you get an itch on your nose, it's pretty sad when you have to rub the itch away."
Catherine smiled at James's sarcasm, but eventually, James had to stop, he had planning to do. Catherine walked up the stairs and Septim turned back to his men.
"It'd be pretty cruel not to let my family know that I made it out. Now, the Marforians, they think we're crippled, they know we have bases, but they don't know how many. We can't do a small strike with such an advantage as the element of surprise, I propose that we assassinate General Boskar Lavanor, and I am sure Haegon will want to do that. We should assassinate him during the Victory Parade that I overheard the Major (that tortured me) talking about. It will be a celebration for the victory over the resistance, or so they will think. It will be quite ironic when a bullet goes through his head during it. With him dead, the Marforians will lack a General and several Brigadiers will squabble over command. That is when we will strike their main headquarters, Fort Jukask, and use their tanks to our advantage. After it is secured, we will strip everything we can from it while the tanks are covering us, we will then plant a cr@load of plastic explosives in there and get the hell out. Hopefully, it'll be enough to destroy the base. That will be a pretty bad strike against Marforian morale, and it'll be good for ours. Not to mention the fact that we need supplies. I will draw up a detailed plan when I rest for a bit with my wife and maybe get a few painkillers for my wounds."
"Alright Septim, I will tell some of the men to get some rest. We cannot all stay awake without sleep. It only hurts out ability to fight." said Gordon. He turned to a man named Benjamin, who had been a close friend of his since the founding of the new base. "Ben, I want you to make sure the defenses are setup. I need to get some sleep or else I won't be able to function at all." said Dom as he yawned. He opened the bolt of his rifle and emptied it out before cleaning it for a few minutes. He then loaded in four bullets, but left the gun open so that it had no bullet chambered. He then sat down and closed his eyes where he was since he had passed up the opportunity to get a real bed for himself.

Year 2, Month 2, Day 28
Two years, two months, and twenty-seven days after I-Day
Cidel Street
12:06 PM

Haegon was in position, his sniper rifle in his hands. He had been practicing almost non-stop for two weeks, he was ready. Below, the General's float went down the street, few in the crowd were cheering for him. The resistance was "beaten", there would be no hope for them. Or so they thought. The crosshairs focused on Lavanor's head, then adjusted for the wind and distance, his heartbeat slowed. This was it, this was the moment, he would have his revenge. He pulled the trigger, a bang occured, and the bullet zoomed down over the crowd and right through the General's forehead. He pulled back from the window and smiled before pulling out his radio.
"The General's dead!" he said in Marforian to imitate a Marforian officer (in case anybody was listening).
Across town, an attack was about to happen on Fort Jukask that would be led by the recently escaped James Septim. Within twenty seconds, Haegon was gone.

Year 2, Month 2, Day 28
Two years, two months, and twenty-seven days after I-Day
Talimon Advertising Company building
1:25 PM

"James! What the hell just happened?" asked Dom when Septim climbed through the manhole.
"Did you watch?" asked James with a grin.
"Yeah, I thought you were attacking the Fort!" said Dom.
"The Fort? Hmph, not that stupid," said James.
"That would have striked a major blow!" said Dom.
"This gave us a lot more than guns and ammo. This gave us an entire nation full of Cidellians ready to fight for their freedom," declared James, "Wait until tomorrow, Dom. Tomorrow, Marfor is going to be covering their asses in fear..."
"Fine," said Dom.
With that, Septim walked upstairs to rest with Catherine and his son.

Year 2, Month 2, Day 29
Two years, two months, and twenty-eight days after I-Day
Talimon Advertising Company building
12:17 PM

"Dom, come here," said Septim, looking out one of the top floor windows.
Dom ran to the window and saw something that raised his spirits. Across Cidel City, fires were burning in Marforian bases and headquarters. Shots were being fired, cars overturned. All of Cidel City was fighting, and Septim turned to Dom.
"Ready to go hunting?" asked Septim.
"I guess you were right," said Dom, "I'm going to go get my rifle."

Year 2, Month 2, Day 29
Two years, two months, and twenty-eight days after I-Day
Balak Street
1:03 PM

James Septim climbed out of the manhole with his submachine gun at the ready, the streets were swarming with people. Some were throwing rocks, others had actual guns, and a few were throwing molotov *beep*tails. Behind James Septim came Dominic Kaine, Samuel Hughes, Sergeant Kyle Weathers of the Cidellian Army, Corporal David Wrex of the Cidellian Army, and a few others.
"Ready to get revenge, boys?" asked Septim.
"Of course!" yelled the soldiers.
"Good...lets take our country back!" said Septim as he took off his eyepatch, behind it was an empty socket. He pulled down his fedora to hide his eye socket and walked with the crowd. The others followed him, and eventually, the mob reached a roadblock. The soldiers at it fired teargas into the crowd, and Septim pulled a gasmask from his backpack and put it on. Afterwards, he turned to Dom.
"Get to a vantage point and take out the men shooting the teargas!" said Septim.
Dom ran off, and Septim looked at the roadblock.
"Leave our nation!" the crowd began to chant, and eventually, the Marforians opened fire. Then, one of the soldiers fell with a hole in their head, two more shots followed, and Septim smiled.
"They have weapons!" yelled the soldiers in Marforian as they started to run, but Dom shot them down. Septim then threw a frag grenade into the roadblock which landed near a group of soldiers. The soldiers were killed, and the remaining Marforians turned and got into their car, which Septim destroyed with a grenade.
"Take their guns!" yelled Septim over the crowd as he put on his eyepatch and revealed his face, "I am James Septim!"
The crowd went silent, and Septim jumped up onto the side of an overturned car.
"Take their weapons and carry on! Let us drive them from our lands once and for all!" yelled Septim.
"James Septim? Just 'cause you have an eyepatch? You're probably not even missing an eye!" said a man.
"Would you like to see the socket?" asked Septim with a smile before pulling off his eyepatch.
Some in the crowd shuddered, and Septim laughed before raising his submachine gun.
"Lets go!" he yelled before jumping off the car and starting down the street.
The people followed, and the uprising began.

Over the next week, CRM soldiers trained the citizens of Cidel in the use of weapons ranging from pistols to RPG launchers. James Septim became the President of Cidel after a public election to nobody's surprise. Septim knew, however, that they could not fight Marfor. It would be impossible. So he created Resistance bases in every major city and stocked them with ammunition, food, water, and technology. Generators and water pumps were installed in each base. They decided not to do it in the open, and founded the bases by sewer. Septim also sent a few of his trusted Lieutenants to foreign countries to begin operations there. Dominic Kaine was sent to Marfor, Xarxes was sent to Tasidian, Farilor was sent to Valkond, and Haegon was sent to Restar. Finally, after a week of preparation, the Marforians came back in full force to find no resistance (Septim had decided that it would be a futile waste of resources and lives to resist the initial occupation). Once again, Cidel was in enemy hands, but it wasn't the same as before. The Resistance was prepared. The first week of the occupation saw over 15,000 casualties for the Marforian military, with causes of death ranging from train-bombs to ambushes on the streets.

In Tasidian, Xarxes and the five men he took with him (an intelligence officer, a trainer, a quartermaster, a recon specialist, and a boat Captain/squad leader) formed the backbone of the Tasidian Branch of the World Resistance Movement. They recruited several men from Tasidian (after intense loyalty tests and stalking) and began forming a decent movement. After two months of preparing they began operations. Trains were blown up, trucks were ambushed, shipments were blown up, and armories were raided.

In Valkond, things were much more difficult. Valkond had a much more established presence in their own country, but that didn't stop Farilor from giving them hell. Most of the POW camps from the many wars Valkond and Marfor had fought in were kept in Marfor and Valkond rather than the countries they were formed. It was meant to lower the chances of a rescue operation, but it worked against them in this case. Farilor managed to free POWs from five different camps, and formed a strong movement in Valkond.

In Restar, the presence was weaker than Cidel and Tasidian, as Restar had been conquered over thirty years ago. It was, however, difficult to find recruits, so Haegon (who was unknown in Restar) had to recruit from the Marforian Army. He took the identity of a Captain and began recruiting. It was easy to pick out the officers and soldiers who hated their country, and by the third month, they had a reasonable force consisting of Marforian soldiers and Restarian citizens.

In Marfor, Marforian presence was massive. It was nearly impossible for Kaine to create a resistance, but he was eventually able to find people who hated their nation, and soldiers that hated their motherland, and the Marforian Branch of the World Resistance Movement was born. Kaine's strikes were precise and crippling, but responses were far better than they were in Cidel. Kaine could have no permanent base in the city, after the first attack they began going door to door. It was tough, but he managed.