Siege on Helsinki, Part 2

Athena marched toward her objective with the rest of the Separatist soldiers only because she needed them as meat shields. Her mecha was fast, but not fast enough to avoid multiple defense cannons firing at her at the same time. It would be easy to gun down a single mecha compared to a whole company.

On their way there, she was surprised to find huge craters scattered across the landscape around her.

"Is this our doings?" Athena asked as she and the rest of the soldiers made their way around the craters.

Her CO (Commanding Officer) explained that other Separatist ships had started bombing before the Eternal had even arrived. Its purpose was to weaken the enemy, which explained why she was not shot by AA guns on her descend to the surface.

"The only problem left was the main city, one that you are going to take, " her CO said, "They had no problem taking the barrier down, but the barrier regenerated before they could destroy the city. So they had no choice but to hold their fire and wait for ground units to take a position and strike when the barrier is down."

"I see..."

"While the timing was too short for the ships to attack, there would be enough time for a ground unit to enter the city."

"And Ares is going to be there, I assume?" she asked.

"Yes. Our scouts saw him retreating into the city after his little battle with you."

"Then, I have something for you to prepare."

Athena admired the dome-covered city while standing just outside of the city defenses range.

At the start of her mission, she considered the city as nothing more but another generic mission of taking over an enemy stronghold. She only did it because it would hurt the Federation. But now, with Ares in the mix, she changed her purpose. Now, she wanted to test Ares's determination to kill her and his loyalty to the Federation and its people. She wanted to see which one was the stronger one.

"Do it," she ordered her CO.

On Athena's order, Separatists ships concentrated their fire on the dome. At the same time, the Separatists' ground troops marched. They were of course, immediately fired upon by the city defense cannons, but it didn't stop them. They pushed their fear of death deep down their heart and continued their advance toward the city. Athena kept all of the elite pilots and the APC of the task unit near her at the front, while the rest of the unit was scattered to minimalize casualties.

With perfect timing, the dome went down when the ground troops were mere steps away from the barrier. Federations foot soldiers and mechas tried to stop them with their bullets, but they were easily taken care of by Athena and the other Separatist mechas.

Athena and her group made it in successfully, but not all of the ground troops did. Some APCs and mechas were cut in half when the dome regenerated, and the rest were left outside of the dome. She looked back at the group with her. After she made sure everyone that mattered to her was safe, she went off on her own, leaving them to continue the mission by themselves.

In her search of Ares, she came across a couple of Federation mechas, but they were easily dispatched. One of them tried to run away from her after he saw her destroyed his friends, but she caught up to her and swiftly put him to an end.

Giving no break to her, another mecha appeared. This time, it was an ace mecha. The pilot called himself an ace pilot by the name Harley. The two traded blows, but from the first one, it was already clear to her that he was no match for her. After trading blows a bit more, Athena cut off his mecha hand and he ran off while screaming he will be back.

She tried to chase after him, but in the end, lost him. She returned to her search for her true enemy.

As she was walking down what looked like a shopping district, Ares took her by surprise by appearing from the inside of a building to her left and smashed her into another building. Ares pulled out his dual blades, but she jumped away just in time as he swung them at her.

"Ambush, huh? You used those mechas to lead me to you," Athena said mockingly.

"It doesn't matter. All that matters now is that we can finally finish this battle without interruption.

Before she had the chance to pull out her katana, Ares machine gun popped out once more and started firing at her. Athena used her shield to protect herself, but his rain of fire proved too much for the shield and it broke under the pressure. She rolled into another building to take cover as he kept firing at her.

When his gun stopped firing, it was time for Athena to use her own gun. She appeared from behind her cover. pointed her mecha point fingers at Ares and fired two plasma bullets at him. Using his dual blades, he deflected Athena's bullets before immediately closing the distance between the two.

Before she could pull her weapons out, Ares pinned her down to the ground. He launched his sword toward her chest before his blade was stopped by her hands. It didn't matter. His blade still moved little by little toward her chest. It was only a matter of time before it reached the pilot cockpit.

"This ends here, Athena. For-"

Athena's sudden laugh took Ares by surprise, stopping his monologue about having revenge on his dead lover.

"Do you know why I'm alone?" Athena said after she stopped laughing "Because the other soldiers are planting a bomb at the city center, a poison bomb. If you don't stop them now, then this whole town inhabitants would die."

At first, Ares thought it would be an easy decision. He would just ignore the bomb and kill Athena as he had her pinned down and would sooner or later die by his sword. But Luna's voice echoed inside his head, complicating everything. His memory of Luna reminded him of what her choice would be if she was in his situation.

She would do anything to save the innocent, even if it meant disobeying orders. It got them into huge trouble one time as they had to fight off a whole squad of Separatist mecha to save a civilian ship. It was only because of him that she survived. When they returned to base, the higher-ups were absolutely pissed at them, but Luna stood her ground.

"Human lives are not something you just throw aside."

He still remembered what she said, her words rung inside of his head.

Ares gritted his teeth. His revenge was just in his grasp, and he had to let it go. Pulling his blade away from her, he rushed off to the city center.

Athena lied there for a moment, surprised that he didn't finish her.

"A--A bomb?" her CO asked in disbelief.

"Yea. Send one down," she insisted.

"I-I don't think I can. We need the town intact as much as possible."

"Didn't you want to destroy the town before?" she asked.

"The higher-ups changed their mind. With you and the ground troops around, they wanted to save the city as much as possible so the fee to repair the city wouldn't be high."

"Then send a gas bomb, that would be enough to kill its inhabitants without destroying any of the buildings."

"I- ... Alright. I will send down a unit to handle the bomb."

Ares rushed over as fast as he could. He turned his communication back on to know the situation from his CO. He had turned it off while he was battling Athena to avoid getting distracted.

"Ares! Where have you been?!" the female CO asked him.

"Personal business," he answered coldly.

"Look, a chemical bomb is going to be exploded at the city center. You-"

There was the sound of an explosion. And not long after, he could see green gas flooding the road before him.

"Get out of there! The city is already lost!" her CO said.

Ares disabled the ventilation in his mecha and start ascending for the atmosphere. He watched all of the civilians that didn't get to be evacuated slowly choking to their death. It was a long and gruesome death. There was nothing he could do. His hesitation caused him to lose both the civilians and his revenge.

As he continued with his ascend, he saw Athena staring at him from the top of one of the buildings. He clenched his fist in anger.

"I will get you, Athena. Mark my word."

"Let them be. I want him to live up his failure," Athena ordered her CO.

"But-"

"I swear to God if he is shot down now, I will personally take care of the ships that shot him down!" she threatened.

Her CO forwarded the message to all Separatist ships, and they followed her order by not firing at Ares and the ship he was going to, the Federation flagship Crusader. After Ares entered the flagship, the Federation fleet immediately jumped away.

Helsinki now officially belonged to the Separatists.

"The higher-ups won't be happy with letting him go," her CO said.

"Don't worry. I will kill him eventually. But for now, I still want to play around with him."

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