Operation: Pacifica, Downfall
by DarkSide (darkside@seanet.com)

 Captain Felton ducked behind the short wall of the roof he was
  previously standing upon to avoid the heavy hail of gunfire that rained upon
  him from the streets below.  Dust and debris rose in plumes in time to the
  heavy beat of the weapons that roared below, settling upon his form as he
  crawled on his belly below the lead storm.

 "Why is it-- nnngh" he said to himself, grunting as a lucky bullet
  punched through a weak point in the wall and found its way across his back.
  "--that ye always find a way t'get yerself inta a heap o' shite like this?"
  He had taken it upon himself to go for a stroll across the rooftops of the
  Jihad-held section of the city.  Somehow, as he was lost in thought, he
  managed to either stumble across a spongin infiltration party or into
  spongin-held territory.  Whichever it was wasn't a concern of his right now.
  Escaping without becoming a bullet trap was.

 DarkSide fired off a burst of rounds over the edge with his MP5K,
  quickly withdrawing his hand before a swarm of lead chewed up the masonry in
  its vicinity a split second later.  Firing off another burst from his
  burpgun, he heard an audible *FWOOMP* from below.  Upon realization of its
  source, he leapt to his feet, firing down in short bursts. He hurled himself
  through the air, catching a slug in the shoulder and the side, firing as the
  grenade hit nearly twenty feet behind him.  He landed flat on his belly as
  the shell blew, spraying debris into the air, ripping a huge hold in the
  roof.

 DS clutched at the wounded shoulder, wincing in pain as he swapped
  a fresh clip into his sub-gun.  He fired off another burst, noting another
  *FWOOMP* followed by the sharp crash of breaking glass a split second before
  the roof bucked violently beneath him.  The force of the blast kicked him
  into the air with fragments of the roof, only to be ensnared by gravity and
  pulled back into the gaping hole, falling through the blasted-away floor
  beneath and landing heavily below with the sharp crack of bone.

 A searing pain flowed through what was his good shoulder, causing
  him to grit his teeth in agony.  A quick glance revealed his gun arm folded
  beneath him, twisted in an odd direction, the bone wrenched from its socket
  and forming a strange protrusion in his shoulder.  He bit his lip hard
  enough to draw blood as he struggled to his knees, pain like a white hot
  poker tearing through his arm.  He winced further as he picked up his
  weapon, the bullet wound in his shoulder complaining.

 A deep thumping coming up the stairs alerted him to an enemy's
  approach and he dove for cover behind a desk, grunting in pain.  "Come out,
  my dear adversary," came a voice.  "This certainly was amusing for a short
  while but the time has come to bring this game to a close." DarkSide leapt
  from behind one desk to dive behind another, firing all the way.  He noted
  how worthless his left arm was for gunfights, especially wounded-- every
  round had missed the MENSAn by a good two feet.

 "My, we certainly are tenacious, aren't we?" chuckled the nagenta
  saurian.  "Pity your limbs seem to be useless to you at the moment. Say...
  aren't you the specimen that was chosen to serve Lord B'harnii's army?  You
  are, aren't you!  Splendid!  Then you know that it is not I that is your
  enemy!  It is your cohorts, the Jihaddi!"

 DarkSide grunted as the throbbing in his head started again, and
  the world around him began to ripple.  "Not again!" he muttered.  "Git outta
  me head!!!"  He could feel the Lyran spell digging its claws into his mind
  again.  "BWWAAAAAH!!!!" he screamed, emptying his clip in the general
  direction of the MENSAn.

 The saurian snickered.  "Your aim is impeccable!  You managed to
  accurately miss me with every shot!"  The nagenta creature raised the M-16
  it held in its claws.  "Unfortunately for you, my dear friend, my targeting
  skill will not be nearly so.... 'accurate.'"

 DarkSide darted behind cover, catching a burst of gunfire in his
  right thigh.  He collasped to the floor, grasping his thigh, then his
  mangled arm in consecutive order as the pain tore through his right side.

 The heavy clomp of boots indicated more spongin flooding up the
  stairs.  He quickly checked his ammo reserves... and found them non-
  existent.  He grunted, doing his best to crawl on his belly to escape into
  the next room.  He gritted his teeth, pulling himself around with his back
  against the wall.  He drew his dirk from its sheath and bit down on the
  blade hard as he wrenched his shoulder back into place, straining to keep
  quiet.

 A spongin shuffled around the corner, and DS drove the blade home
  deep into the sponge's groin, snatching up his rifle as he keeled over,
  squealing in pain.  DS scooted across the floor on his back, firing off a
  burst of rounds from the AK-47 into the next couple of spongin as they
  tromped through the door.  He propped himself up in an office chair,
  scuttling about on it and firing from his lap, taking down a few more
  spongin.  He ducked instinctively as he heard loud crash and a *FWOOMP*, and
  a whistling sound passed overhead before the wall behind him exploded,
  tossing him out of the chair.  He raised his head to spot the MENSAn,
  standing amongst the remains of the wall it had barreled through, M-16
  leveled at him, grenade launcher smouldering.

 DarkSide pulled himself to his feet slowly, wiping away the trickle
  of blood that ran down his upper lip.  "Well?" he taunted. "What be ye
  waitin' fer?  Finish th' damn job!"  He glared icily at the MENSAn.

 The purplish saurian just grinned.  "Why, my fine Celtic friend, I
  believe I will!" it said, opening up on DS.

 DarkSide stumbled backwards towards the hole blasted in the wall,
  trying his best to shield his head as round after round tore through his
  torso and legs.  He tottered near the edge, his legs giving in under the
  onslaught, and fell back through the hole.  As he fell the four stories, he
  miscalculated his positioning just slightly, landing hard with the sharp
  snap of bone, losing all feeling from the neck down.

 [Oh shit... SHIT!] he thought to himself.  [Not now! Shitshit
  shitshitshitSHIT!]

 He closed his eyes.. had to take care of the neck as fast as he
  could.  He snapped his eyes open again at the sound of the breech of the
  grenade launcher clicking closed and the feel of debris settling on his
  face.  He turned his eyes upward, spotting the MENSAn at the ledge, punching
  more of the wall out to facilitate its mass.  It trained its grenade
  launcher down upon him, smiling with a goofy-looking triumphant grin.  DS
  rolled his eyes back, squeezing them shut tight.

 "Oh ffffffffffuuuuuuuuu-"

 The report of the launcher was the last sound he heard.

...

 Somewhere in Argentina, a young woman stopped cold as an icy chill
  crawled up her spine.  General Keili shivered as she looked up into the
  night sky.  For some reason, the stars just didn't seem to shine as bright
  anymore....

Copyright (c) 1997 DarkSide Studios