Author's Note: So here is chapter one of Retribution where we introduce the other half of the equation. Let's do this.

Five years.

Five fucking years.

2025 and the world lies in ruins after the disastrous events of World War III, with the attention of the Three World Super-Powers fixated on each other, the rest of the world found itself unsupervised. India is invaded by Pakistan and the two countries shatter each other of the course of a year of fighting. The entire Middle-east both figuratively and literally explodes as ethnic cleansings, gas attacks, and millennia old grudges are finally settled. Israel's Muslim neighbors take advantage of the chaos and attack only to break themselves upon the great shield that is the Israeli military. Africa is fully engulfed by rebellions, clashing warlords, drug lords, and old tribal hates and grudges. Argentina took the opportunity to attack and occupy the Falkland Islands, their official reasoning was to liberate the people of the Falklands from British oppression but the more accepted reason on the other hand was that they were avenging their humiliating defeat back in the Falklands War.

Brigadier General Matthew Renolds sat in his quarters aboard the USS Reagan Mobile Offshore Base, contemplating the worlds situation and his place in it. North and South America relatively untouched with large sections of the East Coast in ruins from the two invasions. The Middle-East and Africa considered Black Zones due to the collapse of any type of central government in those regions besides Israel which had remained intact even after the attacks. Europe once again a bombed-out ruin, poor fuckers, just could not catch a break. Asia was still a hot mess of clusterfucks even after they went after each other over three years ago, with China making land grabs into former Soviet Bloc countries, those same countries banding together to fight off the Chinese aggression. North Korea once again attempting to unite the two Koreas but was dissuaded by a pair of Kinetic Rod strikes, breaking their offensive before it could begin. Australia which had weathered the chaos of the war completely unscathed, then there was Russia and Japan.

Towards the end of the war, when it became abundantly clear the US was going to come out as the only intact Super-Power, a data-packet was broadcast across the Extranet in dozens of languages. It contained enough information to prove that it was General Sergai Izotov of the Russian Spetznaz Guards Brigade was directly responsible for starting the war. Having suffered a string of harrowing defeats, morale across the country was at an all time low and civil unrest was rampant. That data packet and the information contained within was the final straw, General Izotov was lynched, following mass riots and desertions that crippled Russia's capability to make war forcing them to drop out to deal with their internal problems. A week later US Forces marched into Paris and Old Glory flew from the Eiffel tower for the first time, President Pulain of the European Federation offered her unconditional surrender hours later.

Japan had come as a nasty surprise to the US when a few days after hostilities commenced they broke their treaty, allied with Russia and attacked the various US bases across the Home Islands. The Marines held Iwa Kuni and Okinawa against the Jap aggressors, while the USS Ronald Reagan and her Strike Group pulled out of Yokosuka joined by her air group from Iwa Kuni a few days later, while the Air Force and Army Bases were evacuated. Whatever assistance from Russia they had been promised or were expecting never materialized and a few days later B-52's from Guam and F-18's and 35's from the Reagan and Iwa Kuni respectively, smashed Japan's ability to wage war followed by an invasion by Regular Army and Marine forces. Japan capitulated after a week of war with the US. It was then revealed that Russia had either convinced, bought out or disappeared key members of the Japanese government and brought them over to their side.

General Renolds sighed and ran his hand down his face revealing tired silver eyes. With close cropped brown hair and tanned skin, he was rather unremarkable in every other sense except his eyes, which he had been told came from some distant ancestor considering both his mother and father had brown eyes. He was tired, hell his whole battalion was tired, the 54th Armored had been at the forefront of every major action the US had been involved with. The two separate invasions of the Continental United States by both Russia and Europe in an attempt to end the war on their terms which greatly reduced the capabilities of SGB and almost broke the EFEC, then the counter invasion of Europe which ended the war.

The 54th spearheaded the offensive that saw Europe's surrender, in a not so surprising turn of events he was the one who had accepted President Pulain's surrender when he captured her bunker on the third day of fighting. Their offensive started with the naval invasion of Spain and culminated with the Battle of Paris before pushing to the Russian border where they engaged remnant EF forces who wished to continue the war and Russian bleed over troops who were attacking any non-Russian. Eventually, they were relieved by Col. Taylor and his 35th Airborne which brought them to now, on their way home to some very well earned and deserved rest.

New York City, New York

One of the largest and greatest cities in the US today was in the throes of a celebration the likes of which hadn't been seen since V-J day. All across the country, millions partied in the streets, jubilant at once again coming out of a world war in a position of strength and that peace had once again come to the world. Back in New York, Times Square is filled with people celebrating, cheering, holding up newspapers with the headline 'WAR OVER!', any picture taken would look no different than a picture of V-J Day or New Year's Eve 1999. So absorbed in their jubilation, no one noticed a large archway fade into existence in the center of Times Square.

USS Reagan Mobile Offshore Base-Six miles off the East Coast

"General Renolds to the CIC, General Renolds to the CIC please." Whelp there went his nap. Matt sighed, he really should be used to this whole being interrupted if he had any type of down time to himself. Grunting as he rose out of his chair he stretched and exited his room, making his way to the CIC he let his mind wander over the many possibilities of why he would be called to the CIC. Everything from a congrats for winning the war to alien invasions ran through his mind though he mentally scoffed at that last one. Figuring that he would find out soon enough and all his thinking was pointless he reassigned his few operating brain cells on more pleasant thoughts before the normal lights went red and the General Quarters alarm began blaring.

"Officer on deck!" was called out as he gained the CIC, waving the various Navy personnel back to their stations as he walked up to the holo-table where an admiral and captain were standing. The admiral was tall at 6'3" wearing the Service Blacks with black hair, green eyes, with high cheekbones, a strong chin and broad shoulders he looked every bit the European nobility. The captain, also wearing the Service Blacks, was shorter than the admiral standing at 5'11" with dirty blonde hair, strong blue eyes and a lean build, a runner or swimmer over the admiral's linebacker, Adolf Hitler would have called him the perfect Aryan. Both looked up from the table as Matt walked up and straightened up from their hunched position over the table.

"General, sorry to bother you when you're on your down time but something has come up." the admiral, who's nametape read Williams, explained as he brought up a live video feed. Renolds was not surprised by the brutality of what was shown, after all when you see the aftereffects of an artillery barrage on an infantry position it kinda inures you against gore. What he was surprised by, was the…he was hesitant to call them men because some did not look human at all, anyway he was surprised by the weapons they wielded. Swords, clubs, spears it looked like they were straight out of a Renaissance Fair or something, though he was fairly sure LARPers didn't go around killing and raping people. Looking into one of the corners he quickly took note of the information there and committed it to memory.

He nodded "I'll get my boys over there and deal with these fuckers. Get ahold of the closest Army and Air bases and get me some support! And get my platoon leaders in the briefing room!" he yelled as he exited the room at a fast walk. As he made his way from the CIC to the 54th's briefing room he thought over what little information he had and started planning his counter-attack.

Arriving and entering his briefing room he paused briefly and cast his gaze across the room. He had planned the first offensive operation the US launched in the war from this room. Shaking himself out of the memories, he stepped up to the podium and paused again to run his thumb over the insignia of the 54th, a two headed Bald Eagle super-imposed over an American flag with two Latin phrases, one above the eagle and one below. Nec refert quod odds, Non refert sumptus, No matter the odds, No matter the cost.

The story behind the insignia was actually fairly humorous. When the war had broken out, the 54th Armored Battalion of the Joint Strike Force had been freshly formed and hadn't had an insignia yet, then the Russians and Europeans had invaded mainland USA. Russia was first, spearheaded by their Spetznaz Guards they landed in Maine and pushed South. Though they encountered fierce resistance from Civilians and National Guard units, they managed to push all the way to the Northern part of the State of New York before their advance was halted by the combined efforts of the US Army, JSF and US Air Force. With the 54th Armored at the head of the counter-attack, catastrophic defeats and casualties were inflicted upon the Russians forcing them back to their landing zones then back into the Atlantic. With the bulk of the Spetznaz Guards rendered combat ineffective, the Russians retreated behind their army of conscripts and hunkered down for a defensive war until they could reconstitute their Spetznaz Guards Brigades and return to offensive operations.

American generals believed that they had gained a small reprieve, a chance to lick their wounds, re-arm then go on the offensive. That belief remained until the Euros invaded Florida. Not expecting a second invasion so soon, the US was caught completely off guard with the bulk of their militaries in the North having just weeks prior crushed the last of the Russian resistance. While the generals argued over who had missed the second invasion fleet until it had already landed its forces and how exactly they were going to respond Matt had ordered the 54th South where they engaged in delaying actions in an attempt to slow the Euro's advance. A string of successful defensive actions and raids slowed the Euro's advance and culminated in the Battle of Charleston, where five Enforcer Corps Battlegroups augmented by a full Euro Fed Army Group attempted to capture the vital port city and, in the process, destroy the 54th Armored. Five days of brutal and intense fighting later the Euro's retreated, leaving three quarters of their men and material dead and burned out in the bombed-out ruins that Charleston had become. Although they had emerged victorious from the battle, the 54th was a shell of its former self having lost two thirds of their men and vehicles.

Their stunning defense of the city inspired more American victories across the Southern US, halting the Euro advance and slowly but with ever increasing momentum driving the Euros back to their landing zones. When a reconstituted 54th returned to the front any hope of the Euro's managing to regain the initiative from the Americans vanished. A year to the day from the time the first Euro soldier set foot on American soil the last Euro's surrendered. It was during the Euro campaign that the 54th was first dubbed 'Americas Guardians', the name spread like wildfire across the States and soon the 54th was a household name, and then a news anchor coined 'The American Guard, holding the line no matter the odds, no matter the cost'. If Americas Guardians spread like wildfire, The American Guard spread like an avalanche. After that it was a forgone conclusion, that became their name, a soldier in the unit with an artistic thumb presented the design for the logo, another soldier translated the two lines from the news anchor and the rest was history.

Shaking himself from memory lane, Matt looked up and noticed that the room was filled with his platoon leaders who were all talking quietly with each other and that someone had placed the latest intel on the situation in Manhattan on the podium. One of his platoon leaders looked over and noticed that he had come back to himself and opened his mouth. "Hey boss, you gonna open that bottle of 200-year-old whisky like you promised?" he asked. The group shared a laugh at that and even Matt cracked a smile. When they had been planning the invasion of main-land Europe he had promised he would share a bottle of 200-year-old whisky that he received from his father, who had received it from his father before him. His father had told him it had been passed down from father to son for 200 years and he would know when it was time to either crack it open or pass it on to his own son. Matt wished that was the reason they were gathered here today yet reality had decided to crash down on them. His smile vanished, and he spoke one sentence "Manhattan is under attack." he said.

The room went dead silent and an undercurrent of rage seemed to seep into the room dropping the temperature. It was a testament to their professionalism that the first words spoken after that announcement were not exclamations of disbelief or rage but questions on the nature and strength of the enemy forces. Calling for silence he waited for the questions to taper off before he activated the projector showing a blown-up map of Manhattan with a large area in the center colored red with a few pockets of blue scattered within while the rest of the city was colored blue.

"At this time, we have no information on who is attacking, nor do we know where they came from. What we do know, is that some time this morning while the city was in the throes of celebrations hostile forces appeared within the city limits and proceeded to attack." he explained. All the platoon leaders had taken out note pads and had started taking down notes and sketching out possible courses of action. "What are the enemy numbers and capabilities?" one asked looking up from his note pad. "Enemy numbers seem to be capped at around five thousand at this time, however, be ready to face a greatly expanded force when we finally arrive. As for capabilities, the enemy force is armed with medieval weaponry." he explained. There were a few grunts of disbelief before Matt brought up pictures that had been taken from security cameras showing dirty men and monsters armed with medieval weaponry attacking anything in their way.

"Sir, the creatures?" someone asked. "Best guess? Ogres, Orcs, Cyplopi, and Minotaurs." he answered. This time there were no voices, though a few looks were exchanged. "It gets worse, as of this moment only half of the enemy forces are engaged with pushing the lines. The other half are currently in the process of raping and pillaging." Matt continued. The rage from earlier seemed to deepen and turn into ice cold hate as eyes hardened and fists clenched. "Local resistance?" someone else asked. "Police, SWAT, and armed civilians. Both nearby Army, and Air Force bases have been alerted however, we will most likely be the first on the scene. Reinforcements from previously mentioned bases could be anywhere from five to twenty plus minutes away." he answered. There was note taking and mumbling when he finished before another Platoon Leader looked up from his book. "What's the plan sir?" she asked.

The pictures vanished, and the map returned along with another picture of an archway made in the Roman style. "This structure is in the center of the enemy territory which as you saw earlier is a rough circle around Times Square. There are only two things we know to be fact about this structure, one, it was not present earlier this morning nor was there any plans to build said structure. Two, from both satellite images and security cameras in the area we have determined that the enemy is using this 'Gate' to move stolen goods and American citizens to an unknown location. Vampire, Werewolf, your units will deploy here." Matt explained as two blue dots appeared on the map one on 43rd St. and another on 41st St. "Your primary objective is to disrupt enemy movements and thin the enemy ranks. Secondary objective is the recovery of American citizens, if you are only able to keep the enemy away from where they are staging them for transport that's fine, but I want no more Americans through that fucking 'Gate' am I clear?" he asked after laying out their mission parameters. Both leaders gave affirmatives to their orders "Good, Diamondback will be on station to provide CAS and you will have priority for artillery fire missions." he finished. "Enemy combatants sir?" Werewolf asked. "If you can identify officers or anyone who looks like they are in charge prisoners are preferable, but corpses are acceptable." Matt answered. There were nods from Vampire and Werewolf as they acknowledged their orders.

"As mentioned previously local police, SWAT, and armed citizenry have established a perimeter around the enemy positions." He said as a thick blue line began circling around the red area a short distance inside the blue zone. "Our landing zone is here." Matt continued as a larger dot appeared on the intersection of the Ave. of the Americas and 17th St. "We'll be splitting up to cover more ground and to put the most pressure on the enemy. Full House, Yellow Cab, Crusher, Group One, your objective is the relief of Grand Central Station. Once the area's been secured call for evac for the civvies and police then proceed to Rockefeller Center once the area's been cleared and civvies evaced circle back around and hit Times Square from the North. Double Down, Straight Flush, Blue Cab, Sleigh Ride, Thunder, Grinder, Butcher, Hammer, Group Two you'll advance in two columns down the center to Times Square, smash any resistance and relieve the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, and the New York Public Library before hitting Times Square from the South and East. Joker, Pack Mule, Punisher, Group Three, you'll push up the left flank to relieve the Port Authority Terminal before turning and hitting Times Square from the West. Viper, you're on-call CAS, place yourself at the disposal of both our forces and local Law Enforcement. Short Fuse, Impact, Longarm, Magnum, Big Guns Thumper, deploy in line abreast after rolling off the Valkyries then bring the rain on enemy forces attacking the Police line. Once the initial bombardment is over Short Fuse, Impact you will also be at the mercy of Vampire and Werewolf, if they need fire support you're it. The rest of you standard procedure, dug in infantry and large groups are you targets but be ready to switch targets if called for. I'll be deploying in The Don and following Group Two up the center."

As Matthew laid out is plan, labeled dots and lines began appearing on the map, putting visuals to his words as the named platoons took notes on their parts of the plan. "Any questions?" he asked, giving them a few moments to put the finishing touches on their notes. Viper looked up "When do we leave?" she asked. A vicious smirk split Matts face "Now."

Author's Note: This concludes the second chapter of Retribution. Now to head off all you people about how the Navy does not have Service Blacks. I'm aware of that I just decided that the Navy needed an update to their uniform being it's 2025 in the story. So, the Service Blacks, black combat boots, black cargo pants tucked into the boots, a zip-up blouse with a patch on the left arm denoting unit affiliation, name tape, rank insignia on the collar, with color coding around the neck, the shoulders, and above the front pockets denoting where they worked. (Command, Engineering etc.) Captain's and above wear trench coats over the regular uniform. I it's going kinda slow, two whole chapters without anyone dying horribly and bloodily but I promise, next chapter will quench your thirst for bloodshed until then Kane signing out.