Hells Bells

High Altitude

Originally Written in 2022

July 31, 2025. Uss Enterprise. 30,000 Feet Above Berlin. Dimension 287.

WYTE: Now that I'm standing here, I once again question our leadership.

Wyte stares down at the city below, a speck from the altitude the carrier flies at.

CLAIRE: Not one of the craziest things I've done.

WYTE: Yea, I've done stupider shit.

The two look back into the hanger. Aircraft are wheeled onto elevators and sent topside. More members of Double Phoenix move onto the elevator the two are standing on. The lift starts going up and Wyte gets to the explaining part of the mission.

WYTE: Alright, We're jumping from 30,000 feet. Our objective is to clear any anti air elements located in the city. Once we do, the Amoras will drop some armor and elements of the 25th Airborne to help secure the rest of the city.

His voice becomes more muffled by the rain and his oxygen mask. The lift reaches the top.

WYTE: Ships from the 2nd fleet are engaged with the defensive ring protecting Berlin. Once the signal is given we'll jump as the ships distract the orbital defenses.

An Amora flies off the carrier followed by two F56s. Each C-20 Amora can carry two tanks and 97 people, 40 tanks and 1940 paratroopers spread out between 20 planes. A group of helldiver missiles fly past the Enterprise towards the ground.

The USS Utah emerges from the clouds above them. Her deck is alight with fire with more helldivers flying past the carrier. The carrier's siren lets out a wailing pulse. The jumpers check their equipment and move to the ship's fore deck. The sides of the Enterprise glow as signal flares are thrown over. The group lights the flares tied to their ankles and jump.

 Wyte leaps off the front with the cold wind fogging up his mask. He looks around him seeing a mix of colors around him, he looks in front of him when they break through the clouds. The ships of the US fleet have reengaged the ring guarding the city from orbital attacks. Wyte zooms past a destroyer and gets deafened by the guns. His vision suddenly gets obscured, with sharp pain running through his back. Turning back at the destroyer reveals it in flames and losing altitude, a massive portal opens up, with the ship slipping through it into the calm waters of Hampton Roads on the other side. Wyte's hearing starts to come back with the sounds of orbital cannons and lasers flooding into his shattered eardrums. He reaches around his body realizing his helmet and parachute are gone.

WYTE: Well... Time to hit the planet at Mach 1... again...

The jumpers fly through the ring, forming up at 6,000 feet. They are met with no ground fire, the limit is hit and they pull their chutes around 800 feet. Landing at the drop zone proves to be easier than anticipated, the group unpacks their gear ready to begin their assault from the palace grounds. Wyte finds the group after his setbacks.

WYTE: How was the fall?

Claire throws him a magazine of tracers.

CLAIRE: Did you drop off target no one saw your chute.

He ejects and stores the magazine from his rifle, replacing it with the one tossed to him.

WYTE: Ah no... my shit was blown off after I flew too close to a destroyer that got hit.

CLAIRE: That sounds like your luck.

WYTE: My luck is not that terrible.

CLAIRE: Says a person who deals with a goddess.

ZEAL: She's got you there.

He walks past Wyte, walking up to Claire with a Barret in his hands. Placing it by her side and grabbing her M5. Wyte slings his Scarf over his should and unholsters his Luger. He pulls back the toggle lock, chambering a round. He nods, before shooting zeal in the back. Zeal gives him an unenthusiastic look.

ZEAL: All you're doing is ruining my gear.

The group stands there for a few minutes, unsure of what the commander's thinking.

WYTE: You think they would've shot at us by now, especially after hearing gunshots?

CLAIRE: It's just as strange when they didn't shoot us on the way down.

She racks a round into the 50's chamber. The group moves out and searches the palace grounds and the palace itself. All the guards they encounter don't shoot them even if they shoot at them. The maids and servants of the palace pay them no mind. The AA positions around the palace are destroyed with little resistance from the guards.

 Wyte stares at a floating race track, a 100 feet in the air, just outside the fence, the cheering from the crowd loud enough to reach the palace. The nobles who own the palace leave their rooms empty. Wyte lights a cigar and plops down onto a couch in one of the master bedrooms. He notices a VR headset near him.

CLAIRE: The other jumpers took out all the sites in the city, but still no response.

WYTE: They have grown too complacent since the last war 200 years ago. They united Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania in a bloody conquest then had a long period of peace and technological development. They think of us as too reliant on the navy, but once those Amoras get the signal they'll get serious.

He picks the headset, rubbing his thumb on a weird groove in its corner.

WYTE: We'll rewrite the plan... Have you found the location of the embassy personnel?

CLAIRE: No, we checked the underground for info and they haven't got a clue.

WYTE: That's because our leaks were plugged by this family.

The groove he was playing with had opened to reveal a hidden compartment in the headset, with a digital drive marked with the American eagle on the inside.

WYTE: Peace for 200 years doesn't mean the spy networks have gone rotten, just that the sign of a real threat isn't taken seriously until it's too late. We learned that first hand.

He throws the headset on the ground and reaches for his radio.

WYTE: Odin, Odin. The air is clear, Helldive.

Claire's attention is caught by the door opening. She aims her sluggish rifle at the door. Relaxing once she sees one of the maids walks in with a note for the commander. She hands it off to Claire who hands it off to Wyte. The commander glances over it, a besmirched grin showing on his face.

WYTE: A little too late for parlay, the main event just started.

A blue beam is seen from the window, the other end of it follows suit. A smoke plume billows into the air, followed by thunder in the sky and a loud boom. The commander laughs, standing up clapping.

WYTE: Did your government really think we'd leave that ring intact after the hostages disappeared from the city? All that achieved was pissing us off even more!

The Amoras break through the cloud line. The rear hatches open and tanks followed by paratroopers are dropped. Helldiver missiles level any infrastructure close to the city's outskirts. Alarms replace the cheering crowds, as the sky is dazzled with parachutes and tracer rounds. An Amora flies over the palace, tanks slipping out of the cargo hold and crashing through the front gate. The world of peace and stability, besides the north and south american continents, is thrown into disarray.