Free Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6) by Mitchell T. Jacobs

inside the building there was nothing they could do to stop us. Sure, they delayed us and hurt us bad, but we just kept pouring it on until we won.”
    “So you want to keep them from getting inside.”
    “Yeah, and I want some way to deal with this problem,” Nora said as she opened up her wrist menu and activate the projector. A second later an image appeared on the wall.
    “Ah. That problem.”
    Nora’s wrist menu projected a photograph that had been taken a few days ago along the section of line covered by Magic Battalion. It was a tracked vehicle, a tank that at first glance looked like any standard one that Hydra had confronted a million times.
    But this one had one significant difference. Instead of the normal cannon, the tank had a heavy flamethrower fitted to the turret. They still didn’t know how far it could shoot, but witnesses to its attack had estimated it managed to hit targets fifty yards away.
    That made it a serious threat to anyone dug into a fortified position. Flamethrowers were extremely dangerous in close quarters, but their operators remained vulnerable due to their short range. A tank solved that problems, encasing the weapon into a heavily armored vehicle that was impervious to small arms. It could shoot more fuel a longer distance as well, making it even more effective.
    They could still kill it with an accurate recoilless rifle shot, but to Nora that still remained chancy. If they screwed up then the flamethrower tank could wash the first few floors of the tower with burning fuel.
    “I want some way for us to kill it. Something reliable,” Nora elaborated. “Otherwise I’m guessing they might use this to spearhead their counterattack.”
    “And use it to force their way inside. I think I’d be safe in guessing you guys won’t want to be on the receiving end of that weapon.”
    “You’d be guessing right.”
    A thoughtful look crossed Paige’s face. “Well, do you know how many defenders you’ll have here?”
    “So far it looks like Black Wolf’s staying here for now. This is an important position, and besides, we need to get our strength back up. We lost way too many veteran troops in the assault, and they needed to train their skills.”
    “Right. Well, if you have a company of troops defending this spot that makes things much easier. You can have a layered defense inside and outside the tower.”
    Nora resumed walking, heading up one of the flights of steps. “What do you think we should do? Or rather, how should we go about making this place even stronger?”
    “How many more levels do we have to go?” Paige asked.
    “Seven.”
    “Well, first thing I’d do is to fix the elevators, but that’s because I’m lazy.”
    Nora laughed. “Well, that might not be a terrible idea either. It’ll make moving troops through the building much easier. One problem, though. Won’t that make it easier for attackers that get in the building too?”
    “They’d be coming out of a doorway from a confined metal box,” Paige pointed out. “Still, I can see where you think there might be a problem. I’d actually suggest wiring up a kill switch and putting it on one of the upper levels. That way you can shut them down even if you lose the lower floors.”
    “How long is that going to take? We have engineers, but I’m not quite sure they have the expertise.”
    “Oh, you’ll probably need us again. That’s fine, though. It’s not like we have to cover Green Bay anymore, and practical battlefield engineering is fun to do anyhow. I can certainly get a team together.”
    That was a relief, Nora thought to herself. Every company in the alliance had their own set of engineers, but none of them could touch the feats that Hephaestus Company was capable of performing. From simple small arms, to vehicles, to massive constructs like Hephaestus Forge, if anyone could dream it then they could probably build it to the highest standard.
    “OK,” Nora continued, “so the elevators are on the