His quads, spread out over a few hundred kilometers, naturally killed everyone in the fortifications and took everything valuable. Then they moved on to the next line of fortifications. And the next. In a beautiful irony, his quads were perfectly positioned to mow down thousands of exhausted Mongols by occupying the southernmost line of fortifications built by the very men they killed. Team Red got to kill several times their number in the fortifications, then kill several times their number expecting sanctuary.
But all this loot loaded them down, so Billy invited them to deposit it at his bank.
Billy didn’t give the politicians the opportunity to waste this opportunity. He called a meeting of the military commanders, expecting just Team Red and the marathoners that Birdy trained. Instead, it appeared that all the quads commanders showed up. Either to see the famous Baron, or all the booty that his team captured the night before. The politicians showed up, of course, but he ignored them to speak to the unit leaders.
“I heard that you’re all risking your lives for an independent India for free. Well, I’d like to pay you according to how high or far you can fly. Sign up with Birdy and open an account with Global Bank so that you can rob Mongol banks and businesses with us.
“Half of what you take belongs to the Republic of India. You get to keep the other half, although I ask you to distribute some to the families of our slain and disabled heroes. My team will lead the marathoners to destroy the larger units. Start now or else the enemy will surprise us, instead of the other way around.”
No one but the politicians objected, so they fanned out, seeking out the enemy for the first time. While Grandma led the marathoners, Billy visited the news agencies in the largest cities to urge Indians to kill Mongols on sight, plead with the militias to join the democratic government, and warn Indians serving with the Mongols to switch sides or else.
As he hoped, the appearance of the Red Baron electrified the subcontinent. He distributed a longer video of him killing Tamerlane. The first week went so well that he stayed to orchestrate the second week. Billy was so in-demand that time flew by like a super-quad.
Things couldn’t be better. Until Blade arrived from the Tian Shan Mountains to report the horrible news.
"They wiped out half of the Americans," she said, looking like she either just flew a few thousand kilometers, was pregnant again, or both. "Genghis sterilized the Silk Road so the follow up forces could travel faster. He rewarded locals, who gave us up. The vanguard of the follow-up forces will arrive in just a few days.”
Well, that made Billy feel like shit because he was suppose to return a week ago. No way anyone but him could get there in time. He had sent ten thousand Indian near-marathoners north with bombs, but they wouldn’t get there in time.
He called a meeting of his team leaders. "Load up the Indian marathoners with bombs and have them launch as soon as they get back from raiding. I want Team Red to leave in the morning without bombs. Have each battalion fly on their own so the slowest won’t hold back the fastest.” He paused to consider his options. The sight of Birdy gave him an idea. "Our victories have multiplied the number of air bandits -- quads who’ve turned criminal. Birdy, spread the word that the Red Baron secretly moved the plunder your troops accumulated when based out of the Himalayas.”
“What plunder?” Birdy asked surprised.
“The huge fortune you guys stole from Mongols north of the Himalayas,” Billy said with a wink. “Yeah, reassure the new guys that I had the treasure moved to the northern side of the western-most Himalayas to put it out of reach of the Mongols in India. I want those bandits to become our blocking force in case the Mongols from the Silk Road decide to intervene in India.
"Genghis and his best quads are back in China by now, but they need those follow-on forces. I’m gonna lure their vanguard to the Himalayas to give the rest of you time. The Mongols will assume the criminals are our troops, and the criminals will assume the Mongols want to take the gold that they think we’ve buried.