Chapter Text
“What shall we do to you?” Jason snickered turning towards me.
I gulped, I looked at Sarah’s broken unconscious form. Dislocated shoulder, blood and sweat stuck to her like glue. It wasn’t a pretty sight. She endured several hours of torture, something which might even bring the strongest men down. I tried not to think what was next for me…
He moved slowly but steadily, only stopping to pick something up from the floor. My heart froze, my panic started growing frantically but I couldn’t show him that. He clicked the device, and it started crackling. The lump in my throat grew exponentially, I couldn’t escape… the ties binding me were too strong, too tight for me to even make a movement. I tried struggling to maybe ease them a bit but it just resulted in his smug smile growing wider as he stood in front of me.
Once I stopped struggling, he slowly began kneeling down to eye level with me.
“How does it feel Rampone, to be so helpless?” he chuckled.
Slowly raising his stun gun, he put it against my temple, the two cold metal rods sending chills up my spine over and over again. I braced myself for the moment he presses the button and instinctively closed my eyes.
“Scared Christie?” his voiced boomed
“Why are you doing this? Why?” My voice croaked, barely outputting the words
He teasingly dragged down the device from my temple down to my face and neck, chuckling at my heavy breathing the soft begging that escaped my lips. He continued sliding south over my T-Shirt. When he reached the end of it, he trailed back up under my shirt over my abdominals.
“You want to know why I’m doing this?” he leaned whispering in my ear trailing south again with his gun. Panic started to consume me, control had long left me. He stopped his device at my waistline, slowly dipping the device under my trousers pushing it against my skin. My eyes closed again, silent prayers were said in my mind.
”This little toy is going to give us hours of fun isn’t it ehh Comrades?” he addressed the other soldiers guarding the room before turning to me again, “I’ll soon tell you why but first…”
The device crackled. I screamed, the others cheered.
Christie woke up violently, jerking the seatbelt holding her nearly out of place. Sweat clenched her clothing tighter to her body, giving her the feeling of suffocation, her lungs screaming for air from the recent events. After a few deep breaths, her mind tried to clear the haze, trying to remember where she actually is. The dim light did not help and it took a couple of long seconds looking from side to side, and several bodies in deep slumber, to remember she was on an aircraft from the US for Slovenia to commence the operation, capturing the tormentor who gave her nightmares every night.
The silence that reigned inside the aircraft was unsettling to her. The troops in their deep slumber, together with the dim light resembled as if they were dead, their bodies sitting motionless against the seats they were sitting in, causing Christie to briefly panic, her pulse to race faster and her breathing to become rougher than before
“Hey…” came a soft sleepy voice from her right, the soldier’s hand softly touching Christie’s arm
The touch startled her and slowly turned towards the voice, still shaken from the nightmare. The touch was somehow calming as she knew that her troops were actually alive and all of this was just a wild hallucination from the nightmare and the effect of war. Her eyes locked with the other soldier’s green soft uneasy eyes portraying the worry they had for Christie herself.
“You feeling fine ma’am?” the young soft voice asked again, worried about Christie’s terrified face, “I heard you panting, is everything ok?”
“I’m sorry O’Hara…Did I wake you? I’m really sorry” Christie whispered
“It’s ok, I couldn’t sleep much either”
“What’s bothering you?”
“Nothing of importance, just uneasy about the mission. More importantly, what’s bothering you? You sounded like you were getting banged up back there... nightmares?” pressed on Kelley.
Christie hung her head low, closing her eyes. The nightmare recurred in her mind. She felt him towering over her, his ever-widening smug as he toyed with the stun gun in his hand. She touched the gunshot scar, his most prized mark on her, and started shriveling, small sobs and gasps escaping her lips. Kelley noticed and tightened the grip on her arm, softly speaking to her to get her out of the trance.
“Lt. Hey, hey it’s going to be OK. I’m here, shhh calm down” Kelley soothingly said, caressing Christie’s arm. The effect was immediate, Christie’s sobs slowly subdued. Kelley raised her hand, caressing her mentors face, wiping away the tears off her eyes, with the woman’s response being snuggling closer to the hand.
“What’s the matter Rampone?”
“I…I dreamt about 3 months ago again” Christie’s flat reply came out, trying to be as quiet as possible.
“What did he do to you? And what caused this anger of his to act this way?”
Kelley had longed for a long time to know what had happened to cause all this this entire stir, and saw this chance as the only time she would at least know the basics of a story in which she was a protagonist of by being in the line of fire.
“He’s a messed up guy…”
**
The screams that escaped my throat were uncontrollable, the red circle on my pelvis expanding unevenly with my struggles where the stun gun was held. I couldn’t move or writhe away from his gun, the soldier behind me keeping me in place was too strong. My breathing became shallow, not able to breathe properly. The burning sensation was increasing by the millisecond. My flesh felt as if had a blowtorch aimed at it
“Aaaaaaaagh, stop it!!” I screamed and begged, tears falling down my face
The device flickered off allowing me to try and catch my breath again.
“Please Jason, why? Stop it….please” I begged pitifully, sobbing throughout.
His laughter was full of hatred, merciless. “And why should I stop?” he asked
“What have we done to you to act like this damn it?”
“What you have done? You really forgot or are you just playing dumb?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I screamed back, earning a punch on the side of my face, knocking me flat to the side, my jaw felt slightly dislocated.
“Don’t you dare raise your voice with me Rampone and to refresh your memory a bit, 1963 during the Vietnam war, A Marshall was executed for treason, a treason with no foundations, all made up, a set up just because he was on the verge of uncovering a plan which involved drug smuggling with the highest officials of the army. For trying to make justice he was accused of working with the enemies and was shot, DO YOU REMEMBER THAT?!” he screamed at my face, raising the stun gun to my abdominals forcing it into the skin and flickering it back on leaving me screaming.
After long seconds of constant shock, burns and my heart nearly failing he took it away from my body, leaving me to writhe on the ground. Slowly I tried to bring myself into fetal position to lessen the pain, but he didn’t give me time. Grabbing me from my throat he jerked me to his eye-level. His pale blue eyes were as cold as arctic ice, but fueled by anger. He hissed at me slowly,
“Do you remember him, you must have read about him”
I slowly gulped, I had read about him, a foreign Marshall who rose to that rank with multiple important missions throughout the Vietnam war only to be caught and charged with treason as he was trading drugs for intel… or suspected that is.
“Yes…I…remember” I croaked, the hand tightening around my neck.
“And do you remember what was his name?”
“Vladimir Dmitrorivich” I slowly said, realization hitting me. My eyes grew in fear as the connection was made, ”No.., It Can’t be” I tried to sputter, Jason’s hand making it nearly impossible to speak.
“Yes it is… your so called freedom fighter army charged my grandfather with treason and illegal drug trafficking, something THEY were doing. They shouldered the blame on him, killed an innocent person.
“They found evidence that he did it” I tried to convince myself as I knew there were many questions about that case but I wasn’t going let him know that.
“BULLSHIT!” he screamed, pushing me back hard to the ground. “It was all a set up! Everybody knew! But nobody talked, instead they let my granddad die!” a shiny droplet forming at his eye “and for this your nation has to suffer” lowering the stun gun and giving it another go.
“What d.d..d…does this has t…o do with us?” I cried
“I’m not finished” he screamed, kicking me hard in the side. I tried breathing slowly, deeply, but my side wouldn’t let me. The pain was unbearable
“1989… the year the Cold War should have ended, Gorbachev & Bush were to meet somewhere around in Malta, to end the war. My father, Sergei Chevchenkov had coordinated everything in order for this Cold War to end. He was one of the chiefs in the DOD and held power. Instead Bush and his lackeys accused him of trying to stall the war in order to give time for the Soviets to gear up with the Nuclear War. They found documents which showed that he was the son of Vladimir Dmitrovich. He had changed his name after what happened, in order to protect us. So they accused him again of treason and made a public story out of it, just because he was the son of another innocent victim. This is the pitiful country you live in, this is whom you serve Christie. These hypocrites, these monsters and YOU are a part of it. They tortured him, battered him to death. They humiliated him, just because he wanted to end a war” spat Jason, his control losing him over the grief of his father
I gulped, I felt sorry for him for a second, but the sorry feelings soon left me. He walked slowly towards me, instructing 2 soldiers to keep me on my back, stretched. My rib ached with pain when they put my hands above my head. I stifled a whimper, not liking what was in store for me next. Jason slowly straddled me, my eyes grew in fear and panic. He lifted my shirt off, leaving me with just my undergarment, and played with the stun gun in hand.
“Shall we?” he said as he put the gun against my chest.
**
By the time Christie finished the story, she was shaking hard. Kelley was white-ashen. She had heard the torture that went on in wars, all breaking the Geneva Convention, but she never imagined they were this bad. She slowly pulled Christie as much as she could from the seat-belts, and played with her hair, trying to calm her down.
“So Jason went against the whole nation and contributed to start this war, to avenge his father and grandfather?”
“Partly yes, situation was always bad, things did take a turn for the worst when his father was killed, but neither of us knew it was his father”
“I’m sorry you had to pass through all that” Kelley quietly said, “and I’m sorry for being a jerk and made you remember” as she kept stroking her hair
“I should be strong and lead this team, while in fact I’m broken here in front of the youngest squad member. What kind of a leader am I?” Christie quietly sobbed.
“A leader who went through and seen a lot to try and save her squad. Don’t be so hard on yourself”
“What’s all this commotion you two? Are you trying to wake the whole plane?” Abby’s sleepy voice whispered. The seat belt buckle unclasped and Abby hovered slowly near Christie. “Can’t sleep again?”
“Nightmares…”
“I can imagine, you ok O’Hara?” Abby turned her attention to the youngest one still holding Christie in her embrace, without the intention of letting go.
“Yeah I’m OK… I couldn’t sleep with the mission, and also heard her crying”
Abby lowered herself to Christie’s eye level, planting slowly a light kiss on her temple. Christie’s grip over Kelley became tighter
“Why don’t you two get some sleep?”
Both nodded, and Christie tried to snuggle further in Kelley’s embrace. Her clothes felt warm compared to hers and softer. Wherever Kelley’s face brushed against Christie’s face, it left a warm fuzzy feeling of someone being there for Christie. An emotion she much needed now.
Abby left them be and glanced briefly at her military watch, it flashed 03:48, still ample of time to even get across the ocean let alone Slovenia. She figured it was going to be a tough war as they entered Europe. Great Britain, France and Germany were finding it hard to keep standing against the Reds. The Russians had already seized the Balkans and Finland, slowly creeping towards Sweden and Germany. Japanese troops had already managed to infiltrate certain parts of Germany although they had been pushed back. Jason had to be stopped he had the key to all. He was the mastermind behind this era of the war, he materialized it when he pulled the trigger 16 months back. Now that his predecessor had died in war, it was his turn to shine and the results showed.
Christie stayed motionless in her seat, being cuddled by Kelley. What if they didn’t kill his grandfather back then? What if they had actually brought to justice the people needed to be charged with treason? Would have all of this be avoided? Would have the whole war been avoided? By now, she thought, most probably she would have retired, enjoying her husband and her children instead of worrying whether something has happened to them or whether they had been hit by a bomb or so. She knew the new underground bunkers they built were specifically against Nuclear weapons and their radiation and that her family was actually safe… but what if a leakage happened? She tried to block the thoughts. This wasn’t the time for worst case scenarios to be played in her head. She had a mission, she had to stop the person who brought and started this destruction, catching him would mean the near end of this war.
Abby was stuck in her memory lane as well. She slowly went back to her seat, slowly dipping her head into her hands. Had it not been for the war, by now she and Sarah would have been married, chasing childhood dreams like opening businesses or continue a bit of soccer. But the uneasiness that had settled in the country from far way back, lead them to forcefully join the army at a young age destroying every dream they had. Had it not been for the war, by now she would most probably be somewhere in Portland, sipping beer, on the veranda together with Sarah and maybe a kid of their own. Her only dream now is to find Sarah alive…winning the lottery also has a higher probability than this. She looked at each soldier, each with their own history that mostly she knew about…wondering what would they be doing right now instead of sitting in an encapsulated room smelling of metal.
Abby lifted her head, and looked in front of her, Megan sleeping clutching tightly a small koala bear keychain. She smiled, that koala bear meant everything to her as it connected her with the Australian she left behind to join in this madhouse.
**
“That thing brings me luck and don’t you DARE take it away from me Wambach” Megan pushed Abby backwards amongst the laughter of the whole squad.
“Oh Really? And may I ask why?” Abby teased. She knew the answer why but she wanted to embarrass the little blonde in front of her
“You know why” whispered back Megan not wanting to arouse suspicion on herself
“OK Rapinoe spit it out who’s the girl?” Ashlyn flatly pressed forward, unconcerned about the embarrassment in due to Megan
Megan just turned red and hid away the bear. The gig was up and they all waited for her to talk
“Walsh” she whispered
“Whaaaat? You don’t mean Sarah Walsh for the 32nd regiment right, the Aussie right? Seems our blondie will soon speak Aussie here” Ashlyn joked “Whatd’ya think mates” she called to the others with a poor Aussie imitation
“Asshole” was Megan’s simple response, jumping Ashlyn erupting all to a pile jump
**
Abby woke up from that memory hastily but with a smile on her face. She remembered the day Megan told her she managed to talk to Sarah. A small sound caught her attention. The soft snoring on her right showed Kelley cradling slowly but firmly Christie, both fast asleep. She smiled at the sight. Christie was finally resting and the kid too. As she turned her eyes fell on Hope. Her rigid posture was always maintained even when she is sleeping, her face was hard and cold as if she was killing someone in her dream, heck she thought, it wouldn’t be surprising in these times. They were machines trained to kill, to feel no remorse when the trigger takes away someone’s life, an innocent life power played by the dictators in the office who don’t dare to come out of their protected habitat to fight, rather they just let the others do the donkey work to kill in trying to prove a point. She always admired Hope, a sniper’s position, sometimes sitting unmoved for hours or even days looking at the world through a little scope waiting for that target to rear its head.
**
“How do you not get cramped in that prone or crouching position for hours with no rest Hope?” Abby asked as she walked towards Hope’s crouching posture during training. Just as she arrived by her she shot, the bullet hitting the mannequin in the head, “Impressive shot Solo”
“You’ll get used to it, we’re trained that way” Hope’s flat reply came back
“Do they also train you to be sassy and cold?” Abby’s flatter reply came back, “Here have a beer, practice is over, you’ll gonna bankrupt us with all the goddamn bullets you’re using without us being in the battlefield yet”
“Spoil sport” chuckled back Hope, a genuine grin forming on the lips, something that Hope never likes to show. The beer was hugely appreciated, and in half a second she chugged half of it.
“How come you decided to be a sniper, heard you were one of the best demolishers there was in your rank”
“Sniper is more of a recluse position, you are more alone, a lone wolf actually. You see the world through a tiny scope, see everything in different perspective. It helps to concentrate only on the most important thing at that moment, as it blocks other distractions. Just like my life. I’ve been a lone wolf ever since I was a kid, and the only thing that matters to me now is staying alive.” Hope slowly said, revealing her choice as sniper for the first time
“Not even Jerramy matters?”
“Not when you’re in the battlefield. If I want to see my husband again I need to stay alive, and so does he. It’s no use thinking about him in the most crucial and vulnerable time, when I’m out in the open exposing myself. He’s not going to save me from 5000 miles away, neither am I to him. So best to focus on ourselves, and when our reunion happens, it happens, that will be our sniper scope, us being together for that moment.”
“Wow… never though that much deep into it” grimaced Abby
“You’re a loud, noisy, explosive gunner, you fire all the bullets in the world and scream at others, what do you expect” teased Hope, punching lightly Abby in the arm, “Mind you, it’s not that I don’t think about him every second that I’m not occupied with anything important, I think about him, but priorities are priorities AND YOU should as well, sometimes in a battlefield think about yourself first if you want to help others. You had some pretty close calls”
“Yeah I know… but I can’t bear these kids to get slaughtered”
“You can’t save everyone Abby, it’s a survival of the fittest”
**
Abby woke up to the sound of soft babbling among some of her teammates who had already woken up, sleepily she yawned, stretching her muscles upwards, feeling the tightness and soreness from the awkward sleeping position slowly fading away. Lazily she looked at her watch brightly outputting 6:32, surprised that she slept through the night thinking that one second before she was watching Christie. Thinking about hershe instinctively looked at her, lastly remembering her in Kelley’s embrace. She was awake, cradling Kelley in her sleep that still was lost in dreams. Christie’s tired but happier gaze met Abby’s and just smiled. Abby slowly rose up and walked towards her
“How are you feeling now?”
“Better, had a good 3 hour sleep at least thanks to her” smiled Christie, stroking gently Kelley’s hair.
“You’ve grown fond of her as well” smiled Abby
“She makes me remember of the little ones at home” smiled sadly Christie, “She has the same energy and cuddles at sleep the same like them” laughed softly
“Where do you think we arrived?”
“We nearly arrived near The Netherlands” Hope chimed in, “I’ve just asked them the Canadians”
“Do you always butt in other people’s conversations?” teased Abby
“Maybe… here I’ve figured you might be hungry” she said, handing each an apple winking at Abby, “How’s the squirrel?” pointing at Kelley
“She’s scared…she just snoozed a bit now”
“Here swap places, so you can eat something, I already ate” offered Hope, “and put her on me, she’s going to destroy her neck like that.”
Slowly she supported Kelley’s weight, careful enough not to wake the young woman. Christie slowly squirmed out of the chair supporting back Kelley until Hope sat down instead of her. Slowly, Hope snuggled closer to Kelley, letting the younger woman’s side of the face grazing Hope’s chest. Hope’s chin rested on the kid’s head, her hand going up and down the length of her arm. The strong frame and hug eased her worried face and snuggled deeper into the embrace.
“I remember when I was her age, or younger, I was even more scared then her. Like Afghanistan where I found Carli”
“You did great back then” said Christie, remembering that skirmish
“Still I was scared shitless, the reinforcements nearly caught up with me, and Carli was badly knackered. I think that was one point when I decided to be a sniper”, looking back at Abby.
“Shh, Let the kid sleep peacefully, it’s gonna be her last sleep for a while” Abby whispered, seeing Kelley squirming a bit.
Abby and Christie both parted ways leaving Hope calmly holding Kelley as Carli slowly sauntered to her side.
The new carriers were small but had some new upgrades. Mostly some air to air defensive turrets which consisted of 2 machine turrets and 2 missile turrets in case of attacks. The size of the carriers changed as well, a bit smaller but wider than the other ones that were in service and so gave ample space for them to roam. Christie made way slowly towards Boxxy, Ali and Ash. Abby decided to bother the pilots, reaching the cockpit she called to the two women inside.
Hey..hey Tancredi, Moscato where are we?”
“Up in the air” Melissa’s flat reply came back, “Why? You want a little stroll?”
“Well the plane is a bit cramped” chuckled back Abby
“They will be plenty of time for strolls Abby, just wait till you get to Montenegro” called back Carm
Abby chuckled, leave it up to the Canadians to ease a situation
“No, I was just wondering when we’ll start dodging missiles” Abby joked back
“Hey hotshot this is a carrier, not an F-22 you know” Melissa cut back, “We’re trying all the detours to avoid the fighting, but it’s going to be hard without air backup to move between Netherlands and Slovenia Hopefully we’ll arrive to Corsica alive and switch to the new Helicopters.”
“So, basically you suck at dodging missiles?” Abby pressed her a bit back
“Not as much as you moron, I’m telling you I’m trying to be discreet as possible, why get your “petite” ass on fire when I get to avoid it altogether?” Melissa said losing slightly her temper. Abby noticed, the way Melissa turned towards her at the last sentence shooting a death glare.
“Ok ok, I was just messing around a bit sheesh”
“Don’t mind her, it’s the Italian blood boiling up combined with the war nerves” Carm smiled at Abby, nudging hard on Mel, “It’s just some tension, it’ll soon pass her”
“Yeah, with pesky Americans come lei (like her)”, said Melissa pointing at Abby without looking at her, “Remind me why I’m in this job again?”
“Because you are in a war, and there is nothing you can do apart from dealing with pesky Americans”, chimed back Abby leaving them be.
***
Kelley’s eyes slowly opened to find herself leaning on a different body frame than the one she was resting against in the first place. A wider, taller and sturdier frame was supporting her, easing the stress on her neck, Christie’s body was causing. Slowly gazing to her right side, she saw an arm draped over her arm pulling her close to the other soldier, her fingers sometimes massaging where it was resting. Gazing up, she noticed it was Hope, the least person she ever thought of showing any affection. Hope seemed to have sensed the younger woman waking up, and looked down towards her.
“Hey there, rested well?” Hope’s quiet voice asked the sleepy one
“Yeah, it was peaceful” Kelley said with a small yawn, still hazy from the sleep “What is the time?”
“Just a little bit over 7 am, we’re flying from Netherlands, south towards Corsica and maybe fly from there. We are going to have more infantry joining us hopefully, rumors are we’re going to have some more heavy gunners and 2 medics for sure. We need all the hands we can get…. Hungry?” switched conversation Hope while offering an apple.
“I thought we were just going to be some 30 Americans” Kelley pressed back.
“I think he knew it was going to be suicide, so he agreed to give us some hands, receive help from other countries, besides, we already have some Canadians up aboard with us, or did you forget them?” lightly chuckled Hope, “now here, eat” pressed her Hope
Kelley, noticing she was still resting on her quickly straightened up, embarrassed about what some of her squad mates would think. This caused for Hope to snort and quietly laugh
“Relax O’Hara, no one is going to say anything, we all love affection here, we’re in a war, anything counts, even a simple hug or caress”
“I thought snipers were badass, never showing affection, and by snipers I mean YOU, you always seem so grumpy” Kelley whispered the last words, quickly munching the apple to keep her mouth full from saying something else she might regret. She studied Hope’s face, trying to see whether her words caused her any negative effects, instead Hope snorted again.
“Yea I am grumpy, but who isn’t in a war. Besides I was always and still am a lone wolf. But that doesn’t mean I can’t show affection. Why are you surprised?”
“Because… because it’s Hope Solo we are talking about. Never knew you had a soft side”
“Please kid, you barely joined our ranks 2 weeks, don’t act as if you know us because frankly you don’t” Hope slightly annoyed replied
“First impressions count though, even if give out the wrong impression like in this case” Kelley’s defying voice retorted back
“You don’t know me”
“Then enlighten me”
Before Hope could respond her, the carrier room’s red lights started flashing along with a wailing warning sound, signaling trouble is ahead. All scrambled to an empty seat putting on their seatbelt. The PA crackled to life and Melissa’s voice echoed through the room
“Hey Wambach, seems your wish is coming true, I hope it’s not your voodoo magic, hold your panties women, until Escort arrives in ETA 10 mins, things might get tumbling. Heath, McLeod, O’Hara and Sesselman get your asses on the missile turrets panels and start shooting fuckers down. Put on your oxygen masks ASAP”
With that the PA went dead, and the plane quickly lost altitude plunging down.