SHADOW SNIPER
AN AVENGER'S FAN FICTION BY JETSPARK10
I DON'T OWN ANY OF MARVEL'S CHARACTERS, I ONLY OWN THE ONES I HAVE CREATED
CHAPTER 1 - TITANIUM-ALLOY MAN
It was just another normal day doing my not-quite-so-normal-job in the middle of nowhere (aka Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan). Well in my 'workplace' there are three basic types of normal; mind-numbingly-boring-normal (MNB's), average normal (AN's) and out-of-the-ordinary-normal (OOTO's). Of course there are days in between these types; today for instance was an above-average normal day. You don't even want to know how many types of non-normal days there are. We've only had two OOTO's so far on this job, both of which involved being shot at; which is normal for some SASR guys, but for a SAS Sniper like myself not so much. You've got to know I'm there for you to shoot at me, and I'm very good at not getting spotted; the guys say it's almost like I can will myself into invisibility... Anyway I digress.
So anyway... my SEAL buddy Nick decided to get some brownie points by inviting me to a weapons demonstration the American Air Force was holding of the Stark Industries 'Jericho' Missile; run by the CEO of Stark Industries himself. Of course it wouldn't be fitting unless said CEO Tony Stark was late. So there we were; waiting in the middle of the day, in the full wrath of the Middle-Eastern sun for several hours. No problems for an Australian like myself, simply because that's what I'm used to (not bragging too much am I?). I will admit though that not all of Afghanistan is so hot; it gets pretty cold when you've been lying in your hide up in the mountains for three days. In the rain. The SEALs love it; just like their aquatic counterparts would. Note that I'm kidding, they hate it too. Oh by the way, when I meant I got 'invited' to a weapons demo, I actually meant that Nick suggested it would be fun to camp up in the hill behind the missiles and try not to get caught. Which went excellently, until certain events that occurred later on which I will get to shortly...
I've got to admit, the demo was pretty damn good; defiantly enough 'bang for your buck', as the 'Mericans like to say. Special Forces can't resist explosions; it's in-grained into our DNA. Stark was in and out of there like a bolt of lightning. As we watched the convoy leave through our binos I felt that something was about to 'go down the shitter' as we Aussies say. I'm not sure how but I always get a gut feeling when something is about to go very wrong. I knew two of the Airmen in the lead Humvee. Jason and Adrian, they were really cool guys. Well until they got an IED to the face. The whole reason my unit and I were in the region was to run surveillance on a terrorist group called the 10 Rings, and then they go and attack a VIP right under our noses. We didn't find out what had happened until we got back to base and were immediately questioned by Stark's friend Colonel Rhodes. Once we cleared everything up, my team of three; plus Nick who was told to clean the mess hall as punishment, but whom I managed to convince the Higher Up's would be more useful with me, set out to track the enemy.
Three days later and Raptor Squad, plus one, were bickering about whether they should climb the ridge of an exposed mountain, or travel through a narrow gully where they could be easily ambushed.
"We should think like the enemy and head into the gully, they'd expect us to dodge them by going up the ridge", my spotter Alex said, as he stroked his chin and the red tinged beard he'd started growing.
"What if they assume that we are thinking like them?" I questioned him with a smile.
Alex, whom is already very familiar with my sarcastic antics just ignored me and set off down into the gully. I nodded, and followed Alex down.
However by the time we all got towards the bottom of the mountain, Matt decided he had some issues with this idea and asked, "What was wrong with Jade's question, it's quite valid, what if they know we will go this way?"
Alex and I both turned to look at each other for a second, then up to the mountain, and then down to Matt and both smiled and said at the same time, "Well if you want to climb back up feel free!" Nick just laughed and we all continued to push on...
I guess right about now is when I should introduce everyone properly. My name is Jade Everett and I'm a third generation SAS Sniper. It seems shooting is the family business, so as I grew up as an only child it was expected of me to uphold the family tradition, even though I was female; lucky that I loved to shoot then. I got an air-rifle for my tenth birthday, and every time I won a national competition my parents would treat me to a gun upgrade, so eventually I managed to amass quite a collection. I joined the Australian Army and became a Rifleman in the Infantry Corps once I finished high school at 17 years of age. After a year I trained to become an Infantry Sniper; so I was well on my way to SAS Sniper. When I was 22 years old, my CO recommended me for a spot in the SAS selection course. After twenty-one days of gruelling exercise, starvation and mental exhaustion I passed, and was selected to begin my training. The end result of which would be to earn myself the coveted Sand-coloured Beret and Winged Dagger insignia of the SASR. The motto of the SAS is "Who Dares Wins", and in this respect I do very well; I'm very daring.
My daring nature is how I met my two best friends; Alexander Cross and Matthew Dell, whom both went through the SASR selection course the same time as I did. We met in the stage of the course known as 'Happy Traveller', which involves 5 days of criss-crossing the broken terrain east of Perth carrying 60kg packs. We had to travel between checkpoints, conveniently placed on the top of large hills, without speaking to anyone except for the instructors; not the kind of environment you would usually make friends. However Alex, Matt and I kept find ourselves climbing the same hills at the same times. So silently we made a game of who could get to the top first, without breaking their ankles of course. Sounds fun hey? Nearing the end of the 5 days we were somehow all tied with the same number of wins, and very near total exhaustion. As we began the climb to the final summit I decided that no matter what it took, I would win. So I ran up the hill; which is not recommended due to the ankle-breaking nature of the terrain. I won, and not just the admiration of Alex and Matt, but the instructors as well. They had noticed how we tended to stick together throughout the course, so they put us in the same group during the rest of our training (well except for when Alex and I both became Snipers and Matt didn't).
It had only been since we came to Afghanistan that Matt has joined us again; he normally gets sent out all over the world, but this mission required many squads so he was brought in as well. Matt is our explosives specialist; he was in the IED crew before he joined the SAS, but got sick of seeing civilians blow themselves up and so wanted a change. Now he gets to blow the stuff up; much more fun. Alex has the lowly job as my spotter; which means he practically does nothing since I'm an excellent judge of distances, wind shear and bullets drop. He does however provide the entertainment; being the 'funny-man' of the crew. Now to Navy SEAL Nick Jaeger, who we've only just met since we came to this Middle-Eastern shit-hole. Nick is probably the most handsome man I've ever had the pleasure of meeting; in my opinion SEALs aren't the most beautiful of creatures, get what I mean *wink wink* (I'm just full of puns aren't I?). I'm guessing Nick is an exception to the rule due to his German heritage. That's really the only reason I keep him around; good eye candy brightens any day, and he doesn't seem to mind my company either. Anyway...back to the mission now I suppose!
As it turns out, the 10 Rings had no need to set up a trap for us in the gully because they knew we wouldn't ever get close to their main camp. That's the problem with fighting an enemy on their own turf; they know every nook and cranny of their homeland. After a couple more days of crawling around in the dirt we figured we should return back to base and see if the other teams had made some progress finding Stark. As we journeyed back we heard a series of explosions, and saw a whole lot of smoke in the distance, as well as a missile-like object fly from the area. It was too far for us to investigate, and so called it into the FOB (Forward Operating Base). They sent out a couple of Helos, and once debriefed on our return we found out that they had found Stark wandering the desert. It's strange because the guys who did the debriefing weren't military as such; they were some government group called S.H.I.E.L.D. They took particular interest in the means of Stark's escape from the terrorists. It seems that they were also in the need of some 'security experts' so our CO decided to send us their way. Nick's Commander also sent him along with a couple of his fellow sea mammals. Thus the normality of an MNB to OOTO job came to a close. The reign of the super-awesome-adventure-of-a-life-time (SAALT) job had begun.
END OF CHAPTER 1
THANKS FOR READING!
