Week 10

Day 66 (12/11)

Kent had a smile on his face. Before leaving for their escort mission, they had received a call from Shayera. Having a video conversation with her had lifted everyone's spirits, and they were partly relieved.

"I thought she was good. She sounded good," commented Allen, referring to the same subject.

Kent thought back to the laughter and tears that had been exchanged during the call. Shay was in rehab now. She was being monitored in the hospital and declared unfit for the field. But the woman had recovered quite quickly, and her strong character had a lot to do with it.

"And her new life plan looked pretty good," Allen said again.

Jordan started laughing behind the steering wheel.

"Are you talking about her wanting to work in a museum? Come on, that sucks. "

Kent shrugged.

"She has a really good knowledge of history and she's passionate about it. So why not? "

Allen nodded.

"It's good to change too. I think that at the end of my service I would probably go back to the police. "

Kent, for his part, had asked himself the question many times. He knew he had a way out once he put his military career behind him, but he wasn't sure what he wanted. Jordan shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, that's closer to what we're doing already. Anyway, if Shay likes it, why not... I wish her nothing but happiness. "

Kent nodded his head and looked at the rock faces. Allen suddenly began to laugh.

"I'm going to miss her, you're welcome. Remember the first time we talked to her? " he asked Jordan.

Jordan grunted and replied:

"She punched me in the face. "

Allen burst out laughing and Kent allowed himself to smile.

"It was a great moment," Flash exclaimed.

Jordan didn't have time to answer, he shouted:

"ROCKET ! "

Jordan steered the steering wheel at the moment of impact. Kent had no reflexes. The Humvee flipped several times, rolling off the road as the convoy was being attacked. When the vehicle came to a stop, Kent had difficulty reacting. Wayne was quicker than he was.

"Everybody's okay ?" he asked.

Their Humvee was upside down. Kent crawled out on his side, crawling on the ground while Wayne was doing the same thing next door. Machine gun fire was raining down on them.

"Allen, Jordan ? "reasked Wayne.

Kent glanced at Allen. Allen was unconscious and bleeding at the arcade.

"Flash is unconscious. I think he got the turret. "

Wayne positioned himself right next to it and started firing blanket shots. Kent dived back into the vehicle to drag Allen. He then moved on to Jordan.

"Hal ? "

Jordan was slowly regaining consciousness. The impact against the side of the Humvee had been violent.

"I'm stuck... "

Kent lives it well. Hal was the only one who was visibly struggling against the laws of gravity. The steering wheel was blocking him.

"Get ready for the reception. "

He turned his M4 over, and hit the side of the wheel with the stick several times. After a few hits, Jordan crashed to the ground.

"Damn it," he swore as Kent helped him out.

They then automatically took over their cover, protecting Allen, who was still unconscious among themselves.

"What's the situation, Bat? " asked Jordan.

"Two Humvees and a truck out of action. The two lead vehicles and the other two trucks went by. "

Kent tried to go around the Humvee to get a clear view of the others. He quickly withdrew when the shots came at him.

"I see the second Humvee ten meters away from us, at 10 o'clock but empty. And the cab of the truck jumped. "

Wayne used his radio.

"Unit 4, do you copy? "

There was some crackling before we got a real answer.

"Glad to know you're okay, Wayne. What's your status? "

Kent saw Wayne analyze their environment with one look.

"Poor visibility on the shooters. The only means of retreat we've got is our eight o'clock, 200 yards. We've got an unconscious man. "

There was a pause of several seconds. Kent and Jordan were doing cover shots to try to get more information. There must have been about ten people there.

"Okay, let's try this exit. The rocks will give us better cover. "

Kent saw a man rearming a rocket launcher.

"If we're going to do something about it, it's now," said Lantern, who had seen the same thing.

Wayne saw the man too. He picked up his radio again.

"On my signal, you run to the rocks. We'll cover you. "

Kent and Jordan stood ready to fire. Wayne moved back slightly, lay down on his back with his weapon in position and stood ready.

"Now! "

Kent and Jordan fired without restraint as the group ran for cover. Unit 4 fired smoke to cover themselves. Wayne pivoted on his belly, already in position to fire as he came out of the cover of the Humvee. He fired more accurately than Kent and Jordan. He hit the bull's-eye. The rocket exploded about two meters from the second vehicle. He made a hit on a second man and a third. Kent and Jordan probably shot two other men.

"We're safe, Wayne! "

He drove under cover again and Kent and Jordan stooped down to reload.

"Copy, Payne. We're going to move before someone else gets the rocket launcher. "

He took a look at his two men. Kent was definitely the strongest of them all. Without hesitation, the de-miner lifted Allen, as he had been taught in training, and carried him on his shoulders. Allen was really lighter than he thought he was.

"All right, here we go. "

The three of them threw their smoke and ran. 200 meters. It may have seemed long, but it was short. In Kent's head, it was pretty long.

He skidded by lying behind a rock while the shots were close to them. A soldier pulled Allen off his shoulders and wedged him behind the rock. They then saw Payne approaching.

"Reinforcements should arrive soon. Should we wait for them or try to kill this assholes? "

Wayne pointed to his M4.

"We're going to get them. "

Payne winked at him and smiled. Surely the two men knew each other. They even looked a little like accomplices.

"In position," Payne ordered.

Kent followed the movement of his men, as did Jordan. Wayne and Payne lay down on the ground.

"Payne/Wayne were back," said Payne.

Wayne growled.

"Stop calling us that. "

"Everyone used to call us that! "

"Nobody did. "

Wayne's dismissive tone made Kent smile. Payne sighed as he shot first.

"You really are the grumpiest sniper I've ever worked with. "

Wayne fired back before answering.

"And you're the most chatty observer I've ever worked with. "

Wayne's cold tone may have seemed offensive, but the other sniper just laughed.

"You really haven't changed at all. "

Two of Payne's men were a hit. Kent had one in his sights and was waiting for it to come out. Now that they were under cover, it was going to be pigeon shooting for both sides. His man soon showed up. Kent put three bullets in his chest.

The exchange of fire didn't last long. Maybe less than an hour. Jordan and one of Payne's guys were shot in their vests, but nothing serious. Kent was more worried about Allen, who hadn't regained consciousness since. Wayne had warned the team that they had an injury. He would be taken care of as soon as reinforcements arrived. He was hoping that everything would be okay.

Day 67 (12/12)

Clark looked at the Flash with a pained expression. So did Diana. Arthur managed to remain neutral. He didn't know what to say. It was too hard. Too hard to keep his emotions to himself, to remain as impassive as possible. Barry had become his friend. It hurt him to see him like that and not be able to react. Diana put a hand on his shoulder for support. They both needed it. Hal couldn't hold on and had to leave the room.

"You're making faces. You're constipated or something ?" Barry said, slightly worried.

Diana snapped and burst out laughing, leaning on the mattress of Barry's bed. Arthur distracted him while Clark struggled even harder not to laugh.

"We were very afraid for you. It's a nervous laugh. "

Beside, Diana was crying with laughter. Clark displayed a half smile that he couldn't hold. Barry was not very convinced.

"Yeah... I was told I had a concussion... Why do I get the feeling you've done something stupid? "

Diana finally left the room, greeting Barry in the distance:

"I'm glad you're all right, Flash! "

The latter greeted her with a worried expression on his face. Clark cracked. He displayed a broad smile.

"You know, it's euphoria. "

Or rather the pencil drawings that Ollie had made on his face. Barry had Spock's furrowed eyebrows, the Freddie Mercury-style moustache and half-drawn round fake glasses on his arch bandage.

"We think you're fine," Arthur added. "You look... glowing. "

This time Clark laughed. Barry sat up in bed.

"Damn, I can really feel the bullshit coming! Where are Ollie and Hal?! "

"Outside, " Clark managed to answer.

Barry displayed a really angry expression. In addition to the drawings on his face, it was even more hilarious.

"I could be out in an hour, then I swear I'm going to gut them! "

Arthur tried to keep a serious expression on his face when he said:

"Before you go out, you ought to pass in front of a mirror! "

"What?! "

Barry began to get up. Arthur and Clark did what made the most sense in the situation: they ran out of the infirmary.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"If I find them, I catch them and kill them. "

Barry still had some of his grudge. Ollie and Hal had planned well: they had made themselves temporarily untraceable. Barry nervously clutched his coffee cup as he sat at the dining room table with Diana, Arthur, John and Clark.

"They'll come out on their own," John commented, his eyes half glued to a book.

Barry nodded.

"Yeah. Good thing no one else saw me that way. "

The other four soldiers looked at each other with complicit eyes, thinking back to the pictures that had been taken.

"Yeah, I'm glad," Clark added as he drank his coffee. "

He saw Palmer, Stone and Wayne approaching them in the distance. He was surprised to see them settle down to have their coffee too. Stone struck up a conversation:

"Glad to see you're feeling better, Allen. Wayne told me. "

Barry smiled a grateful smile at him.

"Thank you Major. "

Palmer looked at Barry in turn.

"I'm glad to see that you're presentable again," he said, showing his face, a petty smile on his lips.

Barry turned peony red and Clark held back a smile: it had circulated quite well. Wayne added:

"You've still got pencil over your lip. "

They all turned to Barry to look for the almost imperceptible stain of ink that was still there. Wayne had an expert eye. Barry began to blush with embarrassment. He stood up.

"Well, they're dead. "

He left the table with a determined step, under the amused gaze of the others. Diana stood up in succession.

"I don't want to miss that for anything in the world! "

"Neither do I," John added, following her.

"We're following you, it's changing us," Stone added.

They took Palmer and Arthur with them. Clark then found himself alone with Bruce. The bomb-disposal expert didn't let the conversation die down.

"You've seen the pictures," he asked.

Wayne didn't show any expression, but the brightness in his clear eyes revealed his amusement.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Hal and Ollie go around showing it around the base. "

Clark was not at all surprised. He imagined the two men doing it.

"They're great though. "

Wayne nodded.

"They sure know how to set the mood. It's good for the guys," Wayne nodded.

Clark really liked the soldiers he was working with. Probably for the first time in his service. And then, now, he really liked Bruce. Even though he was still struggling to figure him out, the more he found out about him, the more he liked what he was learning. He turned his head towards Wayne and they exchanged a knowing glance at each other. He had been really lucky to run into them. Life was constantly made up of encounters and sometimes certain bonds were established and lasted.

Day 69 (12/14)

Clark had just gotten out of his shower when Wayne returned to their quarters, packing up their belongings.

"We've got a tip on a potential terrorist site. We're on our way. "

Clark swore while water was still dripping on his skin.

"I'll be there in five minutes. "

Wayne looked at him for a moment before he nodded his head and walked out. Clark activated as quickly as he could. Information like that was a godsend.

In the Humvee, Wayne quickly made his briefing. They were called for backup like many other teams. It was a big operation where Wayne and Queen's skills could come in handy, and in this type of assault, Jordan and Allen certainly weren't too much of a handful. But what the Marines really wanted was Kent's skills, there was no doubt about that.

They arrived in the slum area of Baghdad. It was small, crowded and very poor. People were afraid of them, they looked down on them or they ran away from them. Kent was tense. Almost as tense as the Iraqis who saw their place of life invaded by dozens of American soldiers.

His team was in retreat. The Marines had taken the lead in the intervention and his unit would only serve them during the search of the premises. Then, at the end of the convoy, they moved along, simply following the soldiers in front of them and the orders transmitted.

They very quickly surrounded the target area. It was a small hut in appearance, easily surrounded. Kent thought there were too many of them to check the area, then he thought of the basement where they had found Feltman. Maybe there were basements.

The Marines entered. Their inspection was quick. There were a few exchange shots, then nothing else. Just the first Marine's entrance scream. The other screams came from the frightened Iraqis around them. Kent squeezed the butt of his M4. It was going to be his turn. The first marine then came out of the small house.

"We've got some stuff for you, deminers. "

Wayne nodded to him to go inside.

In the main room, several weapons, mostly machine guns, were laid out there. Marines were already inspecting and cataloguing them. Others searched posters on the walls and table and another searched the bodies of two men. It really looked like a terrorist hideout.

"What you're interested in is downstairs. "

Kent went down through the hatch that was marked for him, originally hidden under a carpet.

"Arden! This is where it's happening! "

Kent didn't really pay attention to the second arriving man and instead looked at the room in front of him. A laboratory, which must have been the size of the room above.

"Clark ? Ah it's nice to see you again ! "

He turned around to see a familiar face.

"Stephen! I'm glad to see you! "

They gave each other a quick hug.

"I'd talk to you, but later, I feel like we've got work to do! "

Kent nodded his head. The two of them separated to walk around the main table and observe the facilities and furniture. They were dealing with a small chemist's laboratory. But the lab had been quickly emptied.

He finds traces on the floor, on the table, missing elements or present in the cupboards. The places were both empty but with many consistent clues.

"Well... there was TATP produced here. No doubt," Stephen announced as a marine arrived.

Kent nodded. The components were easily identifiable by their smell or appearance.

"In large quantities, " Kent said. "The lab was emptied a while ago. "

"What makes you say that?" asked the marine, an angry expression on his face.

From what he could read on his uniform tag, the soldier's name was Cohan. Stephen replied:

"There's no doubt that many pounds of TATP were produced here. I would say... about twenty kilos? "

Kent nodded his head.

"I would say that too," he confirmed.

Stephen continued his explanation.

"And twenty kilos of unstable explosive doesn't come off that easily. And even if it hasn't been mixed, that's a lot of components. "

The marine pesta.

"Basically, this lab had been empty for a long time. "

The two bomb squad members nodded their heads. Cohan then went back up, leaving the other two to continue examining the lab. When they were sure they'd made it all the way around, they too turned back.

The Marines were talking among themselves. As soon as they realized they were there, they turned around and Cohan spoke:

"There are several sites that are suspected to be other such hideouts. We're going to split into several groups. We'll call for reinforcements, but we can already search two of them quickly. Arden, you will come with your team and me to site A. It's a few minutes from here. Kent, you'll go under Dinelli's command to site B. It's northeast of here. "

Kent followed Cohan's gesture with his eyes to see who Dinelli was. The next moment they were all gathering outside.

Kent noticed on their way through the slum that Wayne was not at all pleased with the way they were acting. He could see it in his metallic eyes. He knew he hated being left out in the cold like that. That the only reason they came on the team was by default.

They arrived in front of a small three-storey building that was half destroyed by the bombing. On the surface it might have looked disused, but Kent noticed recent tire tracks around it. He was not the only one to notice them. Wayne held his Barrett firmly, ready to fire. They heard a humming sound inside.

They positioned themselves at the single entrance. Kent smelled a foul odor emanating from the building. As soon as they were ready, the Marines, leading the team, broke down the door. Kent, just by the smell alone, thought he was going to vomit during the assault. They disregarded the horrors they saw on the tables and headed for the stairs to search the floors, which were completely blank. Then they went back down and looked at what they saw, among hundreds of flies flying around.

"Fuck. "

"Barbarians. "

Kent closed his eyes so that he could not see the horrible images in front of him. Corpses. There were at least a dozen bodies on tables, some of which must have been there longer than others. Men, women and... there were even two kids. Kent didn't give them more than 14 years.

"Kent... " called him Allen.

He approached a man's body. He had started to decompose slightly and the smell was really unbearable. Queen, next door, couldn't resist. He was the first to vomit, followed by two Marines and Allen.

Under the maggots that were swarming, he notice first the wires. They had not finished being hidden in the organs and by slightly pushing the intestines with the tip of his cannon, he saw the charges. TATP. Probably connected and still unstable. And with the decomposition of the body, the digestive enzymes and maggots that produced heat and attacked the container of the product, the risk of explosion was greatly increased. He thinks at full speed, overwhelmed by panic.

"Evacuate this building! Get away from... " He turned around to see all the dead bodies and lost his temper. "Give me your fucking water! "

If all the bodies contained TATP, he had to either neutralize it or take everything with him and that was not possible. Fuck ! They could have blown themselves up by carrying them away afterwards! Fuck, and with all those people around, they would end up injured by the explosion and their homes would be destroyed.

"What do we do with the water ?" asked Dinelli.

"Put it in a canister, or whatever you can find !" Kent replied rather aggressively.

He felt a hand resting firmly on his shoulder and crossed Wayne's gaze. That calmed him down. Surprisingly, it calmed him down. He closed his eyes for a moment to regain control of his panic, then continued :

"TATP can be neutralized in water. It is a very unstable compound and it is even more so in this room. So get as much water as you can in a large container and then leave the perimeter while I get it out of ... "

His gaze sweeping across the room spoke for him.

"Very good. Let's do this. "

Kent untied his canteen and threw it to Dinelli. He took out his M4 and put it against the table. He would have taken a deep breath, but the air was saturated with decomposition. He rolled up his sleeves as much as he could, preparing himself psychologically for what he was going to have to do.

"Let's go, guys. "

"I'm staying here," Wayne said.

Kent glanced at the Major. He cleared a window and positioned himself to cover him if necessary. He knew the sniper was doing this for him. He didn't say anything, just started his job.

He plunged his bare hands into his entrails. He felt a shiver of disgust run down his spine as he came into contact with the viscous matter of decomposing organs and larvae crawling against his skin. He couldn't tell which was worse, the touch or the putrid smell. It literally smelled like death. The stench that could sometimes be smelled in hospital rooms was nothing like it now. And with all those flies...

He closed his eyes for a moment to hold on to his lofty heart. His stomach was showing its disgust and Kent did everything he could to keep the contents of his stomach inside for a little longer. It was filthy. Disgusting. The slimy sound it made made him sick. He was digging through a dead man's guts. By doing so, he dishonored the body even more.

He took the device out. The TATP was connected to a remote detonation system. Whatever the monsters who did this had in mind, he was certain that they were quite organized and were planning something big. He took out his pocket knife and cut the wires with it. When he had finished, he took out the disconnected device and then the explosives, which he placed gently on the edge of the table.

He raised his head towards the rest of the room. Only Wayne was there and he had a lot of bodies left. Kent had to check them all. He moved on to the next body. Another man, taller, already stitched up. His belly looked swollen. It looked like he'd been there longer. He undid each seam with his knife and pulled the skin apart.

He held an acid reflux in his throat just in time. He didn't need to add any more material to what he had in front of him. He took a deep breath and passed his right arm inside. It was... foul. Soft and liquefying. The acid smell almost stung his nose. Kent cracked. He quickly took his hand out and turned just in time to vomit on the floor. He vomited absolutely everything in his stomach, the strong contractions of his diaphragm hurting his stomach.

He realized under the strain that he was crying. Tears ran down his cheeks as he choked, trying to vomit again under involuntary contractions when his stomach was now empty. He could not even wipe his face or mouth. Nor could he remove the bitter-acidic taste he had in his mouth, nor the smell that came out of the place.

"It's going to be all right, Clark ?" Wayne asked, still at his post.

Kent didn't answer. He just waved his hand as he waited to see if his body would cooperate with his mind again. When he did, he returned to the second body. He searched blindly, without much difficulty, as he felt his hands were drowning in a viscous and corrosive material. He carefully pulled the TATP out, this time unconnected, and had to search all the way under the rib cage.

It was at this point that he realized that the first one might not have been properly searched. He went back and luckily recovered two more packs of TATP blocked by the lungs. He then switched bodies as the soldiers returned.

"Two barrels were brought back. Will that do? "

Kent didn't really know how much water he needed, but given the urgency, it would probably be enough. They must have gotten 50-liter barrels from the locals. He nodded his head and retrieved the TATP.

"I think I'll be okay. Put them in the center of the room. "

He then took the TATP and began to pour it into the water. Slowly, carefully, he made the white powder settle into this liquid which would neutralize it. He dumped everything he had already found and when he looked up, the room was empty of the other soldiers. Only Wayne remained at his post while the Marines stayed at the door. He didn't blame them. It was unbreathable and disgusting.

"The other unit found a stockpile of weapons. Looks like we weren't so lucky," Dinelli told him.

Kent just nodded his head. Less fortunate. Could such horror be associated with luck? He doubted it. He returned to his work.

Kent moved to all the corpses one by one, in complete silence, disregarding everything around him. It was the hardest thing he ever did in his life. He hoped that the harder he worked, the more he would get psychologically out of what he was doing, that he would be able to cope even better. He prayed for that. And to each person, he held back his tears a little more. He avoided looking at their faces at all costs, to dehumanize them as much as possible. To hold on.

He spent time. A lot of time, too much time, searching these corpses, neutralizing the explosive. He would have liked to do better, to do more for them. To be able to honor their bodies, to be able to give them the last sacraments, or a last prayer whatever their beliefs. He just never would have wanted to live that in his life.

Then he came to the children. The last ones. Their bodies, in pre-adolescence, hadn't had time to build up any extra muscle mass. They were so frail. So young. He felt the tears rising as he cut the first child's stitches. He did everything he could to contain himself. He lifted his head, shook it, beat his eyelids faster. But when he had to put his hand into his abdomen to search it, he thought he was tearing his soul apart. Something broke inside him.

He silently broke into tears. He felt that somewhere in his mind he let go. He was letting go of everything that was in front of him. It was like falling into the void, while being conscious. He was acting mechanically, when he took care of the second child. That was the last person he had to take care of and then, as with the others, he neutralized TATP.

Kent exited the building. He needed a change of scenery. He was having trouble breathing. He was still feeling sick and his stomach was still having violent contractions. He bent down to vomit bile right next to the other soldiers. They were making a lot of noise and it made his head spin.

"Clark. "

He raised his head when he was sure he could breathe again without vomiting. He caught Wayne's eye. An ocean of mercury.

"You're done," Dinelli asked next door.

Kent hadn't seen him. He nodded affirmatively, while he was still having trouble breathing. Wayne grabbed him by the shoulders.

"You did a great job, Clark. We're going home. Jordan! "

He looked up to see that their vehicles had been brought back here. He let himself be guided back to the vehicle. When he got inside, he felt like he was weighing a lot. Really heavy.

"He's really pale, Major," said Allen as they were already on the road.

"So step on it, Jordan. He's in shock. "

Kent didn't realize how long it took them to get there. He just felt like they were putting him in the Humvee and then taking him out.

"Ollie, get a doctor. Clark, breathe easy. "

He didn't understand what he was talking about. Wayne was examining him from every angle. He stopped on his hands.

"Barry, get some water, quick. "

"I can do something," Jordan asked.

Wayne nodded and showed him his bulletproof vest. Kent let it happen, his arms were too heavy to help him.

"Clark, breathe. We're at the base. "

Kent looked at Wayne. He couldn't listen to him. His throat was too sore for that. The Major took his hands when Allen came back with water. Wayne rinsed his hands full of blood and fluid. Kent grunted in pain from the water.

"Damn it, Clark!" Wayne grumbled when he saw the condition of his hands.

"What's going on?" Ollie asked as he arrived, ahead of the doctors.

Kent recognized the doctor who helped him lie down on a stretcher. He didn't protest, he was having trouble getting around. He felt transported and the next thing he knew he was covered with a survival sheet and an oxygen mask.