Once the fighting in Whiskey Hotel stops, the monsoon continues. Washing the blood and dirt off the place and troops caught in it.
As the calm after the storm sets in, members of 19th Group find and restrain a jumpy military-age man dressed in a suit.
Green Beret: Where'd you get the fancy suit, boy?
The Green Berets check the closet he came out of and see Russian Army gear and a dead body plopped next to Fox News labeled equipment.
Hunter Team 2 and 20th Group check out the commotion.
Ramirez: Where'd you find him, Master Sergeant?
Glasco: A closet filled with scattered Russian Army gear and a dead body sitting next to Fox News equipment.
Ramirez: Fox News?
Glasco: That's right.
Ramirez: Man or woman?
Glasco: Man.
Ramirez sighs*
During the conversation, 19th and 20th Groups start beating up the man, knowing he's a Russian trying to disguise as a civilian. Then Ramirez gets to the roof of Whiskey Hotel and finds its American flag, trampled and smelling like urine.
Having spotted a black marker next to the dead possible journalist, he smirks behind his mask with an idea.
Ramirez: Hey guys! Bring him to the roof! I know what we can do to him!
Green Berets: Yeah! Yeah!
Russian Soldier 1: (In Russian) No! No! I swear allegiance to the Russian Federation! I will kill you all! *yells*
Ramirez: Strip him!
Green Berets: Yeah!
Ramirez: Hey, Ruski! Did you piss on our flag?! Huh?! Look at it! Did you piss on it?!
Russian Soldier 1: (In English) Fuck you America! Rot in hell, all of you!
Green Berets: *laughs*
Army Rangers: *laughs*
Wiederhold: Ooohh! Tryin' to man up with your English now, huh?!
Ramirez: Let's see how much of a man you are after this!
The Army Rangers and Green Berets then take turns vandalizing the Russian. Drawing penises, stars and stripes, and phrases like "Dead Russian", "Russian Bitch", "USA! USA! USA!", "You're next, Vorshevsky!" and "Hide your daughter, President Vorshevsky!"
Then Ramirez takes the ruined American flag, wraps a short part of it around the Russian's neck, wraps the rest around what is left of the handrail, and sends him off with a quote.
Ramirez: Okay, my friend. It's off to the next life for you. I guarantee you, you won't be lonely.
throws the Russian Soldier off*
Russian Soldier 1: *yells*
Russian Soldier 1 chokes and dies*
Wiederhold: Damn, Ramirez! Ice cold!
Glasco: We are so doing that again in Moscow!
All: Hooah!
One minute later, while everyone is at the lower floors resting, Ramirez, remembering the Fox News items, starts pacing around concerningly, with only one thing in his mind: Grace.
McCord: Got something in mind, Staff Sergeant?
Ramirez: Grace.
Dunn: Aw, hell. Right. You think she's still alive?
Ramirez: I hope to God yes.
Foley: We do too. But I just got word from Private Vaughan, that runner we met. Civilians are coming in here now. We gotta get rid of the dead bodies. Then you can turn the city upside down to find Grace. We'll cover for you.
Ramirez: Really, Master Sergeant? Guys?
Dunn: Yeah, man.
McCord: I'd do the same thing if my family were here.
Foley: Shouldn't be hard. We ain't got a lot of important stuff to do right now, right?
Ramirez: Right. Thank you, all of you. I appreciate it.
Five minutes later, Whiskey Hotel is clear of dead bodies. Securing the fallen Americans for proper burials, and tossing the dead Russians in a pit for incineration.
Ramirez: All done.
Dunn: All done.
McCord: All done.
Foley: All right, Ramirez. Go, and be safe.
Ramirez: Yes, Master Sergeant.
Ramirez readies himself by replacing his sunglasses with his clear shooter glasses, switching his DD M4A1's EOTech EXPS34 Holographic Sight with his Vortex Razor HD 1-6x Rifle Scope, the M203 Grenade Launcher with his Magpul Angled Foregrip, and the Daniel Defense sponsored Muzzle Brake with his SOCOM Rifle Suppressor. Then grabs his M16A4 and M240B by the West Wing Entrance and sneaks out of Whiskey Hotel.
Ramirez heads for the Washington Monument Evac Site, quietly ambushing Russian patrols along the way. There, he frees two civilian families and two female Guardsmen from captivity, and they told him they got cut off from their platoon who were taking a group of civilians with Grace to the Capitol Building for evac.
He thanks them, arms them, and tells them to go to Whiskey Hotel. While he heads off to the Capitol Buliding, he makes a stop at a bar to ambush another lost Russian patrol.
He flanks and kills most of them, but the last one immediately threw away all of his weapons and surrendered. The poor Russian folded his hands, got down on his knees and pleaded for mercy in Russian.
Russian Soldier 2: (In Russian) No. No. Please! I don't want to be here! I never have!
Ramirez may not know Russian, but he can tell that he's genuinely desperate. But even though he wants to kill every single Russian soldier he sees because of what they did to his home and countrymen, he controls himself and comes to the conclusion that this guy may know things and would want to talk for his life.
So instead of executing him, he knocks him out, zip-ties his arms and legs, gags him, and ties him up in the bar. There, he gathers the AN-M14 TH3 Incendiary Hand Grenades he looted from his recent kills, makes Molotov Cocktails, and puts them in a beer case.
At the Capitol Building, he spots four Russian sniper teams all over it. So he stores his fire 'nades at a nearby alley and sneaks to their positions.
There, he kills two teams and kneecaps every member of the other two, and hangs them from their elevated positions with their rappelling ropes. It turns out they were guarding the Capitol Building because they have numerous captives inside.
As he frees and asks the Guardsmen some questions, they say that Grace moved with the rest of the civilian group and their platoon to the Lincoln Memorial because the Capitol Building was getting overrun back then. Ramirez thanks them, readies them, directs them to Whiskey Hotel, gathers his fire bombs and heads for the Lincoln Memorial.
He passes by the bar to check on his prisoner of war, only to see him still tied up and crying. He moves on and finds the Lincoln Memorial crawling with Russian demolition, anti-air and artillery teams.
With that, he thinks it's time to use his flame-based weapons. He throws his Incendiary Grenades at ammo stockpiles, blowing them up, destroying the weapons and killing anyone near them.
As the hostile teams try to get their small arms, Ramirez throws Molotovs at them, burning them alive. After he finishes off survivors trying to kill him, he searches the Lincoln Memorial, only to find dead civilians and Guardsmen.
Even though Grace was not one of them, Ramirez was still disappointed that he couldn't save them. Regardless, he carried on to the last known evac site: Dulles International Airport.
If Grace isn't there, then he'll have to do a full sweep of the entire city, which he will be committed in doing. He makes another stop at the bar to knock out his POW again and make more Molotovs.
At the airport, he spots a small Russian army guarding it, lead by what looks like an officer, because of the beret. Ramirez thinks there should be plenty of civilians if there are this many troops.
With stealth and the lone gun advantage, he sneaks in and finds the officer, killing anyone in his way. Five minutes of quietly breaching and clearing later, he finds and interrogates the officer.
It turns out the officer can understand English but cannot speak it, and he was very compliant in giving Ramirez directions to his captives. That's when he finds out that the officer was just a second lieutenant and he was forced into the army by his strict military family.
The lieutenant then started crying, possibly because of the thought of dying young. Ramirez felt bad, so he just captures him as well, stowing him in a car's trunk.
After clearing out the main terminal, leaving a trail of dead bodies, Ramirez heads for the hangar where the civilians are kept. And Grace was there, along with familiar faces from the Washington Monument Evac Site.
And now the Army Ranger clears the hangar swiftly and quietly before going loud by setting anti-air teams up in flames along with their weapons and ammo. Now that the entire airport is clear, he can start freeing the friendlies.
Grace: Holy shit! James?!
Ramirez: Hey, Grace. Are you hurt?
Grace: No. But, what about you?
Ramirez: Oh, all this blood are still not mine.
Ramirez gives Grace a spare knife*
Ramirez: Kindly help the others.
Grace: Yeah, of course.
Platoon Commander and Male Civilian 1: Staff Sergeant Ramirez?
Ramirez: Good to see you, sirs.
Male Civilian 1: You too. Thought you were dead.
Female Civilian 1: I'm glad you're not dead.
Ramirez: Me too, ma'am.
Platoon Commander: You truly are insane, Staff Sergeant. It's Captain Shiring, by the way.
Ramirez: Staff Sergeant James Ramirez. 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. Hunter Team 2.
Tucker Carlson: Man, a team name has never been more appropriate.
Ramirez: Just doin' my job, sir.
Time for Ramirez to head back to Whiskey Hotel with the others. The civilians and Guardsmen look at the carnage caused by their rescuer in shock.
Tucker Carlson: How many did you come with?
Ramirez: I'm it.
Captain Shiring: Why alone?
Ramirez: In all honesty, rescuing you guys was secondary, which I got no problem in doing. Finding and saving Grace was my main mission. Would our COs approve that?
Captain Shiring: If it were up to me, I would let you and your team go with my best men.
Male Civilian 2: You, my friend, are worth ten guns.
Ramirez: *chuckles* Thanks, sir. How you doin', Grace?
Grace: *stammers* What the fuck?
Ramirez: It's okay, babe. No need to say anything.
Ramirez grabs the Russian Lieutenant in the trunk.
Captain Shiring: Who's that?
Ramirez: A Russian second lieutenant who was believed to be forced into this war. I'm taking him in.
Captain Shiring: Let me help you with that. Sergeant! Corporal! Secure him.
Turns out Ramirez has found and killed more Russian sniper teams all over the city. Some of them hanging by their rappelling ropes.
Ramirez: Best to cover the kids' eyes at this point.
Male Civilian 1: Already on it.
Female Civilian 1: Way ahead of you.
Male Civilian 2: Mm-hmm.
Ramirez: Hold.
Captain Shiring: What is it?
Ramirez: Another captive of mine. Also doesn't want to be here. Possibly a conscript.
Captain Shiring: We'll take him. Keep leading the way.
Ramirez: Thanks, sir.
The group arrives at Whiskey Hotel, and Hunter Team 2, 19th and 20th Groups were waiting.
Wiederhold: Come in, people! Let's go!
Glasco: It's okay! You'll be safe here!
Grace: Foley, Dunn.
Foley: Hey, Grace. Glad you're safe.
Dunn: How you doin', Grace?
Grace: I'm good, thanks guys.
Ramirez: Grace, this is McCord. One of the new members of Hunter Team 2.
McCord: Big fan of your work, Ms. Cameron. Good to finally meet you.
Grace: Thanks, McCord. Call me Grace. Hey James, you said one of the new members.
Ramirez: Oh, right. Two others, Morgan and Wade. *sighs* They couldn't make it. They died keeping us safe.
Grace: I'm so sorry.
Ramirez: Me too.
McCord: Same.
Foley and Dunn: Hooah.
Ramirez: Captain Shiring! I almost forgot to tell you that I think you lost men and civilians in the Lincoln Memorial.
Captain Shiring: I think you're right, I did have men and civvies there. Shit.
Ramirez: I'm sorry, sir.
Captain Shiring: Me too. And thanks for confirming that to me.
Ramirez: You're welcome, sir.
Then all of a sudden, Colonel Marshall calls for the man responsible for rescuing all the men and civilians from three different fallen evac sites. With that, Foley allows Ramirez to report to the officer and goes with him to the temporary war room for a debrief.
Ramirez sees Grace following him and tells her to hang back or she'll get into serious trouble. She understands and waits outside the room.
Grace: Come here, baby.
Grace kisses Ramirez*
But not before taking her boyfriend's/savior's headgear off, looking at his handsome face, and giving him her deepest gratitude first.
Grace: Thank you, Staff Sergeant James Ramirez. I love you, so much.
Ramirez: You're always welcome, Grace Cameron. I love you too, so much.
Grace: Whatever happens, I'm with you all the way.
Ramirez: I know. I'm with you too, no matter what.
Ramirez gives Grace one more hug and kiss before meeting and saluting Colonel Marshall.
Colonel Marshall: At ease. What you did son, was above and beyond the call. Heroic. Inspirational. Too impossible to believe. But, your own personal solo op is also reckless and irresponsible. Rangers do not usually go AWOL (Absent Without Leave), especially those with your skill set. And the carnage all over the city that my recon teams reported, I haven't heard anything like that in a long time. And now you brought in two Russians for us to interrogate, more civilians to take care of, more friendly troops to ready, and America's own Grace Cameron. So, what I need you to give me is a full, honest debrief. And information about you. I personally want to learn more.
Ramirez: Where do I begin?
Colonel Marshall: Where it all started.
Created by Major Nomad