09:30 AM, Local Time
7 km outside of Arkhyz, Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia
June, 2018
Gabriel took in the smell of the damp, earthy moss as he waited for his team. His knees crushed the dead leaves underneath, burrowing into the dirt. The sounds of chirpings and the faint sounds of gunfire slowly flowed into his ears. He checked his surroundings of the forest as he waited.
After their assignment in St Petersburg, Sombra and the FSB managed to track down those in charge of the ISIS forces hired by the corrupt senator to a village in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic which was reportedly where the remaining ISIS terrorists had made a camp for, as well as identifying the HVTs that accepted the senator's contract. A decision was made for Blackwatch to assist the Swedish and Russian Ground Forces in the advance against ISIS since both had been struggling to drive them out of the country.
Shortly, Gabriel heard footsteps from the distance and noticed Amélie, McCree and Moira heading his way.
"Safe landing, team?" He called.
"All good." Amélie replied.
"Same." Moira said.
"Almost hit a bird." McCree added.
"Alright, gather around."
Once the team arrived, Gabriel got them to kneel down with him so he could relay his orders.
"This is what's gonna happen, We infiltrate the village, eliminate the HVTs - Kadir Babaev Shah and Zoran Oborin, and destroy all anti-aircraft artillery systems to give the Russian and Swedish forces a fighting chance to clear out the remaining ISIS forces. The sooner we get this done, the easier it will be for Captain Lindholm to clean up our tracks. Let's go."
Gabriel and the team immediately stood up and turned towards the direction of their destination.
"Hold on a sec," McCree said, grabbing everyone's attention. "Where's Marvel?"
Once McCree had mentioned it, the team noticed that Marvel was nowhere to be seen. It was only the five of them for this mission with Sombra providing drone support.
"I saw his chute open while we were in the sky before he landed somewhere off from our landing route," Moira deduced. "I believe his chute malfunctioned and he had to use his reserve."
"Should we go after him?" McCree asked.
"No." Gabriel said.
The team looked at him with McCree particularly surprised.
"No?" McCree cocked his head.
"You heard me, Jesse," Gabriel bluntly said. "Mission first. We know that and so does Marvel. He'll know where to find us."
"And if he's not in one piece?"
"Then we'll recover him but the mission comes first."
McCree looked as if he was going to object but eventually, he reluctantly accepted the decision. Gabriel activated his comms and looked up at the sky.
"Shadow 1 to Shadow 4, how are we looking?"
His direction faced where the MQ-1 Predator drone fitted with Hellfire missiles would be in the sky. The drone was a gift to Blackwatch from the CIA. It would have full surveillance of his team while keeping its distance from potential anti-air missile detection radius.
"Shadow 1, you're looking muy buena so far," Sombra said. "I suggest that you get a move on."
"Copy that. Out," Gabriel got off the comms and turned to his team. "Alright Shadows, lets move out."
"Well, shit."
Marvel looked around the dense green as he dangled among the canopies in the forest. His parachute somehow screwed him over so he had to pull out his reserve but the wind gusted him away from his team and he crashed into a much denser forest than the others in this region. Marvel looked up to see the damage of his parachute, hooked and entangled among the aging branches. The bushy leaves blocked the sight of the sky, which would be hard for the drone to track him.
How deep is he anyway? He thought. Marvel would guess he was hanging on a tree about the height of that one gigantic tree back home. He looked down and surprisingly, it wasn't that deep. Not as shallow but not prone to fatality.
"Eh," Marvel muttered. "At least it's not the Black Forest. Or better yet, it's not dark."
Unclipping the parachute off, he fell back onto the ground safely, though he held onto the ground to keep himself steady. After standing up, Marvel looked back up at the still tangled parachute before turning away. After taking his oxygen mask off, he got out his suppressed MCX and checked his mag count for the fourth time prior to their jump. Now for the big question. Where is he? Marvel turned on his comms as he scanned his surroundings.
"Shadow 7 to Shadow 1, do you copy, over?"
He was responded with spastic static. His comms should be on an open channel with the others, including Sombra back in Moscow.
"Shadow 7 to Shadow 4, do you copy?"
Still, he was hit with static. Marvel cursed. His radio frequency being scrambled was the only plausible reason for this but he wasn't sure how. Looking around, he wasn't sure where he was at all. Marvel bent down and got out his grid map from his backpack. He tapped on the dark green area of the region which was on the right side of where he circled the landing route. He crashed into a forest east of their intended landing route where the team would be able to make their way up to the village, turned hideout for ISIS, ahead. So based on where he landed, he should be heading west from where he is now. Hopefully, his prediction is right.
Packing himself up, Marvel got up from the dirt ground and pulled the neck gaiter over his mouth. He faced west of the forest and began his trek out. If his prediction was right, he may be able to get back on track and regroup with the team.
Five minutes in and the team have reached part of the less crowded area of the region with a path that can lead them to the village. Gabriel scanned the area as he treaded down the path. So far, there were no signs of any booby traps for now. Shortly, Gabriel comms buzzed.
"Shadow 4 to Shadow 1," Sombra said. "Warhammer wants me to inform you that Werebear and his unit are taking heavy fire from artillery. I managed to scan the radio frequency and it seems to be scrambled by an installed jammer. A recon team was sent to get rid of them but Warhammer lost contact with them hours later. ISIS really didn't like being found out, huh?"
"Copy, Shadow 4. We'll find a way in. Out."
The team continued their walk to the destination while figuring out their plan in action.
After about 12 minutes of wandering the damp land in the middle of nowhere, Marvel arrived at somewhere past the landing route. He found himself walking down a path in the terrain near the forest. So far, no sign of his team and the comms are still jammed. Faint sounds of gunfire echoed across the land as the war against the bad guys continued to run amok. The gunfire was however a little closer to his position. Speaking of, Marvel should be cautious of where he's walking unless he was willing to step on a trap.
He stepped on something round.
Looking down, Marvel noticed familiar golden cartridges scattered across the terrain. He lifted his foot and saw a bullet cartridge crushed into the dirt. Marvel bent down and picked the bullet off the ground to examine it. 7.62 rounds. Possibly a bullet from an AK. Marvel continued to his route and followed the scattered bullets. Going further down the path, he noticed blood splattered across the grass. Marvel looked up and saw a body leaning against a tree trunk with a rifle next to it. There were more bullet cartridges lying there.
Once Marvel got a clearer sight of the body, he noticed it was the body of a soldier. A woman, in fact. Blood was drizzling from her face and over her plate carrier. Several bullet wounds were riddled over her body. This must've been ISIS' handiwork. Upon further inspection, he saw a small Swedish flag on the soldier's shoulder.
"Swedish Armed Forces?" Marvel muttered.
He looked over to the other side and from a distance, he could make out two figures on the ground, definitely dead. Then, Marvel heard gunshots to his front. It was coming from what was behind the row of trees. Standing up, Marvel raised his guard and moved towards the source of the gunfire. He could only guess the attackers were hunting another Swedish soldier down.
After running through the forest, Marvel found himself facing the direction of a church and several masked ISIS militants heading towards it. He counted about four of them trying to get around the church.
"проверить тот церковь. Она мог быть внутри." Marvel heard one of the militants say.
The rest of the group responded together. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be aware of Marvel creeping up to them. Just as the group was about to reach the corner, Marvel made his presence known and opened fire on them. With swift, fast and precise shooting, Marvel managed to take out two of the militants while injuring the other two. Approaching the two, he finished one of the militants off. Marvel then noticed the point man pull out a gun from his side and fired a single round to his forehead. Blood splattered over the brick wall as the militant went limp.
Marvel eased up and flicked the safety on. He looked around to see if there were any more militants left. Nothing. He remembered the militants were after one of the Swedish soldiers back then. He could possibly be inside the church.
"It's clear!" Marvel called out. "Whoever's in there, you can come out now! It's okay!"
Silence befell. There was no sign of any source of sound afterwards. Suddenly, he heard the sounds of a gate opening around the corner. Turning towards the corner, Marvel glanced over and saw the soldier, who turned out to be another woman. As soon as they made eye contact, the soldier aimed her rifle at him, prompting Marvel to immediately lower his rifle and raise his hands.
"Easy! Easy! I'm not with the terrorists. I just dealt with them back there."
He pulled his neck gaiter down and began to make gestures.
"Not enemy. Good people, yes?" Marvel said, breaking his English down for it to be easily understood, though he wasn't sure if the soldier knew English.
A brief pause followed up.
"You're not with them?" The soldier asked in fluent English with a little bit of an accent, still aiming her rifle.
Marvel reassuringly shook his head. This was enough to convince the soldier to lower her rifle. Sighing of relief, Marvel lowered his hands and led her out of the church.
"Who are you?" The soldier asked.
"I'm with NATO," Marvel replied. "What about you? What's your name?"
"Lieutenant Brigitte Lindholm. Recon Division."
He raised an eyebrow. "You're Captain Lindholm's daughter?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
Marvel was surprised to see a younger woman in the field but there was no limit to who should and should not be in the battlefield. Yet despite that, she looks like she goes to the gym oftenly.
"What are you and your team doing out there?" he asked.
Brigitte huffed out. "Papa sent me and my team here to find a jammer that has been disrupting communications with command and disable it. We got attacked on the way there. None of my teammates survived."
Marvel was aware of the bodies back in the forest but it was no time for mourning. Then, he realized something.
"Wait, did you say jammer?" Marvel asked.
Brigitte blinked. "Yeah. We were sent to disable the jammer that was scrambling our comms. Why do you ask?"
"That must've been why I couldn't reach out to my team," Marvel muttered, thankfully she didn't hear him. "Alright, I'll help you with that. Where's the jammer? Is it far?"
"And how can I tell you're not one of the terrorists just dressing up as the good guys? Cause papa never told our platoon about NATO sending you." Brigitte asked in suspicion.
"If I was with the terrorists, I would've worn something more unconvincing than this," Marvel retorted. "NATO sent me here to give you guys a helping hand because based on what I'm told, you guys aren't doing so well against the Islamic State."
When Brigitte was still unconvinced, Marvel reached out to his pouches and pulled out the NATO badge for Brigitte to see.
"Here. That's my badge. Believe me now?"
Brigitte stared at the badge before looking back up at Marvel. Eventually, she leaned back and sighed.
"Alright," Brigitte said. "Papa believes the jammer's located a few klicks southwest of the village so it's not that far. But you better not pull a gun on me cause believe me, I can tell. Let's go."
As Brigitte walked past Marvel, he awkwardly shrugged before following her. Pulling the neck gaiter back over his face, Marvel exchanged his rifle's mag with a full one from his plate carrier and caught up with Brigitte as the two got back on the path.
As the team continued their route to the village up the hillside, Gabriel began to hear distant voices through the gunfire and raised his guard.
"Keep your eyes peeled. We're getting close." He said.
Making their way through the reedy hillside, Gabriel caught sight of a group of masked militants walking down the hill, conversing with each other while searching. He raised his fist and crouched down the grass as his team followed his order.
"Hostiles, 2 o'clock," Gabriel counted. "On my go…"
None of the militants have noticed the team so far. After a three second pause, he executed the order and the team opened fire with suppressed single round bursts. In just seconds, the militants dropped to the grass without a hitch. The team stood up and moved past the bodies on the hillside away from the village while making sure to double tap.
"Shadow 4 to Shadow 1," Sombra said, muffled. "Y-re...kli-ks from the v-e. C-"
Her connection is somehow over the place. Gabriel tapped his comms.
"Shadow 4, say your last again, over." He said.
"Sh-dow...s-...a-in-"
There was no point in trying to communicate with this type of unstable connection. Gabriel sighed through his closed mouth and let go of the comms.
"Signal's fucked. Bastards got a jammer somewhere." He told the team.
"Could be a sign that we're getting closer to the village." Moira opined.
"Or we're walking straight into a trap." McCree said.
"Either way, we still have a mission to complete and we're doing it regardless." Gabriel replied.
"Shadow 1, come in, over." Sombra said.
The static continued to emit from the radio which is starting to frustrate her. It's not worse than getting intercepted while she was hacking into enemy backbones. She still has sight on the team from the Predator drone camera with another focusing on the ISIS-occupied village. They're still firing down at the joint forces of Russia and Sweden down below.
She can see a parked GAZ BRDM-2 near the housings alongside some anti-air systems and a couple of D-30s manned by two militants. The team is definitely not going to be able to infiltrate the village with those artillery firing on them. But there's the alternate choice. Firing a drone strike could easily vaporize the village in seconds, therefore stopping the battle. However, there's a chance there are some trapped locals in the village.
"So what unit are you in for NATO?" Brigitte asked. "Special Forces, maybe?"
Marvel didn't respond. Ever since they headed down the forest to where the jammer was, Brigitte began asking quite an amount of questions that may get him into trouble.
"I mean, you do look like you're from Special Forces because of your American accent but which one? Marines? Green Berets? Or perhaps Delta? I can't tell since I don't recognize your uniform so..."
She let out a chuckle. Marvel still didn't respond. There was a brief pause between the two. The gunfire from the other side continued to rock the region.
"You look like you know what you're doing," the young soldier said. "I mean, you suddenly showed up out of nowhere and saved me like some sort of ghost."
"Wasn't the first time I was alone in the forest." Marvel finally replied.
Another pause. Marvel looked at Brigitte who stared at him as if he was some miracle come true.
"Huh. So you can speak," Brigitte said. "I've been wondering why you were able to speak when we first met but you stayed quiet after that."
"Look, I can't answer any of your questions since I'm with NATO. And I'm sure talking like this is gonna compromise our position."
"Right. I-I'll stop."
Silence filled the scene as the two walked down the path.
"Hey, sir?" Brigitte said.
"Yeah?" Marvel replied.
A brief pause. "Thank you, for saving me back there."
He glanced at her. "You're welcome."
Another couple of minutes had passed and the two arrived at what appeared to be an abandoned lodge built near the river. One of the houses was obliterated, leaving a large hole in the middle.
"That the place?" Marvel asked. Brigitte nodded.
Stopping by the edge of the hillside overlooking the lodge, the two lie on their stomachs to conduct surveillance. Brigitte got out the binoculars and scouted the area. The place looked to have been deserted for years, seeing some of the overgrown greenery filling the gaps around the housing.
"You see anything?" Marvel asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "I got visual on the jammer, near the river."
Marvel turned to where the river was and noticed a dark green truck with several antennas attached on the roof parked by the docks. He then noticed two masked militants on plastic chairs near the truck.
"Got eyes on two hostiles near the jammer." Marvel reported.
"Yep, I'm guessing they're not the only ones." Brigitte said.
Two more militants appeared from the other side of the truck, approaching each other.
"You got that right," Marvel said. "Four hostiles, out in the open. Not so far. Easy shots."
"Yeah. No sign of snipers. We're in the clear. Let's go."
Getting up from the ground, the two made their way down the hill and moved past the destroyed house. The debris and rubble felt warm to the core. Marvel noticed one spark of a flame crackle from the corner of the house as they moved and he could tell the explosion was a few hours recent. Marvel glanced at Brigitte and his eyes landed on her rifle. He didn't recognize the model so he would guess it was a host nation distributed weapon. Marvel then noticed the rifle was lacking something.
"You got a suppressor?" He asked.
"No. What about it?" Brigitte turned to him.
"Your weapon's gonna attract some unwanted attention without it."
"It's okay. The enemies aren't gonna hear our shots when they're already occupied with us."
"Alright then. Whatever suits you."
The two reached the river where the four militants and the jammer were. All of them were facing the river, too busy to watch their backs. A line of smoke whiffed from one of the militants face. Marvel took cover behind a pile of boxes while Brigitte stood from behind the corner of a building next to him.
"On my go, we take them out." Marvel whispered. "Ready?"
Brigitte nodded. The two waited for three seconds. Marvel set his sights on the two militants on the left.
"Go!"
Marvel opened fire, dropping both militants on the left while Brigitte fired at the other two on the right. As the militants fell, the two got out of cover and approached the truck.
"Clear!" Marvel called. "Lieutenant, you know how to destroy the jammer?"
"Yeah, I brought explosives with me."
As the two reached the truck, Marvel somewhat felt uneasy. It felt too quick to be able to take out the militants this fast. His eyes glanced over the backdrop of the mountains and he noticed something in the clocktower too distant for the naked eye. Something zipped past his head in light speed, hitting the terrain behind him and a booming crack erupted from a distance. Marvel froze and Brigitte spun around, taken back by the sudden bang.
"Sniper!" Marvel yelled, diving behind the truck and bringing Brigitte down as another shot slammed against the truck.
The two took a moment to recollect while they hid from a sniper they didn't notice.
"You okay?" Brigitte asked through her breathing.
"I'm fine," Marvel nodded, holding his right ear. "Almost shot my ear off."
The silence followed them with the distant gunfire still going off from the village. Marvel wasn't able to see where the shot came from but it looked to have been in this lodge.
"Did you see where the shot came from?" Brigitte asked.
"No," he shook his head, still feeling that stiffness from the ear. "But I saw something at the clocktower so my best bet is that's where the sniper is."
Marvel looked around for something he can use to find the sniper. This was his first, actual encounter with an enemy sniper so he had to improvise to survive for this one. The corner of his eye noticed a mirror on the ground and Marvel reached out to grab the mirror. Slowly moving it from the side, Marvel kept his eye on the reflection while keeping his head down. Although unclear, he was able to see that glint from the clocktower before the mirror shattered to the crack. Marvel jolted his hand away hastily, relieved the shot didn't hit his fingers.
"Yep, he's at the clock tower." He told her.
There was a pause. The tension between both the two and the sniper was rising. Someone needed to do something.
"I'll hold him off." Brigitte said.
Marvel looked at her. "What?"
"I'll lay down some covering fire while you go find something to take that sniper out."
"Are you sure? How are you gonna get past?"
"I'll improvise. Just do as I say."
Marvel didn't look to be sure about her plan but it wasn't like he had an idea. He nodded in agreement and waited for his signal. Marvel's trigger finger began to twitch as he took a deep breath. Clear the head and don't think twice. Without a hesitation, Brigitte stood up swiftly and opened fire at the clocktower. Through the gunfire, Marvel ran as fast as he could to reach the building. He slid up to the wall and took cover before pulling himself up.
Looking over to Brigitte's position, he noticed her determination in her face as she fired at the tower. She then took cover as multiple sniper rounds hit the truck. At this rate, it was impossible for Brigitte to make a run across. Marvel quickly took that chance to find something to take out the sniper. His eyes then caught the sight of an RPG with a rocket lying on the wall beside him. The first thing he thought as he grabbed the RPG was how heavy it was to hold it. It would be hard to aim properly, especially for someone who's never used it before.
Marvel glanced at Brigitte who was now stuck behind the truck as the sniper continued to shoot at it. Fortunately for Marvel, the sniper would be too busy to notice him. Brigitte looked at Marvel and at first he thought she was going to ask him if he was okay.
"Behind you!" She called out.
Marvel looked behind his shoulder and noticed a militant aiming his rifle at him. He was left defenseless with the RPG. Suddenly, several rounds were fired and the militant dropped to the ground with blood splaying on the ground. Marvel would like to figure out where that last militant was this whole time. Their way of surprise was surprising him. He spun back towards Brigitte who was aiming her rifle past Marvel.
"Thanks!" He called out.
"You're welcome!" Brigitte replied.
After getting his RPG steady, Marvel got out of cover and aimed his sights on the clock tower. It was a little shaky at first but once he managed to hold his aim and make sure he didn't miss, he pulled the trigger and watched as the rocket launched at light speed past the buildings, aiming itself at the clock tower. Once it made contact with the tower, an explosion erupted and the blast consumed the sniper alongside the tower. Smoke puffed as the top of the platform collapsed and crumbled, turning itself into dust and debris. As the smoke dispersed, Marvel dropped the RPG and turned to Brigitte.
"You okay, Lieutenant?" He called.
"I'm good, sir!" The Swedish soldier replied.
He made her way towards Marvel.
"I think that's all of them." She said, looking around the area.
"Yeah, I would agree," Marvel nodded. "I don't think I would've done this myself, to be honest."
"Well, I'm kinda glad we met back there. Otherwise, we would've been dead anyway."
Marvel chuckled. "Amen to that. Well, now that we're over with this, what do you say we go finish this mission?"
"Yes, sir."
After reaching the hilltop with a full view of the village, the team perched atop of the hill while keeping a distance from the sights of the enemies. Their artillery was still opening fire against their allies but fortunately they were too busy to pay attention to their backs.
"This is Shadow 4, can you read me, over?"
"Comms are back online." Amélie called.
Gabriel got the message and reached his comms.
"This is Shadow 1. Lima Charlie, over." He said.
"Seems like there was a jammer nearby and I'm guessing it was Shadow 7 who shut it down, over." Sombra told them.
"Roger, we have eyes on the village. We count several hostiles plus both HVTs and three artilleries and we have no visual on any civilians for collateral damage. You are cleared hot."
"Copy that. Bringing in the heat."
Getting off his comms, Gabriel waited for Sombra to use the Predator drone to fire the missiles.
"We might wanna stand clear." He told his team.
As the team moved away from the village to a safe distance, Gabriel looked up at the sky where he noticed three distant missiles with smoke lines from behind closing in on the village. Once the missiles reach its target, a haze of smoke mixed with embers erupted and a loud shock wave spread across its radius. Smoke began to form as debris and the remains of the village land away from the area and the gunfire stopped completely.
Marvel and Brigitte were just retracing their steps back after destroying the jammer. Brigitte was able to radio in Captain Lindholm about the jammer and her team. At some point, they were going to send in another team to help retrieve her. In the meantime, the two were heading back to retrieve her team's bodies from earlier. Suddenly, they heard a distant explosion from a distance. The two looked over to the forest and noticed a cloud of smoke puffing out behind the trees.
"What was that? Was that from you guys?" Brigitte asked.
"Yeah, I'm guessing they managed to take out the targets as well as the rest of their men."
Marvel was sure a drone strike like that would be enough to save the Russian and Swedish forces from losing further soldiers. Then, he heard his comms buzz.
"Shadow 1 to Shadow 7, do you copy?"
Marvel immediately got onto it. "This is Shadow 7, I copy, over."
"Targets have been eliminated. We're RTB. Head to the evac point, over."
"Copy that, out," Marvel turned towards Brigitte. "Well, I'm gonna have to head back and regroup with my team."
"Wait, you weren't alone?" She said.
"Yeah, I wasn't supposed to tell you that but yes. I was deployed with my team and I got separated on my way here. Sorry I couldn't tell you."
Brigitte shook her head and smiled. "It's okay. We're just glad to get some help from the outside."
Marvel returned the smile. But he felt like her efforts weren't getting the credit she deserved. He wouldn't have gotten this far without her as much as she wouldn't have without her team had Marvel not crossed paths with her.
"I'll help you with your team." He said.
Brigitte looked at him, surprised. "Really? You don't have to. I mean, aren't you gonna go back to your team?"
"I'll let them know I'll be late. I want to show my gratitude after all this. You were quite brave out there. I gotta give you that."
She smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate that."
"Just returning the favor, that's all."
The two continued their path back to where Brigitte's team was with Marvel being able to convince Reyes to wait for him. Eventually, he and the Swedish team sent to retrieve Brigitte helped out in bagging and transporting the fallen. Afterwards, Marvel parted ways and headed back.
Italian Airspace
The flight back to Rome was quite silent since they finished up their assignment with the Russian and Swedish forces. After the farewell from Lindholm and the Russian Forces' Colonel, Blackwatch immediately set their destination back to Rome. Marvel was the only one who didn't choose to pilot the C130 since he didn't feel like doing so. He wasn't sure why Reyes acted like he wasn't aware he was missing after they finished.
"Hey, Cortell." He heard Reyes call out.
Cutting off his thoughts, he looked at Reyes who was sitting across the aircraft.
"Just wanted to apologize for not picking you up. I know how hard it must've been for you to complete the mission without us and I'm sorry for that."
Marvel didn't expect him to say that of all times but it wasn't like he was hurt about not getting the pity or sympathy.
"It's fine, sir," he replied, nodding. "I know what I signed up for and you said it - the mission comes first."
There was no comment from anyone. They didn't act surprised since this was normal. McCree, however, was staring at him with doubt and concern. Marvel noticed his expression and silently assured him.
"You guys okay back there?" Their pilot, Fio, asked through the intercom.
McCree paused for a moment while staring at Marvel before reaching for the headset.
"All good here, Ghost Rider. All good."