The aircraft was packed with soldiers. Most were from the British 21st paratrooper battalion, the same battalion Doug and his team worked with at Carentan. Doug looked at his teammates. All but one was present. Ivan was still recuperating at the hospital on his wounded leg. Missing on their best sniper, the whole team had to rely on Maddie. The pressure was on for her to take over Ivan's place to ensure the team came back alive. Maddie shivered in anxiety at that thought. Doug was there to comfort her. Then they heard explosions from outside the aircraft. The Nationalists were shooting with everything they've got on the aircraft. The plane rocked as one of the explosions hit near the plane. The green light was given and the doors at the back of the plane opened.

"Go! Go! Go!" shouted the soldier manning the door. The soldiers jumped off the plane, and skydived towards the ground. Doug's team managed to make a jump from the plane before the plane was hit with a rocket. Doug saw the tail of the plane had caught on fire and now plummeting down towards the ground. The plane crashed with a faint explosion at a distance. Doug checked his altitude meter and it pointed to the level where the parachute was to be deployed. He deployed his chute and floated down. He saw his other teammates at a distance with their chute deployed as well. As they approached the ground, gunfire was aimed at them. The persistent Nationalist troops tried to shoot them down, but missed. Then a hail of bullets hit Vespin's chute, poking holes, letting air out too quickly. Vespin started to fall too rapidly and uncontrollably towards the ground. She started to drift further and further away from the rest of the team. Doug thought fast and getting ready to cut himself from the chute's harness. He was 30 feet from the ground when he cut the harness. He freefall down and put his robotic hand in front of him. Using its hardiness, he used the hand to cushion his fall. The combined weight of the arm and him left a dent on the ground. Cracks formed on the outer rim of the hand. Then he flipped to his feet and started running towards Vespin's landing location. Maddie saw him run, so she followed soon after. The others were too slow to land; they couldn't catch up with them. Doug radioed to Terry on the situation.

"Maddie and I are going to save Vespin. Terry, you assume control and go to the target zone," said Doug loud and clearly. A response came in.

"Roger that. Good luck." He then turned to Maddie who was right behind him.

"Let's hope we're not too late," commented Doug. They both ran up the hill to the town not far from the landing zone.

Vespin landed hard. She was okay, but she realized she was deep in enemy territory. She dumped her tattered chute and took out the sniper rifle she borrowed from Ivan and ran up to the nearest structure. From a window, she peered out to only find Nationalist troops searching her landing site. They wore different uniform compared to the basic infantry she fought before. They were more padded, and had more gear on the head compared to the rifle they were carrying. She knew what wing of the Nationalist military would wear such gear.

"Navy Stormtroopers," she muttered under her breath. Then a Stormtrooper looked towards her direction. She hid well, but the Stromtrooper's thermo-sensor tracked her.

"Over there!" exclaimed the Stormtrooper. His teammates turned to where he was pointing. Vespin took a shot from the sniper rifle. It hit his head, but he wasn't instantly killed. The soldier got up from a heavy headache. They fired upon her as they neared her hiding place. She took another shot, but these troops were like robots. They didn't seem to be affected by the shots. The bullets continued to hail on her. As they entered her building, she quickly jumped out of the window and landed on the ground. The shock from the land injured her leg bad, and she could only limp as quickly as possible. The troopers came out of the building and started firing at her. She ducked for cover behind a concrete slab and fired back. The troopers fired at her position, pinning her down. She could barely shoot back. Then a trooper who sneaked from behind took the stock of his rifle and knocked her out cold. She didn't see it coming. The troopers stopped firing and they all converge on her, taking her prisoner, binding her hands then carrying her to an empty building.

A splash of cold water woke her up. Her forehead, arms and legs were bruised; her hands bound behind her back. She looked up and found herself in a building with parts of the walls destroyed. She also saw her captors without their visors. One of them was an officer. The officer indicated to his other subordinates to leave them alone. The officer then grabbed her by her neck and pulled her up from the ground. Vespin gasped for breath as the officer tightens his grip on her throat. Then he spoke.

"How many were you in Portugal?" he asked. Vespin looked away and ignored him. He forcefully used his hand to turn her head to face him. His face got closer to hers and repeated his question.

"HOW MANY WERE YOU!?" he yelled, his voice echoing around town. Vespin spat at the officer's face in disgust, still refusing to answer. The officer gave her a hard punch on the abdomen, which immediately made her fall to her knees. She coughed out some blood from that solid punch. The officer walked around her, observing her in pain. He then spoke again.

"Y'know, if you weren't so cute, I would've punched you in the face," he commented. Vespin did not look at the officer, instead looking at the ground, thinking what to do and about what he meant. The officer then grabbed her by her collar and threw her to the wall. Her head hit the wall hard. A cut formed on the side of her forehead. Then he came close to her and spoke again.

"If you don't tell us, then I'll have to force it out of you. I'm going to fuck you with a dick as hard as that punch. You'll gonna beg for me to stop and I won't. I'm going to torture you and make you be my sex slave, and you're going to die from too much pain. I hope you make a right decision; you have ten seconds at it." Vespin quickly stood up and landed kicks at his stomach, but it seems to do little. Those kicks managed to make him budge by an inch or so. The officer recovered, landing a slap on her cheek. She was thrown to the wall and the officer pushed her face at the wall.

"You like it rough, don't cha?" said the officer as he held her head against the wall, spreading her legs and unzipping his pants. He was about to jam it in her when a shot rang and hit his 'little friend'. He moaned in pain and another shot went straight through his skull. From up the hill, Maddie was looking through the crosshair of her sniper rifle. She pulled the bolt of the rifle before commenting.

"Such a fuckface."

Doug rushed to the scene with his rifle in hand, aiming and shooting at the Stormtroopers. The shots hit directly at their necks, instantly killing them. Then a trooper tried to strike Doug from behind, but Doug reacted quickly'. He dropped his rifle, turned around and used his robotic arm and punched through the trooper; blood sprays from the arteries of the trooper like water from a fire hydrant; covering Doug's face with blood. When the trooper was completely dead, he pulled his arm out of the body and wiped his face. The blood stains still persist, although most of it had been wiped off. He then picked up his rifle and rushed to Vespin, who slumped to the ground after the attempted rape. She had a blank expression, nearly as lifeless as the dead officer she was with. Doug slowly approached her and called her out.

"Vespin, it's all right. It's over," he tried to coax her. He could see her quiver in fear as the trauma had a deep impact in her. This could mean this would not be the same Vespin as she used to.

"Vespin….," called Doug as he tried to approach her. He tried to touch her but she started edging away from Doug. Maddie arrived soon after. She saw that Doug was having a hard time communicating with a traumatized rape victim. Maddie came closer and spoke with her.

"Vespin, it's me, Maddie. Doug and I are your friends." Doug came closer and came next to Maddie. Vespin looked up at them and opened her mouth. Having nothing to say, her eyes welled up, and she burst into tears. She hugged them both and cried on their shoulders. Doug and Maddie patted her back to comfort her. Doug muttered a few words to her ear.

"I made a promise, and I'll fulfill that promise."

After a while, with her dams dried up, Vespin got up and picked up the sniper rifle that was left at the town.

"Are you sure you can go on?" asked Doug.

"Yes, I can. The quicker we move, the faster this war ends," replied Vespin, with faint sobs in between.

"That's the spirit," commented Maddie. The all left the deserted town and head to the Portuguese port.

"Hey, can I ask you a question? How did you know that the only weak point of the Navy Stormtroopers was the neck?" asked Maddie.

"It's a long story, Maddie. It is the story behind this robotic arm……," said Doug.