December 31st 2009, Somewhere is Sokovia
Sporadic gunfire filled the darkening evening air as two groups fought in a forested area. A small group was out matched by a much larger force, but the smaller group was more skilled and fought a running retreat. Even with their skill, the smaller team was slowly being worn down by the enemy numbers and they'd already lost a couple members which only made the fight harder.
Over the sound of gunfire a voice asked over coms, "Mag count?!?"
Replies came in quick order from each member still able to talk before the squad leader whispered 'Fuck' under their breath. After a few moments they commanded, "Prepare a fresh mag and then toss smoke!"
The gun fire ceased on their end for a few moments before a distinctive thump went off. A second later an explosion went off in the middle of the enemy combatants as smoke quickly filled the air between the two groups. Another thump was heard as the squad leader commanded, "Chunk! Move towards those boulders to the South and set up, everyone else lay down some coving fire for him!"
Another thump was heard just before more gunfire erupted from the smaller team. About a minute later the sound of a light machine gun tore through the air before the squad leader commanded, "Fall back to Chunk's position, Roland moves first followed by Brig, then Crabs and Hick!"
Another thump rang out at the same time the commander said, "Go!"
The team quickly executed their orders and laid down covering fire as each person moved. Once the squad reached the area and confirmed it over com's, then the squad leader finally moved to join them. The spot was somewhere they passed earlier in the day and while not perfect, it gave them a lot more protection than the surrounding trees.
The squad hunkered down between the cluster of rocks and boulders and even moved a few of the smaller ones into place to help fortify their position as they returned fire at the approaching enemies. Fortunately for them, the enemy either didn't have grenades or refused to use them over the next half an hour as they slowly surrounded the smaller squad.
With their ammo almost depleted as night fell, the squad leader ordered, "Hold fire and only shoot if you're sure you'll land a kill."
The squad returned an affirmative and as they lost most vision and switched to their night vision, one of the enemies finally yelled as the shooting stopped for a moment, "You're surrounded, surrender or we will level your position with artillery fire."
The squad leader looked over their remaining men for a few moments and they had a silent conversation with them all before they yelled back, "Go fuck yourself!"
The enemy didn't reply to them at all after that response, and the soldiers hunkered down more and waited for the end. After a few minutes and no sound of explosions near them, the squad let out a collective sigh of relief but kept up their vigilance. Almost ten minutes of waiting later and not only had no artillery fire come, but even the enemy suppressive fire stopped completely as the surrounding forest became deathly silent. The squad didn't move at all though and just waited for the other shoe to drop.
Waiting like that made every second feel like an hour and left them on what felt like a knife's edge until they heard a scream. The scream was blood curdling and made all of them grip their weapons a little tighter as gunfire erupted around them. Only this time the gun fire wasn't directed at them, but someone else. The new fire fight didn't last long and a minute after the gunfire ended a new voice called out in a gravelly, New York accent, "Friendly stepping out, don't shoot!"
A moment later a man with both arms raised over his head and no visible weapons stepped out of the tree line as they asked, "Sargent Walker, do you or your men need medical attention?"
The squad leader cautiously peeked out from cover with her weapon aimed at the man as she asked, "Who are you and how did you find us?"
"I'm Frank Castle, a team leader of Valhalla. We were in the area when we heard the fighting and came to investigate."
Walker's eyes widened slightly at the name before they narrowed and she asked, "How do you know my name?"
"We found one of your squad members barely alive and managed to stabilize him. He gave us your name."
Her eyes widened again and she wanted to ask who it was but kept her emotions in check and lowered her weapon slightly as she asked, "Do you have a radio we can use?"
"Sure, but we could also offer you a quick exfil if you want."
"We need to recover the rest of our squad if possible first." Walker said as she lowered her weapon completely, but kept it ready.
"We already did that for you."
Walker's eyes widened larger this time but she gave a thankful nod towards Frank as she said to her men, "Stand down, but stay in position for now."
Frank slowly lowered his hands as he asked, "Mind if my men come out? We'll get you that radio and bring out your other men."
"Sure." Walker said and a few moments later people slowly started to come out of the tree line.
Leading everyone were a couple of groups carrying stretchers, two of which were covered in blankets. The last one had a man laying on it with a slight smile on his face when he saw his squad leader. He looked mostly fine even though the last time Walker saw the man, he just took a bullet to the skull. Before Walker could ask, the man said in a happy tone, "The bullet apparently missed my brain."
"That's because you're stupid and barely have a brain, Cinder." One of the man's squad mates called out from their position before his squadmates shared a laugh.
"Go fuck your cousin again, Hick!"
"I never said I fucked her! We only made out…" Hick said as more laughter filled the air and the tension left them slightly.
Walker let them banter as she moved towards the covered stretchers and checked them both with a heavy heart. After she confirmed they were her men she turned towards Frank and asked, "Can I use that radio now?"
After getting off the radio, Walker let out a sigh of relief and glanced over her men. They were gathered together with Cinder and their fallen brothers quietly talking at this point. She watched them for a few moments before Frank interrupted her thoughts as he asked, "Ready to go?"
"Yeah… And thanks again for all your help."
Frank shook his head as he said, "No need to thank us, it's what we do."
The group gathered together as Walker and the other expected some helicopters to come pick them up. Only to freeze when a portal opened up in front of them and Frank ordered his men through it. Within a minute everyone passed through the portal and were a few hundred miles away near a US military base. It was the same base Walker and her team deployed from over a week ago.
An alarm started going off from the base before a few moments later it shut off and some vehicles sped out of the front gate towards them. Walker quickly pulled out a note pad and wrote her contact information on it before she handed it to Frank as she said, "I'll never be able to properly repay you and your men for all your help… But if you ever need help, just contact me and I'll be there."
"You can count us in too." The man nicknamed Hick said as the rest of the squad agreed.
Frank took her information with a slight nod before one of his men opened a portal and they disappeared through it a few seconds later. Walker and her squad were soon surrounded but after a minute they were loaded up and brought back to the base for debriefing and a checkup. Meanwhile Frank and his team arrived back at their temporary base that was hidden in Sokovia.
Frank immediately headed to the command center where he found Emil Blonsky at his desk going over information. Emil glanced up as he approached and asked, "How did it go?"
"We were able to rescue all but two of them."
Emil nodded slowly before he asked, "Good job, that was better than prediction. Did you find anything?"
Frank pulled out a patch from one of the men they killed and handed it over as he said, "Intel was correct, they were from that hidden base."
Emil took the patch and looked at the logo for a moment before he set it down and said, "Tell your team they are free to go home, I'll contact you when we are ready to move on to the next phase."
"Yes sir!" Frank said as he snapped a salute which Emil returned.
Before he moved away from the desk, Frank pulled out the paper Walker gave him and handed it over to Emil as he said, "Walker and her squad were decent and said to contact them if we ever needed help… They might be worth recruiting."
"I'll look into it."
After Frank left the room Emil quickly pulled up information about people he was supposed to contact soon before he pulled out his phone and made a call. It rang once before Ezekiel picked it up and asked, "What's going on Emil?"
"We just confirmed the information, how do you want us to proceed?"
"I'll contact both parties myself, till then I want you and Valhalla to be on standby." Ezekiel said after a few seconds of thought before he quickly added, "Also start pulling men out of other projects, this will take all our attention once we start."
"Understood, I'll get to work on that now."
"Good, I'll contact you once I'm finished on my end." Ezekiel said before he ended the call.
Emil immediately started to check over the current active contracts Valhalla was involved in and quickly made changes. Most of them were easy to do, since the contracts were about to end he just didn't agree to renew them. Others were still in the middle of contract, so they would have to pay a fee to end the contract early. Overall he didn't run into many issues as he made a lot of phone calls over the next few hours as he rushed to get everything done.
Once finished Emil let out a sigh of relief before he reached over and picked up the patch Frank gave him. It was something he would have thought was a joke only a few years ago, but here it was in front of him. On the red patch was a black skull with six octopus like tentacles under it. Emil glanced at it for a while before he tossed it in the trash next to his desk and got back to work.