Freedom Force: Suicide Times Four

[johnreiter902]

By Philip Todd Franklin (September 28th 2004)

Freedom Force: Suicide Times Four Introduction

Richard “Rick” Flagg sat at the end of a solitary table within the war room. He held a frown upon his face as he looked at the people sitting in the other chairs.

To his left sat a rather large man with black hair and hazel eyes. The man, who went by the codename of Smash, was a solid 6’ 6” clad in gray and blue alternating combat fatigues; a tiny flag of France was stitched upon his shoulder.

To his right sat a young woman with light blond hair and deep brown eyes. She went by the code name of Siren and wore a long black dress; on her shoulder she bore a tiny emblem of the British flag.

At the opposite end of the table from Rick Flagg sat a man dressed in the green and brown combat fatigues of the American military. A tiny American flag embroidered on his left shoulder. On his chest his name tag read Tain.

Mary Merlin had been the only one in the room to refuse a chair at the table. She was a mysterious looking woman with dark black hair and hazel eyes. She wore a close fitting outfit with alternating black and red that bore no identifying symbols.

Each of the people within the room wore worried looks upon their faces. For at this time their sponsors and friends, the great spirits of their home nations, were lying within the medical bay of a hidden military compound that had once gone by the name of Black Hawk Island. With each passing moment it seemed the three great spirits were slowly fading away before the medical personnel team’s eyes; Everyone was at a loss as to what was causing it, much less how to stop it.

Rick slowly looked around the table making eye contact with each individual around the table. Of those sitting at the table, his were the only ones whose eyes were not glowing brightly. After a few moments to clear his head, Flagg made direct eye contact with Mary who was standing against the far wall.

"Lady, I don't know who the hell you think you are- or even how you were able to break into this closed base without tripping the alarms, but if I don't like what you say in the next minute or so, I'm going to make sure this is the last place you ever break into – our out of!” His anger barely hidden just beneath the surface of each stone-cold word.

The tension was palputable. Mary could see the worry on everyone’s faces as she took a moment to look at each one-by-one. Her eyes glanced towards something that only she could see, a thin wispy trail of etherealness leading from each of the three powered heroes at the table out into the hall beyond the closed war room door.

~Wonder if this has something to do with what is affecting the three great spirits? ~ She pondered as she began to pace the floor before the assemblage.

In a calm and reassuring tone, Mary began to speak.

"My name I've already given you when I arrived. And, as I have also stated in the recent past, my reason for coming is that I need your help… and it looks as though you could use mine as well. I believe I know what is happening to the great Spirits- and may be able to save them…"

Tain turned his brightly glowing eyes straight at her and spoke. "If you can help us my gracious lady,” the soldier began, “How can I be of service to you?" his personal concern for the spirit of America completely overriding any other desires.

"Damn it!" Rick Flagg exclaimed as he brought his fist crashing down hard upon the table.

Each person at the table jumped in response to the eruption. Flagg could see that Smash and Siren were in silent agreement with Tain. His face flushed bright red as his anger boiled over.

"I'm in charge of this God damned group - and we do what I decide or nothing at all! Does everyone understand that?"

Mary looked at the commander of the barely formed team. For the first time she wondered if she had made a mistake by picking the group for the dangerous mission they were about to embark on, especially with such an unstable individual in charge.

Completing a second circle around the table she stopped near Rick Flagg and spoke once again, picking each of her words slowly and methodically.

"Never have I said that you should relinquish your command, Mr. Flagg. Just that I could be of help, and in turn, you and your group could be of help to me."

Mary then slowly moved away from Rick Flagg over to a more open space within the room.

"If I may, I would like to show you something. It may explain why each member of your team’s eyes is glowing."

Tain looked at Mary as if she had spoken in a strange language. He pondered how the woman would be able to perform such a task.

Smash slowly nodded his head. He refrained from saying a word while giving his silent agreement.

Siren nodded likewise, a near-silent sigh of relief escaping her lips. She contemplated what the mysterious woman might be suggesting.

Rick Flagg cupped his chin with his left hand. He glared hard at Mary as if he could see the very essence of her soul. As he did this his right hand slowly slipped down to the sidearm he always wore, and slowly unclasped the holster. He then removed his Colt M1911A1 and pointed it at Mary.

"Lady, You can try what you want… But understand me; if I get the slightest inclination you’re not on the up and up, the only way you’ll be leaving here will be in a body bag”

With each word, the first sign of a small smile cut across Flagg’s worry-stricken face.

Slowly nodding her understanding, Mary made no sudden moves as she calmly began to trace small symbols in the air while reciting phrases in cryptic Latin.

At first nothing happened. The people at the table just stared at the woman as they were unable to comprehend a word of what she spoke or to what end.

However, within a few seconds, a faintly glowing white fog-like trail began to take form from the bodies of Tain, Smash and Siren. The three heroes looked at one another and gasped simultaneously as their eyes followed the trail of etherealness that trailed from them to the closed door of the war room wherein they sat.

Rick Flagg looked at each member of his team with a mix of anger and fear. With lightning quick reflexes he brought his firearm up and pointed it directly at Mary Merlin. With the hammer cocked he growled: "No more crap! What the Hell have you done to them, Lady?"

[johnreiter902]

As much as the fact that they each had what looked like a white fog like cord trailing from their bodies and through the vary door to the room, each of them were doubly shocked to see Rick Flagg holding his service revolver cocked and ready to fire.

Siren looked pleadingly at the man she had only a few months ago met and learned to speak open with, trying to find her voice to speak she found that she could find no words to say.

Smash stood in stunned shock at Rick and looked at the gun then at the trail of foggy substance leading from his body. Locked in indecision he continued standing there, wanting to both smash the gun he could see and destroy the threat of the substance that he was unable to understand.

Tain began to make a step towards placing himself between Rick Flagg and Mary but stopped as she softly shook her head.

In what was a calm yet authoritative voice Mary slowly spoke, her eyes never wavering, as she looked right at Rick Flagg, "Now Mr. Flagg. We both know that violence will not solve your questions about your companions…"

Rick Flagg listened to the words that Mary was saying and could feel his head softly begin to shake from side to side in agreement to her words as she continued talking.

"…to be honest you would feel so much better, wouldn't you Mr. Flagg, if you were to just return your pistol to its holster and you had taken the seat at the end of the table." Mary said.

`Wha….what am I doing?' Rick asked himself as his body followed Mary's instructions against his own desires. `What has she done to me?' he asked himself as he sat down, the whole time trying to scream anything just to make a sound.

The others each watch the confrontation between Rick and Mary, watching as Rick followed Mary's instructions without saying a word. After a few seconds, each of them returned to their own individual seats. Coming to the same conclusion that it would just be best to listen to what this powerful young Lady had to say.

Once again, Mary slowly began to make her way around the table within the war room only stopping momentarily beside each of the gossamer trails, faintly reaching out and barely making contact with each one. With the contact made, she softly nodded her head as a rather bright smile began to form.

Everyone at the table sat perfectly still and all eyes continued to follow the path that Mary was making, watching as she stopped to examine each of the trails.

"Yes, I honestly believe we can be of mutual help to each other." She said as she turned and slowly made her way to stand at the other end of the table and looked straight at the scared face of Rick Flagg.

However, for reasons he could not completely understand, he was unable to do anything aggressive so he sat in his chair and tried to telegraph his boiling anger as he continued to stare at the young woman called Mary.

After a few moments had passed Mary stood rigged before the table and slowly closed her eyes. She concentrated for a few moments as she began to slowly drawling arcane symbols within the air.

Just as she stopped her motion, the eyes of Tain, Smash and Siren each flared almost as brightly as the sun before slowly returning to more natural look and the three unnatural looking white gossamer trails slowly disappeared.

Slowly Mary opened her eyes and looked around at the other four people whom occupied the war room with her and feeling very drained slowly made her way to the last chair and quickly slumped into it. Looking both very weak and so very tired.

Outside of the room, a rush of feet could be heard running towards the room and with a loud crashing noise as the door hit the wall. Enter a young medical technician dressed in a dark pair of pants and a white button down shirt long white coat.

Looking at Rick and ignoring the others within the room the Technician quickly spoke, "Sir. We don't know what's happened; yet, the three Great spirits have vanished from the infirmary. "

"What do you mean you don't know?" Rick asked noticing suddenly that he could once again speak of his own free will.

"Dr. Schroeder can't explain it sir. He was monitoring the Great Spirit of America when she just seemed to slowly fade from the bed and the sheet once covering her just slowly sank to the bed." The medical technician said.

Rick slowly rose from his chair and looked at each of the people there almost ignoring the technician. "Lady, I dare hope you had something to do with this or so help me…" he started to say but was interrupted.

"This is not necessary. The great Spirits are each safe and well. "The speaker was Smash, whom had not budged from his seat. His words coming out clear and carrying the deep French accent of the Vagabond, "I and my two companions are at this time residing in the safest place possible and note that each of these individuals are our presently chosen vessels until further notice."

Rick was at a lost for what to do or say so he continued to stare at Smash as if he had grown a new third eye upon his forehead.

Mary who had slowly closed her eyes opened them and softly smiled as she raised her head and looked around the room. "Yes. I did have something to do with their present joining, something that would not have been possible without a link having already existed." Her voice sounded so very weak and tired, almost as if each spoken word was draining her even deeper.

Tain turned at looked at Mary with a compassion that came from someone whom the weight of the world upon his or her shoulders carried. "Do not worry child. Each of us shall be more than willing to help you in your quest. I only hope that our resolves are powerful enough to overcome the trials before us."

Yet Mary heard none of what Tain said as she passed out the moment she had stopped speaking.

The medical technician had quickly made his way over and checked her vitals and spoke, "She's only sleeping, needs to rest."

[johnreiter902]

"She's only sleeping, needs to rest," said the medical technician as he slowly rose up from a crouching position beside the comatose Mary Merlin. “I’ll take her back to the infirmary and continue to monitor her. She should be fine.”

Flagg frowned as his medical team gathered up the young woman and carted her off on a gurney.

While Mary slept a very restful yet dreamless sleep, the other members of Freedom Force had broke into a round of arguements.

The originally agreed leader, Rick Flagg, had no intentions of going on any missions that he did not deem as a necessity. They hadn’t even left the base for their first mission and his authority was already being undermined, and by a young woman who wasn't even a member of the team no less!

Likewise Commander Flagg was uncertain as to the changes his colleagues had undergone by merging with the Great Spirits.

He was most disturbed by the change in Tain, whose abilities had first became known during the liberation or evacuation of California depending on which side of the war you were on. It was there Tain had first came into contact with the great spirit of America. It was at that time that The Great spirit had decided that Tain was someone that held the moral and noble convictions to host her power for the betterment of all.

Likewise, Smash and Siren, natives of France and Great Britain respectively, hosted the great spirits of their Nations as well. When Tain had openly agreed to help Mary Merlin, they had both agreed to help as well, siding that it was a noble and needed action.

After four hours of argueing, Rick Flagg still could not begin to understand what had happened to his team. Somewhere in the middle of one of the many arguments, He had ordered Dr. Schroeder to join them in the war room.

Within minutes Shroader had made his way to the war room. As the ‘meeting’ or more accurately the argument moved into its fifth hour, Dr Schroeder was once again explaining, or trying to explain, the conjectures of what He and his staff had hypothetically considered may have happened to Tain and the others; but with Commander Flagg it was like a solitary man preaching peace during a full-scale riot.

A lost cause indeed.

"I honestly have no idea what the young woman has done to these people. If you would like, I can run another battery of tests or we can wait until she awakens and is able to explain what has happened. But as it stands right now, I dare say we may never know."

Flagg’s face held an expression that was in no way one of pleasure. It was as if his frown had somewhat deepened into a scowl of increased anger.

"Doctor, we do not have time for further test. Either this team is ready for what is to come or we will likely never return. As for trusting this mystery woman who just appeared out of nowhere to give an honest answer, I hold more faith in Hitler to surrender over tea and briskets.”

Smash continued watching the back and forth between Flagg and Dr. Schroeder for a few more seconds before finally speaking up.

"The young lady is completely trustworthy …"

"I didn't ask you for your opinion, did I?" Flagg said looking at Smash who softly shook his head, "Then just sit there and keep your mouth shut. If I need your advice I'll give it to you."

The venom in Commander Flagg’s voice was sharp, so much so that it had not only shocked Smash, but both Tain and the Siren as well.

Tain was unsure what to think of the man who was to be the leader of this team, and yet he still felt compassion for the man and knew for some reason that the commander had at one time been faced with a loss that should have destroyed him completely.

The Siren opened her mouth to speak, yet shut it just as quickly as she continued to stare at Commander Flagg. This outburst had been completely out of character for him. She had never seen him act like this before and that bothered her deeply.

Smash felt his own anger recede while also feeling a monstrous desire to break the commander in two. At one time he would have done so without second thought, yet now he could feel a voice of reason calming him from within.

"Rick… Commander Flagg. Please calm down." Dr. Schroeder said in as calming a voice he could muster; worry clearly showing upon his face as he watched Flagg's reaction. "This does not help anyone, nor does it bring any of those already lost back from the dead. Nor do any of us wish you to join them."

---

Deep within the secluded terrain of the Austrian Alps Four large crates had been delivered to the Nazi ministry of defense test center. Each crate was clearly marked with swatsticas and had been addressed to the Department of Magic.

The young man who had been at the receiving center had been handpicked by Dr. Minerva to oversee this very installation. He had tan skin, blue eyes and sandy blond hair.

Dr. Faust had at first been overjoyed when Dr. Minerva first approached and offered him the position promising him both personal power and herself for his doing great works for the Reich.

That had been nearly a year ago and he was still working at this same installation.

However, the delivery he had received more than made up for the wait.

For each day, a group of new Nazi wingmen soared over the city led by a man handpicked by Faust himself, his own brother Samuel.

[johnreiter902]

In the tiny village of Feldkirch in the country of Austria, the people tried to go about their daily lives farming, milling and minding the stores in as normal a way they could; But in truth they were completely terrified.

They did their best to get along without drawing the attention of the Nazi soldiers that were stationed throughout the city.

It was a bright and sunny day. In the center of the town square a number of children played without the cares of the adults who frequented the city. The children’s playtime was interrupted as two aged priests suddenly began to usher them from the square towards the Catholic Church on the southern end of the block.

As the small group reached the steps of the church, one of the little boys looked up in awe and began adamantly pointing into the sky.

One by one, each of the other children began to turn their eyes towards the skies and hushed sounds of “Ooooh” and “Ahhh” could be heard coming from many of them.

Father Michael quickly turned his eyes upwards to see what had drawn the attention of the children.

The sight he saw made his face pale and his hands shake.

"Quickly children! Into the church! Hurry, we mustn't be caught out in groups!" The elderly priest said as his younger companion, Father Joseph, ran to the church and quickly pulled open the large oak doors.

Father Joseph was a priest who had quickly developed the respect of the people in Feldkirch. He had arrived in the village with all the proper papers saying New Vatican had sent him into the area to assist Father Michael with attending the towns flock. Though He had yet to give more than a dozen sermons during his six months at Saint Vincent’s Cathedral, everyone in the village knew him for his friendly demeanor and mannerisms. Many a lady whispered of his dashing looks which were highlighted by his coal black hair and light green eyes.

As the last of the children made their way into the church one little boy turned his eyes towards the sky pointing. "Look at the large birds Father!"

Father Michael had prayed that he and father Joseph would be able to get the children into the church before they were seen.

But his prayers seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

Father Joseph quickly pulled the last child into the church with father Michael quickly entering behind him. The two priests quickly placed a large wooden bar across the door to secure it, a look of worry etched across both their faces.

---

Far above the village five men circled dressed in black and brown uniforms. Over their uniforms they wore brown harnesses that secured massive silver wings. This was the new experimental German war machine called the Habichtemänner.

Samuel Faust, the team leader, wore a costume slightly different from the other members of the Habichtemänner. His suit bore a bronze color belt with a matching harness crisscrossing across his chest, the center covered with a Swastika. Attached to the back of the harness were brown colored wings that accented his green pants, black boots, and brown face mask. He was known only as The Habichtemann.

The habichtemänner to Faust’s right signaled to him before pointing down towards the village. Over his helmets built in radio he spoke, "Sir, within the village an unauthorized gathering."

Looking down Faust noticed where his wingman was pointing. "Habichtemänner, this is it, our first moment of duty to the Fuehrer. Below an unauthorized gathering is now taking place. We must locate the rabble before they are able to organize and cause any trouble. Attack pattern zing!"

Within seconds, the five members of the Habichtemänner followed their leader, diving quickly towards the tiny village below, with the wind whipping into their grinning faces.

[johnreiter902]

Within the Old Catholic church, Father's Joseph and Michael had quickly ushered the children through the church building and were now struggling with the old oak door that lead beneath the very church into the city vaults. With what felt like nearly all of their combined strength, the two men were able to force the old door open. Muffled sounds of explosions heard coming from down
the hall signaled the attack upon the church had commenced.

The children once in the crypt huddled together in a corner crying each child quickly glancing from side to side almost as a group trying to decide where they could find true shelter.

Father Michael took a moment to look at each of the children before slowly speaking right to Father Joseph, "I'm truly sorry Father for the trouble I've brought upon you and these dear children."
Father Joseph stepped over to the children comforting them as best he could, began slowly to move them deeper in the crypts.

"My child, there is nothing to be forgiven for. You have only been following God." The elderly Priest said without looking at his collogue, missing the sad smile that crossed Father Michael's face.

Slowly turning back towards the chapel of the church Michael looked back once
again at the Old Priest and the many children who truly needed his protection yet who he felt would not been in danger if not for his own past actions. "Just say a prayer for me Father and forgive me for the many sins for which I may not be able to atone for." Without waiting for a reply he quickly ran from the room, leaving the elderly Priest alone to usher the crowd of children and missed hearing the elderly Father's parting words.

"All sins are forgiven my friend. Go with god's blessings and mercy." A single small tear slowly trickling down his cheek as he continued quickly ushering the children deeper into the crypt.

Father Michael made his way to the back of the chapel alter and quickly yet carefully removed a false panel from the back. Within he pulled out two middle sized combat pouches and slung one over each
shoulder. `I hate having to have lied to Father Joseph all of these past six months since arriving here, but my mission required staying hidden' He thought to himself as he picked up the sniper rifle and quickly headed towards the bell tower of the church. A devoted catholic Michael had prayed heavily that he could achieve his true mission: getting the needed information on the projects taking place at the Nazi research center that resonance had reported in the area.

While it had taken Michael longer than expected to actually locate the base and achieve entrance, all had still gone as planned. He had attained useful information about the projects and the location of the facility marked on a crudely drawn map. Michael was to meet with his contact in the local resistance last night, yet when Michael had arrived at the agreed upon location he found the young woman laying at the agreed spot very dead.

To Michael's personal horror, two soldiers had stepped out from behind a couple of bushes surrounding him. Action without thought had come so easily for him and with so little requirement; he dispatched both of the soldiers but not before they had a chance to report in. It was much later as the sun rose that Michael knew his precious cover had been blown in his folly and had was responsible for the young woman's death.

As he reached the top of the tower, the sounds of explosions had become nearly deafening as the Habichtemänner continued to buzz the church tossing their explosives at the old oak entrance to the
church. Each explosion sending up bellowing black smoke and chunks of stone as they shook the whole church. Michael knew that the Old church would not withstand much more of the pounding it was taking and then the lives of the children and father Joseph would be forfeit right along with that of the other villagers, he could not allow that to happen.

[johnreiter902]

Back at the hidden headquarters' of the newly formed Freedom Force Mary awoke with such vigor that it frightened the medical assistance who was on duty and he quickly ran from the infirmary of the base, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging opened screaming yet not making a sound.

Mary did not know how long that she had been within the infirmary but did recall the action that had placed her here. "I'm glad that I was able to safeguard those valuable allies by placing them within
some willing people." She said to no one in particular and slowly sat up looking around the room.

As Mary slid her feet to the cold floor, she noticed that a stark white gown replaced her normal attire. Glancing around a few moments, she noticed that her own clothing weren't within the room and there wasn't another stitch to be found besides what she was wearing. Not wanting to over tax her own powers yet not wanting to walk the halls of this base in only a gown Mary slowly drew in a large gust of air before slowly exhaling it. Then without waiting another moment recited one of the first spells she had learned as a little girl.

When she had finished the spell the dressing gown was gone and in its place was her normal attire of alternating black and reds, "I've always said clothing does make the woman." She chuckled as she slowly made her way from the infirmary and headed towards the last location she remembered the others to have been a gentle smile forming as she walked.

During the two days that Mary lay within the infirmary neither Commander Flagg nor Tain left the conference room as they continued arguing back and forth over the merits of having the Young
unknown Wizard with them. While the Smash and the Siren retired from the room both made more than a dozen trips into the Infirmary to check on the sleeping Mary.

It was within just one of their separate trips to check on her status that the young medical assistance came rushing down the corridor towards the Siren. She at first tried to ask the young man what had him within such an up roar until she noticed that he wasn't really paying any attention to what was being said to him. Not wishing to cause the young man any harm she gently took hold of the man's shoulders and looking right into his face slowly opened her mouth and screamed a hyper string of notes. Within seconds, the young man's eyes rolled up within his head and he became very limp, softly she lifted him into her arms before continuing to make her way towards the infirmary.

The Smash reached the infirmary and instead of noticing that the expected medical assistant was absent from his post, the first thing he saw was that the medical bed Mary had just that very morning been upon was very empty and made as if no one had ever been there. Not knowing what else to do he walked over to the duty desk, slowly began to reach for the panic button as from behind he heard a noise, and whirled.

The Smash turned his finger posed over the panic button noticed that it was The Siren whom he had heard and that she was carrying the medical assistant within her arms. "What happened to him?" was all he asked before she spoke.

"Please if you will Smash, inform the base Doctor that his presence is required at the infirmary." She said sweetly as she carried the young man over to the medical bed and lightly placed him upon it.

Slowly turning the Smash looked at the desk for a moment and then flicked a switch beside the panic button. Within seconds, a voice could be heard coming from the speaker on the desk. "Yes Winston, has anything aspired that requires my attention?" came the voice of Doctor Schroeder.

Without giving the Smash a chance to respond the Siren quickly spoke up, "Doctor Schroeder. Your presence is defiantly needed in the infirmary." She said with a clear calm voice. "I'm on my way." Was
the response she got before the circuit was shut off.

At that very same time as Doctor Schroeder was making his way to the infirmary Mary walked into the conference room. The sight of her was enough to silence both Commander Flagg along with Tain. Both men continued sitting but neither took their eyes off her.

"It is well to see you are up and around." Tain said without waiting for Flagg to say a word, His sincere meaning showing within his eyes.

Nodding softly Mary looked from Tain to Commander Flagg and back again before replying, "How long have I been out?" she asked slowly continuing. "Where are our companions? Time is of the very essences."

"I told you before. We are not going anywhere that I have not personally decided…" he was interrupted just as the radio on his hip beeped. Rick took hold of it and quickly pressed the side responding, "Yes!" his anger of being interrupted sounding in his rich voice.

"Commander, your presence is needed in the infirmary. It would seem that our
young lady has gone missing and the medical technician on duty has had to be
subdued." Said Doctor Schroeder.

Flagg gave Mary a menacing glance as he replied, "Doctor, I know where your patient has gone and we shall be there shortly, where I want to know completely what has happened. Am I understood?" after a second of silence there Schroeder replied; "Crystal sir" and the circuit went dead.

[johnreiter902]

Joseph quickly opened up the second of his two combat pouches, removed and began to assemble the pieces his M1903 Springfield rifle. The speed that it was taking as the church building continued to shake with dust and debris falling was greatly disturbing to Joseph, `wish I could get this
together faster before someone gets really hurt.'
Samuel Faust and the other men of the Habichtemänner continued to assault the old church, tossing the new model 42 hand grenades, these looked much like the old model 39 egg-type grenades but held a much higher grade of explosive within.
As each grenade struck, pieces of the old church began to crack and crumble down towards the ground, shaking the insides of the church greatly.
Within the crypts of the old church, father Michal continued to comfort the young children that he and Joseph had been able to gather into the church. Still as deep as the crypts were, the sounds of the explosions above rang loudly and dust continued to be shaken lose from the ceiling above.
With the rifle assembled, Joseph slid next to the tower window and quickly scanned the sky for a glance of those attacking the church. Within seconds, he spotted two of the members of the Habichtemänner and swung his rifle into position. "If God is truly with me this time, they will never know what hit them," he said to himself.

Coordinating the assault Faust hovered before the front face of the church watching as his soldiers laid siege to the church, keeping an eye out for any type of attack back from those within. At this point, none of the Habichtemänner knew with any certainty the type of force that might exist and did not care; believing their ability to fly could keep them out of harm's way.
In seconds the sounds of explosions was joined by the rapid "crack…..crack" sound as Joseph swiftly pulled the trigger of his rifle while continuing to swipe falling debris away from his face.

It seemed to happen so fast that neither of the Habichtemänner members had a chance to react before feeling sharp pain as a bullet struck each of them, knocking both of them out of the sky.
Faust watched as two of his soldiers in the middle of their attack stiffened before quickly crashing to the ground below. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed something shining from the tower window and quickly radioed the remaining members of the Habichtemänner. "This is Faust; concentrate your attack at the main tower window. At the moment this seems to be the area of resistance." At the words from their leader, the remaining three other members of the Habichtemänner shifted their attack toward where their leader had pointed out, quickly tossing their grenades into the open window.
After taking twin shots from his rifle, Joseph quickly got up and swiftly started making his way down the steps he had earlier run up to reach the very position he was now exiting. He barely made it half way down the stairs before the tower shook violently and large chunks of the ceiling began to rain down into the stair well. Momentarily Joseph stopped, stuck his rifle out of the small window, barely aimed and once again fired two rapid shots before retracting the rifle to once again start running down the stairs.
One of the shots from Joseph's rifle went wild barely missing its target by centimeters while the second shot struck the sack at the soldier's waist setting off the remaining grenades within. From
the consecutive explosions from the grenades resulted in blasting the young man into pieces right before his commander's eyes.
Faust once again quickly tried to scan the old church building for a sign of possible targets but perceived nothing. Speaking into his radio, he gave orders to the remaining Habichtemänner, "Return to base, I repeat return to base to regroup." Then quickly took towards the sky heading away quickly from the small village and the church that had cost him three of his soldiers to what seemed like at least two assailants.
During the whole assault, the people of the village had stayed within their homes and businesses, trying to continue staying out of sight of the flying death while worrying about their children who they had last seen with the two priests. When the sounds of explosions ended people began to slowly peak out of their boarded windows trying to see any sign of the attackers, desiring to know if they were finally alone and once more safe.
From within the crypts father Michael was attending to a young girl who had a small bruise, the result from a piece of falling rock while another of the older children was holding one of the younger children who had begun panicking when the lights went out plunging the crypts into darkness. When the sounds of explosions ended father Michael slowly moved over to where the door to the crypts was and tried to shove it open, yet found it stuck. `Must have shifted with all the shaking that was going on' he thought.
Joseph quickly reached the bottom of the tower stairs and stopped long enough to
listen to the surrounding silence, noticing the lack of continual explosions only to hear the sound of someone pounding on a thick wooden door, coming from the direction of the crypts.

[johnreiter902]

It took Joseph over an hour to remove the rubble that had landed in front of the crypt door before those within were able to exit and by this time more than a couple of the villagers had left the safety of their homes and businesses to try and locate their missing children. Once the door opened, there was much celebration by many families as parents were reunited with their children while
father Michael calmed the parents of a couple of youth that had received a couple of injuries while hiding in the crypts.
Joseph quietly removed himself from the celebration and quickly went to the task
of locating the bodies of the soldiers he had killed, stripping them of anything that might be useful towards his own cause. This was not a task that he found to be enjoyable but figured that it was better than simply leaving the bodies where they lay and trying to quietly sneak out of the village. Neither of those ideas set very well with Joseph and he found himself beginning to form what might be the beginnings of a new plan to extract the information that he had been sent to collect back to the resistance.
Back at the hidden Nazi test center, Dr. Faust was speaking with the remaining men of the Habichtemänner in a manner that was very critical towards the results of their most recent exploits. "I can't believe that you allowed this disgrace to take place. Not only be beaten by what looked like a simple priest, but also forced to retreat after having lost three of your best members. This is unacceptable on so many grounds that I almost cannot believe that any of you even decided to return. If you are lucky, each of you will simply be shot quickly for your failure." Dr. Faust said ending his comments by staring right at his brother's face.
Just as Joseph was dragging what small remains of the last soldier down into a pile, father Michael walked up and gently spoke to him, "I am glad to see that you are unharmed my young friend. I recognize the painfully hard work that you are engaging in and offer my assistance if only you will grant me a simply answer to one question?"
At first the simple fact that Joseph had not heard father Michael walk up behind him caught him off guard but second was the fact that it would seem his cover was completely blown and being in the village was going to continue putting everyone there in mortal danger. He took a moment before speaking in a voice that he hoped sounded more calmer then he truly felt inside. "Let me first apologize for the deception father, I would rather have been completely open with you when I first arrived but because of the location of this village so far behind enemy lines, command was unsure of who could be trusted and who could not."
As Joseph started speaking, he continued gathering up more remains with father Michael's help, "I was sent here to try and locate what was believed to be either a secret training facility or laboratory. If it was the latter, I was to gather all the Intel I could then meet with my contact to pass the information along home."
Father Michael's expression had continually been a stoic neutral the whole time that Joseph spoke as the duo continued to search for any remains of the soldiers. "It wasn't until a couple of nights ago when I was supposed to meet with my contact that things went wrong." Joseph said with a sigh and
continued, "She was already dead before I arrived and then a couple of Nazi soldiers tried to get the drop on me and I killed then both, but one of them was still able to radio their base."
Father Michael's composure seemed to crack as Joseph talked about the loss of the young woman and the dispatching of the two soldiers. It seemed to affect him so deeply that as he opened his mouth to reply, he just froze without a sound escaping. Slowly turning, father Michael looked Joseph in the eye while saying, "It saddens me to hear your tale of pain and misery, so reminds me of my own before the Lord called to me." Tears openly flowed upon father Michael's face as he weep for the pain that Joseph must be carrying for the work that was required in the name of freedom for all.

Back within the hidden Nazi test center Samuel and the other two remaining members of the Habichtemänner stood before Dr. Minerva and the head of security, Lt. Colonel David Schuster. At the moment two other heavily armed soldiers also stood in the room with their rifles in hand as Lt. Colonel Schuster stood right before the Habichtemann dressing him down before the other members of the Habichtemänner with him. "This is a disgrace, an absolute insult to the Further; you not only failed in eliminating a determined security problem, but the loss of valuable equipment is nearly unimaginable..."
Samuel Faust simply stood his ground showing little to no emotional response as his commander continued to yell in his face; he almost seemed not to be paying any attention to what was being said at all. His eyes held a glazed look to them. It was not until his commander physically struck him that Samuel responded at all.
"… the time and money spent to create these weapons alone is worth more than your miserable life." Lt. Colonel Schuster was saying. Almost as if a second thought he quickly struck out slapping the Habichtemann below the face mask with all his might.
To the Lt. Colonel's shock the Habichtemann's arm quickly shot out grabbing his arm at the wrist and in one fluid motion flipped him over his shoulder and sent the Lt. Colonel flying towards the back wall.
Watching the actions of both the Lt. Colonel and the Habichtemann Dr. Minerva quickly accessed the situation and took what she deemed to be the proper response and screamed at the two-armed soldiers, "Kill him, kill him where he stands right now!"
The solders both raise their rifles bringing them to bear on the Habichtemann rapidly squeezing the triggers. In seconds, multiple bullets fly through the air in different directions but the majority head towards the Habichtemann's direction.
The Habichtemann seemed to be simply standing his ground until a couple of the flying bullets striking him, with a scream that sounded like nothing human, "Screeech…." The Habichtemann flapped his large wings and rapidly began souring into the air, crashing through the closed sky light and flew into the dim sky above.

[johnreiter902]

Together Rick Flagg and Mary made their way to the infirmary in silence. When they arrived, an orderly waved them into Dr. Schroeder's office. Entering the office Dr. Schroeder looked up and waved both of them to empty chairs.
"Commander Flagg, I understand your need for complete understanding about what has taken place but I am afraid that I am at a loss for any real scientific answers." Dr. Schroeder said. "That being the situation at hand, I believe young Mary here will be able to shed some light upon things."

Rick Flagg opened his mouth to speak but Mary spoke cutting him off, "I don't know how much you understand about magic Mr. Flagg but the short of your present situation is this. Three of the greatest spiritual representations of any Nation are at present housed within three of your team's members. People that the Spirits themselves chose as were evident by the white foggy cords that connected them. All I did was facilitate the connection between them, allowing the Spirits to completely inhabit their chosen host."

The look on Rick Flagg's face at that moment was one that people make when biting into something that is truly nasty. Seeing this reaction Mary continued speaking, "To answer your unasked question, I am able to perform magic of a type. I've been studying magic nearly my whole life, being groomed by my grandfather to fill a very dangerous roll. The Crisis though put a rather large snag into things requiring me to cut my studies short."

To this monologue Rick finally voiced a response when it seemed that Mary had stopped to catch her breath. "Let me make myself perfectly clear on this topic before it goes anywhere else. Not only to I dislike magic of any kind, it is my opinion that the only good type of magic performer is six feet underground." A sly smile creeping to the sides of his mouth as Rick said this, the look sickening to others who happened to see it. "Not that you or anyone deserve any reason as to why, I'm suddenly feeling generous and think I'll give one."

*Elsewhere*
That evening during the cover of night, the man believed to be father Michael, silently left the small village slowly making his path towards the sea. He was dressed from head to toe in cameo fatigues of greens and browns slung over his shoulder was a small sack which held his notes from the instillation along with remains from the armor that the Nazi wingmen had been wearing.

Traveling only at night and moving to avoid villages, it took Michael a little over a week to make his way to the beach where he quickly located a small craft that he confiscated, heading north along the shoreline. After another week and so really rough waters, Michael made it to a small-uncharted island in the north Atlantic ocean.

*Freedom Island*
Dr. Schroeder looked at Rick Flagg as if seeing him for the first time and finding something particular that did not fit, thinking that the Commanders service psych exam was lacking in many things.

Mary sat giving Rick her complete attention making sure to not break eye contact, so that she would be able to act if things during his explanation became dangerous.

"First of all this here isn't the first team of no luck jokers that I have had the displeasure of leading, but there is a war on and teams of expendable people is nearly impossible these days. Still here I am leading this team and I honestly expect to lose at least some if not all of them during action. Second, it was during the second world war that my dislike of magic turned into a true hatred. My team then was made of military specialist, people who not only knew how to get their job done but always walked away alive from anything, we were believed to be indestructible back then."

The emotions that Rick Flagg was experiencing as he told his tale, seemed to soften his face. "After many successful missions we each agreed as a team to retire and move on to other opportunities plus the benefit for myself was that my fiancé was on the team and we had plan to settle down to start a family. It was two weeks after retirement that we received a call that I had dreaded from the start. A call from our governmental contact, telling us that they had one more mission that required our specialties. My first instinct was to simply turn the mission down and I nearly did before deciding to sharing it with the team and allowing everyone a voice on it. Wish I had said no because when it came down to a vote, I was the only no in the bunch and my fiancé Karen was killed by a Nazi practitioner of magic."

Mary's eyes glistened with tears with sorrow for the loss that Flagg had endured and the many dreams that were crushed during that event. She sat silently trying to determine if she would have the strength to continue after such a loss or if it would destroy here as so many others were.

Dr. Schroeder spoke softly while looking Commander Flagg over, "How something like this never came to light in any of the psych evaluations that you underwent before coming here, I will never know. However, I do believe that I have gained some new respect for the responsibility that lays heavy on your shoulders. And know that my ear and silence is always offered if ever you find yourself needing to speak with another about anything."

For a few moments there was a pregnant pause in the room as each adsorbed the results of what had taken place. During this time the doors to the infirmary opened to admit a man dressed in soaked cameo fatigues being flanked by two armed MPs.
Michael quickly scanned the room before blearing out while looking directly at Commander Flagg. "I found it Sir, I have the location of the hidden enemy instillation along with pretty detailed notes on what they were studying." At that moment he chose to pass out and the two MPs quickly caught an arm before lifting and placing him onto one of the infirmary beds.

Dr. Schroeder quickly looked the young man over sending one of the MP's to retrieve both food and water while he tried to revive him. Reaching into a tray beside the bed, the Dr. pulled up a bottle of smelling salts, opened it and held it towards Michael's nose. This had the desired result of reviving the young man. The remaining MP handed over to Commander Flagg the sack that Michael had brought ashore when he arrived on the island.

While they allowed Michael to eat and drink, Commander Flagg contacted the other members of his team requesting their presence at the infirmary.

Once everyone was in attendance, Rick asked Michael to tell them of his infiltration work, to leave out no detail for which could be useful. So taking a deep breath and clearing his throat, Michael began telling all that he discovered while within Nazi territory.

Only twice was Michael interrupted and questions asked the first happened when he described the director of the instillation and the second was as he spoke of the flying men attacking the church along with the strange looking costume of the group's leader.

At the end of Michael's tale Mary stood up, looking directly at Rick Flagg and said, "Now I know without a doubt that we can be of help to each other. Cause you want that lady running the place and It sounds like one of the reasons I am even here is being worn by that groups leader, it needs to be removed as it is out of place completely." At that moment for the first time since Mary had arrived, he smiled a broad friendly smile while nodding in a positive way.

*Over the Skies of Egypt*
The Habichtemann was hovering over the Egyptian desert while holding a young man's leg. For over an hour the German continued to scream asking the same questions over and over. "Where is the Pyramid to Horus? Where is my temple that my followers may pay tribute to my greatness?" The young man could only continue to reply that no pyramid to Horus had ever existed, that he did not know who this Horus even was. With this reply, the Habichtemann would release the young man's foot, letting him fall before swooping down to quickly catch him and start all over once more.