The leader

The man and the butcher

The attack on the hospital was called off. Also it was communications day. The battalion was given their phones back. Most of my men where talking to their females and kids. Others where talking to old family members. One soldier broke down at the sight of their dog. I didn't know who I wanted to call in specific,so I called everyone. My mom was really happy to see me. But the conversation was cut short when I was called to the loading area. I walked up to three trucks full of supplies. The first truck,ammo. It was full to the brim of the different ammo and grenades. The second truck was food. MRE's(military ready to eats) was the majority. The rest was cookable things. The third truck caught my eyes. A soldier was unloading a new armor type. It looked heavier than the regular ones we got. They even had color-coordinated shoulder pads. "Green is for soldiers under captain,black is obviously above that,and red is for the task force no matter the rank. Each one is one size fits all,but it has a slot for names". I grabbed my black armor and tried it on. It quickly shaped around my torso and lower back. It was more comfortable,had more mobility. It had a spine like reinforcement that felt like it was holding it into place. I was in love. It wasn't any new weapons which was kinda sad. It ruined the surprise. "Hand these out immediately,please" I ordered. "One more thing sir. We have new three hole ski masks. These are color coded in the same color too" the troop unloading the stuff said. "Right,well leave one aside for me and put it in my quarters". I turned away to head to the command center. Bodes was there as usual. "Major,we have another operation in the works. The butcher has popped back up in JSOC(Joint Strike Operation Company)territory this morning. JSOC has him surrounded in the town of Qom. You and the task force will launch as soon as tomorrow morning,at the earliest. Get some rest.
The next morning...
I looked nice in the new color-coordinated armor. I left my chambers with "the hated M4" and my hunting rifle and headed to the helicopter. This was the first time in the task force's troop carrier. It gave me a serious Marvel Quinjet vibe. The flight wasn't that long as we where only going south of Tehran. 0the target building is a three story house. JSOC brought us some time keeping the other insurgents from reaching him. We hovered over the building and repelled down to the roof. A task force soldier put a stick of thermite in the hole we where surrounding. It blew open revealing a weapons house. I quickly threw a flashbang in the building,stunning the insurgents. I jumped in,firing "the hated M4" at two enemies In front of me. The rest of the squad followed. We moved with caution because the hallways where very narrow. I led the group down the flight of stairs to the second floor. It wasn't anybody in sight on the floor. I continued on,feeling the layout of the hallway. We heard movement downstairs and I threw another flashbang in. I heard "aljizar" and a bunch of flowed dialect after. I ran down the steps,firing. The rest followed,providing support. I was overtaken by the task force captain the disrespected me a couple days earlier. We chased the butcher into a basement dug out into a cave. Just us two. We stopped in cover between every tunnel. The rest of the task force eventually caught up with us as we made it to a final room. Swallowing every bit of courage I managed to bottle up,we advanced into the room. The butcher sat there,an old man with a bomb on his chest. "Such a pity,Major Visla. You've made it this far to die with me. I couldn't merely keep up with you youngsters anymore. So what better way to go out than with a bang. The task force captain quickly raised his gun and let off two shots. One hit his head,the other wasn't so fortunate. We were pushed back out of the room. We barely had time to regain consciousness before we where stormed. The task force took them on hand to hand,unarmed. I joined the fight as an insurgent was preparing to fire on the captain. The bullet hit the roof and I knocked him out before anyone was shot. "We have to go. Contact JSOC and tell them move in". The captain handed me my m4 as an act of honor and I accepted it. We fought our way back topside as the comms person tried to contact the JSOC commander. Reaching the basement steps,we where stopped by an insurgent group 30 deep. Held at gunpoint we surrendered. Zip ties cuffed my wrist and I could barely feel the circulation of blood. We where dragged into the front of a truck and beaten on. My ribs where kicked in and I felt blood gushing from my forehead. The machine gunner in the task force was gutted on the left side of his stomach. He laid there in pain. A sniper whizzed the head of an approaching insurgents coming towards me. A group of armed locals cane shot them dead. We where now being kidnapped by them. A bag was put over my head and I was put in a car. Music was put on in the car. I drifted out of consciousness from my head injuries...