June 7th, 1944
The small objective spot was filled with soldiers from all different platoons. The air was stiff and heavy, the blood from the wounded Airborne troopers filtering into the nose of every person who came near the camp; their cries filling the air. Muddied ground stuck to the bottom of every soldiers boots.
Lieutenant Winters stood on the side of the roadway, flanked on by Lieutenant Compton and Lieutenant Spiers, speaking briefly on the number of men they had rallied.
"What the hell is that?" A soldier called out some somewhere in the throng of men, catching the the attention of the trio on the side. Their heads snapped up, staring straight ahead. Coming down the road was a group of men, most clad in the Airborne OD's the rest of the men wore.
A select few stood out from the string of men with uniforms that contrasted the others. They wore a darker green instead of the tan everyone else had on. A sigil plastered on each of their shoulders that the majority of men did not adorn. It was a sigil no one has ever seen.
Winters glanced to Speirs and Compton, who both shared the same look of confusion. The latter two shrugging their shoulders.
"They're the 16th Airborne Infantry, Vitale Company." Lewis Nixon came to a stop behind the lieutenants, crossing his arms across his chest.
"The who now?" Buck spoke, his eyes trained on the dark green uniforms.
Nixon only lifted his shoulders, staring at the green uniforms filtering through the roadway. "I just heard about it today. They're some highly trained airborne soldiers. Been here since 42."
"42'? Thought we were the first Airborne groups." Buck replied, his voice trailing off as he eyed the new soldiers. The men chimed in with their agreement.
The four men stepped towards the new group of soldiers who began to blend in with the rest of the camp. Faces became known as some of the missing soldiers from the jump. A man they didn't recognize stepped out towards Winters, greeting him with a smile. Standing taller than Winters, he was eerily frightening. The look on his face contrasted, however, with soft features and a kind smile. He wore the same dark green uniform, decorated with a ranking Captain patch along with the unrecognizable sigil. Three V's sat on each of his shoulders, signifying Vitale Company.
"You must be Lieutenant Winters." The man outstretched his arm. "I'm Captain William Bailey, 16th Airborne Infantry, Vitale Company 1st platoon."
"It's good to meet you, sir. I apologize for the confusion, we didn't know you were coming." Winters spoke as he shook his hand in greeting.
Captain Bailey only shook his head, the smile still gracing his lips. "I understand. We were a covert infantry, you wouldn't have known about us."
The rest introduced themselves, shaking hands as they went.
"You running this company by yourself?" Buck questioned, glancing around at the men in green who passed him who bore no marks of a Lieutenant or Sargent.
"No, no. The lieutenant should be around here somewhere. Sarge should be easier to find. Only two officers. We've lost most of our men after the years and they never sent replacements, so we're a small group." Bailey's words trailed off as he turned his head, searching through the sea of soldiers, his eyes lighting up when he found who he was looking for. "Rivers! Come on over here."
The three men stood patiently. The soldier came pushing around the men in their way, coming to a stop next to Bailey.
Shock blossomed across all of their face before they could conceal it. In front of them stood not only a soldier, but a woman. The small girl stood on the right side of her Captain, her blonde hair free of dirt and pulled back into a low ponytail that hung down her back. A bright smile spread out onto her face.
"This is Sargent Piper Rivers, sharpshooter." Bailey introduced the tiny soldier.
Piper outstretched her hand, holding her rather large rifle back with the other, shaking each of the men's hands with a smile on her face. "It's wonderful to meet all of you, and definitely good to see some new faces. Lord knows how sick I am of looking at this old man every day." Piper pushed Bailey's shoulder slightly.
Nixon cocked his head to the side, clearly interested in how a woman was placed into these ranks. Piper quickly caught onto his confusion.
"Yes, I know. A woman in the army, crazy right?" She let out a small laugh. "Little do you know there's women all across the army. I'm surprised they didn't send any more with the airborne. I'm apart of an operation to assimilate women into the front lines. It's been kept under a lot of secrecy, but there's two women in every branch of the military."
The four men subconsciously let their eyes roam over the groups of men around them, trying to catch sight on the other woman.
"There's two of you here?" Speirs questioned, his own shock laced into his voice.
Piper nodded her head, the smile never leaving her face. She brought forward a ray of light with every flash of her teeth, and it was quickly catching onto the men before her. After their jump into Normandy, these men needed bright smile to bring some life back into the camp.
"Lieutenant Creed. She's around here somewhere, probably sizing up every single man in this camp." Bailey let out a small breathy laugh, propping his arm up on Piper's shoulder. "She's not as cheerful as this one here, though."
Piper nodded her head in agreement. "The boys call her Azrael sometimes, Angel of Death."
The group let out a small laugh at the nickname. The four men of the airborne not fully believing that this girl could be correlated with the Angel of Death.
Their belief was swiftly corrected as another woman came to a stop next to Piper. One with long brown hair pulled into a braid that fell down her back. A few loose strands fell from the front of her helmet. Her face adorned a large scar that tore down through her eyebrow and across the outer corner of her right eye, stopping just over her cheekbone.
Her stature towered over Piper, who looked up at the stone faced soldier with a smile. It was sure a sight to witness.
She stood rigid, almost completely still. Her gaze was intense. Brown eyes bore holes into the new men in front of her. Black paint lined in messy marks decorated her face, drawing her to look even more intimidating, and hints of dried blood splattered across her features. She didn't speak a word, only kept her eyes burning through the soldiers.
All of the men stared at her, a complete contradiction of the first woman soldier. Her dark eyes pierced through each of them.
Angel of Death.
"Creed, this is Lieutenants Winters, Speirs, Compton, and Nixon." Bailey was the first to speak, pointing to each man as he went. "Men, this is 1st Lieutenant Lia Creed."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am." Winters spoke to the soldier first, drawing the other three men back down to Earth. They could hardly stand to keep eye contact with her. Speirs was the only one who managed, seeing himself in the soldier in front of him; seeing the haunted looks behind her eyes marking her as soldier that has seen too much. Another round of pleasures emitted from the three.
Lia's face remained passive, unmoving. Her eyes were the only feature that showed she was still here. They shifted slowly between each Lieutenant, taking them all in. A swift nod came from her shortly after.
Seconds later, Lia's head turned to the right just past Buck's shoulder. Her legs moved next, pushing her past the three men without a word spoken. They each watched her as she went past, confusion raging across their minds. They way she walked was eerie as she scanned the new crowd of men. With the rifle held tight in her grasp, she slowly disappeared into the sea of tan.
Winters turned back to Bailey and Piper, eyebrows raised. The pair only chuckled in response.
"Told you she isn't as friendly as Piper." Bailey spoke with a lighthearted tone for his Lieutenant.
Piper smiled brightly. "She'll come around, eventually. Can't promise you'll be friends with her, though."
The four men could only think about the strangest most intimidating woman they have ever met.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, how are you here? I understand the operation, but you both look very young for being here since 42'." Nixon voiced, drawing his attention back to the young blonde.
"Lia is twenty-one, and I just turned twenty. We were the only two who were trained enough at the time we jumped. It would've taken far too long to train another two women to join the Airborne, but we've both had previous training."
Winter's furrowed his eyebrows. "Previous training?"
Piper nodded, glancing down at her boots as she spoke, her voice drawn lower. "Lia doesn't like talking about it much, so I don't either for her sake. We came from the same place, trained by the same people."
"They came in at seventeen and eighteen, making the jump here at that age as well." Bailey said, watching the soldiers pass by around them.
Winters shook his head slightly in disbelief. "You were trained previous to being seventeen?"
Pipers smile fell, her eyes pulling back up from her boots to look at the lieutenant. She only nodded her head in conformation. The four men grew intrigued, but chose not to press upon seeing that bright smile vacant. Whatever the two had been through, it wasn't their right to pry.
"Lieutenant Creed will be joining command of Easy, whereas I will be stuck up with battalion. The rest of Vitale will be broken up between Easy, Fox, and Dog Companies as we have been told." He glance at Piper, giving her a small smile. "We've been here for a few years and have been trained harder than most, so the men will be incorporated into each to help."
The men sank into thought at the idea of this woman taking command of the men, curious if she would be able to lead them in combat.
"I know you guys will doubt Lia and if she is fit to help lead the Easy boys. Believe me, she is. She was promoted to lieutenant because the boys in Vitale wanted her there. They couldn't see anyone else in the position." The Lieutenants nodded their heads in understanding.
The group began to walk, heading to the main tent where talk about taking Brécourt Manor was taking place.
"Your men are in good hands." Piper explained, the bright smile returning to her face. "Lia will never leave a man behind."