Operation: Saber Strikes

The rescue

Lions POV
     We heard the first car veer as it hit gridlocks stingers the second truck pushed it out of the way before its tires were shot Monty shot the 4th trucks tires forcing the enemies to get out and fight I yelled "Rabbit located!" As I activated my drone. A fury of fire exploded from our positions as we fired into enemies as they made a run for cover. I heard Ash over comms "Monty move to me and prep to push to the trucks, the rest cover us" I replied "I've got your back as I hit another enemy with .308 dropping him. They finally got over the confusion and began mounting a defense a round impacted the tree infront of me "Merdé, they're getting pretty accurate" before shifting my aim as I saw an enemy taking aim at Doc "Gus, watch out!" As I began suppressing. The enemy ducked behind the engine block as Gus shifted his aim. "Mercí" I nodded "Gridlock can you get an ID on our HVIs?!" I heard her swear before replying "No, sorry mate! These fuckers have got me pinned!" I swore before yelling "Flash out!" And throwing one towards the truck. Eliza patted my shoulder as she and Gilles moved past me "Pushing to the trucks, cover" I heard Gilles' shield fully extend as he yelled "Stick close to me!" As they walked down the hill towards the cars I yelled "Giving you eyes on the hostiles!" As I lifted my arm and activated my drone again.
Ash's POV
      We slowly walked down the hill as the fire ceased, there's still enemies but they're not shooting anymore what is going on here? I tapped Gilles shoulder "Something's wrong here" he nodded as I yanked up my r4 and fired at the enemy pointing an rpg at us he fell back before exploding catching the 3rd car on fire we moved quickly ripping the back door open before pulling the two chain people out of the back as one writhed the sack on his head being on fire we quickly got it off and saw (F/N) with pretty bad burns on his neck and lower cheek I pulled the sack off the other persons head and saw Zach unconscious "fuck alright, um Doc come drag Striker up to the reception area I've got Saber" I saw him move out of cover before taking a round to the chest and tumbling I spun just in time to see the terrorist hit the ground as gridlock shot him. I ran to doc "Hey, hey you good? Where are you hit?" He was coughing "Plate caught, plate caught" I sighed in relief as I helped him up "Come on let's secure these two" he nodded as we grabbed (F/N) and Zach and started climbing the hill before another truck pulled up this one with a technical. We moved quicker as Tori and Olivier (Gridlock and Lion) started suppressing the turret with Gilles using his shield to take the beating for us. When we got to the medical reception area I left doc to help deal with the truck I pulled my launcher up and fired into the hood but it didn't detonate "Fuck, oh I know" as another enemy truck pulled up I grabbed my last round and fired it into the 4th truck of the original convoy causing it detonate causing a massive chain reaction that flipped the technical and cause the enemies inside to crawl out before firing again I yelled over the gunfight into the radio "this is Ash, Six we could use an air strike. The enemy's just keep reinforcing each other we can't stabilize Saber like this!" He replied after a bit of quiet "Rog' we have an A-10 preparing for a strafing run, mark with IR." I sighed as I went to Olivier "Lion, do you have the IR strobes?" He nodded "My bag, left side, 4th or 5th pocket down!" I went to the pocket and found them "Thanks" as I pulled the pin and threw it at the enemy vehicles I heard "Virtue 1-3 moving in for strafe" we took cover and peeked over watching as the armored trucks were ripped apart before we heard the iconic "Brrrrt" I smiled "Thanks for the assist 1-3" I dropped to my ass breathing heavily as the exhaustion set in "Gus, hows his face?" He sighed "He's gonna scar pretty badly, he has 3rd degree burns on his upper neck and cheek. Luckily nothing hit his eyes so he'll still be able to fly, they'll both need a regimented diet and physical therapy but they should make recoveries. I'm just worried about the psychological effects of all this." I nodded solemnly "we should get to extraction" he nodded as Olivier and Gilles picked up Zach and (F/n) as we moved the mile and a half to extraction when we arrived gridlock radioed "Vulture 3-2 we're good for evac, confirmed Monday tail." The co-pilot was heard "We'll be there in 4 minutes, hold position" we set up a perimeter and waited as the stealth hawk lowered into the clearing before we laid Zach and (F/N) in the floor as Doc and the PJs started working on them while the rest of us relaxed after a heavy gunfight. We were sleeping when I woke up as I heard a panicked yell I bolted upright as I saw (F/N) crawling at the bandage on his face as we tried to hold him steady "(N/n), (N/n) look at me, you're okay... you're safe... you're safe." He calmed down as he looked at me his voice a coarse whisper "Eliza.... how long were we captured?" He coughed as I replied "A month... it's-uh, it's been a month" he looked at Zach as he asked "How's Freyja?" I looked at him "I don't... I don't know, she's avoided all of us since..... you and Zach disappeared." He closed his eyes as he asked one last question "Why are there bandages on my face? Is it permanent?" I looked down "You've got.... you've got some-uh, some pretty bad burns, they're gonna scar. Luckily it didn't touch your eyes or your vocal cords" I noticed the tears rolling down his cheek "I shouldn't be alive..... I should've died in those caves...." I gasped as Doc looked at me his eyes filled with worry "Don't talk like that frère(brother), you deserve to be alive just as much as we do, Zach's alive, you're alive you saved that team and you survived whatever they did to you" he sighed breathing deeply as Zach spoke "no, we didn't. The people we were died in those cells, they made sure of it." We wanted to press, to find out what they experienced but decided against it as two of the strongest members of rainbow, mentally, were silently crying on the floor of a chopper.
Time skip to landing on the carrier
Your POV
They transferred us to hospital bed in the med bay after we landed I still couldn't see out of my right eye since it was covered by the bandage as I laid there staring at the ceiling. Freyja walked in quietly, something's bothering her. I heard her speak softly "Hey, I'm sorry but I don't think I can handle being in a relationship, you disappeared for a month and I was worried sick and I thought you died and I cried so much, I just.... I.... I..." I cut her off "It's okay, I understand, I'm sorry." She looked down as she walked away holding her arm. I sighed as the door closed and Zach spoke "I'm sorry bro, that's gotta suck." I nodded as I felt numb "It's... it's nothing, really. Don't worry about me" he sighed as the door opened and the rest of our friends walked in. Monika, Elias, Marius, Jordan, Eliza, doc and Erik all stood at the feet of our beds, looking at us like we were ghosts. Monika walked over to Zach and  slowly ran her hand through his hair with a smile on her face and tears running down her face "I missed you" he smiled "I missed you too, I'm sorry but I'm not the same as I was before we left...." she shook her head "That's okay, what matters is you came back to me" I was staring at the ceiling with a blank look Marius noticed "Hey (N/N), where's Freyja? I thought she'd be here" I spoke my voice still coarse "She was here, she left before you entered." He nodded "Did she say anything?" I sighed "Yeah, we-uh, we broke up. She couldn't handle what happened, can't say I blame her" Elias and Marius came over and rested their hands on my shoulder "Little brother, it'll be okay. You've still got us, you've still got your family." I turned the blank look on him "Why do I feel nothing? Why do I feel like I'm dead?" Doc spoke "It's your brain, whatever they did to you your brain blocked off the emotions so you don't process the horror. Eventually your brain will start shifting through the memories." I nodded "What's the report, doc? What're we looking at?" He sighed "you both have broken and fractured bones, your muscles have weakened severely, you're going on a severely regimented diet, you've got physical therapy and mental therapy so you can work through whatever it is your brains trying to sweep under the rug, so to speak" Eliza walked over "how're you feeling?" I asked "physically or emotionally?" She spoke again "both" I looked at my hands "physically I'm in pain, I can feel everything they did to us like... like they're still do it. Emotionally I don't feel anything, I don't feel mad or sad or anything just blank" she sighed as Marius, Elias and doc walked over to talk with Zach as Erik, Jordan and Monika came over to talk with me "it'll be okay, we'll help you through everything" Jordan looked at me "you're one tough bastard, (F/N). You're a protector I know you'll pull through, you always have." I looked over "cowboy, it might be awhile before you can work on missiles again" he nodded "Yeah, I'll wait as long as you need. Just get better, our family wouldn't be the same without you." I nodded as Erik spoke "we didn't get to talk much before your mission but, um.... I wanna thank you for saving those delta boys, a couple of my friends were on that team and they survived because of you. Let me know if I can do anything to help, okay?" I looked at him "just doin my job, you don't owe me anything" he nodded "I know but I wanna help, Eliza cares about you a lot and she's a pretty good friend. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine" I nodded "thanks Erik" he smiled and patted my shoulder as he walked away. Eliza looked at me as Monika started speaking "Zach told me you took a lot of the abuse for him, thanks. Really, it means a lot you protected him" I turned my head so I could see her "it's nothing, family protects it's own" she smiled "we're all here for you two, just ask if you need something" I didn't say anything as she stood up and walked back to Zach's bed. Eliza spoke "hey (F/N)," I turned so I could see her "I'm glad you're home" I nodded slowly "it's good to be back, I'm useless but I'm back" just as she was about to say something the door opened and six walked in He wore a solemn expression as he walked towards our beds.