Chapter 1: De Oppresso Liber

I was talking to my friend the other day and his mom recently got back from deployment so I decided to write this. Sorry if I get shit wrong, all my military knowledge comes from video games and the internet. Plus I've been reading a lot about veterans and how they're treated so I guess this is making a statement? No, not really. Also this is set in a world where woman are allowed to join Delta Force (American SAS) because according to wikipedia you have to be male to join it :)

Chapter 1: De Oppresso Liber

"Operation Dirty Roach"

September 26th - 22:45:36

SFC Diana "Artemis" Jackson

Tel Aviv, Israel

1st Spec. Forces Op. Detachment - Delta

Squadron C "Mean Girls"

Artemis stared intently at the photo in her hand, one she always kept in the pocket of whatever outfit she had to wear that day. Police sirens irked her and the cold air made her nose scrunch slightly. Her outfit that night wasn't warm, since it was built for a warm country like Israel. Thankfully she had her comrades' smoke to keep her relatively warm. She considered joining them and lighting one herself, but she quickly decided against that. Cigarettes made her even more twitchy, and the last thing she needed right now was twitches.

Diana Jackson ran her thumb over the picture. She loved it so much. It was taken nearly a year ago, and featured her and her family at a barbecue together. She had just returned from a tour with her husband, Percy, in Afghanistan, and the children had been so excited to see them. They'd gotten Percy's mother, who had looked after the kids, to take it for them.

They had five children, three girls and two boys. There were the twins, nine year olds Larissa and Calix. They'd had the two of them while still in high school, and they were part of the reason Percy and Artemis even enlisted in the first place. It was hard to feed a family of four when you were 18 and not even in college yet. Then there was their seven year old daughter, Selena, who was the spitting image of her father... if he was a she. Their five year old daughter, Zoe, and their one year old son, Percy Jr.

The photo was taken in Percy's parents' backyard. Her husband was sat on a lawn chair shirtless, still in his desert camo pants, with Selena on his lap and PJ cradled in his arm. Artemis crouched next to the chair, changed into some more summer-appropriate gear, with her arms wrapped around the twins and Zoe.

Diana loved that photo, and she carried it with her on every mission, looked at it every night before going to bed. As cliche as it was, it reminded her what she was fighting for, it gave her hope. She locked and loaded and shot and killed so that others wouldn't do the same to her family. That was her crank, her driving force. When she thought of her family, every damn foreigner her superiors told her to kill better be careful.

The guy next to her, a fresh squadmate of hers codenamed Orion, saw the picture and smiled. "Cute kids." He complimented. Artemis' thumb was over Percy, so she wasn't sure he could see him, Selena and PJ. Artemis smiled at the marksman. Percy was a marksman too. "Thanks. Can't wait to facetime them later." She chatted.

Her other squadmate, one she was pretty close with, Zoe, piped up. "Ooh, tell me when you do cause I wanna say hi to my goddaughter." She said, and yes, Zoe Jackson was named after and was the goddaughter of Sergeant Zoe Nightshade.

"And how is the lil' pups?" The voice of Lieutenant Achilles Prius came to her. Artemis shrugged. "Far as I know they're good, though I think Selena has the flu." She told them.

Then a tall imposing man turned around on the roof they sat on. "Right, Lt. Gen. Athena has given us the all-clear. Lights out, crew. It's time to go in." Captain John-Paul "Centaur" Brunner told them. The entire team snuffed their cigars and stood, checking over their equipment.

Artemis was heading in with Orion on the east side of the building through a window, where they would then clear the second floor and secure any hostages there. The rest of the team also split up into pairs and were given a floor each. Of course ISIS or the Russians or Saddam or whoever the fuck they were fighting had to choose the five story building.

The entire task force jumped across the rooftop onto the correct building and immediately set to work. Artemis and Orion headed over to the fire escape and climbed down, reaching the desired window.

Orion had brought a crowbar for this and had her step aside so that he could jam it into the crack under the window. The other groups over the comms began to state they had entered, right before Orion finally managed to open it. The two climbed in and scouted the area.

They heard thumps from the floor above them, indicating the fifth floor group had run into some trouble. She cursed. "Fuck, now they'll know something's up. Stay quiet, they won't know we're on this floor yet." She told her partner, holding up her rifle as she checked one of the doorways.

"What the fuck is this?" Orion cursed as he looked at a tv in the room. It was set to the news, and featured live coverage of the hotel attacks in Tel Aviv. One camera was aimed at a window that clearly showed its position from the ground, and the news reporter talked of the military's current operation of breaking in. Inside the window the camera was aimed at there was a man and a woman looking at a small box tv.

As Artemis looked back at the window, God was clearly not on her side as a small rock was thrown into the room. "Shit! Grenade!" Orion yelled, running over and kicking the explosive. He aimed it back to the doorway but it exploded before reaching it, the explosion catching the two experienced soldiers.

Artemis hissed as she felt the burn on her hand, thankful that she shielded her face. The doorway was blown apart and she heard shouting before a man appeared, brandishing a rifle and waving it around towards them. The man fired upon them, and the two ran for cover. As with most of her enemies, the man wasn't very good with the gun and he ran out of ammo, at which point she stood and capped him in the chest.

"Left." A voice came over her radio as she stood, and assuming it was for her Artemis jumped to the side. Thankfully she did, because a bullet suddenly whizzed past her and went through the cheap wooden wall, where a man could be heard wailing from the other side.

She looked back to the second window in the room and nodded. "Thanks, fish brains." She said, seeing across the other rooftop a man standing up. He climbed down the fire escape and ran across the street to the front.

As Artemis and Orion moved to check the room the bullet had travelled into, Percy ran over to the police and news crews there. "Alright, cameras off, dumbasses." He said, walking over to each crew and putting his hand over the lenses until the cameramen turned them off.

The police didn't stop him seeing as he was their superior but the reporters and journalists were having none of it. "Hey dude, what gives? Freedom of press, man!" The guy yelled, pissing Percy off.

"Yeah well your 'freedom of press' almost got my wife and teammate killed so keep the cameras off until the hostages are extracted. Please." He added, holding a hand up to the other enraged journalists.

He grunted as a pad of paper was thrown at his head. "Baby killer!" One of them yelled. Being that they were already pissed at Percy, many of the other 'media representatives' joined in on the heckling. "Yeah! Get the fuck out!" Thankfully his Aunt Hestia had taught him better than that and he knew how to walk away.

As they heard the sound of more gunfire, he heard them talk again behind him. "Oh shit, get a shot of that!" Enraged, Percy whirled around and saw one of the cameramen aiming at a window on the third floor; directly below Artemis', where some figures could be seen walking past.

He marched over and angrily snatched the camera, throwing it on the ground and smashing it. This was probably not the best idea, as all the others were filming and caught that on camera. He sighed as he realised the implications of this 'violence.'

Artemis turned a corner and checked the hall, seeing no one. "Check it." She said, gesturing for Orion to go. He did so and the two of them walked down in the dark. The heard a shuffle and saw a man with a gun run across and shut himself in a roof. Now, usually they wouldn't have clearance to shoot without being fired upon first, but since this was a high civilian risk situation, a lot of rules were made void until the situation was resolved. She fired through the door multiple times and eventually heard the grunt of a man keeling over in pain.

Once they reached the last room of the floor, Orion kicked the door open and breached. There were two bad guys in there and both were quickly shot dead. The good news, though, was that they found four hostages in the room, tied down and fearing for their lives. Artemis turned on her comms. "Fourth floor clear, four hostages recovered, three females one male, extracting." She reported, before directing them over to the window.

Percy looked up at the window and saw people climbing out so he turned back to the police. In fluent Arabic he spoke to them. "Any of you speak Arabic? You? Okay, make sure these people keep the cameras off or at least pointed away from the building until the crisis is averted." He told them, and the officer nodded, repeating thqe instructions back to his comrades in Hebrew.

Artemis and Orion's group descended down the fire escape to the sidestreet, and once they touched ground the five civilians immediately ran into the arms of emergency services. Artemis nodded to Orion. "Nice work." She complimented, and he nodded. He was new to the team, this was his first mission with them, and Artemis was the only one he really talked to.

The two experienced soldiers began walking back to the front of the building, the rest of their team coming over the comms to say their floor was clear. "Hey, uh, Diana..." He began, and the shorter woman looked up at him.

They stopped and he rubbed his neck sheepishly. "We make a good team, you and I. Wanna go get some drinks when the CO lets us go?" He asked, grinning at the rhyme. Diana nodded. "I'll admit, we do make a great team. We mesh well, I run in and distract them while you pick them off from the back. I think the team's going out for drinks later tonight, Heracles was talking about some Tel Aviv bar he had 'considerable luck' in if you catch my drift." She told him.

Orion shook his head. "No, I mean you and me. Like, maybe instead of going with the team, you and I could just go instead." He suggested. Artemis caught the message and her eyes widened. "Oh, I...."

Orion blushed as she stuttered. "Look, it's okay if you don't want to. I get it. It would be inappropriate, seeing as we're on the same team and everything-" He excused but she cut him off. "No, its not that. No, I don't think it'd be inappropriate as long as it doesn't affect missions but, you see, I have kids and-" Now it was her turn to get cut off.

"I'm great with kids! I babysit my nieces and neph-" He was in turn interrupted by Percy walking over with a little boy. "Hey love. Either of you know how to say 'whats your moms name' in Hebrew?" He greeted his wife, pecking her on the cheek. Orion's face fell as Artemis blushed. "Orion, meet my husband, Percy 'Perseus' Jackson. Perce, this is our new squadmate, Kyle 'Orion' Hunter. You guys didn't meet yesterday at the SFOD-D briefing cause Percy was out running a cadet training course on a base near Jerusalem." She told him.

Orion's throat suddenly seized up, and he nodded. "Oh, cool. You're the father of her kids then?" He asked, and Percy nodded. "Yep! My pride and joys. You both did well today, quick and efficient. Welcome to the Mean Girls!" He complimented and welcomed. Artemis looked down at the child and raised an eyebrow at her husband.

"Oh yeah, this boy was one of the hostages on floor three, can't find his mom, I think she may be one of the wounded taken to hospital but I need her name so I can ask the ES." He said. Orion nodded, knowing a bit of Hebrew himself thanks to a Jewish mother. He knelt down, and in the language of Israel, fluently asked. "Mom who?"

The kid looked at him weirdly, and Orion cleared his throat. "Mom who?" The kid didn't seem to understand, and Percy sighed. "Nevermind, I'll talk to the Arabic officer. See you guys for drinks? Centaur's on the first round." He told them, waving as he walked over to the red and blue flashing lights.

Artemis looked back at Orion and bit her lip. "I hope this doesn't affect our work. Like I said, you and I make a great team." Thankfully Orion seemed pretty chill about it, if a bit downtrodden, and he smiled. "Yeah no, that's okay. It'll leave my mind. Sorry." He apologized, and he waved them off.

It took maybe another hour for things to get sorted. The few civilian casualties were brought out and dealt with, hostile KIAs were ID'd and information was sent to their superiors, and damage control came in to help clean up the mess. In the end, Artemis was eager to get this damn vest and pads off so she could relax, preferably with a pint in hand.

In the end they decided not to go back for their actual clothes and to just take their military gear off and throw it in the van, where it would be returned to the base they resided at. Now left all in white t-shirts and either shorts or pants, the crew set off for a night of drinks together.

At the bar, Artemis received her free drink, well one of however many. Originally Centaur was gonna shout them a round, but after the bartender learned they were the SF that rescued those hostages on tv he declared drinks on the house. First of all, she had to make a call, and she tapped her husband on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's go call 'em." She said, and when he saw the contact he nodded.

They stood and headed for the door of the bar. "I need a smoke anyway. What time is it at home?" He asked, and Artemis checked her phone's clock, which was set to IDT. "Uh, two, three, maybe?" She said, before hitting video call on the phone, which was to Percy's mother, Sally.

Sally picked up the phone relatively quickly, nearly dropping it in surprise when she saw Diana's contact on the screen. "Shit. Kids! Mom's calling!" She called, which was immediately met by the sound of four pairs of footsteps running from all over the house towards the kitchen.

Artemis and Percy watched in anticipation as the number dialed, and he lit her a cigarette. She thanked him as she took a puff, looking back at the phone as Sally answered. "Diana! Hi!" She said, trying to fix her phone so it stood up. She had one of the phone cases where you could stand it up but for some reason she was finding it difficult in the moment.

"Hey Sally, how's the kids?" Her daughter-in-law asked, aiming the camera at her husband. "Hey mom! We're in Israel right now!" He said with a shit-eating grin. Sally nodded as she fixed the phone on the table, pulling chairs around. "Yeah I know, the whole world saw your face on tv right before you smacked that camera off." She told him.

Percy grimaced. "They put that in, huh?" He noted, and Sally raised an eyebrow. "It was live, Perce. I'm sure they wanted to cut it out." She told him.

Suddenly a horde of children poured into the room and jumped onto the chairs surrounding the phone, with Larissa dragging her crying baby brother over for grandma to hold. They all shoved their faces into the camera trying to see their parents. "Mama! Daddy!" They called, making the Jacksons grin. "Hey guys! Isn't it past your bedtime?" Percy asked.

Sally shook her head as she pulled the crying PJ up into her embrace. "It's three, the kids just got off school. Paul's out back mowing the lawn." She said. The couple nodded. "How was school, kids?" Artemis asked, and Zoe ran off to get something. Sally rolled her eyes. "She made a picture and she's really proud of it."

Zoe returned with a piece of paper, one that looked like it was created by a monkey. There was glitter everywhere and the crayon was just barely able to be discernible as more than a scribble. "Look at my picture!" She said excitedly.

Percy and Artemis smiled at their youngest daughter. "It's beautiful honey, do daddy a favor and put it on the fridge for everyone to see." He told her, and the little girl nodded.

Larissa glared at her brother. "Cali pushed me at school today!" She accused. Calix scoffed and glared at her. "Did not." He muttered, which pissed Larissa off. "Did too!" "Did not!" "Did too!" "Did no-" The two were cut off by Artemis. "Woah, okay. How about you go out after this and fight it out. Preferably not in front of the lawnmower though." She negotiated, which both twins seemed to like the idea of.

Selena grinned at her parents. "I didn't have school because I was sick! Auntie came today!" She bragged, which was a brag depending on what auntie did with her. Percy's sister was great with children but she was also a pornstar so you could never really trust her to watch the kids.

In Sally's arms PJ began to get restless again as he bawled, making Artemis pout. "Aww, is baby sad? It's okay, PJ, mama's here." She comforted as Sally turned the boy around so he could see his mother. The baby reached out to touch her but instead whacked the phone over, which only made PJ even more upset.

Sally bounced him on her knee as she shushed him, trying to soothe him. Eventually PJ quietened down and went to sleep in his grandmother's embrace. "Mama, daddy, are you coming home yet?" Larissa asked in melancholy, resting her chin on her hand.

Artemis took another drag of her cigarette. "Soon, baby. Tour's almost up, we'll be home in the next month." She assured her, making the kids groan as they realised they'd have to possibly wait a month for their parents to come home.

Percy smiled as he took a puff. "But, when we do get home mom's gonna shout us all ice cream!" He promised, making the kids cheer and whoop. Artemis gave him a quick side-glare

The parents continued to chat with their family at home before they eventually ran out of things to talk about and Percy and Artemis decided to call it quits. They said their goodbyes, promised to call again in the next couple of days and hung up. The two finished their cigarettes and bottles, dumping the glass in a bin and heading back inside for more free booze.

Before they went in Percy stopped her. "You wanna grab a cheap hotel room after this?" He asked. They hadn't had sex in a week. You weren't allowed to do it on bases, so they had to sneak around. Artemis shrugged and nodded. "Sure, the rest will probably do the same anyway. Let's get some drinks first."

I'm so so sorry if this comes out before the No Choice chapter, i am just getting such huge brainfarts for it, so don't come at me in the reviews saying uPdAtE nO cHoIcE cause I'm on it, I'm just struggling. Whadya think of this, huh? It's gonna be a few chapters long, and sorry if this seemed too political. It's hard to write a detailed military story without being political. Although to be fair I tried my best not to label the terrorists under any ethnicity. They can be whatever you want, Taliban, Ultranationalist Slavs, edgy teenagers, American rednecks, just some random Israeli's, Palestinians, North Korean government agents, whatever. Although I'll admit, the whole news crew thing was kinda political. I watched this documentary on the '75 Munich Olympics where a terrorist org took a bunch of athletes hostage, and SAS and shit breached to rescue the hostages, but because the fucking news were filming everything the terrorists saw it all and killed like two soldiers and three hostages. So yeah, my hot take on that issue. Don't let news crews film military operations that are currently going on, especially if there's a good chance the bad guys are watching the news right now.

I think we can go back home to Oregon soon. In case yall ff.net readers didn't know, the west coast fires reached my county in Oregon so we moved out to my grandparents' property in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, right into a hurricane but that's besides the point. Sooo we might be going back soon which is good.

Word Count: 3712