283/Memories of the Battle Maiden Heidi

Memories of the Battle Maiden Heidi
Date of Scene:	04 March 2020
Location:	Temples of Hatra, Iraq
Synopsis:	23 December 2019: PFC Flash Thompson is saved in Iraq by an Angel of the Battlefield - a Valkyrie in Training that would be redacted from the offical report.
Cast of Characters:	Flash Thompson, Heidi Ingerdottir

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Flash Thompson has posed:
23 December 2019

Dear Jesse,

Thanks for the cookies and foot powder, little sis. It was really needed! I thought my socks got went when playing football. I'm glad you're doing well in school. You deserve to get into college. You said that Puny Parker is dating Mary Jane these days? I guess some girls just have strange tastes, huh? I wonder if I'd done things different in school, now that I'm seeing things from outside of those four walls. Ah well. I'll have to consider it later. LT says it's time for patrol. I'm sending you that currency you asked for, hope it helps with your Civics project!

Your brother,
Flash.

----

Tucking the letter into his pocket to send later, Private First Class Eugene 'Flash' Thomposon grabbed his rifle. "On my way!" he called out as he jogged out to the deuce and a half in order to catch a ride to the security checkpoint. That had been the morning.

As the sun sets over the temple, an explosion rocks the walls of the checkpoint. The firefight had been going on for hours. The radio was destroyed. Most of the squad was wounded or incapacitated or dead.

Thompson fired out a few rounds and felt his rifle click empty. "Fuck." he mutters, tossing the rifle to the side and starts to drag himself along the ground in a half-limp, half-hobble. His left pants leg is soaked in blood, the knee shredded as he makes his way to a new position, feeling the pulse of the man next to him. It's thready and shallow. The soldier bleeds from a wound in his neck. "Hang in there, man, helps on the way." Flash tries to offer as he pulls his pistol and when he hears the cry of a foreign language charging his position, he pushes himself up, firing several shots, before dropping back down into cover to change magazines. He'd burned through his own ammo long ago. He was now scavenging what he could from those that couldn't as he pulled them into a grouping behind the most solid cover he could find. He was alone.

And there was at least twenty enemy soldiers. This wasn't going to end well from all looks of it.

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
Valkyries aren't bullet proof. Neither are almost-Valkyries. So when she enters the battle field, Heidi is careful. She doesn't just appear out of nowhere so much as she's just walked from nearby. And she certainly looks /other/, some kind of leather armor and leggings, long hair in a braid, much taller than most ordinary women would be. As she approaches, she, too, makes use of the cover, keeping low to avoid being shot at.

"Midgardian weapons are frustrating..." She mutters to herself as she approaches. And then she realizes the person she's approaching isn't dead. "Oh. Well, that's unexpected. Hail, friend, I mean you no harm." She directs it towards Flash in an attempt to not get shot by /him/ as she moves in his direction.

Flash Thompson has posed:
The sudden announcement from an accented voice is unexpected. And there were no women in his squad when they deployed. Turning with his pistol to face the woman, he's struck. One, she's beautiful. But possibly more important, she looks way way out of place in the middle of the modern combat zone. "...who.. //what// are you?" he starts to ask, rising from his cover to fire a couple of rounds. "Don't suppose you're bearing ammunition?"

Delusional. Blood loss. Maybe he's dying and this is just his last thoughts. He lost his helmet early in the firefight, a thin trickle of blood down the side of his face where a shattering rock creased his scalp earlier.

Then he looks from her to his squad. "...are you a superhero? Can you help them?" he almost pleads with her. "I can keep you covered while you do so. Just... can you?"

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
"Unless you've got a bow you intend on firing, I am afraid any ammunition I have would be unhelpful to you," Heidi says, shrugging a shoulder to show the quiver slung over it. If she is some kind of superhero, she doesn't acknowledge the term. Instead she moves to his side, visually checking him over for injuries. "You will die here, should nothing be done." She sounds a little too certain of that. "I had already thought you gone."

Perhaps she won't mention this little mishap of a training venture to anyone. His words, however, the pleading, they draw her attention. "You want me to save them?" Now this delves into territory she's not sure about. But it's hard to just /leave/ someone in need. So instead she peeks around what's left of the cover to fully assess the situation.

Flash Thompson has posed:
"I don't really plan to die here today. So. Not a superhero... you an angel?" Flash asks, and he drops his clip from the pistol to check his rounds. Five left in this magazine, with one more in reserve. One grenade. He looks up at her. "If you're an angel... this where I make my confession?" he asks her.

While he talks to her, the enemy soldiers are grouping for one final push. One of them calls out. "Surrender, American, and you will die painlessly!"

Flash grits his teeth. "Look. Don't really care about me. But they need to make it." he pauses. "That's a lie. I'm scared." comes his admission to her, looking up at the blonde, his bloodshot eyes are rimmed with tears that streak through the dirt on his face. "I don't know why you're here for me. I'm an asshole. I picked on a kid because he seemed weaker. I wanted to be popular. Be the big man on campus. And now I'm gonna die here. In the dirt." He gives a chuckle and shakes his head. "I wanted to be like Captain America or Spider-Man. And I'm neither."

Swallowing down a shaky breath, he accepts her words. He will die here today.

"If it saves them, do what you need to. But... before that happens? What's your name. I'm Flash..." he then pauses.

"I'm Eugene. Eugene Thompson. US Army."

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
"No one plans to die," she points out. There's a wry smile however from Heidi at the suggestion she's an angel. "Perhaps you could consider something like that. Although if there are words you wish to say, I can hear them." The call from nearby is returned with one of her own. "It is certainly good that I am not 'American' then, is it not?"

There's a conflicted look on her face as she does listen to his account. After a long moment, her posture straightens slightly. "I am Heidi, daughter of Inger, of Asgard. Though I am yet a Valkyrie, it seems I am fated to be here." He gets a stern look from the flaxen-haired Asgardian. "If your words are true, if you truly desire to be like those warriors, then do so. You would be amazed where a strong will can take you. Eugene Thompson, you will not die this day. You have my word."

She's not sure how his squad will fair, but she's given her word to him at least, and she is not one to back down on her word. She takes a quick visual scan of the area before she looks back at him. "Your weapon is still usable, yes? Do not use it unless they get close to you. Do not fear for me." It's a warning. She doesn't want to leave him defenseless.

Abruptly, she moves. She's faster than a human would be, so it's harder to pinpoint a shot in on her. Her quick run to a nearby boulder comes to a halt as she attempts to lift it. The gesture takes longer than she'd like, leaving a momentary vulnerable couple of seconds, but it's followed by the Asgardian lifting the not-so-tiny rock and hefting it right at the clustered enemy soldiers.

Flash Thompson has posed:
"Heidi? Like the movie?" Flash asks, perhaps a moment of lucidity, blood loss, and flat out amusement. "Well the hills are alive with the sound of music." And when she makes her promise, one hand releases from his weapon and grabs hers. "Be careful, Heidi, daughter of Inger." He doesn't even consider how ridiculous it is that he, a mere Midgardian is asking her, an Asgardian, to be careful. But he does. And drops his hand when she's gone.

Then he hears the rocking of the nearby boulder, and his eyes widen as she easily lifts it. But he's not the only one that noticed the movement. A pair of enemy combatants rise, holding rifles to face towards the woman and start to fire at her.

As they do so, they are driven back to ground as Flash empties his next to the last clip. "Careful, Heidi!" he calls out.

He releases the clip from the pistol and prepares to switch it out.

After doing so, he reaches for a grenade on his belt, his last, and he pulls the pin. Stepping into the opening, he heaves it in a Hail Mary as he hurls it into the crowd, just as the boulder slams down, and the ensuing the explosion rocks the remaining troops, and there is yells at the infidels, and at the woman that helped them as they are withdrawing, not wanting a fight with one of the super-powered beings of the world.

But his action came at a cost. As the dust settles, Flash is face-down in the dirt, his other leg shattered from several bullet and shrapnel wounds.

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
The rock seems to have done the trick, but his actions have not escaped Heidi's attention. She moves first back to the cover where he's at to check his condition, then for a brief second to check and see that there's no immediate threat. As soon as she's certain it's safe to do so, she looks back to Flash. "I told you that you would live but you are certainly making this very hard."

It's not hard for her to lift him, but she takes it slower than she might ordinarily to keep from jarring him too much. He's probably out cold at this point anyway, or so she hopes. The pain might be a bit much otherwise. "I take my promises very seriously." She states, unsure that he can even hear her. With that, she does her best to carry him to safety.

Flash Thompson has posed:
He's still conscious when she lifts him, and Flash groans in pain with the effort as he curls in against the Valkyrie. "Couldn't let them hurt you." comes his response to her complaint. Even though the bullets would have probably had no effect of her, he doesn't know that.

He was too busy making paper airplanes out of his notes and throwing them at the back of Parker's head when they covered Asgardians at school. He's regretting that now.

"Think this is the first time I've ever been picked up by a girl." he points out as he settles his hand on her shoulder.

Off in the distance, Heidi can pick up on the sound of beating rotors of an American helicopter just starting to arrive in the area to try to find the squad that had missed their last check in.

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
"/Woman/," Heidi says in correction, though it's said with an amused grin. She continues walking, although the sound of a helicopter startles her. It's not something she's seen before and she's not certain she wants to face whatever is making that /noise/. She gives him a quick look, then a look around them as she moves a little closer towards the sound of the helicopter.

She finds what looks like a good spot. "If I leave you here, will your friends be able to find you?" She's not certain she wants to set him down unless there's a guaranteed rescue in hand. Woman of her word, after all.

Flash Thompson has posed:
"Woman." Flash corrects. "And a gorgeous one at that." Totally the blood loss. "...this what it's like when heroes are shy?" he asks her with his own little smirk as he he lifts his head to hear the sound. "Blackhawk. It's a medevac." he explains to her. "That'd be rescue. I... I don't know how to thank you, Heidi. I want to ask if I'll see you again. But if I recall right... you only show up when someone's about to die."

"...but you promised I'd live. Does that mess up your quota or something? Will I see you again?" his tone is tired. It's been a firefight for hours. He's exhausted, the blood loss in his legs is bad.

Then finally, he manages. "...thank you."

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
"You don't have to thank me," Heidi actually seems amused. "I am a warrior who saved another warrior. It is what we do." Very carefully, she sets him down, allowing him to lean against what is probably not a very comfortable rock. It'll have to do. "I'm afraid you didn't quite get a Valkyrie this time. I have yet to earn the title. But soon enough I will."

She clasps his hand for a moment as a farewell. "Perhaps you will see me again before you die, Eugene Thompson, but that is not a promise I can make. Good luck."

As she stands back up fully, she offers him a grin. "Be like your 'Captain America' and 'Spider-Man'."

Flash Thompson has posed:
"I will, Heidi." Flash offers, looking up into her eyes with his own blue ones. His other hand reaches into his shirt and pulls the dog tags from his neck and he presses them into her hand. "Remember me. Remember that you saved me." he asks her quietly, and he shudders, slumping down as he finally comes down from the adrenaline of combat and pain of being wounded numberous times as he drops his hands to the side, slipping into unconsciousness.

The thumping of the helicopter as it approaches closer overpower the stillness of the air as it's searchlight comes on to start to search the area to recover the lost troops.

Heidi Ingerdottir has posed:
For a moment, Heidi considers returning the dog tags. He could, perhaps, be convinced that this was all in his head if he woke and they were still there. A twinge of guilt washes over her, and she pulls the quiver off of her shoulder, dropping them in to fall to the bottom--there for safe keeping. Perhaps no one will belive his story, but he'll at least still be able to be convinced.

With him passed out and in no more need of her attention, she moves quickly, darting away from the searchlight. There's no need to further draw attention to herself. It's time to return to Asgard.

Flash Thompson has posed:
Later, when he tells the story of the last five minutes of this battle, the offical report will chalk up the account to the head injury he receieved. The dog tags were clearly lost in the battler. And the brass doesn't want to give a recommendation for the Medal of Honor to someone who talks about the angel on the battlefield. So he's convinced that he dreamed it. He dreamed it all because he didn't want to accept that he had been able to hold out for so long on his own.

The battle started over eight hours ago... but it was the last five minutes that changed Flash's life.