While Ezekiel acted in a support role more than anything else. His help was invaluable to Victor who currently only had magic at his disposal. Ezekiel took care of logistics, medical support, funding, communication suppression and internet control to name a few.
Over the next few days Victor freed seven camps and rescued over ten thousand people. But that wasn't even close to the number of camps Ezekiel's scouts found around Latveria. The count was over a hundred and while some were small with only a few hundred prisoners. Most held over a thousand people and were only protected by a handful of guards.
The only reason no one revolted with overwhelming numbers was because everyone was starved. Well that and any one who spoke out was quickly made an example of. But that was before Victor showed up and started freeing people. So far with Ezekiel's help no one but the rescued people even knew something was happening.
Ezekiel was in the main command tent of the camp his people sent up as he looked over a large holographic map of Latveria. Around the table with him was Victor, Boris and Sakumo who was marking the map with more prison camps. After he finished on his tablet he said, "That's the last one. That makes one hundred and forty three in total."
Ezekiel patted his shoulder as he said, "Thanks for your hard work."
Sakumo nodded as he said, "One person is watching each camp and I have two squads ready to move out once the next target is selected."
"Good." Victor said before he pointed at one of the closest camps and said, "We'll take that one next."
Ezekiel glanced at the data, it was one of the larger camps with a few thousand prisoners. Most of them were women and children with a handful of teenagers who weren't sent to the other camps yet. Ezekiel nodded slightly at the choice as Boris picked up an old Russian rifle leaning against the table. He slammed a fresh magazine into place before pulling the bolt back and chambered a round as he said, "I'm ready to go."
Victor smiled a tiny bit as he patted the man on the shoulder before he said, "Then let's get the others."
Victor confidently stepped out of the tent followed by everyone else and made his way to another area of the camp. When Victor approached, the people in the area noticed and within a minute all of them were lined up in formation. It was just over fifty of the most able bodied young people Doom had rescued so far and they were all eager to help. Doom could have easily had five hundred troops at this point, but most of the people he rescued were malnourished and not worth bringing to a fight. So he only took the people in fighting shape that knew how to shoot.
A woman with striking blue eyes, a killer figure and strawberry blonde hair stepped forward as she said, "What are your orders, sir?"
"Have your people gear up, Zora. We leave in ten minutes." Victor said as he glanced over his troops.
"Yes, sir!" Zora said before she turned around and yelled, "You heard the commander, I expect all of you back here and ready in five minutes!"
All the people moved towards some tents to collect their gear as Zora did the same thing. Since Ezekiel had access to pretty much anything he wanted, he provided Victor with top of the line military gear. While the soldiers were a rag tag group of people, they at least had standardized gear and looked formidable even if that was far from the truth.
Within less than four minutes everyone was back in formation and kitted out with rifles in their hands. Zora stepped forward once everyone was ready and said, "We await your orders, sir."
Victor raised his arm and made a large portal behind him before he turned and walked through it without a word. Everyone else quickly followed him through the portal and as the troops spread out Doom's voice covered the area, "People of Latveria, I've come to free you from the oppression of the Fortunov family!"
The people in the camp looked around in confusion while some of the guards quickly spotted Doom and his group as he continued, "For too long we have all suffered under their boots!"
Gun fire immediately came from the camp as the guards on the towers started to shoot towards Doom and his troops. The bullets slammed harmlessly into a magic barrier Doom conjured before he said in annoyed tone, "They always do that."
"Well you are trying to overthrow them." Ezekiel said with a slight smirk.
Doom shot back at the towers which blew them up before he said, "Fine, no more speeches when attacking."
Doom started walking forward and that acted as the signal for his troops who moved forward with him. Instead of randomly shooting towards the troops as they moved forward, his troops waited till they were closer to the gates. As for the incoming bullets they were all protected by Doom's barrier and once they were only a hundred feet away, Zora yelled out, "Take aim!"
All of the troops instantly dropped to a knee and carefully aimed at a target before they took a shot. In just the first volley half the guards who were defending dropped to the ground dead. A moment later the troops aimed at their next target and fired again, dropping more guards. Within seconds the gun fire stopped as Zora and her troops stood back up before Doom used magic to rip the front gate open.
As Doom walked into the camp Zora commanded, "Squads form up and search for remaining enemies!"
The troops quickly broke apart into five man teams as they moved into the camp and looked for more guards. The other group which consisted of Doom, Boris, Ezekiel and Zora moved towards the main barracks and the prison warden's office. While the magic barrier disappeared for all the other troops, each squad had an Anbu shadowing them for protection.
As they walked through the now silent camp Ezekiel noticed many people peeking out from windows of the prison buildings. Most of them were women, but he also saw a few kids who cautiously peeked from the windows too. Ezekiel happily waved at everyone like he was taking a walk in the park and a few of the kids even waved back. Ezekiel chuckled at the interaction before a scream rang out in the distance.
Ezekiel's head whipped towards the direction of the scream to find a handful of guards who looked like officers. They each held a woman or child in front of them as a hostage with a gun aimed at their head. Ezekiel frowned slightly while his eyes focused on all of the men as he prepared to interfere if needed. Boris and Zora also held their guns a little tighter as they aimed at the guards, but Doom held his hand out to stand down before he stepped forward alone.
As Doom approached the group, one of the guards yelled out in a trembling voice, "Stay back, don't come any closer or we'll kill them!"
"Do it and you lose your shield." Doom said in a calm voice as he stopped in place while his fingers moved slowly and he started to quietly chant.
The man who spoke pressed the barrel of his hand gun against a young boy's head as he said, "Maybe, but we can easily get more if needed."
"Now call back your troops and let us leave or we kill one of our hostages." The man said as he nervously glanced towards the troops that he could see in the distance clearing buildings.
Doom kept chanting, his lips barely moving as he prepared his spell which made the guard impatient. The guard removed his gun from the boy's head and aimed it at Doom as he yelled, "Did you hear me?!? I told you to call back your troops!"
The man and the other guards were so focused on Doom and everyone else that they didn't notice the young boy as he slipped a knife from his sleeve. As the man was about to speak again, the boy turned in the man's grip and stabbed him in the groin. The guard let out a scream that sounded like it should have come from a woman as the boy repeatedly stabbed him between the legs.
All of the other guards froze for a moment while the man dropped to the ground screaming as the boy jumped on top of him with the knife. It was like a starting gun was fired as the guards all moved at once, but unfortunately Doom finished his spell at the same time. While half the guards attempted to kill their hostages and the other half attempted to run, a green light shot from Doom and hit them. The spell locked all of them in place with paralysis and froze them in place as the last guard's cries rang out.
Doom approached the group along with Boris, Zora and Ezekiel not far behind as the last guard's voice faded in a wet, wheezing gurgle. Boris and Zora focused on freeing the other prisoners as Doom and Ezekiel stopped in front of the boy who was covered in blood and gore as he mindlessly stabbed the corpse underneath him. Doom reached out and grabbed the boy's wrist mid stab which caused the boy to turn and looked up at Doom with hollow eyes.
Doom reached out and took the sharpened butter knife from the boy's hand before he tossed it aside and helped the boy up. He patted the boy firmly on the shoulder as he asked, "You did a good job, what's your name?"
The boy looked at Doom with those same hollow, detached eyes as he said in a monotone voice, "Kristoff Vernard."
Doom's eyes widened the tiniest bit as he studied the blood covered boy before he asked, "Where is your family?"
Kristoff's eyes filled with grief as he said in despair, "Dead… All of them are dead."
Doom glanced at the corpse at their feet before he asked, "Was he responsible?"
Anger flickered in Kristoff's eyes for a moment before grief returned as he nodded slowly. Doom patted the boy's shoulder before he led him away from the corpse and said, "It's good you could take revenge with your own hands, very few people get that chance."
As Doom walked away to talk with Kristoff, Zora executed the rest of the guards before heading into the barracks with Boris to clear it. Ezekiel didn't follow as he pulled out his tablet and sent a message to Inoichi about a new patient. Ezekiel knew Kristoff normally lost his family and Doom took the boy in. Ezekiel figured the boy could use some therapy after what he just witnessed from the boy. Afterwards he worked with everyone to move people to the base camp they set up and get them medical attention and a proper meal.
Over the next couple of weeks the government of Latveria finally noticed something was wrong as the prison camps went dark. When they sent people to investigate and only found dead guards, the king locked down the entire country and set out the military. While the country was basically already suppressed, it was now under complete martial law and everyone was forced to stay inside. The king also sent troops to the remaining prison camps to reinforce them and hopefully stop whatever was happening. Unfortunately it just made it easier for Doom and his people to crush the opposition forces.