After a lengthy rundown of their missions, she was positioned in Bravo Team led by the skull-face masked man named Ghost and Sergeant MacTavish, who ran by Soap on the field. Rora thought it was hilarious, because what kind of name was Soap, but she heard worse ones in her previous unit.

She thought about requesting herself to Alpha Team in hopes that she would avoid Ghost and the demons he brought with him by the mere sight of him, but that meant she had to talk to him, and she would rather avoid that. He was her lieutenant after all, and she couldn't just run away.

It was just such a shame every time she looked at him, a piece of her heart broke every time.

In the helo a dim red light shone above their heads as they approached the sight, Rora sitting between two random soldiers. From there, she could barely see Ghost, and that was perfectly fine with her, until he rose from his seat, his heavy footsteps breaking her out of her thoughts.

„Bravo team offloads here," he announced, his voice confident and cold, his eyes scanning over the soldiers seated inside the helo. „Alpha team stays onboard to land downrange. Both teams meet in the middle."

Rora remembered the map that was shown to her. She had to sweep and clear building one and two with Bravo Team, while Alpha Team takes upon building three, the two teams closing on the potential target.

Ghost strolled down the little space, his entire being suffocating to her, and before she knew it, his steps fell before her, his mountain-like build towering over her. In the red lighting, he looked more menacing than ever before, his eyes hollow and void-like, threatening to suck her soul deep within, but she forced herself to maintain eye contact with him.

„Sergeant Wells," he pronounced her name like nobody, and maybe it was because of his accent, but it sounded like an ancient spell, clouding her mind. „Captain Price informed me that your stealth skills are exceptional."

Upon mentioning Price's name, a small smile appeared on her lips, a hint of pride warming her chest. Of course, Price would brag about her skills.

Rora wasn't good at many things. In fact, she was bad at most things in life, like pulling the door that obviously says 'push', or her mathematic skills being equivalent to a twelve-year-old's, but her stealth skills were truly exceptional. She always had an eye for other people's weak points, and that ability paired up with her death-silent steps and great skills with close combat, making her one of the best. At least, that was in her previous squad, but in the current one, she doubted the 6'4" man would be the best at stealth.

„That's true," Rora nodded her head, adjusting her night-vision goggles on the top of her head.

„Good. I need those skills in the field," he gave her a short nod, already making his way towards the ramp, glancing back at the others. The helo was descending, a sudden rush of adrenaline making her heart beat quicker as he spoke to the whole squad this time. „Remember, we want Hassan alive, but this is capture or kill."

The helo shook as they landed, the Bravo Team quickly making their way off the ramp, and with that, Rora rose to her feet, clicking the night vision in place, following the lead of the others. She went past Ghost without sparing him any glances, he waiting upon Soap. They spoke a few words she didn't catch on before they followed behind her.

She landed soundlessly in the thick grass, her eyes scanning the horizon. It was so dark out, it was impossible to see anything without the night vision goggles, the air was humid and she tried her best to concentrate on the mission with all her might.

„Razor-1. Bravo deployed. Moving to secondary HLZ," the pilot spoke in the comms, the helicopter they just came already moving on. Rora let her head fall back as she watched it fly away, fixing her eyes on one of the soldier's back after a few seconds.

They started to move swiftly through some ruins, Rora picking her legs at a fast pace, careful not to trip over anything. She hugged her semi-automatic close to her chest, keeping a close eye on any danger that could lurk on them.

„All stations- Razor-1 is bracketed, we're getting lit! Incoming flares! Flares!" Razor-1 called in the comms again, panic tinting his voice.

„Shit, that was close!" one of the soldiers spoke up on her right, his eyes scanning the dark sky. Rora decided not to comment on it.

„Second missile!"

Barely a second later, a missile hit the helicopter dead on, sending the vehicle spiraling downwards. All of them stopped in their tracks, Rora couldn't take her eyes off the heli she knew was still full of people, men who probably had families and lives they wanted to continue after this, and with that, it was all gone.

The pilot's frantic voice was soon cut off by the helicopter crashing straight into the open field, her heart sinking in her stomach at the same time.

„Shit..." she muttered to herself, gripping her gun tighter in her hand as she watched the flames erupt higher, loud coughs echoing in the earpiece she had.

„Alpha, what's your status?!" Ghost crouched down as he tried to contact the other unit, only receiving more coughing as an answer. „Alpha, how copy..?"

Rora bit down on her lower lip as anxiety started to build up inside her, her eyes founding Soap's lowered form. Just like he felt her eyes on him, his head turned in her direction, obvious distress taking over his features for a moment.

„Bravo- Alpha is immobile. Multiple critical! Oh, shit! We're taking effective fire!"

„Alpha, we're moving to building 1. Hold tight!" just as Ghost was ready to move on, Soap snapped his head in his direction.

„Ghost, we need to secure that crash site now," worry seeped through his voice, and even though Rora had a cold heart, she wanted to do the same.

All of this reminded her of one of her missions when her car was blown up by a grenade thrown under them, and if it wasn't for the other members of her convoy, she was pretty sure she would've died out there.

But seemingly, Ghost had other plans.

„First, we clear for Hassan, that takes the heat off Alpha. Then we secure the crash site. Clear?"

Rora watched as Soap clenched his jaw, his eyes moving from the crash site to the lieutenant on his right. They held each other's gaze for a brief moment, and the woman had to bite her tongue to hold herself back. She didn't take orders that well.

„Roger that," Soap acknowledged, hiding his emotions better than Rora herself ever could.

„Let's move."

Rora shook her head slightly, not agreeing with the orders, but one look from Ghost was enough to make her not want to protest against his decision. She was the new member, she hadn't gained his trust yet, and even though her intuition yelled that she had to go now, there was no way she could get her point across. She knew that if it was the other way around, it wouldn't work, so there was no point in trying.

At a faster pace than before, the unit made its way to a nearby house, which looked like a sad skeleton of a home, then split into two. Ghost moved towards the first deck, and she decided to stick with Soap and another Bravo, her following behind the Bravo with close steps, Soap behind her.

Just as the man before her stepped inside, he was quick to terminate the man inside, waiting for them. Rora pointed her weapon at his motionless body, waiting for any signs of life, but she was quick to judge that he was never getting back up.

Upon seeing motion in her peripheral vision, Rora aimed her gun at the man running through a door, shooting him down in a heartbeat. She heard gunfire upstairs while they scanned through the deck for any more AQ's, not finding any.

„Second deck, clear! Negative on Hassan," Rora cleared in her comms, slight disappointment spiking inside her chest. Of course, it would've been too easy if they found him in there.

„First deck clear! Negative on Hassan," another voice claimed, causing Rora and Soap to lock eyes. A slightly annoyed look took over both of their faces, but the frantic voice in the earpiece caused all of them to snap out of their temporary moment.

„Bravo, crash site is taking RPGs from building two, second deck!"

„They have fucking RPGs now?" Rora groaned, Soap already hurrying towards the balcony to have a look at building two. He crouched behind the wall as he propped his sniper up, taking out a few AQs who were firing upon them.

Rora would rather not embarrass herself with the lack of sniper skills she possessed, only firing her rifle at the men who were closer.

She and Soap worked together efficiently, taking out any threat so they could jump over the balcony and move towards building two, eager to clear it as soon as possible. Soap was in front of her by a few steps, him haltering in his steps as an AQ jumped up from a cellar-like hole, firing upon them. The sergeant was quick to eliminate the threat, Rora's finger twitching on the trigger.

„Sneaky bastards," she hissed, her steps more careful as she followed Soap inside, now keeping an eye on hatches on the floor, too.

„7-1, moving interior," he said more calmly than she would've thought he would speak in a situation like this. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was still behind him, Rora giving him a small nod of reassurance.

„I'm watching your six, MacTavish, don't worry," her tone was more joyful than she intended it to be, but her soul was craving some humor in all of this, after all, humor was her coping mechanism.

„At least I'll know who shot me in the back," he joked, Rora grinning at his words as they moved inside, both of their rifles close to them, fingers on the trigger.

She let him go further inside while she checked out the little dark space on their right, making sure no other surprises would emerge from the floor or the walls. She quickly fell into Soap's steps, turning sharply right in the corner, her finger ready to pull the trigger and put a bullet in anybody's head if they come out.

Just as an AQ soldier emerged from the left, her getting a clear view of him, her eyes already lined up with the front sight, when out of the blue he collapsed, a knife sticking out of his throat.

Rora haltered in her step, her brows furrowing in confusion as she looked at the body, just as another shadow emerged from the corner. Pointing her gun at him, she was quick to see that it was Ghost, crouching over the body to retrieve his knife, wiping the blood on his pants.

„Show-off," she huffed out, shaking her head, easing her posture. She didn't even notice when she flexed her muscles so hard, ready to fight anybody. But as he looked up to meet her eyes, she turned her head away – maybe she was ready to fight anybody, but not her demons.

Soap chuckled behind her, hearing her comment, slight embarrassment washing over her. She was not used to people hearing her remarks and knowing how close the lieutenant and the sergeant were, she was afraid that Soap would scold her or demand more respect like her previous squad did – but no, instead all of this, he patted her shoulder as he pushed up beside her, joining the other Bravo that waited for them at the end of the stairs, ready to clear the rest of the building.

She tried her best to ignore the way Ghost's eyes burned a hole in the side of her head, keeping her eyes on Soap's back as they hurried up the stairs.

A/N:

Hiyaa!

The story will pick up, I promise, these few chapters are just important to get the base of the relationship between all of them across

Don't forget to vote and comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions!

Hope you had a great day and you're doing alright! ❤️