Chapter Text
Dawn’s rays shone through the window and onto the small round table, reflecting on the yellow file folder that had just been tossed on it; printed with the infamous “Classified” right down the middle.
“What is this?” Kate asked, who sat at one end of the table. “New recruit.” Replied John, rather nonchalantly, already anticipating all of Kate’s questions. “It’s been long enough, the boys are ready, plus, 141 has been useful, it’s no time to retire yet.” He justified, as he sipped on his mug of black coffee.
“I’m aware of that but-“ Kate grabbed the file and skimmed through it “You could at least pick someone who’s gonna do McTavish justice.”
Something flexed in John’s jaw. “He is fit for this.” He defended. Kate inhaled. “John, these results here, they’re all mediocre at best. He almost failed the agility test, his physical is mediocre, even is medical is barely appropriate for the Special Forces.”
John grimaced, he had already made up his mind. “There are at least five soldiers who are much more fit to be in 141, please, pick a new member.” She slid the file across the table, back to John.
“I don’t need any other soldier, I need him.” John insisted. “Why? What’s so special about him?” Kate asked, more skeptical rather than curious. John took a breath. “If I don’t get a good reason I fear I won’t be able to approve this.” She added.
“He’s the only survivor of the Redemption.” John finally confessed. Kate’s eyes widened, but her face relaxed almost immediately. “And how would you know this?” She pried. John opened the file, in it was a separate pocket folder, which he unsealed to reveal a few pictures. One of them was of a rather outstanding scar— An orthodox cross of some sort, embedded in skin by a hot iron. “It’s on his hip, the Redemption loves treating its victims like cattle, printing them.” He informed.
“I’m aware of this but” Kate was astonished, “You do realize that if what you’re telling me is true, he’s too unstable to be in the team. With what the Redemption put him through, and to survive it?” John had to agree with her, but he was also the John Price. “I spoke to him, it’s been almost a decade since his capture.” He insisted. “Almost a decade when usually no survivor even gets to see the fifth year post escape.”
“So he’s a fugitive.” Kate rebuked.
“A helpful one.” John contested. “Whatever he did, he did it right, he’s what we need to get rid of the Redemption.” He doubled down.
“One year.” Kate announced. “If I do not receive any good progress on the anti-redemption project, he leaves.” She demanded.
❧
It had been five months, and each day, Simon Riley would find himself sitting by the cliff, in the Highlands, the same very spot he had scattered his mate’s ashes. He had thought about joining him plenty of times, but each time, there was something to stop him, whether it would be the weather, tourists walking by, or Price randomly giving him a call, inviting him out for a drink or maybe two. Today was no different, he had his balaclava in hand, he was about to tuck it under some stone, waiting for the next poor bastard to find, when his phone dinged.
A message in the work group-chat, no longer used since the last dumb argument Kyle and Johnny had.
It was a notice from Price, summoning both Kyle and Simon for a meeting the following day.
Simon could hardly sleep that night, in fact, he woke up as soon as the sun rose.
He was slightly out of shape having dropped the strict routine he was on before his hiatus, so he decided to visit the gym in order to pick up his old habits again. By seven thirty he was at base, sat in the corridor right outside 141’s meeting office.
The hallway was fully empty, besides another figure staying well at the end of the corridor, a black neckerchief, some black long sleeve, and winter color camo pants. The apparatus was no bother to Simon, he as well as many others in their field hid their face, some for tactics, others for some other personal purpose. Yet there was something about that figure, leaning against a wall, that piqued his interest. So far he couldn’t quite make out much else besides his silhouette.
Price and Kyle arrived soon after, together, one of them must’ve given the other a ride, it wasn’t unusual for them to do so. John opened the door, and let the two brits in, before giving a nod to the figure in black.
❧
That figure would be me. I had already been waiting for fifteen minutes, intending to meet up with Price before the meeting, as I really did not fancy being in a room with strangers. That turned out to not be the case when he texted, announcing he'd have some last minute errands to run and would not be able to make it in time; As I leaned against the wall I noticed him walk in, such a presence. I heard tales of him-- Price would always talk to me about another anonymous officer in the task force. It was some attempt at having me, 'acclimatized', if I may, to the idea of not being alone. The only weird secretive soldier with no name and no story. I've had heard lots of great stories of this man, some I probably was not meant to hear from anyone but him, yet that didn't stop Price from informing me just enough so it wouldn't be a breaking of one's privacy. I could feel his eyes on me, it was only natural I stared back. I was fresh meat after all. His skull themed balaclava struck me, I'd know that if I'd see a tall imposing figure in the frontlines, wearing black and with a skull mask, that would not be Ghost, that would be the angel of death finally giving me mercy. Such a sight to see. Eventually I spotted Price, he had walked in with a man younger than him, Gaz, I assumed, he'd also spoken plenty of him, and how refreshing it was to have him during missions. In such a grim job I take it is helpful to have someone lighten the weight.
Once I received the nod from Price, I made my way down the corridor, my boots echoing. I let go of a rather dense breath I had been holding onto, before stepping in.
❧
“Alexei, these are Simon Riley, called Ghost, and Kyle Garrick, called Gaz.” Price informed as I sat down next to the smaller of the two. “I’m Alexei Albescu.” I introduced myself.
Price then put his serious face on, just a quick greeting before getting to the point. That man was constantly in a rush. “As you guessed, I decided to keep the task force going, there is an objective that I can’t quite disclose yet, but we do need full house for it.” Price explained, “You all have about a week of training, starting this afternoon at 1600, before our debut mission, a quick grab and go, to see if Alexei is fit for this. You are dismissed.” With that, the meeting came to an end, it was as quick as it had began, there was no need for useless chatter, not at a time like this. As Gaz and Ghost left, Price stayed behind.
“Naturally those two are familiar with our base and the living quarters, but you are not, so I’ll be showing you around.” I felt him pat my shoulder. “I’m familiar from boot camp.” I blurted, causing Price to cackle. “Boot camp is on the complete opposite side of here, you will not be seeing or hearing of them.” He pressed, and so I was given an hour long tour of the base. We stopped by a small wooden building. “Now, unlike bootcamp, we are not required to live on base, we do choose to for practicality, and also unlike boot camp, we get our own rooms. This block is all for us. Your flat is up stairs, door B, next to Ghost, door D.” I nodded, we both walked upstairs, the building resembled a small motel, since the flats were externally connected. He showed me the ground floor. “We have this lobby here, our common room, you wanna have a chat, you’ll most likely find us here at any time of the day. You can help yourself to the kitchenette at any moment.” He explained, then he finally showed me my room, it wasn’t big, but it wasn’t a tiny place either. It had a connected bathroom, a bed, and minimal decor, however lots of storage space.
He then helped me move my belongings in my new room. There weren't many, yet I still appreciated the help.
❧
It was four thirty, Ghost and I had teamed for training, a mock mission of the grab n go that was waiting for us a week from now. We were hiding in a small alleyway, leaning on the wall, opposite from each-other, waiting on a signal.
“If we do this, you’re gonna need a callsign, do you have one?” Ghost asked, which was odd, I always thought a callsign was given. “I used to.” I mumbled. “At my previous task force.” Reading Ghost was damn near impossible, his dark brown eyes never gave any hint to whatever he was thinking about. “Well, there you go then. That’s your callsign.” Why was he the one deciding?
“I’m not gonna use it, it wouldn’t even make sense to me, I’m not the same person as back then.” I could however read his obvious eye roll. “Christ almighty it's a code name, not a slur.” He groaned. “Too fucking bad.” I barked. “I’m not gonna disclose it, you’re gonna need something else to call me by.” I dismissed his argument. “For this task you’re battery, end of discussion.” He looked out, waiting on our cue. “Battery?” I questioned. “Your initials are AA, like the battery.” He spotted the cue, and snuck in the building, I followed suit.
“Battery and I assumed position.” He spoke into the radio, he got a reply, then gestured for me to move. I nodded and snuck towards the target, Ghost was behind me, keeping watch as i hacked into the drive. Then things got fuzzy, all I remembered was knocking Ghost out of the way of a taser, there was an issue, however; The taser was set to be just enough for a buff, 100 kilos of muscle to handle, I was not buff, and I was not 100 kilos. That taser should have knocked me out. Which it did, for a few seconds, one can never really get over the pain of a taser. John was already calling a medic, I was sat down. Gaz was concerned, Ghost was mostly shocked. “Are you slow in the head?!” He barked.
“I’m sorry I have good reflexes.” I defended.
“It’s a fucking mock mission I would’ve been fine!” He snarled.
“You wouldn’t have if it wasn’t a mock! Hell how hard is it to just look around you?!” I yelled back.
“Oi! Chill you two.” Gaz interrupted the both of us. “Ghost, you made a mistake, own up, Alexei, or fuckin, Battery, even in a regular mission, don’t play martyr and jump in front of a bullet, that’s stupid, there’s other ways to protect a mate.” He exhaled. One thing Price had failed to mention. However, from the vague descriptions, I was able to connect the dots. These three were all still grieving. It was clear feelings were still raw and the tension was high. They were not ready to move on just yet.
The medics took me for an evaluation, I ended up being fine, with no side effects. Just some pain.