Chapter 7- Almost

Today was the day we were headed to Al Mazrah. I let out a groan as I thought about it. I didn't like the idea of being back in the UAR after my last deployment there. Things would be different this time though.

I changed into my black tactical gear, pulling on my cargos and fitted black long sleeve heat gear. I pulled my hair back into a low bun, spraying the life out of it with hairspray in hopes of keeping it in place during the mission. Old habits from basic die very hard. I picked up my boots from the floor of my closet, sitting on the edge of the bed to put them on.

I headed out of my room towards the armory and of course, lo and behold, Ghost was the only one there. Soap nowhere to be seen. I moved wordlessly over to my assigned locker, my sniper and the rest of my gear locked up inside. Ghost didn't make a sound or look in my direction, thankfully. I turned my attention to my locker. The lock wasn't my lock, mine was one of those fancy directional locks, this was a simple four number dial. I looked up at the ceiling letting out a breath in a silent prayer before turning to Ghost. "Do you by chance know the code to my locker?"

"Oh, yeah we all have the same code. 141 and the last number is what member of the team you are. You're number 6." Ghost turned toward me with watchful eyes, I watched as he eyed me up and down.

"1416. Gotcha." I turned away, feeling my face get warm. I spun the tiny dial of the lock, 1416, and it popped open with a soft click. "Thank you," I spoke quietly in Ghost's direction. I didn't get a response but I could still feel his eyes on me.

I did my best to focus on my gear, pulling out my vest and helmet, then my weapons, and finally my skrim scarf. I put my belt on first, loading my pistol into my hip pocket, all my throwing knives were already strapped in. Then pulled on my vest, loading in my chest plates. As I sat down on the bench to inspect my sniper, Soap walked in with a spring in his step and whistling a tune.

"You're in a very good mood this afternoon," I said, glancing up at him.

"Ay, always a good day when we're going on a mission!" He said, plopping himself down on the bench next to me. "You ready, lass?"

I nodded, wiping the muzzle down with a cloth before loading my magazines. "Ready as I'll ever be."

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When Y/N walked into the armory, Ghost did his best to ignore her. He heard her take a deep breath before she asked him for help. He smirked under his mask. They hadn't told her the code to her locker and she had to bite back her distain for him to ask for help.

When he turned to look at her, he looked her up and down. She was a small girl, he had an image in his head of her in full gear, it making her look bulky, it was a cute image in his head. He couldn't take this girl seriously. Her black heat gear was form fitting, but it brought out her figure. He couldn't help but stare.

He gave her the code, and she turned away, he continued to just look at her and observe as she put on and adjusted her gear. It would take a lot for her to prove herself to him, and a lot of information she would need to give up, so until then, he would keep his distance. He didn't really care if she hated him, he wouldn't let her get close to him until he knew everything.

As she put on her gear, he realized she didn't actually look that bulky with her gear on. She looked intimidating, despite her small stature. He was almost impressed. Almost.

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Before long, the three of us were geared up and prepping to leave. I pulled out eye black from my vest pocket, swiping it over my eyes, and putting the container back in my pocket. As we walked up the stairs to the helo-pad, I wrapped my skrim scarf around my neck and head, then pulled my helmet on. The sun was starting to go down, its rays casting golden light over the desert. It was beautiful.

We loaded onto the helo, my sniper strapped across my back. I pulled it off as we strapped into the seats. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

"Siren? You ok?" My eyes snapped open as I looked at the two men sitting across from me.

"Just a minor fear of flying, no biggie," I brushed them off. It wasn't that minor, but they didn't need to know that. I was so thankful to be wearing my sniper scarf at the moment. I looked that them both, Soap looked convinced, Ghost, as usual, I couldn't read. He didn't press anymore so I assumed he was convinced.

I kept my cool through take off, I was proud of myself, not letting them see me broken by a fear. Soap had unclipped from his seat and moved towards the pilots to speak with them. Ghost and I stayed sat in our seats across from each other. "It's ok to be afraid."

I glanced over at him, my mouth opened to speak but no words came. So he did notice I wasn't entirely truthful.

"We all have something that is so mundane that we find scary. Makes you feel ridiculous right? Being scared of heights but not afraid of bullets flying at you?" The look in his eyes was softer than usual and I couldn't look away from them.

I nodded, blinking. "It's not heights, it's just flying actually, I don't really know why. But yeah, it feels silly."

"Breathe in through your nose for 4 counts, out through your mouth for 8. It'll help." He instructed me then turned his attention out the window. I continued to watch him as a followed his advice, after a few minutes my heart finally didn't feel like it was going to bust out of my chest.

Ghost was so confusing. He was usually super cold but I just saw a softer side to him than usual. I wondered how he was able to read me like an open book yet said he needed to figure me out. It was mind boggling.

We started to descend, my stomach doing a flip when we did. Soap came back from the front, clipping back in. He made a hand signal to switch our comms on.

"Ghost to Soap, how copy?" I heard Ghosts gravely voice in my ear.

"Copy," Soap's thick accent replied as he gave a thumbs up.

"Ghost to Siren, how copy?"

I made eye contact with Ghost, flashing a thumbs up his direction. "Copy, Lieutenant." 

As we landed, I unclipped, grabbing my sniper and crossing the strap over my shoulder, my weapon on my back. I had my pistol strapped to my thigh and an M4 in my hands. The back of the helo lowered, and I hurried off, taking cover as they took off again.

I pulled down my night vision goggles as I maneuvered quietly to my high ground position. I quietly radioed the team, "Approaching my position now."

"Copy, Siren, stay low."

"Copy," I replied, scouting my area. It was quiet up here, I would be able to hear if anyone approached from behind. I found a narrow space between two large rocks along the edge of a cliff, it had the perfect view of the compound. I set my M4 down as I knelt down, pulling my sniper off my back. I opened its stand and laid down on my belly. I lifted my night vision goggles and toggled the scope on my sniper to be night vision.

"Lieutenant I've got eyes on the LZ, you're clear for landing."

"Copy," I heard Ghost's voice through comms.

The mission was going smooth, I sniped a couple snipers on the roof of the back building, my team pushing into the building. All was going well until Alpha team took fire, the helo going down. Gunfire ringing out from the compound.

"We're taking effective fire, snipers on the roof, we're trapped."

I rotated slightly, aiming down sights at one of the snipers on the roof. I pulled the trigger, watching the man fall backwards, straight between the eyes. I pulled my magazine out, needing to swap. I pulled a second from my pocket, loading it and getting back into position, that's when I heard the muffled sound of another sniper ringing out from close by. I froze.

"Nice shot, Siren!" Soap called out and my blood turned ice cold. I got up as quietly as humanly possible as I heard the 'ping' sound of the sniper firing again to my left. I picked up my M4 and chose to not use my night vision, my eyes adjusted very well to the dark.

I moved silently, taking very deliberate steps towards the other sniper. My weapon raised and ready. I heard Ghost say something to me in our comms but I was too hyper focused on my surroundings to actually listen.

I hadn't heard another shot, so I was quietly creeping towards the left of my previous position. Ghost's voice rang out in my comms again, I was beyond thankful it was an earpiece in this moment. I couldn't focus on my comms in this moment, I had no idea who was also on this hill with me and I was not going to be the one caught slacking. I reached up, quickly shutting off my comms to keep my senses sharp, the screaming and gunfire was deafening in my ear.

I heard a rustling from my right, I turned and aimed my gun at the absolutely ginormous man standing not even 5 feet away from me, his gun aimed right at my head. Oh. Fuck.

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