Hotel Six: A Call of Duty Fanfiction

Chapter 43: What is Necessary to Win

The helicopter touched down on an island off the Aleutian Chain of Alaska. "This is our stop, ladies and gentlemen," said the pilot. "Gotta regroup and refuel."

Soap dipped his head. "Thank you, Six-Four," he said. "Alright, lads, let's rest up while we can. I'll be gettin' in contact with Shepherd again soon, and we'll move from there."

They disembarked and Jessica was promptly greeted by Ghost head locking her and flopping her ears when she shifted. "Can't believe you survived that, Lone! I thought for sure that gulag was gonna bury you alive."

She laughed and pulled away from him, rearing up on her back feet to give him a shove. "I'm not that accident-prone."

"You nearly fell off that oil rig earlier, and you got shot the mission before that."

She stuck her tongue out at him, tail wagging playfully. "Well, at least I didn't actually get buried like Roach did. Thought the poor boy was dead..."

Ghost laughed, swinging his arm around the Sergeant's shoulders as he walked by. "Yeah, I heard that chatter over the radio." He turned his head to look at Roach. "No stressing us out, now. You've had a good track record up until the last few days."

Roach chuckled, looping his own arm around Ghost's shoulders. "Neither time was my fault," he replied. "I think the world just hates me."

"Well, you ain't dead, mate. That's all that matters." 

"True." He rolled his head back with a relaxed sigh. "I'm thinking I'm going to take advantage of our downtime and grab a beer. You guys wanna come with?"

Ghost walked with him. "Sounds fantastic. You coming, Lone?"

She shrugged. "I'll catch up. A nap is sounding a little nicer than that beer," she admitted.

"Suit yourself," said the Lieutenant. "See ya later!"

When they had walked away, she rotated an ear backward noticing someone still standing behind her. "Price," she said upon seeing his face.

"So," he said. "They're calling you... 'Lone' these days?"

"Lone Wolf," she corrected. "But yeah, close enough."

He grinned tiredly. "What stunt did you pull to get that name?" 

She looked away, brows set uncomfortably. "I disobeyed one of Ghost's orders during training and it just stuck..." she said.

Price chuckled mildly. "Given how much I remember you two butting heads, that isn't even remotely surprising."

Lone nodded, her eyes focussed on the ground in front of her. "... I hear your Makarov's least favorite person," she said, changing the subject.

He looked away with a sigh. "More or less," he replied. "He hates me for being one of the ones to kill Zakhaev, but he also liked my tenacity and my undying spirit... Said it reminded him of himself."

"Probably why he kept you alive, eh?"

"Something like that..." He put his hands on his hips and looked out into the vast expanse of water around them. "God it's been so long since I've seen the outside world." Price lifted his chin and breathed in the salty smell of the sea.

She sat down, looking out at the horizon. "I'll bet... Were you inside that gulag the whole time?" He nodded solemnly and her head hung. How had she not seen any information about him in Makarov's office? Galaxy sighed a misty breath. "I'm sorry, that must have been hard."

"I survived," he replied stiffly. "That's more than some people can say."

She nodded, slowly cracking open her mouth with a yawn. "As many questions as I have, my head feels like it's floating, I'm going to find somewhere to take a nap." She shifted and looked him up and down. "You look like you could use some rest, too."

Price smirked. "You kidding?" he asked. "I had plenty of rest on the ride here; I don't need to rest again until we find Makarov."

Lone covered her mouth with another yawn. "You're exhausting me just saying that mate," she chuckled. "You do you, but I'm going to sleep until MacTavish needs us again." She shot him a sleepy wink and strode away, carefully sliding her phone out of her pocket to look at the voicemail in her inbox.

"He feels off, right?"

Jessica groaned in her dormancy. "A little, yeah," she said. "But maybe it's because he's been in a prison for two years, where he probably almost died a few times. I can imagine he'd be changed."

Sasha sounded dissatisfied with that answer. "But look at his eyes... Doesn't he look a little... Deranged?"

"How do you mean?"

"He's got that look like burning the world wouldn't matter as long as he took out his enemy... Kind of like Vladimir the last time we saw him. Remember the look in his eyes when we asked him about what he did at the airport?"

She felt a pit in her stomach. "... Yeah, I remember it. He didn't care that the cost was as long as he got the result he wanted."

"Yeah!" said Sasha. "You don't think that's why Vladimir felt so akin to him?"

Jessica sighed and set her brows. "Shut up, Sasha. I need to sleep..."

Soap tapped the keys on a computer, Price seated beside him. "Uplink almost complete..." he said just as Shepherd came online. "General Shepherd, you're online with Captain Price."

"Back from the brink, Captain," said Shepherd, a tone of familiarity in his voice.

"Out of the frying pan, more like," he replied. "This place looks more like hell than the one I just left."

Shepherd hummed in dismay. "We thought before the Russians could crack it. We were wrong. Then Makarov turned the US into a scapegoat." Price began typing something, but he didn't notice while he lamented the hurt of his country. "Next thing you know, there are flames everywhere... What's this you're sending me?"

MacTavish himself was confused, sitting back in his seat at the image of a nuclear submarine. What was this? 

"If you want to put out an oil fire," said Price. "You set off a bigger explosion right next to it. It sucks away all the oxegyn, snuffs the flames."

The General was apprehensive. "Price, you've been locked away in a gulag too long. You've gotta get your mind right, son."

Son? Price straightened and narrowed his eyes, a strange grin tugging at his mouth. "Shepherd, are you willing to do what's necessary to win?"

"... Always," came his reply.

"We've got a big fire right now, sir. We're going to need a huge bang."

Soap cocked a brow and looked at the senior Captain. "Price, what are you talkin' about..?" he whispered.

"You've been in that gulag too long, Price," Shepherd rattled. "Focus on taking down Makarov."

"No time, sir," he replied. "We need to end this war today." Price felt the muscles in his jaw tighten as Shepehred growled in frustration on the other end. 

"I'm not asking you, Price, this is an order!" he barked. "You're to-"

Click.

Soap flinched as the connection went dead and he shifted his pale blue eyes to Price. "Hmm... Looks like we lost our connection..."