The Viper

Chapter Song: Alone In The Nite - Blvck Ceiling

"Wheels up in thirty gentlemen! Let's get this done and over with." Shepherd shouts, the men quickly surround the table he stands at, silently waiting for him to start. All around them, men were running in and out of the large tent, packing things into the multiple aircraft's waiting outside.

"I hear we have a woman joining us on this mission." Captain Price breaks the silence first. His head tilts to its side as he stands to the Generals immediate left, he grabs ahold of the straps to his gear. Valetine takes that opportunity to walk slowly towards them, staying hidden in the shadows that the corners of the tent created. The dry dirt under the men running by kicked up, created clouds of smoke giving her cover where the shadows lacked. Her eyes scan them each carefully, assessing their builds, features, and any noticeable markings. A few of them shifted their weight, glancing at each other before back at their General, waiting for him to explain.

"What's wrong with women, captain?" Laswell asks through the computer screen, her tone light.

"Nothing, just that they aren't you." He replies smoothly, giving her a small smile and a quick nod. "But the last time we let a woman tag along, she-"

"They call her Viper," Shepherd cuts him off with a dark side-eye. Utilizing that time to get a better angle, she walks around until she's behind the General and their Captain. Still in the shadows, she leans quietly against a wooden crate as she watches them. The helicopter whirs loudly outside of the tent as another starts up, twisting the air around it in every which way, nudging up the loose flaps of the tent, blowing loose dirt around in the process. "This mission will be a little different than your usual. This war hasn't started yet, and it wont unless we can successfully transfer her to each location so she can extract intel and assassinate the men she's been assigned. We need to make sure to have her back, get her in and out without being harmed." He orders, as he speaks he's opening files of the men, passing it around for them to read.

"No offense General, but, we're troops, not bodyguards, what do these men have to do with a potential war anyways? One we don't know about?" Soap asks, his face pinched with confusion. He doesn't bother reading what was given to him and Valentine notes that the only ones who truly reads through the information given to them are Ghost and the Captain. What they didn't know that these men were linked to everything. Crime organizations, child trafficking rings, helping supply Russia with missiles which they we're currently threatening to use. They were all connected to each other in some way and they would know that if they read the damn files. Valentine refrains from huffing and resolves to an eye-roll. This would be more complicated than she liked for several reasons.

Another reason being how handsome each of the men were, that thought alone scared the shit out of her.

"For the next few weeks I need you gentlemen to be anything this woman needs, hear me? You are troops and you are trained like them, yes. However, she's going to be awfully close to men who are incredibly dangerous - men that work in the underground. She's offered her services to us and you men are the best we've got to make sure she stays safe. There's a list of Russian mobsters who were there the night of the drop, who can tell us where they got the missiles from. While the UN tends to stay out of underworld business, its our business when we're stolen from and unknowingly supplying the enemy." His displeasure is clear.

These men were smart, but she was smarter. They didn't trust her and she didn't trust them. She had already known she was on her own coming into it.

"I've 'eard of her." Ghosts whispers, its almost breathless. He closes the folder before tossing it back onto the table. She'd heard of him too, she'd be too stupid not to do her own research on them and out of the whole squad, she feared him the most. Anyone with a brain would. "Only in passing but, the stories about her are.... Fuckin' bloody." It's all he gives, his head turns to look Soap in the eye. "The men she's sent after never live to speak about it." Her lips perse, she had never heard anyone say that about her, it was a little entertaining and slightly stupid. While she took pride in being silent it was nothing more than a little practice.