Simon "Ghost" Riley x Reader

Seven

"Alright.", Laswell crossed her arms in front of her chest. "This is the issue. The cartel tried to make new connections with smaller terrorist groups all around the globe. This far they already managed to gain three allies, two of which are very close to Farah's resistance fighters. They might turn out to be a threat to our allies."

You frowned.

"Since when are resistance fighters considered allies?", you asked.

Rudi smirked.

"Since many nations loose their real militaries to corruption.", he said and gave Alejandro a bump to the shoulder. "We're not considered official military either. We're a small special task force that split from the military and remained loyal to the people."

Understanding, you hummed.

"That's good to know."

Laswell gifted you an apologetic expression. It was both soft yet meant sincere.

You had always wondered if this was how a mother looked at her child when she realised she had made a mistake.

All you could remember from your own mother was the stench of cigarette smoke and scoldings for the things your teachers had to complain about.

It was hard to tell if Laswell wanted kids or already had any, but either way she'd make a good mom.

Secretly, you envied that possible child a little.

She had been one of the first people to take you under her wings. She and Price were like role models to you.

It made you bitter to think about it, but these two complete strangers, not even in any kind of relationship with each other, were more like parents to you than the people who had actually called you into existence.

Soap would be fuming if you'd ever tell him how you felt.

Ever since you had been old enough to understand that your mother had never been supposed to be a mother, he had insisted that the only family you needed was him.

And in return, you shared the same suffering that he had to endure.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made you snap out of your thoughts.

"Anyways.", Price continued. "Thanks to lieutenant MacTavish, we could get our hands on a very important hostage."

"Hector.", you said as if the name was poisons. "And I expected the mission to be a shot in the dark."

"It was.", Laswell agreed. "At least the original mission. But getting our hands on Hector is just as good."

"Very good, indeed.", Alejandro agreed. "El Sin Nombre is probably raging right now."

As the name reached your ears, the hairs in the back of your neck started to stand up straight.

Goosebumps crawled across your back.

You shook them off without anyone catching a hint.

"I thought you had him.", you said and gifted Alejandro a glance from the corners of your eyes.

He smirked.

"Her.", he replied with a voice that was oozing with anger.

"Oh? Tell me more."

Soap rolled his eyes, smirking.

"We had her right in front of us. Unarmed, trapped in a container.", he started to tell as if it were an adventure. "But we had to let her go."

You frowned.

"Why?", you turned to Laswell.

A sigh escaped her rosy lips.

"We had nothing on her.", she said and shrugged. "If we would have kept her, the cartel would have raged war. At the time we only had authority over the terrorist missions."

"Yeah, about that...", you rubbed the back of your head, squeezing one eye shut. "I'm a special task unit for terrorism. Why get me involved in cartel business? That's clearly international. And not terror related."

"Terrorism can be defined in many different ways.", Alejandro raised his chin to eye you from top to bottom. "Do you know the criteria?"

A huff escaped you.

Soap's eyebrows rose. He smirked, but the way his eyes screamed at the other man was more a warning than amusement.

Slightly, he shook his head and formed silent words.

With a cocky expression on your face, you raised your chin and turned to lock eyes with Alejandro.

"If I know the criteria?", you asked in a sarcastic tone. "Amigo. Don't insult me."

"I'm not trying to."

"I sure hope so. The last time someone tried... Well...", you glanced at your brother. "I'm sure he can tell you the consequences in detail."

A flinch chased through Soap's face. All the painful memories and war crimes you had ever committed against him crossed his mind.

Alejandro caught the hint, pressed his lips into a thin line to keep himself from grinning and nodded.

"Understood.", he said and showed you his pearly white teeth.

You returned the gesture.

"Good.", a deep breath made your chest rise. "But back to the topic. This is not my field of work."

"True.", Price noted in a dry manner. "And it won't be. The cartel is Mexico's business. Our task forces provide support to strengthen diplomatic relations."

"A marriage of convenience.", you joked.

Laswell nodded.

"Correct.", she pointed at the map on the table. "This is the current operation area that is in the possession of Los Vaqueros."

You risked a glance.

"Not much, considering that's all of Mexico."

"The situation is bad.", Rudi admitted. "But the Las Almas cartel is the biggest fish in the sea right now."

"If we cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the body will die too.", Soap said with a grin and jumped his shoulder against yours. "Easy."

Pushing him away with your hand shoved into his face, you let out a sigh and turned your attention back to Price.

"All right, I get the plan.", you hit your chest with a fist. "But this patch clearly isn't made for this mission."

With his cheeky grin, Price leaned forward to meet your gaze.

"Don't worry about it, (Y/N).", he said and patted your shoulder. "The patch is not. But you are, eh?"

Confused, you raised one eyebrow.

"Come again?"

"100.", Laswell sighed. "You didn't earn that nickname for nothing. And if it's true, then we will need at least 50 from you."

"Holy shit, Laswell.", you huffed and couldn't hide the smirk anymore. "Since when are you a comedian? You can't go around making name jokes like that."

She rolled her eyes.

"We need your skill set. Everything else, let that be my problem."