The World We Knew

3.

Ghost stops the car in front of a house and the three get out.

"Where are we?" Soap asks, holding a gun as he walks besides Ghost.

"Alejandro's safehouse." Ghost answers simply. "Gave me the location just in case."

"Who the fuck is Alejandro?" Mockingjay thinks, following behind the two with one of her knives in hand.

Soap looks at Ghost, "Why didn't he tell me?"

"It was need to know."

"What if I needed to know?-"

"Shh."

Mockingjay smiles at the two. They walk up to the doors and stop.

"It's rigged." Ghost grumbles as he stands back up.

"Go through the window, dumbass." Mockingjay smacks the back of his head playfully and jumps up through the window. Soap chuckles and follows after her. He lands and scans the darkened area with his gun. Ghost jumps up into the windowsill.

"Don't move." Ghost says as a red dot appears on Soap's neck. He throws one of his knives which lands in the wood causing Mockingjay's and Soap's heads to snap in the direction.

"Soap?" A voice says from behind the wood as a head peeks out.

"Hermano?" Soap lowers his gun and stands up. The man grabs Ghost's knife and tugs it out of the wood before he jumps down.

"Nice to see you two alive. I see you've made a friend?" The man's gaze shifts towards Mockingjay.

"They used to work with 141. They're trustworthy. Their name is Mockingjay. Mockingjay this is Rodolfo, he's a friend of Alejandro's."

"Hm." Mockingjay nods at Rodolfo in acknowledgment, not quite trusting him yet.

"So where were you guys?" Rodolfo asks, looking back over at Ghost and Soap.

"Got attacked by the Shadows. We were on the run." Ghost puts his knife back in his pocket.

"I was on the run. Ghost waited for me and Mockingjay."

Rodolfo looks at Mockingjay once again, taking in the mask and cloak fully for the first time. "Of course, no?" He glances at Ghost.

"No-" Soap begans.

"Yes." Ghost interrupts. "We're a team. All of us. This happened on my watch and I'll need help to fix it."

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

"Shit!" Soap ducks behind a large concrete column.

"Soap! Detonate the vehicle!" Ghost yells. Soap grabs a device out of his pocket and the vehicle full of Shadows explodes. More Shadows start filling into the area and Mockingjay grips their gun tighter, reloading bullets into the gun. Before they can even start shooting, the Shadows start dropping like flies.

"Ghost!" A voice comes from on top of the wall.

"Price!" Ghost and Mockingjay exclaim at the same time.

"Come on! Get up here!" They let down ropes which the group started to climb. Mockingjay climbs up, relieved to see Price.

"Price. Garrick." Ghost nods to them.

Soap smiles, "How'd you find us?"

"Laswell." Price answers, "As soon as Shepherd went dark she told us everything."

Mockingjay looks over to Gaz with a smile, having missed him and Ghost most out of everybody. There's a loud gunshot and they all duck down quickly.

"There's more!" Gaz ducks, shooting at the Shadows filling the area beneath them.

"My men need cover!" Alejandro yells. Mockingjay snatches a gun from one of the dead bodies up on the wall and starts shooting at the men below. A car drives into the area and blows up, thanks to the charges Ghost planted.

"We gotta leave, now!"

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Alejandro whistles to get everybody's attention. "Hey- Vaqueros, pay attention." They all gather around a table and Price starts to speak.

"All listen up. We are taking back your HQ, we are getting back your prisoner, and we are killing Commander Graves." He says as he leans forwards against the table.

"When?" Rodolfo asks, looking between Ghost and Price.

"Now. This is a fight between our own. We are not 141 and Los Vaqueros on this. We're a team." Ghost picks up a bag and empties the content onto the tables, a bunch of masks with a skull on the fabric. Ghost reaches up and pulls off his old mask, causing all eyes to go on him.

Price nods, "Good to see you again, Simon." He turns to everybody else. "Take a mask if you're in. If you're not, don't." Ghost grabs one of the masks and puts it on. While everybody is distracted Mockingjay unclips their mask and sets it on the table. Ghost, Price, Soap, and Gaz stare at them.

"I don't think we've ever seen your face, Mockingjay." Gaz mumbles, his eyes trained on Mockingjay's face.

"Cause you haven't." They slip the balaclava on and adjust it before pulling the hood of their cloak back up and walking off. Ghost watches as they walk off before he quietly follows after them.