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THE JOLT of Ghost's parachute deploying makes Ellie gasp, her nails now digging into his sides as she keeps a death grip on him. He maneuvers them without issue as they land on the soft snow. Gaz and Soap have already stripped off their chutes.
"What took you guys so long?" Gaz asks, his face dropping as Ellie stomps away from Ghost as soon as he unhooks them, ripping off her glasses and balaclava to reveal a devastatingly disheveled appearance.
"What happened to you?" Soap inquires, brows furrowed as he looks between her and Ghost, who says nothing.
As Ellie is dropping to her knees, breathing hard, Price's boots hit the snow. He's immediately stalking toward Ellie as he angrily undoes the pack he has on.
"That was a new one for me, Ellison," he snaps, ripping his helmet off and throwing it to the ground. She can't look at him. "You almost cost us our LZ. I don't have time to put up with fears and phobias, you copy?"
Ellie doesn't look at him.
"Do you copy?!" he shouts, making her jump. His voice echoes through the snow-covered clearing they are in.
"Yes, I copy," Ellie replies, voice gravelly. "I told you I didn't want to jump. I'm not the one you want for air recon. I've always been on the ground. If I'm in the air, I'm flying the craft, Price."
"I'm not Phillip Graves. I'm not giving the princess what she wants," Price replies coldly. "This is real shit we're dealing with. We don't sign contracts for what we want to handle. We're ordered to go. We're ordered on how to arrive and how to handle the operation. We don't get to say that we can't do something, even if we are utterly terrified, Miller! We do it!" He paces. "I told you if you didn't suit up, I was making you run."
He stops, blue eyes colder than the snow. He points in the opposite direction.
"Go."
Her face slackens. "What?"
"Start running."
She looks to Ghost, who doesn't say a word. "Where? How long?"
"I'll tell you when you've had enough, now quit talking, say 'Yes, sir,' and get moving," he orders, birds taking flight from local trees at the sound.
Ellie stands shakily, still not recovered from the jump. Not knowing what else she can say, she tells him, "Yes, sir." She takes off into a jog and follows along with the treeline.
As she is running, Price turns to the other men. "Don't any of you boys ever think about pulling a stunt like that."
