Behind The Mask (Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 [2022] Fanfiction)

- SEVENTEEN -

"This should sit in your ear comfortably and be undetectable with your hair how it is," Soap spoke as he expertly placed a small device in my ear, gently adjusting my partially braided, partially pony-tailed hair. 

    I wore a tighter steel-colored pants, a similar tactical pair to his, and a black long sleeve that wasn't too thick for the weather. Soap had put very light plates in a vest for me, ensuring I would have protection but assured me I wouldn't need it. That vest was a deep green and had more pockets and velcro meant for having a greater amount of gear than I did. 

    "Can you hear this?" Soap tested through the comms and I nodded. "Good." Soap adjusted a strap on my vest and then nodded once more. "You're crazy to have convinced LT, but I admire it."

    I blinked, dipped my head, and shifted in my boots. "Thank you?"

    Soap picked up his fully-prepared semi-auto and then headed off to assist Alejandro with something in the truck. I looked down, twisting as I examined myself. The vest was surprisingly manageable with the high-tech polyethylene plates Soap had explained to me as the lighter type at only three pounds each—a front and a back.

    Ghost appeared at the closest doorway, finishing a conversation with Graves. He noticed me and then started my direction as Graves went to grab something for the ride as well. I tried to stand straighter as Ghost closed the distance.

    His hand jutted out, holding a pistol grip-first at me. My green eyes widened as I stared at the weapon. 

    "You won't need it, but you also shouldn't be out there without one."

    "Yes," I slowly grasped the pistol, the same X12 type I'd used the day before, and then the hip holster Ghost offered.

    Imagining drawing that pistol at something other than a fake human head target or a steel target plate or even wildlife meant to fill the freezer made me feel cold. I knew the possibility of having to use it would be high, though, with the cartel potentially after me and whoever the hell had killed my grandparents as well.

    I carefully attached the holster to my right hip anyways, clicking the X12 pistol into place. Ghost's eyes flickered over my form in what I guessed was silent approval and then he spun to go to the truck.

    "What have you gotten yourself into Lily?" I whispered to myself as I followed Ghost to also enter the cab of the truck.

    In the truck, Alejandro was driving while Graves took shotgun. Soap sat in between Ghost and I in the smaller backseat. It made me a bit relieved to not be so near the daunting soldier that I had thought about a bit too much the night before.

    Soap patted my knee, keeping his voice low as Graves directed Alejandro. "This should be a cake-walk. You have nothing to worry about."

    I breathed out, peering straight ahead at the road and unable to formulate a response to Soap. 

- • - • -

"La casa de Sin Nombre?" Soap's curious question in Spanish about the house was swept away in the breeze as he viewed the place through a monocular. 

    We were stationed on the roof of a building, on the backside of the cream and white stucco-covered house. Between us and the house was a long drop off our roof, an old brick path and then down a steep valley with huge boulders, creating a type of cliff along the backside of the mansion I hadn't seen before. My eyes surveyed the big pool in the center through Ghost's monocular, protected by those heavy cement walls with glass along the top. The house sat in it's multi-story grandness, the left side rising higher with two tower-like structures.