Not All Shells are Hollow

A Mask that Hides Nothing

While most of the nine men called down to the cramped conference room didn't seem to have a clue what the situation was, Ghost liked to think that he had a pretty good idea. Word of an Ultranationalist faction in Ukraine taking hostages and slipping out of sight for weeks before emerging to do it again didn't escape his notice. If they were doing anything about it, it was either because of some agreement with the Ukrainian government, or this group was threatening their interests in the region. He had no idea which it was.

His hunch proved to be correct as Price got the briefing started. While he carried on, Ghost took notice of MacTavish sitting to the side, his hand practically a blur as he scribbled away on a clipboard. Either those were some serious notes or he was fucking around, neither would surprise him.

"-As you can guess, we don't know where they're stationed," Price told them, "but intel's pointing to a publishing building in Lysychansk being their next target and they're due for another hold up. We're looking at 50 plus hostages being used as human shields and bargaining chips, but beyond that there's no indication of special equipment or tactics that would make them stand out. The plan right now is simple. We get in position, wait for them to make their move, then defuse the situation as fast as possible before anyone gets hurt. Any questions so far?"

Of all people it ended up being Toad to raise his hand. "Will there be any aid from the Ukrainian government? Local police or anything?"

Price frowned and opened the laptop on the table so he could set up the projector. "They're aware of the situation and we can expect them on standby if things go south. Otherwise, it's just us." As he finished saying this, an aerial photo of the building came up on the white wall. "The tentative plan is as follows: we got three teams, Alpha team takes position on the rooftops across the streets and provides sniper support while Bravo team and Charlie team split up and enter through the front and back of the building. We clear it out, secure the hostages, and meet in the middle."

The plan sounded simple enough. Ghost felt undeniably confident with it, all things considered. With that, Price went on to divide up the group into their three teams. Price was in charge of Alpha team, with Toad, Buck, and Angel; MacTavish would lead Gridlock, Marlin, and Crane in Bravo team; Ghost was given authority over Langley, Ares, and Gator for Charlie team. They had 3 hours to suit up before they would deploy.

While he gathered up his equipment, Ghost found the skull mask he'd haphazardly shoved in his other pair of pants. He stared at it for several long seconds. He could go down and get a plain black one, less conspicuous. He sighed and pulled it over his head until it only covered his neck. When were balaclavas ever inconspicuous?

And with that marked the beginning of the Task Force's service.

-()-()-()-

Whenever MacTavish wanted nothing more than for a plan to follow its expected course, the universe had a funny habit of throwing spanners in the works just to mess with him. They spent two whole days waiting for this little terrorist faction to take action with zero indication that the plans would change, then, the minute there's word that anything's happened, it's nothing like they planned for. Instead of the publishing company, a basic school was taken on the third day. Suddenly approximately 50 hostages became children and teachers. Just to make matters worse, Command jumped them with how they need to divert to join up with the Ukrainian MPs a half klick west of the school. 

If it were up to him, he would have just chucked his ear piece against a tree. His frustration towards the situation didn't ease up as they spoke with the sergeant and his squad who'd been sent to meet them. The conversation was difficult to follow, as Sergeant Gregory spoke primarily in Ukrainian, which MacTavish had little grounding in, but would swap to very broken English in a painful attempt to clarify what he was saying (spoiler alert: it made things more confusing). The only one who had any inkling what he was going on about was Ghost at this point, who became the unwitting translator for everyone else.