Sorry this took so long! Very busy with other things on my other account. I know, this is what you are thinking right now: "What? What do you mean, 'other account?' are you not just our beloved Dancing Tiger? You are another person somewhere in the world of the internet?" Indeed, I am. But not on this site-Check me out on FictionPress! I am a pretty different person there, I guess. Feel free to check me out. Anyway, more on that at the bottom of this. Here is the much well deserved fulfillment to the request by Jaclyn. I said I would; I never said that it would be fast! (No, really, I am sorry. How long has it been since I promised it? Sheesh. I am a bad person.) Anyway, here it is! Not even my idea :D it was a brand new thing for me, just saying. Never taken a request before, so I want you to tell me what you think. The summary is exactly what Jaclyn requested. Well, what are you still doing reading this note? Get to the story!
She sat in front of MacTavish, twirling a strand of her hair in her hand. The 'her' being talked about was Crystal 'Shadow' Wells. The serious looking man was appearing quite fed up with her at the moment.
"Shadow, I'm serious about this. This is an important thing I am asking you to do." Shadow only sighed, and dropped the piece of hair from around her finger.
"Alrighty captain. Whatever you say. Don't think I want to do it, or that I am even going to think about enjoying it." She spat back at him with sarcasm. The captain pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Seriously, Shadow. Please, I wouldn't even think about letting you do this if any of the other men were available. Gosh, I would do it myself if I wasn't so busy." Shadow smiled, a sexy smirk in her eye as she spoke.
"Oh, yes, so busy captain. Trimming that 'hawk of yours to perfection." She smirked as the man went up to touch his hair self-consciously. A scowl crossed his face again, and he made a fist, started to raise it in anger. Shadow only stuck out her tongue.
"Can't hit me, I'm a girl." This must have crossed the line of MacTavish's tolerance, even for this incredibly sarcastic soldier. He walked around the desk, and dealt a left hook, a somewhat gentle one, anyway, across her face. She caught herself before she hit the floor.
"Remember; you got into this task force. I can treat you like I would treat any of the guys. If that means I have to get physical, so be it. I rarely even let you out on a mission; putting you on a stealth mission is like asking Lady Gaga to sing a song without auto tuning. It's nearly impossible, and when it happens, it's painful. This is my last option, Shadow." The female soldier stuck out a pouty lip, and pretended to think on it a moment.
"I don't know, maybe I could if you said please?..." The captain shot her a glare.
"Shadow" he growled warningly. She rolled her eyes.
"Fine, whatever. I'll even try, how about that?" The captain made a curt, approving nod.
"You leave in the morning, okay?" Shadow smiled and nodded, the sarcasm and fakeness gone from her voice.
"No problem sir. I'll find out anything that you want to know about those Russian bastards." MacTavish smiled a real smile at this.
"Alright. Get out of my sight, Shadow" he said jokingly. She smiled, and waved goodbye flirtingly as she walked out of his office.
In all reality, Shadow knew she was serious. A bit sarcastic, but a good soldier. She would get this job done, and done right.
The next morning, Shadow woke early and went to the armory. She loaded up on anything that she could need, grenades, frags, rifles, pistols, and of course, her personal weapon- the Famas. With her gear loaded, she went to MacTavish's office.
She opened the door without knocking, and the captain looked up immediately. He smiled when he saw her.
"So, looks like you're ready to go get 'em Shadow. Am I right?" She knew that he was prepared for a sarcastic, due to the expression on his face. She decided to humor him.
"Nope, sorry captain, I'm planning a hike this morning. Care to join me?" He rolled his eyes.
"You've done better, Shadow." She smiled.
"I know. But, really, I'm ready. They won't know what hit them." The captain gave her a stern glare.
"You are under specific instructions, Shadow. This is a stealth mission. You are just going to watch for a few days to figure out what they do when they aren't bombing a major city. No action is to be taken unless you are put under direct danger. Do you understand?"
"Of course, sir. I won't, I promise, okay? Unless it is extremely important, I won't take action. You don't need to worry about me." MacTavish groaned.
"That only makes me worry more. Anyway, get out. You got this, alright?" Shadow nodded, and walked out, down the hall, and outside.
It was early morning, so early that the sun still hadn't the chance to breach the horizon, so the sky remained a brilliant, midnight blue. Shadow didn't think much of it, as she was an insomniac, the hues of the sky familiar to her. She loaded up into a helicopter, one of the most silent ones on base, and started it up.
She turned a few knobs, pressed a few buttons, and soon, was up in the air. She looked down at base, to see the brown buildings growing smaller and smaller below her. Without a second thought, she started to fly away into the horizon.
Though her mind was usually blank while doing such a task, this time, her mind was full of questions. She was out on a stealth mission to figure out just what kind of things the Russians do in their spare time. There was a building where a lot of the 'soldiers' hung out, and stayed when they weren't bombing the shit out of one place of another.
Shadow suspected that they planned, made elaborate schemes, or practiced torture on innocents, even for the ones who did the grunt work. It had to be evil shit, she knew that much. Eventually, though, these thoughts faded and her mind went blank, the helicopter gliding through the slowly growing in brightness light.
She didn't have too long to wait before she came across the location she was supposed to. A little over twenty miles from the location, enough for her to take a few hours to walk/jog to, so she would get there by lunch. Shadow checked her supplies, and with confirmation that they were all there, started out on her mission.
A light jog was kept up for a while, then slowed to a walk as Shadow sensed she neared. The trees were beginning to thin a bit, and with her eagle keen eyes she spotted flaking white paint a distance away. She paused, set down the backpack she had slung over her shoulder for a brief moment, and whipped out the binoculars she had hanging around her neck. She focused them in through the trees on a large building, looking like an abandoned barn or warehouse of sorts. She lowered the binoculars back around her neck, and picked up the pack again. Her judgment told her that it was far enough away she could get much closer without being detected, as so far she hadn't caught a whiff of surveillance. The Russians were obviously as careless as they seemed.
Shadow moved ever closer to the building through sparse tree coverage, but was assured she was next to invisible in her hand sewn uniform. She had made it herself, after much deliberation, study, and laboring, to make something she was confident in. Much time spent among trees led her to design it herself. It was pretty far from standard issue, which was nearly useless to her due to fact it was like a flare in the trees it was so ridiculous. The captain didn't even question letting her use it, and was actually proposing to some of the higher ups to actually make it one of the standards for combat. Anyone who wore it was practically invisible among trees, anything from oak to pine and everything in-between. Shadow just took it in stride and was glad she was allowed to use her own design, something she knew would work. Just as she took another silent step forward, but then a blood curdling shriek made her drop instinctively to the ground.
The shriek came again, but then faded and stopped, Shadow not even taking a breath. When she was sure it was silent again, she slowly moved up her feet and moved closer, gun level in caution. She got to the edge of the tree line without another sign of activity. Shadow set her baggage down, and lowered her gun, getting a good look at it.
She was correct, to an extent. It appeared to be an old warehouse that was located next a silo, most likely something that used to be food storage for a farmhouse that was no longer existent. Shadow nodded to herself, knowing that likely the building would be insulated and thick, making it a good base of sorts inside. And, if the warehouse had dividers inside, it would make primary land for rooms and barracks. Shadow commended them silently for actually choosing a well thought out place, when she noticed thin panels of windows at the very top of the tall building. She smiled. She would have no problem getting up to them and taking a peek inside. Shadow was confident in her own abilities, and she knew she could do it.
A quick sprint to the shadowy edge of the warehouse would only take her a few seconds at most, even with the equipment she needed for her climb. She gathered a hook similar to a grappling hook, and a large length of rope, along with thick gloves and another bag. She looped the rope over her shoulder, looked around, and though she knew the risks, she bolted for it. Thankfully for her, no one was around, and Shadow took a breath in. She was safe for the moment. A half second later she had melted into the shadows of the building. Shadow wasted no time in taking the hook and making skillful knots around it. She took the lump of tight knots in her hand and user her powerful arm to throw it up, and watched it latch on the first try to the ledge above the windows. She checked the rope once with a rapid tug, and climbed up it, hand over hand, feet on the crooks in the building.
After only a bit under a minute she came to look in the dusty, dirt caked window. It was nearly impossible to see anything, but she saw enough to know the room that the window showed into was empty. She held steady onto the rope with one hand, and used her elbow to smash the glass open. It shattered instantly, falling inward, with little more than a slight tinkle as it fell. Shadow didn't bother to hold her breath as she peeked her head in, suspicion confirmed. It was a makeshift version of barracks, a few army cots in rows, with almost no personal possessions to be seen. The only means, it appeared, of protection from the weather were thin, starchy looking blankets, and a few pillows. There were a few backpacks, but they appeared to be more for field use than holding personal possessions. She shook her head, and set to work right away. She used a spare hand to reach into the bag she had slung over her shoulder, next to her gun, and pulled out a small camera. It was small, and would provide only a rough, grainy image, but it was meant for surveillance. She peeled the sticky strip liner on the back off with her teeth and let the paper fall to the ground. She stuck the camera at an angle, pointing down at the room so she would be able to watch what went on via live video feed.
The deed done, she walked herself down, and upon reaching the ground, gave the rope a dainty flick. The hook shook loose, and fell into the palm of her hand gently, so she could tuck it into her back. Shadow glanced around one last time, and gathered the last of her materials and retreated quickly back to the woods. Luckily for her, just as she got into good cover at the edge of the tree's, she heard voices. Russian, nothing else.
She peered carefully over the sparse cover she was in; she watched two medium sized males in no uniform at all, but carrying guns, slung over their shoulders. They darted into the building before Shadow could get a look at them, and she swore mentally to herself. Working quickly, she pulled out the computer that was linked to the camera that she had just placed. It took her seconds to power it up, and suddenly, the image was up. Grainy, but still clear enough to see depth to some degree, and figures in some detail. The two that she had seen outside were just darting in when she got the image full screen.
Her heart beating steady and silently, she watched them seem to yell at each other, and then go over to one of the cots in the corner. They pulled the thin blanket off of it, and then both seemed to busy themselves on unzipping their pants, pulling something out, then letting a stream down on the blanket. Shadow usually would have had some reaction, at least internally, but this was just a new level of gross and disturbing for her. The only thoughts that raced through her mind were about what in the HELL were they doing? (Aside from the obvious, of course)
Ahh, you think this is it? Jaclyn, ready to give up on me for the fact that I just cut off and ended it there, no real excitement? Hehe.. Well, I hafta admit, I got a bit carried away and I realized that this was going to be not short one shot… So, maybe we are seeing a 3-4 chapter deal here? I hope it fulfills your wishes! Anyway, as for me on FictionPress, search "Shadow x Wolf" that is me :D