Mid-Eastern Region…

1800 Hours…

Covert Operation set for 2100 Hours…

…

…

…

I hope they'll make it…

Montage LaRue was… Anxious. To say the least. Him and his squad were awaiting the call from the higher ups to allow them to perform the strike operation on the nearby camp; a confirmed terrorist base.

He's done plenty of these missions before, though a few of his previous squad members left due to him, or so he suspected. Thankfully. Everyone in this strike team either was blissfully unaware of his barely-legal-yet-still-somehow-allowed techniques for subduing an enemy, or had stomached it. He wondered, how would this mission go? Nothing have even gone quite awry before, though, he understood the importance of the captain constantly reminding them just how fast things could go south. It had happened to the poor woman herself, having lost her fiance and her own leg to poor intelligence on a quite infamous mission.

His thoughts wandered again, however, as they usually did while he waited for missions. He often thought of his time in the elite task force sent out for missions such as these, ever since the terrorist group "Enlightenment" had surfaced around 2073 or so. He looked around, taking a once over of his teammates once again. He fiddled with his dog tag, and smiled at the texture of the harsh scratches on its surface. He fondly remembered how angry his original squad lieutenant had been upon discovering he had etched in a "Y" and had all but erased the last few letters of his name. Ah, how long ago that had been-

"Monty! H.Q. just radioed us about a minute ago, they said the drones did their work and we're good to go in 5 minutes."

Monty was snapped out of his trip down memory lane to look at who had called him. It was one his few older team members, a 32-year old man by the name of Adam Hennessy. Monty smiled at his friend and got up from his position on the ground.

"Adam! Well, glad to see you still have enough goodness in ya' to come tell me that. Bet the new kids woulda just let me sit and run to get my stuff at go time, eh? Is it that Canadian you got in you?"

He poked the man in his chest, being waved off. Adam shot him a deadpan look. A smirk was threatening the generally intimidation factor of the face.

"No, it's only because you're a moron and wouldn't have listened to anyone else besides Cav trying to tell you something."

"You know me so well!"

Adam gave a soft smile and shook his head, gesturing for Monty to follow him to the front of the squad's settlement.

"Let's go, you still have to get your gear together."

"Roger that, Cap'n!"

Monty began to take his personal items he'd be taking with him out of the shipment crate that had been delivered a night ago. He laughed internally at the box being labeled "SHARP OBJECTS. DO NOT OPEN" in bold, red letters. He pulled off the lid and took out two large hunting knives, inspecting the blades with a practiced scrutiny. A few of the younger squad members stared and mumbled between themselves. After a good wipe down from the front of his shirt, Monty placed the blades into the holsters on his cargo pants, satisfied.

Pulling on the rest of his gear, he took his time locating the tent the held his entire squad for the briefing, a voice could be heard despite him still being a few yards from the tent. He pulled aside the cloth covering the doorway, and scanned the room for an empty seat.

"You're late, LaRue."

He soured, both at the use of his last name, and the cold tone of the voice over the Holo-vid.

"My bad, getting my stuff together."

He cut across a row before seating himself in an empty chair off towards the back of the room. He had already briefed this mission atleast a dozen times with the main five operatives. He felt a little offended having to be forced to sit through another briefing with the extras, but he knew it was simply all protocol, Adam and Cavina were suffering the same fate.

While, it never had been any different to him, one of the elderly members of the military, back at the base had told him of how different war had been not half a century ago. Apparently, drones weren't utilized to the extent they were today, and every soldier had been more or less equal, there weren't any top notch elites or operatives such as himself that essentially took care of these missions themselves. And, perhaps most terrifying was that his infamous style never would have flown back then. He shivered at the thought. He heard the Holo-vid say good luck to the newbies, then shut off. He stretched, eyeing the forming crowd for his two friends. He wasn't all the surprised when a metal plate slapped him in the back.

"Aye, Monty! You ready for the mission?"

Cav had always been an interesting girl, even when they had been placed in the same class for elite training. She had been born as Caitlyn Monique Markink, but had insisted on Cavina to anyone that talked to her. She smiled brightly. She was cute, but in like a Panda bear kinda way. Yeah, it was adorable, but most people still forgot it was a bear, and would definitely still maul their face off. He'd never make that mistake around Cav again.

"I guess, yeah. Just kinda the pre-mission butterflies, ya' know?" He looked past a couple of soldiers and saw a tuft of silver-blonde hair. "Adam! We're at the back, bud!" Monty grinned at the heaving sigh from across the room. He was met with Adam sliding between the flow of people still making their way out.

"What do you want?" Adam looked behind Monty and offered a small nod to Cav, before returning his pointed gaze to the black-haired man before him. "You were late as usual. You should really stop being so lazy about protocol, but I don't care enough to get you to do anything. We're ready to go, so, make sure you' don't leave another knife laying around again."

Monty's grin stretched just a bit wider.

"Wouldn't dream of it, boss!"

The loading procedure and getting everyone into the trucks was particularly uneventful, despite the newbies struggling to carry the drone assisted box into the bed off one of the supply trucks.

Monty sat back and put his earbuds in, and nodded his head along to the beat of the song playing from his phone. He watched Cav try to over enthusiastically make friends with the other two operatives, and while one seemed happy enough to engage, it seemed the other was a bit unfamiliar with her high energy self. Adam, while an already particularly large man, looked absolutely massive with his gear on. He was a Heavy-class weapons user, and a Tank at that. He couldn't anything less than gigantic.

Cav was decked out in her new dark metal outfit, and seemed pleased with is. She was a tactics specialist, an expert on breaching and taking out enemies. She particularly loved to steal the weapons from her enemies and chuck them at another.

The woman talking to Cav about something Monty couldn't hear was listed as Tsuga Wattan, a Japanese sniper specialist. She had a quite large rifle strapped to her back, and it seemed to be longer than her entire torso. Monty knew better, identifying the sniper rifle as a newer collapsible model meant for easier relocation mid-mission. Being that it looked like it had some rail-gun tech in it, the thing likely was close to eight feet long total.

The final operative was the uncomfortable man sitting closer towards the tailgate of the transport truck, dressed in head to toe in shimmering black cloth, the reflected what little light was present in a odd way. Monty was impressed when he saw they would be having a Wraith class join them, but he'd never turn down such a deadly and efficient operative. Those who survived the training to be such a high intensity Assassin class operative AND managed to be good enough to get Active Camo suits designed at their discrepancy would always be an eager addition to the squad.

The rhythmic rumbling of the truck traversing the upturned earth of recent battles, combined with the soft pattering of rainfall on the trucks water-resistant tarp and calm music almost helped Monty fall into a peaceful sleep. Despite his awareness, he still took to time to lay back and silently watch the other four operatives converse between one another. He smiled at how fast Cav and the Tsuga were getting along. He thought about taking the idea of having her be a more permanent installment should she prove to do well in the field to his superiors after the mission.

He shuffled, adjusting himself to sit better on the hard steel of the truck bed's benches. He closed his eyes, letting the sounds around him carry him into a good sleep.

He awoke to someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Everything was blurry, and he couldn't see a thing. A dark shape, silhoutted from the light behind it. Them. It was a face. It was Cav. Monty blinked wearily, reaching to rub his eyes as Cav gave a soft grin. She gestured for him to take out his earbud.

"We're at the drop-site. Intel says we should head out now since this is their longest break between lookout shifts." He got up, stretching, feeling the disks in his back pop slightly. He yawned, looking around for where he set his hunting knives and sidearm. Grabbing his remaining equipment, and being sure to refill his water bag from the container in the truck, he hopped off the back to join his fellow operatives.

He heard a low, deep thrumming sound pull up behind him. A hover truck, floaters, as they were called. He looked on in dismay as the newbies and recruits jumped off the bed of their truck, beginning to unload supplies. He never like hover vehicles. Sure, they were great, revolutionary despite being around for almost two decades. They were crazy efficient, and amazing for recon and stealth missions, being almost completely silent straight from factory. But, they were so unstable to him. He got sick just from riding in one for too long. He much prefered the feeling of being grounded, the stability offered only by a substantial set of wheels on the ground, a solid connection of tire to earth. He supposed he'd never be a pilot, then, he mused to himself.

"Alright, support, medics, you all stay out here. Keep your transponders on and at a good volume at all times, stay alert and be sure to check any cams out hackers might be able to get into. Stick to the teleporters as well, we don't need an operative dying 'because one of you was slacking off when they get shot." The squad commander for the support section continued to ramble about procedure on how to be support for operatives, nothing new. Monty had heard a million times. Not once had he ever had to teleport back for medical treatment before he successfully completed a mission. He sighed, and motioned for the other operatives to follow him off to the side. This is what he gets for being good and vigilant. Forced into a position that he didn't want , handed responsibilities he never cared less about.

"Alright, you know me, and y'all know each other from the ride over. I'm your squad captain. Sadly. Now, as we all know since we reviewed this about a bazillion times, we're performing a strike operation on the recently confirmed hideout of 'Enlightenment' terrorists. They're responsible for a whole lotta stuff yada-yada, ya get it, they're terrible." Adam heaved a sigh while Cav snickered. The other two operatives seemed uncertain, but the lady was at least cracking a grin. He continued.

"So, from what we know, there's about 60-plus enemies in there. They're adequately armed, though not well armored. Aim for body shots here, and take them out quietly and quickly. The better we do that, the less of a cluster-fuck this could turn into. I don't need to remind how fast shit can go south, so stay low. Okay?" He motioned with a head nod for acknowledgement. The operatives nodded back in response.

"Good. so, Plan A. We carry this out unless we need to switch something up or we hit 2200 hours. Tsuga has a construction crane to utilize about 600 yards away from their base, she'll rappel up, escorted by…" He trailed off. "I actually, never caught your name, bud. My bad." The cloaked man looked up, seemingly caught off guard. "Uh… its… Albin Hellqvist. Or, Ghost, for code-name."

"Swiss?"

"S-Swedish, sir."

"Always get the two mixed up. Anyway, code-names for on the field bud, we're on a first name basis out here. So, Albin will escort Tsuga to her nest, and he'll head back. Once we've got a confirmed from both of them, Adam's gonna place a thermite charge on their reinforced walls and blow it open." He glanced to Adam, then over to Cav, who was already grinning widely.

"Cav and I will have snuck through their other entrance. It's been confirmed by some internals that it's never locked. Adam will make his way to the back with Albin, and Tsuga should be finished setting up on her spot. She'll take position and eliminate anyone with and telecommunications and the roof guards. Cav and I finish cleaning up the rest of those left from the door blast, then we head up and take out whoever is in the next two floors." Everyone nodded again. Seems like they had this on lock-down. Something was bound to go wrong, just as he always had a feeling it would go wrong. It had, before, but it was able to be dealt with. He wondered when he wouldn't make it back to base.

"Right. Looks like we got this. Again, I'm obligated to say this, but we never know what they might have in there. We're pretty good, and we're well balanced, but our sniper can't blindly shoot through walls, and we're not equipped for taking on something like High Heavy class. Adam is good, but I'd rather not kill the guy just to take out one enemy." Adam scoffed, and the two operatives gave curt nods. Cav looked to Adam, before also giving a nod.

"Well, we're ready to roll. Let's head out, and stay low! I don't care how much fire power we got split between us, this is a tactical stealth strike! I will not have my wrists destroyed filing paperwork because one of you jumped the gun and chucked a flash-bang down the hall to mow them down. Alright!?" The two new operators laughed, while Cav wrung her hands and looked off into the distance. Adam gave her a pointed stare before resuming his stoic position.

"Alright! Let's roll!"

Similar to the truck ride to the Alpha site, making their way to the enemy hideout was just as uneventful. Nothing out of the ordinary, though Monty felt he was gonna lose it with how much friggin rocks were getting stuck in his boots. They were water tight at his ankles, how the hell did a rock get in, let alone the twenty that felt like they were in there! He stifled a groan. They had reached the Beta site for Albin to escort Tsuga to the crane, now they just had to wait until they both radioed the okay for Adam to go and set a charge at their doorstep. Cav pulled out a rations bar from her rucksack she carried and unwrapped it. She began to chew on the bar for a full twenty seconds before Monty noticed she wasn't making a face. In fact, she seemed generally unfazed. He'd eaten more than his fair share of those, and they tasted like year old moldy cardboard shredded and coated with sugar from dead vultures. In a normal persons words, bland, or gross. And he knew for a fact she had eaten more than enough of those as well. So if she wasn't in the process of dry heaving last night dinner, that meant,

"Is that a fricken rations plus bar, Cav?"

She cut her eyes to him, pausing mid chew.

"Yeah?"

A couple of crumbs fell from her mouth, her voice muffled from half-chewed bar in her mouth.

"You son of a bitch. Gimme some."

"What? No, get your own! I brought this from base."

"Well, we didn't have any from supplies, I'd have taken one if they did! So gimme a piece!"

"No!"

"Yes! I demand a piece! I'm as hungry as you!"

"This is still my own bar! Cost me two bucks for this thing from the Canteen!"

"I'm squad captain! I'm your superior, and therefore it is an order to give me a piece of your rations bar!" Monty was beginning to raise his voice.

"Get your own piece from Canteen when we get back, you food whore!"

Adam tried to interject the growing argument. "Guys,-"

"Excuse me? I'm still literally squad captain here and I will radio for them to teleport your ass back to camp if you don't give me a piece of that bar."

"That's an abuse of power! I'll report you!" Cav's tone was hitting an odd lilt.

"Screw you, I'm way higher rank than any of the support officers out here, you'd be reporting to me!"

"Well, sending me back and holding me there would violate Geneva Convention!"

"No, it doesn't! And your gonna try to report me and accuse me of a war crime over a friggin rations bar!"

"Yes because its my bar and I am hungry, screw you!"

They twisted away from each other quickly, arms crossed and pouty lips. Adam exhaled heavily, while Albin stared, frozen, his hand outstretched as to attempt to tap Adam on the shoulder. Monty scowled at Cav, while she glared daggers at him in return. One could see their hearts weren't really in it, though. Adam looked up and around at Albin, still frozen in place from what he just witnessed.

"I know." He turned back around to his two squad-mates.

"You two morons done yet?"

Monty blew a raspberry at Cav, before standing up and dusting off the sand all over him.

"Yes," He responded, "And file it in the mission debrief that Cav sucks and didn't gimme a piece of her ration bar." He added.

"Wha-?!"

"If we ever get back at this rate. You two probably alerted the enemy with your antics." Adam deadpanned over. Cav's indignant sputtering.

"Well, just another day with us, eh?"

Hello Hello! Welcome! This is probably the only time I'll put an authors note of this caliber on a chapter, but I figured this would be a good time and place. None of this is necessary, no spoilers or hints for another chapter, just information relating to this and another story it ties into, so feel free to skip over this if you don't care, I know how annoying these notes can be to those who don't want them.

First and foremost, I know! This isn't anything Undertale! Since I'm posting this without an immediate second chapter, there is no references to the game at all! I'm aware, that will all come starting next chapter, which should be close to finished when I post this, which leads me into my next point,

This story if very original! It isn't like your typical AU, especially this specific story. This is actually backstory and world building for a universe, delving into some of the important character in another, yet to be released story. I'm using this for multiple reasons;

Test run for posting and general audience engagement/ enjoyment,

Reader responses, and comments on how to better write out a story,

Previously mentioned, world/universe building and character backstory/lore/ character establishment.

If anyone reading would still like to see a second chapter about this, I'll post the next chapter sooner rather than later, if there isn't a whole lot of interest, which is what I'm expecting, I'll finish a good bunch of chapters then post those periodically, see if that catches anyone's interest.

I'm not a punctual person, sadly! I can't make definitive promises about upload times, chapter releases, anything of the sort, and I also am busy with school on top of that, so I can't take as much time as I'd like proofreading and working on new chapters.

Aside from that, more on the actual story,

I don't have this fully written! This isn't an old piece I'm publishing for fun, this is actively being worked on until further notice.

This story, as you can tell, will be very, very OC heavy! Again, It is essentially a sort of preview to a more direct Undertale related story. This aims to get potential readers familiar to the characters of that said story, without simply dumping them into the universe with no explanation. I'm aware that this story could actually probably just wait until I published to the point where this is relevant in the main story, but I felt the backstory and lore feel would be nice for readers to catch and recognize the characters early.

There won't be super explicit Undertale things here. I'm literally including some of said references to the game just for justification reasons to post in this section. Of course, it will be related, just not super heavily. It will be surface-future- centric, but it's not going to stay all war and tactical operations for long, in fact,

There will be Undertale-related content next chapter! If you didn't like the whole strike team, missions, that spiel, don't worry, that's literally only around for this chapter and a portion of the next. From there, it'll be closer to Undertale, and the next character will get their chance to shine.

Aside from this horrendously long A.N, how did you readers like Monty, assuming you've read this far (Kudos, by the way)? Please feel free for any criticism you got, good or bad. I myself find it annoying attempting to write an actual review of someone's work only for them to take it harshly and get mad. I've never found it constructive, so I'll always be open to comments. Though, don't expect me to respond to bluntly pointless or non-constructive stuff, obviously.

Sorry again for this terrible, terrible end note, there won't be anything nearly this large again. Hope you enjoyed the story so far, and be sure to leave your thoughts, I always wanna make sure I'm writing up to good expectations!