Lt. Lucky Elijah Adair

S.A.S. / Task Force 141

Credenhill, UK

"Hey, kid..." I opened my eyes slightly from a tap on the door. I had only gotten an hour of sleep and this twat wasn't helping. "Wakey, wakey..."

"What do you want?" I ran my hand through my auburn hair with a loud sigh. The magazine that was on my chest fell to the floor.

"Captain O'Mally wants you..." He paused and tilted his head as if he was showing me pity, "...He looks concerned."

"Shit..." Fuck. I think I was to inform the FNGs (Fucking New Guy/Guys) on how to not shoot from the hip...

"Good luck, Firecrotch." The man chuckled. This guy's name was Charles Erikson, one of my many people whom I managed to manipulate to bend to my will. I have to admit... I'm not a good guy. Growing up in Manchester to a single dad whom happened to beat his only son... Yeah, I could care less about the man... But it taught me to not care for people and to depend on myself and me only. It comes in handy, but don't get me wrong... It's a lonely, miserable life. Long story short... I joined the military... I made myself believe I was a better man.

"Fuck you. Don't call me that." I flipped him the bird on the way out the door. I walked down the long narrow hall filled with brown doors. I finally reached O'Mally's office.

I was greeted with, "Ah. Lieutenant Adair, so kind of you to join us..." What do you mean us? I glanced around the room to find a man in a US Army uniform… Oh shit… What did I do? "Take a seat."

"Yes, Sir…" I managed to choke out. I awkwardly walked to a seat.

"This is Lieutenant General Hershel Von Shepherd III." He smiled… God that was weird… "He's had his eyes on you since what you did in Camp Bastion. Is that a good thing? I've done many things there… Good and bad... "He want to know if you would like to join his Task Force. I'll let him give you the details."

"Alright," This 'Shepherd' guy grinned and nodded before turning to me. "What you did in Camp Bastion pleased me; you took your own initiative to save three of your men." Oh that? Good… I thought he knew about me downloading a shit ton of porn to my Captain's laptop… Honesty worried me a bit. Those three were the ones who came up with 'Firecrotch' and they also happened to be the guys who would constantly pester me about why I'm such a dick. It was a kinda in the moment… moment.

"I couldn't help it, Sir. I'm sure you would've too." Bullshit… You didn't want to. Kiss-ass.

"That's good. But let's get down to business. I have a task force of some of the most elite warriors standing ready to protect their countries. Many are from American, British, Canadian, and Australian Special Forces. I've seen what you can do, son," he smiled. "I want you in it."

"…Um… I don't know what to say, Sir…"

"Think about it, son. It takes time to make this decision, so I'm giving you a week to decide." He chuckled.

It wouldn't hurt to try… Plus it'd give me an excuse to get out of this hell hole called Credenhill. And most of the guys in the Task Force would be Special Forces… Experienced soldiers. "I don't need a week, Sir." I smiled. "I will gladly join." I hope I don't regret this…

I watched as O'Mally's eyes widened and Shepherd spoke. "No need to rush, Adair."

"I'm not rushing, Sir. I've been waiting for this chance." Kinda…

Shepherd smiled. "Well then… We leave tomorrow at 0500, I'll give you tonight to pack up your belongings."

"Yes, Sir. And thank you for this opportunity." Kiss-ass. Shepherd left the office.

"Wow… Adair… I honestly thought you would take some time… Or even refuse…" O'Mally spoke. "I know you, son… You're distant from many… Joining his Task Force means you need to actually try to… I don't know…" He searched for words. "Find a way to build a team… Have them trust you…"

"…Wow… I never knew you felt that way about my situation…" I glared. "Now I know how you think about me… That's exactly why I want to leave."

"I didn't mean for it to sound that way… But," He stopped… "Try… Try to commit to it."

"…Good bye, Sir." I left. As shitty as that felt the man had a point. A task force is a closer team. You have to trust your squad…

~~~ A day later ~~~

This is the base… Shit… If I would've known we'd return to Afghanistan I wouldn't have agreed… I heard mumbling all around us, most of it contained Shepherd's name. I guess the man's name carried weight around here. We stopped outside a building smaller than the others.

Shepherd turned to me, "This is where the Task Force 141 sleeps… Where you will be sleeping." The man looked irritated today. I was hoping it wasn't my fault. He opened the door and walked in, I just followed. He let me to a room and knocked.

"Come in…" Someone with a Scottish accent said. Shepherd opened it and walked in, "Oh, General Shepherd." The guy stood up… That guy… has a mohawk... Do they give a shit about grooming here?

"Morning…" Shepherd nodded then pulled me in front of him. "This is Lt. Adair. The guy I was talking to you about."

"Oh… It's good to meet you." He reached out to shake my hand, I accepted. He guy had a strong grip… felt like my hand would turn purple. He let my hand go. "I am Captain John MacTavish."

"I'll leave it to you and the boys to show him around… I have to observe someone in the pit." He nodded and walked away leaving the room awkwardly silent.

"He looks pissed." Captain MacTavish broke the awkwardness.

"Is he always like that?" I tilted my head. "He was nice yesterday…"

"He does that a lot…" He chuckled. "Leaves you with a nice impression then bam! Back to your everyday General. You'll get used to it."

I chuckled, "I hope."

"So… I presume he hasn't showed you to your room yet?"

"No, Sir." I answered.

"Drop the 'Sir,' I could care less about formalities. Just call me MacTavish."

"Alright…" He motioned for me to follow him.

"Unfortunately, we don't have many rooms for an individual person… So we give you guys a room for four. You'll be sharing with three other men." We stopped at a door that had a sign saying, 'Fuck you, Roach! :D' on it. I couldn't help but laugh. MacTavish sighed. He knocked on the door before ripping the sign off.

"Come in." Someone answered. MacTavish opened the door. "Mornin' Tavish." A guy lying on a bunk with raven black hair said. He had a book in his hand.

"Morning, Ghost." They all stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

"FNG, MacTavish?" A brown haired fellow said.

"Yes."

"Joy…" A guy with dirty blonde hair sighed.

"This is Lt. Lucky Adair, Lt. Riley… I want you to show him around…" The black-haired guy whom MacTavish called Ghost earlier looked up.

"Just got to the kinky part of the book… Bad timing…" He sighed but got up.

"Read your porn later, Riley…" MacTavish chuckled. "He can skip training for today since he needs to get settled in."

"Alright, Sir." This 'Ghost' said. MacTavish walked away smiling. "Right then… Blondie over here is Archer…" He then pointed to the brown haired guy. "That's Roach… Yes, that sign on the door was to him." I only nodded.

"So… what's your story, Mate?" The guy called Archer asked. "Why are you here?"

"…I just wanted to get out of Credenhill… I saw this as my ticket…"

Ghost started laughing, "Well, if you thought Credenhill was hell, you made a bad choice. But, hey, didn't we all."

"So ya' got a callsign?" Roach asked. The fuck is a callsign?

"Callsign?"

"We don't like to call ourselves by our real names around here for the fact the enemy could be anywhere. Cliché, I know. But I kind of like it." Archer said. "It's like a nickname."

"Oh…" Strange… but okay. "No, I don't."

"How about… Ginger… or soulless?" Roach said. "Wait! Soul Eater!"

Archer chuckled, "Firecrotch?" I rolled my eyes.

Ghost sighed, "Piss off guys, don't give him a hard time. You started off the same." He nodded to me…

"Got any badass tattoos that could give inspiration?" Roach smiled. "It's how we gave Meat a callsign… Although his wasn't a badass one…"

Archer chuckled. "We were at a pub one night, the guy got piss drunk and decided he wanted a tattoo… The fucker got a portrait of steak tattooed on his inner thigh."

Ghost laughed, "Still hasn't thought about getting a cover up."

"I have a crow on my ribs…" I have a colorful crow in my ribs, a tribal fox on my right shoulder, video game hearts on my left wrist, and lastly a jester on my right wrist. I planned on getting more but I can never find the time to.

"Crow it is then." Archer smiled.