Special thanks to Allie for listening, and for Moose, who this story is for, and for who is the sole reason it exists.
When I'm sad
She comes to me
With a thousand smiles
She gives to me free
Its alright she said, it alright
Take anything you want from me
Anything, anything
Fly on, little wing
"Hey Boss I got something." Hayes looks across the room to Ray, whose leaning over a laptop. He sends a quick glance to Sonny, who nods without taking his eyes from his scope.
The house is small, like the mission. It's neither high profile, nor is it off extreme importance, (in fact it's mostly a long shot) but it would be extremely helpful to intelligence should they find what they're looking for.
The house is crude, walls made of wood and covered with cheap concrete, the floors made of stones set in the same sand based mixture. They're in the middle of Afghanistan and supposedly there's a level of network activity that doesn't match the nonexistent technology in the area. Given that not even three clicks north there was a large terrorist cell that was "dispersed" by the Marines over a year ago, it's not hard imagine that those who escaped went to nearby villages. And then went relatively unchecked, seeing as the nearest city was much more obviously active for underground movement; it was the focus of any counter terrorism actions conducted in the region.
Regardless. Ellis had it on decent authority that the computer they were being sent to find could be a key into terrorist movements, both locally and abroad.
Jason had his doubts. For one, a computer with that kind of information should be more heavily guarded: they drove ATVs in, and only encountered two hostiles who were quickly taken care of.
The town is quiet. Even during the day, not much goes on. People take their goats out to get water, tend to other animals, and come back by dusk, other necessary action performed only to ensure survival.
That didn't mean that the house they were directed to should have been empty. It was. In fact, after sweeping the whole thing, it didn't look like anyone had lived there for a very long time, no usable furniture, no rugs, no clothes, nothing that would imply someone was there inhabiting the shack of a place.
Jason had a bad feeling about it from the beginning. The sketchy intel, the lack of resistance but also the fact that there was jihadists near it, meant that something was here, but either they were in the wrong place for what they were looking for, the intel was just pure bullshit, or they were getting set up.
After seeing the burn marks on the outside of the windows, he was inclined to believe it was one of the first two. After Ray found the computer sitting unprotected under the only used table and chair in the whole place, he was ready to believe the latter.
"Whaddaya got." He mutters, feeling the need to bounce on his toes just to do something with the low levels of adrenaline getting shot through his veins by the prickling dread in his stomach.
"Everything." Ray responds, and turns the laptop to show line after line of numbers, names, and locations, all with folders attached to them that would include details. "Except I opened this and it was unlocked. Didn't have anything to be cracked. So either it's all in code or..."
"They left in a hurry."
"They left but didn't know we were coming? There's no way, they wouldn't have cleared out and left this here, I don't care how rushed they were." Ray whispers, knowing just as well as his TL that this wouldn't be left unprotected. Hayes glances at his long time friend, then back at the thick laptop. "Shut it down and take it." Is his only reply, before moving to key his radio.
"We got movement." Everyone freezes for a second at their rookies words, Jason's hand still on the radio.
There's been nothing from Toc. Not a damn word. and they're supposed to have been monitoring the area. Hayes knows they have overwatch.
Then Sonny confirms movement outside of his window, the side of the room opposite to where Clay is kneeling, and the block of apprehension in his chest turns to ice. In simple terms: they're fucked.
"Move!" He yells. "Everyone move, let's go! Sonny cover back, Clay take point, Ray-" The man holds a thumbs up, both hands free for his gun, laptop stowed in his backpack brought specific for it. "-on me."
Sonny ducks away from the window and gets behind Ray, the whole team now crouched down in tight formation, guns ready. Jason taps Clays shoulder, and the blond moves instantly, standing to move quickly into the Hall.
It's efficient. They are, and always have been. Their job is dangerous (understatement of the century) and Hayes does not allow for sloppiness of any kind. The slightest imperfections are ground out in training. Perfection is how they get their job done.
They're in a line up against the left wall where there's no doors. Clay walks forward with speed, weapon snug against his shoulder, eye always looking through the scope, finger always on the trigger. Jason is behind him, looking for anything Clay might not see, constantly scanning to his front and right while keeping his pointed lower. Ray is behind Jason, operating in the space between him and Sonny, covering anything to their immediate side, and keeping an eye back on Sonny, who's walking backwards with ease, scope trained to what's directly behind the group.
The move almost silently, and with deadly precision, all senses dialed to 11, the best of the best, Tier One operators in their prime.
It goes to shit fairly quickly.
They step around a corner - rather, Clay does - then there's more gunfire than Jason would've thought possible for that size hallway. He grabs the back of Spenser's vest and yanks him back, letting his gun hang from its strap in favor of getting another arm to wrap around Clays middle and bodily haul him backwards.
"Go!" He yells, pushing Clay forward and resituating his gun back in his shoulder. The team reversed direction, now headed deeper into the one level house.
"Go where-"
"How about not backwards!" He snarls, and pushes Clay forward again, getting him next to Sonny and trying to ignore the way he looks more than a little dazed.
"Back door isn't really a door anymore but we can try it." Ray volunteers as Sonny takes out two guys that pop out at the end of the hallway.
"Wherever we go better make it quick, the kids not doing so hot." Hayes, who was kneeling behind Ray and had his back towards the rest of the group, twist around to see Clay almost on his knees, one hand on the ground in front of him the other on his gun, head bowed.
With a growl of pure frustration, Jason turn and wraps an arm around Spensers mid section. Lifting him back to his feet, he taps Sonny's shoulder, and they're moving again.
It's pure chaos as what seems like a small army of men flood the house while the SEALs try to get out. Ray and Sonny have their work cut out for them trying to protect their teammates from hostiles both in front of and behind them. Hayes has his Baretta in one hand and a very disoriented bundle of tactical gear and deadweight in the other, the latter of which is slowly getting heavier as they move through the house.
They have no exfil, no contact with their support team, and a team member who's probably shot.
Hayes would panic if he could. Really, he would, because he's got one of Clays arms slung around his shoulders, and can feel Spenser leaning more and more weight on him, can see his feet struggling to move. That amount of gunfire he faced and the odds of him not being hit at all are slim to nil, and Jasons the one who put him up front.
That said, he can do nothing but try to get him and the rest of his team out of this house that's quickly becoming a kill box. If he stops now to check on Clay, they all die.
They're waiting for them when they get to the back room. It's empty, like the rest of the house, and where what might have been a door is just an open space with a single concrete step leading outside.
Sonny is still in front, and he's the first to see the man, holding up his hand in a fist that makes them all stop. Or rather, makes Ray and Hayes stop. Clay stumbles forward, not even remotely prepared for the halt in movement. He hits the ground on his hands and knees, and seems ready to go all the way down, when the shadowed figure throws a round object into the room.
"Grenade!"
"Clay move!"
Sonny dives backwards into the hall, Ray grabs Hayes and yanks him in the same direction, all of them bracing for what will be a lot of pain.
The grenade goes off.
Or rather, the concussion grenade goes off. If it was a normal grenade, Jason is sure that he would be dealing with much more than a headache and vertigo.
Hayes pushes himself off of Ray, blinking away the double visions but not the sharp ringing in his ears or the pounding in his skull. There's smoke in the air, and the headlights of a car shining in through the window that weren't there before.
It's because of those light that Hayes can see Clay, who is flat on the ground, clearly unconscious now. Jason moves - or tried to move at least - to help him, but the world tilts in a not so fun way and his attempt to get to his hands and knees ends with him falling back into Sonny, who's actually more coherent than Jason is. The texan man with a temper pushes his TL off him, but does so with carefulness. Rays up next to him too, but Jason's more focused on his fourth member than he is whatever these two are saying to him.
A man, maybe the same one who threw the grenade, maybe not, is in the room. And instead of killed the SEALs, he's taking Clay.
"Clay!" Hayes manages to get out around a harsh cough. Ray rotates instantly, aiming and pulling the trigger, going through rounds like a little kid does candy. Sonny stands, pulling him up in the process, and then they're all moving.
It only occurs to Jason after they burst through the door that they should've been shot the instant the walk outside. He may be a little concussed, but given the amount of people shooting at them before, there should have been some outside the house.
There are none. The shooters are gone, the car is gone, and so is Clay.
—
It takes exactly four seconds for Sonny to explode. Jason knows, because he's counting to calm himself down, and he doesn't get that far before Quinn goes off.
He'd been dead quiet from the second they got on the choppers, and with a brother just kidnapped, it wasn't especially hard for any of his remaining team to figure out what was going to happen once they landed.
Luckily, they didn't care. In fact, they shared the sentiment, but since Ray was going to have his hands full dragging Jason to medical to make sure a concussion was all he had, because seriously, he was fine. He wasn't the one that they had to worry about.
Exfil had been hard, and tense.
They had to hike out to a point where the choppers could land safety, because the ATVs were torched, which was the unneeded confirmation that they were being watched from the start.
They made radio contact with Toc maybe five minutes after Clay was taken. They still had the laptop. And the conversation on the other end of the line made it clear what happened was rather intentional.
First of all, it's wasn't Davis who answers. It wasn't Ellis or Blackburn or anyone in their normal ground team.
It was a general, who sounded so very not sorry to hear about Spenser.
"Sir, I don't think you understand. This was a set up. They knew we were coming, and they specifically went after us not with intent to kill but to take one prisoner. This is not just a spur of the moment thing, this was-"
"Master Chief Hayes, I am aware of the circumstances of past events, and I understand you may be emotionally compromised, but right now the most important thing is getting that laptop back to those who can do good with it. Your exfil is in 3 minutes. Toc out."
Ray stares incredulously while anger colors Sonny's face and muted shock is all Hayes can manage.
"They knew. They knew this would happen and they sent us anyway."
Ray has to basically drag Hayes backwards when they get into the command center, because he still has his gun and none of their ground team is there, it's just a whole new team of high ranking officers.
"Jas, don't do this!" He hisses, pulling him backwards and it stops the words from Hayes mouth, but does nothing for Sonny, who goes right at the general standing with barely concealed contempt on his face.
"You son of a bitch- he's gone because of you! You piece of shit! He-"
"Easy Sonny!"
"Don't tell me to- he's being tortured right now because your pompous ass doesn't care about the people under your command you c-"
"Enough!" And that's Blackburn, suddenly pushing the enraged SEAL backwards. The General has satisfaction in his eyes and a cold emotionless face, and Hayes just knows that this is going to be the guy who drives him to commit cold blooded murder.
"Master chief, control your men!" He barks out, and Hayes almost, almost jumps at him. Instead he grabs Sonny's shoulder, and that leaves Ray to help push him back too.
"Sonny- Sonny! This isn't going to help Clay!" Ray knows the words might be low, but it's what gets him to stop fighting them. Sonny shoves then off, and with one more glare at the General he stalks back into the hanger, looking ready to kill a man.
"C'mon Jay." Ray whispers, one hand gripping his friends arm in case he decides to re-entertain Sonny's mission to beat the snot out of the man who got their youngest kidnapped. "We gotta go. We'll figure this out, but not here."
—
"Look straight ahead." The medic says in a soft voice, clearly doing her best to keep her patient calm without patronizing him. It's not working the best, because Jason still feels very patronized.
And angry.
At everything.
Ray had to basically peel Jason's tactical gear off him, and that was after somehow getting Sonny on his side to drag their leader into medical. Blackburn had told them where to find the rest of Bravo, then quietly disappeared, which was mildly suspicious, but then Hayes just added it to the growing list of unknowns, and hoped something would become a little more clear when they met up with the rest of Bravo.
The medic, a young girl with her hair tied back in a high ponytail like Lisa's, flicks a pen light across Jason's field of vision, and definitely doesn't miss the extremely subtle flinch that he doesn't quiet hide. She doesn't talk, just checks him over while Ray tries to get inside Jason's head and Sonny broods in the corner with his arms crossed.
"You know this isn't your fault right?" Ray starts, and doesn't stop at the glare sent his way. "Clay was doing his job. They were the assholes who got him kidnapped."
And yes, that's part of it. The only thing that's keeping his rage in check are Rays words from before, and a few years of experience. Getting sidelined isn't going to help them find Clay.
The other part of his anger, however much logic dictates that it's the job, that he couldn't have known, that it was because of a lack of overwatch - that anger is directed at himself. He knows that it isn't his fault. He knows that.
But the guilty feeling in his gut won't go away, no matter what rational reasoning he gives it.
"He was shot Ray." He says, quieter. "They were the ones who got us jammed up, but I was the one who put him in front."
"Okay...so what? That could have been anyone else, it could have been any of us. You couldn't have known-"
"I should've-" Hayes bites out then winces, hating bringing out that tone in his best friend, because it mostly means that this won't be dropped anytime soon.
"Should've what? Had Toc telling us what to do? Yes. But we didn't, and you don't have X-ray vision, so there was nothing we could've done. You had no idea what was going down. What happens to him is not on you."
"Happened." Hayes corrects, feeling something important inside crack a bit as he continues. "He's probably dead-"
"No-"
"They wouldn't keep him alive if he was-"
"No, no we're not going there. Not this time." Ray argues back, shaking his head. "They took him because they needed to know what was in his head. They'll keep him alive."
"Ray-" He wants to talk his friend out of it, out of the false hope that he has, because if he doesn't, then Ray will convince Hayes that he should believe that they can still save Clay.
"He's all set." The medic interrupts. "I'd say keep it to light duty for a while but we all know that won't happen. Listen," She states, tucking her instruments away, looking as casual as she can, right up until she fixes Hayes with an intense stare that vaguely reminds him of Davis when some guy decides to give her shit. "I was there when Clay went through BUDs. I've seen him at his lowest." She lowers her voice, and tilts her head back towards the command tent.
"That asshole in there knew that you were the best, just like he knew it was a set up. He just about fucking bragged about it to his buddies. He knew a least one of you would get out alive, so he took the chance that the laptop would come with you, and he got lucky. But he also got the rookie SEAL of his best team kidnapped. Which means he can't really say 'no' to you trying to find him, not if he wants to keep his job." She leans back, cleaning an instrument with a cloth and the anger on her face disappears.
"You bring him back here in one piece and I can fix him." She says all business then rips a piece of paper off her clipboard to hand to a surprised Hayes.
"Will that be all Master Chief Hayes?"
"Yes Ma'm." He mutters back, and the three watch as she walks away. Ray says nothing, but Hayes just sighs as stands and walks past Sonny.
"I like her." He whispers, and Jason punches him in the shoulder with a gruff "Shut up."
They have to explain to the rest of Bravo what happened.
It wasn't hard to figure out how the op went, what with Blackburn only seeing the three of them, and then only seeing them as Sonny was screaming. That said, the Commander must've kept his mouth shut, or just said the op went bad because they walk into a side room full of the rest of the team, and they are still waiting for an explanation.
Ray shuts the door, shooing Jason to a chair, while he and Sonny stand, almost like guards.
When a minute goes by and no ones else walks in Davis speaks up.
"Where's Clay?"
No one answers at first, and then the horror and grief slowly spreading across their faces snaps Ray (always the calm one, even in rage) into action.
"We don't know." He answers, wary of the way Jason drops his head at the words.
"You don't know?" She snaps. "What the fuck does that mean?!"
"It's means the General who kicked you out is the scum of the earth and deserves the lowest level of hell." Sonny snarls from his place, standing against a wall.
"What?" Trent asks, confused.
"They knew we were coming." Hayes speaks, voice rough, but he makes no effort to clear it. "General Morrison knew that they knew we were coming, and he sent us anyway. We had no support, and it was...I should've-"
"Clay was kidnapped." Ray interrupts Hayes' self deprecation speech to get to the point. "Morrison didn't expect all of us to get out alive. In fact you might even say he planned on it. That's one of the reasons you were pulled after we landed."
It's quiet for a second, and Hayes looks around the room, watching as the disbelief turns to anger on everyone's faces.
"What?!" Mandy yells eventually, eyes bolting to each to of the returning members like they'll suddenly change their story, say they were joking or something. The sentiment is mirrored by the rest of the people in the room.
"So- so okay, then what...I mean we're going to find him. Right?" Davis asks, looking very much like if the answer is anything but yes there will be blood shed.
"We can't do anything without permission right now. As for our original orders, we were supposed to leave tonight." Blackburn answers, and Hayes shrugs.
"I wouldn't go packing anything yet. Me and Morrison have a...conversation that needs to be had before hand."
Sonny just snorts. "Don't be civil to that asshat."
"He in there?" Hayes asks, already knowing the answer as he walks briskly towards the closed door of the base command office. The Master Chief took the time to put on clean clothes simply to remove the Generals option of claiming him to be 'emotionally unfit'. Sonny and Ray are working with Davis and Elli to give them everything they can about the mission (the people, the place, what language they spoke to what clothes they wore, everything and anything that could give them a clue as to where to look for Clay) and Jason is taking valuable time to ensure he has permission to go after his youngest member.
"Sir, you can't-" The guard standing outside the door is a young kid, and Jason pushes right past him to barge in.
"Sure I can!" He responds cheerfully. "After all, the General has been expecting me." He finishes once he's inside, staring coldly at the man of subject, who simply puts blinks up at Jason and puts down his pen.
"Shut the door if you would. Thank you Ryan." Morrison responds, clearly dismissing the young guard. He stares up at Jason, and gestures to the seat on the other side of his desk, expression blank but eyes clear with an undeniable glee at the anger on Hayes' face.
"Would you like to sit?" He asks regardless, and it takes everything Jason has to not lunge across the desk and strangle the bastard.
"No, I'm fine. Just a few questions." Jace replies instead, voice carefully calm and cool despite the rage in his eyes.
"Well, if you can manage to ask them calmly and in a manor becoming of your rank, I believe it to be in my power to answer them." Jason's hand twitches at his side, but he refuses to let his demeanor change.
"The intel that you received pertaining to this laptop, who did you hear it from and how was it checked?"
The General's mask doesn't crack.
"The source is classified, and as you know it's nearly impossible to completely vet information. We tend to only know if its correct when we send in a team like yours and they come out with it."
Hayes just nods.
"So not only was the source's credibility questionable, but you heard about the possibility of major intelligence, and you didn't bother trying to check it through channels available to someone with a rank as prestigious as your own?"
"You must have a hearing problem Hayes, because that's not what I said."
"No sir, I hear just fine, I was just double checking the information you gave me." Jason replies, voice still cold and deceptively innocent. "I have to write this up in a very long AAR, so I need as much information as I can get to make sure my report is thorough. Would you mind telling me why Bravo's command team was pulled from toc?"
"The nature of the intelligence you were collecting demanded the best of the best be behind you." He states, almost as though reading from a script. Jason grins, all teeth and no mercy. A humorless chuckle passes his lips and feels deep satisfaction as the general walks right into his trap.
"That's very thoughtful of you General Morrison. And since we had the best of the best as our support team, how would you explain the fact that we had absolutely no warning or communication of any kind during an integral portion of our mission? Communication that would have most likely saved a member of our team from being kidnapped and tortured?"
The General goes quiet, and Hayes knows he's got him. The AAR he writes about this mission will be very detailed and very, very specific. But it's going to have to wait until he gets Spenser back.
They will get him back. Alive, fucked up, or dead, he's bringing their boy home. There's no question in his mind. Jason will not lose another member of his team, not because of this asshole with an power complex.
"Anything else?" Morrison asks, not even bothering to try and answer. Hayes pretends to think for a second.
"No- Actually, yeah I do have something else I need explained." He growls a bit at the end, voice lower and rougher as he takes a step forward to lean both arms on the General's desk.
"Why, exactly would you purposely send a small team of SEALs, to an isolated location to extract an piece of technology with invaluable information when you knew that the people who were currently in possession of this technology were waiting for us, and then completely cut us off from ground command, so we were essentially blind. Because the only reason I can think of is that you wanted us dead, but that wouldn't make sense, because then you still wouldn't get the laptop." He blinks.
"But since you now have that laptop and are still stalling my mans rescue, it's extremely possible there never was any information of real value on it, and getting us killed was your entire goal." Hayes looks up at the general, another fake smile on his face. "And I'm sure you would never have purposely sent a team of your fellow servicemen to their deaths right General? Because that would paramount to treason."
The General smiles back so wide it's chipping at the edges. "I hope you find your man Master Chief Hayes. Dismissed."
"How'd it go?" Ray asks the second Hayes walks back into their tent.
"Well, he's still alive." Jason responds.
"That bad, huh?" Sonny chirps from where he's checking his rifle.
"Well, we got the greenlight, or as green as we're going to get from the bastard." Hayes huffs. Ray is sitting at the table not saying anything, and Brock and Trent (who were, for some reason, forcefully told to sit out while the four of them went in, which Hayes thinks should've been a warning sign if he ever saw one) are standing opposite him, while Cerberus pacing around the floor, occasionally sniffing at the bunk that has Clays rucksack on it and then whining softly.
"What do we got?" He asks, looking between them in the hopes that someone will say something other than nothing.
"What we got, is a lot more than I had hoped for." Ellis says, and Jason turns around to see several satellite pictures up on a tv screen. The door opens just then, and Blackburn walks in with Davis, who's barely containing a smile.
"We're all set." The lieutenant commander declares. "I talked to one of my friends in the DIA, and she contacted the man in charge of the whole damn base. Once we get a location, we are go for extraction."
Hayes frowns. "I told you I was talking to Morrison."
Blackburn opens his mouth to reply and then pauses. "Well...I wasn't entirely sure that wouldn't end in a court martial, so…"
Hayes blinks, then shrugs.
"That's fair."
"As I was saying," Mandy interrupts, and Jason's exhausted focus is turned back to her. The team that went in has been awake for twenty hours now, and no one is looking to rack out now. "Based on the information you gave us, and what we got from our own sources, this was definitely a set up, with the intent to capture, not kill, one of you guys. We're going to assume that they were smart enought to set up planned escape routes, at least two, and had multiple sights to take their hostage to. Now, we went over what data we had concerning the site and surrounding area, and we think that they might not have taken him far." Mandy clicks a few things on her laptop and new pictures come up. Sonny swears, and Ray just sighs.
"Of course. Perfect hiding spot, because it's not like any American soldier is going survive going in there for very long." Hayes scrubs a hand down his face, literally feeling the odds turn even farther against them.
Jalabad. Well, at least it's familiar.
"Okay. Okay so- are we sure about this?" He asks. Davis shares a glance with Ellis.
"To save the long drawn out explanation, yes, we are sure. Very much so." The weapons tech answers. "They may have spent time planning out several routes to leaving, but they seemed to do so with the knowledge that no one would be chasing them. They didn't hide quite as well as they thought, and I'm sure they figured that even if we found them, we wouldn't risk an international incident going after one soldier."
"International incident sounds fun." Sonny adds, and Davis rolls her eyes.
"Lucky for everyone involved, they aren't really inside the city, so much as planted on the outskirts of it."
"You have a general location then?"
Mandy just smiles.
"I can do you one better than that. We have the exact building."
like I tried...finals suck. thats all i can say. bonus is that next part is finished, just needs to be edited, and will be up later this week. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed Axis! this one is for you guys :D
