Kind of off my game with this chapter, sorry. Hope you enjoy anyway!
With nothing but making sure that everyone was clear to wear their uniforms regularly for quite a while to teach the new arrivals discipline, the base was ready for the three boys. It was early that morning, about six in the morning, and Soap, Ghost, and Archer stood outside waiting. Everyone else was already out practicing in the pit, or out at the range, or the track. But the three that would soon be closest to the boys were there, waiting for them to arrive.
Soap felt his eyebrows bunch together as a large black helicopter neared from the distance, obviously coming right for the base, no detour in immediate sight, and judging by the time, Soap knew it had to be the boys. Ghost coughed softly next to him, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Archer stood tall and silent, unmoving. Soap merely shifted weight from on foot to the other as the black aircraft touched down and came to a stop about twenty feet in front of them. A door on the side slid open and three small looking shapes slid out of the entrance.
They wandered over to the three figures waiting for them a few feet away. Soap stood tall and still as the three neared, each with a duffle bag over his shoulder, and squinted eyes. Soap felt his frown sink deeper as they came closer. Not only were they all very short and scrawny for task force standards, they were all in ill-fitting uniforms and looked like they had no idea what to do. After a few seconds and exchanged looks, they moved over to stand in front of Soap and the others.
There had been no pictures of the kids in the files, and Soap didn't even need to look at the names on the uniforms to give a solid guess to who they were. They lined up side by side in front of him, fidgeting and squinting, looking confusedly up at him. Soap resisted to urge to smack them all good and hard and instead looked down on them with a rough glare.
"Boswell, Brooks, and Godard?" They all nodded kind of uncertainly. Soap took a deep, controlled breath through his nose. They looked like they hadn't the slightest clue of how to deal with authority or the situation they were presented with. Soap barked a question at them.
"Anyone here have any training at all? Basic boot camp? Any discipline? Program of any sort?" All of them shook their heads slowly. Soap wished that he could magically teleport to wherever Shepherd was and strangle him senseless. They didn't even go to any kind of training program or boot camp or ANYTHING, and here they were on his doorstep. Soap growled, knowing exactly how he was going to treat the new arrivals. He was going to treat them like the little shits they were. He walked slowly in front of them, looking down on each.
"You know, why don't we start with this. Let's hear a NO SIR to that question." Soap took extra care to make sure his tone was deep and dark. Stepping back slightly, and heard a few soft mumbles that sounded a bit like 'no sir' but Soap wasn't going to stand for that. They were making his anger grow. He roared at them, getting right into the face of the one on the end.
"WHAT WAS THAT I HEARD?" All three seemed to jump a little and yelled a little louder.
"No SIR!" Soap stepped back and let a breath out of his nose. He actually took a good look at the three for the first time. On the end right he saw the tallest of the group, just about Roach's height, but with nearly no weight on him at all. His hair was already in a short buzz, and it seemed to be a dark brown of some sort, and deep brown eyes looked up at Soap with a kind of rebellion in them. Soap knew rebellion when he saw it, and this kid had it. His tight posture, hunched shoulders, and clenched fists told Soap the whole story. A quick look at his uniform told Soap that he was looking into the face of Skylar Brooks.
The boy standing at the end on the left was the second tallest of the group, but he was also the most wiry. His face looked gaunt and pale, and his hair was trimmed short, but not quite a buzz. His eyes were a deep half gray, half blue. He looked like a frightened animal, his eyes wide and his entire body alert. Muscles taught, back straight, and shoulders back. He was blinking pretty rapidly at well, which seemed to annoy Soap a lot. Taking a glance at the uniform, Soap knew that this boy was none other than Merlin Godard.
Taking a look in the middle, Soap saw the one that he would be getting to know real well. The shortest of the group, small enough to be a boy much younger, had to be Leonard Kyle Boswell, Soap's new least favorite person. His hair fell down to almost over his eyes, a ragged, unkempt brown. What Soap could catch of his eyes was a brown as well, swirling with green and gold, and they were wide and darting from side to side. His body looked like it could be snapped in half over Soap's knee, which annoyed Soap very much. The other thing that annoyed him was the boy was not displaying many signs of alertness, but more of fear.
His body was almost leaning back, muscles tight and clenched, and his face was a mask of fear and uncertainty. It seemed every time Soap took a step near him he flinched. It seemed odd to Soap such a child could be charged with such a hefty crime, but he also knew that you could never judge a book by its cover. Soap yelled a bit more at them about discipline before telling them exactly what would go on.
"Alright, Brooks, you, you're with Ghost here. He is going to be the person to make sure you don't fuck up any worse than you have already. When I'm done making your life hell, he's going to pick that right back up. If you're not with him, you're with me. Understand?" Skylar cast him a look that bordered aggression and rebellion, but responded with a loud and steady enough "yes sir!" Soap glared at Merlin, who let out a small squeak.
"Godard, you're with Archer. Same with you. Understand?" Merlin yelled loudly, and Soap was sure that he heard the tone that said that he respected the authority that Soap held. Lastly, Soap turned to Leonard. He walked up to the small boy, and leaned right over in his face, feeling the fire light in his eyes.
"And you Boswell, you're with me. Understand?" He roared. The kid flinched and cringed back, letting out a few inaudible words. Soap screamed his command again.
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" A feeble 'yes sir' came from his mouth. Soap let out a breath again, taking a small step back. Not only did he get the kid with the worst criminal record, he got the one that was a crybaby too. The next indefinite time period was going to be a piece of fucking cake.
