The Task Force 141 had the strangest hierarchy in any military faction. Of course, the big cheese, the alpha and the omega, the big kahuna, was Shepherd, followed by MacTavish, their Captain, and the two Lieutenants, Ghost and Ryuka. Anyone other than that, were pretty much equals, despite their ranks from whatever branch of whatever armed forces they had come from. It made things simple, and clear cut. And now, Price, was their second Captain.

MacTavish had known from the start that Price could easily assimilate into the 141. After all, everything that he was, had been learnt from Price. They were used to their kind of leadership. The only other thing, was the big kahuna…er, Shepherd. He dared not officially declare Price as the co-Captain, without the general's approval. Hence, he started a video-call so that the two of them could talk face to face.

"They know each other, trust me," Ryuka said, as he typed away on the computer. As she had told him before, her father, Price and Shepherd had met during the Gulf War, but while Price and her father had become the best of friends, things still remained cool between the British Captain and the American General.

"I'll keep that in mind," MacTavish replied, pausing to kiss Ryuka on the temple before she left to call Price in. This was not a conversation that a Lieutenant should be present in, and she knew it. "Uplink nearly complete," he announced when Price came in the room. "General Shepherd, you're online with Captain Price."

"Back from the brink, Captain," Shepherd said, his voice, highly amused. MacTavish listened, starting to believe what Ryuka said about the relationship between the two of them. There was a dark sense of familiarity between them, but not of the sort that he had felt with the other members of the 141 and Price.

Price chuckled, rather cynically at that. "Out of the frying pan is more like it," he answered, "This world looks more like hell than the one I just left." That, was utterly textbook of Price, and it seemed that Shepherd had been expecting such a response as well.

"We thought that we could recover the ACS module before the Russians could crack it," Shepherd explained. "We were wrong, then Makarov turned the US into his scapegoat, and the next thing you know, there're flames everywhere." He was literally stopped mid-sentence when he started receiving files from their end. Image files, for that matter. "What's this image you're sending me?" he asked.

It was a Russian submarine. Shepherd had seen it before, briefly. It was mentioned in one of the files that Ryuka had recovered from one of Makarov's right hand men (the last one that she had tortured and killed), but he did not pay much attention to it. A program then started to show him the images one by one, analyzing every single detail on the submarine. As it turned out, it was more than another submarine, it had a nuclear capacity of 16 megatons. If the payload was dropped upon the United States, the results would be more than just horrible… It would be like the Second Russian Civil War all over again.

"You wanna put out an oil fire sir, you set off a bigger explosion right next to it," Price answered. "Sucks out the oxygen, snuffs the flame."

"Price, you've been locked up for too long," Shepherd said. "Better get your mind right, son." Price was completely unlike Ryuka's father. He had a mind of his own, and a mind that no one else could fathom. Shepherd could rein Ryuka in as well, no matter how feisty she was, but Price was a different monster altogether. It was that stubbornness, and that defiant strength that had kept him alive in a Russian Gulag for five years, and he knew it well.

It seemed like Price did not want to have "no" for an answer. "Shepherd, are you willing to do what is necessary to win?" he asked the older man. Actually, Price knew just how much Shepherd would do in order to secure victory. Even when he had been only a colonel, this man was ruthless to his enemies, and would never even blink an eye when his men were lost or dead. He showed no concern, no mercy, and no hint of humanity upon the field. That was why Price did not trust him as much as Ryuka's father did. He had no choice however, serving as Shepherd's subordinate.

"Always," Shepherd answered. His actions had proved more than just that, which was for certain.

"We got ourselves a pretty big fire, gonna need a huge bang," Price continued. It was taking too long, usually, it would not take much to convince this man for any single chance of victory. Something was wrong, and Price knew it. He just did not know what, where, and how. He could feel it, right in his bones, and he knew that no one in the 141 knew about it. He would have to keep his mouth shut for some time, to ensure the safety of himself and the others as well.

"You've been in the Gulag for too long," Shepherd said, almost losing his patience. "Focus on taking out Makarov."

Price however, saw things differently. "No time, sir. We need to end this war today."

"I'm not asking you, Price," Shepherd countered. "This is an order! You're to…"

And with one hit of a single key on the keyboard, the conversation was ended. They wanted Shepherd's confirmation that Price could be in the 141, and they had it, thanks to the last words that Shepherd had uttered. "Hmm… Looks like we've lost our connection."


Sgt Gary "Roach" Sanderson

Task Force 141

14 Miles SSE of Petropavlosk, Russia.


"Price, Reddie, I can barely see Roach's chute on the satellite feed," MacTavish said. "Too much interference… Do you see him, over?"

Ryuka chuckled. She was about to say that Roach always popped up in the most unexpected of places when Price found him. "Roger that Soap," the man said. "I've found Roach, he appears to be intact. We're gonna head northwest to the sub-base, over."

"Copy that," MacTavish replied. "The rest of the team landed near Ghost, pretty far to the east. Reddie, take care of them, won't you?"

"Will do, Captain," Ryuka answered, getting her M14 EBR ready. "They will not have a single scratch on them, I promise." Of course, leave the baby-and-old man sitting to Reddie. However, she knew that MacTavish meant well, or he would not have given her such a task. The three of them moved on, the snow lightly crunching under their footsteps. Petropavlosk was utterly beautiful during winter, but as of late, it had been a war-zone, and those that were fighting in it, could not have the time to appreciate the white blanket that covered almost everything, and the trees, the evergreen trees that dotted both sides of the road, creating hints of green amidst a sea of white.

As they trekked forwards, they could see a patrol right before them. "Contact, enemy patrol 30 meters to our front," Price announced, "Five men, automatic rifles, frag grenades, one German Shepherd."

"Dogs?" MacTavish asked. "I hate dogs." Ryuka rolled her eyes. A few months ago, she had almost managed to convince the team to sneak a little snow-white puppy with a pretty pink ribbon into the land base, but utterly failed, due to MacTavish's sensitive nose. The Captain of the 141 was not afraid of dogs, not in any way, but was allergic to them. And Ryuka had been planning to make Snowball their mascot, in hindsight.

"These Russian dogs are like pussy cats compared to the ones in Pripyat," Price said.

"It's good to have you back, old man," MacTavish said. Old man? Since when did MacTavish have the gall to call him an old man? Oh yes, Price remembered, he was a Captain already…

"Copy that," Price replied. "Let's follow them quietly and pick of any stragglers." Roach and Ryuka nodded, and followed his lead.


One thing that Ryuka had always known, but hardly ever witnessed, was that Price's skill with a gun. The man could handle almost every kind of weapon that he laid his hands on. They had now reached the head of the village near the submarine base, where the snow had already covered the houses that dotted the landscape. Abandoning their silenced M14s, they switched weapons, and Ryuka had chosen the M240 with the red dot sight and a heartbeat sensor, while Price had chosen a P90.

"Check your fire, check your fire," Ghost warned. His voice was something that Ryuka was gald to hear on that mission. "Friendlies coming in at your 12. Reddie, what's the status?"

"The SAM site has destroyed one of our Predator drones," she replied. "And we almost got run over by a BTR… All in all, we are fine." Time was of the essence, and with more and more Russians dashing towards them, there had not been enough time for small talks, or status reports at all.

Together, they pushed towards the submarine base, which was just right after the village. "The second Predator is almost in position," MacTavish said. "Make it count, these things don't grow on trees."

All of them heard what he said, even though nobody acknowledged it. "Roach, soften their defenses with the Predator," Price instructed when they spotted the submarine from afar. "Watch out for the flashing strobes, that's us!"

Roach nodded, and started to open the console that controlled the Predator drone and hit the area concentrated with the most hostiles, as well as the SAM site. "Good job, Roach," Ryuka praised, petting him on the shoulder. He looked up at her and nodded. Her praise had been seconded by MacTavish, who had confirmed that Roach had scored about five plus KIAs. "And now, we can get to the fun part."

They ran into the base together, taking down enemy after enemy, with Price leading them. On and off again, Roach would use the Predator drone to their advantage, while the others gunned down any single soul that dared to stand in their way. "I'm going for the sub!" Price said when the submarine was already in sight. "Cover me from the guardhouse by that west gate!"

Ghost quickly gathered the men to the position which Price had indicated, while Ryuka took a share of them to defend the position on the ground. The Russians, they were relentless. One after the other, wave after wave, after wave, and they were still coming towards them… Time was running out, and they were already low on ammo. Ryuka threw the M240 to a guy who needed it, and unsheathed her katana instead.

There they stood their ground, while Price toiled from within the submarine. "Contact to the north, on the dock next to the sub!"

"I'm on it!" Ryuka shouted, having seen the group of enemy soldiers. Standing in the stance that came so naturally for her, she placed her katana back into its saya. Those men, they were fools for stopping to watch her, and when she started her attack, it happened so fast that they could not see her move. The one closest to her had been severed into half horizontally, while the other two had been shot down by Roach and Ghost respectively.

And then, something happened. Sensing movement, Ryuka looked to her right, and found that the submarine was moving… When the mist cleared, they realized that it was the silo doors of the submarine. They were opening!

"Jiji…" Ryuka murmured, stopping there momentarily before the boys shouted for her to return to the guardhouse. Something was wrong. Something was going very, very wrong. If the missiles were fired, there would be no hope left for the Americans. 16 megatons would cause utter catastrophe, it would kill more than just the soldiers that were defending the country, but the citizens as well, women, children, men… The land itself would suffer…

"Price, are you there?" Ghost asked with desperation laced so thickly in his voice. "The silo doors are open, I repeat, the silo doors are open!" There was no response from Price at all. "Price, come in! They're opening the silo doors on the sub! Hurry, Price, do you copy?"

"Uncle Price, the silo doors are open!" Ryuka shouted as well. "Get the hell out of there, Jiji!."

However, Price seemed to see things quite differently from the two Lieutenants. "Good…" they heard him say, and the missiles were launched into the air.

"We have a missile launch… Missile in the air… Missile in the air!" Ghost exclaimed. "Code black, code black!"


HAN: Whew, finally, Contingency is down. WOOHOO! ^.^ How do you think Ryuka would react to Soap not telling her about his and Price's plans? A) Be a good soldier and say nothing or B) Lots of angry sex?