Here's chapter 12, by Arhani 'Hanny' Daforcena!
Disclaimer: If you don't get it now, you never will. We don't own MW2. She owns Ryuka, I own Mckinley.
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"Welcome to the 141."
Those words meant to Mckinley more than anything, especially after she had come back from that… disastrous mission. In fact, all of them were welcomed into the 141, officially. Their batch had been one of the most successful batches of FNGs, where all of them had gotten through the arduous 2 week-long training program. Now, with their new call-signs, and a new place in life, all of them had been sent out into town by Shepherd, who stopped by to congratulate them.
"Go ahead, and have fun," he told them, on one of the few rare opportunities they would have a whole weekend off. "You guys deserve it."
Of course, everyone in the 141 was happy, even MacTavish. He took a few FNGs, along with Meat and Archer off bar-hopping, along with a dirty-blond haired man that she had never seen before, leaving the two girls wondering why men favored alcohol so much. "Do you drink much, Mckinley?" Ryuka asked Mckinley as they walked aimlessly about town, moving from store to store. They passed by the boys, who were going into another bar, and waved to them before entering a quaint little shoe-store.
"No, not really," Mckinley replied, her eyes spying on a style that she liked, while Ryuka just looked over the shelves. It was strange really, being in the Russian town so close to Encounter Base. Mckinley often wondered if the locals knew that there was the military base 10 miles away had been one that belonged by the enemy, and it seemed that they were blissfully unaware of it.
Her answer made Ryuka chuckle. "I do not as well," Ryuka said. An awkward moment passed between them, the previous scars of that fiasco in New York still fresh in one another's mind. Soon, they exited the outlet, and went into the park area, where they sat on a bench, staring into nothingness. "Mckinley, I…"
"I know what you're about to say, Ryuka," Mckinley told the other woman. All of a sudden, using her first name seemed appropriate for her, and she did not know why. "And frankly, you already arranged everything with your sister, right? Why didn't you tell me?"
This kid had a sharp mind, and Ryuka knew it. However, she was not the Lieutenant that Mckinley thought she was, and she was not about to lie about it. "I did not know that my sister had placed Oksana under regional anesthesia on both her legs," she told Mckinley, whose jaw went slack immediately. "She did not tell me anything, but because she knew that I deemed that stabbing the child's leg would cause her enough pain to make her father give in to us, she prepared accordingly…"
Mckinley's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" she asked. She did not understand… What would lead Ryuka to find such a… horrifying way to retrieve Intel so badly? To hurt a child so that she could get to the father?
"Mr. Fields is only a little fish to catch a bigger prey," Ryuka answered. "If I had tortured only he, it would not take long before he would give us the same information we need. However, Mr. Fields has many enemies, and one of them is the chief prize among all…"
Yes, Mckinley remembered now. They had said something about the 'Shadow of Zakhaev'… Who was that guy, and what does he have to do with Zakhaev and the Ultranationalists? "And what about that guy?" she asked further, a question to which Ryuka answered duly, using the appropriate code-words.
"He is as he is named for," the other woman answered. "The old man's Shadow, in every sense of the world. Some say that he is the true leader of Russia, and I have placed it upon myself to discover who he actually is. But it seems, that in my own zealotry, I have caused more harm than I had intended to…"
"I don't understand…" Mckinley said, trying to look into Ryuka's black eyes. "Why would you do that?" she asked Ryuka further. "Oksana was just a kid!"
For a long while, Ryuka was silent. "I would understand if you would not wish to speak to me again," she told Mckinley, who was getting more and more confused by the moment. "But when I was in that setting, something… dark took over me, something that I can never explain. I felt powerful, and I felt unstoppable, without any need of morals or humanity… In my head, what I only knew was that as long as Mr. Fields was unwilling to provide us with the information that we need, he could be persuaded using such methods, and all would be put right once we have captured the Shadow…"
"But it doesn't," the young Private said firmly. "Why can't you see that?" She could not believe it at all! She thought that Ryuka was a kind, gentle soul! The woman before her was not the co-Lieutenant of the Task Force 141, she was an utter monster! How could Shepherd even trust a person like her to act as an XO of such an important unit like the 141 when she placed so little value on the lives of the civilians caught in the middle of a war? More importantly, how could MacTavish love a woman like her?
"That is the price of war," Ryuka answered. "And I will repay what I have owed with my soul."
Mckinley knew that she couldn't take it anymore. That woman was impossible! How could she…
Repulsed and utterly disturbed by how calm Ryuka had been, how she had admitted to willingly torturing a kid who had totally nothing to do with her, Mckinley stood up from the bench chair and started walking into an opposite direction, not caring where her two feet might take her, or that she was highly unfamiliar with the area.
Soon, her tired legs brought her to a familiar place, but one that she could not name. "Bloody hell, Queenie, what're you doing here?" That voice… It was Ghost! But when she turned around, all she saw was that strange man that had been exiting Encounter Base with MacTavish! So, this was how he looked without that damned balaclava on! But she had no time to even say anything. He took one good glance at her and noted her sour expression. "Judging from where you came from, you walked off after you've talked to Ryuka, didn't you?" Mckinley did not really know how to react to Ghost's words. So, she just nodded, and put her fingers to her temples, as if she was nursing a headache or a migraine.
"That woman is nuts!" she exclaimed. "The kid… she tortured a freakin' kid, Ghost! And the worse thing is that she's not one bit ashamed of it!"
Ghost knew what Mckinley was talking about, and he knew that Ryuka had gone too far this time as well. In fact, Shepherd had just given her a strong reprimand about it, and told her that she would be forced to see a shrink every two weeks if anything of the like happened again. Her older sister was also forced to take two month's worth of leave when the CIA found out about it.
"I know, I know," he told the girl. "'Tavish wasn't so happy about it either, you know? After what he told you and everything…" He went on to tell her that Shepherd had been furious to read a report that Kedrov's daughter was harmed during the interrogation, and Ryuka had told him the exact same words as she had done Mckinley.
"I don't want to be like her," Mckinley said. If this was what it meant to be a warrior like Ryuka, she would not want a single part of it. She could take all the fame and glory for herself, all Mckinley wanted was to serve and protect her country and the world, and that ideal had never changed, even if she was now a formal member of the 141.
Ghost chuckled. "Of course you don't," he said, blue eyes looking straight at her. She had to admit, they were pretty captivating. "No one expects you to be another Reddie Algren," he told her. "One of them is enough, I would imagine." In all honesty, Mckinley did not know what to say in return. "Everyone's special, don't even try to be anything else but yourself."
With those words, Ghost did the rather unthinkable. He held a calloused hand to her face and inhaled deeply. Without a moment to lose, he leaned in and kissed her. It was not anything that would have sent the world crashing down in seconds, or something compared to thunder and lightning. In fact, it happened so fast that Mckinley tried her utmost best to recall it happening.
But still, the warmth on his lips upon hers… it could not be denied… All of a sudden, the dubious methods of her superior seemed to be far, far away, and only the sensation of the kiss, however fleeting, remained. However, another question did arise in its place, and it was:
"What the hell just happened?"