Chapter 22 - Betting

The next morning, Finn walked into the gym with a smile on his face. The guys were already there, and, to his surprise, so were all of the Glee girls.

"Please don't tell me you guys are fighting too! I'm fine beating them up, but you ladies are like less than half my weight."

They laughed. "Nope, we just wanted to be here in case we need to call an ambulance."

Finn nodded. "Ok guys, let's do this." Finn walked over to one of the punching bags that was next to the ring, and kicked it. It flew off its hinges and crashed into the wall. The guys' mouths dropped and Finn winked at them.

"Last chance to forfeit. You'd still have to pay me though." he told them.

"Not a chance," Sam growled.

"OK, suit yourselves. I'm not paying your medical bills though," he said as he put on his gloves. The girls were acting referees, but didn't enter the octagon themselves. There was a steel cage around the octagon anyways.

"Ready?" Marley asked.

"Ready," they all replied.

"OK, 3.. 2… 1… Fight!" Kitty shouted.

The boys instantly advanced towards Finn. Finn just stood still, almost bored. They were almost hesitant to attack him after the feat of strength Finn had shown 5 minutes ago. Finally, Puck broke the deadlock and lunged at his friend. Finn, again not panicking at all, sent a vicious uppercut into Puck's jaw, and Puck went flying into Ryder. Puck was completely out, and was lying on top of a very annoyed Ryder. Finn then made his first offensive maneuver. He grappled with Sam and threw him into Mike. They both went down, and landed on the two boys who were on the ground already. Suddenly, it was just Jake and Finn left standing, and Finn had the size advantage. He sent two quick punches to Jake's solar plexus and threw him on top of the pile of guys. Finn put a hand on top of the pile, and Mercedes started counting the pin.

"1… 2… 3… Finn wins!" she cried. Finn helped the guys up. They shook hands after the fight. The girls were amazed. Only guys could beat the crap out of each other one second, and be smiling, best friends the next. They reluctantly paid Finn the money. He counted it agonisingly slowly in his hand. This annoyed Puck to a large extent.

"OK, Finn. You take that round. But what about double or nothing. We'll go to the go karting arena."

"Not go karting, but you gave me a good idea. Why don't all of us go camping sometime next week for a night? I found a really nice place last year. It has a meadow and a cliff that looks into a beautiful lagoon. We can swim in the lagoon, and chill in the meadow. We can bring ATVs and we can have a race there if you want."

"Yeah, that's a great idea, Finn!" Marley exclaimed. Everyone agreed.

A few days later, they were ready to go. A lot of the guys owned trucks so they had enough space for all of their stuff. Finn, Puck and Sam also connected ATV trailers to the back of their cars, and they rented ATVs so that they could race each other in the forest. It was a 3 hour drive to the campsite, and Finn was driving up with Quinn, Kurt and Rachel. They had thrown their stuff in the back of Finn's car and had a great time driving up. When they arrived at the campsite, Finn helped everyone pitch their tents. After they had finished, the girls (and Kurt and Blaine) wanted to relax and chat at the top of the cliff, overlooking the breathtaking lagoon. The guys went to explore the area on their ATVs. The girls could see the boys speeding down a hill on the other side of the cliff. Finn led the group. He was clearly the most experienced out of all the guys there - and he attempted different stunts that nobody else dared to try. At one point, he even started driving down a hill backwards. After around 2 hours, the guys parked their ATVs at the campsite and walked over to the rest of the group. They laid down on the grass on the top of the cliff. Puck walked to the edge and started throwing rocks off the side of the cliff into the water.

"Christ that is high." he said, as a rock finally hit the water, a good two seconds after he had thrown it.

"It's only like 100 feet." Sam argued.

"It's fucking high. It's fucking beautiful though," Puck admired the view.

Everyone murmured in agreement.

"Is he ok?" Puck asked, pointing at his friend. Finn was lying on the ground, motionless, with sunglasses over his eyes.

"He's fine," Kurt responded.

"Are you sure, because he looks fucking dead bro?" Puck remarked. Rachel scowled.

"Quit swearing all the time, Noah," she glared at him.

"Yeah, makes you sound stupid. Find another fucking adjective," Ryder laughed. Rachel scowled at him too.

Finn chuckled, making everyone jump.

"Told you he's fine," Kurt stated. Finn slowly sat up and took a swig of his drink.

"Hold my beer, would you?" he asked Jake, who was next to him.

"Sure, I got you." he replied. Finn got up and noticed Jake about to take a sip.

"I said hold it, not drink it," he laughed.

"Yeah, I got you," Jake rolled his eyes.

Finn stumbled over to the edge of the cliff and, without even hesitating, walked right off the edge. Everyone shot up. They heard a splash a second later.

"Christ!" Puck shouted.

"Finn!" Rachel screamed.

Kurt and Quinn snickered. Everyone ran to the edge of the cliff, and looked down, expecting to see Finn bobbing up and down at the surface. However, he was still underwater. The Glee Club watched nervously as after 10 minutes, he still hadn't risen.

"We need to go down there!" Kitty shouted. "He's probably drowned by now."

"He's fine." Quinn declared. Everyone spun around and were shocked at the lack of worry on her face.

"How do you know?"

"He works for the Navy. He can hold his breath for a long time." Kurt said.

"Still, there's no way he can hold it for 10 minutes. We need to go down there," Puck bellowed. 5 minutes later, everyone had made it to the bottom of the cliff, and by the lagoon. They could see any sign of Finn from the surface of the water. Everyone was already wearing swimsuits, so they immediately dived into the lagoon. Quinn could see faint movement ahead, so she gestured for them to follow her. After around thirty seconds, they reached Finn, who was sitting cross legged on the lagoon floor, almost meditating. He waved at them. Everyone swam to the surface, and Finn followed them, chuckling under the water. When they emerged from the water, Everyone went over and lightly punched Finn.

"You idiot! We thought you were dead," Ryder laughed.

"Guys I can hold my breath for a long time. And I work for the Navy, so drowning hopefully won't be my cause of death. But because you guys are here, we might as well stay in the water for a bit."

Everyone started messing around in the water, but stopped when they noticed Finn leaving the lagoon and walking over to a towering tree. They watched as he pulled a rope down from the midst of the tree that had been built as a rope swing.

"Anyone want to try this?" he asked and everyone got out of the lagoon and ran towards him. They all took turns swinging from the rope into the water. There was a small handle on the end of the rope to give them an easier grip so they all tried to swing and fall into the water. Puck even swung upside down, with his feet curled around the handle instead of his hands. Finally, Finn was the last to dive in. He let go of the rope at the perfect time and he flew much higher than anyone else. He did 3 backflips in the air and dived pretty gracefully into the water. They spent until sunset in the water, before it started to get cold. They then climbed out of the water and dried off. Finn had collected some wood for a fire earlier that day, and he quickly made them a fire. Puck had brought hot dogs and buns so they grilled hotdogs on the fire and ate hot dog sandwiches for dinner. They grilled s'mores for dessert. Finn was by far the best at camping. He knew exactly what to do all the time, as he had spent a long time camping in training. He was also the most adapted to the cold. Everyone was buried in coats and snuggling with their significant other. Finn was just wearing a long sleeve t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He gave Quinn his coat, as she was not good with the cold. She was still shivering, even with 2 coats on, so she cuddled deep into his side. The Glee Club spent the rest of the night talking and singing along to Puck's guitar playing.

Finn didn't end up sleeping at all. By the time the Glee club had retired to their tents, it was already dawn, so Finn decided to go for a long drive on his SUV. Their breakfast was already sorted as one of the Glee members had brought a carton of eggs, and another had brought bread. Someone had also brought tomatoes and some other vegetables so they planned to make Eggs on Toast with grilled tomatoes. Finn began to prepare the food as the others started to wake up. He fried the eggs, toasted the bread and grilled the tomatoes as passed out paper plates for everyone. They ate breakfast and then decided to start packing up. Puck had thought twice before challenging Finn to an ATV race after seeing how competent Finn was in the vehicle. Finn didn't press him about the challenge though. They threw all of their stuff in the cars and began to drive. It had been a really fun two days, but Finn was sad as he knew he was leaving in two days.

Sure enough, the next two days flew by and before Finn knew it, he was on a plane back to Dam Neck. For some reason, saying goodbye to his friends and family was easier this time around. They had more confidence in him that he would be back. When he finally made it to Dam Neck, he was greeted by Jack. Dirty was arriving the day after, and the other men weren't yet here. Finally, when all of the men had arrived, they were brought back to the conference room, where they were met by Captain Brady, Commander Thompson and Commander Sterling. They shook hands with each other and sat at the table. Finn knew that they were going to be in the jungle, but he didn't know what the mission was exactly.

"OK men, this is Enrique Garcia. He's created the biggest drug cartel in the world." He clicked on the screen projector and a man of Latin American descent appeared on the screen. "But it isn't just drugs. It's also human trafficking, murder, arson and many other criminal actions. He is based close to the Brazilian-Colombian border, deep in the depths of the amazon. You guys will, yet again, be teaming with Delta Force. This mission is not just an assassination. You guys will be taking down the entire operation. You guys will take out the top commanders in the cartel, and you and Delta Force will arrest everyone in the area. There will probably also be some slaves. You are to rescue them."

"Good lord. This mission is so much more complicated than the last one," Jack declared.

"Welcome to the SEALs, son!"" Captain Brady laughed at him and rolled his eyes.

The SEALs met up with the Delta Force soldiers. It was many of the same guys as last mission. The Delta Force soldiers were OK. They were no doubt qualified, but weren't quite the same level as the SEALs. However, the biggest difference between SEALs and Delta Force, were the modesty that SEALs had. SEALs had a certain level of humility to them that wasn't there with the Delta Force men. Something Finn was surprised about was that he had not met a single female SEAL or Delta Force officer or commander. The men spent the next two months training for the mission. They even travelled to a Puerto Rican Army Base to help acclimatize themselves to the jungle environment. They studied the faces of every member of the operation. Finally, after two and a half months of preparation, they were ready for the mission. Finn had spoken to Quinn the night before. She was a little bit worried, but was a lot better than last time. Finn remembered that the last time he was about to go on a mission, she was hyperventilating over the phone.

The SEALs were planning to HALO jump into the compound where many of their high level people in their operation were staying, including Enrique Garcia himself. They got onto the plane. The five of them were all on the same plane. Jack was staying a fair distance away from the action, as he was a sniper for this mission, but the other guys were parachuting straight into the compound. It was a much shorter flight, as they were just flying from the US to Colombia, rather than Pakistan. They arrived within 3 hours. They strapped on their parachutes and oxygen tanks and jumped out of the plane. Finn was the jumpmaster, so he was first out of the aircraft. He led his men to land just outside the compound. Nobody inside noticed as the SEALs and Delta Force men landed outside. They quickly stormed the compound and all hell broke loose…

Loud men shouted in Spanish, and gunfire rang through the air. Finn immediately snapped into soldier mode, and led his fellow SEALs into the main building. They stormed the building, wiping out all of the cartel members on their way. They kicked down the door of a room on the second floor, and what they saw almost made Finn sick. A line of slaves, all chained together in a long queue. They were of all ages, race, and gender. The smell of urine and excrement filled the air, making Finn gag. A lot of these slaves were clearly injured. Clint shouted to them.

"Don't worry. Me and John will stay with them and help them. You and Dirty go on. Find Enrique."

They nodded and split up. Finn and Dirty easily conquered the rest of the house, before they found Enrique Garcia in an abandoned room. He was unarmed, so they put him in cuffs and handed him to the pilots of the plane. By this point, most of the criminals had been captured. There was a colossal weed farm at the back of the house, and they managed to confiscate all of the narcotics. It was the biggest RICO bust in history. They easily completed the mission and were soon on the plane back to the States. There were so many criminals that had been captured and they were being shipped back to the States the next day. Delta Force were overseeing that part. As quickly as they left, they were back at Dam Neck, being congratulated by the Captain. They all received Silver Stars for this mission and, as the leader of the team, Finn also received a Navy Cross award - the second highest achievement he could get. Finn also got promoted to a Chief Petty Officer. His Final Multiple Score was already high enough, after just two missions. It gave him better pay, and more responsibility while in the field. He was now going to be paid $7500 as a salary per month, including bonuses. Another great thing was that he could save all of his money as he didn't need to spend money on housing, food, etc. The SEALs had been given three days off before he was needed again for another mission. They planned to just stay in Virginia. There wasn't enough time to fly home and see family. Finn walked towards the same pier he sat on the night he left for Operation Neptune Spear and then called Quinn. She answered the call.

"Hey Finn!" she screamed into the phone.

"Hi Quinn," he laughed. "Another perfect mission accomplished."

"That's great, babe! Do you get some time off?" she asked, hopefully.

"Sorry. Not yet. We already have another mission lined up for us."

"Oh well." she said dejectedly.

"I did get an award for the mission though. I got a Navy Cross, the second highest military award after the medal of honor."

"Finn, that's amazing!" he heard Kurt shout.

"Hi Kurt," he said.

"HI FINN," he heard Kurt respond as he walked over to Quinn's computer.

"I also got promoted. I'm now a Chief Petty Officer. I'm getting paid 7500 dollars a month, starting next month."

"Wow, great job honey! I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, and how are you guys?"

They spent the next 20 minutes talking, before Finn had to go sleep. He was waking up late the next day as he and the guys were going to travel to Virginia Beach National Golf Club to play some golf.

They had a really fun day. John won the game, Finn came second. Jack came third. Clint came fourth and Dirty came last. For someone with such great hand-eye coordination with a gun, he was an absolute dunce at golf. He got an insanely high score, getting well over par on every shot. He couldn't even make a simple putt. They ate lunch at the clubhouse and then headed back to the base. Commander Thompson came running towards them.

"You all are needed in the conference room. NOW!" he shouted. "There's been a development in your latest mission and you're being deployed tonight."

They all ran with Commander Thompson to the conference room, where Captain Brady and Commander Sterling were already waiting, both of them with grave expressions on their faces.

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