Four months, wow. Sorry you guys. The last few months are a little hectic for me.
The appearance of the virus... damn, the world just flipped upside down, didn't it?
Anyway, here's chapter 10!
"Hey, Price, you okay?"
"...Am I? Mac, all of our friends are dead, thanks to those bastards."
"I understand your feelings, but you need to keep yourself together... How long have you been here for the week?"
"Every weekend."
"Don't waste your time here. Find something else to cool off."
"Thanks for the advice, but I don't feel like doing anything yet."
"It's your choice... when will you return to the battlefield?"
"...Whenever I feel like it."
"Very well." Giving his comrade a pat on the shoulder, MacMillan takes the last shot from his glass before calling for another. He asks another question: "So... heading home after this?"
"...Possible." Taking in the last drop of wine, Price places the money needed to pay on the table, stands up and walks away with a goodbye. "Say my hello to the boys."
"Safe return, mate."
...
In the darkness of the night, only the table lamp shines through Price's room. Sitting in said table, Price is ordering all the files of the new recruits of SAS, while trying his best to suppress his sadness. A glass of water is standby next to the files, in case the hangover kicks in.
It has been weeks after the death of Vladimir Makarov, personally confirmed by the last Captain of TF141. The world has returned to another peace era, but to our dear captain, it's just like salt rubbing to his wounds over years of fighting. Lost a lot of his members following after Imran Zakhaev, being thrown into Russia Gulag then rescued by his surviving soldier, saw same soldier nearly killed by the American general and finished by the terrorist in front of his eyes, cooperate with the terrorist's former ally to take him down with that ally. Then some of his formers teammates killed in the chemical explosion in London... Needless to say, he seriously needs some sort of vacation.
After his work is done, Price gulps the water down his throat, then heads to his bed and lies down. He then pulls out a picture he has taken with Soap, Sandman and Ghost and looks at it for a whole minute, recalling the times they have been working with each other...
"Hello, Price? This is Frost." His phone then starts a recording call, which is from one of the two last members of Team Metal of Delta Force. "Just want to call you to ask if you're okay. Hope you could be over all of this soon." The call ends.
"...I believe that won't happen soon." Price says to himself. "Thanks for that, anyway." He then turns off the only light in the room and goes to sleep, replenishing his energy for another week of work.
"Okay, what kind of den have we stepped in?" Jackson jokingly asks, as he flips over Gensokyo Chronicle. "Poison manipulation? Our docs would like to have a word with that girl to create some vaccines. Look, she even has 'Medicine' as her name."
"And we have a 'Maid of Time' here. Sounds like a good deal if she isn't too focused on doing her work." Soap closes his book. "I'm out. See you guys next morning."
"Good night." The rest takes a second to say their replies before getting back to their books.
Thankfully, Sakuya has already instructed them where the guest rooms are, so it only takes a minute to find one for his own. Placing a 'do not disturb' sign that's provided in the room on the outdoor knob, he closes the door and then examines his room. A bed, a table with chairs and a lamp, a wardrobe... nothing unusual so far.
"Let's see..." Closing his eyes, he tries to feel the power around him in silence. While they were in the library, it's a bit hard to concentrate because of the unusually loud background (to them anyway). Although, this is not the same as meditating, and even then, 'magic' is not a concept he's familiar with.
After a while, he doesn't succeed in what he's planning. "Worth a try." Calling it a day, Soap pulls out his gadgets and puts them all on the table before he lays on the bed and falls into a good sleep.
At least, that's his plan.
...
When he opens his eyes, Soap sees himself floating in the middle of what seems to be space itself. "...What kind of dream am I having here?" Soap asks himself out loud, not expecting something like this to be in his mind. "Because I'm sure I haven't seen anything like this..."
"That's because it's not just your dream." Turning to his left, Soap sees a girl 'sitting' comfortably in space. She looks 15, with long blue hair and blue eyes, wearing a black-and-white dress (a normal one, unlike Marisa's maid outfit) and... is that a tail? "This is Dream World, where all dreams connect to each other." Then, multiple bubbles appear surrounding them, and Soap could see all kinds of scenarios in each. "These dreams are interactable, but I suggest you not to touch anything. One small interference could cause the mind of one to react badly."
"...not planning to. May I ask who you are?" Soap is being a little cautious, because he just got pulled into a strange place, and he's demonstrated that everyone in Gensokyo could literally handle an army easily, even when they're using BB-type bullets.
"The name is Doremy Sweet." The girl introduces herself. "Normally, I wouldn't just randomly pull one person out of one's dream like this. But, it seems that you have someone in the Outside World mourning for you all."
"Does that person have a good moustache?" The Scottish asks, thinking of one person possible in this case.
"Yeah, an impress one I have to say."
Soap then re-thinks of the situation... "Don't tell me he's also in Gensokyo? He dies?"
"Oh, don't worry, he is not in the list yet." Doremy assures. She then waves a paper in front of Soap. "See something similar?"
"...Oh." Of course, he should have thought of that. "But, do you know who the person is? Being someone walking between dreams..."
"No, unfortunately. But, considering Yukari is not pursuing the person, I don't think we have to worry about him. Not at the moment, at least."
"Then..." Soap then looks around, trying to find his Captain. "Where is he?"
"Be patient. Let me change the world a bit..." Then, Soap is basically blinded by a bright light that forces him to raise his right arm up to cover his eyes to no success...
When he's able to see again, he sees himself in the room when he was doing the briefing with Price, Yuri and Nikolai. But, currently in the room, only he is in the chair...
And then Price appears at the chair at the opposite side of the table. Clearly looking confused, Price turns left and right, before noticing Soap looking at him with a smile. "...Soap?" The old Captain asks, not expecting something like this to happen.
"Yep, this muppet is in front of you." Soap chuckles, before standing up, walking towards Price and giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Good to see you Price."
"...Yeah I'm dreaming." Price rubs his temples. "You look so alive."
"Well, lucky for me, I live again. And our pals as well."
"...Our pals? Wait a second..." Standing up, Price faces Soap. "Is this real?"
"Yes, it's real." The two soldiers then see Doremy sitting in a chair not far from them. "At least, as real as possible. You're in the Dream World, after all."
"...Have we met her, Soap?" Price asks, not knowing the girl before them.
"Her name is Doremy, and if I'm right, she's a ruler of dream or something like that." Soap guesses.
"Close enough. I'm just the manager." Doremy then reminds them: "You only have like, an hour or so. Make it count." Then, she disappears, leaving the two soldiers in the room.
"..." Sitting back to his chair, Price scratches his head with his right hand. "This is weird..."
"Tell me about it." Pulling a chair and putting it next to Price, Soap sits down. "None of us would think that we're revived at all."
"...Where are you, in the world?" Price asks, hoping that he could find his comrades.
"Unfortunately, we're in an isolated continent to the world. Unless something happens, I don't think we could be found by you."
"...How many?" Price changes the question.
"Currently: Me, Ghost, Roach, Griggs, Jackson and Vasquez of Marine Corps, Viktor Reznov of World War Two. There will be more..."
"Wait, WW2? A soldier from that time?"
"Beats me."
"...About the place you are in..."
Soap then explains to Price about what he knows of Gensokyo, and what his group has experienced so far.
"Wow...I wish we have a drink now so we could cheer on your new life."
Soap laughs. "Well, if there's a next time." He then pats the man's shoulder again. "Price, whatever you're doing next, you don't have to be so moody, because we're now alive."
"After this, I can finally relax a bit." Price then chuckles. "Gonna berate some recruits tomorrow."
"More muppets for you, huh?" Both of them laugh. Soap then notices Doremy reappearing. "So our time is up?"
"Have to escort you back. Who knows if you could accidentally walk into someone's dream and got stuck there?"
"That problematic, huh?"
"Guess it's time for us to walk our ways." The two soldiers stand up and give a handshake to each other, as Price says: "Best of luck out there, soldier. Make SAS proud."
"To you too, old man."
The next morning
"Lucky you." Vasquez comments. "To be able to talk again with your captain..."
"Hey, maybe you will be in my position next time." Soap replies.
Currently, the soldiers are now in the dining room, after being invited by Remilia, and enjoying their breakfast provided by the maids here.
"Miss Scarlet..." Jackson asks. "About what I have read, these Danmaku must be slow enough to dodge. What happened if we use our guns? Bullets from them are quick."
"Hm...I doubt it's a problem." Remilia explains. "Currently, you cannot produce Danmaku on your own, so the only source is from them. And since you have to aim, the people here would just have to dodge constantly. So, the large rule still applies."
"At least we won't be in troubles using these bad boys." Viktor remarks. "So, where could we go today?"
"Well... let's return back to the village first." Soap answers. "And try to see if we could find some jobs for you all."
"Ah right... it's going to be hard, considering how backward the village is compared to our world." Vasquez rubs his chin in wonder.
Soap turns briefly to Remilia and says: "Anyway, thanks for the meal, miss Scarlet."
"Don't mention it. Though, next time, I might have some jobs for you to work for."
Jackson asks: "Would we get paid?"
"Of course. I don't expect you to work for fun."
"That's another thing to thank you, then."
A few days later
"So, that's what we need to fix our heli?" Jackson asks Vasquez, as they're looking through the item list they write themselves.
"Yeah. So far, either Rinnosuke or the Kappas have a low chance of having these things. If not, we're going to build them ourselves."
Currently, the two Marines are already heading to the Kourindou. The weapons they have are: M4A1 with ACOG Sight for Jackson, M16A4 with Grenade Launcher for Vasquez, and USP .45 for both of them as sidearms.
"Hey, who do you think could we have next?" Vasquez then changes the topic.
"Hm...If Deadly is here, then we would be lucky. If not... any pilots would do." The last moment flashes in Jackson's mind.
"Yeah... And we haven't managed to use magic so far. Damn, the Task Force guys are sure lucky..."
Their conversation is interrupted as something moves in the forest. Instinctively, the soldiers ready their guns and point their weapons directly to the movement.
A moment passes, and one person erupts from the forest... being chased by a floating black ball. Seeing the situation, Vasquez decides to take the shot and shoots the ball with a grenade. The shot impacts, and the controller of the ball gets blasted back, revealing herself to be Rumia.
"Ouch ouch! That hurts! You are all meanies!" The girl whines as she cries a bit, then floats away immediately, not wanting to get hit again.
Seeing the threat running away, the person takes a deep breath before saying: "Thank you guys. Damn, I don't want to hurt her, but I can't simply let her eat me... if you can believe it."
"Yeah... my friend encountered her before, so we understand." Jackson then offers a handshake: "My name is Jackson, and this is Vasquez." He notices the outfit of the person obviously from the Outside World. "You must be from the outside. Where are you from?"
The person returns the gesture after his breath returns to normal. "Well, I'm from America... Wait, that outfit... you are both Marines?"
"Of course." Vasquez then looks up and down at the new person... "Strange... what's your occupation?"
"I was a Marine once, before I got transferred and become CIA and later SOG agent."
"Oh, a fellow comrade then!" Jackson then pats the person's back. "Well mister, we would like to escort you to the human village, but we're currently in the middle of some works right now... by the way... did you die?"
"...What kind of question is that?" Much to the still-marines' surprise, the person asks back confusingly.
"...Okay, a little derail." Vasquez changes the question. "If you were Marine, can you fly a heli?"
"Well... I did fly a Mi-24 Hind before..."
"Good enough then. You're hired." Jackson jokingly says.
"Hired... for what?"
"We will explain on the way, mister. Don't worry about it."
...
"So... there's a chance I died from that, then..." The person mutters, as the trio is heading back into the village and the house the whole group of soldiers are staying.
"A mission gone wrong huh? Sounds the same to all of us." Jackson comments.
"Well, we are soldiers here... oh hey, sir Viktor, Ghost. You found something?" Vasquez then notices the duo walking before them.
The old soldier turns his head back and replies: "Good afternoon. We were..." His eyes widen when he sees the third person going along with the American Marines. "It...It can't be..."
"Viktor, my old friend." The person smiles, as he has heard the story from the Marines. "It's good to see you again."
"...Mason..."
Chapter 10 end!
So yeah, another person Black Ops. And one who can fly the heli. It will be easier for the soldiers to go around.
A short chapter, sorry about it. Some ideas popped in my mind, but I'm not too sure what to use for the best.
In the meantime, take care of yourself. I don't like knowing my fans getting sick because of the virus.
See you guys in the next chapters!