Chapter Four
Boxing was one of Section's favorite activities, one that was shared with Harper, Salazar, Torres, and even Sakamoto. The five of them occupied the ring on the lower deck of the USS Obama, all in PT Cits going for a quick bout before their next mission. Torres was currently engaged in a match with Sakamoto, the two being shockingly evenly matched, while Section dueled Salazar and Harper. Currently, Section had Salazar in the bag, Harper, however, was not giving up.
"So the boss is back in town. Go get that fucker Menendez." Harper began after landing a hit on Section. "He blames your dad for killing his sister. He also blames Woods. And now, he's coming for you." Section fell to the ropes, getting back up, Section rushed Harper, hitting him several times in the gut. Harper stumbled back, seemingly impressed. "Heh, looks like Menendez is going down!"
"Good form Section, could use a hand with CQC, used a halligan one too many times and need to work on combatives." Sakamoto stated, wiping sweat off his brow with his 'ZOMG' shirt.
"I keep getting these flashes, memories of when my Father died." Section stated. "Why now?"
"Ah fuck it, I just didn't hit you hard enough." Harper joked, earring a chuckle from Torres.
"Woods gave us all the pieces to a puzzle, let's put them together." Section stated. "So, the biggest turning point was in Panama."
Raul Menendez stood beside his sister. She was fast asleep, the young girl needed it. Poor Josephina was maimed in a fire started by an American for insurance money. Menendez would have taken his own life that day had Josephina not begged him not to, proving she lived. At this point, Menendez had gone from the scared young boy about to slit his throat in a barn, to a grown man caring for his sister with his drug money. Her peaceful sleep was disturbed by a knock at the door. Menedez angrily stormed over to the door, not quite launching it open, so as to avoid awakening her sister.
"I thought I said not to disturb me!" Menendez spat at his foot soldier. The man before him had his head immediately blown open. Several soldiers immediately burst into the room. Two of them restrained Menendez, one of them approached Josephina.
"What is this? A monster?" The soldier asked sarcastically.
"You lay a finger on her and you're dead!" Menendez spat. The soldier dared to grab Josephina, he paid the price. Menendez broke free and grabbed a knife, repeatedly plunging it into the soldier's neck.
"What the hell?! Sedate him!" A soldier yelled. Two soldiers pinned Menendez to the ground, ramming a needle in his chest.
"Josefina…" Menendez managed to sputter as his vision turned to darkness.
"You see the man?" Iori asked, nervously adjusting the scope mounted to his Type 64. Iori had been on edge since they found out Menendez was their target, likely having heard the horror stories of what he does to people who wrong him. It made sense, Mason got the impression Iori was new to military work, he would naturally be worried about what Menendez would do.
"Yeah I see him, he's in a room on the third floor of his compound." Mason stated. "Question is, who's the girl he's with?"
"Probably just a whore." Woods spat.
"I'm seeing him, I don't think that's it, there's too many amenities and not enough blood in there for it to be a woman he paid for, uh, actions." Iori stated.
"You can say sex around me, it's okay." Woods laughed. "You got a kid right? How would you have made the little one without doing the deed?" Iori ignored his comments, thank god.
"Noriega, send your men in." Woods stated. Manuel Noriega said something into a radio, signaling several men to move.
"Let's bag this fucker." Woods spat.
"Hudson says we need him alive, Woods." Iori sighed, flipping his rifle's bipod shut. "Let's just get this done." And that they did, pushing through a village occupied by Mendez's foot soldiers. It was a rough battle, not one to be easily won. The soldiers, widely familiar with the area, took up ambush points and exploited the strong civilian presence by hiding within crowds of fleeing civilians to attempt to stab Mason and the team. Yet they pushed through, even shooting the driver out of a technical.
"Just like old times, eh, Mason?" Woods laughed when this happened. Mason chuckled.
"Ain't it just?" Mason responded. They continued on, pushing through a guard post. On the opposite side, there was a perfect view of a burning horse barn, with Menendez walking to it. He was rushing through, holding a Spas-12, screaming a woman's name.
"Menedez!" Woods shouted, attempting to hop a fence. Fortunately, that was when Hudson arrived.
"Woods, you need to pull yourself together." Hudson stated.
"You have no fucking idea what happened in Angola, NO FUCKING IDEA!" Woods spat, pushing Hudson aside.
"Let's just calm the hell down. You'll get a shot at revenge after we capture Menendez, okay?" Iori stated. Woods scoffed, pushing on up to the compound. Mason, Hudson, and Iori followed suit. Once there, the group broke into the coke labs, focused on gathering actionable intel on the cartel.
"What the hell? CIA?" Mason questioned as he picked up a labeled dossier on a table about to be torched. Mason tucked it into his pocket. Knowing about what happened with Arisato, Mason didn't want this getting into Hudson's hands. Everything culminated exactly four minutes later. Woods stood in a hallway, rifle at his side.
"MENENDEZ!" Woods screamed, pulling a grenade off his kit. Woods tossed it, despite Mason's best efforts to prevent it. All those efforts did was make sure the grenade landed into the girls room, killing anyone inside instantly. According to Hudson, the cartel boss was dead, and the mission never happened.
"Damnit, where did you hide the fucking thing?" Minako groaned, digging through the rubble. She wasn't the only one, opportunistic civilians and Minako's own soldiers were digging through the remains of Menendez's compound, looking for valuables to sell. At least that's what the civilians were doing. Minako was only interested in one thing, something that rightfully belonged to her.
"Ma'am, we found the entrance to a cocaine production facility." One of the soldiers, disguised as a regular person stated. "The area has been severely burnt, but we believe that the artifact may be intact despite this."
"Inform the team we're searching there." Minako stated. She climbed into the burnt laboratory, letting out a cough as she did so. It was a long, arduous search through the lab, but it was worth it, as they found what they were looking for, a small, grey tube with blue slits on the sides. Minako opened the tube, revealing nothing. The bastard must have swapped containment units and moved it away from his mansion. Or maybe the CIA took it. It could be anywhere now, and Minako was not happy.
"Ma'am, shall we contact someone?" a soldier asked. Minako nodded.
"You know who, I need to call in the final favor." Minako stated. A soldier handed Minako a brick phone.
"Junpei, buddy, one final favor, then, you get what you want."
A/N: Not much to say. Hope you enjoyed and have a great day!