2

Special Agent Mikasa Ackerman is angry, no, she is incensed with rage. Ever since she got the bad news from Thailand, the beautiful young commando is burning heels as she paced through the halls of the George Bush Center for Intelligence building in Langley, Virginia, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Mikasa is tall, with short hair and a stoic expression that never leaves her face. Her figure is well-built from hours and hours in the gym, and also scarred in countless black ops of the past. Her tight t-shirt did nothing to hide her muscular biceps and six-pack abs. She looks tough even without the massive Desert Eagle pistol hanging on her right thigh.

Mikasa didn't even knock as she barges inside the office of Agent Morrison, the head of the Special Activities Division. "I want my team in Thailand, now," she said without preamble.

"Calm down, Ackerman," Morrison replied. "We are all sad for the death of Agent Yaeger, but we have to know who we are dealing with…"

Mikasa angrily tossed a folder on the director's desk. "I already know. They are the pirate gang known as the Black Lagoon. I want them; they will pay for the loss of my friend."

Morrison removed his eyeglasses. "Mikasa, it is more complicated than that. You see, this gang has been cooperating with us in the past. We can still-."

Mikasa finally lost her patience and slammed her palms on the table. "I don't give a shit! I want me and my team on a flight to Thailand in 24 hours or I will go straight to the DCI and I will wipe your face off with my fist!"

A few hours later, Mikasa and her team of five men and one woman are aboard an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane heading to Roanapur, Thailand. Mikasa's Task Force Titan is an elite paramilitary black ops team trained to be deployed anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. Mikasa herself handpicked the members from different Special Forces outfits from all over the world. All are dressed in heavy-duty 5.11 khaki pants and combat shirt, Blackhawk vest and holsters, and Oakley commando boots.

Thomas Wagner is a typical All-American Marine, with blond hair and boyish looks and an infectious smile. Nevertheless, he is a purebred warrior, veteran of the elite Force Recon and had seen action in Afghanistan and Iraq. He carries his trusted M4A1 carbine loaded with Trijicon ACOG scope, AN/PEQ-2 laser module, and Surefire light. On his holster is a big Heckler and Kock Mk23 .45 caliber pistol.

Mina Carolina is a young, beautiful pigtailed girl from Canada. She is a former Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter pilot, with combat experience with NATO forces in Afghanistan. She is proficient in flying any kind of rotorcraft, but she is most fond of the Titan's MH-6 Little Bird support helicopter. While inside the C-17, she is busy maintaining her little black helicopter to make sure it runs properly on their mission. She keeps an FN P-90 submachine gun on her chopper as her self-defense weapon.

Nac Tius is a veteran of the French Foreign Legion, but no one knows his real nationality or even his real name. He is the team's mechanic and master driver, rumor has it that he even joined the Dakkar Rally long ago. He maintains the Titans' two armored gunmetal gray Ford Expedition SUV's, one is equipped with a pop-up turret with a Dillon M134 Minigun. Nac is armed with an M4A1 carbine with an M203 40mm grenade launcher and a Les Baer .45 caliber pistol as his sidearm.

Mylius Zeramuski is a Bosnian army officer that served in Afghanistan, and as a young boy, he fought against Serbians in the Bosnian War, making him, the most experienced of the team. He is the heavy weapons specialist. On the field, he usually carries an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) belt-fed light machine gun.

Samuel is an American from the south; his real name is also unknown. He was raised in a hunter family and is a crack shot from a young age. Now he is one of the best snipers in the world. He is armed with an old M-14 battle rifle, customized and accurate with a lightweight fiberglass stock and Leupold scope.

Franz is from Bavaria, very calm and cautious, a natural counter terrorist operative from the GSG-9. He is also a linguist, and crucially, speaks Thai fluently. Mikasa will need him when brute force is unnecessary. As a German commando, he is proficient with a Heckler and Koch G-36C carbine and H&K USP 9mm pistol.

Mikasa herself is armed to the teeth. On her thigh is a huge Israeli-made Desert Eagle .44 Magnum pistol. A backup Glock 29 subcompact 10mm pistol is strapped on the front of her tacvest. Her primary weapon is an FN SCAR-H 7.62mm battle rifle with EOTech scope, AN/PEQ-2 and Surefire light. She made sure she is carrying enough ammo to sustained a prolong firefight but still light enough to make her fast and agile.

She took a small picture from her vest pocket. It was a worn Polaroid of her with Eren Yaeger, both of them dressed in full combat gear and with an unfurled parachute behind them. It was her first HALO jump, and she was scared to death. She was very young back then, and she barely passed the intense "Screaming Eagles" training. But someone pushed her to do more than she can physically and mentally accomplish, that was Yaeger. With him by her side, Mikasa successfully completed her first HALO jump. After over a hundred parachute jumps, Mikasa and Eren became known as the masters of freefall. Dozens of deployments and dozens of firefights later, the two became inseparable, until Eren was wounded in Afghanistan. He barely survives, but his service for the country did not end as the CIA recruited him. Mikasa followed suit a few months later.

Now, Eren, her partner, her bestfriend, is gone.

Mikasa swore the Black Lagoon gang would pay, in blood.

She turned the picture around. Eren wrote a message behind the Polaroid. It was the 101st Airborne motto. Rendezvous with Destiny.

"We will get them, Eren," Mikasa said as she pocketed the picture. She stood up and called everyone's attention.

"All right team, listen up," Mikasa began. "We are about to land in a few hours. I want everyone to be well rested because we are in for a fight, I shit you not. You all heard the briefing on our targets. We are going after Black Lagoon, a four-member pirate gang who are now the prime suspects in the death of Agent Eren Yaeger. They are extremely dangerous, heavily armed and they hate the law. One is a female criminal who is considered to be the best fighter this side of the planet, and one is a Vietnam War deserter that is a master of heavy weaponry. The other two members are not fighters but they can be dangerous too. I want them to be taken alive, but if they resist you are all authorized to take them down with extreme prejudice. I want you all to be careful, watch each other's backs, and keep your eyes open. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!' answered the chorus of voice.

Mikasa nodded. "Good luck. And good hunting."