I hate it when I reread chapters I already posted and notice stupid typos and mistakes I had made and didn't catch during the first two proofreads. NOT FUN. Here's the start of another long chapter that I had to break into two parts.

Chapter 10 - Let the Tower Fall and Evil Crumble - Part 1

A man with sienna-colored skin, shoulder length burnt-brown hair, and sinister eyes stared over a long mahogany table towards another man with similar features and a scar on his cheek. Both bore aggravated and grim expressions. The man with the longer hair allowed his eyes to dart from the papers before him and the many faces which stared at him from around the large room which was populated with built-in shelves housing the endless amounts of literature.

Suddenly, an assertive finger landed onto one of the papers before him and tapped heavily against it. "Fernando, ¿qué es esta mierda? (Fernando, what is this shit?)" He spoke with a smooth but deadly voice.

The other man before him straightened his posture and crossed his arms. "Nuestros hombres se les hace creer que esas fotos son una prueba de que estamos ante una situación en nuestras manos. (Our men are led to believe that those pictures are proof that we have a situation on our hands.)" He blinked at his brother and let loose an irritated sigh. "Nuestros vendedores en Italia, Emilio Albini y su equipo, dijo que eran capaces de captar una transmisión en vivo de los cuatro culpables, que lograron infiltrarse su almacén y sacar 12 de sus hombres. (Our sellers in Italy, Emilio Albini and his crew, said they were able to capture a live stream of the four culprits which managed to infiltrate their warehouse and take out 12 of their men.)"

The longer-haired man rubbed his brow in attempts to wipe away some of the stress. He finally leaned back and gestured towards the sheets of paper. "Quiénes son? (Who are they?)"

Fernando shrugged. "No estoy seguro. (Not sure.)"

He brought himself up and stared at his older brother profoundly. "Tenemos que averiguarlo. Esos cabrones tienen que ser los mismos que los que piratean uno de nuestros barcos. (We have to find out. Those fuckers have to be the same ones which pirated one of our ships.)"

Fernando rolled his eyes. "Arsenio, si se trataba de una tarea fácil, que habría tenido que hacer por ahora. Todo lo que tenemos que ir fuera de decir esas pocas series de imágenes. (Arsenio, if it was an easy task we would have had it done by now. All we have to go off of is those few sets of pictures.)"

Arsenio pulled at his mouth then pointed harshly down at the black and white images. "Probablemente los Americanos. Es siempre malditos Americanos. Siempre metiendo las narices en los asuntos de todos. (Probably Americans. It's always fucking Americans. Always shoving their noses in everyone's business.)"

"A partir de ahora, no tenemos forma de saberlo. (As of now, we have no way of knowing.)"

Fernando watched his younger, but angrier, brother pace out from behind the table and storm over towards the window. His brown eyes narrowed at the palm trees outside. "Te apuesto mi testículo izquierdo que están detrás de la muerte del padre. (I bet you my left testicle they're behind father's death as well.)"

Fernando leaned in to get a better look at the pictures as he grabbed a few of them up. It was a series of close-ups of the four Darkhorse members which had been sent in. Luckily for the Darkhorse members, their faces were near unrecognizable and ball caps covered their faces with shadows. "No se puede distinguir sus rostros. Pero definitivamente hay cuatro de ellos. Uno se ve muy grande. (Can't make out their faces. But there's definitely four of them. One looks very large.)"

Arsenio turned back around and pointed towards the sheets. "Es una hembra? El que tiene el pelo largo? (Is one female? The one with the long hair?)"

Fernando looked over the images and slowly nodded. "Más probable. El cabello se ve más claro. Quizá rubio o castaño claro. (Most likely. Hair looks lighter. Perhaps blonde or light brown.)"

"Quiero llegar al fondo de esto. (I want to get to the bottom of this)." Arsenio replied through lowered brows and a clenched jaw.

His older brother nodded. "Vamos a tratar de investigar más a fondo. A partir de ahora, todo lo que tenemos que ir fuera de sus apariciones es. Dos de los hombres no son muy distintos, mientras que los otros dos son un débil más prominente. Una mujer y un hombre alto. (We will try to look into it further. As of now, all we have to go off of is their appearances. Two of the men aren't too distinct, whereas the other two are a faintly more prominent. A female and a tall man.)"

Arsenio waved him off. "Lo que sea. No vamos a permitir que el padre hacia abajo. A diferencia de Esteban, que pensé que sería una idea inteligente para tratar de robar el centro de atención. (Whatever. We will not let father down. Unlike Esteban who thought it'd be a clever idea to try to steal the spotlight.)"

"Lo haremos. Sólo será cuestión de tiempo antes de que los culpables cometen un error significativo. (We will. It'll only be a matter of time before the culprits make a significant mistake.)"

"Y luego vamos a llegar ellos. (And then we'll get them.)" Arsenio replied with a glow of determination in his eyes.

"You three are approaching the drop-off zone. ETA is 6 minutes." Reggie's voice sounded cooly over the radio.

Shawn shifted in his seat while Trevor stared down with disinterest towards the floor and Soap watched the cargo bay doors. The loading ramp door currently remained shut, shielding them from the cold, whipping winds from outside. The three of them were dressed for the weather. Each bearing large coats, thick beanie hats, a set of fog-proof goggles, warm boots and gloves, and backpacks that weighed almost a third of their mass.

As they neared, Reggie's voice emitted once again. "Closing in on the drop-zone. Prepare your chutes. You all will be diving out of that back loading ramp." He paused for a moment. "Also known as the plane butthole."

Immediately, Trevor rolled his eyes, Shawn shook his head, and Soap remained unimpressed with a blank expression. Soap was all business during times of seriousness and life-or-death scenarios.

"Opening rear door." Reggie announced as a red light began to blink and the loading ramp began to lower, emitting a strong mechanical sound. The three men immediately rose from their seats, tightening their vests, securing their guns, and lowering their goggles. The red, blinking light lit up their toughened complexions with a series of red hues. Soap stepped up first and peered out the opening and towards the icy peaks of the vast mountain range. Feeling the brisk and freezing wind lash at his face immediately brought back the time he spent with a previous sergeant in his Task Force unit back in his days of being ranked a captain. Gary Sanderson, which was referred to as 'Roach'. He was a brave and loyal man, much like Soap, and the day he passed was a day Soap would never forget, much like the many other events in his previous timeline. He had to heave a heavy sigh.

Trevor approached shortly behind Soap and looked out at the horizon, which was barely visible through the icy mist and distant mountain pinnacles. Soap could feel his presence and looked over his broad shoulder at him.

"I'll dive first. Give me a three second start." Soap stated assertively in Trevor's direction.

Trevor only nodded as Shawn reached his backside and rolled his shoulders. Suddenly, the light switched from red to green.

"You're free to jump. Good luck, gentlemen. We'll reestablish communications momentarily." Reggie announced. The sound of his voice signaled their drop-off, and immediately caused Soap to reach the end of the loading ramp and leap out of the opening. He disappeared into the mountain air in the blink of an eye.

"Well, here we go." Shawn commented.

"See you on land." Trevor said flatly as he dove after Soap.

Shawn ran shortly after his brother and followed through with similar movements. The visibility was low at first, but they all three quickly broke into a clearing in the clouds. Trevor and Soap were both ahead, and located in different locations in the sky. This was nowhere near Soap's first time in the sky. Having served with the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment in his earlier years meant he had seen his fair share of experiences within the presence of the clouds.

They neared the surfaces of the snowy mountains fast. Soap's voice just faintly emitted from the radio in their years; the sound of the lashing winds made it near inaudible.

"Withdraw the chutes!" Soap shouted, immediately pulling his chord. With the chute opened, the air quickly whipped him back up and slowed his fall with tremendous speeds. The two other men followed through, Shawn shortly after Trevor. Their hands gripped their vests and their feet dangled above the mountain crannies and jagged edges.

"Clearing up ahead! Steer in that direction!" Soap ordered.

Despite the speed of their fall, time seemed to move slowly, even though the pines and firs that populated the mountain tops were approaching swiftly. Soap managed to maneuver over some trees and hover gracefully towards the white break in between all of the trees. He ran in mid-air as he neared, and once his boots touched the surface of the snow, he allowed his momentum to carry on until he gained full control. He rolled, causing the chute to veil his body.

Trevor struggled momentarily as an unprovoked gale of wind carried him back up and veered him sharply to the right. "Ah, shit." The landing Soap had found was now disappearing out of sights, meaning he had to now scan the area for a new safe clearing amongst the trees and rocks. His eyes were quick to spot something as he controlled his chute to carry him smoothly towards the surface of the cold earth. Mimicking Soap's movements, he landed and ran along the ground until he managed to roll and cease his momentum. Quickly throwing the chute to the side, he looked up towards the sky to see where Shawn had ended up. He immediately looked off to his left to see Shawn further down, closer to the heavily populated area of firs. The same gust of wind must have grabbed him up as well.

"Ugh, fuck!" Shawn yelled over the radio as he approached the tops of the trees. "Gonna be a rough landing for me!"

Trevor watched his brother's speed carry him towards the trees. "Pull back on those chords! Slow down, you're going too fast!"

Shawn grunted. "I'm very aware of that!" By now, he was entering the trees. He was fortunate enough to avoid some branches, allowing his body to slip through unfazed, but of course, his chute snagged several branches. Tugging back on him with the same amount of momentum the wind was dragging him along with, he was thrashed backwards. It sent him heading for a thick tree trunk. Kicking his feet out, he stopped his motion from flinging him forcefully into a tree. His knees, however, were hit with a quick shock of pain as the force carried through his legs.

"God damn…" Shawn was now hanging freely as he looked up towards the canopy and tops of the trees. His chute managed to grab onto several branches. Instinct immediately had him looking down. He was easily three stories up in terms of his distance from the ground.

A voice rung in his ear. "Shawn. You alright?" It was Trevor's seemingly unconcerned voice.

Shawn panted and exhaled. "Affirmative." He looked around at his surroundings. "I'm a bit...tied up though."

"What happened?" Soap's deep voice emitted.

"Wind threw me off. Ended up in some trees."

"Can you release the chute?" Soap inquired.

Shawn had to shake his head. "I'm pretty high up."

"What's your location?"

"I'm probably roughly a third of a klick to Trevor's southeast."

"Give us a moment. We'll get you down." Soap replied, but quickly continued with his speech. "Trevor. Meet up with me. What's your position?"

Trevor turned around to face the distant treeline he had seen Soap disappear to. Quickly glancing at the compass on his wrist, he answered. "I'm close. I'm to your east."

"Meet you at that treeline."

Soap ended the conversation and began to round up his chute. They'd need it for shelter later. Snatching it all up and packing it away, leaving some sticking out from the top of his pack, he paced towards the eastward treeline. Meeting up with Trevor in the matter of a few quick minutes, they both journeyed in Shawn's unfortunate direction.

Trevor had to shine a very faint smile. "Damn, Shawn. That's my brother for you. Poor kid has the tendency to get caught up with bad luck."

Soap glanced at him from the corner of his vision. Snow was starting to stick to his eyebrows and his long lashes. "Can't be too bad of luck. He's still alive, at least."

Trevor's smile slowly disappeared from his rugged face. "He manages to stay alive, just not out of trouble."

"I wonder how high he got tangled up."

"High enough to be too cowardly to drop himself down."

Soap flashed a quick smirk. "He's got the Yankee syndrome."

"Right. Last time I checked, us Yankees have enough firepower to kill the entire world's population up to seven times. And all of that firepower is contained to one single bunker." Trevor looked over at him with amusement.

"Ah, of course. But you're only proving my point." Soap began, returning Trevor's entertained stare. "Because the Yankees don't have big enough balls to do anything with all of it."

"Alright. Fair enough. But how about you check back in when Scotland offers the world something useful other than kilts and sheep."

Soap let his grin grow. "You're a cheeky bastard."

"You started it." Trevor fired Soap's tone right back at him.

Meanwhile, Shawn was dangling loosely and was merely pondering deeply. He moved his goggles up from his eyes and allowed them to sit onto the upper portion of his forehead. Snow and ice was already beginning to build up around his eyelashes.

Eventually, Soap and Trevor entered Shawn's sights. The two of them immediately peered up as some snow near the tops of the trees fell down towards them. They met Shawn's unamused stare.

"Well, if you were any closer to the ground I'd start beating your ass with a large stick. You look strikingly similar to a pinata." Trevor said while observing Shawn's predicament.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. So funny." Shawn stated sarcastically. He wiggled in his tight position and exhaled deeply. "So, who's coming to get me?"

Soap analyzed the problem and rubbed the stubble on his chin. "You can drop from there. Let your weight fall forward and roll with it when you near land. Snow should absorb some of the impact."

"Yeah. Right. Let's just make the only medic here risk breaking his ankle during a rock-climbing mission." Shawn replied flatly.

"It's actually ice-climbing. Minor differences." Trevor commented.

Shawn let out his arms. "Whatever! I still need my legs."

Trevor pointed towards Soap. "Maybe Soap can catch you as you fall from your cozy, little, princess loft."

"You're implying that I'm a fairy princess because I'm too nervous to release my vest and plummet towards the earth from a 10 meter drop." Shawn said matter-of-factly.

"Take one for the team, Captain Obvious."

"Just get me down!"

Trevor turned away to look towards the many trunks of the pines as Soap stared up at Shawn with entertained but quizzical eyes. "I guess I can climb the tree to get to you."

Trevor cocked his head towards Soap. "Or you could just cut him down and let him fall."

Soap analyzed the fall. "I don't know, Shawn. You can probably land this just fine."

"It'd be cool if you two could just outstretch one of the parachutes and catch me in it." Shawn commented with a questioning stare.

"Your fall force from that distance might make it too difficult to pull that one off." Soap claimed.

Suddenly, they picked up a new voice. "Sup, dudes." Of course, it was Reggie. "Reestablishing communications. What's your status down there? Over."

"We landed about half a klick from the intended landing zone. But Shawn is caught up in the tree tops." Trevor replied. "Over."

Reggie began to laugh.

"Shut your face, Reggie! Can you pretend to be professional? Just once?" Shawn shouted, letting his voice carry between the trees.

"Oh, go figure. Shawn's mad about something. Over." Reggie's voice came out mischievously as always.

Trevor smiled up at the annoyed, dangling Shawn. "Shawn's just embarrassed because he needs our help again. Over."

Shawn's expression was enough to cause a smile to pull on Soap's cheeks. The man looked down at them with disapproval as all eyes were on him. "You make it sound like I'm just always running around in need of assistance. If I recall, I saved your sorry hide back with the Rangers."

Trevor waved him off as Reggie began to speak. "Anyways, we're heading out. The scheduled pickup time will be in 42 hours at the 1800 hour mark. We will drop off some extra equipment in a care package about three klicks to your north. That container will have the rest of the survival essentials. We'll mark it for you." Reggie began to click his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Also, that radio tower is about an additional seven klicks northwest of the care package location. If there's any drawbacks, let the radio guys know. We can reschedule a new rendezvous. But keep communications at a minimum. That tower will be able to pick up your stronger signals. Over."

"Copy that." Soap responded before looking back up in Shawn's direction. Shawn was shifting directions as the wind spun his body slowly. He looked like an unhappy Christmas ornament.

"So uh...right...when can I come down?" Shawn questioned.

Soap gestured at him. "Release the chute. We don't need it."

"You need my legs though."

"Stop acting like your legs are going to shatter when you hit the ground."

"Don't forget to catch him, Soap." Trevor commented.

"In my strong arms?"

"Well, you are his prince in shining armor."

"Enough!" Shawn hollered. "I'm not in the mood to joke about it. We can have a good laugh when this is all over, but-" then the tree branches started to creak. Shawn looked up at them as some loose snow hit his face and shoulders. "Well, that didn't sound good."

Soap sighed as he stepped towards the base of the tree. "Alright. I'm going to come get you. If you do fall, just do as I told you." He threw a rope around the trunk of the tree and gripped both ends tightly. "We'll count this as one of my 'returning-the-favor' acts."

"So kind." Shawn replied.

"Easy. Push me the right way and I'll decide to stay down here." Soap's blue-grey eyes remained on the tree as he began to inch his way up, using the sheer strength in his legs and arms to propel him forward.

"In other words, just start being an asshole once he gets closer to the top." Trevor claimed as he lit up a cigarette. "I'll be down here if you all need me."

Once Soap reached Shawn's position, he surveyed the complications. Shawn met his eyes and blinked at him. "What now?"

Soap breathed through his mouth, sending his frozen breath into the air. "Get a swinging momentum going. When you get close enough to me just grab onto my pack. Once you have that, you should be able to release your chute. Then I guess you can just climb down on your own after that."

Shawn nodded at him. "So, I guess that means I don't get a free ride down now?"

Soap shook his head. "That'll cost you extra."

"What kind of currency are we talking?

"Buy me a beer. Or whip up some cake."

Shawn smiled faintly as his eyes lit up hilarity. "How many cakes and beers are we up to?"

"One beer for making me come up here to get you. Using me as transportation on half the way down is one cake. Two cakes for the whole tree."

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "What kind of cake?"

"Red velvet with cream cheese icing is the first charge. The second charge is a German chocolate cake."

"You're making me hungry for cake, now."

Soap nodded his head at him. "Let's get moving."

Shawn began to sway his legs until his body was able to get his momentum going. He rocked back and forth, the tree branch began to creak louder and louder at each complete swing. Eventually, his hands were able to reach Soap's back and quickly grip at the bag. Soap strengthened his hold around the trunk of the tree to keep from swaying backwards with Shawn, should he had lost his grip around the ropes. Before Shawn could release the parachute from his shoulders, the branch snapped and began to plummet for the ground.

"Release the chute! Now!" Soap hollered at Shawn who was already tugging at his vest. Trevor's eyes widened as he took several steps back and out of danger as the branch came tumbling down. Shawn was quick enough to release the chute from his body, and just in the knick of time too. The branch brought the chute down with it as it landed with a heavy crash. He was now clinging onto Soap's backside and let loose a relieved sigh.

"That was a close call."

Soap looked around before peering down. "So will I be adding onto your cake tab or are you going to tough it yourself?"

Shawn shook his head with mild enjoyment. "I can handle it. Thanks, bear-man."

"I guess that's a new name now?"

Shawn slowly lowered off of Soap's back and used his rope to tighten his grip around the trunk of the tree. "It's more descriptive than a name. You're big, you're good at climbing, and you love food."

"You make it sound like I have to be crane-lifted out of my bed every morning." Soap had to utter a quick chuckle as Shawn laughed at his statement. "I eat Shorty's day-old leftover lasagna, now suddenly I'm this food-loving cow."

Shawn slid down a little ways, giving Soap more room to work with. "You're the first one to meals every time."

"That's called promptness."

"Or ravenous, impatient hunger."

Trevor looked up and arched a brow at them through his cigarette smoke. "Will you two speed it up? I'm almost done with my cigarette."

"You're an impatient one today, aren't ya? Maybe you need a second one, considering how pissy you are." Shawn replied, shooting Trevor a quick glance.

"You're one to talk." He exhaled the tobacco smoke and gestured his cigarette in Shawn's direction. "You could probably use a smoke. You turn into an angry spider monkey when you get irritable."

Shawn snickered. "Right. Let me just pick up an unhealthy habit. That'll make me feel way better."

"And drinking isn't an unhealthy habit?"

Shawn sighed. "And how often do we get to drink? Once a month?"

"Just sayin'."

"And you smoke like twice a day. You're done with a pack every week. Do you want lung cancer? Because that's how you get lung cancer."

Trevor rolled his eyes. "Lung cancer is the least of my concerns."

"During our learnings in medical school-"

Soap slowly looked down at Shawn. "Jesus Christ. Enough with the petty arguing. Speed it along, sprout. I'm about to jump down on your head if you go any slower."

By now, they had declined several meters. Shawn's green, observant looked down from Soap and towards the snowy earth. Realizing the distance, he decided to bound off the tree and roll through the snow as a safe landing. Shawn popped up quickly and met Trevor's disinterested stare. Trevor flicked his cigarette butt off into the snow before spitting out the bad taste.

Soap was quick to follow after. Once he stood, he shook off some of the snow and moved his keen eyes to where the brothers stood. "Let's go. We've dicked around long enough. Time to get a move on." He strided past them and gestured his head for them to follow. Trevor let his arm out for Shawn.

"Ladies first." Trevor cooly stated.

Shawn had to roll his eyes at his brother before following Soap's large footprints. Soap had already made his way further ahead; his pace was fast. The two brothers jogged after him and caught up swiftly. The large Scotsman took a quick peep at his military grade wristwatch.

"Alright. Heading north now towards the care package. ETA is about an hour. 1034 hours now." Soap took a moment to ponder. "That puts us roughly 30 minutes behind schedule already. Let's pick up the pace."

"Aye, aye. Captain." Trevor murmured.

Soap ignored the smartass remark, after all, he was all too used to it. Back in his day in the 22nd Regiment, Gaz always had a way of putting his cheeky two-cents in.

After an almost one hour trek through snow, the three soldiers finally arrived at the designated location which had been marked for them. A stream of red smoke hovered into the air and high above a large, sturdy chest, which was streaked with dark grey, bright red, and vibrant orange colors. Already snow had begun to obscure the chest. As they approached, the snow had begun to climb up to their thighs.

"Do we not get snow shoes?" Shawn inquired with narrowed eyes.

"Shouldn't need them the higher we get up. Snow usually dies down the higher we climb." Soap neared the side of the chest and pulled open the lid. "Here, grab one of everything. I have a chute in my bag at the moment to use as shelter from the cold later tonight." His eyes found Trevor. "We'll have to split up who carries what."

"Right." Trevor replied flatly.

"Tight squeeze...I already have medical supplies on me." Shawn bent over the chest and peered in. "We all need to be carrying food and fluids. If something bad happens and we get separated, we can't have only one of us carrying everything we need to survive."

Soap nodded. "Let me wrap this chute up. Should make more room for me." He was quick to pull it out and wrap it up tightly. The way he looped it allowed for him to turn the parachute into another bag as it hung over his back and clung to his strong shoulders. "There. Crisis averted."

Trevor snagged up fire starters and rations. "Actually...we really can't split up the gear."

"Aye. Unwise to do that. I retract what I said earlier. I was getting ahead of myself."

"Well, let's just sort through all of this and see what we can manage." Shawn stated as he began to take up his share of the essentials. "Here's the ice picks."

Each member grabbed their pair and put them into their packs.

Soap pulled himself up and looked around at the scenery. It was still and quiet, the only noise being the cold wind which sent a breeze through the valley. His eyes moved up towards the steep, snowy incline before locking onto a wall of rock and ice, which reached a landing on a cliff roughly 25 meters up.

Soap raised a hand to point at the side of the cliff. "We're going to climb that wall right there." He lowered his arms once Trevor and Shawn followed his gesture. "Let's recharge first. Get some food in us and then we'll start our way up."

Shawn flashed a smile. "Always with the food."

Soap looked at him. "You're more than welcome to skip the meal."

"What? So that you can eat my portion?"

Soap shook his head and smirked. "Just feeding my inner bear."

Once the task of sorting through all of the equipment and finding a tight but cozy spot for it in their bags, the three men took a seat on some rocks to enjoy a quick break. They ate and drank quietly while each of their eyes observed and scanned different parts of the terrain. Taking a bite of his food, Soap analyzed the size of the sheet of ice which hung from the side of the cliff. It looked stable and sturdy enough; it was no different than anything he experienced. As he stared distantly at the side of the mountain, Trevor watched his food and hands while Shawn's eyes moved around with attentiveness.

After finishing up, they hid what little traces they left behind before making their way to the sheet of thick ice. They all peered up at its immense mass as it reflected white, silver, blue, and green light at them.

Shawn had to shiver momentarily. "Holy shit, my balls are freezing right now."

"Nice and close to your body?" Trevor asked with a tone of entertainment.

"Fuck yeah. They're shrivelling up in fear of shrinking anymore."

Soap looked back at him real quick as he pulled out his ice picks. "Only going to get worse."

Shawn shook some energy into his arms before reaching for his picks. "Alright, let's do this."

Soap nodded as he tightened the ice picks' straps around his wrists and jabbed the sharp point of the pick into the sheet of ice. He tugged on it before reaching up to plant the other one into the ice, located above his head. His spiked boots dug into the ice as he pulled himself along. "Ice is in good shape." He craned his neck back and stared down at the brothers' faces. "Follow me."