Update, again! So, these last... THREE WEEKS!? Wow. I'm really sorry that you had to wait this long. anyway, these last 3 weeks were chaotic at my school. Test after test after test after test. But I did it. This time, Soap and Price join up. I'm not sure does the location of the base fit in the world, but it should do.
Italy, valley of the river Po
'Magician'
Magician smiled as the 141 Southern Europe base grew bigger and bigger. He could already see scout towers, a runway and four helicopter landing spots, barracks for those who remained loyal to 141, and a gigantic main building, which housed arsenal, recreation room, training ranges, dining rooms, kitchens and offices. Lower half of the base was nestled in a small valley, near a spring, one of many that flow in the river Po. Other, more important half lay on a hill, slowly melting in the mountainside behind it. The pilot slowed down right above one of the landing spots, in the upper base, and lowered the aircraft on the warm concrete. Other pilot did the same, and soldiers jumped out, all except Magician and Pvt. Marconi, who carefully carried Ghost to the ambulance room. Other men gathered at the windows, and whispered among themselves. Oh, look, that's Ghost! You know, the coolest guy in the force, they must be saying, or at least that's what Magician thought. The Ambulance room was colored in shiny white, and had big red crosses painted on every wall. Magician was surprised to see Soap in there. He would not know that was Soap, if he didn't know his hair. Soap spoke first: "I heard you have a callsign now, Magician." Magician smiled, but Soap stayed cold: "We lost Rook in Afghanistan." Magician shook his head. Too many good men died on that day; Toad, Archer, Roach, and now Rook. "And Ghost almost died.", Magician motioned towards Ghost's form resting on a bed. Three medics ran to Ghost and started to take his bulletproof vest off, unwrapping his ribs from the bloody bandages. The wound on his side was mostly made by sheer impact force of the .44 bullet, but the blood gushed out as soon as the medics removed the last strip of cloth. "Prepare the operating room, and call Dr. Lansazi!", the lead medic shouted. They pushed Ghost's bed ahead, and entered the adjacent room. Soap and Magician tracked them with their eyes. The remaining medic said to Soap: "You'll be fine.", and turned himself to Magician. "And you?" "I don't have any wounds, Doc.", Magician said, but the medic still measured his pulse and blood presure, and took x-ray pictures of Magician's limbs and rib cage. Finally, after almost half an hour, he recieved back his clothes and weapons, and walked to his room in the barracks.
The air flowed through open windows on the second floor, cooling Magician as he opened door to the room #12. In the same moment, his roommate jumped off the lower of two bunks, and threw him a bottle of Coke. His friend had short, blonde hair, and short beard and just a shade of mustache. It stood out from his dark, tanned body, and he always wore desert camo while in the base, no matter is that base in Siberia or on New Guinea. Magician took a big sip of it, and sighed: "Ahhhhh. Weird, they don't sell Coke on Georgia-Russia border." "Nice to see you too, Matthew.", the other man said, and then: "Magician and Rabbit share a room." His callsign was 'Rabbit', since he was one of the rare people who have beaten Gaz's 19-second record on the Cargo Ship course. His .44 Magnum even had '17.76 sec' engraved on the barrel, and Rabbit played with his Magnum right now. "Ever since Shepherd shot Roach and Ghost with a Magnum, I can't stand it.", Magician said. "Hey! Don't blame .44 for that.", Rabbit defended his weapon of choice. "Shepherd is a jerk, but he knows how to choose a gun.", he added, reloading the sidearm. "Who died? Toad, Archer, Rook, Roach and Ghost, right?", Rabbit asked. Magician was confused: "Man, Ghost isn't dead. I just brought him here." "Really?! I saw you and that young Marconi carrying someone, everybody did, but I didn't know it was Ghost.", Rabbit said, and continued: "Many people seem to think that Ghost died out there." Magician smiled at his friend, but said nothing. Then Soap entered room #12. He changed from his cut camo suit to a 141 black uniform, and was armed again. His voice was authoritative as he spoke: "Sgt. Reeds. Cpt. Price will meet you in room #3." Magician nodded, and followed Soap out over a skybridge connecting barracks with the administration building. That skybridge, made of steel and bulletproof glass, was the only point of entry to the upper level. He walked to a specially designed room, carved in solid stone of the mountain. The door to that room were covered with soundproof material, preventing any conversation to escape. Inside the room were already Sgt. Oliver and Cpt. Price. The room was colored in dark blue shades, with the 141 emblem painted behind Price's chair. When Soap and Magician took seats, Price said: "This meeting is top secret. Ghost should be here, but he's recovering. Tomorrow, I'm going with Soap to Shepherd's hideout. But we found out that one of Arabic sheiks tries to play both Makarov and Shepherd with his 'help'. Now he tried to play us. We're making new company to deal with the likes of him, and for special tasks: 'Group Volcano'; it will be made from members of other companies and groups, who either proved themselves in battle or are recomended by their officers. Namely, those will be Magician, Ghost, Marconi, a couple of others, and you, Oliver." He made a pause. "You will meet the others tonight at twenty hundred hours.", he said, and added: "Dismissed. Have fun tonight." Magician left the office, and returned to the barracks.
As he entered the recreation room, he looked at his watch. 17:02. But he was interupted by Rabbit and one of the others, who gave him a bottle of beer and a hat on which they have writen: "The Leading Motherf*cker" Magician smiled, and said: "What's this?" "A winner party!", Rabbit shouted, and he motioned to snacks, gallons of beer, and game consoles in the room. Magician counted the people; there must have been twenty or thirty soldiers. "Why this early? It's only 5 p.m.", he asked. Rabbit winked: "We both have a meeting in 8 p.m." Magician took the beer, and challenged some guy in racing. When he finished the race, he met with Rabbit again. "We lost at least four men out there, and you throw a party?", he whispered, watching one of the guys shower himself with beer. Rabbit replied: "Well, that's why I did it; we need to be happy for a change. Even Price said that." Then he looked at Magician: "If you want to be grim, there will be time to do so soon." Magician shook his head, and started talking to a group of men. He didn't know how much time passed, so he was surprised when Rabbit knocked on his shoulder and said: "19:58"
They walked together to a small conference room, opened the door and took seats. Magician looked at the others: Price, grim as ever; Soap, inspecting his rifle; Marconi, nervously sitting on the other side; a bald man with mustaches; an Asian American man in his thirties, smoking; blonde veteran with an USMC amblem on his shoulder; and a young, dark haired man, almost a teenager, spinning a hunting knife in his fingers. "This is James, sniper.", Price said, motioning to the bald man. Soap added: "Also known as Sharp." Blonde veteran said: "I'm Luke. Callsign 'Dynamo'. Explosives." "Vincent Kei, your supporting 141 soldier: M4A1 and a shotgun. AKA 'Shotgun'.", Asian said, drawing a smoke. The young man shifted in his chair, and said: "Alex, melee combat and intel specialist, called 'Bloody Blade'." Price eyed everybody around the table: "You're flying tomorrow in oh-eight-hundred hours. Ghost won't fly there, but he will be in the exfil helicopter with Nikolai's best pilot, Andrei Hadrenyin. Target is Mohammad Gald-al-Begner, owner of multiple million-dollar factories, agencies and facilities for militaristic affairs. Earns more than 90% of the people can imagine. Builds himself sixty-floor towers, like the one you'll storm. He's even bigger scum than Makarov and Shepherd. Tries to sell us bad goods, and executes our captured men. We'll give him that same fate." Without a word after that, Soap and Price left the room.
I know, I know. I said that the backgrounds of the OCs will be in this chapter. But I wrapped it up, so I can share this sooner. The next chapter will give you that (at least I hope). PeakOfMeneltarma done.