2"GO!" Ghost yelled, and all of us in the taskforce jumped out.

We entered free fall. I felt the cold Russian air hit my face, again. Glancing at my altimeter, I pulled my chute. The familiar tug reassured me, but out of habit, I glanced up, and made sure that the chute had opened cleanly. I gave myself a little grin, and focused on the flight. Then I heard a yell.

I looked up, and saw Roach cutting away his main. He fell back into free fall.

I waited with, my heart in my mouth, and then watched his chute reopen. But he wasn't able to control his chute well. I looked around, and saw Price was struggling with keeping his chute under control. Then I snapped my attention back to the landing.

I realised that I hadn't been paying as much attention as I should have.

This landing was gonna hurt.

A lot.

I went through the trees, and ended up hanging by my harness.

"Fuck," I swore and reached for my knife. Reaching over my shoulder, I cut myself away and fell, hitting the snowy ground with a soft thump.

I looked around. No one else was there. Then, my radio buzzed to life "Shadow? I got you on radar. Price and Roach are inbound. The rest of the team is proceeding with the mission. Roach and Price will regroup with you and then carry on." I acknowledged.

I crouched, and leveled my rifle. Just in case.

That turned out to be a great idea, because soon after, Roach and Price came running through, sounds of artillery fire behind them.

"Nice of you to have brought a party." I said, with a sarcastic smile. Roach rolled his eyes, and Price said "Get up, we're moving out lass".

We started off slowly, Price taking point. Suddenly, he held up his fist. "3 tangos, and a dog. Take em or let em be. Your call." Roach and I glanced at each other; then shouldered our rifles.

Two of the guards fell together, and then the dog and his handler.

"Beautiful," Price commented dryly and we carried on moving. After that, we didn't see any tangoes. Finally, we reached a ridge.

"Roach, get on the Predator, and let's give these bastards a little welcome." Price said. Roach had a huge grin, and pulled out the tablet.

And before he could fire a shot, the Predator was down. "Soap, our intel was off. The Russians have SAM sites." Price growled. "On it," Soap said. Then, we saw a huge explosion in the distance.

"Captain Price, SAM down." Ghost's voice came in over the radio. I swear, I love that man.

We rolled down the ridge, and carried on. As we moved, we saw a bunch of weapons. Probably a Russian nest. "We're gonna need firepower. Grab what you like" Price ordered, already shouldering an ACR. Both Roach and I looked at the LSAW. And then we charged for it.

He got there just before I could, and held it over my head. I punched him softly in the abs, and he let out a soft 'ooffh' and I grinned. Price frowned, and I immediately turned and armed myself with a M4. We ran on, and caught up with Ghost's squad.

As luck would have it, we were in a firefight.

"Made it, did ya?" Ozone yelled. I didn't respond, and focused on firing. And then, I saw a massive explosion, pretty close to me. I was pretty sure if I had been any closer, my uniform might have caught on fire.

"Good effect on target!" Soap's voice came through.

"Good effect my ass!" I yelled. "That was fucking danger close Roach! Little warning next time you try to kill me?" I could imagine his stupid smile as he waited for the AGM's to come online.

Eventually, we managed to push the Russians back. Then came the bad news.

"The sub dives in 2 mintues." Soap's voice came over, sounding worried. "Acknowledged." Price replied.

We carried on pushing through, Roach finally doing a good job of killing Russians, and not us.

"I'm going for the Sub!" Price yelled, "Cover me!" I got into position and started providing cover fire.

"Shadow, Roach, on my six, get to the guardhouse!" Ghost yelled. I fell back, following them. We got on top of the guardhouse. Taco, Ozone, and I covered Price. Ghost was firing at anything that moved, with scary accuracy. Roach, decided it had gotten too quiet, and missiles were raining down. Suddenly, Taco took a hit. "Shit!" I grabbed him and pulled him back into cover. Blood was pooling from his abdomen, in a little gap in his body armor. I grabbed my knife and cut it open. It wasn't looking good.

"Shadow." Taco gasped. "Rest Taco. You're gonna be alright." I said, even though he was critical. The bullet was actually in the center of his chest. I grabbed my med kit, and pulled out some gauze, and started putting pressure on the wound. "Shadow, I -" Taco said, taking a rattling breath. "I'm sorry. Didn't tell ya how ta' make my tacos." He said with a sad little smile. I smiled despite feeling sick to the stomach. "Stay with me Taco" I said as sternly as I could. Then his hand went limp.

"No, no!" I yelled. "Shadow, leave him! We're gonna get overrun!" Ghost put his hand on my shoulder and kneeled down next to me. And then, softer: "Come on, Hawkins. We gotta go." Ghost said, and I nodded, standing up. I started picking off soldiers. Then, the silo doors started opening.

"Price, hurry up, the silo doors are opening!" I called. We got silence.

And then, a missile took off.

"Price! A missile is in the air!" Ghost yelled.

"Good," came Price's reply. What the fuck?

"Fuck! Code Black! Nuclear missile in the air!" Ghost screamed.

Price came out of the sub. I swear, I wanted to kill him. Ghost, however, beat me to it.

"You fucking shit!" He yelled, charging towards Price.

"Calm down Lieutenant. I just saved the United States." Price growled.

"The fuck are you talking about?" I demanded. I had friends in the States, family. And Langley...

"I rigged it to blow up high in space. It'll create an EMP that'll take out the Russian armor. Give the Americans an edge." Price said.

Ghost didn't back down, but I could see his shoulders relaxing, making sense of this. Much like I was.

We heard the familiar thump of a chopper coming down behind us. We started walking towards the chopper, and then, Ghost turned around and punched Price hard, knocking him out. Ohh, boy.

"We don't know what he'll pull." Ghost said, noticing the face I made. "Roach, get him on the chopper." And then he strode onto the helo.

I could feel the rage pouring out of him. Roach dragged Price on, and then the helo took off.

We looked down, at the ruined base.

Shit was going down.

A/N: Well guys, here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I have so much work. I have exams and shit happening. I'll update when possible, but it will take time. Thanks to SMakarov for being my beta reader. Review please? (I know you're annoyed and stuff, but it helps a ton). Cheers, King112