A/N: Just going to say this story has some serious topics like poaching, view discretion is advised. Apart from that I hope you enjoy.
Location: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Durban, South Africa
Date: June 20, 2015
The sun beat heavily over the South African nature reserve. A small group of elephants walked together, a young one clung to their mother's tail. Some distance away, but still in view, were a group of women all in ghillie suit attire and weapons at the ready. On them were patches reading 'Inkaba Task Force'. The women were attentive to their surroundings for anything on the horizon.
"Another quiet day." one of them muttered, their accent was thick as they wiped the sweat from their brow. The woman turned over to look at the person across from her. "Thandiwe, you think the elephants are dying from this heat as we are?"
The woman in question, Thandiwe— the unit's leader— let out a small chuckle as she looked on as the herd of elephants walked on. Her smile grew seeing the small one walk along.
"I am sure that they feel the same heat as us, but you do not hear them complain now do you?" Thandiwe chuckled as they neared one of the large bodies of water many of the animals in the reservoir like to come to. The vehicles came to a stop as the woman all hopped out and got ready to take covering positions for the herd as they began to take in some water in their trunks. The Task Force leader scanned around with her MP5 ready.
"They are some beautiful creatures, are they not?" one of the women smiled seeing the little one being sprayed with water by their mother; "Little Ellie is growing more and more spoiled by the day?" another joked.
From the opposite end of the unit a small group all made their way into the reserve from one of the caged off spaces. They were all armed with weapons and other equipment. Among the group was one man with a black mask spray painted red skull and white on the bottom portion. He wore a tan long sleeve missing the left one to show his toned arm. He turned around to look at his men, silently motioning them to push up, using the nearby foliage as cover. The men were here for one thing and one thing only, and nothing would get in their way.
The elephants continued to play in the water, the group of women relaxed a bit as they took in the calm sounds around them, Thandiwe was perched on a tree, she leaned a bit back on one of the tree branches and hummed to herself. The Task Force were oblivious to the men who were now nearing where they were positioned. One by one, Thandiwe's people were grabbed and quickly subdued. The shuffling snapped the leader back to reality as she looked down to see one of the women being pinned down on the ground. With no hesitation, Thandiwe unsheathed her okapi knife before leaping down and pouncing on the man. He let out a yell in pain as the knife entered his back. Getting the attention of the other intruders. Thandiwe leapt off the man's back as she tried to reach for her pistol, before getting a swift kick to her side. She let out a groan and curled a bit as the masked man who kicked loomed over her. The man looked back over at the man who was stabbed, the masked man walked over to him and forcefully yanked the knife out before unholstering his hand cannon of a pistol and shot him dead.
"Useless." he growled, looking over at his men; "You. Call in the truck–I honestly expected more from these renowned task force."
"F-Fuck you." Thandiwe spoke up and spat at the man, there was a moment of regret as the man grabbed her by the neck. He lifted her up, bringing it up to her feet. Through the mask's holes, Thandiwe could see the man's light brown eyes pierce her as he held a firm grip, just loose enough she would not begin to be suffocated.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked her, the shorter woman said nothing as she struggled a bit in his grasp. After a moment she finally stopped and sighed.
"The Jackal…" she gritted her teeth; "I–I know all about you. A monster."
"A monster?" he let out a small chuckle, sending a small shiver down the captured woman and even some of Jackal's own men. "You are brave, even when I could snap your neck here and now."
The Jackal tossed her down on the ground with some force.
"I will give you a choice–and for doing it, I shall let you live." he said as he knelt down beside her and motioned over to the other woman part of Thandiwe's unit with his hand cannon. "Which one should I kill first?"
"I won't do it." she answered immediately, earning her a smack on the back of her head by the Jackal. Some of the other women let out a small cry as he aimed his pistol to the back of her head, now itching his finger on the trigger.
"I volunteer!" one woman shouted, the one Thandiwe had spoken with earlier.
"Imka, no!" Thandiwe shouted before the loud crack echoed, the elephants let out a series of trumpet roars. Imka dropped dead on the ground with a bullet hole in her head. The Task Force leader was frozen in place, it was bringing back memories to her time in the Central African Republic. One by one, the sound of the hand cannon fired, seeing her team falling limp. The Jackal walked over and glanced at his work, nudging one of the corpses with his foot.
"You…" Thandiwe finally spoke up.
"I am disappointed." The Jackal reloaded his pistol. "I told you to pick who was to die first."
"Fuck you!" she screamed. "Just kill me here and now!"
"Hm, you would want that." He smirked under his mask. The elephants were beginning to be herded back towards the group. The Jackal ordered his men to halt as they separated the mother elephant from its child, the Mercenary leader yanked Thandiwe back up as he dragged her over towards the mother. "Perhaps you can yet make yourself useful. Tell me, you know how many shots it would take to kill an elephant?"
"Damn you…" she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, he felt her heart sink as she was now face to face with the large elephant. The Jackal moved behind Thandiwe as he guided his hands along hers, she froze at the feeling of something in her hands. It was a bulky feeling, warm in her hands–glancing down it was Jackal's hand cannon. His hands were cupping hers as he used he made her position her hands to aim the gun at the elephant.
"You can find out for yourself–I am here to help of course." he whispered, noting the tears streaming down. He calmly shushed her; "There. There. The sooner the better."
"I can't do it–I won't." she protested. "I will not shoot her."
"You cannot shoot her? It is simple." The Jackal snarled, using his index finger to place it over hers as the trigger began to squeeze; "It is like this."
"NO!" Thandiwe screamed as the gun rang out. The mother let out a cry of pain. "LULU!"
"There we are!" The Jackal chuckled; "Not so hard now, is it?"
Thandiwe felt sick to her stomach, she wanted to use the cursed pistol in her hands to kill the man behind her. Lulu fell down on her knees before falling to her side. The Jackal grabbed his Hand Cannon back from Thandiwe as she fell to her knees, the South African Mercenary looked over at the elephant, it's heavy breath was audible to everyone. The Jackal looked over to Thandiwe, shaking his head.
"Looks like you failed at even this. Poor Lulu." he mocked, "And you say I am the monster–"
*Bang*
"I am putting a creature out of their misery."
"Boss, vehicles are waiting for us." one of the mercenaries spoke up. They turned over to look at Thandiwe; "What should we do with her?"
"Leave her. Death is mercy for her now." The Jackal said as he holstered his pistol, the last thing Thandiwe saw before she shut her eyes…
'I failed them...'
'I will avenge you all.'
Location: Redacted.
Date: January, 2019
"This all was four years ago." The Jackal said as he took a sip of his water. He wore a professional attire as opposed to his usual combat clothing and without his ballistic mask on. The woman sitting across from him had a neutral expression, silently taking in his story. After a moment of silence, she cleared her throat.
"Feels like the time flies, doesn't it Mr. Mabuza." she spoke in a calm American accent; "I have been keeping an eye on you since that event you know."
"Oh have you now, Miss…?"
"My name is not important at this moment. You can simply refer to me as Perseus."
"Ah, I see." he nodded, not the first person who was on a no name basis. In the line of work he employed himself in, this was common. "Very well then, Perseus. May I ask why you have kept an eye on me since that event?"
"A few reasons-some I will not let you know for the time being-just know I can appreciate someone striking fear into people who stand in the way of their goals."
"It is only business." he shrugged; "Although, I would be lying if I said I took no pleasure."
"Which is why I came to you now, my organization would require a long time service of some of your persuasion skills." She smirked; "I can assure you, you will be paid greatly."
"Hmmm, and what if what you offer is not to my liking?" he pressed; "There are many others who require my business-I do not look away from other options."
"Funny." Perseus said as she leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. "From what I hear, Owethu–You are not as much of a popular option these days thanks to The Jackals."
At the mention of the rival organization, Owethu's brow narrowed. "Those bastards; they are a split part of my own company. Stole my name and wish to act like they control the African market."
"Then maybe if I could promise you something else along with the money."
"I am listening."
"I am an ambitious woman, Mr. Mabuza. I wish to change the world, reshape it. Work with me, and I can promise you Viktor and Abraham's heads. And why stop at just the African market? You could become international–you know the American saying, `the world is your oyster.'"
"Well I can see you are indeed ambitious." Owethu was amused by the older woman's speech. He thought it out, if-and it was a big if- this woman was not full of shit, he could become a powerful man. Even if everything fell apart, the promise of killing his former employees was something he would savor. He looked at Perseus dead in the eyes.
"You have yourself a deal."
A/N: So I figured I should explain...as I kept writing OA, I realized that I had a lot of ideas for World Building that would not really fit within the main story. Things such as this backstory between The Jackal and Melusi. I plan to occasionally drop some stuff here as I try and write main OA. I do not want to make this feel like it is mandatory reading, but I may reference some things here and there. Also will use this to write up some character bios for the CoD characters/in game organizations *cough* Shadow Company *cough* who are now thrown into this and of course my lad Thomas. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, this is Ghost going dark.