It was amazing what one could find on a military submarine, the most amazing things of all, were the items that reminded them of the lives they had back home… Handheld gaming consoles, books, and in Anya's case, hair dye (which she had nicked from one of the newcomers whose name she could not remember). Her hair was naturally light, and it was her almost Slavic appearance that landed her Moscow in the first place. The first thing she did after her and Price's conference with Shepherd, she took a bottle, got a pair of scissors.

"How long has she been in there?" MacTavish asked a few of the men who were gathered in front of the bathroom.

"It's been one or two," Roach shrugged. "She took the dye from Thunder and ran in before he could catch her." A few feet across him, Thunder bemoaned the fact that he needed it to "cover the greys", and did not know how long that he would have to go without until God knew when.

Ghost sighed. "Must be a girl thing," he said, recounting the tale of how an ex-girlfriend of his cut off her long locks when he broke up with her. He received many nods of agreement.

"Come on, girl! We wanna see your makeover!" Chemo shouted, banging at the doors of the bathroom. Mere seconds later, Anya opened the door, causing him to nearly fall into the bathroom. "Whoa… lookit' you!"

"Part of my job last year was to look like a Russian doll," Anya announced. "I'm putting that far, far behind me." In her hands was a plastic bag filled with her hair, gold like the sun. Her hair was now in what someone fashionable would call a "pixie cut", the men just thought that it was really, really short.

MacTavish sighed. "Well, if it helps you to move on, it's a welcome change," he told her, and those words carried encouragement. For one moment she looked into his eyes, and all she found was the realization that she was home, home with the boys, with the Captain leading them. She would place her life on these men, and she would do anything to remain with them. She had prayed for this for the past year, every time she closed her eyes, she imagined being back with them. She had what she wanted, and she promised herself that she would keep it that way.

"My, my," Price's voice cut through the air and everyone looked towards him. "Our little girl's all grown up," he said, and patted Anya on the shoulder. "Now come on, we have work to do. If Shepherd's not gonna save the world, we're gonna set things right."

"Corporal Maria "Anya" Allen reporting for duty, sirs," she replied, directing her gaze to both Price and MacTavish.

Capt. John "Soap" MacTavish

Task Force 141

Ultranationalist Submarine Base – Petropavlosk

He and Price were running that mission based on the fact that there was a small possibility that they could do good, for bring down half the unit that the world depended on. Their greatest risk would be their greatest conquest, and he knew that they had no choice but to continue with what they had planned.

"ETA five minutes!" he shouted towards the team once he looked at his watch. They had already suited up and got their parachutes ready.

"You're not coming with us, Captain?" Roach asked him, receiving only a chuckle on his end.

"Well I'd thought that the old man would like to take the reins for a while," he answered. "I learned everything from him Roach; it will be just the same."

The only thing that Roach could do was to do whatever both the Captains said, as the rest of them did. Actually, the true thing that remained for that point of time was for him to jump down the helicopter, which he did, after Ghost and Price. He would remain there as his eyes on the sky, acting as the sole operator of this mission.

The landing process was not be a difficult one, because the weather was not as treacherous as expected, however, due to some interference, MacTavish was not able to track where each of them had landed. He would have to wait until they contacted him.

"Captain, we seemed to have landed a little off-course," Ghost reported. The winds had separated them, and only Price and Roach seemed to have landed in the correct place. But it mattered not, they had prepared for situations like this and he added, "I guess we'll have to meet them in the base then."

"Right you are, Ghost," MacTavish replied. "I'll see if I can find the other two." He looked at the screen which showed the satellite feeds, and he signaled Price in order to locate him. "Price, I can barely see Roach's chute on the satellite feed," he told Price. Too much interference… Do you see him, over? "

From the screen, he could see Price running several meters forwards. It seemed like he found Roach at last. "Roger that, Soap, I've found Roach," Price replied. "He seems to be intact."

"I'm okay," Roach replied. "Just landed on my ass, no biggie." Clumsiness must be his greatest attribute, however, he was resourceful as he was… unlucky, and MacTavish knew that he would not have any difficulties at all.

"We're gonna head northwest to the sub-base over," Price reported once Roach was on his feet.

"Copy that," MacTavish acknowledged. "The rest of the team landed near Ghost, pretty far to the east."

There was nothing Price and Roach could do. "Tell them to proceed with the mission," Price responded. "We'll regroup if possible. Roach, follow me and stay out of sight."

As always, Roach nodded and followed every step that Price took. Stealth was never his strength, because like Anya, he was a US Army Ranger, an infantryman. Half a year with the 141 had proven that he could actually improve in this set of skills, but still, he had much to learn. On the bright side, they were all lucky that he learned things fast.

It was not long in Price and Roach's trek towards the submarine base when they encountered their first sight of the enemy. "Contact," Price remarked, "enemy patrol 30 meters to our front. Five men, automatic rifles, frag grenades… One German Shepherd."

The mention of a dog caught MacTavish's attention. "Dogs? I hate dogs…" he commented, shuddering at a certain memory of being bitten by a strangely ferocious mutt during the Second Russian Civil War that he was diagnosed with rabies when he had the wound checked. He immediately became a cat person following that incident.

Price knew of this, and decided to prod him on further. "These Russian dogs are like pussy cats compared to the ones in Pripyat, " he added, expecting MacTavish to be shivering and grimacing wherever he was.

"It's good to have you back, old man," was the response from MacTavish, however, which ruined Price's fun by a small margin. It was going to be a mission that he would never forget.

Cpl. Maria "Anya" Allen

Task Force 141

Ultranationalist Submarine Base – Petropavlosk.

They had already entered the village that was on the exterior of the submarine base, but there was no sign of Price and Roach. "Ghost, if Roach is gonna operate drones here, we need to take out that mobile SAM," Anya notified Ghost when she caught sight of the SAM that she saw, passing her pair of binoculars to him to prove it.

"You're right, Anya," Ghost replied, crouched a little lower from their spot of cover. "We're gonna have to do this nice 'n easy. Jayhawk, Yankee, hug the walls and plant a charge on the side of the SAM. Anya, give the boys cover." Without a further word, the two men started to carry out Ghost's instructions while Anya put her eyes into the scope of her M14 EBR to look for any threats.

However, they were not in luck. Just before Ghost was able to detonate the charges that the team had set, the SAM fired one of its missiles into the air, and the target seemed to be a Predator drone that they had brought with them on the mission. The good thing was that the fact that the Predator was over the ridge meant that Price and Roach were not far away.

The smoke from the two successive blasts quickly cleared up, and when it did, the team could see the two latecomers running into the village after switching their weapons to unsuppressed ones that were lying around in the crates that had been scattered everywhere.

"Check your fire, check your fire," Ghost warned them. "Friendlies coming up at your 12."

Price acknowledged them and tipped his hat. "Nice work on that SAM," he praised, and started leading the team to move forwards.

"Thanks," Ghost replied, "But these explosions are gonna attract a lot of attention…"

They had no time to continue with the pleasantries, because the Russians from the base were already swarming towards them from all sides of the village. Thus, there was no choice for them but to fight their way through the village, and fight they did.

No matter how tough the job was, there was a slight smile on Anya's face for the world to see. "What are you smiling at?" Roach asked her when they got back-to-back, reloading his weapon.

"I'm just genuinely happy," she answered, shooting a Russian right in the forehead. "You don't know how long I've waited to be back in the field with you guys."

"You're crazy," Roach commented. "No sane person would want this job that bad…"

They separated and joined the others, but still kept close to one another. "Then what's your ideal way to get generally happy?" she asked him in return.

"Drinking hot cocoa on a snow day in front of the fire," Roach answered simply, and she chuckled. He had always been such a person, to be able to find joys in the simplest of things. "What?" he queried further when he noticed that she was still chuckling. "What's so damned funny?"

"It's just you, Roach," she interjected. "You never change, and it's a good thing."

Their talk could have continued, but he was soon needed to operate yet another Predator drone that MacTavish managed to send to them to remove all forms of defense the submarine base had. "Make it count," he warned the team. "These things don't grow on trees." Within seconds, there was a loud explosion not far from them, which took out an armed Hind. "That got their attention, the whole base is on alert!" he added, noticing the damage that Roach had done to the base. "You'd better hurry… You've got only a few minutes before the submarine dives!"

They rushed into the base, killing every person who resisted their efforts, doubled with Roach operating the Predator, it seemed nigh impossible that a small team like theirs could even manage such a feat with three minutes on the clock before the submarine dived.

After what seemed like an eternity to them, they reached the docks. "Anya and I are going for the sub!" Price exclaimed, dragging Anya along because she imagined that he needed cover and assistance inside there. "Cover us from the guardhouse by the west gate!"

Without hesitation, Anya followed Price into the submarine, the both of them making their way towards the control room as fast as people, pounding every form of resistance into non-effect. But one look at the controls of the submarine, and Anya knew that there was something amiss. "Price, this warhead is not meant for launch at all!" she warned. It meant that Makarov had genuinely no plans for this piece of equipment, but why?

"We're gonna change that," Price told her calmly, tapping into the keyboards of the control panel, which were, strangely in English. "After all, our mandate is to stop Makarov's plans with whatever means necessary. You've experienced that truth first hand."

Although what he said held truth, Anya was still unsure of what he wanted to do. "Do you know that if you launch this missile into Virginia where the Russian Army is now, you'll kill countless Americans as well?" she asked him, hoping that he knew the severity of the situation that they were in. Unless of course… he aimed high enough… "You're not aiming for Virginia, aren't you?" she asked again, knowing how he would answer her. There was a feed on the International Space Station on the screen right next to them, and its coordinates showed that it was just above Virginia in its orbit path. The resulting explosion of the impact between the missile and the ISS would cause an EMP that would halt all telecommunications in surrounding areas, meaning that the Russians there could not receive their instructions from their superiors back home.

It was not enough to give the US soldiers there on the Eastern Seaboard any advantage; but at least, it would level the playing field, because the Russian would no longer have the element of surprise with them.

"Now, all we have to do is to find out what the launch codes are," Price muttered, when the prompt for the launch codes appeared. They had time to think, because there was no one to take the submarine anywhere. Anya and he had taken all of the personnel on deck. "Hmm… that's strange, the launch code only has four characters."

Anya rolled her eyes. "What does it matter? We still have many, many possibilities with only one possible try," she commented pessimistically. It was a risk that she knew that she dared not take. She would leave it all to Price to figure out. Four characters… meaning that the launch codes could be alphanumeric. It made matters worse, much, much worse than she had first imagined.

Price exhaled laboriously, and rested his hands on the sides of the panel. Had they come so far in the mission only to return with nothing? Four characters… there was not a single mention of any pattern of alphabets on the plans. He looked towards Anya and remembered her zeal when she told him that the submarine that they were in… Apparently this location was only privy to those that were close to Makarov… and who could be the closest to him so far?

"Wait a bloody moment, that's it!" he shouted suddenly, which shocked Anya.

"You cracked the launch codes?" Anya asked him, and he nodded triumphantly. Character by character he keyed in the launch codes, and she watched as he did so.

A…

N…

Y…

A…

Access was granted as if by magic, and the silo doors opened once Price set the coordinates for detonation. "He seems to have a thing for you, Anya," Price said to her. "We'll talk about this later."

"Price, are you there?" Ghost's voice passed through the comms. "Anya, the silo doors are opening on the sub, I repeat, the silo doors are opening on the sub!" None of them gave any response. They only started to leave the submarine. "Price… Anya… come in! They're opening the silo doors to the sub, hurry!" Still, no one answered him, and his voice got louder and more frantic. "Do you copy? The silo doors are open, I repeat, the silo doors are open!"

There was only one thing for price to say to Ghost, really. "Good," he uttered by the time he and Anya were able to exit the submarine. By that time, the ground shook as the nuclear missile was launched from the submarine.

"Wait… wait… no!" Ghost shouted. There was nothing that he could do but to report back to HQ. "We have a nuclear missile launch. Missile in the air, missile in the air! Code Black… Code Black!"