Spy School goes Commando

Arrival

Location Classified

March 16th, 2023

1200 hours

Ben's POV

The Osprey landed, and carrying our bags, we climbed into a Black Hawk helicopter, and set off for Spy School. When we were over Spy School, I saw Noriega and a few thugs standing in front of a small group of spies, and a large crowd of students. We pulled on our parachutes, and jumped. I took aim with my sniper, took out each of Noriega's men, and clipped him in the shoulder before he ran to the cover of his vehicle. When we landed I cursed, and said, "So close! Just missed him!" A chirpy voice with a clipped British accent said, "I presume that you are the SEALS Cyrus told us about. I turned, and was greeted by the surprising sight of Erica, Catherine, Mike, Zoe, Chip, Jawa, and Trixie. I narrowed my eyes at Jawa, Mike, and Zoe, and glared at Erica. All of my teammates did the same. I couldn't believe that I had to work with them. Section nodded and reluctantly shook Catherine's hand, and we warily followed her to a conference room. 

(Ben gave everyone the rundown of his friends)

We went up to a large conference room, only used by the highest of the highest, such as the President and Director. We were met by Mason, Woods, and Cyrus. Mason and Woods greeted us, with Mason telling us, "Good to see you." Woods was more physical, giving strong handshakes and slaps on the back from his wheelchair. (he was disabled by Menendez, and Mason has a limp because of Woods shooting him in the leg, saving him) Cyrus merely nodded and shook Section's hand. Once we had all sat down, Section introduced us, saying, "I'm David Mason, but you can call me Section." He gestured to me, "This is my second-in-command, Ghost, our sharpshooter, and weapons/ explosive specialist." I gave a small, curt, nod with a glare, and as Section was moving on, Cyrus asked, "Isn't he a bit young?" Section nodded. "Yes, he is young, but he has almost as much experience as the rest of us and is really smart. It went on like that until everyone had introduced themselves. Once we had started debriefing each other about out enemies, we received a video call, from none other than Raul Menendez. "Menendez," I growled. He mocked, "Ah, hello young one. Are you enjoying life without Ryder my young friend?" I knew he was the enemy, but that was too far. I stood up abruptly, knocking my chair over and surprising everyone. I shouted, "Menendez, you son of a b*tch! You killed my best friend and I will make you pay for being a scumbag. I swear that I will be the one to put the bullet in your head, you as*hole. Enjoy your last days, motherf*cker!" I then hung up and turned and punched the wall. Everyone except for Harper, Section, Cyrus, Woods, and Mason winced. I didn't feel anything though. I was too pumped up on adrenaline and anger. Section put a hand on my shoulder and told me to calm down. I yelled, "That motherf*cking piece of sh*t! He killed my best friend and had the balls to taunt me about it! Do not tell me to f*cking calm down!" Everyone cringed, anticipating that Section would explode and yell at me. However, he said, "Ghost, what would Ryder want you to do? What did he ask you to do?" I responded, "He said to kill that shithead for him." Section nodded. "That's what we're trying to do. Getting mad won't get Ryder back and it won't kill Menendez. You know what you have to do." I nodded and sat down. "You certainly don't like him, do you?" Catherine observed. Section sighed and nodded. "Yeah, we've all had bad experiences. First, he captured, starved, and dehydrated Uncle Frank, then he tricked him into trying to kill dad, kidnapped me as a seven year old, kneecapped Uncle Frank and Hudson, and killed tons of our men, including Ryder. His death was the worst."  When I heard that, I felt myself slip into darkness. 

Erica POV:

As we awaited the SEALS' arrival, I wondered what they would be like. I was taken out of my thoughts by a loud crash, followed by screams. A large white van had broken through the front gates, and the guards had been shot by a man with scars on his face. Behind him stood five thugs, aiming RPG's at us. The man said, "You are not safe, and you will not be able to stop us. Surrender now, and we will spare your friends." By this time, a crowd of students had gathered due to the action." Before anyone could respond, an Army Black Hawk flew over us and five men jumped out. The first held a sniper, and took out the thugs with precision. He hit the man in the shoulder, and he retreated to his van and pulled away. The men deployed parachutes and landed. The sniper cursed and muttered, "So close! Just missed him!" He be just under six feet tall, and very fit. He carried two rifles, two pistols, a submachine gun, a sniper, two knives, a portable mortar, and wore rainbow shaded and a ghost mask that covered his face. One was tall, blond, and lanky, with an automatic rifle and med kit. Another was stocky, with only a bulletproof vest and tattoos all over his right arm. He looked tough. The third was a short man, with a large grin on his face and baseball cap. He carried a large machine gun. Last was a man, slightly above six feet tall. He had the aura of a leader, from the way he carried himself to the way he observed his surroundings from behind his rainbow shades. They all appeared to be looking at me and my friends in recognition, anger, and disgust, along with the rest of the SEALS. "What had we done?" I wondered, "Why did they hate us so much?"

Once we arrived in the conference room, the SEALS were introduced. I had read the files of the men, but the boy had little information, and was only introduced as "Ghost," their explosive specialist and sniper. As we were explaining our enemies' tendencies, a video call popped up, from our main enemy, Raul Menendez. It was clear that Ghost had clashed with him before, because he growled, "Menendez." Menendez smiled and mocked, "Ah, hello young one. Are you enjoying life without Ryder my young friend?" Ghost leaped up, knocking over his chair. He then proceeded to threaten Menendez and call him various profanities before hanging up. In his rage, he punched the wall. Almost everyone winced. Even with padded gloves, that had to hurt. he continued to yell and shout before his leader, Section calmed him down and returned to his seat. After my mother inquired about their past with Menendez, Section started explaining. When he got to the part about Ryder, Ghost's friend, the boy slumped in his chair, leaning on Section. Section cursed and as the boy started to shake, scream, flail, and cry, Section shook him, slapped him, and even dumped water on him. Finally, Section reluctantly pulled out a taser and tasered Ghost. The boy stopped shaking, but continued to mumble and twitch. Eventually, he yelled out, Ryder! NOOOO!" At this, each of the commandoes put their hands on his shoulders and wiped tears from their eyes. Ghost sat up and screamed, "Ryder!!!" before slumping over and sobbing, repeatedly saying, "Its all my fault, it should have been me!"

Ghost/Ben POV:

I saw Ryder's death, and no matter what I tried, I couldn't stop it, and couldn't avoid seeing it. 

I woke up, and started sobbing, before composing myself, hiding my face, switching masks, and replacing my sunglasses. Section, sensing my need for some space, said, "Ghost, camera?" I took it off of my headset and gave it to him before walking outside and sitting down, back to the wall. 

Erica POV:

After the boy had composed himself and exited the room, Section had inserted a chip from the tiny camera into the projector in the room. We saw a battle from Ghost's perspective: blood, fires, and bodies everywhere. My friends and parents looked sick. We saw a young man next to him, fighting, and could hear the two bantering. Suddenly, there was the crack of a sniper rifle and a scream next to Ghost. Ghost whipped around and saw Ryder laying there, a bullet in his heart. Ghost immediately looked for the shooter, and saw Menendez in a helicopter, who grinned before the helicopter flew away. Ghost looked down at Ryder, who was struggling to breathe. He pulled a note from his pocket and a dogtag from around his neck. He gulped out, "Ben, give this to Marie, handing him the letter, and said, keep this and remember me," handing Ghost or Ben the dogtag. Ghost said "I'm sorry, it should have been me." Ryder smiled and said, "Don't be. See you arou..." Ghost hugged the body and cried, before bullets started whizzing past him. he picked up Ryder's gun and started mowing down enemies, honoring his fallen friend. Section removed the chip and reinserted it into the headset. He explained, "Ghost suffers from PTSD and Survivor's Guilt. He occasionally relives that moment, and if he remembers, hears, or sees a certain thing or time, it sends him into a flashback. At this point, everyone in the room was crying or close to tears, including my grandfather. The door opened, and Ghost reentered. He took his headset from Section and sat down. Section whispered something to him, and he sighed before saying, "I have something I need to tell you." Before he could go any further, we were interrupted by an alarm, the kind signaling an attack.