Operation: Phantom Shock

Winter's wrath

Weavers pov
5 months after joining
Yukon Territory, Canada
      I paused to stretch after we got off the plane as a chill shot up my spine, I sighed as I felt the familiar bite of the north. Erik looked at me "this is what you lived in for 18 years?" I nodded "and I loved every second of it" Emma looked over at me "what's wrong with you? How could you love this?" I shifted my attention to her "because I was dressed for the weather, as to what's wrong with me? Classified" she gave me a look as a man I quickly recognized as Harry walked out of the lit up base before coming to a halt in from of almost 60 freezing operators yelling so everyone could hear "everyone, the base is up and running, we've double checked everything to make sure it is safe. Follow me and I will show you to your rooms!" I looked at the two operators next to me shivering in the cold "well what are you waiting for? You're the ones that are cold" causing them to run and slip as they scrambled to get into the base as quickly as they could. I heard a Russian accent to my right "comrade, you almost caused a stampede" I looked over seeing a man with a short, black hair and a trimmed beard, my eyes landed on the Russian flag and suddenly I was on edge, my hand rested on my knife and my muscles tensed which he noticed "I see you're on edge around Russians, any reason?" I replied icily "I was in DC a year ago fighting Russian paratroopers after Russia invaded" he nodded sadly "a dark time for my country, I assure you I hate Vladimir Makarov as much as any American and I don't intend on killing you in your sleep." I nodded slowly keeping my eyes on his as he spoke "why don't we head inside and continue this conversation? Maybe come to a middle ground?" I slowly relaxed and nodded stiffly "yeah, maybe" he smiled a genuine smile as we grabbed our gear and headed inside, Harry was standing there waiting "Kapkan, voodoo, nice of you to finally join us. Voodoo you're with Valkyrie, Kapkan you're with Goyo." We both nodded as Harry looked at us as if he saw a ghost "is there a problem here I'm not seeing?" I replied "no sir, just old scars showing" he nodded in understanding "is it going to be a problem when it comes to operations?" I looked over to see the Russian now dubbed Kapkan looking at me inquisitively before I looked back at Harry "no sir, I'll do my job" he walked away wordlessly as I heard Kapkan "let us head to the lounge where we can sit down and talk" I motioned him to lead the way as we walked around following the signs until we reached the mess hall and placed down our gear sitting across from each other.

I looked at him as he looked at me "do you hate me?" I shook my head no "I'm uncomfortable around Russians, I don't hate them" he nodded before asking "is the attack on DC the only reason you're uncomfortable?" I nodded "watching your team and other men in your military getting slaughter by an enemy we weren't supposed to be fighting can make you a bit antsy" he sighed "I wasn't there but I heard the fighting was brutal" I nodded as my fist clenched "I never wanted to be fighting in the streets of my capital, I never thought I'd have to... let alone watch as my team was gunned down in an ambush" he looked down "not every Russian wanted that, we were a nation outraged at a false truth. I pray they've learned their lesson." I looked at him "not everyone is so forgiving, seeing the wreckage isn't the same as seeing the city burning as we try to stop an air strike on the White House" he looked up and into my eyes, his glowed with sorrow "I assure you the president is working to make sure it never happens again" I looked down, voicing my doubt "and what if it does? What if Makarov manages to get the boost in power he needs from the Masks to start the war again? Where do you sit on that war?" He looked at me with anger in his eyes "then I will fight mother Russia, I cannot allow her to fall into the clutches of that maniac" I nodded as I relaxed "I may have misjudged you" when suddenly a tray dropped loudly next to me catching me off guard as I spun and threw a punch hitting Blackbeard in the nose and throwing him to the ground as I grabbed my chest at the heart attack he just gave me "Jesus Christ, never do that again! You gave me a heart attack, you fuck!" He sat up holding his nose as the other operators in the mess hall laughed "well shit I didn't know you were gonna clock me" I rolled my eyes as I quipped back "yeah, let's sneak up and scare the tier 1 operator and expect not to get hit" he sighed as he stood "touché, touché, so why are you talking to Kapkan? I thought you hated Russians" I replied "I don't hate Russians, I'm on edge around them. As to why we're talking, we're trying to find a middle ground" he nodded with a sad sigh and a far off look in his eyes "I remember the years before the attack when we weren't constantly on edge around each other" I looked down as Kapkan replied "when Makarov is 6 feet under we can start working back to that" I was about to speak when Emma, Erik and someone I haven't met yet sat down, "oh hey guys" Erik looked at Kapkan "you and-" I cut him off "yes, no I don't, we're finding a middle ground" he chuckled "Jesus kid, how many times have you been asked?" I shrugged "so far? Only once" Emma asked "did you two find one, a middle ground I mean?" I looked at Kapkan as he answered "I believe so, I don't believe we're friends but I do think we're on the path" I nodded confirming his suspicion. He smiled faintly as Emma looked at me "how does it feel to officially be at Rainbow?" I sighed dramatically "I wanna go home" the table chuckled as Kapkan asked "do you live around here? You seemed pretty comfortable in the cold" I nodded "Alaska, the land of fuck all" he spoke "Ah the Siberia of America" I froze before slowly replying "I never actually thought about that" Craig(Blackbeard) asked "how does it feel to be apart of the big dogs?" I looked at him "how does it feel to not be tier 1? What's that? I couldn't hear you over the sheer importance of my missions" he pouted "no need to pull that card on me" Erik replied as we chuckled "stop being a child, also stop having a pissing contest with Voodoo he has the mission importance card that you can't beat" he shot back "yeah, well atleast seals are more famous" I hit him with my silver tongue "that just means you're shit at being special forces, you aren't supposed to be known about if you're spec ops" he paused as Emma spoke "that.... is a very good point" Kapkan followed her up "he's got you there, I didn't know delta existed until Maverick was recruited" the mystery person spoke for the first time "do you have anything to say back?" He looked at her before turning to me "yeah well atleast I can use my unit to get laid" I shot back "who are you going to pick up out here? A fucking seal? Are you gonna go an' fuck a seal?" He paused before spinning and searching the cafeteria "alright fair, you win this round Voodoo" I checked my watch "2-0" he groaned "shut up" I looked over "hey Craig, knock knock" he looked up "who's there?" I replied trying not to laugh "Owen" he seemed hesitant "Owen who?" I looked him dead in the eyes "Owen two" as he threw a cardboard box at me. I sat up after falling "where did you even get that?" He replied "it's my emergency throw box, I always have it" I shook my head as I sat back down "So Erik, who's the mystery over there?" He looked over at her before turning "we're using real names now?" I shrugged "I figure it doesn't matter anymore, code names are almost exclusively for missions and unless Kapkan wants to fuck me up in my sleep I think I'm fine" he nodded before replying "this is Sanaa El Maktoub codenamed Nomad" I gave a small wave "Weaver field code name Voodoo" she nodded "nice to finally meet you Erik has told me a great deal about you" I cocked my head to the side as I stared at Erik "oh really?" She nodded as he chuckled "good things, good things I promise" I nodded as Emma spoke "so what's everyone's plans for tonight?" I heard Kapkan "I'm probably gonna go drop my stuff off at the dorm and then hit the gym" she nodded as Craig answered "maybe work out, maybe sleep I don't know yet" she chuckled as Erik and Nomad replied "I'm going to sleep" I laughed "tier 1 operator right there" Emma shifted her focus to me "what about you?" I shrugged "probably gonna go drop off my stuff and go to the range, have some fun before I go to sleep" she asked "mind if I join you? I could use some help figuring out what I'm doing wrong" I shook my head no "the more the merrier and since we're just south of the arctic circle we're about as merry as merry can get" Craig looked at me "the hell did that even mean?" I looked back "to be honest, i don't have a clue" Erik chuckled as Kapkan and I stood to get our food "I never caught your name" he looked back at me "Maxim, my name is maxim" I nodded slightly "good to meet you Maxim" he smiled "you too, Weaver" we got our food and sat back down as I pulled out my new pistol and slid it to Erik "check it out, rich and the rest got it for me before we left" he lifted it carefully "this isn't standard" I nodded before replying "apparently they got it custom, from what I've figured it's got a lightweight trigger so it fires faster" he mused "cause that's not broken at all" I laughed "don't take this from me" he nodded as Craig asked "can I see it after you're done Erik?" He shrugged "it's not my call, ask Weaver" he looked at me like an excited puppy "can I?" I sighed "yea, just keep it pointed down. I don't want to see the cafeteria getting flagged down" he nodded excitedly as Emma asked "how is so much of your gear modified? Do you pay for it yourself?" I shook my head no "Delta force has our own sector of the defense budget, I just use that to modify my guns. We can use it for anything as long as it makes us more efficient in our jobs, I argued that modifying my rifle to my liking would make me a better operator and the General agreed" she nodded while asking "so the United States government pays for your modifications?" I nodded as she asked "do you have a set amount you can spend?" I replied "while I would love to tell you, the government said I couldn't. I can't really talk about most of the inner workings of Delta since none of us Officially exist, as far as the government and the world at large says Erik and I don't exist" she looked between us "what's it like living as a phantom?" I shrugged "fun, I get to do high risk missions daily. Only downside is I can't talk about the missions with anyone other then other units, my therapist and command, I'd like to hear my fathers input on the stuff I've done" as Erik spoke "it's weird. I've been all over the world, I've done hundreds of missions and talked to thousands of people but none of it exists. The last 16 or so years I haven't existed but the moment I get picked up by Rainbow I come back into existence under a different unit name" I chuckled "Bro, our unit doesn't have a name, nothing official anyways" Maxim asked "what do you mean?" I looked over "it's all just nicknames: delta force, CAG, The Unit, ACE, 1st SFOD-D, task force green. Officially we don't exist so officially we have no name, no face, no identity" Maxim looked intrigued as Sana'a asked "CAG? ACE? What do they mean?" Erik answered "combat applications group and Army compartmented element" Craig spoke "a lot of black ink, a lot of cover ups, a lot of blurred lines and illegal activities" I looked at him "no, a lot of barely legal activities. We work on the line most other units are too sloppy to work on" Craig looked at me while motioning you're the table "are you calling us sloppy?" I spoke "no, you're all surgical when you do your missions, Erik and I? We're robotic, because we have to be when you walk the line between legal and illegal, shadows and daylight, you can't afford to land on the wrong side" Erik nodded "Craig, enough. You know he's right, there's a reason there's only three tier 1 units." He sighed "yeah, I know doesn't mean I have to like being second" I looked at him as Erik responded "then try to join team 6, you want to compete with us so much hit devgru" he looked at me "maybe I will" I nodded "good, we can always use another operator. God knows it's hard enough to get in" Sana'a asked "how hard is it?" To which Erik responded "delta recruits from the top 10% of army special forces, of that 10% 90% wash out of the selection and qualification courses." I followed it up "in my two classes of 120 people each only 12-14 made it" Emma whistled "lot of drop outs" I nodded "there's a reason we're called the Best of the best" Erik looked at his wrist "well I'm off to go settle in, g'night everyone" I waved as everyone said goodnight before I stood and grabbed my gear "I'm gonna go drop this stuff off and go for a walk" Emma asked "can I come with?" I shrugged "sure" she stood and walked over before we said goodbye and headed to my room "so how's everything in France?" She looked over "it's tense, everyones on edge after the incident between you and Russia" I nodded "trust me I know, when we weren't doing missions or helping recover Command had us training for hours on end" she sighed "I worry about what's gonna happen with the masks and Makarov running about, the worlds on edge and we've got two massive terrorist organizations doing attacks" I spoke tiredly "we'll weather that storm when we get to it, until then let's try to relax for a bit" she nodded "I suppose you're right, do you think we'll be able to see the northern lights?" I checked my watch "definitely, let me drop off my stuff and then we can head outside and look at them" she smiled "mercí, I've wanted to see them forever now" I smiled slightly as we arrived. I quickly stopped in and dropped my gear off "Meghan, I'll be back in a bit Emma and I are going outside to look at the lights" she nodded tiredly "just don't be too loud when you come back in" I gave a thumbs up "I'll try not to" as I turned after grabbing my pistol and loading 2 magazines and my heavy winter jacket and handing it to Emma "put this on, it'll help you stay warm" she took it "what about you?" I waved her off "don't worry about it, I've got my jacket I'll be fine" she nodded clearly unsure as we headed to the door and out onto the open area surrounding the base looking down the entry road.

I looked up and saw the familiar dancing lights "there they are, as beautiful as I remember" she was about to reply when we heard wolves howling I smiled "I've missed that sound" she looked unnerved "that sounded big and close" I nodded "it was, the thing is they won't attack that howl was just them singing to the moon" she gave me a look of disbelief "how do you know?" I looked back after I took a couple steps forward and crouched taking some snow in my hands and crunching it "because I got taught by the Inuit about the world and how it works, the wolves were part of that" she nodded as I looked forward and saw the eye shine from the bases flood lights "we're being watched" as I stood, I felt Emma move closer to me as I maintained eye contact. The wolf stepped out of the forest and into the dim light, a large old white wolf was standing 20 meters away as we stared at each other inspecting one another.

I nodded as the wolf turned and disappeared into the forest again and howled before I heard another howl and then another and another until there were 12 holes in the forest ahead of us I looked over my shoulder at Emma "they're putting on a show for you" she nodded still standing closely and slightly behind me while clearly scared "Emma, look at me" she peeled her eyes away from the forest "you're okay, they aren't going to hurt you. He just came by to see what was new in his world" she nodded as she slightly relaxed and I spoke again "besides if they did try to get to you I'm right here" she nodded as she relaxed "thank you, I don't know what got over me. That wolf was so much more intimidating than a mask" I smiled "he was gorgeous though" she nodded with a small smile "he was pretty cool"