heyyy my loves!
just a little diclaimer, i don't speak spanish, i know little to nothing about spanish (my only source is google translate and the duolingo course i'm failing), so if it's gramatically incorrent feel free to correct me!
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After letting Hassan go, Rora got quieter than ever. It alarmed Soap the most, missing the woman who could barely shut up. And even though Ghost would never admit it, her witty comments and flirtatious smirk left a hollow space between them.
The blow she took to her head didn't do her right either. It only seemed to get worse, her bottled-up frustration thumping against her temple. And the fact that they were already moving on the whole Hassan ordeal, focusing on another mission, just seemed to drain her more.
,,My sources tell me all the VIPs in Las Almas will be there tonight," Alejandro informed, all of them standing on a lookout, a perfect spot to see the whole city before them, the city lights flashing in the night like fireflies. „Some are invited, others are, umm..."
„Volun-told...?" Graves offered, the leader of Los Vaqueros nodding along.
„Yes."
„What's the meet about?" the Shadow asked, turning his attention away from the mansion.
„Us," Alejandro answered, piquing her interest finally. „Las Almas is burning, and they want to know who lit the fire."
„Sin Nombre will be there, yeah?" Ghost called from beside her, both of them standing slightly off the others. Rora didn't have the energy to pretend like she was such a tactical person like they were, engaging about the mansion, so she just stood off the side, a few steps away from Ghost.
She noticed he always seemed to fall back on the others, always keeping an eye on everybody else, usually him being the one closest to the exit. The pain in his eyes surfaced her memory, letting her eyes fall on his frame.
She saw similar behavior in her father, just after they held her mother's funeral. He was always on the edge, trying so hard to shield his daughter from everything that in the end, she lost her father too, despite him still being alive. She didn't know back then, but PTSD was a bitch she wanted to punch in the face.
And seeing it again on someone who looked like even God himself can't destroy was heart-wrenching.
„No guarantees but this is our best shot," Alejandro turned to face them, Rora finally stepping closer to pretend like she was paying attention the whole time. Soap offered her a friendly look, the faintest smile appearing on her lips.
„Then we take it," Graves was so confident about himself that Rora couldn't contain her snort, earning a questioning look from the fair man.
„That's easier said than done," she declared, her mood still a little salty.
„I got enough Shadows here to take over the whole damn country," Graves disclosed, pointing his index finger towards the mansion and around, emphasizing his words.
„I'd prefer if you didn't," the Vaquero Colonel mumbled on her left, earning an apologetic look from her.
„I'm just sayin'... one house shouldn't be a problem," the American man cleared, Rora holding back the urge to roll her eyes. She was almost positive that she alone could take most of the man inside, leaving the rest to deal with Soap and Ghost.
But knowing Ghost, half of them would be dead by the time she arrived at the door.
„We need Sin Nombre alive," the said man emphasized, taking the space between her and Soap.
„And preferably not let him go, like you-know-who," Rora suggested, earning a pointed look from the lieutenant. She shrugged her shoulder, knowing that she just spoke facts.
„Well... Then we need to meet him."
„How?" Soap furrowed his eyebrows.
„Give 'em what they want..." Graves held a dramatic pause, looking at each of them. „Intel. They wanna know who's here. Let's tell 'em."
Oh, this man is crazy.
„In person-?" Alejandro asked in disbelief, his confusion visible.
„Correcto... Get one of us inside, find the boss... roll him up."
He was crazy. But she was crazier.
„Okay," Rora nodded along, already planning ahead in her head. „Let's roll, boys."
„You've got a plan?" Alejandro looked at her, her nodding her head confidently.
„I'll go in. You guys cover me."
„No way," Ghost protested, his voice cold, earning a sharp glance from her. „With the possibility of a concussion, you're not going in alone."
„But-"
„No," he glared at her, her huffing out the air through her flared nostrils. This man and his no's. „You're staying here, Wells. End of discussion."
Alejandro let out a small chuckle, shaking his head at the duo.
„You're la chica mas loca, hermana," he mused, sending her an amused look, his eyes wandering to the bruising forming on her head. „But Ghost's right. That," he pointed to the bruise and small cut above her left eyebrow. „Is se ve rudo."
„I understood, like, half of what you just said," Rora blinked at him, earning another laugh from him.
She felt like a child, getting scolded by an adult for doing something incredibly stupid, and it ignited the fire within her. But he was right – in her current state, she would probably not be the badass she usually was, sudden movement's still causing her to lose balance sometimes.
But she would rather die than say that he was right.
„I'll do it," Soap volunteered, a determined look on his face as the others looked at him.
„You go in there, and they'll kill you, hermano," Alejandro cut in, and she knew he was serious by the weight of his tone.
„You're not gonna protest?" she asked Ghost, him choosing to ignore her comment.
„I'll take my chances," Soap's eyes crossed her gaze, a small piece of heart frailing with panic inside her. „We came here to stop a missile, let's stop it. I'll offer intel for a meet with Sin Nombre. And if he's there, we pounce."
Maybe he was even crazier than her.
Alejandro murmured something in Spanish, Rora kicking herself internally for being so incompetent to pick up on Spanish. Seeing the confused and angry look on her face, Alejandro switched to English for her sake.
„You make it in you'll need eyes and ears. I'll go too," he declared, Soap nodding at him.
„I'll take overwatch," Ghost spoke up, her head jerking towards him.
„We," she chimed in, and when their eyes met, she flashed him a smile.
You wanted me to stay, now you gotta deal with me.
„Shadow circles the target in a helo," he continued, not feeling it to argue with her more.
„Roger that. They are going to want proof..." with an audibly loud rip, Graves ripped the Shadow Company logo off her vest, offering it to Soap, then giving him some pats on the shoulder as encouragement. „Call me when you need me. Alright, let's gear up and get after it."
And with that, they split up into three groups. Rora's eyes lingered on the city, a light breeze brushing her cheeks. This could've been a perfect night for robbery, her old habits not dying out even years after.
A ghost of a smile flashed across her face, a bittersweet feeling flourishing inside her chest as Everett crossed her mind. He would be probably already jumping from one of the fences, something valuable already tucked inside his jacket, a devilish grin plastered on his face.
Shaking off the memory, she turned to join Ghost, with the same face of her past lover.
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Wandering through the wilderness, looking for the perfect spot at the mansion El Sin Hombre was using as a hideout, Rora and Ghost walked side by side. It was almost midnight at this point, but the nights here seemed to be lighter than she was used to, the shine of the Moon and stars illuminating just enough for them to see where they were going.
Rora liked to talk. Talking and joking was her safe place, cheering up others so their good mood could distract her from the hollow feeling inside her chest. But Ghost's lack of words started to get her on the edge, every shuffle of leaves or rocks rolling under their boots slowly making her go insane.
Her family came into her mind, or more like the lack of it. Her mother died when she was twelve, her dad was probably black-out drunk on the sofa she spent so much time next to her drugged-out mother, and her grandma who basically raised her and taught her how to survive in the world, was now six feet deep, a modest headstone marking her whereabouts.
She loved her grandmother, probably because she was the only person who taught her how to be street-smart and not take shit from anyone.
And there was Everett, laying in his forever bed in the same cemetery as her grandma, a big portion of her heart buried next to him.
„Ghost," she called out, kicking a small rock with her boot. „Do you have anyone waiting for you outside all of this?"
Above his shoulder, he gave her a look, Rora failing to catch it as he continued his way through the rural surface, down the hill.
„Focus on the mission, Sergeant," was his reply, his tone almost as cold as Antarctica. She flinched at the tone.
„Oh, so we're back to 'Sergeant' now? You called me Aurora once," she taunted, a small smile playing on her lips as she followed him. „You can't ignore me, y'know. You didn't let me go instead of Soap, so you now have to deal with me." He answered with silence. „It feels like I'm talking to a rock, sir. But you brought this upon yourself, so at least we could make the most out of this."
„Fuckin' hell," he muttered to himself, stopping abruptly, Rora almost knocking into him. He jumped off a small ledge, dropping into the tall grass. „What you want to talk about, then?"
For a moment, she thought she misheard him, but after he gave her an impatient look, urging her to not fall behind, a grin pulled at her lips, dropping down after him.
„I don't like Aurora," she began, eyes scanning her surroundings. Everything was dry and unkept, being the perfect cover for them. „My friends call me Rora."
„We're not friends," he sighed.
„Well," she thought about it, biting her lip in the process. „That's true, but you still care about me. Worrying about my concussion and whatnot."
„Call it whatever you want," was his answer, and the fact that he didn't just blatantly say her no was making her happy.
„I'm just saying it as a future reference, that I prefer Rora," she shrugged her shoulder, watching as he pulled the sniper's strap up his shoulder, it dangling by his side. „Do you have a name?"
This time, he ignored her question, fastening his pace, eager to finally reach the perfect spot where he could watch the doors. Bringing her with him seemed to be more of a pain than he originally thought.
„I take that as a no for now," Rora answered her own question, not taking offense to his rudeness. There must be a reason everybody called him Ghost, after all, and she wasn't one to dig into others' pasts. „In the field, they called me Scorpion, 'cause I sting. Once, when I was on a mission a few years back, I was in a squad with a Hungarian folk. He loved to use 'kurva', almost every five words that left him was that."
She chuckled upon the memory, but the fact that she couldn't remember his name for the life of hers saddened her slightly.
„Anyways," she cleared her throat, her eyes fixing on his boots, watching where she could step to not twist her ankle. „He called me Bagheera. Y'know, like the black panther from The Jungle Book."
„Why?"
His sudden engagement in a conversation caught her off-guard, but she didn't want to miss the opportunity that he was finally willing to talk to her.
„I'm a master at stealth, Lt.," she beamed, gracefully jumping over a tree trunk.
„You talk awfully lot for that," Ghost commented, the cape-like material on his shoulder falling behind him, drawing her attention to his back. In the dark, he seemed bigger, his wide shoulders blocking the view of the city from her. She wasn't mad about it, though, his back was attractive enough to be a good distraction.
„God knows how long I'll be by your side, so I'm just trying to get on your good side," Rora admitted sheepishly, her own rifle suddenly getting a lot heavier on her shoulder. „Y'know, so you finally won't hate me."
Ghost stopped in his tracks, turning his side so he could look at her. She caught herself this time, only stopping before him by a few steps, staring back at him. She noticed before that he had very expressive eyes, easily communicating the feelings he let to show. Right now, there was not one bit of annoyance like she saw many times before, the dark of his eyes being warm this time, almost friendly in a way.
For a moment, he looked so much like Everett that her heart clenched at the sight of him, biting the inside of her cheek to hold herself together.
„I don't hate you."
He held her gaze for a moment longer than necessary, Rora nodding her head ever so slightly, still staring back at him. There was something different about them this time, or more so about him that made her heartbeat quicken, her lips slightly parting.
Without another word, they continued their way for a lookout to the mansion.