I was woken up by Leon, who had the biggest smile I've ever seen since we met. He excitedly spoke to me though I couldn't register anything he was saying due to the fact I just got out of sleep. I groggily asked him to repeat what he said.
"My mom just got cancer free ! I'm seeing her in a week !"
When I realized what he just said, I immediately sat up and mirrored his huge smile. This probably removed a weight on his shoulders and maybe he would get a bit less stressed and cold. I asked him in return :
"What time is it ?"
"About 5 AM, I know you have to travel soon, that's why I woke you up."
"Right I have to be ready for 6, thanks for waking me up."
I got up from my bed, tidied it, took a shower, ate my breakfast, quite the routine.
It was about 5:45 when I walked outside to the heliport. Captain Price was already there, arms crossed, a serious look on his face. I greeted him with a smile, no words. His stern look knotted my throat and I couldn't feel like talking, I walked next to him and faced the same direction as him, also waiting for the others.
König was the next one to come, he greeted us with a wave, Captain Price only answered with a nod and soon directed his gaze towards the door again. I wanted to start a conversation with König since I couldn't stand the awkwardness of waiting :
"So, how you feeling ?"
"A bit nervous but it should be okay."
"Why are you nervous ?"
I chuckled a bit at my question, this guy could get nervous for any new social interaction after all.
"Cause I don't speak French, but it should be okay since you're here."
"I'm the interpretor on this mission, it's going to go well, don't worry."
Our short small talk got interrupted by Ghost, Soap and Gaz walking towards us. The captain soon instructed us to take place in the helicopter, he then told the pilot to start the engines, and soon we were flying.
We couldn't talk to each other because of the loud noises of the helicopter, though it didn't stop Soap from trying to make silly jokes, he soon stopped after seeing Ghost's death glare.
I was really excited to see my ex colleagues again, Corentin, Mehmet and Justine. I started wondering how they were doing, since the last time I saw them was about 2 or 3 years ago. I joined the french military at the age of 18 and they were like models to follow. Corentin for his gun handling ability, Mehmet for his really great intelligence and Justine for her amazing medical skills. They are all older than me by at least 5 years and at most 8.
Corentin was the most famous soldier in our base, not only he had divine skills but he also had a really great personality, he was honestly the person I was most excited to meet again. I wondered if he improved over the years, if he could.
But then Mehmet was also a very good person, he always managed to make everyone feel loved, even the assholes. He often faced racism because of his immigrant status, he was most often told he should go back to his country, but thankfully he never did, he never felt safe in Türkiye because of the fact he was bisexual, after his family discovered his sexuality against his will, they wanted to force him into conversion therapy, since it was still legal. Homosexuality might not be a crime anymore in Türkiye, but the people stayed very close minded. I once told him he felt like an older brother to me, though he had trouble understanding, when he understood he hugged me tightly and almost cried.
I couldn't think much about Justine, I never really talked to her, she was always quite distant with everyone.
My thoughts were soon cut off by the pilot signing to us there was 30 seconds left before landing. We were gonna land in the Modern French Résistance, or MFR, heliport. I started preparing myself mentally to meet my old colleagues back.
We soon landed and everyone got out, I came out last. I immediately recognized Corentin, Mehmet and Justine, there was also a fourth man, he looked about the same age as Mehmet. He had wavy and very light blonde hair parted in the middle and styled beautifully, his eyes were contrasting by their dark colour but were complementing his face like no other colour would. He had a light charming smile and stood tall, at about 181cm/6'0.
Captain Price shook their hands and sent me a glare, I took it as my cue to speak to my old colleagues :
"Bonjour à vous, Corentin, Mehmet, Justine, et aussi à vous."
(Greetings to you, Corentin, Mehmet, Justine, but also to you)
Corentin spoke up, lightly chuckling and smiling to me :
"Nan, maintenant je me fais appeler Capitaine Monster et pas besoin d'être aussi formel."
(Nah, now I'm getting called Captain Monster and no need to be that formal.)
Justine spoke up too, but without a smile :
"Et moi c'est Pensée maintenant, Sergente Pensée."
(And I'm Pensée* now, Sergeant Pensée.)
A silence soon took place, quickly cut off by Mehmet who walked to me with a huge smile and hugged me as tightly as he could, we parted and he looked at me almost lovingly. He said :
"Je suis tellement content de te revoir mon frère."
(I'm so happy to see you again my brother.)
"Moi aussi. Tu n'as pas de nom de code ?"
(Me too. You don't have a code name ?)
"Non, j'aime mon prénom."
(No, I like my name.)
I then looked over the new, quite handsome, man, he smiled to me too and soon introduced himself :
"Pardonnez moi de ne pas m'être présenté plus tôt, je suis Théophile, plus connu sous le nom de Lieutenant Watch."
(Pardon me for not introducing myself earlier, I am Théophile, better known under the name of Lieutenant Watch.)
He shook my hand, a bit roughly but still quite gracefully.
"Enchanté, je suis Bullet."
(Enchanté**, I am Bullet)
"De même. Et je le sais, ils ont beaucoup parlé de vous."
(I feel the same. And I know it, they talked a lot about you.)
Captain Price loudly cleared his throat, certainly a sign to tell me to introduce them. I pointed to each and every other man on my side :
"Voici le Capitaine Price, Le Lieutenant Ghost, le Sergent Soap, le Sergent Gaz et enfin le soldat König."
(Here is the Captain Price, the Lieutenant Ghost, the Sergeant Soap, the Sergeant Gaz and finally the soldier/private König.)
Captain Monster, which is in my opinion quite a terrible name, gestured to us to go inside. We all followed him through corridors, at some point, he stopped i front of a door and opened it, it was the armory. In the center of the room was placed a round table, a few chairs and stools around it. On the walls were placed all the equipment, guns, ammunitions, tactical gear, etcetera... On a small part of a corner were stuck to the wall a few pictures, I recognized them from being taken a few years ago, when we were in the french military. I was in a few of them, often put next to my old colleagues. There was also a fun one where Mehmet was posing next to a tank and doing a silly face.
"Bullet, s'il te plaît."
(Bullet, please.)
Mehmet must have noticed that my attention was mostly on the pictures and brought me back to reality. I noticed everyone had sat down so I mimicked them. Captain Monster started his own monologue about the terrorists and how to counter them, of course I had to translate everything and make sure everyone understood.
The terrorists called themselves "Blood Wolves", they were people convinced that only white Caucasian people should be the humans walking on earth. They planned genocides and world war worthy attacks. Of course, this is a crime against humanity, racism isn't cool, and we have to stop them. According to some spies, the next attack was planned in France and Switzerland, which is pretty ironic for a very neutral country. The french Captain explained how the operation was gonna go, we would have to wait near the area and each one of us would scope and wait for an enemy to make a move before shooting them, quite similar to my previous operation. The mission was gonna take place in exactly 14 days, we still had time to train and for my new and old colleagues to know each other better.
After the whole explanation, Lieutenant Pensée showed us our rooms, we were divided by three in each room. Ghost mindlessly walked first in the first one and was soon followed by Soap and Captain Price. Which meant my new roommates were König and Gaz.
I never really spoke to Gaz, in fact I didn't even know him. Nonetheless we all started unpacking our suitcases we brought, inside were our comfy clothes and uniforms, with some hygiene products like toothbrushes and such.
About 5 minutes later, Mehmet opened the door and asked us :
"Qui veut se battre ?"
(Who wants to fight ?)
I turned to my colleagues and repeated the question in English :
"Does anyone want to fight ?"
Gaz responded :
"Like sparring ?"
I turned back to Mehmet.
"Mais genre on se fait pas mal, c'est un entraînement ?"
(But like we don't hurt each other, it's a training ?)
"Oui, comme ça."
(Yes, like that.)
I nodded to the two other men behind me, making them understand it was indeed sparring. König shrugged his shoulders, I got up and followed Mehmet. They had a designated sparring area in a room with a boxing ring in the center, I soon discovered when entering the new room that there was already my other colleagues inside and that I was followed by König and Gaz, but Mehmet dragged me in the boxing ring.
Mehmet started stretching himself and told me :
"Comme à l'ancienne hein ?"
(Like in the old days huh ?)
"Comme tu veux."
(As you wish.)
I was indeed nervous, everyone was watching us and I barely knew how to fight, and Mehmet knew it damn well. Sergeant Pensée started counting from 3, and at 0 Mehmet jumped at me.
He tackled me to the ground and the only thing I could think of was to choke him with my hands. Eventually he grabbed my arms and forced them to separate from his neck. Our faces were inches apart, I headbutted him. He got up and let me escape. I went around the ring and took a more acceptable stance and position.
"Don't flee this time !"
I sarcastically chuckle at Soap's comment. The Turkish man power walked to me, slowly, making my anxiety rise up. He giggled at my uneasiness before grabbing me by my shirt and kicking my legs, the action made me fall but I softly landed because of the fact he was still holding me.
"C'est pas juste, je fais même pas 1m60 et j'ai la force d'un caniche alors que toi tu fais genre 1m80 et t'es construit comme un frigo."
(It's not fair, I'm not even 160cm/5'3 and I have the strength of a poodle whereas you're like 180/~6'0 and you're built like a fridge.)
"T'abandonnes ?"
(Are you giving up ?)
"Oui"
(Yes)
I walked out of the boxing ring, though Mehmet was soon join by Ghost who probably wanted to have some fun or test the Turkish man's strength.
It was a close win for Mehmet but sadly Ghost won.
Then Captain Monster sparred with Captain Price, they had a lot of fun sparring but they called it a day after about 20 minutes, nobody could see who would win.
-----
*Une pensée = a pansy
But "une pensée" is also "a thought" too
I think it's a beautiful word, and also my favorite flowers <3.
**Enchanté is like a single word to say "I am delighted to see you for the first time", which you can answer by "De même" which kind of means "I feel the same".
Fun facts :
-I have a bit of a trouble translating French to English because I still want to capture the essence of the sentence spoken and I want the sentence to be understood by people learning French.
-I also want to say I have a picture in my phone of my father in his 20's posing next to a tank with the Turkish flag on it. He's very patriotic.
-I dare you to type "bread" and translate it in french in Google Translation, the result is how I'm feeling knowing I don't post as regularly as before.