It had been about a week since König and Price had fetched Horangi, and they had all fallen into a routine. Soap had just come off his full moon period so he and Simon were quite tired. Or, at least, they were spending a lot of time in their bedroom.
Gaz had been having flight lessons with Roach, Alex, and Horangi, despite his many protests. Price told him that he couldn't just ignore the wings, he needed to learn how to utilize that part of himself. That was the whole point of a monster taskforce in the first place. And while the experience was mildly terrifying, they all did their best to make him feel as safe and comfortable as possible. All three of them remembered how daunting it had been learning to fly themselves. Even Horangi was quite supportive. It was clear he was becoming quite comfortable in the pack.
He and König had been spending quite a lot of time together. The whole team noticed and tried to tease König about it, but the jokes always seemed to go over his head. But they were glad they had each other. A griffin and a kraken were certainly an odd pair, but not any stranger than the chupacabra and siren.
Farah and Alex were gearing up to head back to Urzikstan soon, but before them left, they wanted a go at Makarov themselves for his involvement in so many issues as well as what he had done to their family. The team had another one of their weekly trips coming up, so the pair was invited.
It was the night before when something was amiss.
Price always called ahead to let the people in charge of the base know they were coming. They had made it clear that it would be a requirement if he was going to be dragging monsters on and off base. This was precisely the reason he usually kept their identities and species secret, but the nature of their recent assignment and prisoner had prevented that from being a possibility.
Either way, he called the night before, and received no answer.
Not too concerning, as they all led busy and chaotic lives in the military. Something had probably kept the person manning the phones momentarily preoccupied. He gave it an extra fifteen minutes before trying again. Still nothing. A strange feeling of concern prodded at the back of his mind but he told himself he was just being paranoid.
After the third call with no reply, he phoned Laswell.
"John?"
"Kate."
"Talk to me. What do you need?"
"I'll get right at it. Been calling the base. Rang them three times with no reply. Could be poor managerial skills, or-."
"Something could be wrong." She finished for him.
"Exactly." He confirmed, "Normally I'd go out right away and check it out myself but..."
She snorted, amused, "I understand, John. You're in the business of protecting and keeping those kids safe these days."
He was glad she couldn't see the blush on his face, "Don't want to be sloppy about this. Makarov's on that base and if something compromised that..." He paused, "In my eyes, this team comes before the world. I need all the information I can get before I'm willing to send them in somewhere."
She smiled on her end of the line, "Understood. Loud and clear, John. I'll check it out. Expect a call before the night is over."
The line clicked off and he huffed. Nothing he could do but wait. He hated that aspect of his job, the waiting. He plopped down in a leather arm chair in his study and ran a hand over his face. The urge to light up a cigar ate at him and he fidgeted a bit. Before he cold get too uncomfortable Precious darted out from somewhere and jumped up on his lap with a little chirpy meow.
He scratched behind her ears and a small amount of smoke blew from her nose as she purred. He chuckled, the familiar smell of the dragon's smoke soothed his ache.
"Where would I be without you, my girl?" He asked as she shoved her head against his palm so that he would pet around her horns.
He stayed fixed to that spot for an hour before finally willing himself to get up and check on the others. He sort of expected them to all be in their respective rooms, but he instead found them all in one of the smaller lounge rooms, watching a movie. Soap must have been between waves of his post full moon heat because he and Ghost were both there as well.
It made him smile slightly seeing them all together like this. Relaxed. Safe.
He had to let himself enjoy it at the moment. Depending on what was happening they might have to go back to what they were before for a time. Soldiers. That's what they all were. But here, they got to just enjoy life, Price was able to know that they were safe.
It was the one thing he hated about his job. He had to be the one to send them out into the world. A world that seemed to hate them for what they were, and would do anything to smother their light.
For now he stepped a little farther into the room.
"What are we watching?"
Soap turned his head and grinned around Simon's arm, "Bambi. Bunch of these fuckers haven't seen it."
Price looked at the screen, they must have just started as they were toward the beginning. He took a seat on the floor beside the rest of the team, "You picked this?"
Soap nodded.
"Surprised you didn't pick an action movie or something." He commented.
Soap looked mildly embarrassed, "It was the only VHS we had at my orphanage. Makes me nostalgic."
Price hummed and gave him a little smile before focusing back on the screen.
Did a bunch of them cry when Bambi's mom got shot, maybe. Was Price one of them even though he had already seen it and knew what happened, who knows?
They had just gotten to the end of the movie when Price's phone buzzed in his pocket and he quickly fumbled with it as he hurried to stand and get back to the study. The name on the call made his heart flutter slightly.
He frantically answered the call, "Nik?"
"John!"
He must have been flying, his voice was distorted from his mic. He had been doing some underground surveillance the past few months. He had come out to help rescue Laswell during the Hassan debacle, but other than that, Price hadn't seen or heard from him. He missed him deeply, but hearing from him now was confusing.
"What's happening?" He asked.
"Laswell sent me out to the base." The man explained, "It's a fucking wreck, John."
Price swallowed, "What do you mean, Nik?"
"Looks like someone took a blowtorch to the whole thing!"
The captain felt dread pooling in his stomach, "Survivors?"
"Not sure, I'm in the air. No movement, though." He said, a little regretfully.
What the hell had happened there? What was the fucking reason?
"дерьмо!" Nik hissed out, "Have a bit of company, John. What the fuck?"
"Nik, whatever it is, don't engage, you hear me?"
"Yes, Captain." He grunted out, "My cameras are recording."
John didn't give a shit about that right then. He gave a shit about making sure Nikolai made it out of this with his life.
"Do not die." He found himself saying, "Because if I have to listen to you die over the phone... Listen, I've studied necromancy, I would raise you from the dead so I could kill you myself."
Nik laughed, in spite of the situation. Price just stood with a death grip on his phone, listening to the sounds and curses coming from Nik's mic. Whatever was on him was chasing and clearly giving him a hard time.
Price had to pull the phone away from his ear as a loud boom sounded and alarms aggressively blared.
"Nik?"
"Took a hit to one of my engines." Nik told him through gritted teeth.
"What did I say about dying, Nik?"
"Not to worry, Captain. This isn't my first crash, and it certainly won't be my last!"
The line went dead and Price stared at his phone, mouth slightly agape. He swallowed and messaged Laswell about what happened. She tracked the coordinates of Nik's small plane that he had taken and sent them to Price.
Price stormed out of his office and went to gather up his gear.