A Shadow Company Tale

Loyalties to the Team

Price exhaled, looking up. "I'm glad you lot survived."

MacTavish followed his gaze seeing the three operators scattered in front of him.

Katana raised her hand to salute both the captains, "Katana reporting in with Ivy and Roach."

"How did you three survive?"

Ivy looked at Katana, "They missed us sir."

MacTavish immediately made his way to see Roach with Ivy as Price pulled Katana to the side, avoiding Rook's body.

"Tell me, how did you two survive, and leave out zero details."

Katana inhaled and exhaled. "We were sent out of the house by Ghost to set up an LMG position to cover the LZ as the sniper team was displacing. We made a good distance away before we kept the parallel course from the team as they ran back to the LZ. Mortars wiped everyone out as Ghost dragged Roach away then supported him as Angel and Snow weakly struggled. Little Birds came in and hosed down the entire treeline providing the open space we needed." She paused to catch her breath.

"Continue."

"After that, the helicopter landed where Shepherd walked out of the ramp to support Ghost and Roach. That's when Shepherd shot Roach who fell to the ground, almost dead. Ghost reacted too late and by the time he raised his weapon, Shepherd had... shot him in the head. Then they burned the bodies and by the time we broke out of the clearing, we could really only pull Roach out."

"Let me guess, Ivy broke cover because Roach is close to her."

Katana nodded. "From there we were approached by a team of four soldiers. We exchanged a conversation of why they were doing this before one of their own soldiers shot and killed the remaining three."

"And why did he do that?"

"He..." She trailed off trying to find the correct words.

"Finish it out Sergeant." Price continued to stare at her.

"He knew of my boyfriend, sir." Katana blinked, meeting Price in the eyes.

"He knew of Arrow." Price added onto the statement.

Her head lowered, "Sir... he's not a bad guy. He sent two of his soldiers to find us and aid us. He even wrote a letter."

"Then let's open it and read it." He flatly stated. Katana nodded, pulling his backpack out from the seat she was sitting in. Price eyed the bag as Katana opened the envelope.

She cleared her throat, "Hey Clau, after everything that has happened recently, it is time I explain myself. It's hard to even explain what I've done, but I guess I have to try. I am a part of a unit known as Shadow Company, it is Shepherd's personal army. Task Force are the heroes while Shadow Company does the dirty work and my hands have already been bloodied more than I have expected. One does not leave the Company unless you have been killed so those who secretly disagree cannot run away. It wasn't meant to be this way at all but after DC, many of us remain devoted because Shepherd's promised us to burn Moscow to the ground."

She paused, reading further into the letter, "Instead we were told that Task Force is disavowed and are criminals after launching a nuclear warhead into the atmosphere of DC. Even though that disabled Russian airpower as well as ours which turned the tide as you and I know, he deemed everyone traitors which immediately turned the minds of many of the soldiers here. When our forces were informed, I sent three of my soldiers to Georgia as volunteers. I could not make it myself as I am currently protecting Snow and Angel... I'm trying to find a way to release them before Shepherd can execute the two." She looked up at Price as MacTavish and Ivy made their way over, carrying Roach too.

Price huffed, "Go on."

"By now you all know of Site Hotel Bravo, it's a fortress. This is the homebase of Shadow Company, where hundreds of us live, breathe, and slowly die; either to our demons as we become the perfect soldier or because we take a stray Afghani round. If there was something I could do to undo everything, I would do it but unfortunately I cannot. I remember our promises to each other we made on top of the White House, surviving everything and being together finally but now that seems to be a distant memory as I am an enemy of the Task Force. I love you Claudia." She lowered the letter as she looked up to Price who was rubbing his chin.

Roach winced as he exhaled. MacTavish stood with his arms crossed as he nodded slowly to Katana, taking in the information. "Well, if we can get inside and extract Snow and Angel, that's two extra bodies. How reliable is his information?"

"I would say pretty spot on." Ivy was tending to Roach's wound again, rewrapping it. "He saved Katana, Roach, and I twice. He's probably try his damndest to extract with us if he could. Roach, hold still." She pushed down on Roach lightly who grunted even louder.

MacTavish kept his arms crossed, "I'm not bought yet. There's three abled bodies, and there's hundreds of them. For once, I am inclined to say that-"

"We're going. Soap, Katana, and I. Ivy, you are going to stay behind and take care of Roach. Nikolai will get you somewhere safe and we'll link up later. This is final, no complaints or changes." Price let go of his chin, "Katana, we still need to speak."

The rest grumbled, moving back to their original places as Price exhaled. "Soap is a good man, he values his team and so do I." He turned his gaze back to Katana's. "We may not be able to pull Arrow out, but do not risk my team to save him."

She reluctantly nodded, but Arrow would tell her the same exact thing. She straightened her shoulders, "I'm ready sir."

Price nodded, "I know you are lass. The time will come, no use getting heated now." He nodded to her and stepped away as Katana moved back to her seat and sat down, reading the letter repeatedly. She sighed, closing the letter and folding it up inside of her vest. She shrugged her shoulders as she slumped down in her seat, getting comfortable to fall asleep.

A gentle kick woke her up quite some time as MacTavish stood over her, "We need to talk." She nodded and moved further down away from Roach and Ivy. Price was eyeing MacTavish and Katana, knowing they had to make sure her loyalty was indeed to the Task Force in case Arrow was to betray the unit.

"Price informed me what was said, I am just making sure you know that you may have to put personal feelings aside."

"Sir... if it comes to killing Arrow, I cannot do that." She lowered her head.

"That's not what I meant, we are going to keep a cool head for today. We are going to kill Shepherd whether we die trying or we live." MacTavish tilted his head. "Keep calm and keep your eyes on the objective."

She nodded as he stepped away. She looked over to her weapon, frowning, she would be forced to kill Americans. She turned her gaze to Ivy who kept Roach still and realized it was her team versus the world, she would have to do something she regretted in order to pull through for their survival. She exhaled, 'No other way around this mess.'