Phoenix in the Light

Choices

Writers Note: Here's a longer chapter for you. Been planning the next few chapters, Makarov is a bad bad man and I want to explore his side of things so I might include a very short chapter from his POV. I really want to emphasize how his character is more than just a bad guy.

Chapter Playlist: Confidence- Ocean Alley, Big Rings- Drake, Cirice- Ghost, Pass the Nirvana- Pierce the Veil, Let the Rain Come Down- Brent Cobb, Living for the Fall- Aryon Jones,

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It would have been impossible to hear anything over the roaring wind if it had not been for the headset that I was wearing. Price was the only one standing, Gaz and Soap sitting on either side of each other while Ghost and I relaxed in our own seats directly across from them. "Alright muppets, let's go through this again?" Price tapped away on one of the iPads, a satellite image of the nuclear power plant popping up so that we all could see it. "Soap and Gaz will secure a perimeter on the outside of this wall here," he traced a line along the wall that bordered the facility. "Ghost and I will scout out the plant. Jamie will be overwatch with the KATT-ARM at the top of his construction crane."

    I leaned in to see the possible vantage points to put me at the top of the crane, "how do I get up there?"

    Price pulled an ascender from the cargo netting on his right, "cabling should lead you to the top, you'll stick with Ghost and I until a path is cleared."

    "Yes, sir." I gave him a confident nod and leaned back in my chair again. Pulling the scarf that had been given to each of us up over my face, I felt a familiar tingle in the tips of my fingers and a nervous shake of my leg.

    Drop shock entrances were terrifying to seasoned soldiers, jumping out of a plane at the lowest elevation possible. You had to open your parachute at the exact right moment or else you would either land too late behind your comrades or you would land too hard and seriously injure yourself. The pressure gauge and elevation counter on my wristwatch was the only solace I had that I could actually do this.

    Air Assault school training required recruits to jump out of planes, helicopters, do eject situations; I wasn't scared of jumping out of a plane, heights didn't scare me at all, but it had been years since I had even gone through a simulation of a jump launch. "When's the last time you did a drop shock?" Soap asked me, the question was genuine in his protectiveness, taking his new handler title very seriously.

    "Never done a live one," I admit, and I see all of them give me slightly concerned looks, "I remember the air counts and checks from training, I know how to land, I'll be alright."

    "All of you did you chute checks this morning, yeah?" Price said, stare flicking between all of us.

    "Yes, sir."

    "Affirm."

    "Yes."

    "Yes, Captain."

    "Alright, then let's push this cargo up. We're approaching the DZ in two minutes," Price commanded, all standing and heading to the open bay door. We were so high up, even though we had been descending for a while now to drop us as close as possible to the plant. The enormous KATT-ARM strapped to my back under the massive parachute that resembled a turtle shell. I was sure that was what I looked like to all of them, a turtle that hadn't quite grown into its britches. I made a mental note to myself that I would be eating two MRE'S when I got back from this mission. No matter how gross or plastic they tasted.

    I was about to look out over the expanse of the world that soared under us, but I felt the gentle pull on the back of my sweatshirt sleeve. Gloved fingers formed around my bicep muscle. What had happened last night between us didn't have a place in our minds with the jump impending. But the look in his eye was anything but lustful, he was scared, genuinely and wholeheartedly scared. "I don't like that you're going to be above us, it's too much like..." his voice faltered. Gaz, Soap, and Price gathered around the jumpmaster, giving us a few precious seconds of conversation alone.