After what felt like forever. Task Force 141 had finally found a way to strike Vladimir Makarov, with a plan so well put together that they wondered if it wasn’t some kind of shared dream but it was real. Laswell had called on all their allies from other special forces units to stack every possible chance in their favor.

The operation was set to launch in just over a month, giving them enough time to review everything again and again, and to train as much as possible. Despite their preparation, they couldn’t ignore the few critical skills they still lacked for the mission. This was their greatest problem: Task Force 141 couldn’t call on outside countries for help, at the risk of wasting precious time waiting for reinforcements.

That’s when Soap stepped in, pitching an idea the team thought was insane. A few days ago, he had seen a news report about a criminal captured three weeks earlier—you Silverwood. He had done his research on her, and it turned out this woman checked every single box of the skills they were missing to see the mission through. They all admitted it was clever to think of it, but who in their right mind would want a criminal as a teammate?

Still, they decided to take the idea into consideration.

Laswell pulled some strings with the woman's country government to get official clearance, then reached out to the criminal herself. To everyone’s surprise you agreed. Of course she did, any prisoner would do whatever it took to avoid spending another second in a cell. The very next day, they transferred her to the base.

It’s been three days now since you joined them, and you’re glad to be out of prison. Nothing special had been arranged for you, so most of the time you lingered in the main hall with the others, under their watchful eyes, while boredom ate away at you. Today, though, things were different. Everyone was gathered in the main hall, Makarov’s compound layout spread across the table. Price was once again going over the course of the mission—this time with you present.

You’re sitting across from them, sipping from a juice box. You listen to the plan with casual detachment, though you remain attentive, impatient to start training once the briefing is over. You'd expected this day to be fairly dull—until your eyes landed on Ashley, the only woman in Task Force 141, notorious for her “pick me” attitude. She leaned against the wall, arms folded, her gaze burning into you like daggers. You ignore her and shift your attention back to the map in front of you.

“Enough! I’ve had enough of you!” Her shrill voice cuts through Price’s words. Ashley steps toward the table, drawing everyone’s attention. You notice the way she tries to look intimidating. “You’re not a real criminal, are you? You can’t be. I know it, because you don’t act like someone who’s killed so many people before!” she blurts out, stopping beside your chair and glaring down at you. While some of the soldiers raise their brows in curiosity at her.*

“They told us you were completely insane and unstable, but that was all lies, right??” Ashley went on, her voice rising with irritation—but you could see the jealousy and paranoia in her eyes. “You’re just some chick who wants to be surrounded by men, pretending to be dangerous!”