"Cyril Komorevsky," said Price, tossing down a photo of a common-looking Russian with short hair and presumably prison tattoos on his neck. Another picture beside it showed an insignia ring on his pinkie, bearing the mark of the Ultranationalist Party. "Makarov's right hand, and leader of the Ultranationalist movement in Eastern Europe. Got an informant in his ranks; turns out he's in Belarus, hiding in a bunker full to the brim with weaponry of every kind."

Soap folded his arms. "Bastard's got enough equipment to wipe out a small city, and he's bound to launch his attack any minute now." he said. "He's planning on killing anyone and everyone who hasn't conformed to Untranationalism within his reach, hoping to start there, and continue moving West through Europe. Government's orderin' and assassination on him to stop him."

You leaned over the table and looked at the pictures, files, and map. The compound Komorevsky was in seemed to be a complex maze of tunnels, halls, and spacious rooms. "How many men are inside this place?" 

Ghost rubbed the back of his neck. "Informant says about 300, give or take."

Price pointed at the map. "We're going to approach from the East. There's a back door that's to be guarded by our informant and his comrades who will allow us in. Once there, we'll branch off and start searching rooms until we find Komorevsky. From there, we'll see who gets a shot on him first."

You nodded. Seemed like a decent challenge. "When are we heading out, Captain?" you asked.

"In about six hours. Get your things together and get some rest before he leave; I'll see you all in a little while." He glanced at you. "(Y/N), before you go, I need to speak to you."

---

"What do you mean I'm staying behind to watch the LZ?" you rumbled. 

Price sighed. "I just need you to follow orders without questions."

You straightened your back to make yourself taller, though it wasn't necessary since the Captain was already sitting down. "Price, you always leave me out of missions like this; let me do something important for once!"

"You're already doing something important by making sure your evacuation route isn't compromised."

"You just don't think I can handle a real task, do you?"

His blue eyes rose to yours. "No, I just don't think I want you in the middle of something potentially dangerous. We're getting awfully close to Makarov and his Inner Circle, meaning things will be difficult, and I would rather get out knowing I can safely get on a bird and fly home without being shot down."

"John," you growled, your tone softening slightly after. "You're my friend, and I'm grateful that you want to keep me out of the fray, but I signed on for this very thing; I can't go my entire career here without ever actually seeing battle when I've literally watched some of my team mates get slaughtered. Let me fight."

He stood up abruptly and looked down at you. "You're staying at the LZ; end of discussion. Am I clear?" 

Your expression became stony and you gave a slow, firm nod. "... Yes, sir."

He nodded back. "Good. Just remember to stay put like a good girl."

---

The blue darkness of the morning was easy to sneak through. Though movement was somewhat detectable, staying low to the ground made you disappear in the tall grass and silver mist. You had watched Bravo team fade into the dark forest outside the compound, and then, silently stalked behind them, making sure to stay far out of their sight. 

You came up on a ridge above the compound, a large building similar to a warehouse, and saw everything just like it had been laid out on the map. There was the back door, the main centre of the building, and the few lots with lorries and bullet-proof cars outside the fortress.

What you hadn't noticed on the map was a little ditch running along the north side of the building into what seemed to be a garage or under-ground room of sorts. You could see patrols slowly meandering the premises, but there didn't seem to be many people by the ditch. Slowly, you crept down the ridge towards it to get a better look.

Soap leveled the sight of his rifle to his eye, balancing the red dot over the center-of-mass of a tango not terribly far ahead. "Bravo Six," he said into the com. "Got a patrol by the back door, I'm takin' the one on the left if you've got the other."

"No can do," responded Price. "I don't have a clear shot. Can't risk it."

Roach stood up a little to take aim. "I've got him, Bravo Five," he said. "Take the shot when you're ready."

Tap! Tap!

The two patrolmen fell limp to the concrete. 

"Move." said Price.

As Bravo team moved forward, Soap came to the door and contact the informant, Roach at his side. They approached the man, who seemed a little surprised by their presence, and quietly murmured, "Where should we head first?"

Roach's eyes widened and he took in a short sharp breath when one of the men raised a pistol, aimed right at Soap. "These aren't our informants..." he whimpered.

Turned out, the ditch you had found led to a large vent. You crawled into it, despite the bitter scent of old water and something rotting- you hoped was just leaf mold- and continued into it. There was light at the other end, making you think that it must open up to another room.

Your blood ran cold when you heard Price's voice come loudly over the com. "We're compromised; open fire!" Shit. How had they blown their cover already? 

As you came to the end of the vent, you saw that it fed out into a room, leaving you about six feet off the ground. Russian troops ran past you in the other direction. Good news for you at least. You didn't have anyone searching for you.

You quickly yet quietly slunk through the halls, searching for the man you had seen in the picture. Every time you heard a step that wasn't yours, you gripped your rifle and pressed close to the wall. With surprisingly little fighting, you managed to worm deep into the halls and into the main centre. 

However, that was where you ran into the fight you had been itching for. There were about a dozen men in the hall outside of a closed door; you assumed they must have been guarding Komorevsky in there. It wasn't easy to fight that many people all aiming at you; bullets hailed against a metal filing cabinet you had managed to take cover behind, and a few even bore all the way through the thing. You fired at one who had come around the corner to bash you with his rife, and managed to kill him, but the rush of adrenaline from such a close call was making your head both burn and freeze at the same time, and your vision fell out of focus.

"Forget this..." you groaned, pulling the pin on a grenade and throwing it around into the midst of the enemies. Cries of fear and panic gave way to wails of agony when the grenade claimed the lives of some of the men. You broke from cover and ran by, shooting the last of any of the men that moved on the ground, and you opened the door.

It led to another hallway, where you could see three more tangos, and a man in a brown suit. You ran down the hall, firing at the three men, sustaining a couple of graze wounds along the way, but dropping them all. You didn't stop running after the last man in the suit. You could see the prison tattoos on his neck, and as he reached for a pistol, the glint of his signant ring caught your eye.

Komorevsky cried out as you tackled him, knife drawn. You both rolled on the ground and he tried to over power you and take the knife. But as he landed on his back one last time, he didn't have time to scream as you plunged the sharp weapon into his throat. With a quick slash, he gurgled, and air hissed from his lungs. You could see his windpipe deviate sideways, and blood spurted from the open wound, his rounded, pale blue eyes watching his life ebb away with each spray of red. He was rambling in Russian, most of which you didn't understand, until you heard a very familiar, yet pitiful, "mama," escape his lips. You would take pity as he cried out for his mother in his final moments, if only he hadn't already helped kill hundreds of thousands of people.

You pulled out your cell phone and started recording a short video. "In case you want to dispute whether or not Komorevsky is dead," you said, breathing hard with a little waver in your voice. "This is his face as he dies." You bent down and took the ring from his hand just as Komorevsky breathed one last painful breath. "And also, I've got this." You ended this video, shoved the ring in your pocket and took off back the direction you came. 

Price was wildly waving his arm. "Fall back! Fall back! Don't focus on returning fire; just get to the LZ!" he shouted above the sound of gun shots. They were already up the ridge and racing through the forest. "Go, go go!"

Bravo Team had managed to escape with minor injuries, but hadn't gotten nearly close to the inside of the building as they had hoped. 

"What are we gonna do about Komorevsky now?" asked Soap.

"Forget it, Soap, we can find him another time; we can't fight back if we're dead though!"

As the team bounded up the hill to the landing zone, Price stopped in his tracks. He could hear the helo coming in, and the gunfire behind them had almost faded, but he felt his heart begin racing even faster than it already was.

You weren't there.

"... Soap... Where's (Y/N)...?" 

Soap looked around. "I don't see her..."

Ghost looked over the hill. "(Y/N)..." he called over the com. "(Y/N), do you copy..?"

The Captain was death white, and he was almost faint with panic. "Soap, Ghost, Roach, on me; the rest of your stay here and wait for our evac." He tapped the com. "Big Bird, this is Bravo Six, we have a team mate stranded back on the field, we're heading back to assist. How long can you hold off, over?"

"Uhhh, roger, Bravo Six, we can circle back around, but we'll be at bingo fuel soon. You've got nine minutes, over."

"Copy that, we'll be back by then. Out!" Without another moment's hesitation, he sprinted toward the forest again.

As the four came back to the compound, they froze, watching as vehicles sped off in different directions, and the place seemed quiet. What had just happened? Price motioned for them to fan out, and he began sliding down the ridge.

He gasped as you reached out and grasped his arm and pulled him back up the ridge. "(Y/N)!" he exclaimed. Your expression was hard and unwavering as you made brief eye contact with him and continued to drag him to the to top of the ridge. 

Once at the top, Price called for the other three. You were already heading toward the bird and he came after you. 

"(Y/N), what the bloody hell were you thinking?!" he snarled. "And why didn't you answer the com?"

You turned to look at him, still walking. "I was in kind of a tight spot, and couldn't let any tangos hear me."

"You weren't supposed to be down there."

"And yet, there I was, inside the compound while you were all compromised, while I was taking care of our target."

Price stopped. "... Did you kill Komorevsky?"

You held up the ring on your finger before putting it back in your pocket. "Have I proven myself yet?"

He set his jaw. "No, you've only proven what I feared; you were reckless and could have gotten killed... Look at you, you got shot while you were down there!" he said, pointing out the graze marks. 

"Barely scratches, Price." you growled. "What's your issue; you mad I showed you up and killed a highly-prized terrorist?"

He grabbed you and folded you in his arms tightly, cradling your head in his hand, and his mouth by your ear. In a desperate, breathless whisper, he said, "No, I love you..." He sucked in another shrill breath. "I love you, and I'm so scared... I'm so scared you might get killed; I can't stand the thought of it." His voice was cracking, yet he shed no tears. You could feel his pulse in his throat against your cheek.

Your muscles softened, and you wrapped your arms around him. "I'm sorry..." you hummed. "I just wanted to help."

He pulled away and held your face, pressing his forehead against yours. "You did... You did help... But never do this again unless I tell you to... I can't survive this kind of stress on a regular basis," he said, trying to laugh.

Ghost reached you first. "Where the hell were you?!"

"Forget it, Ghost," said Soap. "I hear the helo, we need to get back."

When you boarded the helicopter, Price was holding your hand in an almost death grip. He leaned over to you. "Well, you might as well show them your trophy."

"Trophy?" asked Ghost. He and the others were speechless when you flashed the ring.

Though Price was still upset that you hadn't stayed put, he was glad this one time you didn't follow orders. He stroked your fingers, and sighed quietly when you intertwined them with his.