"Hey"

Jessica shifted her focus from the book she was reading to her phone. Her brows set "... The hell?" she muttered to herself before texting back. "It's been a while, Vladimir."

"I know... Two weeks turned into two months kind of quick, didn't it?" he replied.

She smiled. Too, quickly, in fact. "Yeah... It did..."

A beat of silence passed. "... Can I call you?"

Jess hesitated and glanced out the window. Well, it was an opportunity to get information from him again. "I don't see why not."

The phone rang and she answered. "Hey, Sash," he said.

"Hey," she replied. "Where did you go? I was worried you weren't coming back..."

"No, no." He sighed. "I'm sorry... Work got a little out of hand, something came up and it took a long time to recover."

She plugged in her headphones and picked up her book again. "I see..."

Vladimir took a long, uncomfortable pause. "Look, I want to see you again. Maybe we can get away for a few weeks? Just you and me?"

"Oh? Just us? No staff?"

"Yeah. I've missed you, and I feel horrible that I haven't been able to talk to or see you, so I thought I'd make it up to you."

"Charming," she thought. "You don't have to make up to me... But let me check my schedule at work and see if I can't sneak away for a little while," she said.

He made a relieved chuckle. "Okay. Let me know."

"I will, baby... Bye."

MacTavish ruffled his hair. "Does he have any more intel?"

"Dunno," she replied. "But if he wants to get away with me, maybe he'll say something. I can't pass up an opportunity to get something out of him."

"Fair." He took a swig of his coffee and sighed. "When did you want to head out?"

"As soon as possible."

He thought for a moment. "Well, Shepherd is flyin' in today and I wanted him to meet Bravo Team. Do ya mind stayin' long enough to say hi before you take off?"

She nodded. "I can do that."

"How long do you need to be gone?" he asked.

"I don't know... Maybe we can do like last time, stay until I find a good time to come home?"

MacTavish nodded slowly, seemingly hesitant, but unopposing nonetheless. "Alright. But if somethin' comes up and I need you back, you need to have an exit strategy. You hear?"

"Understood, sir."

The blades on the helicopter had finally stopped whirring, and the door opened. Four soldiers stepped out and the Lieutenant General showed his face. As he came out of the craft, he saluted the Captain. "MacTavish, good to see you again."

"Likewise, sir." MacTavish led him toward the team, who were all chatting and laughing until they noticed the higher ranks approaching them, and they all stood at attention. "Bravo Team, you've heard of General Shepherd before, but now you finally get to meet him. Shepherd," he said, turning his attention. "This is my Lieutenant, Simon Riley, Sergeant Jessica Repp, Corporal Walcroft, Lance Corporal Gary Sanderson, and Privates..."

Jessica lost the conversation as she watched the General. 

"Is it just me, or is something off about him?" asked Sasha.

"No, something about him seems weird to me too... I don't like the way he talks for some reason," she replied silently.

Sasha made an uneasy grumble. "I can't put my finger on it either, he's just..."

"Creepy?"

"Yeah! What's wrong with him?"

Jess huffed quietly. "Guess we'll find out, won't we?"

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you at last," said Shepherd. "MacTavish tells me good things about you. We're glad to have you all as part of the greatest task force in existence and hope that with your help, we can take down the Ultranationalists once and for all. You all bring exceptional skills to the table, and we can use every one of them."

"He likes to state the obvious, doesn't he?" mused Sasha.

MacTavish took over. "Now that we know more about Makarov's plan, we're gonna be runnin' more ops more frequently. Shepherd is going to be sendin' his own team in to get intel on the Ultranationalists and, hopefully, Makarov. With both of our teams workin' from the inside, we should be gettin' this problem solved yesterday."

Though everyone else gave whoops and utterances of approval, Jessica only nodded slowly. Shepherd came closer to greet everyone- oddly chummy for a Lieutenant General if she knew any better- and kept a slight distance to observe him more. 

His pale blue eyes rotated to fix on her and the edge of his mouth came up in a forced smile. "You must be the infamous 'Lone Wolf'," he said. "MacTavish speaks highly of you."

She straightened a little. "I am. MacTavish speaks of you pretty often, too. It sounds like the two of you have struck up a good partnership."

He hummed as if to laugh. "I first partnered with Price. I assumed that if Price was any good at choosing a replacement, MacTavish would be just as good as he was." The General noticed a pang of hurt in her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry about your loss, he seemed like a good leader."

"He was," she said flatly. "But MacTavish is who we have now, and I think he's done a fine job taking over where Price left off."

Shepherd dipped his head. "I agree." He turned his head toward the others. "It was a pleasure, Miss Repp. Hopefully, we will see each other again."

As he walked away, she could hear Sasha growling. "Miss Repp?" she hissed.

"Noticed that, too, did you?" she replied.

"Sexist bastard..."

"Give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he didn't mean anything by it."

Sasha snorted. "I still don't like him."

"Nor do I," Jess growled. "But we have to weigh him by his character. Let's just see what he does from here and we'll know if he's any good or not."

"I'm impressed," said Shepherd as she was boarding a plane that evening. "MacTavish tells me you're who he has gathering intel in Russia."

Jessica made an uneasy smile. "Yeah, I'm an expert tracker, all I needed to do was speak Russian and I could get all the intel I want."

He folded his arms. "How close is he to Makarov?"

"As close as I can get," she said.

"What will you do if you get an opportunity to get close to Makarov?" he asked.

She froze. Was he trying to ask a trick question? "What do you mean, sir?"

He came closer until he stood at the bottom step of the aircraft. "I mean, what is your plan of action if you happen to meet him?"

"I don't know, kill him if I get him completely alone, get information about his plans if not," she replied simply. 

"And how would you do that?"

"Forgive me, sir," she said abruptly. "But I'm starting to feel like you're interrogating me, and, quite frankly, I have to leave if I want to meet my contact. I appreciate your interest, but it will have to wait until I've returned."

He narrowed his eyes, but his tone of voice was still the same. "I'm sorry, Miss Repp, I didn't mean to take too much of your time. We may have to discuss this further when you come back; I may be able to give you some suggestions to make your missions more successful."

She nodded uneasily and started up the stairs. "Thank you, sir... Have a good one." And with that, she shut the door behind her. What was wrong with that guy?