My Demons

An RPG rocket blasted directly past J's shoulder, exploding a ways off after flying into a rock face.

"CONTACT, RPG!" Ghost shouted, sliding into cover.

N whirled around and by the time he did, a rocket was headed for him.

Acting on instinct, he opened his palm, optics snapping shut.

The rocket hissed forward..

Playing: Disassembly Required

Then nothing.

Dead silence.

Had he....

Was he dead?

N opened one optic, and a yellow glyph that he was pretty sure only Uzi had, was rotating around the rocket, glitching and stuttering as yellow lines of code wrapped around the rocket. Then a text screen popped up, the words 'NULL' on it. The rocket imploded on itself, a small black hole with a black orb and a yellow outline in the center was formed; then it dissolved just as quickly. The same yellow glyph replaced the closed optic.

N was frozen in shock. Time seemed to stop. J was looking at him in both fear and awe, Ghost was in cover, all of the others; they were frozen.

N had remembered when he, V, and Uzi broke into Doll's house. When Uzi caught the bullet. But how? How did he have it? I mean, he knew Cyn had it, but nobody else besides those two.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of gunshots.

"Army at the ridgeline!" Alejandro shouted, pressing his body against a jutting rock face.

Like it was uncontrollable, trees began lifting from it's nesting in the ground; tore off from it's roots, being wildly used as a battering ram, yellow lines of code wrapping around it as N returned fire from cover, his left hand being replaced by an MP5.

"What the hell is that?!" Ghost called out, firing a couple rounds and watching the tree smack away and crush the soldiers on the ridgeline.

"Does it look like I know?!" N said a bit too harshly, shouting over the sound of gunfire.

J knew what it was. But how? N couldn't have inherited it, he couldn't have gotten it. How?

"We're clear." J said, still in her own world, as the tree fell; being loosened from the Solver's grip. It fell to the ground with a mighty thud, crushing a dead body near it, the only remainder of the body was a dangling foot off of the edge, like a body part sticking out of a coffin. Swaying back and forth, lifeless.

"Anyone hit?" Alejandro called out urgently.

"Negative!" Ghost replied.

"Good to go!" Soap replied.

"I'm fine." N said.

"I'm good." J muttered, finally snapping back to reality. Fuck, this was just... Nuts. The foliage, leaves, everything was painted red. The ridgeline the soldiers were on had crimson trickling down its edges, as if a scalpel was cutting through an organic being.

"Copy, let's go!" Alejandro shouted, running right, down a steep hill.

Ghost noticed a small chasm in front of Alejandro, his mask hiding his worried expression, as they all stared down the summit.

"We're gonna jump, [do or die.]" Alejandro declared, jumping across the chasm and sliding down to dry land.

"I'll just fly over." N shrugged, taking to the skies along with J.

Rolling his eyes, Soap jumps along with Alejandro; followed by the others.

Once they all landed, they once again found themselves on the edge of a cliff, the only way across it was a very narrow ledge.

"That's a long drop..." J trailed off, looking down. She was very averse to heights.

"What, scared of heights?" Soap joked, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Fuck off, Johnny." J replied, flipping him off. She was inwardly smiling, though. The Scotsman did know how to make anything comedic.

"That's enough. Soap, push forward. Rodriguez, keep work on the radio. Rest o' you, watch for snipers." Alejandro ordered.

Soap, ever the daredevil; jumps onto the ledge, climbing up the rock face with the utmost of quickness.

Gesturing to the others to follow him, Soap rushes off.

Rolling his optics, N once again extends his wings, flying off in Soap's direction.

Once everyone else was near the circular plain that Soap was at, the first thing they hear is a whirring noise in the distance.

"Ah, fuck. Helicopter." N groaned.

"Get to a firing position, we'll take 'em by surprise." Alejandro said, jumping up a near by rock face and taking cover in the woods along with the rest of the team.

And sure enough, the helicopter dropped them in from the place they were just at.

"Wait for 'em..." J began.

The around-10 soldiers vaulted up the rock face, oblivious to where the team was.

"Cut 'em down!" J shouted, as they all began firing on the caught off-guard soldiers. It was a massacre, to say the least.

Isn't this FUN, N?

When I took over, I made you feel like a God.

You were in power, for the first time.

Ripping them apart felt good, did it not?

The corrupt Mexican soldiers just kept coming.

GOOD.

All of N's pent-up rage, at Barkov, at himself, at J. It just exploded.

With a guttural roar, the tendrils lashed out once again, this time; around 10 of them. No, he wasn't in control. Not anymore.

The land around them turned into amalgamations that attacked the soldiers, jumping onto them; biting their heads off. It was like a horror film.

Playing: Solver Uzi

All 10 of N's tendrils grabbed the remaining soldiers, hoisted them up into the air, and slammed them all down.

The demon's assault was ferocious, to say the least. All the others could do, was get a safe distance away from the enraged N, providing cover fire.

N could only see crimson, as he tore off heads, crushed, impaled, and used anything everything as a weapon. He cornered the last 4 soldiers, his tendrils wildly thrashing about, cutting down anything and everything. The same glyph once again displayed itself on N's visor, replacing his neon yellow ovals.

"[Have mercy!]" One of the soldiers cried, pressing their body up to the solid rock. The 4 soldiers were miniscule compared to N's shadow. But the demon did not speak. For death has no mercy.

One of N's tendrils formed its tip into a sharp edge, as it flicked forward; striking the same soldier in the throat. Death itself N watched with sadistic glee as the man choked on his own blood.

N lifted up his right arm, opening his palm. Immediately, the AbsoluteSolver's glyph appeared; rotating and stuttering as it took control of the remaining 3 soldier's arms, making them point their guns to themselves.

And pull the trigger.

J's optics hollowed out. Sure, she'd seen N be ruthless before, but.... Cyn, what have you done?

Those tendrils once again slowly receded into N's back, as the startled drone regained control of himself.

This time, it was undeniable. Whatever has a stranglehold on N.

It needed to be stopped.

Ghost was hunkered down, Soap was wide-eyed, and J was looking at N with fear. Good. It was about time that upstart felt fear. N looked at his hands, then back at the bodies, then his hands.

"Up the hill, bridge isn't far!" Alejandro shouted, undeterred.

N's mind was reeling. He heard Cyn's voice, then another blackout.

Rushing up the steep hill, the team overlooked the bridge.

"There's the bridge, but no visual on extraction." N said. An extraction vehicle was nowhere in sight.

"Fuck, comms didn't get through." Rodriguez cursed, tinkering with his radio.

"We'll radio when we're down there. This way." Alejandro declared, sliding down the smooth slope.

"Watch your footing here, cliffs are dangerous." Alejandro said, shimmying across a narrow ledge with the team.

Suddenly, a shot rang out. Rodriguez was hit directly in the gut. He fell forward, tumbling to his death.

"Rodriguez!" Alejandro shouted, as the team neared the end of the ledge, jumping to another rock face as the sniper took shot after shot.

"Fuckin' hell." J muttered.

After a while, the team was lead to a dead end. Or so they thought.

"We jump from here!" Alejandro declared. "Try not to lose your weapon!" He added, jumping down.

N jumped off similarly to a Leap of Faith.

"He plays Assassin's Creed, doesn't he?" Ghost muttered, shaking his head, then leaning off the edge.

"Well, here we go!" Soap said, saluting, then jumping off.

J rolled her optics and muttered to herself. "I hope I live to regret this."

Each one of them landed directly in the water, as they all swam up.

"You good, hermanos?" Alejandro questioned once he reached the surface.

"I'm good." N said, still shaken up.

"Affirm." Ghost replied.

"Breathing." J remarked.

"Pretty good." Soap cheerfully said.

"Move down river to the bridge. Use the rocks for cover." Alejandro instructed.

The team began the swim to the bridge.

"All stations, this is Victor 0-1, how copy?" Alejandro said, his comms buzzing with static.

"--dow-1! Do you--? -ay again, -o you -re?" Graves' voice came through the static, albeit distorted.

"That's Graves." J identified. "I'd know that voice anywhere."

"Move up river, go!" Alejandro shouted, as the team dived down, swimming under a log. A swimming fish got stuck on J's visor, the latter grabbing it by the tail and yanking it off.

When they surfaced, the bridge was right ahead.

"River's getting shallow, keep it moving!" Alejandro said.

By the time they got to a rock face sticking out of the river, it was shallow enough to stand up in.

Two armored trucks rumbled onto the bridge, soldiers piling out, taking aim at the team in the water.

"Oh, come on!" N groaned, rushing to cover along with the team.

"This is Shadow-1, engaging the bridge north of your position; danger close!" Graves' voice came through the team's comms.

The sky roared, and shells rained down upon the bridge. It crumbled, crushing man and machinery.|

"Graves, you crazy bastard." Ghost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good to see you, people." Graves said.

"Likewise." Ghost replied, as the team climbed out of the water, clothes heavy and clinging to their skin. Or for the drone's case, metal.

"Ugh, got water in my headband." J said, taking it off and squeezing the water out, the top light going red before being once again replaced with yellow as she put it back on.

Another armored truck, empty and unmanned was positioned next to the bridge.

"Found a vehicle for exfil." Ghost pointed out.

"We got a possible hit on Hassan, two klicks north of your position." Graves relayed.

"Load in!" Alejandro said, as the team entered the truck.

"Shadow-1, stand by." N said, climbing into the truck.

"I'm driving!" Alejandro said.

"You guys good to roll up Hassan with some fire from the skies?" Graves chimed.

"Hell yeah, we are. Let's wrap this fucker up, Graves." J agreed.

"Solid copy, we are pushing to the target directly. Shadow-1 out."