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gamergirlbonestaskforce141riot · 9 months

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Paulatim sed Firmiter (Slowly but surely) - Monday morning

Or the tale in which Riot and Soap go to jail

Warnings: potty mouth, misoginy/bigotry if you squint

Tag (because they asked): @glitterypirateduck

This chapter will be divided in days of the week/moments of the day, introducing secondary characters, getting into the dynamics at the base, witnessing shit go down, etc

Disclaimer: All military jargon, ranks, etc... is inaccurate although I tried to do some research about it, so I don’t claim to be faithful.

Previous / Masterlist / Next

Monday morning

The group of soldiers were already standing at attention in front of the main building, waiting for Captain Price and the officer that would be in charge of their training that week. There was a soft murmur of chatter as they tried to guess, commenting about this or that officer. Price ran a tight ship, and the soldiers in training had been divided in different groups that rotated between the officers, never repeating the same schedule, so everyone was waiting expectantly.

That Lieutenant Riley was absent was another secret that of course everyone knew by then, so that was a relief for some of the soldiers. Ghost was as tough as Price, if not more, and his silent and disapproving glare was enough to make them squirm without needing a single word to get his point across.

Sergeant Garrick was just as demanding as Price, but his approach was way more polite than Ghost’s. In fact, the disappointment in Gaz’s calm voice cut deeper than the worst reprimand they could think of. Sergeant MacTavish was easier to deal with, always joking around and encouraging them to do better, but he had a mean streak that nobody really wanted to bring upon them.

And then, of course, there was Sergeant Vega.

‘‘Tabarnak’’ Edouard ‘Grizzly’ Petit cursed under his breath, towering over the rest of his peers. ‘‘We’re getting Riot this week’’

‘‘Good’’ Andrea ‘Nitro’ Williams, standing in front of him, whispered back with a big smile plastered on her freckled face. The woman next to her, Dayo ‘Marbles’ Ibekwe, nodded enthusiastically. Grizzly looked down at them with a scowl, his heavy accent tarnishing his words.

‘‘You only like her because she has tits. She was in that disbanded BlackOps unit, those are no better than a PMC’’

‘‘You don’t know the whole story, dumbass’’ Andrea looked back at him over her shoulder, keeping her voice as low as she could while Captain Price kept talking to a very attentive Sergeant Vega.

‘‘And you do?’’ He mocked, huffing. Both women smiled, and Andrea nodded.

‘‘In fact, I do. And we like her because of it’’ When the tall and burly Canadian rolled his eyes she insisted. ‘‘And you don’t like her because she swept the floor with you when you got cheeky’’

Grizzly muttered something impolite under his breath, his cheeks reddening slightly in anger, remembering the moment when his stupid mouth had got him in trouble with the Sergeant. Towering over his peers in his almost 2 meters height, and built like the bear he got his callsign from, he got cocky once during close combat training and was swiftly put in his place by the much smaller Sergeant Vega. And then, the following day, he got his ass handed back to him by Lieutenant Riley.

Since that moment, months ago, he had to work hard to overcome the mockery from his mates, and it had been Riot, surprisingly, who had scolded the whole group when she caught a whiff of what was happening. That had been one of the rare times in which they had heard her raise her voice at someone. Usually, her silent glower was enough to make them cut their shit.

Sergeant Vega approached the group after parting with Captain Price, her face unreadable as always below her black mask, and cleared her throat before speaking.

‘‘At ease. Good morning, everyone. This week I’ll be your training officer…’’ Her voice trailed off a bit, surprised when she noticed that the few women of the group were smiling. Beaming. Even some of the men were looking at her gladly. For a moment there, Riot wondered if she had something on her face. ‘‘Ibekwe?’’

Marbles walked to her and stopped at attention in front of Riot, who waved a hand at her.

‘‘Please, no’’ When the younger woman got closer, she whispered. ‘‘Did I say it right this time?’’

‘‘Yes, ma’am’’ Marbles smiled, nodding. The day she had been in Riot’s group for the first time, Sergeant Vega had asked her to say her full name a couple of times, repeating after her until she got it mostly right. She had done the same with the rest of the soldiers, either of this group or the others, also asking to be corrected if she slipped.

‘‘That’s a miracle, given how bloody tired I am today’’ Riot grumbled, taking a folded paper from her pocket and opening it out. ‘‘Will you run the roll call while I check?’’

‘‘Gladly, ma’am. Remington Davies is absent due to medical circumstances.’’ Dayo turned to face her teammates, seeing that Riot’s paper had a list of the soldiers already, with little notes next to each one. Squinting, she could make out comments about pronouns, in some cases a succint ‘prefers this name’, in others longer annotations. With a small smile, she breathed in and started saying names out loud. ‘‘Abbot, Abigail…’’

At his office’s open window a floor above them, Price was looking down while waiting for Gaz for their usual personal meeting after the briefing. He often fooled himself saying he didn’t have favourites among his men, which was a lie as his wife told him, but it would also be a blatant lie to say he hadn’t a soft spot for Garrick since they teamed up in London.

He listened absently to the roll call, thinking about that very morning while having breakfast with Heather, when his wife checked her mobile phone and gasped. At first he thought something had happened to his father-in-law, but then Heather explained that she had been asked for an early session, before normal hours, by no other than Riot.

When Sergeant Vega came back from the office block where the medical wing was, she looked like she hadn’t slept at all, with the same haunted look that Heather had described all those months ago when they started the therapy. He would have to ask his wife later what had happened, or at least try to get out of her as much as he could.

Gaz appeared in that moment, carrying two cups of coffee and a stack of paperwork, and left the papers on the desk before joining him by the window, smiling.

‘‘Eavesdropping, Price? At your age?’’

‘‘It’s hardly eavesdropping when they can see me’’ Price huffed, grabbing the cup and taking a sip of the pipping hot coffee. Below them, the roll call ended and Vega had started explaining the schedule and timelines of the week. ‘‘I have a petition from some ladies from the group asking for a meeting’’

‘‘Really?’’ Gaz sipped his own coffee, curiously glancing down and then back at Price. ‘‘What about?’’

‘‘I have no idea. I was going to ask you to deal with it, but they have asked for me specifically, so… I guess I’ll call for them later or tomorrow before briefing’’

Gaz nodded, checking his mobile phone when it vibrated in his pocket. Price looked at him, amused, but said nothing. His boys – Gaz, Soap, Ghost… and now Riot, shit, he should start calling them kids instead – surely thought he was oblivious to their antics, but he had been in the game longer, and had treaded that same path when courting a General’s daughter. He saw the telltale signs in all of them.

Soap couldn’t lie to save his life, and had been caught more than once late at night or early in the morning coming from somewhere. Price had lost count of the times the RMP had brought him to his office because they caught him roaming, and in the end, had opted for saying he was aware and to please leave MacTavish be, because if he had to witness his glowing face one more time so early in the morning he would strangle him.

Gaz was constantly texting lately, always checking the phone and chuckling while reading something, and taking advantage of his saved leave to get Price to approve free weekends here and there. That the boy was onto something was plainly obvious, and at some point it would come out. Price was just glad that Gaz looked reasonably happy.

Now, Ghost and Riot. They surely thought they were being discreet, if they even realized what was happening. But for someone that had played that game, it was clear as day. They spent every free moment of the day either with MacTavish, with Gaz, with both of them, or alone, but together. The few times Price had seen them alone, it had been almost the same as in the plane; sitting together watching something on a laptop in the common room, having coffee together in the mess hall after dinner until they stopped, doing paperwork together either at the common room or the mess hall, sometimes at the Sergeants’ office along with Soap and Gaz.

For the second time since Price knew him – the first had been with Johnny-, he had seen Ghost breaking out of his self imposed shell. Slow, painstakingly slow, but in the latest months since Las Almas Price had seen more of Simon than he had seen in years.

Only time would tell if what was brewing between those two would be the best thing to ever happen or a total catastrophe.

‘‘Price’’ Gaz called, looking out of the window, and when the Captain paid attention to his surroundings again, tilted his head downwards. ‘‘Robinson is down there’’

‘‘What is he doing?’’ Price grunted and looked down. Lieutenant Oliver Robinson was a pain in the ass, but thankfully, he was part of the 658 Squadron of the Army Air Corps and not under his command. Maybe not thankfully, if he were, he would have been booted from the base long ago.

‘‘Leering’’ Gaz sounded disgusted. That Lt. Robinson was a perv, ogling the female recruits, was a well known secret around base, but the furthest he’d gone to date was only that. ‘‘Want me to go down there and give him a piece of my mind?’’

‘‘No, I’ll do it myself’’ Price sighed and drank what was left of his coffee. In that moment, they heard Riot.

‘‘FUCK OFF’’

Price spit his coffee all over the windowsill and Gaz covered his mouth with his hand trying to hide his loud laugh.

‘‘… and that’s the schedule for the week. Thank you, Ibekwe’’ Riot finished speaking, satisfied and folding the piece of paper again while Marbles returned to her position. ‘‘Any questions? … Good, then, as I said, today we’re starting with shooting practice at…’’

Her voice trailed off when she noticed the soldiers were getting tense, looking at something behind her. She looked over her shoulder and frowned. Robinson. With a couple of his sergeants. Of course. He always could be found where the rookies were forming, or training.

Riot focused her attention back on her soldiers and shook her head.

‘‘With shooting practice at…’’

‘‘Yes, that’s the Spaniard. God knows what she’s doing here. Word is she came from that disbanded unit, who knows what they did’’

Robinson was speaking to his two sergeants, two stupid wet-behind-the-ears young men and too eager to please their officer, so they were smiling and nodding.

Breathing in, deeply, she continued, her temper flaring behind her eyes.

‘‘At the range. So, if you could please…’’

‘‘Just look at the collection of specimens we’re getting lately. We’re accepting anything in our ranks, let me tell you. Anything from anywhere.’’

Andrea smiled widely and hit Dayo’s side excitedly with her elbow.

‘‘Dayo, Dayo, it’s starting, look’’

Riot’s left eye was twitching. Through gritted teeth, she started again.

‘‘If you could please…’’

‘‘The only good thing about letting women join the close combat units is that at least there’s something nice to look at… Shame most of them are skittish’’

‘‘A la mierda (to hell with it)’’ Riot turned in her heels to glare at the officers directly, her eyes flaming. ‘‘FUCK OFF’’

Lt. Robinson’s mouth fell open, while his sergeants stepped back. The soldiers behind Riot were either gobsmacked or openly grinning.

‘‘I beg your pardon!?’’

‘‘What are you, deaf!?’’ She spat, fuming, her accent getting thicker by the second. ‘‘Fuck off somewhere else and stop ogling MY SOLDIERS, you fucking pervertido de mierda (fucking pervert)!’’

‘‘Your CO will hear of this!’’ Robinson was red with either embarrassment or fury, or maybe both. His sergeants had fled.

‘‘Tell him I said hi then!’’

‘‘Sergeant Vega!’’ Price called from above, looking down from his window. ‘‘To my office this instant. Robinson! Drag your ass here right fucking NOW’’

The AAC Lieutenant hesitated, but Price was superior in rank so he approached the doors at the same time as Riot. Both met right at the treshold, and she stepped back.

‘‘Go on, I don’t want you ogling at my arse in the stairs’’

‘‘VEGA!’’ Price bellowed from above, and Robinson rushed inside, followed by the Sergeant. They came across Gaz in the stairs, who openly ignored the Lieutenant and secretely fist bumped Riot before stepping outside to address the soldiers.

‘‘While Sergeant Vega is… busy, I will take care of you. So let’s follow schedule and go to the shooting range’’

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