Chapter Text
John Price stood on the tarmac, awaiting the new recruit that would join Task Force 141. Ghost or Simon Riley stood beside the mustached man.
"Remind me what the Sergeant can do again." Ghost inquired.
"He's a hacker, good with computers. Apparently shite at knives but exceptional with guns." Price replied.
Ghost grunted, "How bad?"
"He's managed to stab himself with a butter knife apparently." Price said scratching his chin.
Ghost huffed, "Anything else?"
Price nodded, "He can speak 7 different languages."
"Lovely." Ghost said gruffly.
"Hmm and there's the plane." he said nodding his head to the approaching aircraft.
Marcus Van Dam stood up as the planes back door began lowering. The young man ran a hand through his brown hair as he let out a sigh. A new base to settle into and hopefully send a letter to his family back in the states. The bay door lowered down revealing two men stood a few feet from a jeep. Marcus picked up his duffle bag and began walking out.
"Marcus Van Dam." Marcus looked toward the source of the voice, there was a man with a nicely kept stache.
"Yes sir." he replied with a nod.
"John Price." he said sticking out a hand to shake, "and this is Ghost." he motioned to the masked man.
"Sir" Marcus nodded.
"Come on, gotta introduce you to the rest of the team, and then show you your room." Price said motioning to the jeep.
The three men piled into the jeep and rode further into base. They arrived in front of a warehouse of sorts. They exited the jeep and entered the building.
The first things Marcus took notice of was the fact that there were quite a few people inside, three men playing Mario Kart, a woman and man playing checkers and chatting, two men cheering for the three playing Mario Kart, and finally a woman standing off to the side talking with a man that towered over everyone in the room.
Price quickly got the attention of the room, “We have a recruit here, Marcus Van Dam, don’t run him off.” he said, introducing the young man while scolding the team at the same time.
A man with a Mohawk, he was one of the three playing Mario Kart.
“Hey, names John MacTavish, but everyone calls me Soap.” The man greeted, he had a Scottish accent.
“Halo Siabann” (Hello Soap) Marcus responded in Scottish Gaelic.
Soap looked rather surprised, “A bheil Gàidhlig agad?” (You know Gaelic?) he responded.
Marcus nodded, “Yessir, I happen to know 7 languages, Scottish Gaelic being on of them.” his southern accent leaked a bit.
“You’re American.” the man that was playing checkers with the woman said looking surprised.
“You too” Marcus said tilting his head to the side.
“Hmm, names Alex.” He said with a nod.
Marcus nodded, “Nice to meet you.”
“Alejandro Vargas.” a man stated with a charming smile.
“Rodolfo Parra.” another man stated, both seemed to Latinos based on their accents.
“Kyle Garrick, but everyone calls me Gaz.” a young man said with a smile.
“I am Farah Karim.” the woman beside Alex said.
The big guy that was standing a bit away from the group spoke up.
“I am König.”
“Hallo König, schön dich kennenzulernen.” (Hello König, it’s good to meet you) Marcus said with a smile.
König seemed surprised and made happy noise in the back of his throat.
“Oh yeah, Marcus, this is Roach.” Soap said gesturing to the man beside him that wore a mask.
Roach waved before signing, “Do you know sign?”
Marcus nodded, “Yeah, learning it was a good idea, I also learned morse code to fuck with people.” he signed
Roach snickered, signing, “Yeah, but everyone here also knows sign, so you might not get away with much.”
Marcus clicked his tongue, “Damn too bad.” he said with a mischievous grin.
“Before you boys get carried away, I’m Kate Laswell.” Kate introduced herself.
“Ma’am” Marcus nodded tipping an imaginary hat in her direction.
“So I’m assuming you and Alex are the only Americans on base?” Marcus asked.
Kate nodded, “Yes, will that be a problem?” she asked raising an eyebrow.
“Oh no, no, no, it’s just I have a habit of sorts where I copy the accents of people around me, I guess it’s me trying to unconsciously make me more friendly?” Marcus tried to explain in a way that made sense.
Alejandro perked up a bit, “Do you get stuck in accents?” he asked curiously.
Marcus nodded, “Yeah, I once got stuck in a Posh British accent for like a month, my friend, who happens to be a brit; Lucas nearly socked me in the face till I explained.”
Alejandro nodded in understanding, “I once tried copying Soaps accent to mock him, got stuck in the accent for a week.”
Soap snickered, “It was funny as hell too.”
“All right boys, play nice.” Kate said.
Soon enough Kate and Price were leaving.
Gaz walked over to Marcus, “So, you got a call sign yet?”
“Ah, no, not yet.” Marcus replied as he scratched at his chin.
“Well, it probably won’t be Moose or Giraffe.” Gaz said joking.
Marcus put on the most deadpan expression possible, “Gee thanks.” he said in the most unenthusiastic voice possible.
Now, Marcus was not exactly tall, in fact he was only five feet tall. He often got teased about his height back home and in the military.
Gaz chuckled, “Eh, we’ll figure one out, till then, wanna play some Mario Kart?”
Marcus huffed, “Yeah sure, though I gotta warn ya, I have made my siblings rage quit to the point they rent a rage room.”
Gaz snorted, “Yeah right, you can’t be that good.”
Six minutes later they were all staring at the screen displaying that Marcus, who had raced as Bowser, had won.
“HOW!?” Gaz shouted, completely baffled at how Marcus had won the race so quickly that he had won the race in two minutes, while it took everyone else 5 minutes.
Marcus snickered, “I told you.”
“No, no, no, you will explain how the hell you were able to do that bullshit.” Gaz demanded.
Marcus chuckled, “I used to be a nerd and was very into computers and games, just practice, still pisses my siblings off too.” he explained smug.
Soap perked up, “How many siblings ya got?”
“Ah, well, I’ve got two older brothers, Phil, the oldest, Steven, the second oldest, and the youngest, my sister Jackie.” Marcus explained.
Soap nodded, “Are any of them in the military as well?” he asked curious.
Marcus nodded, “Yep, pretty sure it started with my mom first, when she was in the service she had gotten captured by Russians and lost her middle finger. Pretty sure the main reason she was pissed at losing it was she couldn’t flip people off anymore, though she is now able to secretly flip people off. And Phil my oldest brother is in the army currently, he’s a Sergeant if I remember currently, whereas Steven the second oldest is a nurse that stays on base. And my sister, the youngest, is trying to get into the army, but of course there are assholes that are trying to prevent her from doing so.”
Soap looked thoughtful, “I gotta remember to tell Price we need a new nurse, the one we had before got a transfer, Ghost had apparently been too much.” he looked to Ghost with a small glare.
Ghost glared at the Scot, “I was fine.”
“You were shot in the shoulder you leth-sgeul!” (fucking idiot) Soap yelled, pissed off.
“English, MacTavish.” Ghost said, annoyed to high hell.
“You’re a fucking idiot.” Soap huffed.
Marcus gave a chuckle, “As entertaining this is, I… oh goddamnit.” he groaned, leaning forward, elbows on his knees.
“You alright?” Gaz asked.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve just stuck myself in a British accent.” Marcus grumbled.
Gaz snickered, “You’re like a mockingbird.”
Soap gasped, “Hey, that can be his call sign, Mockingbird or Bird!” he exclaimed.
Gaz grinned, “Hey, yeah, it’s perfect.”
Marcus chuckled, “Alright, alright, wanna play some more Mario Kart?”
“NO!” Soap and Gaz shouted.
“All right, jeezus, you don’t have to rupture my eardrums.” Marcus grumbled, rubbing his ear.
“Sorry.” Soap apologized.
Marcus shrugged, “I’m used to yelling, but please, not directly in my ear, I will punch you, it won’t be on purpose, but it won’t be light.” he explained.
Alejandro frowned, “What’s happened that you develop that kind of reaction, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Marcus rubbed the back of his neck, “Eh, my dad wasn’t the best and left when I was ten, so you know, Daddy Issues at its finest.” he gave an awkward smile.
Soap had a sympathetic look on his face, “I understand a dad leaving, if you wanna talk about shit, we can.” he offered with a smile.
Marcus gave a smile, “I might take you up on that.”
“If I may ask, what is your sexuality?” Farah asked.
“You can’t just ask that!” Alex hissed.
“Why not?” Farah asked, looking confused.
Marcus chuckled, “It’s alright Alex, I happen to be Bisexual and am constantly in a Bi panic.”
Alejandro smirked, “You are attracted to men?”
Marcus blinked, he looked to Soap, “Is he always like this?”
Soap nodded, “Yup, pretty sure I once saw him flirt with a rock.” He said with a grin.
“Soap!” Alejandro hissed with a blush.
Marcus snorted, “That’s not nearly as bad as me, I once flirted with a bully to throw him off his groove, pretty sure I caused him to start questioning his sexuality, three weeks later he has boyfriend and we’re pretty good friends.”
Alejandro had a look of amazement, “That sounds amazing amigo.” (friend) he said with a chuckle.
“Oh it was amazing, my mom made Runzas as celebration and even invited the kid over, two months later and I have a second mother who loves to make brownies every week.”
Soaps jaw was practically on the ground, “You’re telling me, you flirted with a bully, got him a boyfriend, had dinner with him and his mother, and later got a second mother and another brother?”
Marcus snickered, “Yup, apparently the main reason James was a dick was cause his dad was a dick and had left.”
Ghost huffed, “Your life is a telenovela at this point.” he said, sounding a hint amused.
Marcus shrugged, “Yeah, at least it’s interesting at least, besides the trauma builds character.”
Rodolfo shook his head, “The only things that should help you build character are anything but trauma.”
Marcus shrugged, “Well, with the trauma comes dark jokes, I apologize if I offend anyone, its my natural defense being small.”
Rodolfo sighed, “Todos ustedes necesitan terapia.” (You all need therapy)
Marcus shook his head, “Therapy is too expensive, I prefer crying my eyes out watching animal videos.” the young man sounded much too chipper with what he was saying.
Alex shook his head, “We all need therapy, but you might need it most.”
Marcus shook his head, “I would rather prank Price than do that.”
Soap grinned as he made eye contact with Alejandro, “You sure about that, lad?”
Marcus could feel the sweat already running, “I feel as if I made a mistake.”
Alex sighed, “You did and you’re on your own.”
“Ah, fuck.” Marcus said emphatically.