#operationsentinel

[specter319]

𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗟 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

Authors Note: It's been a while, and I do apologize for the wait. With the likes of mental health and finals taking the forefront and the incident that has taken the CoD community by the heart. I leave this little chapter as a means to try and comfort those still troubled by it and hope this can bring you some joy or inspiration, Fly High Vincent.

Gif Credit: Daniel Bruehl

Pairing: Damon 'Ninja' West x Kaden Lincoln, Simon 'Ghost' Riley x John 'Soap' MacTavish, Zack 'Nemo' Hayes x Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick. Word Count: 1.3k words no use of y/n eventual relationship establishment, however, Damon and Kaden are married. Summary: In a nation unaccustomed to war, Australia's newly elected government faces a dire crisis when rumours of a biological weapon on home soil, send shockwaves through the Government's defence sector. Dispatching a team of elite operatives to deal with it, the containment goes heads up as they look for other options.

The Black Angel Squad is soon assigned as the situation quickly spirals out of control behind the team's back unknowingly, and to stop a bleeding wound, Task Force 141 is brought in to assist them amid a frantic cabinet meeting of last-minute options and consistent fuck ups, forging an uneasy alliance between two teams. As tensions soar on both ends, questions arise about one thing: Was this the making of a weapon to begin with? Warnings: slow-burn, zombies, canon typical violence associated with Call of Duty, gruesome depictions of death, blood, swearing. ao3 version [Prev] [Next]

It was just a little over eight in the afternoon before a sudden tension was felt in the bones of a man, ironically enough, hidden behind a calcium veil, it was almost as if without even looking up from the conjoined notes of his inner workings that he could sense a presence at the door.

Before the form of the body could even knock, it was without hesitation that the male finally piped up as he signed away yet another form of action.

“Come in,” He was hoping it was that rapscallion Scotsman who was about to disturb him with useless conversation - anything to get away from a report that drained his life away only to have to replenish it with the likes of a non-existent sleep. But it wasn’t, instead, a younger, more reserved form of a man stood in front of him - Gaz.

“You’re urgently needed in the meeting room, Lieutenant. Price is calling all of us down here,” There was a hesitant form in his voice, he could hear it. Something had obviously gotten Price’s attention, and by the look of urgency in his eyes as Simon finally looked up from his paperwork. It was obviously no joke, usually Gaz would be off on his own thoughts, much like himself, or, hanging around Price. But the sucked in lips and almost targeted eyes had Simon moving his body before his mind could even calculate just as to where to go. And Gaz only knew to follow, closing the Lieutenants office door as they hurriedly walked down the corridors to the one place that never seemingly was abandoned for too long. Once more having people hanging around it, planning a move with what to do next.

“The whole team is there?” Ghost repeated as he looked over his shoulder

“Soap was about to come and get you before Price called him in, so I came and got you. Says a good majority of the Australian Government is there, plus Laswell is now involved apparently.”

“The Australian Government?” Ghost enquired as they entered the room, both met with waiting eyes from Soap and Price. As Ghost naturally gravitated towards the shorter Scotsman and looked over at the screen in front of them.

“Laswell.”

“Ghost, Gaz, good to see you,” Laswell spoke quickly

“Likewise,” Gaz chimed in.

“I do apologise for the short notice boys but, I’ve apparently been informed that there’s rumblings of a possible biological warfare happening out in a country that’s least expected in and amongst the giant spiders the size of a shoe. We got a report sent from Katherine about an attack and, well, I’ll let these guys say the rest. Prime Minister Wilson, if you want to take main stage,” Laswell stated before he spoke.

“Thank you Kate,” Wilson replied before he cleared his throat and began speaking up. “I was informed that, thanks to a few strings, favours and a very amazing Kate Laswell, that your Task Force is one of the best out there, though we have our own, not to brag. You’re going to be needed alongside them. Three days ago around 8:34 PM or 11:04 GMT your time, a complaint was made to local Northern Territory Police about a suspicious woman getting violent and angry, screaming as she ran around like a crazed lunatic. But, she never said anything verbally, just, screaming. Police were called to the scene after they tracked her down and tried to arrest the woman, but she had gotten violent all the more and she was shot on sight, during this process, it’s been reported that she had blood seeping from her eye sockets and had bitten a police officer.”

“Steamin’ Jesus,” Soap murmured “Blood from her eye sockets?”

“Correct, I’d state just exactly why but, I’m waiting for Professor Campbell to get back from her call regarding any further information about the report. What I can say, is the fact that, this is an isolated incident so far, and we’re keeping an eye on the police officer, in case anything goes south.” 

“Do apologise for the wait, I was just in a call with the local hospital that was holding the police officer. What did I miss?” Professor Campbell interrupted. Appearing fully in the camera’s view.

“Nothing much, we were just explaining as to what was going on incident wise and how this is an isolated incident as far as we know,” She was about to state more information, but was suddenly interjected by someone unknown to her.

“Why are we getting involved in it, your government has enough resources, doesn’t it?” Ghost budded in as he looked over at the screen. They had stated it themselves, a better task force than the one’s that they had right before them.

“Who might you be?” Professor Campbell questioned the man, interested by his own mask.

“Lieutenant Ghost,” A pause, she was caught off guard by the name, obviously.

“Okay, Lieutenant Ghost, well, we do have resources at hand, we have every security resource and health department on this because, this has been the first known case for someone to be bleeding from their eye socket, as far as we’re aware of. Though there is the cases where people can cry blood. According to three police reports I’ve gotten back, including the officer that was bitten. This was not at all the case, usually where it would form in the tear duct of the eye, it was forming on the middle of her eye sockets.”

No one knew what to truly say as they all looked at each other, how could you process any of that statement that you had been told.

“That’s impossible,” Gaz finally responded.

“It’s not, the crying part isn’t anyway. The only time tear duct bleeding usually happens, or as it’s better known for it’s scientific name, haemolacria. Is through trauma, surgery or infectious diseases. Given the reports of how this had occurred, we’re being led to believe that this could be the latter, and a few discussions had stated the possibility of plausible use of a biological weapon,”

“So you’re telling us, that you have no hardened evidence that this is a biological weapon, and you’re only giving us possibilities?” Captain Price asked. “I am not going to have my men risked until such time as you can safely state that you know it really is.”

“It’s the possibility that this might be a situated attack on the lives of millions of Australians that could be at risk if this isn’t chased up, which is why we asked you guys and our own team. We don’t know until such time as there is no plausible evidence that it isn’t a biological weapon. And we need your help to find out because if something happens here, god knows when the bloody rest of the world will fall to it,”

John was left in the bouts of a crossroads as he tensed up and grabbed at the seams of his shirt instinctively. He took in a deep breath before sighing and finally chancing it.

“What do we do if we find out it is?”

“Then you’ll be quarantined to make sure that you and your men aren’t infected with the disease, all the while we set up parameters that will keep the others safe and stop any of this before it gets out to the public, and handle the weapon accordingly.” It was the usual political jargon of ‘That’ll be when we get to it’. Looking over at his men, Price nodded before he finally gave in, knowing just what was at hand - but knowing that all of his men, him included, could deliver on it.

“When are we set to move?”

“As soon as you possibly can,” The professor stated simply. Given the mood in the room that John had seen as he looked around, this was apparently a hell of a lot more serious then what was initially thought.

And his task force had seemingly formed into a disease control team right under his nose.

[specter319]

𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗟 PROLOGUE

Author's note: Annnd, we're live! This has been the product of a month's love with thorough checking on many levels. The zombie CoD side, though there's a game and plot to it, hasn't gotten this kind of love to it before, so, enjoy. And half asleep me might have posted it two days early

GIF by Loonlypaper as well as concept for message Pairing: Damon 'Ninja' West x Kaden Lincoln, Simon 'Ghost' Riley x John 'Soap' MacTavish, Zack 'Nemo' Hayes x Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick. Word Count: 1.5k words no use of y/n eventual relationship establishment, however, Damon and Kaden are married. Summary: In a nation unaccustomed to war, Australia's newly elected government faces a dire crisis when rumours of a biological weapon on home soil, send shockwaves through the Government's defence sector. Dispatching a team of elite operatives to deal with it, the containment goes heads up as they look for other options.

The Black Angel Squad is soon assigned as the situation quickly spirals out of control behind the team's back unknowingly, and to stop a bleeding wound, Task Force 141 is brought in to assist them amid a frantic cabinet meeting of last-minute options and consistent fuck ups, forging an uneasy alliance between two teams. As tensions soar on both ends, questions arise about one thing: Was this the making of a weapon to begin with? Warnings: slow-burn, zombies, canon typical violence associated with Call of Duty, gruesome depictions of death, blood, swearing. ao3 version [Next]

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2025 - 0026 HOURS

“Omega team, you are clear for breach,” A woman’s voice stated on comms as all five men nodded, they knew the plan as they currently leaned against the back wall of a house, reported to have something more than an ordinary case of cocaine inside the walls of the dwelling. Everyone known to the government was all over this, and it was a mission that was to have no chance of fucking up. Five people watched intently over the cladded men through a remote connection from four government forces as some twiddled their thumbs or held hands close to their faces in the anxiety that something was going to go horribly wrong. At best, a soldier not making it back home.

But they never expected this.

As a mutual nod from soldiers near the doors came through the camera, one of them gently prodded at the door handle to make sure there was valid movement that it was unlocked, and with a gentle movement, the grip on the handle got tighter, before, as quietly as they could, opened the door as they moved in, one after the other, weapons in hand at the ready and scanned the area with their night vision goggles for any movement. They had to make sure no one was here. It was silent as hand gestures befell the six men as one of them navigated the rest. Quietly stepping along carpeted flooring as the six of them split up into two groups, all in ways where they could find each other in search of one thing. One of them swore they’d seen movement out of the corner of their eye as they turned around, fooled by something in the goggles, a speck of dust, he put it down to, but it wasn’t.

Silence had befallen in the entire house before suppressed shots were the loudest thing to grab the attention of the other two men that were once split from the third, now turning around and heading back as they kept their guns reticle in eyes sight.

The second lot that had moved upstairs heard the gunshot, but only one of them turned around instinctively. The house was way too quiet for activity, and it had only a quarter of the soldiers somewhat questioning the events days prior, unless they’d finally caught on and legged it. But someone had to be staying back for them, someone always did.

This time it was more evident that something was in the house, and it wasn’t at all what they were expected as an angry snarl ripped through the hallway, more gunshots tore through once more before they too — fell silent. They were being picked off one by one, and someone back in the operations room knew it, guessed it from the first lost signal. 

The pair downstairs most certainly heard that as one tapped the shoulder of the other and soon enough followed the way up the stairs. Then there was panicked running, as if something was coming down the hall way as it rushed past, both soldiers quick to ready their gun and fire at it, but it was too late. Though the people back in the room saw it. Panicked by just what it turned out to be, another round of bullets, and their were only four of them left.

Nostrils had become flared, heard by the only sound picked up from the mic out of all times as they quickly changed their mission tactics. Right under the nose of watchful eyes following right into the room they’d last seen whatever this thing was as the three of them kept steady movements. One of them examined the dead body of his fallen soldier as he saw it in the green specks of his night vision. Whole human bite marks at the neck that had left the soldiers silently struggling for air as he bled out to death, a muscle of the left side of his neck almost entirely missing as one soldier began to silently panic. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t human. 

Entering the room they had last seen it in, one of them had checked to make sure that it wasn’t hiding in any places where it could gain the upper advantage on them, quick to shine a light through the walk in wardrobe that was placed in the bedroom. Having seen no reflective shadows, but staying their long enough to think that his mind was playing tricks on him too. 

Another screech pulled them back as gunshots were heard once more, this time, a longer fight than just two seconds. But it was a battle that remained unwon as silence filled the house again, and this time. The two remaining soldiers were now fighting for their own survival, not even a question of what it was. Nothing in their minds really, a direct kill on sight if seen with no further intention. That’s how the mission was going to end up, going past the point of failure this time around as they scanned the area and saw another body, the same thing, this time, with audible struggling heard as the blood could be heard sitting in the back of his throat and seeping into his lungs. A sound that haunted one government figure as their body sat tense on the round table.

At this point, the pair of them were now absolutely terrified of the unknown. Quite uncommon thanks to the intensive training, but they truly didn’t know what was roaming the halls of this house. Four cameras had now gone down, and the five people in the room were all looking at each other, not speaking a word, but their eyes and body language they gently spoke all looked back at a man before the screens who was monitoring the situation. It had gone to shit, he knew it, but if these two soldiers could remain alive and kill whatever the thing was, wondering about a possible report of a weapon being used for ill intention was going to be the least of his concerns.

As one soldier kept his footing light in order to try and use the desperate sprints it was making to his advantage, his foot squeaked under the carpeting as he cringed at his own mistake, hoping that it hadn’t heard any of it. It was like second nature for the second soldier to suddenly have the instinct to move back into the comfort of the stairs though, as he did so, he quickly tapped the soldier on the back before he turned around to see where he was, but he’d let his guard down for a single second. And it was the moment it had taken complete advantage of him as it ran at the soldier and took him down in one fail swoop before it ran off into the corridors of the upper floor of the house. 

The last soldier had to get the hell out of there, there was a risk that whatever was in this house could now haunt him, but it was at a point where his own priority of safety was far more valid than that of what was going on around him. As he used all of his muscles to flow into the staircase grooves to remain as silent as possible. He swung his gun around to try and assess the situation, it had truly gone FUBAR in a matter of only ten minutes, though he had no recollection of time, those watching him had seen how utterly terrible this mission had gone, and had hoped that he was the last one to make it out alive. 

But it was beyond hopeless at this point as he tried to make his way back out of the house. Choosing to go through the way they once came in, he checked his surroundings once more. Stopping in his tracks as he saw something by the kitchen, standing there. It had thrown him off at first, hoping that it was just his imagination, but as he moved closer to it, the very same military gear that was rested upon his own shoulders became evidently familiar that one of the soldiers was still here, completely fine.

He squinted in curiosity, why hadn’t he kept up with them? Was he hiding? But as he approached just that little more within distance, the soldier turned around almost inhumanly, and that’s when the last soldier knew he’d fucked up as he almost gasped in shock at the state he saw, before the soldier lunged at him, and took down the final camera that was a connection to the mission. It had gone down the drain. 

There was a tense silence in the room, palpable too. And all they were able to do was breathe as the man turned around from the now loud noise of flashing text that was ‘No Signal’ before he finally spoke up.

“Get another Squad on this, immediately, we don’t tell fucking anyone about this."

[specter319]

𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗟 THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Authors Note: It's been 15 hours, 15. And for those that know what happens, do not comment on this post, as I will delete and block stated users who place it on here, I am very specifically waiting until the 12th of November for those who have logged off in their entirety to not be spoiled of anything regarding the new launch. And my thoughts generally, writing-wise on it will be launched on or after November 12. Other than that, for those that know and have played it. [-] Both have plot armor for reasons I can not get into, but ones that I'd much rather happily reveal in time. Enjoy the new post!

GIF by Loonlypaper as well as concept for message Pairing: Damon 'Ninja' West x Kaden Lincoln, Simon 'Ghost' Riley x John 'Soap' MacTavish, Zack 'Nemo' Hayes x Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick. Word Count: 2.1k words no use of y/n eventual relationship establishment, however, Damon and Kaden are married. Summary: In a nation unaccustomed to war, Australia's newly elected government faces a dire crisis when rumours of a biological weapon on home soil, send shockwaves through the Government's defence sector. Dispatching a team of elite operatives to deal with it, the containment goes heads up as they look for other options.

The Black Angel Squad is soon assigned as the situation quickly spirals out of control behind the team's back unknowingly, and to stop a bleeding wound, Task Force 141 is brought in to assist them amid a frantic cabinet meeting of last-minute options and consistent fuck ups, forging an uneasy alliance between two teams. As tensions soar on both ends, questions arise about one thing: Was this the making of a weapon to begin with? Warnings: slow-burn, zombies, canon typical violence associated with Call of Duty, gruesome depictions of death, blood, swearing.

Ao3 Version

[Prev] [Next]

He should’ve had more coffee.

“Hey, lazybones.” 

A grumbled groan moved out of the males lips once more as he automatically turned around in his sleep, apparent that in the limited time that he hurried back to bed, it seemed just like moments ago. But instead, it was almost four hours later. A catnap, as Cameron had stated earlier.

“Damon, we are not doing this today, I know you got broken sleep, but you’ve had well over six hours. Out of bed, I need my shopping partner…and my partner.”

He was fighting a loosing battle in knowing his body was well aware of wanting to get up either way as he sighed before he rolled back over and finally sat up, his black hair all a mess. His eyes no longer filled with the same heaviness they once had earlier this morning, but more of a distant look in his eyes. Kaden always found his sleepy state adorable knowing he could barely calculate anything but how to breathe and complain in the morning.  

“We find out anything more since last night?” ‘Oh yeah, he wasn’t thinking alright.’ Kaden thought, a small tug to the corner of his lips had the male trying not to laugh at his vulnerable state of broken sleep. 

“Nothing other than the coroner has drawn blood and checked over the body, but isn’t allowed to examine them. Other than that, the cop is seemingly fine in his state, bite is apparently inflamed but, nothing else.”

Damon brush past the comment of not being able to examine them before he looked over at Kaden’s smile, tired muscles in his eyes made him look all the more out of it rather than the pure action of squinting as he tried to see what the other was hiding.

“What?” He rasped.

“You look cute with your hair like that.”

“I oughta kill you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Damon only gave him a look as the two went their seperate ways, knowing that he was going to take his moment to try and regain the energy he had from the night before he passed out in the bed. 

It was through the chugging of three coffees later and a mediocre serving of Special K that the male was finally good enough to go to tolerate the world as he finally hung around Kaden’s office and jingled the keys to let him know he was there.

“Look who’s finally alive.” “Must be dead inside with all those emails you’re answering,” He jeered back.

“Actually just more information on the mission we’ve gotten from earlier this morning. They’ve spoken to the other team, sending over a bunch of former SAS trained soldiers from a task force apparently.”

“SAS soldiers?” Damon asked before he moved into Kaden’s office, quickly turning to look at his computer screen. Rather casually, informing the likes that they have been assigned alongside Task Force 141 to investigate the incident which would be codenamed: Operation Sentinel.

“Who the fuck are Task Force 141?” Damon quizzed as he looked at the screen, even questioning the name of the operation as he looked at the email.

“Don’t know, we’ll find out in a few days when they get here. But right now, we need to do some shopping for the guys, we’ve got a whole list of stuff we need to get,” and then, Kaden went in for a kiss on a stubble filled jaw, Damon slowly looking over at Kaden with a slight smirk. Someone was a little clingy.

“’S matter with you today?”

“Can I not admire my husband for how hot he looks with a black jumper on and how he smells?”

“Alright, we are not doing this here again, I did this once to fulfil your office fantasy, we’re going shopping. Now,” Sometimes, Damon thought, it had honestly felt like they would swap each others thoughts around. And that was one of the scary parts of being married to the love of your life for as long as you had been, when you started to know one another’s thoughts. It became even more so just how easy you could drag them out of that stated mindset of longing they had for each other.

───

Shopping never seemed to be a nightmare on Wednesday’s in the afternoon, barely anyone seemed to be doing their shopping at a time like this, and it left the once crowded weekend days feel like you could finally breathe in a tightly compact place. Save for a certain ankle biter who rammed a trolley into the back of Kaden’s legs.

Damon had an innocent smile on his face as Kaden looked like he was going to reciprocate the movement that caused him to turn around to begin with, had it not been for Damon’s realisation with what aisle they were currently in. 

“Are we seriously buying chocolate for that fucker again? That’s the third bar this week,” realising what he’d stated, Damon quickly checked around for any kids before continuing his demeanour, an unspoken rule Damon had thanks to his sailors mouth. “I don’t see the issue.” “That’s usually because you’re away from Zack when he decides to go nuclear and thinks it’s fine to lay his lactose intolerance out on us, get him the cookies instead.” “He doesn’t like the cookies though.” “For the sake of our marriage - please,” Damon dramatically pleaded in addition with puppy eyes, which only Damon knew he could get away with.

“God you are so overdramatic Damon,” A roll of his eyes came to as he put the chocolate back and grabbed the cookies instead “Any complaints, it’ll come back on you.”

“There won’t be, unless he eats the whole packet in one sitting.”

“He probably will,” He brushed off.

“Fuck, you’re right,” Damon realised before he gently grabbed the list out of Kaden’s hands “Alright, next is butter, two bags of rice, spring onions, and a crap tonne of vegetables,” Damon paused in realisation “Are we having rice?”

“Figured given we’re on cooking duty this week we’d do something simple, gotta make enough for four nights so, I decided on rice, given pasta seemingly doesn’t really work as much.”

“Alright, you grab the butter, I’ll go grab the rest of the things needed on the list.”

“Wilco,” Kaden said before he dashed off down the other side of the supermarket. 

Eventual time of crossing one another’s paths would lead to the two getting to the checkout as they openly decided to go and serve themselves at the self-serve checkout instead of leaving the hard work to the others. A simple act of kindness in their eyes, and one less person to let what they could do with ease stress out about, and instead, allow them to take a breather for just a moment before another customer came hauling their groceries. Or were ungratefully needed for that one ‘shift’ they never really got paid for.

Knowing that they had finally gotten what they had come for, the pair of them got back in the vehicle as Damon, for once allowed the other male to drive, a sudden surprise to the other, as usually, their would be a complain in trail about it, even if it was the love of his life.

“You’re letting me drive?” Kaden questioned with a confused look on his face.

“Yeah, I figured it was a thanks for last night and this morning.”

“You’re still out of it aren’t you?”

A laugh stifled out of Damon “Yup. It was this morning, too, wasn’t it?” He questioned, that’s what broken sleep did to a man. Threw him right off his perception of time. 

Nodding in replied confirmation came from Kaden before he started up the vehicle and made his way out of the parking lot. 

───

The rattle of the reusable thick plastic bags had Zack running down the hall as he eagerly awaited the two men to come back into the kitchen with baited breath. As he waited for them to place the bags on the table before he greedily got to what he wanted, he’d been desiring for the past almost twelve hours - chocolate. However, as the zipper came flying around the edges of the bag, opening the flap to it. His face quickly pulled downwards at the sides as he realised it wasn’t a whole chocolate bar, but instead, cookies.

“Alright, which one of you two did this? It’s very funny, cookies instead of a chocolate bar,” Zack stated, confused as he pulled at the box, maybe it was just a little prank and they had a lot of chocolate bars inside, shaking it didn’t seem to resolute much hope within him though. The unbroken seal, an unknown answer to Zack’s logic, would’ve also flown open given how hard he’d shaken it just seconds ago.

“Blame Damon,” Kaden raised his hands as he moved away from the mess, pulling the bag towards him and grabbing what was needed for what would be a giant serving of tonights dinner. Knowing Damon would come to help him once he was done bickering with the other male.

Damon only looked back at him as Kaden avoided his gaze like he was on the other side of a glass pane to his husband, all the while, Zack was burning daggers into Damon’s skull as the other man finally looked back at him.

“You’re sick,” Zack accused.

“Look, I’m not buying forty dollars worth of chocolate bars just so you can treat the cap and I like Meg from Family Guy. The only time I will suffer through it is if I buy you a chocolate cake, even then,” Damon exaggerated.

“I’m not lactose intolerant!”

“Like hell you aren’t,” Damon quickly witted back. “They’re worse than mine. Kaden back me up here.”

Kaden immediately broke out into a song, humming as he placed the rice down onto the table. 

“Quite the supportive husband,” Damon gestured, receiving a smirk from the other.

“Obviously your backup thinks otherwise,” Zack stated before someone else walked into the room, Cameron.

“Alright you two, what’s going on here?” The captain decided to bite at the bickering between the two and Damon immediately explained, giving no room for Zack to try and argue his case.

“I gave Zack cookies instead of a whole chocolate bar today,” Damon said as he looked over at him. Cameron looked at him as if he were insane, but a saviour all at the same time, it was the one night they were playing Uno that Cameron flashed back to that moment he will never forget, he swears by the book Zack had done something more than just farting. And Damon had sworn the opposite, that he’d only done exactly that.

“I’m giving you a promotion after this,” sarcasm, of course given Damon’s last stance on being offered it. But Damon tried not to laugh at the subtle gratitude.

“He’ll go through it within a sitting anyway.”

“Oh come on, not you, Captain,” Zack complained

“Damon was right to, I think I lost my smell that night, never been able to smell the petrichor since,” Cameron laughed before he looked over at Kaden, he was on cooking duty tonight, and he was glad he was getting right to it, especially with the news that had developed. “Complaints aside, we’ve got some good news, and bad news.” 

“That we won’t smell death anymore?” Damon chuckled as he got a glare from Zack. Though they all knew he wasn’t going to do anything, one of them always became the butt of some joke. It was the way they operated.

“No, we have an operational unit on the way labeled as Task Force 141, they’re sending out four of their men to help investigate this case which we still haven’t gotten any update on since early this morning, been sitting and waiting for one but, you know how emails go. Bad news however, news crews have gotten word about it - and they will not stop until they have answers.”

“You’d think with the budget they have, an email would be simple enough to do,” Zack retorted.

“Yes, well, that’s not the case, so we’re headed out to Melbourne Airport at 0700 hours to pick them up from a domestic flight and then we’ll be headed out to Katherine, should be there by at least by 1300 hours.”

“Can you just use normal time?” Damon groaned before he sighed - though he understood it very well, he often chose to speak to other teammates by using the AM and PM format much rather than military time. 

“You know the rules, Damon.”

“Yes Captain.”

“Any questions?”

“Yeah,” Kaden asked as he chewed on a mushroom head. “Why haven’t we gotten any emails or intel back from the Departments yet about the reports?”

[specter319]

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐰…" (𝐀 '𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬' 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭)

Authors Note: Given it's Halloween, in Celebration of both the launch of MWIII and the possibility that one of our favorite characters will die, I thought I would put salt in the wounds and reveal something I had in the vault for quite a few months. Enjoy this, because this hurt me, and I hope it hurts you as it did me to write this. Signed, Specter

TW: Blood, Major Character Death, Heavy detail of death, Character Spirals Words: 1.3k

The cars were off and moving, which were nothing but a good sign, given some of the people now surrounding the car had gotten very rowdy in their movements. And they needed to just get the hell out of there, or as Damon put it, get the fuck out of dodge.

As the cars tried to respectfully move through the herd of people wanting nothing but an answer, it was with a certain parliamentarian member that wanted nothing of it, typical, at the least. Connor Wilson always seemed like the selfish type and glances from Damon never seemingly let that tension simmer as he let it be known, though he was guarded, that he shouldn’t get too comfortable with the security of the man before him — wrecking his neighbourhood was one thing, but acting like they were on good terms was a whole other can of worms itself.

“You guys have done this before,” Connor stated, it was like a pin dropped in the small, confined space of the car as Damon glanced at the rear view mirror and right into the eyes of the man. He knew the damage he had done — and he expected the demanding outcry that came before him. Cynical even in the eyes of the young Damon West, however, no one knew the tension between the two of them. Just the silence that fell within the car itself.

“Just routine at this point Mr. Wilson,” It was the calm tone of Kaden ��� the bastard could see right through him unlike the others. A quick glance was chucked Kaden’s way through the rear view mirror once more. Something felt off about today, and Damon had become antsy unknowingly over it.

And there it was, exactly like the lights that changed before him, a man suddenly came swinging out onto the road. Damon taking no chances as the car squealed under the force of one pedal. Halting a boat as the other cars behind them soon followed, if not, within mere millimetres of fusing metal and plastic together. 

“Charlie 3-1, Status?” An agent stated on the radio.

“Charlie 3-1, we have a protestor on the road, getting out now,” Damon quickly mandated positions, knowing the other two men would take over if needed.

“Lincoln, on me,” Damon stated. He still wasn’t used to hearing the likes of his now middle name roll off the bumps of his tongue.

Within the process of only eleven seconds, did everything happen. Caving in, all at once.

In  five seconds, Damon and Kaden both opened their doors. Seven, and Kaden closed his before he matched his husbands’ steps. Nine, and Damon placed a hand on his gun to let the protestor know that should his intentions change, it was no longer going to be the protestor with the upper hand. It was at ten, that he went to open his mouth and eleven, that the bullet rang out. Damon tensed his whole body, thinking that he was going to feel the pain, any moment now. His flesh meeting in the middle of a beautifully opened wound of the bulletproof armour. But it was nothing as the world around him quickly had a black car to the right of him, to the left of him and in front of him — it hadn’t been minutes, it had now been thirty seconds, and he was still alive, but when he looked over to no longer see the body of a man he once called him look back into his eyes, that his neurone fired, and he dropped into action.

As Damon immediately pointed away from the scene to Cameron — get in the driver’s seat and go. There was a longing stare in his eyes, neutrality, taking it in. As if he was perilous to stop it.

Zack had done the right thing, getting the minister to duck down. But Cameron had frozen, when he was needed the most, and so had Damon as he looked at the bloodied shirt of his husband as he laid on the ground. There was no way it hadn’t done it’s job, but it seemed so upon Damon’s observations, the bullet had gone clean right through him.

Damon yelled once more at Cameron to get them out of there, before he finally shifted as another gun shot rang out — more people screamed and the male ducked down, idiotically, and protectively, and over his husband.

“Damon?” Kaden choked out, he seemed distant, unsure of what even happened.

“Hey Kay, you’re doing alright. Just a little wound, the armour got it. Don’t you worry” Damon confirmed as he tried to compress the bleeding, it wouldn’t fucking stop. “We need to get him moved now, open the door I got him.”

“What’s going on?” Kaden asked weakly, his eyes had now become a silvery grey. They weren’t the oceanic blue Damon could never stop looking at.

“Nothing, we’re just getting you into the car, everything’s fine” With a nod from the agent, Damon counted, along with prior notice that he was going to be lifted. It took all of his strength not to drop him then and there, Damon never had any difficulty lifting him during their moments, and now the adrenaline was doing all the work sore muscles could no longer bare.

With the door shut, the world around Damon decreased to just the man’s chest in his lap, so weakly vulnerable. So avoidant of life, and no longer an owner of a smile that could break a man’s heart that tried to hold the red seeping liquid in, as if he could fix everything, when he was losing it right in front of him. 

“Damon,”

“I know, I know,” Damon choked before he didn’t have to even say it and the agents were on the move to the hospital. No one in the car helped, they could see the inevitable, and the man losing colour could do the same. But there was one person who was not willing to come to terms with it, he wanted nothing of it.

There was only silent glances and pained grunts as the eventual adrenaline wore off of both their bodies. He no longer blissfully unaware, but more so hurting, the colour had drained from his eyes completely. Something that gave the man so much emotion, could now only be found in his throat as a deathly cough started moving through him, and a choked scream as the pain finally settled right in.

But his body was all too far gone from that, as his eyes focused on another pair — the blood once needing to be kept in, now inked through the hands of his husband, as if the last moments he would spend with him weren’t already painful enough.

“It hurts,” Kaden rasped, his body shaking — somehow, it was at this point, the staring between one another eyes. That they both knew time was approaching. And it never could keep itself just far enough away to let them ever give a proper goodbye.

“It got you pretty good, but you’re gonna make it,” A thumb on his cheek, deniable plausibility, everything was going to be fine. A way of reassuring one another.

“Damon, don’t,” The rattle in his breath came as he took his shaky breaths. 

“No, I’m not gonna,”

“Damon,” The both of them had tears in their eyes. “I love you,” That’s what finally broke a man, tears streaming down his cheeks. Their time was up, all he could do in response was hold him closer, kiss his head as a desperate hand ran through the hair of a fading man as a weak arm moved on his elbow. A final grasp on a man he too, called his home.

“I love you too,” he finally choked out, the silent ache in Damon’s pounding chest, the heavier rattle, but calm breaths of a final moment in his husbands’ arms was met with words of anguish.

They always wanted to be in each other’s arms, but they never wanted it to be met with things they were never ready to deal with.

“You can go now...”

[specter319]

𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗟 UP IN THE AIR

Authors Note: Hey you lot! Sorry to keep you guys hanging, but this will be the final update for the story, for this year. I'm taking a Christmas break to go and work on myself, reblog some fan art and stories that catch my eye, update my Tumblr blog, and even, work on some more stories including this one. Yes, the brain rot for Call of Duty is real — and when you actually listen to your brain and write, with nothing in goal, you end up getting....[Checks other document] 3,000 words of a chapter that hasn't even seen the end of it yet. Anyway, enjoy the final chapter post for 2022!

GIF by Loonlypaper as well as concept for message Pairing: Damon 'Ninja' West x Kaden Lincoln, Simon 'Ghost' Riley x John 'Soap' MacTavish, Zack 'Nemo' Hayes x Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick. Word Count: 2.3k words

no use of y/n eventual relationship establishment, however, Damon and Kaden are married. Summary: In a nation unaccustomed to war, Australia's newly elected government faces a dire crisis when rumours of a biological weapon on home soil, send shockwaves through the Government's defence sector. Dispatching a team of elite operatives to deal with it, the containment goes heads up as they look for other options.

The Black Angel Squad is soon assigned as the situation quickly spirals out of control behind the team's back unknowingly, and to stop a bleeding wound, Task Force 141 is brought in to assist them amid a frantic cabinet meeting of last-minute options and consistent fuck ups, forging an uneasy alliance between two teams. As tensions soar on both ends, questions arise about one thing: Was this the making of a weapon to begin with? Warnings: slow-burn, zombies, canon typical violence associated with Call of Duty, gruesome depictions of death, blood, swearing.

Ao3 Version

[Prev] [Next]

The sound of rubber reverberating through the firewall of the giant SUV had drowned out some of the Taylor Swift, Kaden just had to play. While nursing a cup of freshly brewed coffee, straight from the motherland of the golden arches. Another one of the track fives that Damon had heard a million times started playing with that familiar piano rolling through, mere seconds in, though he enjoyed it. There was always something about the lyrics that Damon had noted, never willing to comment on, that he could see resonated with Kaden’s relationship between his parents, ever since he placed that ring on the very same finger that nursed a coffee.

“Can we skip this one? I don’t like it,” Damon simply stated as he looked out the window, Kaden giving him a glance of skepticism.

“Out of all the songs, this one? Seriously?” Kaden questioned as he kept his eyes on the road.

“Never liked it, anyway, next track,” Damon said before he pressed a button on the screen though the same rubber sound filled in the cabin, a tired sigh revealed what Kaden was about to say.

“You just like this one because it’s more country.”

“Yeah, so what if I do, she makes a great country song.”

There was a pregnant silence in the cabin, maybe Kaden had finally caught onto why he skipped it, but like they were always doing, one was always interested in what was rattling around in the others mind, never having enough time to truly interrogate or question one another’s actions.

“Are you awake yet?” Kaden questioned.

“Nope, still very much dead inside,” It was a question both knew the answer to after so many years.

Breakfast had not gone the way of calming them down since Cameron had told them the simple detail. No further information had been given out about the incident other than the fact that they were being assigned  alongside a task force to figure out just what exactly happened, other than a few details about what plane they were on, and the reports had been seen. When they had pressed for more? Nothing. Cameron had even pleaded with Colonel Vanessa, someone who was able to get anyone to heed to her command given the status of their task force to do something about it, pull some strings to get some form of an answer, but even when she did, not one of the higher ups were willing to give an answer other than ‘we’ll get back to you on that one.’ Not only was she pissed, but it had left an uneasy feeling in the pits of their Bacon and Egg filled stomachs as their radios went off. 

“How you two lovebirds doing in there?” It was Zack, taunting as always. 

“Pending divorce and assault charges,” Kaden replied back sarcastically.

“We love to see it!” Zack replied back in a monotone voice, it was truly a shock when he used the generational slang that Kaden and Damon never truly understood, but somehow, did all at the same time given they were only born three years apart. “How long till ETA?”

“Fifteen minutes. They should be landing in ten, least that’s what we’ve been told.”

“Of course you’re too lazy to check how long we have left to go,” Damon chimed in.

“Yeah, it’s fun driving you two up the wall.”

Damon looked over at Kaden as he shook his head. “Keep that up and you won’t even get cookies.”

“Sorry,” Zack quickly mumbled back. As much as he hated the cookies, he was at least grateful for the gesture.

An audible snicker moved through the pair before the silence of the song in the cabin kept them lingering back to the shady feeling of just what exactly were they keeping from them finding out. Damon realised he’d picked up on something about that feeling, deciding to announce it over the radio in a timely fashion as always.

“You know that Professor?” Damon mused, silence over the radio before he checked the rear view mirror, a familiar black SUV sitting behind them - Cameron and Zack in the second car.

“Professor Campbell, yeah, what about her?” Cameron replied.

“She was kind of shifty, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?”

Kaden was even interested as he looked over at the male, quick to squint his eyebrows in a questioning demeanour.

“Police chief interrupts her when she gets, to his definition at least, rowdy, doesn’t dare to comment any further on what she said though.”

There was silence, between the bickering and nonsense of that mornings early antics. Damon picked up on one thing many people usually couldn’t — body language.

“Could just be a plain sexist cop trying to tell a woman what to do,” Zack interjected.

“He might be, but, that aside, it wasn’t like that,” Damon stated as he paused, it was the quiver in her voice. 

Had she said too much? 

“She had a moment of hesitation in her voice. Like she’d let on a bit too much than what we needed to be told.”

“I think you’re clutching at straws now, Damon,” Cameron replied. “No way a woman of her stature could be shut down by someone lower than her rank.”

“If the money pays well enough,” Kaden murmured as he raised his eyebrows, leaning back into the seat, slowing the car down as they turned off the freeway.

“Just let it go Damon, I’m sure they’re just figuring out things as they happen and they have no information.”

But he didn’t want to, for the sake of his own team. He begrudgingly did so as he let the radio go silent and sighed before he placed his head roughly against the headrest — for a moment, Damon had gotten too far into his head, and Kaden had noticed.

“You think there’s something else behind it?” Kaden questioned, deciding to run with his idea. Damon knew he was letting him have his moment to cool down, to let him explain himself when others wouldn’t. To hear out each others sides, it was a thing they did, a subtle way of holding each other in an embrace, without physically needing to. A way of always being there for one another.

“For someone so professional, she certainly seemed like she was getting paid to keep a lot behind that curtain of hers.”

“Politics is a high pressure situation, and when shit hits the fan, especially when it’s out of control in seconds. People can break under the pressure. You, of all people would know that.”

“But this pressure and their pressure are completely different.” 

“Depending on it’s context, yeah, I guess you’re right. But, if the situation requires you to have control at all times and something happens under your watch that you can’t control?”

“You start to panic,” Damon added. Maybe it was just that, maybe she was panicked over nothing, and the fact that if she slipped up on any minor detail. She would be gone from the security of the seat she walked to every morning that she had safely called a job. But Damon was still doubtful in the back of his mind of something being off. Knowing that he was stressing over the unknown, he was better off doing the same over the miles of road that was in front of him. Only moments away from the Task Force they were set to meet in regards to this, they’d never gotten any information about them, just the fact that four of them, were to present at the airport. And they didn’t even know exactly who each individual would look like, though, given the plane they would be in. It wouldn’t have been too difficult to spot a few people walking out of an exit not used by common people.

“Hey.” 

“Mhm?”

With a shift of his hand, Kaden quickly grabbed it from the corner of his eyes and moved a thumb over his knuckles. He grounded him in his thoughts of worries as Damon soon returned the gesture by interlacing his hand into his.

“It’ll work out, somehow.”

Damon only took in a deep breath as the car zoomed along on the highway, passing signs that only showed them getting closer to the destination that they needed to be at, and in the sky, just as red and green lights flash ever so subtly, revealed exactly who they were looking for.

“That’d be our assets,” Kaden spoke up before he finally moved his hand gently away from Damon’s, already missing the warmth.

Kaden pressed the button on his radio, he wasn’t too sure about it just yet. “Plane coming in hot that’d be them, right?” 

“According to Flight Tracker, that’d be a yes,” Zack replied.

Another pause of silence.

“…You did not just use Flight Tracker to tell us that was the aircraft.”

“Take a wild guess boys, what’s it going to be?”Damon got a scalding look from his husband, a smile almost played on his face.

“Airbus A320?” Damon quizzed, he was playing into Zack’s love of aircrafts.

Zack made a buzzer noise in response to Damon’s guess. “787.”

“Damn.”

“Zack!” Kaden interrupted, he was still awaiting the answer to the question, but instead, silence moved through both vehicles cabins as they made the final turn off into the airport. It already looked busy with the amount of taxi’s lined up in the ranks, and vehicles dropping off passengers given the early hours of the morning were seemingly the best. However, it was with luck that they were skipping all right past that, and to an entry gate that awaited a few security guards. Confused just as much so in wondering why their presence was here.

“Car behind with you?” The man asked as he looked back at the second black SUV.

“Yeah, here to collect a few people,” Kaden stated as he handed over his ID, Vanessa had obviously planned ahead, and on extremely late notice, what a godsend of a woman she was. 

“Ah, Lieutenant Lincoln West, welcome, if you just follow the yellow line on the road and go to gate two, the people will be waiting for you there,” The man stated before he backed up and pressed a button, the gate moving open.

Kaden paused at the sound of his marital name being stated aloud, it was too late to correct him, but a nod of appreciation was something he gave back in return before the pair of black cars moved into the airports smaller roads. Upon inspection, there was so much the men hadn’t seen behind the scenes of a place that was so busy, known for it’s destined lines and planes taking off like it was a last chance, as Kaden slowly drove in, he quickly took his hand back to the radio to question just what Damon had inspired him to wonder about.

“Did they seriously not give us information beyond an incident and a Task Force?”

“Other than what we know, what time they’d be arriving? absolutely nothing,” Cameron replied.

As the comms went silent again, Damon looked over at Kaden with a knowing smirk as he finished off his coffee.

“What?” Kaden asked, that smirk usually meant trouble.

“It’s just — never thought I’d hear someone say my last name next to yours, it sounds good.” “Maybe I should’ve had Zack in the car with me,” Kaden grumbled. Damon looking falsely offended as that smile, moved his way onto his face. Only something his husband could make him do, he still made him laugh with the small things, after all these years. 

A cute shared moment aside, as the smile faded from both mens eyes, something now was off about all of this mornings efforts to Kaden as he gave a suspicious glance to Damon. Efficiency and effectiveness as well as proper planning was something that their Squad worked on, throughout plans, multiple paths and questions in any form that included ones of stupidity were how they worked in order to know exactly how to pin point what they were after. And with the way this incident fell into their hands, it was now a growing pit of doubt forming in Kaden’s stomach as he did nothing but await for yet another set of gates to open as they got closer to the taxiing aircraft.

Planes always fascinated Kaden, just how massive the wing size of such a plane could support itself. Though nowhere near as geeked out about it as Zack was, the sheer size of them always had him in bewilderment, even with the size of the 747 he was stunned by the sheer mass of how something could easily float in the sky and have it done with 2 million lines of code. As he parked up near the plane on the side of the road, careful to leave some space for the working airport crew, a few looks from the crew who had seemingly worked hours on the shift were giving each other looks. 

Why were they here?

Though they were on time, it was almost another half an hour before anything truly started moving in full force. And as Damon tapped Kaden’s shoulder, a quick button on the radio had Kaden relaying that they were ready for them to move as all four of them got out of the car. Leaving doors opened as they moved in front of their doors, and saw the ones to the airport open, ones that were rarely used by people unless it was for a connecting flight.

And just like that, the first man to appear was that of a lenient male in a blue shirt and a mohawk.

“How the hell’d he manage to get through selection with hair like that?” Zack questioned.

[specter319]

𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗟 THREE DAYS LATER

Authors Note: The first chapter is here! And so much has happened on the CoD side of things. There are only two more weeks before the Open Beta of MW III and 17 days until The Haunting happens. And that, I'm scared about.

GIF by Loonlypaper as well as concept for message Pairing: Damon 'Ninja' West x Kaden Lincoln, Simon 'Ghost' Riley x John 'Soap' MacTavish, Zack 'Nemo' Hayes x Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick. Word Count: 2.1k words no use of y/n eventual relationship establishment, however, Damon and Kaden are married. Summary: In a nation unaccustomed to war, Australia's newly elected government faces a dire crisis when rumours of a biological weapon on home soil, send shockwaves through the Government's defence sector. Dispatching a team of elite operatives to deal with it, the containment goes heads up as they look for other options.

The Black Angel Squad is soon assigned as the situation quickly spirals out of control behind the team's back unknowingly, and to stop a bleeding wound, Task Force 141 is brought in to assist them amid a frantic cabinet meeting of last-minute options and consistent fuck ups, forging an uneasy alliance between two teams. As tensions soar on both ends, questions arise about one thing: Was this the making of a weapon to begin with? Warnings: slow-burn, zombies, canon typical violence associated with Call of Duty, gruesome depictions of death, blood, swearing. ao3 version [Prev] [Next]

THREE DAYS LATER

Broken sleep was never really a thing for a man who wanted every hour of it that he could get — somehow, it seemed on this occasion, that luck didn’t seem in his favour. Weakened muscles came to life as one body moved further into the crook of another bodies neck, hoping that if they moved just a little more closer to the seeping darkness, the smell and warmth of security, that they would fall back asleep and not have any reminded instance of it. That’s what Damon West had hoped as his body woke up in a half asleep state as he gripped onto the man that he fell asleep on, taking him in with all of his senses as he finally opened his eyes gently. Allowing for them to suddenly be invaded by the familiar yellow hallway light that, oddly enough, was not off like it had been after so many years of the familiar pattern of it being so. It wasn’t time to get up yet, he’d sworn by it, the food coma he had been in just hours earlier had definitely not worked its magic like it did all those weeks before. And by the likes of the light being on as the glow surrounded the door, it was obvious something had happened. Maybe it was that the captain had finally gotten a call from the big dogs, and they were able to move in on a crumb instead of the paperwork that all awaited on their desks day by day. But there wasn’t another thought that rolled through his mind as the warmth, and shifting of the man below him pulled him back into a sleep that he wished he’d never come out of to begin with.

He only got a further hour of peace before it was ruined by the gentle nudging of the very same man he was being held by — his husband. His sleep felt a lot heavier than what it was for an hour, a feeling he was never able to shake off as he groaned hearing his name being whispered gently. His husband knew being disturbed in his sleep was a horrible thing to do. Because to be disturbed, it was usually some form of prank, or something serious. And it was the latter, given the words were barely registering in his ears, as his body once again came to life.

“…Needed down in the meeting room,” His husband’s voice gently rumbled above earshot as if it was some sort of dream.

“Huh?” Damon spoke hazily.

“I said we’re needed down in the meeting room.”

“What time is it?”

“Little over four in the morning,” He spoke lowly, usually he was trying not to be a bother to him in a serious time - it was a subtle thing Damon noticed, and he loved it. Music to the males ears like the gentle kisses placed on the male’s hand, holding it and slowly coaxing him to get up.

So that was why he could see the light coming from the door earlier in his sleep, or was he dreaming that too?

“C’mon, we don’t need to get formally dressed, I’ll go grab you a coffee. Then you can sleep for the rest of the day.”

“What would I do without you Kay?” He sooked.

“Live a very unhappy life, Damon.”

A small smile moved across his lips before his husband began moving away, only to be tugged back by Damon’s sleepy arms. Knowing exactly what he wanted as he pressed a gentle kiss to the other mans lips as a sign of love. Hands lingered around his husband’s back wanting nothing more than to hold him before the man moved off of Damon and began getting to the task. Damon on the other hand, was still processing the fact that he had to be awake a whole 90 minutes beforehand, slowly shuffling along as his slipper-less feet dragged along the carpet in a dead feet shuffle. 

The cold temperatures of the meeting room he wandered into didn’t labour much life, and just like him, his own captain and his fellow teammate were seemingly perturbed from their sleep too. Damon’s captain seemingly didn’t get enough of any given, if he racked his brain hard enough, he could see it in the mans posture that he’d only been given a few hours before he was pulled back into his work again. But what caught his eyes was the various amounts of faces settled on a screen as he rubbed his eyes, the blue eye bastard never was a fan of a bright light in his face. And it showed as his eyes squinted for dear life.

“Ninja’s here,” Use of his callsign from his teammate had the captain turning around. Everyone was so thrown off by the wake up call.

“Ah, Damon, where’s Kaden?” Their captain said as he cleared his throat, it was always known the two would be following each other around in some form or another. 

“Getting a coffee, you get much sleep, Cam?”

One of the people in the screen seemingly looked over at Damon’s way at how casual the conversation was, even offended at how they were going by a first name basis and he knew they’d heard it. But they just seemed to be waiting for all of them to be in before they spoke up. Obviously, by the looks on their faces, though not wanting to be here. It was registering as to just how serious the ordeal was when he saw the two Australian flags behind one of them in a little window, a familiar backdrop he had seen only a few times in his life. 

“Nope, got a cat naps worth, you three probably got more than I did,” The captain mused.

The third teammate was about to add in something before Kaden came in around the corner, two iPads tucked under both arms while he nursed a coffee and a tea in both hands as Damon immediately saw Cam shift his eyes over his shoulder, seeing him struggle, Damon immediately came over to his help and took the iPads from him. His mind had become hazed with only one task that he’d forgotten to take them with him in his sleepy state, which he was still coming out of.

“Why didn’t you grab any coffee for me?!” The teammate asked, almost offended by the lack of consideration.

“Because you had four yesterday Zack, you don’t need any more, plus. This one needs it like a blood supply,” A roll from Damon’s eyes was the only response Kaden got aside from a gentle kiss on the cheek before Cameron finally spoke up about just as to why he’d woken them up at this ungodly hour.

“Alright, if everyone wants to settle down,” Cameron said before he looked over at the screen. “I do apologise for the early wake but, as of three nights ago, we’ve apparently had an incident that’s happened out in Katherine. A woman in her forties was killed on site after she attacked a police officer and left her hospitalised with a bite mark-” Damon almost immediately zoned out after he heard the likes of what the incident had entailed as he looked at the steaming coffee, it wasn’t surprising with the state of some things in this world about how things would happen. But to bite someone in retaliation was a brand new thing to Damon, confused by the moment of it all as a hand slowly rested on his thigh and pulled him back as he quickly smiled over at his husband and went to take a sip of his coffee.

“It sounds a little suspicious about police attacking a woman and then the woman biting them don’t you think?” Damon said as he looked over at Cameron.

“That’s because she was acting erratically, she wasn’t listening to the demands of the police either,” A woman on the screen came up.

“Sorry, who are you?” Damon asked back. He was talking to Cameron, had he had his attention to the screen. He would’ve spoken to them directly.

“Secretary Professor Grace Campbell, Head of the Department of Health,” She spoke, gently smiling.

“Right,” Damon trailed off before his eyes met Cameron’s

“Are you absolutely sure it’s not a way to cover up corrupt cops?” Kaden spoke out as Damon quickly gave him a look, meeting his glance back like they’d read each others minds.

“She was reported to have been screaming in pain, but, not like a normal cry for help, more of a war cry. We’re trying to get the body cam footage from the officers vest. We know it’s not a cover up, not with what the officers stated,” Grace informed, it seemed to make her voice linger with anxiety. Something was obviously going on behind the scenes that didn’t sit right with her, so why wasn’t she coming forwards about it?

“That’s not in your jurisdiction to say Professor Campbell,” It was a police chief. 

‘Probably of the Northern Territory’ Kaden thought. 

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Cameron mumbled, tension being fed into the room as the people stuck inside the windows brought out the tension into the room that was barely alive itself.

“Moving aside from that point. If what Lieutenant Lincoln has a form of truth to it. Why are we getting involved in this?” Cameron asked before the Prime Minister spoke up. Damon now almost murmuring the same thing as Cameron did moments later at the sheer presence of the man before him as he relished in his coffee, he knew he was going to need a lot more after this meeting ended. But his sleep was also calling back to him to think everything over about what was going on.

“We believe someone has come into contact with a biological weapon and might use it for ill intention. We need you guys to investigate it, we have another team joining you, but you’ll need to lay low for a few more days while they come to you and investigate it. I’m sure Second Lieutenant West will have fun doing that.”

“Fuck off, Connor,” Was all that he got for a response before the man chuckled as his measly response. 

“Jokes aside, We have all of the intelligence services investigating this alongside the Department of Health, Home Affairs, Department of Defence and even the Border Force.” “Hang on,” Zack got up from his relaxed position, taking the information in before he finally piped up. “You mean to tell me, you’ve got them, plus every single Australian security force dealing with this? And you just happen to think a woman biting a police officer and a biological weapon are connected?” Zack questioned before he watched another face pop up, cutting off the Prime Minister - it was the Attorney General.

“Correct. If what we have in terms of information is right, then. We need everyone’s hands on board, you guys included.”

Zack only laughed as he looked at Damon, just yesterday he was talking about the fact that he was desperately wanting to get out of the trudging bureaucracy of paperwork. “Well, there you go Second Lieutenant West, here’s the big bread crumb you were looking for,”

“Boys,” Cameron already knew that the pair were going to get argumentative just by the glance Damon had before he looked back at the screen. He was not a morning person and starting a fight with him this early, usually meant some form of death wish for anyone, before Zack went to confirm it.

“So, what you’re telling us, is that you have a connection to a woman acting deranged and biting police, and that this might be connected to a biological weapon?”

“All we know as of right now, like we’d stated in the report, is the police officer described her as looking peccant and blood leaking out of one of her eye sockets. We’re watching the officer now to see if he has anything wrong with him over the 72 hour period but we’ll let you know as the information comes in.”

The shear mention of blood coming from a place it normally shouldn’t have, had the others all looking at each other before Zack quickly nodded, trying to rid of the now gruesome thought in his head.

“We’ll have Vanessa contact you about further details, please send her any information and the officers report would you?” Cameron stated as agreements were made before he said his goodbyes to the political figures on the screen as the call audibly dropped moments later. There was dead silence as the clock just moved to thirty minutes past four in the morning.

“Only biological weapon I see is a bunch of dodged questions,” Damon only said, as Cameron began to dread what had been left in his hands. Fingers residing in his eyebrows, he sighed, frustrated.

[specter319]

OPERATION: SENTINEL - LAUNCH DATE

Meet the Black Angel Squad, in order - Lieutenant Kaden "Rabbit" Lincoln, Second Lieutenant Damon "Ninja" West, Captain Cameron "Striker" Hawkins, and Sergent Zack "Nemo" Hayes.

It's with great pleasure that I finally announce the launch date for my story on my AO3 profile linked here! Though I will be posting it here as well, the launch date for the first chapter will be September 25 this week. I can't wait for you to see what's going to happen in this story, get ready for some hell to be raised. And for some bodies to go flying...and brains, of course.

[specter319]

D A T A L E A K 0 3 emailstwo.jpeg "You underestimate this team's sheer wit."

[specter319]

Behind the Writing Scenes: Operation: Sentinel BTS #1 — Origins.

Meet the boys — Lieutenant Kaden "Rabbit" Lincoln and behind him, Second Lieutenant Damon "Ninja" West. TW!! Blood, Violence, Gruesome scenes,'Self-harming injuries, and the like relating to Zombies and how they operate are linked and weaved in this post! Do not click if you do not want to, though this is still done with CGI and are only fake clips, I understand the warrant of not wanting to do so. You have been warned. Welcome to yet another post, this time. A Behind the Scenes of what inspired this story, there is a lot of information behind this, so this will be quite the lengthy post. As well as introducing the characters of The Black Angel Squad.

So where do we begin?

As far as I can remember, I always had an itch in my bones for a zombie apocalypse story. There had been great inspiration in the forms of movies and games initially, from the comedic and subtle ways the world had changed overnight in Shaun of The Dead (2004). To the handi-camera-operated panic of Quarantine (2008), I knew there was something in my bones that was telling me to write something about it, but I never did. More movies came along, which included the likes of Cloverfield (2009). (Though this was more related in the sense of bringing in the element of aliens to a post-apocalyptic world), I Am Legend (2008) (Though I would later go on to find out that this would be an almost vampire-like ordeal much rather than zombies.) It further took my understanding of diseases and the likes of zombies to a whole new level. 2013 was rough along with some bumpy personal times, and something that no one had really done before, or so I'd thought. The likes of the game Dead Trigger (2011) somewhat gave me a tone of dealing with the likes of a zombie-ridden world, it was with how quick the world went to shit with World War Z (2013) that it had caught my attention further. I wasn't really writing much around then, and the thought of writing a zombie story stuck in my mind, but, as to how to write it, it never came once to my mind. I always thought it needed time to simmer. And that it did, for another six years. There was one movie in particular that I could remember watching one time, interested in the way it executed itself almost like World War Z, but not in the fast-paced way of it. But the way the world slowly crumbled around the characters got me writing something at the very best. It was none other than Dawn of The Dead (2004). In Late May of 2019. A bare week after I had surgery on my nose to correct it, I had a weird dream. While I was able to lie in bed, falling asleep was difficult, and it was always in that state of falling asleep, but never anything deeper than that, that I had stated weird dream. It was as simple as a plane going over our house one night but in my mind, it sounded like the plane was going down. Something akin to this scene from War Of The Worlds, except, of course, less dramatic. And that's where the inspiration laid its seed inside my head. In the early hours of the morning, I got to it and wrote upon a piece of paper the plan I had story-wise that could start a zombie apocalypse, or in my younger mind, one that would make sense.

In this Story Plan, you can see the rushed handwriting, the plan of what happened, and where I wanted to go with it. Evan, the main character, would change to Theo. And after heavy consideration, knowing this part wouldn't work out, it changed to two girls with a rivalry, and a guy being friends with them. Written in notes, the story got far, far enough to where the published Wattpad story no longer exists, but had plenty of clicks from people who wanted to read it (I dare not state who I cast in that story because god forbid I bring up those days again.)

Nothing came to me again shortly after I pulled the plug on this project. Though I'm well aware of how badly drawn up this planning is, it was only a year later that I broke through, further in the ice on where to get, with an entirely different execution this time. Try #2 which was just a tad better. During the likes of March-June of 2020, I wrote something about how cold, isolated, and baron it had gotten to be in Victoria during the COVID lockdowns, and how everything seemed so quiet, like no one was on earth anymore.

This time, it was done with a new character, but the same idea about the plane. Introducing a new character named Vance, his friends, and a cop named Jason. Funnily enough, I'd foreshadow my entry into the world of Resident Evil 2. Though this game didn't help as much, another replay of the game had me understanding the lore around the story, and that's when I bit into the writing aspect of it.

The first Chapter of the story "Dead On Arrival", was done in June of 2020. The story, known as "Dead On Arrival" never got past its drafted state and was chucked in the vault once more. It had five chapters and 8,905 words to it, but it never moved past that point. l And I was once again, stuck in a dead loop of knowing I could write a zombie story, but never getting past the point of a few ideas here and there, and never having them stick. It became a frustrating ordeal, knowing that I was going back and forth in this turbulent ordeal, have knowledge I was going to write something about zombies, but not knowing what. It was however, after three grueling years of letting it simmer, that bubbles started forming on the surface, first, an introduction to Call of Duty, and second, hearing about the fact that zombies exist in various games like Cold War and Vanguard. And with one Reddit post, posted a single month ago as of writing this, everything flipped on its head.

Credit to LoonlyPaper for the concept, the 'message' and the quote

The minute I laid my eyes upon this video, I immediately ran to make a draft in regards to how a zombie apocalypse could happen on the soil of Australia. And with The Black Angel Squad story stuck plot-wise, this, was what it needed in order for the characters to grow, understand how they work, and for me to put a spin on the Task Force 141 boys, placing them in territory unknown, all the while, with the upcoming release of MWIII, as far as we know (as of writing this) as to whether or not they'll be included in an alternate timeline of zombies. This is how the concept of Operation: Sentinel started. With a video, a concept, and pure brain rot of being on Character.AI (yes, I too am guilty of doing so) and endless Tumblr scrolling. That concludes this BTS #1 of how Operation: Sentinel came to be, and the next BTS, will be on the works that drove me to keep pushing this story into its written form. See you in another couple of days with a new post!