#cod oc introduction

When the 141 were told they'd have an IT Specialist from the U.S. Navy joining them since all of the SAS It Specialists were too busy and the 141 needed their own IT Specialist instead of being put on the back burner with the rest of the SAS squads, they all were apprehensive at adding someone new to their squad. Especially because it had only been eight months since they've been lent Fleet Marine Corpsman Mishra, aka Stone, and honestly one American was already enough for them.

But Laswell told them that there was no negotiating this and Price had to look through military files on potential IT Specialists to find the right one. It took him a week to pick one and two weeks for them fly her in.

One day, Price gathered the 141 in a conference room. He took a deep breath and said, "I know we all don't want someone new, but we had no choice so I'm telling you all to at least act professional with her. Okay?"

With those words, he went to the door and ushered in the new IT Specialist. She was the shortest of them all at five-foot-six and she had a burly build, looking a bit tiny surrounded by larger military men. Her skin was a warm brown tone, not marred with scars but rather decorated with a tattoo sleeve of vines wrapping around her right arm that barely hid beneath the sleeve of her uniform from where it stopped at her wrists. Her black, wavy hair was pulled up in an elegant bun, bobby pins pinning it into place and her dark brown eyes that looked like pools of chocolate were framed by thin-wire glasses.

"Hello," she said with a naturally bright smile on her face, her voice soft and lyrical. "I'm Petty Officer 3rd Class Vasanti Singh. I'm honored to be working you all."

Soap eyed her warily, still burned by Graves and Shadow Company's betrayal. "What's your callsign?" he asked, curious but still cautious.

"Ladder," Stone answered for her, his cold voice bouncing off the walls as always as he stared at the woman he knew.

Ladder's smile widened. "Stone, it's good to see you again," she replied, to which Stone graced her with a respectful nod in response.

Gaz was intrigued by that, since there weren't many that Stone respected. "You know each other?"

"I've served with men that Stone used to serve with when he was still only a Navy Corpsman instead of a Fleet Marine Corpsman, we met during one of the hang-outs five years ago and we've known each other since," Ladder explained, still looking at Stone. "It had been a while though, at least a year. I'm glad to see you're still alive, Stone."

Stone merely grunted in response, a normal response from him. "You and me both, Ladder."

"How did you get the callsign "Ladder"?" Ghost asked, his eyes narrowed beneath his white skull mask and balaclava. He didn't trust her just yet, which was typical from the man.

Soap smirked at her. "Is it because you're so short?" he asked, intently watching her reaction.

"Soap," Price said, but Ladder just laughed.

She nodded and replied, "That, and because I can lift a ladder with one hand."

Ghost scanned her short but burly frame up and down, assessing her. "I look forward to seeing that."

"You will. I promise you that."

Asks are open, feel free to pop in and talk or request something!

When Commander Phillip Graves recruited the Marine captain "Kali", he had heard all about how over the fifteen years in the Marines that Kali served, Kali had been approached by several private contractor companies because of his sniping skills and they had been turned away with a sneer from the man each time. But when Graves came knocking, well, Kali hadn't turned him away.

Graves said it was his charm that drew Kali in, made Kali retire from the Marines and make the switch to the Shadow Company. But in reality, Kali had lost his entire squad of five a year ago with him being the lone survivor. He had spent the entire year, bitter and cold at the Marine Corps because they had been the ones who sent him and his squad out on what they knew was a suicide mission with bad intel. Though he loved serving his country, Kali could no longer fathom being a Marine. So he made the switch.

And now here he was, outside a Shadow Company base.

Everyone passing him by, whether exiting or entering, was giving him looks, something he was used to. Kali was extremely tall and burly, but not taller than his old friend Stone, and not only that, but he wore a black neck gaiter that covered his lower half of his face which was then also covered by a full hard-plated mask that was half blue and half black. The colors were a respectful nod to the Hindu goddess of time, death, and rebirth, Kali, whom his callsign was named after.

It wasn't a callsign he was particularly happy with, as he didn't dare compare himself to the goddess, but it was one that stuck to him no matter how he protested it. The least he could do was honor her as best as he could.

Nevertheless, he made for a rather terrifying sight and he was someone new on base. He understood why several Shadows were just blatantly staring at him as they passed.

After staring at the base for way too long, Graves popped his head out of the building to usher Kali in, eager to introduce the tall man to his new family. Kali walked forward with feet that felt like lead, heading to the door and heading inside.

He had expected the Shadows to be more ordered than they were, his brown eyes widening underneath his mask as he watched several Shadows roughhousing right then and there in the hallway. Those who weren't roughhousing, were taking pictures and videos of it all.

"Shadows!" Graves said, his voice booming through the base. The effect was immediate, every Shadow in the vicinity moving to stand at attention. Graves grabbed Kali's arm when he noticed Kali was standing a bit behind him and pulled him forward to stand beside him. "I'm proud to introduce our new Shadow, Kali! He's a sniper, former U.S. Marine captain. Now, I know he doesn't look friendly, but that's because he has been through some shit this past year. I know you'll make him warm up to you all though!"

With those words, Kali was pushed deeper into hallway, now surrounded by Shadows. They all greeted him, making his head spin with all these names that he was suddenly being introduced to. He spent the entire day being shadowed (heh, get the pun?) by several extroverted Shadows, who didn't even flinch at seeing his tall, masked form.

Well, at least now he knew how Stone feels when being placed with a new squad. It was disorienting to be around people, especially since he was still a little raw from the loss of his men, men he had served with for years. And these new people were...characters for sure, people he'd get along with when he opened up again.

His first few weeks at Shadow Company was a whirlwind, just getting settled in. He was still standoffish by the end of it all, but he understood now that the Shadows were family and despite his guilt at being a lone survivor, he craved a family again.

And maybe this was his chance to have a family again. Though, he was definitely writing a letter to Stone.