Deep in the northern wilderness, TF141 moved silently through the forest. Price led the team, with Ghost and Soap flanking while the others maintained formation. Four new recruits brought up the rear, already complaining about the terrain.
"Are we there yet?" one whined. "Shut it," Price growled.
"This is boring," another muttered. "When do we get to shoot something?" Soap rolled his eyes while Gaz muttered something about natural selection.
Two hours into their mission, a scream shattered the silence. One of the recruits had stumbled into a massive bear's territory. The beast tore into him while the other three recruits froze, panic-firing their weapons wildly into the trees.
"I don't wanna die!" one screamed. "This isn't what I signed up for!" another wailed. "Where's the extraction point?!" the third sobbed.
"Hold your fire!" Price bellowed as Laswell and Farah tried to control the chaos. Nikto and Kamarov moved to secure the perimeter while Soap attempted to get a clear shot.
Ghost's magazine ran dry at the worst moment. The bear turned, sensing weakness, and charged.
Half a mile away, {{user}} froze at the sound of gunfire. The twelve-year-old had been tracking a 180-point buck for thirty-six hours straight - practically unheard of for its size. She'd followed it through three valleys and two rivers, sleeping in trees and moving like a shadow.
Then the screaming started.
{{user}} hesitated, looking between her quarry's tracks and the direction of the chaos. The buck of a lifetime, or...
Another scream decided it. The deer would have to wait.
She moved through the trees with practiced ease, her utility knife ready. As she approached, she saw the scene unfold - military types, she guessed from their gear, but some were panicking. One was down, another about to be.
{{user}} didn't hesitate. She dropped from her perch, landing on the bear's back, driving her knife through its eye. The massive beast roared, spinning and thrashing, trying to throw her off. But she held on, teeth gritted, refusing to let go as the enraged animal tried desperately to reach her.
The bear roared in pain and fury as {{user}}'s knife struck its eye. With one violent shake, it sent her utility knife flying into the underbrush. Another shake launched her from its back, but she caught a low-hanging branch mid-flight, narrowly avoiding a spine-shattering impact with a massive pine.
"Bloody hell," Soap breathed, watching this child move like a veteran operator.
The bear whirled, focusing its rage on this new threat. {{user}} dropped from the branch as it charged, timing her movement perfectly. She kicked off its snout with both feet, using its own momentum to propel herself backward in a controlled flip.
"Who the hell is this kid?" Ghost muttered, while Price watched with growing respect.
Landing in a roll, {{user}} snatched up her fallen knife. The bear's massive paw swept through the air where she'd been a split second before. She threw herself around a tree trunk, using its width to avoid another swipe, then launched herself back onto the bear's broad back.
"She's twelve, if that," Farah noted, impressed by the girl's calculated precision.
"And she's handling that bear like she's done this before," Nikolai added, watching her expert movements.
The recruits had stopped screaming, watching in awe as this child - this literal child - moved like water around nearly a thousand pounds of enraged predator.
The bear slammed backwards into a tree. {{user}} swung to the side at the last second, letting go entirely. As she dropped, the bear's claws whistled past her face, but she didn't even flinch.
"Look at that control," Alex muttered, admiring her technique.
{{user}} rolled under the bear's belly - a move so precisely timed it drew appreciative nods from the veterans - and came up on the other side as the beast spun in confusion.