Work Text:
TW: Blood, violence, guns, Syringe, Restraints, Implied Grape, Torture,
He didn’t know how he got here. He didn’t care. All he saw was red.
It was supposed to be a normal recon mission. Get in and get out. Now he was strapped to a chair. This was not how Ghost expected his first solo mission in months to go. After he joined the 141, Ghost hadn’t been able to take up a lot of solo mission. He didn’t want to admit it to himself but he did get used to having the team around, having Soap around.
Ghost took in his surroundings. A large room, which seemed to be in a warehouse based on the infrastructure. No windows, a single light bulb above him and a steel door.
Ghost then tried to check himself for injuries. Slowly mapping out his body. A burning pain on his right torso, a sprained wrist if he was correct and his head hurt like hell. He was strapped to a metal chair. Arms tied behind his back and his legs bound to the chair. That was when he felt the cold air on his face.
He wasn’t supposed to feel the cold. His mask lay a few feet in front of him on the floor. He could feel the bile rising in his throat. His pulse rising higher and higher by the second. Ghost decided their fate right then. Only waiting for his chance.
Faintly he could hear footsteps, becoming louder and louder until finally someone put a key in to the lock and opened the door. And there he stood. A male, probably in his 40s or 50s, rather thin almost sickly, brown eyes, white coat, some files in his hand. Ghost could swear there was something familiar about him. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.
The male then spoke with a grin on his face “Long time no see, Simon, do you remember my name?”
Ghosts alarm bells instantly went off. He had heard that voice before. Trying to appear calm, ghost did not move a muscle only staring into the doctors eyes.
“I guess you don’t” he said “quite disappointing really, when we spend so much time together…Doesn’t matter though, you will remember soon enough” He grinned.
The doctor slowly moved towards ghost, he then took out what seemed to be a syringe.
Ghost thrashed against his restraints. Trying to hurt the doctor in any way. Ghost couldn’t let the doctor inject him, not even knowing what was in the syringe. The doctor chuckled, sending shivers up Ghosts spine. He stood behind Ghost placing his hands on his neck and then he felt it. The piercing of his skin. He could feel the fluid being pressed into his skin.
Ghost did not notice the doctor walking to stand in front of him, did not notice the doctors grin, or the way he chuckled after Ghosts head hit his chest. He suddenly felt heavy. Every muscle losing its strength, giving out, his body only a shell, slowly losing consciousness. Ghost was scared. Obviously, he did not let it show but he could feel claws digging at his stone cold heart. He would make them pay, each and every one of them.
----
The next time ghost came back to himself he was still in the same room. Only now, there stood a small table in the corner of the room. Multiple knifes and other devices laid out and scattered across. Ghost knew this part. He could deal with this. He had done it so often
It didn’t come as a surprise when the doctor stepped into his view, this time two guards at the door. Ghost stared at the doctor, wishing to burn him with his gaze “You can do what you want old man, it’s not gonna work”
“You see, that is where you are wrong…I already have succeeded once, come on Simon, do you remember” the doctor spoke, walking towards what seemed to be a recorder “Now listen carefully Simon and then tell me, if you remember.” The doctor grinned.
Sound started coming out of the recorder. “Test subject T-15, Todays Date: April 25th, decreasing defiance…”
Ghost felt sick as memories came crashing down. “T-15” he said under his breath. His head throbbed. He could feel hands all over him, his skin burning, his lungs contracting. He remembered the doctor. He remembered who he was. He was the one. He…. Ghost swallowed heavily. He thought he got every one of them. But there the doctor stood, grinning down at him.
Ghost did not move, did not scream, as the doctor started sticking needles into his skin, mumbling a little “impressive” here and there, scribbling notes down, prodding at his skin until it bled.
Ghost wasn’t there, not really. He knew they didn’t want information. He knew this was all for the doctor. So there was no use in stalling or fighting. He simply endured, dissociating the second the doctors hands landed on him.
At one point, the pain became too much. The space he locked himself into breaking, as the doctor pressed a needle into his skin, once again fluid pressing into his veins. Ghost felt aflame. His whole body burning. The pain so agonizing he could not stop the pain filled groans escaping his throat, as he wanted to bend over, the straps stopping him. He felt sick to his stomach.
He barely noticed the guards leaving, as the doctor barked orders at them ghost could not quite puzzle together. His thoughts were blurry and his head spinning. The doctor left alone in the room with Ghost. “You behaved well today…” Ghost couldn’t decipher the words, could not string a thought together, all he felt was endless exhaustion and the residual burning sensation throbbing in his veins, burning his skin. All Ghost heard was something about a reward, barely feeling hands on his skin and clothes as he lost consciousness.
This continued day after day. Ghost at one point had hoped his team would find him. But he knew a lot of time would pass before they did. He was able to overhear guards now and then. He tried collecting as much information as he could.
And in a flash, a few weeks had passes, Ghost couldn’t be sure but he estimated 5 weeks. The doctor got crueller every day, not one inch on his body was left untouched by him. Ghost had been through this before and yet he was so scared. He was hurt and just wanted the pain to stop. Ghost already struggled with intimacy and touch. He wasn’t sure he could ever even look at another human being again.
But the time came and ghost was left alone in the room again. The doctor had his fill for the day and ghost sat in his chair. He felt completely detached from all reality. He the doctor would get sloppy. Ghost knew the doctor thought he had broken him. But he did not take into account who he was the last time the doctor tortured him on weeks end. It was not Ghost who got tortured at the hands of this man the last time. It was Simon.
But Ghost was stronger. He knew he was. Waiting for the moment to pounce and dig his nails in the throat of the man, who so carelessly tried to break him. So he endured. Day after day. Ghost then started to realize that the drugs didn’t affect him as much as they did before. So he endured. Another day and another. Until Ghosts mind was clearer than it had been in weeks. This time he would get him.
So when the doctor started prodding at his skin again, started cutting him open again, started touching him again, he waited. He acted as if the drugs still worked on him. He acted as if his mind was still no there. Ghost wasn’t sure if it didn’t do more damage than it had use but he had to get out of there.
So when the doctor and left the room, he lifted his head. Death stood in his gaze. He took the needle, he had ripped out of his skin and hidden from the doctor, and started picking at his straps. Ghost wasn’t sure how long it took, maybe an hour maybe two. Seeing as there was only one guard left, and the doctor had retired from torturing ghost for the day, he realized it must be night.
So when he had freed himself of all his restraints, he slowly and quietly walked towards the table. He grabbed his mask from the floor and grabbed two of the knives from the table. An evil grin spread across his face as he took the chair and threw it towards the table. The metal chair cluttered to the ground and the noise alerted the guard.
Ghost stood behind the door waiting. The guard burst into the room, looking around, taking another step into the room. Ghost then shut the door behind him. The guard whipped around. Fear written across his face as Ghost strode towards him. A chuckle escaped his throat. He thinks that this time maybe he really went insane.
“You should have known this was coming…” was all Ghost said before he had his hand around the neck of this man, slowly and deeply slitting his throat. The man gargled on his blood a few more seconds as the life drained out of his eyes. Ghost looked at the knife, now coated crimson just like his hands.
Ghost made his way towards the guard. Taking his keys and quietly opening the door. For once in his life, luck was on his side. The other guards stationed around the warehouse had not noticed the commotion.
So Ghost lured one after another into their death. The blood now not only coating his hands and arms but also his mask, making it look even more intimidating. Ghost made sure to take his time with the ones who supervised him. The others he granted a fast death. Not out of compassion, but because of time. He wanted to reach the doctor before he noticed anything out of place. After he made sure that every guard in this place was no longer breathing, he made his way towards the doctor’s quarters. He was lucky he had overheard two of the guards mentioning it.
If one could see Ghost standing in front of the doctor’s door, they might really think he is death himself. Twenty to thirty bodies littering the warehouse. All covered in blood. Each one dead. Ghost reached out to the door handle, quietly slipping into the room. There he saw him. The frail man lying in his bed, sleeping unaware that he will sleep forever.
But Ghost really wished to see the fear in the doctors eyes. A true reward for all the pain he endured these past few weeks. So Ghost got onto the bed, straddling the doctors hips. He moved and mumbled and then awake. Ghost grinned down at him, perfectly hidden by the mask.
The doctor’s eyes widened as he realized who was in front of him. The blood now painting his bed crimson. “…B-But i-it can’t be… the drugs… you shouldn’t be---“ he stuttered.
Ghost felt sick. Sick, that he got hurt by a man who so weak. “I shouldn’t be awake? I shouldn’t be here? Is that what you want to say? Well Doc. I have terrible news for you.” Ghost laughed. He hadn’t laughed this loud in years. “The drugs don’t work. The drugs don’t work anymore!”
The doctor couldn’t speak, he could not utter any words as Ghost sunk his knife first into his arm, then his stomach, his shoulder and finally his throat. Ghost got off the bed. He felt weirdly detached when really he should feel great. He should feel free. But all Ghost felt was numb.
Ghost then left the building covered from head to toe in crimson. Having set fire to the building the flames rose and the smoke rose even higher.
He knew he had to get back to base. Unable to call for help, as his com had long since been broken by the guards. He couldn’t use public transport, covered in blood he would only arouse suspicion and people would panic. So he decided on the traditional way. Stealing a car. It’s not as if the doctor could use it anyways.
Luckily, it was only a few hours’ drive. As he arrived his base however, the soldier at the gate wasn’t too happy about a vehicle with a foreign license plate stopping to stand in front of him. As soon as the soldier wanted to berate him, he saw Ghost. He saw the blood that covered his mask and shoulders and arms. Ghost could swear he saw fear, which was quickly hidden and replaced by subordination. “You can go right through Lieutenant. Have a great day sir.” he spoke as the gates opened.
Ghost parked and got out of the car. Still in his bloodied clothes, soldiers stared at him. Ghost uncaring for their attention strode towards the meeting room of the 141, hoping to find Price. People made way for him. He could hear the whispers, see the stares and see the people stop walking as soon as they saw him. He already had a reputation. And he was sure this would only become another story the recruits whisper among one another about, debating if it really happened or not.
He could already hear their voices, the voices of him team as he neared the door. Not even bothering to knock he opened the door and entered.
The Captain turned around with a scowl on his face, surely to chew out any recruit who dared to enter without knocking first. As soon as he saw Ghost, his face changed. If it was shock or relief couldn’t quite decipher. The room was silent. And Ghost wouldn’t be the first to break the silence.
“Simon…” Price started unsure where to begin. That’s when he started to take him in. Soap was the first to voice his concerns “Oh my god! Simon are you hurt?” Concern laced his voice and not a second later, he was by Ghosts side. “I’m fine Sergeant” Ghost said “The blood isn’t mine”.
Price then spoke “Ok, everybody out now! I’ll take care of him. You all can go.” The team left only after Price assured them, that he would take care of this and that they could visit Simon in Medical.
“Come one big Guy” Price said as he took Ghosts arm and hooked it on his shoulder.
“I can walk, Price” Ghost ground out as he took his arm from Prices shoulder. Ghost still felt the burning sensation of hands on his body, moving where he could not stop them.
“Look Ghost, I know you don’t like to talk about this stuff, but I have to know what the hell happened. We just lost signal and then you were… gone. You don’t have to tell me right now. We’re gonna get you checked out first and then we can debrief…”
Ghost only grunted in response, knowing he wouldn’t get out of this one.
Ghost sat on his bed. The machines hooked onto him and the eternal beeping reminding him that he was in fact still alive. The medics had patched him up pretty well, or at least tried to. Some injuries he received while being tortured would scar. They tried to minimize scar tissue, but really, Ghost didn’t care, Simon might, but Ghost didn’t.
So there he was lying still in the white room, in the white bed. He wasn’t sure, how much time had passed since Price had brought him to medical. He looked at the clock on the wall as it read 11 am. He hadn’t dreamt. Ghost assumed it was because of the medicine they had given him. He had been reluctant to take it since he still thought about the drugs the doctor had given him, but there had been no point in arguing.
Ghost didn’t feel too bad, sure, his head still hurt and the cuts on his body would take some time to heal but other than that, he thought he was fine.
He sat up in his bed, pulling out the IV and the monitors off his skin. Soon there stood a nurse in his room. Clearly alerted, that the heart monitor didn’t beep anymore.
“You can’t be out of bed, Sir” the nurse had said in a stern tone. Ghost only grunted in reply, as he noticed that he wasn’t wearing his crimson clothes but spare clothes he normally kept in his room. Price must have brought them.
Ghost strode towards the door and the nurse had no other choice but to move out of the way. As Ghost walked into the corridor he already spotted Price talking to his doctor. Price tried to keep his Expression neutral but he could tell by the way his eyebrows twitched ever so slightly that he wasn’t taking this to well.
Ghost didn’t want to know what they told him. Didn’t want to know what they had seen when they patched him up. However, he walked forward anyway. Acting like he was fine. Trying to detach himself from everything as much as possible. Knowing the moment he talked about all the pain, thought about it, he would break.
“Simon, you’re supposed to rest!” Price had said with a strictly. “Sorry Captain, couldn’t stay still.” Was all Ghost said before Price spoke again “.Doesn’t matter now. You ready for debrief then Lieutenant?” “Positive, Sir”
They then made their way out of medical towards Price office.
Price settled in his chair taking out one of his cigars and lighting it “Ok Simon, I’m gonna need you to be honest with me…What happened when we lost signal?”
Ghost swallowed, wanting to hide. Ghost was grateful for his mask, not yet wanting the Captain to see him crack. Ghost steeled his voice and kept it even “I’m not exactly sure, Sir. All I remember was that the building I had been sent to was already empty. Tried to find something in the other buildings and then I woke up restrained in some warehouse.”
Price really didn’t like where this was going and Simon talkative as ever only offered up the information he was directly asked for “And what happened then? Who caught you and what did they want from you?”
“As I said, I was restrained…” ghost swallowed, hoping Price wouldn’t notice. He did. “…there weren’t many, maybe 20 or 30 hostiles, a doctor. I am not sure what they wanted from me.” Ghost tried to give as little information as possible. Not wanting the Captain to prod any further.
“Ghost, Imma need you to be honest with me. I can tell you’re keeping something from me and it’s not gonna help any of us. I can only clear you for duty if I know exactly what happened. Also it doesn’t make much sense that you wouldn’t know what they wanted from you”
Ghost felt sick again. He really wanted to hide. He couldn’t let Simon take the reins. He couldn’t. It would only lead to death. So he did what he did best. He detached himself from any and all of the pain. “I was strapped to a chair. They tortured me. Not for information…” Ghost swallowed. He could see Price looking at him. Was it pity? Compassion? It didn’t matter. “What did they want Simon?”
“....”
“Simon.” Price spoke again. “…The person, the… the doctor who tortured me, he was the same. He wanted to test his methods on me. Wanted to see what was left of me after the last time. If anything still had effect on me…” Ghost ground out.
“The same as who?” Price asked. “The same doctor who tortured me back then. He was the one I told you about, after I joined the task force. He was there when I was captured by Roba. And he did the testing on me. He tortured me. He rap-“ Ghost stopped abruptly. He couldn’t say it. If he did, Simon would take the reins.
Price looked at him. His face scrunched together. Shock, pity, compassion all crossing his face. “Listen Simon-“
Ghost stood up with force, accidentally throwing the chair to the ground. “I do not want to talk any further about this. May I leave, Sir?” Ghost grunted, not wanting to spend another second in this suffocating room.
“Ghost, Simon, I know you don’t want to hear this, but you have to. I’m sorry you had to go through something like that again. You did not deserve what happened to you. Do you understand that?
“Yes Captain.” Ghost answered, tying not to put any meaning to the words.
“No, Simon, listen. You did NOT deserve what happened to you.” And then Ghost broke. Letting his fragile self, letting Simon through the cracks as tear started rolling down his face. Simon was unable to make a sound. Unable to cry out to high heavens due to his father’s conditioning. So Simon stood there. Helpless. Quiet.
And Price did something he didn’t think he would ever do again. He hugged him. And this time Simon let him.
“I’m sorry, son” Price tried to console.
After that day, Price didn’t mention what happened again. Ghost was grateful for that. He knew he could trust Price. That didn’t make it any easier to tell him what happened though. Obviously, he hadn’t gone into detail. Hadn’t explained everything they did to him. Although Ghost was sure, some of it would be in the medical report.
The days after he came back, he tried to keep to himself. Tried to get back to normal. And it worked mostly. Some days he still felt the hands on his body, the burning sensation, his body aflame. But that was nothing new. He was used to having nightmares. Was used to the torture. A more prominent problem however was his aversion to touch. Soap had noticed it first.
He was always the one to give Ghost a little punch to the shoulder, to sit so close, their knees would touch, sometimes on hard nights Soap would be the one to hold Simon. Hold him, Keep him safe, and protect him until he falls asleep.
But Ghost had avoided him. Trying to put more distance between them. Jumping in his skin whenever someone brushed him or touched him. The team notice too. Ghost never was one for touch but even eye contact seemed rare now.
Soap didn’t know the full story, only knew that he had been captured and tortured. The team didn’t receive any more information that that. The way Ghost stood bloodied in the meeting room still branded into his memories.
Soap decided he couldn’t let Ghost keep avoiding him. So he waited next to his quarter for him. Luckily, Simon had a room for himself, so they could speak about this matter privately.
Soap got lost to his thoughts and at some point, he noticed Ghost standing a few steps away from him. He only stared at Soap.
“Simon.” Soap said. “Johnny.” Ghost muttered as he went to open his door. He knew where this was going.
As soon as Ghost closed the door behind Soap, Soap spoke”We need to talk.”
Before Ghost could say another word, Soap continued hastily “Listen, I know you went through some shit and… and I don’t know exactly what happened on this mission, but I need you to trust me, ok? You’re closing off again and I don’t want us to go back to square one.”
“Johnny, I’m f-“Ghost started but was interrupted by Soap “You’re not fine. I see it ok.” He took a step towards Ghost, looking into his eyes, as they became a bit more frantic “I see the way you jump, whenever someone touches you.” Ghost swallowed heavily. “Did you think you could hide? Ghost I know you. And… And I care for you and I don’t want this to be the end for us.” Soap took another step, now standing directly in front of Ghost. He slowly reached out making sure Ghost could see his hand at all times and placed it on his cheek.
Like a dam broke, Simon threw himself into Soaps arms, resting his head against his neck. His shoulder shook slightly. A gasp escaping his Ghosts throat involuntarily.
“Hey, it’s alright, you’re safe with me, ok Si?” Johnny tried to reassure Simon. “Let’s get you to bed alright?” Johnny said, as he made sure Simon lay down. Johnny then lay down next to Simon and held him.
Simon was still slightly scared, but he trusted Johnny. More than anything. So he told him. Everything that happened on his mission. Trying to spare him the details.
Johnny’s heart ached for Simon. He wanted to protect him with everything he had. And even if there was no hostile in the room, Johnny still held Simon tight. He consoled him through the night, holding him close and showing him all his affection, all his care, all his love. Their legs tangled and bodies pressed together until the sun rose once again.