Chapter Text
How the hell did things go so horribly wrong? Price's voice was faintly coming from their comms that were tossed onto a table, all of their guns, armor, and grenades also on that table.
It was supposed to be a simple two man mission. Locate a shipping container that was suspected to house a dangerous chemical gas, tag the container, and then get out of dodge. Clean and simple. It didn't go that way though. A cartel group was guarding the area where the shipping container was supposed to be, and they appeared to be a new group too, which made things a little trickier.
They had gone in quiet, suppressors and close quarter kills with knives, hiding bodies every time they took a life. Things were going pretty smoothly. They located the shipping container quickly, double checking that the canisters that were inside were the ones they were looking for, and once they had confirmed that, Soap tagged the container. Of course, they had no clue that they had tripped a silent alarm that was set up in the warehouse where the container was and they got gassed, forced to quickly evacuate the area, getting ambushed and drugged, both putting up a bit of a fight, but the drug worked its magic fast and they both went limp and fell to the ground within a couple minutes of being injected.
And that's how they ended up in their current position, sitting in chairs with their arms chained to the floor behind their backs, legs shackled to the floor with no room to try and tip the chair or slide off of it. They were both sporting dark bruises on their bodies, even though most of them were under their clothes.
Ghost grunted loudly as someone was ripping a few of his fingernails out. "Fucking talk! Goddamn!" "Stubborn boys, aren't they?" Ghost glared at the men, what appeared to be the leader of the group getting annoyed and snatched his mask off his face. He managed to keep his fear from showing as his face was now exposed. "Huh… For an Englishman he's not that ugly." "Pretty sure he's prettier than your mother!" Soap growled out, getting backhanded for his remark, but he just spat out a little bit of blood as he glared at the leader.
"So, neither of you are gonna make this easy, are you?" Silence answered that question. "SAS certainly trains their mutts well." The leader said as he motioned for something to happen, and then both Ghost's and Soap's shirts were being cut off of their bodies.
And then they suffered through an hour of being slowly and carefully cut up after they were blindfolded so they won't know when the cut was coming.
"Still stubborn." The leader growled as the blindfolds were taken off. Ghost growled in return; seems he got most of the cuts as Johnny didn't look to have that many on him. "We know they're SAS, sir. Shouldn't we just ransom them off?" "No, I want to know who they got their information from." "Oh, I'm sorry." Ghost started, getting the leader's attention. "I didn't realize it was YOUR sister I slept with last night. Good girl. Tight cunt and gives great head too; you teach her that?" Ghost grunted when the leader snagged a knife and sunk it deep into his shoulder, his anger blinding him and making it so he didn't hit anything vital.
"You shut that filthy mouth, dog!" "Oh? But I thought you wanted us to talk?" He taunted with a dark laugh. "Ugh! Leave them! We'll deal with them later." The leader said as the yanked the knife out and threw it onto a different table, the group of 7 leaving the room. "...You alright, Johnny?" Ghost asked after he waited a few minutes, hoping that they didn't post a guard outside of the room, but if they're smart they did. "Well, I'm not dead, so I'm gonna say yes." That got a weak chuckle from Ghost.
"...How long do you think it'll be before they come back?" "No idea. You did remember to eat before our mission, right?" Soap cocked a brow. "Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?" "Likely your last meal for a while. Water should be given to us every three days if they're playing the long game. If you feel tired, sleep. They'll wake you up." Soap looked scared for just a moment.
"...Is this..?" "Not quite, but…yeah." "Ghost…" "I'll be ok, Soap. We'll be ok." Ghost reassured and Soap nodded his head.
Ghost had been right. They hadn't been given any food, and an armed guard had just left the room after feeding both of them one cup of water, though he didn't care if they choked from how quickly he gave them the water.
Soap had taken a total of 5 naps so far. Ghost, having gone through this once before, was able to keep himself awake for longer with less sleep, so he's only let himself drift off into a light sleep once so far.
"Still kicking, I see." The leader said as he and two others came into the room. "We're not that easy to kill, asshat." Ghost spoke, doing what he could to look calm and relaxed, knowing Soap will try to mimic his lead. "So I see." He went to that other table and grabbed a tire iron from it. "Wonder if you'll be more talkative after a few broken bones."
Another hour of beatings. Once more, they were mostly pointed at Ghost. Because of his size, they likely pegged him as the bigger threat, and were hoping that Soap would break to get them to stop hurting him. But he knew Johnny wouldn't. Johnny knew this wasn't his first time being beaten and tortured, and he knew that when they were alone again, he'd see that pained look in his love's eyes; he didn't want him to go through this again, but at the same time, Ghost wishes for the same thing. Wishes that Soap had managed to get away, that it was just him going through this.
It would be easier on his heart than to see him get beaten and tortured. Soap grunted loudly when they ripped out three of his own fingernails, but he just sucked in a steadying breath through his nose.
"You're both so foolish. If you just tell us who gave you the intel, we'll let you go!" "You think we're that stupid?" Soap asked, glaring at the leader. "We give you the person we got the information from, and you'll just kill all of us." "Stupid dogs..! Try to show them a little bit of kindness and they still try to bite your hand!" "Heh, you haven't seen how I like to bite. Come a little closer and I'll show you." Ghost taunted, getting smacked in the face with the tire iron, thankfully no bones broke, but that was gonna be one HELL of a bruise.
"Shut your mouth!" "We're getting nowhere, sir. More time?" "The last time! After that, I want them dead." The leader growled, and then the group left the room again. "...That looked like it hurt, Lt." "What gave it away? The sound or the bruise that's forming?" Ghost deadpanned, grateful that Johnny laughed. "...How are you even holding up?" "I'm with you. You're with me. We have each other, and we're strong together. Though…" "I know. I wish you didn't have to see this; wish you weren't being put through this as well."
"You think they'll go for longer? Before they come back?" Soap asked, ignoring the way his stomach twisted from the lack of food over the last 3 days. "I don't doubt it. Remember, they will give us water every three days to keep us alive. You can get a rough idea of how much time has passed if you count how many times they come to give us water. …You've chugged a beer or some kind of drink before right?" Soap nodded his head. "You'll have to do that whenever they give you water." "Yeah, got the impression they didn't really care too much as long as we weren't suddenly dead."
"You learn quick." "I learn from the best, Lt." Ghost gave Soap a smile. "Good man."
The days blended together. Soap knew he slept more than Ghost did, but he couldn't help it. Without being able to see the sunlight in any form, his body lost its circadian rhythm, so he did has Ghost told him on the first day and just sleep whenever he felt tired.
Just like I was worried about. Soap was losing himself a little bit. He took frequent naps, jolting himself awake; they needed to get out of here and fast. But without having been given any food, Ghost didn't have the strength to attempt to break out of his chains--he couldn't break them on the first day because the drug made his body sluggish, and it didn't wear off until about the third day. If I could just get free…
The door opened up and the guard came in with those two cups of water, giving it to Soap first and then Ghost. Ghost watched as some water dripped down Soap's throat, which would've been a pleasing sight under any other circumstance, but it worried him because he hadn't been spilling any water after he told him he's gonna need to chug what was given to them.
This was the fourth time they had been given water, so they've been held captive for 15 days, and he could see that Soap had visibly lost a little weight and doesn't doubt he has as well. Our bodies are reaching their limit. We'll be interrogated one last time and that'll be our last chance to survive this. He'll give credit where it's due, this new cartel group didn't fuck around with loose ends.
After what could've been about a few hours, but that felt like a few days, the door opened up again, and the leader and two others came into the room. "So! Are you two mutts finally gonna bark? Or do I have discipline you both one last time?" Soap scoffed before he let out his best dog bark. THAT pissed the leader off, though it was certainly entertaining.
Ghost watched as the leader grabbed a blindfold and a knife. And then panicked a little bit when he tied the blindfold over Soap's eyes, yanked his head back, and put the edge of the knife against his throat. "DON'T!" He screamed, unable to help himself. It earned the attention of the leader, who smirked. "Oh?" He pressed the edge of the knife a little firmer against Soap's neck and watched as Ghost squirmed. "Don't hurt him!"
"Oh! Oh…!" The man laughed out, pulling the knife away from Soap's throat and seeing as Ghost relaxed. "I see. So we've been putting our efforts onto the wrong man. No wonder we weren't getting anywhere. Well, if you don't want his throat to be slit, talk!" He growled as he immediately pressed the knife back against Soap's throat, and Ghost jerked forward. "I don't know! I don't know who we got the intel from! We were told to go to this location, find the canisters, and mark the shipping container they were in! I don't know who my C.O. got the intel from!"
Ghost knew he didn't break. Soap knew it too. He was panicking because Johnny's life was in danger and he didn't want to lose him. He couldn't live with himself if he lost him. Even though they're both bound and helpless, he'd feel completely responsible for not saving his life. If anything, he'd be begging for them to take his life if they killed Soap.
"Now we're getting somewhere! But sadly, I'm gonna need more than that." The leader said as he let his arm tense up, making it look like he was about to slash Soap's throat wide open. "I'm telling you the truth! Please, don't hurt him! Don't take him from me! Please! Please…" He said as he let himself slump forward, letting his heart speak in this moment. "I see. Military dogs AND filthy sinners as well. Perhaps I'll leave you with a reminder of why you should recall who your commanding officer got the intel from."
The leader said as he moved his knife off of Soap's throat and placed the tip of the blade against the middle of Soap's forehead on the left side. He then ripped the knife down and cut a line all the way down to the bottom of Soap's cheekbone. Blood poured out of the fresh wound as the leader removed the blindfold, which was the only thing that kept Soap's eye from being damaged.
And a fury that was foreign to Ghost swallowed him whole.
He watched as the blood gushed down Soap's face, saw the pain that warped his face, and something within him snapped.
Soap watched as bloodlust engulfed Ghost's face as he pulled on the chains, hearing as they creaked and groaned loudly, almost whining in protest against his sudden surge of strength. And then they suddenly snapped and he used the momentum he gained to get the shackles around his legs to also give and break away.
It was like watching the devil show no mercy to the worst of souls. Ghost was quick to break the enemy's legs and then their arms so they couldn't crawl away. He took the knife and speared in into the spine of one guard, ripping it down the full length of their back like he was cutting perfectly tender meat. The second guard he bashed the head in with the tire iron until it was nothing more than a red, meaty slushy. The leader he took his sweet time with, stomping on his body, beating him with the tire iron until every single rib broke, before taking the knife, pulling the man onto his broken legs, and slit the man's throat, blood pulsing out of his neck and down the front of the leader's chest before he snapped his neck, letting his lifeless body drop unceremoniously to the floor.
Ghost used the last of this foreign strength to free Soap from his chains and shackles as well, holding his face in his hands. "I'm okay. Simon, I'm okay." He tried to reassure his love, and then he was stunned into a confused but blissful silence as Ghost suddenly leaned in and kissed him. Kissed him with all of the desperate relief that seemed to be drowning the older man before he finally pulled away, Soap's eyes fluttering open, not having realized he even closed them.
"...Ghost, we need to go." Ghost nodded his head, taking a moment to press their foreheads together and regain control over himself. "Right. Can you stand?" Soap pushed himself up onto his legs, and they shook rather violently, but they weren't giving. "Not sure for how long." Ghost nodded, ripped the radio comms off his vest and slipped in into his gear belt, strapping his sidearm back onto his thigh. He knocked on the door of the room, and the outside guard opened the door, Ghost shooting him once in the head and dragging his dead body into the room.
"Looks big enough." Ghost muttered as he yanked off the backpack the guard wore, emptying everything but the canteen and food rations out of it, throwing all of his and Soap's gear into it--minus the grenades--and threw it onto his back. He helped Soap out of the room, having handed him a grenade, and he pulled the pin on it and tossed it into the room and closed the door. They then managed to sneak out of the building and into the nearby forest.
"0-6 this 0-7, how copy?" He called once he and Soap were in a relatively safe place. "Ghost! Bloody hell it's good to hear your voice! Where's Soap?" "With me. We're both injured but breathing. Can you get an exfil to us?" "Can you still mark your position?" Ghost slipped the backpack off and checked what gear they still had. "...Yes. Not for long though, it's badly damaged." "We'll be in the air in 10, hold tight. Out."
"We got friends coming?" "10 minutes. Let me see." He hushed as he knelt down and gently examine Soap's face. "Think it'll scar?" "...It might. Hope it doesn't. Don't want you to have a reminder of this." Soap reached out and gently stroked Ghost's cheek with the back of his fingers. "I'll think of it as a reminder that I can survive anything with your guidance and with you by my side." Ghost weakly smiled as he pressed their foreheads together again. "I wish none of this happened to you." "I wouldn't forgive myself if I let it happen to you." Ghost knew Soap was right too.
After about 10 minutes, they heard a helicopter getting closer, so Ghost took the chance and marked their position. "We see you, Ghost. Can you go northwest? There's an area we can grab you in." "Solid copy, heading there now. Out here." He said as he pulled Soap to his feet after slipping the backpack back on. "Come on, a little further." Soap grunted as he stood, his legs shaking worse than they had been and they gave out from under him. Ghost pulled Soap flush against his body to steady him before he looped an arm around his waist to keep him close, then slowly the duo made their way to the evac point.
"Soap!" Price called as he came out of the helicopter. "He's lost a good amount of blood and neither of us have had food in the last 15 days." "We'll get him stable in the helo. Come on, son. Stay awake for a little longer." Soap groaned, his eyes flickering between being focused and unfocused. "Johnny, stay with me. Please." Ghost… No, Simon softly begged, holding onto Soap's hand tightly. "You told me you wouldn't leave my side. Please don't go now." He said as they had to put Soap on the floor of the helicopter, Nikolai getting back into the air and quickly getting them to medical facility. Soap's head stayed in Ghost's lap the whole trip, Ghost never letting go of Soap's hand until the nurses had to take him from him.