Chapter Text
It was raining heavily outside, loud thuds of rain could be heard on metal rooftops throughout the street. Team 141 was missioned to take out a rogue ex-military camp, the people running the organization were on Price’s most wanted list.
Judging from the sky, it was maybe 2 am at night, the team was supposed to meet up by a bell tower to regroup and plan their final assault push on the church in the middle of town. That’s where Ghost was making his way towards, running past abandoned building after abandoned building. Luckily all civilians were evacuated from the area a few days into the conflict.
Ghost was ordered to clear out a command post by himself and see what he could recover in terms of intel. Price always hesitated to send the man out by himself but he knew the brit worked best alone. Ghost made quick work of the command central, killing whatever man stood in his way. He recovered flash drives, documents, and recipes of all transactions between the rogue group and any outside forces. Very valuable stuff. After taking all useful intel, he quickly made his way out of the base, running for the streets.
Running up to the assigned bell tower, Ghost looks around to make sure he wasn’t being followed. He couldn’t hear very well due to all the rain and it proved hard to see as well. A thick gray fog encased the entire town and a few miles out to the point where he had to squint to see anything. That never stopped him though. Entering the building only taking one step in, he was pressed up against the wall, gun being flung across the room.
“Christ, Ghost. Took your sweet time huh?” Price let go of the brit immediately, letting him rebalance himself. “I trust the command tower is no longer.”
After Ghost resituated himself, gun holster back across his chest, he looked around the room for the rest of the team. “Yes, sir.”
Gaz was sitting across the room on a wooden chair, holding his chest, blood seeping through his hand. Alex was kneeling next to him, trying to stop the bleeding with a wad of gauze. There was an opened medkit next to him.
“Any of ‘em alive?” Gaz managed out between heavy gasps.
Ghost huffed at that. “Now that’s funny. Fuck happened to you?”
“Big guy got the jump on me,” Gaz waved off. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Said big guy is dead. I made sure of that.” Alex clarified.
The brit nodded at them both, walking into the building more looking around for anyone else. Looking into what seems to be a living room, he spots the three soldiers they were teamed up with, seemingly in good shape. They looked ready for their advancement to the center of the city. All three seemed to notice the tall man and gave nods of acknowledgment, being met with a wave back. After walking through the rest of the building, he noticed something is off. Soap was nowhere to be found.
“Captain,” Ghost questioned walking back to the front of the building. “Where’s Soap.”
Price froze at that, turning his head around slowly to meet the eyes of the blond. Gaz and Alex exchanged weary looks, knowing that a problem would start in a few seconds. On Price’s orders, they were to not mention the whereabouts of Soap, since they didn’t even know.
“Price,” Ghost reiterated once more, a monotone voice ringing through the room. “Where’s Soap.”
Letting out a long sigh, Price rubs his face with annoyance. “I heard the first time, Ghost.” He turns around to face the room, wanting to avoid the inevitable but knowing against his better judgment to lie to Ghost. “He didn’t arrive yet.”
“The fuck do you mean he didn’t arrive yet,” Ghost repeated, putting emphasis on the ‘arrive’. “I was the only one sent out far enough to be considered late. How long have you lot been here.”
Price scratches his head. “Gaz?”
Gaz looks at his wristwatch, being the only one out of them to even carry one, it read 2:15. “Quarter after two, sir.”
“Shit,” the captain cursed with dread. “It's almost been two hours, Soap should be here.”
Ghost was panicking now, but he did a damn good job of hiding it from the team. “Anyone radio him?”
“Of course we all did Ghost. We were ready to radio you as-well,” Price snapped, clearly irritated by the questions. “Soap can manage himself.”
“Let me run the town and see if I can catch up with him.”
“Absolutely not,” Price reprimands. “You’re staying right here and that’s final.”
The brit’s head was going a mile a minute, worst-case scenario playing through his head over and over. Soap was a grown man, fully capable of taking care of himself. That’s how he gained the rank of sergeant. He’s no stranger to war and he was mentally and physically equipped to deal with the worst. Ghost shouldn’t be worried so much about him.
“Ghost,” Price starts, knocking Ghost out of his thoughts. “We’re gonna wait for him longer so no need to worry yourself.”
“I wasn’t worried.”
“You could’ve fooled me.” With that Price goes to check up on Gaz, who was still bleeding profusely, leaving Ghost to his thoughts once more. The lieutenant decides to calm himself down in the opposite corner of the room, sitting on a random chair. He eyed the interaction between the captain and his two inferiors.
Kneeling down, Price swats away Alex’s hands from the wound, clearly annoyed with the way he was treating the injury. “You’re a shite medic, Echo.”
“Yeah well, nursing isn’t my specialty.” Alex quipped back.
“Quiet,” Price hushed, turning his attention to the bleeding wound in the brit’s side. “And give me some room.”
Alex got up, stepping a few feet back to give the captain some room as requested. “Just make sure he’s ok.”
“I don’t plan on doing anything different.”
Price rolled up Gaz’s shirt to expose the wound, being met with hissing from dried blood being ripped out of the fresh wound. The brit grabbed onto Price’s hand, reflexively trying to calm himself down from the pain.
“You ok, son?” Price looked up, waiting for the ok before he went to treat the wound in full.
Gaz nodded his head, removing his hand from the captain's own. He resituated his hands onto the chair armrests, gripping the ends for support. Price rummaged through the med kit next to him, pulling out a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some gauze. Gaz knew what was coming, he wasn’t mentally prepared for it though.
Noticing the sergeant's distress, Price goes to reassure him. “Bite down onto your glove, I’ll make it quick.”
Ghost watched as the captain patched Gaz up, the man was struggling to stay upright from the pain in his side. Seeing Price care so much about the sergeant, and all of them really puts his mind at ease a little. But he can’t help but want to go out and search for Johnny, even though he was told otherwise. Ghost was no idiot, he knows going out would make no sense, but damn him and his feelings for this Scottish bastard.
____________
A few hours passed and there was no sign of the sergeant at all. Price was pacing back and forth in the front of the building, hoping the door would fly open any second. Gaz rested in a nearby corner clutching his injured side trying to get some rest but was kept awake from the worry of Soap. Alex was by his side seemingly feeling the same. Ghost on the other hand was about to go ballistic. He was crouched on the floor occupying himself with disarming and rearming his carbine gun.
“This is getting ridiculous.” Price stopped his pacing, stilling to gather his thoughts. “Our push on the main building was supposed to happen two hours ago.”
Price was right. The wait was getting dangerously futile, and that meant something had to be wrong. Johnny didn’t make it a habit of arriving late like this, ever.
“So what’s the plan captain, I don’t want to speak my mind but we’re gonna have to talk about this eventually.” Alex brings up the idea the team didn’t want to face. They would have to consider that Johnny wasn’t coming.
Price crouches down by a wall, sighing annoyed at their current situation. Soap never pulled something like this so his mind thought up the worst possible outcome. He had other team members to take care of and keeping them held up in this bell tower was not wise. Unexpectedly, Price’s radio beeps on, an unknown voice broadcasting to the room of men.
“Is this Captain Price.” The voice was monotone in the lower octaves, gravelly voice scratching the ears of the men in the room. His accent sounded of Russian decent, punctuation not being very good.
Silence falls in the room, every man stilling from the unfamiliar voice on the radio. Ghost makes eye contact with Price who returns the stare confused. The captain raises his index finger to his lips, motioning for everyone in the room to not move or make a noise. Carefully, the captain grabs his radio, clicking it on to respond.
“The fuck is this.”
“You’ve taken something that doesn’t belong to you, and I the same.”
Ghost's eyes widen, words registering in his mind immediately. They had Soap. Before his mind could think Ghost is up on his feet walking towards Price for the radio. Price raises his unoccupied hand quickly, halting the lieutenant in his movements. The captain holds eye contact, making a wordless order at Ghost to stand down.
“You hurt my soldier and I promise-“
The brit couldn’t even finish his threat from the quiet chuckle carried through the radio. “It would be wise to listen carefully.”
Price ground his teeth together, annoyance growing as the seconds in this conversation passed. He didn’t have any cards to play so he was forced to listen to this.
“The church at the center of town, be there in an hour. Have my information that you stole. Then I’ll return your soldier to you in one piece.”
“How do I know he’s not dead.” Price was no idiot, he was not in the business of sending more soldiers into the clutches of evil forces without knowing the playing field. The captain just hoped Soap was left alive.
“Smart man.” Suddenly a slap sounded off on the other side of the line, followed by a pained grunt. “Your soldier is alive, for now. Test me and he won’t be for much longer.”
Gaz and Alex were clutching onto each other at this point, struggling to wrap their heads around the current situation. The three soldiers they were also deployed with found their way into the room, listening intently to the conversation.
“You’re lucky to have such a loyal man, no matter how many times I made him bleed he wouldn’t give you up.” The voice mocked in a tone full of malice. “I suggest you hurry.”
With that, the connection was cut off to the mystery man, leaving them in a silent room. Price’s mind was running a mile a minute trying to understand the position they were in. They had what they were asking for but the policy is to never negotiate with enemies. He had to play his cards right if Soap was to live another day. Before he could even plan an escape siege, Ghost gets up from his seat heading for the door.
“Ghost, the fuck are you going!” Price was not in the mood to deal with the lieutenant going gung-ho over this, even though he wanted to act the same. Keeping a level head was the only way they could get Soap back.
Ghost opened the door, disregarding the captain's orders. “Where do you think I’m going.”
Price’s voice dropped an octave, pulling rank on the lieutenant before he did something stupid. “Lieutenant Riley, if you go out that door you’re disobeying a direct order.”
That got the brit to pause his movements. He didn’t even have a plan to save his friend, or more importantly where he was specifically. Closing the door, Ghost turned around meeting Price's eye. A beat of silence passed between them, both debating who should speak first or not. Gaz and Alex exchanged serious looks, both unsure of how this would play out.
“They won’t give him back when we make the exchange.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Price sighed angrily while scratching his head. “Get over yourself so we can plan this shit out.”
The captain really hated this. They didn’t have much in terms of leverage against the enemy. The number of enemy soldiers left after their sweep of the town was still unknown, plus 141 had limited soldiers themselves.
“Everyone, in the living room.” Price doesn’t wait for a response, fatigue setting in fast. He had to think meticulously about this to ensure Soaps safety. All of them had to talk this through, a level-headed talk being the most optimal. The team gathered around a square table in the living area, congregating on how this was going to play out.
Before they were deployed, few of them received floor plans of the major buildings in the town just in case. One of said building plans was sprawled out onto the table of the church at the center of the town. Price looked it over, noticing some underground rooms connected by small corridors. Looked like there was plumage and lighting running down there as well. That’s most likely where they were keeping Soap.
Pointing at the underground rooms on the blueprints, Gaz seemed to notice the same. “Think they’re keeping him here, captain.”
“Seems the most plausible, looks small enough to be a holding room.” Alex grimaced at the paper, agreeing with Gaz.
“The stairs to the basements are in the back of the building, past a few rooms.” Price was tracing his finger across the floor plan, forming a line to the basement from the side entrance. “A few of us should move through the building while we make the transaction, and see if we can find the sergeant.”
“Who would that be,” Alex questioned, looking up at the captain.
Price pondered for a bit, looking throughout the room at his options. “Gaz, you’ve got the best memory out of all of us. Can you remember the floor plans of this place?”
Gaz did a once over of the papers on the table, making mental notes of rooms, corridors, halls, and stairs. “Yes, sir.”
Price noticed Gaz was still holding his side that had gotten injured before while they split up. “You ok to do this, son?” He pointed to his clutched side, grimacing at the way Gaz held it.
“For Soap's sake, I’ll do what I need to.” The sergeant let go of his side, crossing his arms. “He’d do the same for me.”
Price nodded at that. Ghost didn’t say a word as they planned the rescue for 10 minutes, arms crossed looking over the map plan. The brit didn’t trust himself to speak right now and he was sure Price wasn’t in the mood for his input. So he waited until he was told what to do.
_____________
“The church is up ahead,” the captain points to the towering building surrounded by gates.
Alex, Price, along with the three soldiers they were stationed with were running through the town toward the central plaza. It was about 45 minutes since they received that call from the Russian man demanding his stolen goods. If all goes well, and the plan doesn’t falter, they’ll all be able to come home by the morning.
“Nobody play hero,” Price turned around before they stepped up to the building. “I don’t need another problem.”
As they moved to the gates, a hulking figure stood on the opposite side of the fence, cigar in hand. The thick fog encasing them didn’t help with the view, his face being blurry from their view. The man noticed them and dropped his cigar on the floor, stepping on it with his boot.
“My information, where is it.”
“You aren’t getting it till I see my sergeant,” Price bluffed, hoping the enemy wouldn’t see right through him.
After a few seconds, the man whistled towards the entrance of the church. Promptly, two men dressed in low-grade tactical gear dragged out a man with a woven bag over his head. Price almost scoffed out loud, to think they were dumb enough to believe that that was Soap. It almost would’ve worked if he didn’t know Soap's exact physique (don’t ask how he knows).
“Here’s your man, now let’s talk business.”
While this was going on, Ghost and Gaz snuck through an emergency exit at the back of the church. A few foot soldiers guarded the entrance, but they posed no threat to their plan. After disposing of them, Gaz led Ghost through the building, following the path they had made an hour earlier to the basement. There were soldiers scattered here and there but they weren't any problem, especially Ghost. He stole Gaz’s kills without a second thought and Gaz let him. The sergeant knew Ghost was hurting from not knowing how Soap was. Honestly, god knows what he would be like if Alex got taken instead of Soap. He’d most likely act the same.
“Lieutenant, the basements are down here.” Gaz nodded his head toward the stairs at the end of a long hallway. “You can lead.”
Without a word, Ghost passes him, heading for the stairs. They moved swiftly, lightweight feet padding down the metal stairs barely making noise. As they neared the second flight of stairs down, a soldier was on a radio with a teammate, making conversation. Ghost holds a fist up, signaling Gaz to remain still.
“Our boss is crazy for keeping us here, we should have left ages ago,” the soldier groaned to his friend.
“No kidding, they killed my mate when I was on the phone with her,” the muffled voice responded. “We’re the only ones left.”
“I’m sorry man, really.”
“All this fuss for a lousy sergeant.”
The man chuckled at that. “Yeah, he’s our ticket outta here so keep him alive.”
“Yeah I know, pretty isn’t he, made sure to not damage his face.”
His voice made Ghost sick, talking about Soap like he was worth nothing. The lieutenant aimed his gun at the man’s head at the step of the stairs, shooting him without hesitation.
“Oi!” Gaz flinched, gawking at the sudden aggression. “We aren’t supposed to make noise, what do you think you’re doing!”
Ghost didn’t answer, continuing down the stairs. He stopped at the dead man’s body, picking up his radio.
“Smith? Smith! What happened?”
Pitiful really, his friend died and he would soon be next. Dropping the radio on the floor, the brit steps on it forcefully, breaking the device and severing any connection it once had.
“Watch our six,” Ghost wanted moving more into the corridors.
Not bothering to wait for a response he starts checking each room that littered the hallway. Most rooms weren’t in any use, empty rooms with papers scattered here and there. They both searched in silence for 5 minutes until a muffled thud came from the end of the hallway. Gaz and the lieutenant exchanged looks quickly before stalking toward the end of the pathway.
“All this fuss over you, and I might die over it. I didn’t sign up for this shit.” A voice came from the inside of the room, he seemed to be pacing back and forth.
Quickly Ghost opened the door pointing his gun at the unidentified soldier standing next to a man bound to a chair. It was Soap but he was unconscious. He didn’t seem to be in good health. Bruises and cuts littered his body, one jagged laceration in his side by his ribs, blood seeping through his shirt. The scot looked so pale and fragile.
The enemy soldier points his gun toward Soap's head, pushing it into his skull. “You move any closer, he dies!”
Ghost didn’t bother with the negotiations and just shot him in the leg swiftly. He dropped to the floor with a thud, pained sob let out into the room.
“Hng, Fuck!” The soldier grabbed his thigh, clenching the wounded skin.
Ghost walked over to the sergeant kneeling next to him. Setting his gun down, the lieutenant goes to check his pulse.
“Thank fuck,” Ghost sighed.
Soap had a pulse but it was weak and wavering. He moved to the back of the chair, cutting the ropes binding the sergeant to the chair. Soap slumped over as soon as the ropes were cut, almost falling from his chair. Ghost grabs him by the arm, carefully setting him on the floor. After doing a once over on him, he was in no condition to walk around. He needed to be carried out of here.
Gaz examined the room, looking over the various torture tools that were no doubt used on Soap. It made his skin crawl. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a camera by the wall of the room.
“Lieutenant,” Gaz called out, pointing to the camera. “I think they…”
Ghost looks over to where Gaz pointed, heart dropping at the sight. If they recorded the torture session they put Soap through… He looked over to the soldier hunched over in pain on the floor.
“I better not find what I think is in there for your sake,” the brit threatened getting up from Soap's side. “Gaz, hold him for me.”
“Ah Yes, sir.” Gaz moved to replace Ghost’s position supporting the scots head. His comrade looked so lifeless.
Ghost takes the camera propped up by a tripod in hand, searching through the contents of the footage. Most of it was Soap being questioned by four men, one of the men already disabled on the floor. The second man looks like the soldier dead in the hallway by the stairs. Two unidentified soldiers Ghost would be sure to keep note of.
Fast forwarding through the tape, Ghost comes across a clip of one of the men hitting Soap in the gut repeatedly. Moving some more through the tape showed them taking turns in ‘interrogating’ the sergeant.
“Look man I was just following orders,” the disabled soldier struggled out between pained gasps.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” Gaz yelled, clutching into Soap tighter. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you myself.”
Ghost grinned at the aggression of his teammate. It wasn’t only him that wanted to break a lot of rules right now. He set the camera down and raised his hand to radio Price. ”Captain found Soap. Code yellow.”
“I was getting worried, can he walk?”
“He’s banged up pretty good,” Ghost grimaced in Soap's direction, frowning at the still-unconscious sergeant. “Did you apprehend the kidnapper?”
“He’s in zip ties, we managed to kill or subdue everyone out here. Regroup now.”
Ghost hesitated in answering back with a yes. He still had something to take care of but he was sure his idea would be shot down. “Captain, you need to come down and see this.”
Price sighs into the radio, muffled feedback coming through. “How bad.”
“It’s a video, sir.”
“Fuck..,” the captain cursed annoyed. “I’m coming.”
As he waited for Price to arrive, Ghost looked through the rest of the footage. The way they took turns beating Soap in. They broke 2 of his fingers, cut him slowly, and waterboarded him. Anger couldn’t begin to describe how Ghost felt right now. The look on his sergeant's face as he begged for them to kill him. Heavy footsteps coming down the hallway knocked him out of his thoughts. Quickly both men raised their guns to attention, pointing at the door for the source of the sound to show itself.
Price entered the doorway quickly raising a hand to calm the pair down. “At ease, it’s just me.”
Walking into the dimly lit room, Price catches eye of the state Soap was in. Gaz and the captain exchanged sorrowful looks. “Fuck….”
“Captain, look.”
Ghost grabbed the once discarded camera, handing it to Price. He looked over the tape, disbelief in his eyes.
“Why’s he still alive, Riley,” Price snarled at the man on the floor.
“Needed your blessing, first.” Ghost answered honestly. He didn’t think Price would appreciate him going on a blood lust on a person who posed no threat. It’s against the code of ethics, not that it mattered since he was a renowned war criminal.
“You have more than my fucking blessing. It’s an order.” Price took out the video card from the camera, dropping the device once the card was safely hidden in his vest pocket.. “I’ll have Alex bring the other soldiers present in the video.”
Reaching for his own radio, Price ordered Alex to bring down two men he described in the video. A few minutes later, Alex arrived with 2 men handcuffed.
“Why’d you need these two, captain?” Alex didn’t even get to finish his line of questioning, Soap’s state surprising him. “Fuck, is Soap alive?”
“Barely,” Gaz answered honestly.
“Leave the two of them in here with Ghost. Help me carry up Soap,” Price commanded walking over to the sergeant.
Alex and Price hoisted the scot into each of their soldiers, dragging him out of the room with Gaz behind them. Before they left. Price reminded Ghost of their current situation.
“You’ve got a half hour till the helos come to get us at the extraction point. I trust that you’ll be finished and meet us there by then?”
“Yes, sir.” Ghost looks over at the three enemy soldiers avoiding eye contact. This would be fun. With that Gaz shuts the door behind him, leaving Ghost with his victims.