Behind The Mask (Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 [2022] Fanfiction)

- ELEVEN -

When I came to, my head was heavy. I smelled a metallic, thick scent that invaded my nostrils and consumed my throat. My green eyes fluttered open, the lighting harsh at first on my tender eyes. 

    I was laying on a gurney of sorts and the sight made me sit up. My clothes were long discarded and replaced with thin garb meant for a medical facility. My wrist pinched as I caught sight of a needle with a tube in it stuck to my arm. 

    "Easy, lady," a shorter man rushed to me, lightly touching my free wrist.

    "Where am I?" I demanded, feeling sore all over but stronger and more awake. 

    "I cannot tell you, but—"

    "Soap!" I caught sight of the soldier as he entered wherever I was. 

    I ignored the short man as I pushed out of the temporary bed in the hall and stumbled into Soap. He caught me lightly, concern etched on his features. 

    "Easy, lass. You need to rest."

    "Where am I? What's going on?" 

    "The medical facility within the Mexican Special Forces base."

    "Where's Ghost? What's happening?"

    "Just leaving for an...outing." 

    To the deep voice of the intimidating masked man himself, I turned my head to see Ghost standing with a gloved thumb through part of his tactical vest. He was just as intimidating as the first time we'd met gazes. The upper front teeth of the skull mask were still straight and rigid. His eyes popped from the holes in the face covering like blood against the color white. Careful and cold, they were a golden hazel in the bright lighting and the only sign of life the giant figure expelled. He was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. 

    "Outing?"

    "You ask a lot of questions," Ghost repeated from when he'd told me the same thing when we'd been alone. 

    "I think with what you had to put me through I deserve to know some of it," I waved off the nurse-like man in annoyance. "Leave me alone, I'm fine!"

    "We had to wait till dark to take our guest out," Soap spoke after a long glance with Ghost.

    Hassan. In my unconsciousness I'd almost forgotten that the Shadow Company and the soldiers I was familiar with had him as a hostage. Imagining the smug look on his dark-eyebrowed, sharp face made me clench my fists tightly. I locked my jaw thinking of that hideous and retched man. I couldn't think logically.

    "I want to go."

    "No," Soap was fast to respond. 

    "Fine," Ghost's voice rang out shortly after his. His eyes were traveling up from fists to my pinched face. "We leave in five minutes."

    Without another word, Ghost stalked away. Soap gazed after him and then to me. He shrugged and then stepped away as well, letting the male come back to my side to help me. 

   Why had that gone so easily? 

- • - • -

There was one other vehicle in front of us as Soap drove us in the pitch dark night of the desert. It was a completely remote location, something flat and completely opposite of the mountains I'd been stuck in. 

    I'd been cleaned up in my sleep. While still tender where scratches and scrapes were present, the hydration I'd been given had resupplied strength. My arm was stiff and aching, but the wound was patched professionally—the same with the cut near my temple. I was dressed in black leggings and a light blue tank top, outfitted with all the other necessities, and my washed hair was lightly braided curtesy of myself during the drive.