War of Hearts

Chapter Sixteen - Reunited

"Rudy!" Alejandro shouted as he ran to him, embracing his friend, his brother, with a massive hug.

"Hex!" Soap said almost in tandem as he rushed to her, pulling her into his arms. She had finally let her mask come off when she sent herself into that repressed rage, but now that it was off, she didn't have any restraint remaining. She couldn't hold back the fear, hate, and anger, anymore nor the relief that shocked her system. She had completely given up hope at ever seeing them again, but here they were, reunited. She leaned into Soap and sobbed.

He stilled for a hesitant moment. Soap had never seen her cry before, it had always been Hex who comforted him. "Shh, it's okay. I've got you." He put his hand on the back of her head gently and held her close.

Alejandro and Rudy looked over to them, smiling and feeling the happiness radiating off them at their reunion. Then, Alejandro's expression hardened as he looked around the corner. "Reinforcements, we need to move."

"Negative," said Rudy, "those are your reinforcements, colonel." Alejandro's scowl became a wide smile, and he clapped Rudy on the back. "Then let's all get the fuck out of here."

Ghost was silent, watching Hex's every move. Her tears were still flowing, but the sobs stopped. Soap released her just enough for her to look over to Ghost. "You came..." she said with a quiet voice and soft smile. She didn't think she merited a rescue, especially not from him. She didn't know what he was to her anymore, what she was to him, but she did know she was overjoyed to see him.

Ghost just stared at her coldly, eyeing her up and down, assessing her injuries, her expression, her movements. He saw burns around her wrists, the bruises on her cheek, the cuts up and down her arms, the awkwardly bent broken fingers, and the still bleeding knife wound in her leg. He couldn't bring himself to speak to her.

Soap spoke on his behalf, "of course we came, lass, but it looks like you two had a handle on things." He let out a soft laugh.

"It was all Hex." Alejandro corrected. "She got me out. You have quite the asset on your hands here, hermanos."

Soap looked down at where she stood in his embrace and smiled proudly. She held back her own sheepish smile, but the relief and joy slowly turned to fear when she saw the look in Ghost's eyes as he stared at her. Was he... angry at her?

Soap gently moved his arms to cup her cheeks and look at her. "Let's get you out of here, yeah?"

She nodded weakly. Just a little longer, she had to hold on just a little longer and they actually might all make it out of this alive. She held the pistol up in front of her, "got anything better for me?" Rudy moved to get one of the extra guns he brought for Los Vaqueros he still had on him. It was then that Soap and Ghost saw the severity of her wrists and the gruesome burns that cut down to the bone. Ghost scowled, and Soap let out a shocked, shaky breath, gently lifting her arm up to look closer. "Jesus... You sure you're up for that?"

She frowned, and looked, finally taking in the sight for herself, and breathed in deeply. "I'm fine, it burnt most of the nerve endings. I can manage."

Rudy handed her a rifle, giving her a concerned, but compassionate look. "El unico que puede matar a la bruja, es la bruja." She replied with a fierce, wicked grin, and they moved.

They made their way out of the prison building and into the yard outside. Shadow Company reinforcements did roll in, but they now had their own to match. Ghost's charges would aid in their escape, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Gunfire exploded around them, and the looming threat of Graves still at the prison somewhere haunted Hex's thoughts. She swallowed, but pushed on. They charged ahead with Los Vaqueros who had been itching for a fight, but the shadows kept coming and were relentless in their pursuit, seeming to have an unending number of troops. Dread started to settle over them as their riled-up forces dwindled. It crashed in them fully at the sound of a helicopter approaching their position. Hex was sure it was Graves. "Fuck," Alejandro yelled, "We don't have enough firepower to take them out." They couldn't have made it this far to fail now...