One month had passed since Anomaly died, Ghost had continued his ruthless career in the OSF becoming the most dangerous recruit in the OSF, his ability in combat was noted by the likes of Fubuki who found him effective. Karen was also impressed by the combat data.
Shadow was an the balance Ghost needed to stay stable, her vibrant nature and willingness to help wherever possible was something that sunk deeply into Ghost balancing his ruthless bloodlust and responsibility to protect civilians and other OSF personnel alike, Ghost was truly thankful to have her as a friend.
However with Ghost's recent achievements he was now in the limelight of the press, Poltergeist ordered Ghost not to answer questions, an order he carried out in an extremely cold fashion, after his 5th victory against a Major Other the press recorded it and put it all over Suoh's visions, his victory was something the Civilians were happy to see, the OSF doing their jobs in the quickest and most efficient way possible. When Ghost returned he was swarmed by Press who thrusted microphones in front of him
"Ghost, what was it like defeating yet another Major Other? You truly are a Scarlet Guardian worthy of being a Septentrion with your skills"
One of the press members stated, how Ghost looked straight through the man, his brain drive still active from the fight, he was always alert even in Suoh.
"I have been ordered not to answer questions"
Ghost said as he walked passed them into the OSF headquarters where he was given orders, but there was something he didn't like about the way Poltergeist looked at him. Major General Fubuki was with him which made Ghost extremely uneasy, he stood at attention regardless and awaited his orders
"You are Ghost correct? You are making quite the impression towards me and the other Septentrions"
Fubuki stated however Ghost didn't care about what the Septentrions thought of him and he made it clear
"Sir, with all due respect, I think we should skip the small talk and discuss the mission I was told about"
Ghost said as his brain drive expired revealing his eyes and retractable Oni mask, Fubuki wasn't sure how he felt about Ghost wanted to get straight back into the field, he was pleased that he was willing but he also knew that several gifted fighters met untimely ends because of their eagerness.
"This assignment is extremely dangerous, but you have proven yourself capable to defend yourself in the most dire of situations, that and your excellent scouting tendencies. We're sending you to the border of Seiran to see if they have any unorthodox troop placements, look for anything regarding a potential strike against Suoh"
Fubuki said, this order was straight from the top and Ghost was one of the best and only scouts in the OSF, Fubuki knew that the OSF were never truly made for infiltration but Seiran was a threat that they couldn't simply ignore.
Ghost nodded and started to walk towards the door to the OSF Headquarters but walked into Shadow, he stopped and talked to her a bit asking how she was holding up after what happened, She said she was fine and that she wanted to go with Ghost, but he refused as he always scouted alone, that and the fact he didn't want her to get in harms way.
Ghost travelled to the edge of Seiran's territory and sighed quietly before contacting Fubuki
"Sir, I'm at the edge of Seiran, once I enter Seiran our communications will go dark. I don't want them intercepting our communications"
Ghost said as he awaited Fubuki's response, Fubuki gave him the go ahead and Ghost continued into Seiran, his OSF uniform made him stand out in the crowd and everyone started to comment on him, Ghost focused with his mission and snuck into one of Seiran's OSF establishments and looked at several documents on research facilities for several different things however one caught his attention, a seemingly abandoned facility that was labelled as still in use, Ghost quickly left and was nearly caught.
"Hey, why is that document open? Wait... Someone's here, report this to the captain now!"
One of the Seiran OSF members yelled as he ran out of the building, Ghost left the scene unseen by using rooftops, he watched the streets below and realised he would be blocked if he didn't move. He swiftly moved from rooftop to rooftop until he sprinted along the road and out of Seiran before they had a chance to stop him. Ghost stopped a few miles away from Seiran and caught his breath behind a rock before reporting his findings to Fubuki.
"Sir, Seiran are using an abandoned facility to conduct unknown research as of this time, awaiting further orders"
Ghost said in between breaths as he listened to what Fubuki said, he kept an eye out for any OSF soldiers as he was most likely within their search area.
"Ghost, your new orders are to find out what they are researching in that facility and report back... And Ghost, please be careful, we don't know what kinds of defences the facility has"
Fubuki said as Ghost understood the risks of what he was going to do, he ended the communications and made his way to the abandoned facility before scouting for a discreet entrance, he found a way in through the ventilation shafts and snuck through the facility for several hours making small progress but what he found made him realise the danger he was truly in, if he was caught no one could help him.
"Personality rehabilitation... Power enhancements... Psionic re-engineering...? What the hell is going on"
Ghost said to himself as he heard a click of a firearm behind him, his attention was immediately refocused however all he did was look through the glass to see the reflection of a scientist with a pistol to the back of his head
"We're researching ways to make Psionics more powerful in ways that were mere dreams at one point... We are also finding out new and improved ways of making someone like you, a perfect soldier who follows orders... You'd do perfectly as a test subject"
The scientist said as he knocked Ghost unconscious, there was nothing Ghost could do in the situation and the Scientists were given full permission to do whatever they wished to Ghost. In their eyes they would conduct necessary actions to ensure scientific advancements under one condition: The test subject must survive.
When Ghost woke up he was chained to a bed in a dimly lit room with seemingly outdated equipment for medical procedures, the scientists smiled as they looked into Ghost's eyes, they couldn't take his mask off as it was linked to his actions and commands which annoyed them but that didn't matter to them.
"Good, your awake... Now we can proceed... You might feel a small sting"
The scientist said as he gave the thumbs up, Ghost was immediately put under a mass amount of mental strain, the pain he felt was excruciating as he yelled out in agony tensing his muscles, the pain suddenly stopped and Ghost's breathing became heavier as he wasn't sure what was going on. The scientists were overjoyed with these results and continued throughout the day refusing to let up and give Ghost a break.
Fubuki tried contacting Ghost several times but to no answer. He sighed quietly not knowing what happened to him, he wasn't even sure where the research facility was. There were that many abandoned facilities it would take months to narrow it down and even then if Ghost wasn't responding he was either still in the facility or dead. Fubuki didn't know what to do but trusted Ghost.
Shadow on the other hand was still on duty and was never told what happened to her life long friend, she was told he was on a classified mission. But Shadow knew she was being kept in the dark about the situation but continued to perform her duties.
Ghost wasn't sure how he could leave the situation, he was bound by cuffs and chains that prevented him from using his abilities and his weapons were locked away and out of sight, the scientists continued their experiments until they had created the most powerful version of Ghost they could practically provide without killing him, however that process would take up to a year which was something they were willing to do.
After a week of waiting for Ghost to return Fubuki declared Ghost as M.I.A which was reviewed by Kaito and confirmed by his hand. When Shadow found out she tried to ask Fubuki but he declared that the details were classified until further notice.
Shadow was beyond angered at the fact that nobody would tell her anything and she decided to go find Ghost herself, due to her thinking in the moment she was marked for Personality Rehabilitation by Karen and eventually caught.
Ome year later
Ghost's power was beyond what any of the scientists could have ever hoped, however Ghost became a husk of his former self. He was barely able to stand as his body was beaten black and blue. His uniform was tattered and torn.
Ghost was hunched over as his arms were chained to the ceiling. The scientists unchained him and escorted him with several OSF members to a seemingly modern and kinder environment. Ghost seized his opportunity and knocked out one of the OSF soldiers escorting him however he wasn't strong enough to continue fighting and collapsed. He was rarely fed, barely enough to survive and he was always forced to stay awake so that they could continue.
Ghost was beaten to the floor by the OSF and dragged into a chair where the scientists closed him in a small room. Their main goal was to completely erase his memory but one of the scientists wanted to study his memories to find what drove him through what they did, perhaps it was a memory or something else. But the scientists wanted to know.
When they wiped his memory from Ghost they stored it for further study and Ghost was released, his attitude was one of compliance towards the scientists and Seiran's OSF. Ghost was given a mission immediately by Seiran after their High command heard they had an extremely gifted member of the Suoh OSF with them. Ghost was ordered to go to the Subway that ran between Suoh and Seiran to conduct an experiment on whatever they found. Ghost and one other Seiran OSF soldier were given an ampoule containing Other Particles however they were not told.
The two left for their mission but Ghost saw something that he thought he remembered. It was familiar to him, however one of the Scientists who had experimented on him gave him something and told him to look at it "When the time was right".
Ghost nodded and took a small hard drive before proceeding on with his current objective. Both Ghost and the Seiran OSF soldier fought through waves of Others and eventually saw what looked to be several Suoh OSF members fighting off Others, Ghost prevented the soldier from firing the ampoule and put the hard drive into one of the areas of his uniform and everything came rushing back to him. His original mission, his friends, his family... Everything.
It was at that moment Ghost realised more than he ever could and knew what he had to do. Just before the Seiran OSF member had the chance to fire the Ampoule at one of the girls running towards what seemed to be her best friend Ghost grabbed the Seiran OSF members arm and broke it before firing his ampoule into their chest before backing up.
Everyone who saw what happened were in complete shock, an OSF soldier turning on his ally before taking a step backwards as he watched as the Soldier turned into a monstrous Other.
Ghost was speechless but his instincts kicked in as he attacked the Other relentlessly being supported by the two girls, two seemingly new recruits and a battle hardened Veteran. With their help they managed to kill what was once a man turned monster. Ghost sat down in shock and his combat focus deactivated as The Veteran recognised him.
"You're Ghost... The OSF Scout who went missing for a year... You were labelled as MIA by the OSF but... You're, here"
Gemma said as he looked at Ghost's uniform, he saw that Ghost looked absolutely horrible, bags under his eyes, a severely damaged uniform amongst other things. Gemma helped him up and Ghost's tiredness kicked in as he nearly fell over, he may have been active a few moments before hand but that was pure adrenaline and the little energy he had conserved. Gemma supported Ghost but he was horribly light.
"What happened to you..."
Gemma whispered to himself as he helped Ghost towards the exit, Yuito offered the two to stay over at the hideout until they knew what was going on.
The majority of people who were present were unsure what happened but were told by the two girls that Ghost saved them.
A few people joined Yuito, like Tsugumi, Hanabi, Gemma, and Ghost who was laid down on the Sofa to rest. While they did Hanabi noticed his injuries and his uniform.
However Tsugumi was the one to bring it up as she looked at him noticing the Ampoules as well which Yuito took one of to keep safe inside of Baki.
Once Ghost woke up he looked around and sighed closing his eyes, he looked at Gemma with a sort of worried expression as he knew who Ghost was, he felt it was the least he could do to explain the situation to him.
Little did Ghost know everyone else was listening to what he had learned in the year he was being tortured for, everything from forceful power enhancements, personality rehabilitation and even the ability to separate Psionic abilities, however he learned something else that he wasn't sure if he was obliged to tell him, he didn't want to alarm anyone anymore than he already did.
Once Ghost had finished explaining everything, Fubuki brain talked to Ghost stating that they needed to talk urgently and to avoid the press at all costs.