A Journey of Healing
Ghost emerges from the shadows amidst the crimson rocks that surround him, bathed in an eerie glow that highlights his menacing silhouette. Stepping into the canyon, he examines the environment, clenching his firearm tightly, as he takes directives from Laswell, Graves, and Shepherd. He eventually makes it out to a clearing. "I'm eyes on." He says, laying down while taking out his spotter scope to confirm the Russian personnel below.
"Ghost, can you identify the General?" Shepherd asks over the comms. Ghost scans over the trucks to find a group of men standing next to a helicopter. "Armed escorts around one VIP, Russians are very happy to see him."
"It'll be the last time they do." General Shepherd said before Ghost identified Ghorbrani, sending the missiles their way moments before desecrating the desert they stood on.
Ghost watched as the debris flew in his direction. "Direct. Target destroyed."
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Following a successful mission, Ghost returned to the base a few days later, readjusting alongside his team. Hattie had been hanging around them, getting to know everybody before they were shipped off all together for her first mission alongside her comrades. Price offered for the team to get together and spar, practicing hand-to-hand combat in case of any instance they needed to use it.
"Alright Sloan, get dressed and meet us back down here in 10, yeah?" Soap said placing the mats on the ground for the men and woman to fight together.
Hattie quickly ran to her room, putting her camo pants on and a black tank top. She put her straight blonde hair into a braid, and ran back down to the room where everybody was now gathered. Price stood above them on the landing of the second story, with both of his hands on the railing looking down at his team in the basement.
"Alright everybody!" Soap said, rubbing his hands together with a smirk on his face. "Who's up?" The team looked at each other wondering what brave soldier would volunteer themselves first.
"I will." The voice of Hattie said before stepping up facing Soap as she put her hands on her hips taking a stance ready to fight. "Give me all you got, and don't you dare hold back." She said with a smirk on her face.
The atmosphere crackled with anticipation as Soap signaled the start of the match. The two circled each other, testing each other's reflexes and studying their style. They never fought with each other before, Hattie not wanting to make the first move in case it bites her in the ass and embarasses herself in front of everybody. Soap started, lunging with a lightning-fast jab, but Hattie sidestepped smoothly, countering with a swift kick aimed at his midsection. The sparring match seamlessly transitioned from hand to hand combat to a display of tactical maneuvers. Sweat glistened on their foreheads as the intensity of the fight heightened. Soap executed a spinning kick, but she managed to grab his leg mid air, turning the tables with a calculated throw.
The two ended up on the ground, each attempting to get the upper hand, which was given to Hattie as she ended up getting him on his back, pulling his arm back until he tapped out.
Chests both rising and falling, Hattie and Soap both on the ground looking at each other as he sat up and gave out a hand for her to take. "I gotta give it to ya lassie, you put up a good fight. Well done." He said as the both of them got up and sat next to each other on the ground as Gaz and ghost went at it.
You gotta give it to the guy, Gaz put up a really good fight against the 6'4'' brute of a man. He got some good blows in, but that ended rather quickly when both Soap and Hattie winced when Gaz was thrown to the ground as Ghost stood over his body.
Hattie hoped she wouldn't have to fight Ghost, but things don't really ever work out in her favor. All eyes looked up at Price who had yelled Hattie's name, signaling for her to walk over to Ghost. Oh boy here we go.
Hattie took a deep breath in, trying to read him before they began. There's no reading him dipshit, he's wearing a damn mask. The sparring session began, with her strikes against Ghost being powerful and deliberate, each movement a testament of her years of experience on the battlefield and with her training. But, he utilized his agility to dodge some of her strikes, leaving her on the ground but never wanting to give up.
Despite Sloan's formidable skills, it was apparent that Ghost possessed a raw strength that set him apart. His strikes resonated with a force that she struggled to match up with. His movements became more assertive, dominating the space of the ring with a quiet confidence.
In the final moments, Ghost delivered a decisive strike, a testament to his superior strength. The room fell into a brief silence as Sloan, acknowledging the outcome, lowered her guard and accepted the loss.
Surprisingly, Ghost offered her a hand and she gladly took it. "You were tough, I'll give you that. But not tough enough." Why can't there ever be a time where there isn't a but in his sentence? I thought I did well. They both stared at each other before he walked over to the wall. Soap walked back over to her, placing his hand on her back. "I'll help out your ego, we'll go again after what happened." He chuckled after watching Ghost sit back and watch as he had his arms crossed over his chest, intensely watching Soap with her.
This spar started the same as last time, making calculated moves to determine the others, until Soap tripped and fell back grabbing the closest thing he could to help break his fall, grabbing Hattie's tank top, ripping the left side of her top in the process.
She gasped as she tried to cover up any dignity she had left as she had basically almost flashed the whole place when her shirt came bouncing back up along with part of her bra. In that process, her detailed elk skull tattoo revealed itself, originating from the upper part of her hip and following the graceful, yet athletic contours of her body, with the horn's tip resting on her shoulder blade. Ghost narrowed his eyes at the sight of her, staring at her ribs. It couldn't be, could it?
Soap was on the ground, but could see her whole tattoo. He could tell there was something under her tattoo, something that wasn't a cover up. It looked like a scar.
But before Soap could ask her what it was, she excused herself from the basement of the training center, and quickly made her way up to her room.
She went to her bathroom, looking at where the tear in her shirt went, her tattoo most definitely revealed itself to her whole team. She wished that hadn't happened, it brings up memories. Bad ones that she wishes could be forgotten. The only way she could forget about them was covering it up with that tattoo. It felt like a security blanket, covering up the past with permanent ink.
Soap felt guilty, he knew something was wrong when she sprinted out of the basement to go to her room, he wanted to find out what was wrong, he didn't want to pry. But he was curious.
He hesitated knocking on her door, but did so as he gained the courage to talk to her and apologize. Hattie slowly opened the door, face to face with the blue eyed Scottish man. By her looks, she seemed distraught and caught up in her own mind. She had changed from her torn tank top, to a simple white shirt.
She motioned with her hand for him to come in, Soap nodding his head in the process and sitting down on the end of her bed. "Sorry Sloan, I didn't mean to expose ya like that, it was instinct."
She smiled, and sat on the edge of the bed with him. "It's okay, I should've worn something more suitable I guess." She said, chuckling. Soap noticed while she was talking, she was lightly tracing the left side of her ribcage, obviously thinking about her tattoo. "That's another reason I wanted to come here." He trailed off. "I wanted to ask about your tattoo, I saw it when I tore your tank top. Does it mean anything?"
"It does, sort of. I haven't talked about it since I got it. I was never able to sleep at night until I got it done." She started talking about her first mission as the main medic, and how her team got compromised. Some survived, and some didn't. Sometimes she wished she died there. The sounds coming from her team, her friends, were unbearable. Her captors "interrogated" her, but it wasn't that. It was pure torture. They strapped her down to a chair, and injected her with some paralyzer that shut her whole body down to the point she was still awake, but couldn't move a muscle. They toyed with her, diminished her, and she couldn't do anything about it. There was a woman there too, which angered her even more. She was gorgeous, had short black hair with tattoos. She seemed to be the leader. Her people did everything she said.
And they did everything she told them. When the woman told the man who was next to Hattie that he could do anything to her, and to make it hurt, He did. He took the end of his shotgun and hit her in the head, almost knocking her out. A trail of blood came down from where the gun met her eyebrow, the crimson blood seeping into her eye. She couldn't see out of it, and couldn't see the tool he was picking up next. He came over to the left side of her body, holding what seemed to be a butcher knife. He took the tip of the knife and slowly picked up the bottom of her shirt, before ripping it straight off of her. The man seemingly excited by this whole "torture" act he was putting on.
He smirked as the only thing she could do was cry. He took the tip of his knife and slowly dragged it from her hip and up her ribs, ending right below her chest.
During his torture escapade, she slipped in and out of consciousness hoping each time he went deeper into her skin, that she just died right then and there. She didn't want to feel this pain anymore. She wanted- no needed to die. They left her in that chair to slowly bleed out and die a painful, lonesome death. She remembered everything from that time. Although there was one part that was gone from her memory. The person who had rescued her and brought her back. The thought never crossed her mind, because the only thing she could focus on was the fact she was back home at the base, alive.
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It felt good to open up to someone. Even though she basically just met Soap, she had a feeling she could trust him entirely. He just had that type of personality.
Soap didn't know what to say or how to comfort her. "I-I'm sorry Hat-." She stopped him by placing a hand on his leg. "You don't need to say anything. I got through it. That's all that matters now. I'm here." She said smiling. "It means a lot that you came by and talked to me."