Chapter Text
It wasn’t going to be easy. These things never were but Ghost had hoped to have someone from his team by his side during this mission. As Price briefed everybody on the plan, he assigned all members different roles and positions. Slowly, the chances of being paired up with another 141 man were dwindling and with Soap being last guy available, Ghost held on to a shred of hope.
“MacTavish, you’ll be leading Gamma squad down through these streets. You clear all threats and move to rejoin with Garrick here.”
Damn it.
Price jabbed his finger on the map, explaining himself more thoroughly to the scatter-brained demo expert. Soap took no offence. He appreciated the visual aid and nodded, glancing at Gaz who knew the plan better than his hand. Price then finally turned to Ghost.
“You’ll be infiltrating the base itself through the chemical waste disposal tunnels. Gas masks on until you reached the hatch. Once you’re inside, the air will be safe to breathe. Our intel says there are maintenance tunnels running all the way through to the command room where you’ll find the controls.”
Ghost nodded along but with the heightened security and the lack of floor plans for this compound, he tried to ignore the growing worry. Price caught on.
“You’re not going alone. I’ve got a man on loan who’ll stick with you the whole time.”
“Understood.”
He would’ve much preferred having Soap with him. Maintenance tunnels could be ridiculously small at times and he was a big guy. Soap was thinner, smaller. He just had to hope this extra hand was not bulky like him.
“Alright, let’s load up.”
As soon as they were armed and ready to go, Ghost nodded at Gaz. “Good luck.”
“You too, Ghost.”
Soap came over, strapping one last pistol in his thigh holster. He raised his arm and Ghost mirrored him, bumping them together.
“See you soon, Simon. Keep yourself safe out there.”
Ghost inclined his head. “You too, Johnny. Be careful.”
“Always.”
He wanted to shake his head. Soap was never careful. Somehow, he was still alive and breathing, and Ghost wanted him to stay that way. He followed Price out of the meeting room and onto the tarmac of the busy airbase, watching Soap and Gaz run off to find their teams. It was a short walk over to the wheeled vehicles and the transport Ghost was hitching a ride with.
Gathered next to it were a handful of men. At the sight of the captain, they scrammed and left a lone man in full gear. Ghost eyed the union jack on his vest and helmet. The gear was basic, enough to get the average soldier through but it didn’t carry plates or much extra equipment. At least they weren’t supposed to encounter live fire. Once in range, the man pulled down his mask and tucked it under his chin.
He was young. That concerned Ghost.
“Lieutenant, this is Private Sanderson. He’ll be accompanying you on your mission,” Price introduced, not looking at the younger man. His gaze was fixed on Ghost and it said one thing he couldn’t voice ‘ shut up and accept it ’.
That would be challenging. Ghost wanted to laugh. He was used to seeing greens everywhere but they were never handed over to him, not for covert operations like this. He eyed up the kid who was young enough to have just finished basic training. Price thoroughly ignored his disbelief.
“Sanderson, this is Ghost.” The kid’s eyes widened. “You call him that or his rank, nothing else.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You briefed on the plan?”
The kid nodded. “Yes, sir. Ready to go when you are.”
Price raised a hand and clapped his shoulder warmly. Ghost didn’t see the point. This kid was coming home in a body bag. What the fuck was he doing running ops? There was no way he had the experience or the skills necessary for a mission like this. This was a full fucking invasion. There were hundreds of soldiers deployed for this alone. The 141 were the experts doing the insane parts but the US and British army was backing them with everything they had.
“Alright then. Ghost, you’re up. Good luck, son.”
He broke from his thoughts long enough to nod at Price and accept the brush of his glove hand on his shoulder as he walked away. Price had a very difficult fight ahead of him. If anybody was having it easy, it was Ghost and he didn’t like that.
He tore his gaze from the captain’s retreating back and stared down at Sanderson. At least he was small. Shorter than Soap, even, and thinner on the arms and legs. Yeah, he’d probably just finished training. Ghost was stuck baby-sitting.
He said nothing, not wishing to actually upset the young man. It would do nothing for morale if he was rude out of the gate. It was surely not Sanderson’s fault he’d been thrown into the deep end. Instead, he made his way to the transport and climbed in the back where several soldiers were sat and waiting to go.
As soon as they both sat down, the driver was informed and the large troop carrier set off from the airbase. It was a mad rush out on the tarmac. Cars, trucks, helos, people. The base was frantic with activity and Ghost tried to ignore the fear in the men around him. He couldn’t say who had seen action before and who’d been pulled from reserves. Only two sat back quietly and confidentally, with the patience and will of men who’d absolutely seen hell before. Sadly, neither of them were joining Ghost. He was stuck with the wiry kid who couldn’t stop staring at him and quickly looking away when he was caught.
They weren’t going the whole way with the truck. Half a mile from the compound, the brakes squealed and Ghost nodded at Sanderson to move his ass. Once they were out, Ghost patted the side of the truck and it set off again, carrying the rest of the men towards the town that needed liberating.
Under the cover of night, Ghost could see the lights in the distance and the fires burning in the streets. Acts of revolution and terrorism had allowed the worst scum to overtake the area and even if Ghost wasn’t privy to all the small details, he knew that trouble had been brewing under the suface for a long time before getting this bad.
He glanced at Sanderson and flicked down his NV, seeing the kid follow his lead. The grass nearby grew tall but it turned into marshland further on before giving way to a large polluted lake.
“Stay close to me,” Ghost instructed. “We’ll follow along the grass up to those rocks.”
Sanderson looked to where he was gesturing and nodded. “On you, sir.”
Ghost started to lead the way. The soil beneath was solid beneath their feet and it stayed that way up until the rocks. The pipes leading out into the lake were wide enough to accommodate a human but he could already smell the fumes wafting from within. The compound made all sorts of cleaning products but beneath the commercial aspect, the chemicals were being weaponised.
Before they could get too close to the danger mixtures, he held up a fist and stopped with Sanderson.
“Mask on, private.”
It was awkward to slot one on with his current mask set-up but after a couple minutes, they were both covered and could proceed into the deadly fumes. They clambered the rocks up to the pipes and Ghost climbed inside first. He went back to lower his arm and Sanderson gratefully took it, pulling himself up with a groan, too short to reach as easily. He nodded at Ghost and turned his attention to the grates blocking their way deeper.
“Set the charges,” Ghost ordered, keeping an eye out on the lake and its surroundings.
Behind him, Sanderson worked quick to pull out the small explosives from his bag. The noise might arouse suspicion but they didn’t have all night to cut away at the metal. Plus, most of the forces were heading into town to defend their strongholds.
“Charges set, sir,” Sanderson called out, stepping back towards him and safety.
Ghost hoped he’d done it right. “Light ‘em.”
Sanderson pressed the detonator, crowding to his side, and the small charges went off with reasonably quiet bangs. The grating remained standing but when Ghost gave it a nudge, it fell right into his hands. The younger soldier was quick to take part of the weight, setting the grate down against the side of the tunnel.
“Move, let’s find the hatch quick as we can.”
“Sir.”
Sanderson stayed close behind, scanning the dark tunnel for anything that might come running down. There was nothing. No rats, no bugs, just endless darkness that wafted with toxic air. Nothing could survive in this tunnel. Eventually, Ghost saw a ladder built into the wall and looked further up to find the hatch they were looking for. He climbed it and spun it open, and gave it a moment before poking his head up. It was still dark but there were no enemies.
“Clear. Get up here, kid.”
Sanderson joined him quickly, giving the room a check despite Ghost’s call out. He was careful and Ghost appreciated that he wasn’t completely brain-dead like some other greens. He seemed to be fully aware of how dangerous this all was.
For now, Ghost hadn’t needed his help. He could’ve done all this himself but the easy part was over. Now, they had to make their way through the maintenance hallways to get to the control room. He wondered how much he’d need him then.
For a few minutes, everything went according to plan. There were no enemies down here and they’d gone far enough away from the waste tunnel to be able to remove their gas masks. Their lights shone across the bare concrete walls and the only sounds were their footsteps and breaths.
But eventually, something had to go wrong.
“The path’s blocked,” Ghost called out, coming to stop to step aside and show Sanderson.
The door ahead was covered up by boxes, crates and pallets. It would take too long to move all the junk out of the way. Ghost held back a sigh.
“Do we call it in, sir?”
“No. We have to keep moving. Look for another way.”
Sanderson nodded and gave a soft sigh at their situation. There had been doors they’d come across but all of them had turned up useless. Except one.
“Sir, we saw that one corridor towards the factory.”
Ghost turned and weighed their options. After a moment, he shook his head. “Could be too risky. There will be civilians and guards working those machines. Let’s leave that as a last option.”
Sanderson didn’t seem too upset at being shut down. Instead, he carried on searching with Ghost. Maybe it was worth moving the junk aside but then again, why block all this off? Was it dangerous down there? A leak, maybe?
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
Ghost almost wanted to laugh at what Sanderson was pointing at. There was a vent, low enough for them to climb into. The problem wasn’t reaching it, it was fitting inside. The longer he stared up from Sanderson’s hand to the vent, the more he liked the idea of going towards the factory.
“I...”
“Scared of tight spaces, sir?”
Ghost whirled back on him with a cold stare. Sanderson didn’t budge.
“No,” he stated firmly. “I’m not. I’m more concerned about getting stuck.”
“I won’t get stuck. I’ll fit in there just fine.”
“I might not.”
Sanderson stepped closer and of all things, took a lap around Ghost, eyeing him up and down. After a moment, he returned in front of him, humming.
“Take off your vest. You’ll fit if you do.”
Ghost couldn’t tell if he was joking. “You an expert at crawling in vents, private?”
He felt the need to remind him of their ranks, of how bizarre Sanderson’s request was. But the kid looked up at him confidently.
“Not vents but caves. I do crawls all the time, have since I was little. Help me get the panel off and I’ll prove it to you. I’ve seen guys your size squeeze through tiny rock formations. You can absolutely do this. Without this bulky vest.”
He wasn’t budging on his idea. It was worth a try. Giving his attention to the panel of the vent, he dragged a crate over to stand on, reached for his multi-tool, and started unscrewing the top right corner. Sanderson crowded close on the box and took the top left. They were done quickly and Ghost needed a second to will himself to take off his vest. When he did, Sanderson gave him a nod. He was smiling under the fabric mask. Ghost could see it in his eyes.
“I’ll go first,” he offered, although Ghost would’ve made him do so regardless.
He grabbed the edges of the vent and pulled himself inside, legs tucking in right after. He shuffled deeper into the metal confines and was able to roll over to look back at Ghost. There was enough space for Sanderson. A guy his size could’ve probably pitched a home in there and have room to spare.
“You coming, Lt?”
Ghost’s head snapped up at that. Only Soap shortened his rank like that. With a heavy sigh, he climbed in after Sanderson and kept his vest in front of him, pushing it along. The walls of the vent were pressed into his shoulders and thighs, constantly reminding him that he could very easily get stuck and remain here unable to reach for his weapons. Instead of letting those thoughts control him, he took a deep breath and followed Sanderson’s crawling form.
A couple minutes passed before the silence was interrupted.
“You doing okay back there, sir?”
Ghost wasn’t. “I’m fine. Keep moving.”
As far as he could tell, they were following the hallways they should’ve been traversing on foot. But it was impossible to know for certain.
“Sir, lights off,” Sanderson hissed suddenly.
Ghost reached for the light clipped to his helmet, sending the vent in complete darkness. Except he could see light coming from deeper inside, below them. There was noise too, filtering in like a door had been opened. Slowly, Sanderson continued crawling. His body passed over the grates of the vent, darkening the passage temporarily. When Ghost got there, he glanced down at a room with two armed guards.
He moved quickly while there was still noise covering up his movements.
Eventually, the vent tunnels came to an end. There was a grate up ahead which Sanderson worked on for a good minute before punching it free and finally climbing down. Ghost didn’t even chastise him for the noise. He was looking forward to getting out and standing on his own two feet again, but the grate had dropped them into another venting system, one that fed along the ground and was large enough to crouch. It was a crawl space more than anything else.
“Sir, we should get-” Sanderson began, just as Ghost noticed a shadow move across the floor through the grating on the wall.
He immediately rushed to silence Sanderson as quietly as he could, smothering a hand across his mouth and lowering him down onto the ground. It was the only way Ghost could see what was happening in the next room. Boots crossed his vision and he strained to understand what was being called out over the enemies’ radios. His knowledge of kurdish was awful and he doubted Sanderson understood a word of what was being said.
The younger man squirmed beneath him. Maybe despite his hobbies, he didn’t like to feel trapped but Ghost had no choice but to lay down over him, hand over his mouth so he’d keep quiet. Sanderson let out a small whimper against his gloved palm and Ghost realised he’d been cutting off the poor lad’s air. He moved his palm lower to just cover his mouth and Sanderson whined again. He strengthened his grip, fingers surely leaving red marks under the kid’s mask as he silenced him. Sanderson couldn’t stop squirming and it was beyond distracting.
Without his vest, all Ghost had was a long sleeved shirt and he could feel the heat coming off the private where his small vest didn’t cover him. Once they were able to move, he’d throw out a lazy apology for having shoved his hips against Sanderson’s backside but right now, his attention was on the angry guards quickly arming up.
They were grabbing every gun they could carry, shouting at one another. Whatever was happening in the town was surely a sight to see but Ghost would have to wait and hear it from the others. He prayed the sergeants were alright and that Price was handling the situation.
Soon, the frantic men were running out of the room and running down a hallway Ghost could hardly see anything of before the door fell shut. He waited a minute before moving. His first act was to remove his hand from Sanderson’s face and give his shoulder a squeeze of reassurance. His second act was to kick out the grating and crawl out of the vent and into the room. His third was to throw his vest quickly back on.
Sanderson slowly escaped the vent and stumbled to his feet.
“You okay, private?” Ghost asked, not really looking his way.
“Mhmm, yep.”
Ghost glanced at him in concern. He hadn’t choked the poor kid, had he? But then he realised what had caused such a weak response. Sanderson didn’t even hide it. He knew where Ghost’s eyes settled and he flopped his arms against his side, erection obscenely tenting his black combat trousers. Ghost had no words.
“You were on top of me for ages, smothering me,” Sanderson accused, reaching down to press down on the base as he took a step further into the room. “Can’t blame me. It was hot as fuck.”
Ghost wasn’t sure what to say. Sanderson was packing heat. He tried to stop staring, he really did, but between shouting at himself mentally and actually tearing his eyes away, nothing happened. The worst part was that Sanderson had no shame, visibly trying to ease off and soften for the sake of their mission.
“Is that why you were squirming so much?” Ghost finally asked, able to form words successfully enough.
“Yeah.” Sanderson flicked his gaze at his crotch briefly. “I could feel the whole thing.”
“The...” Ghost blinked. Oh. “My dick.”
Sanderson was definitely smirking now. He could see the shape of it beneath his tight mask.
“You’re a big guy, Lt. Couldn’t help it. Sorry if it bothers you.”
“It doesn’t.”
Sanderson’s gaze hardened at that. Ghost knew he couldn’t take back what he’d said but this was not the time to fall to his knees or to shove the kid down on all fours. But damn, he wanted to now. The private managed to get his body under control at last but words had been exchanged. Damning words. And Ghost couldn’t hide the fact he’d barely taken his eyes off that thing.
Clearing his throat, Ghost attempted to get back on track. The makeshift armoury had computer screens with video feeds.
“Your vents took us even closer,” he stated, really trying to put all that business aside even though his own body had started to feel warmer than usual. “It’s just down the hall.”
Sanderson came to look and nodded. “We got this, sir.”
“Agreed. Come on. We’re out in the open now, live fire should be expected.”
“No one in the hallway.”
Ghost eyed the cam feed and took a step back, readying his weapon in case it was necessary. Only one door stood between them and their goal. He’d be pissed if they failed now. With one nod at Sanderson, he went for the door and opened it carefully.
The hallway was still clear. He could hear noise from further to the left, the area they’d been circumventing through the ceiling. Taking lead, he headed towards the control room at the end of the corridor. There had been no feed in there. Once Sanderson was pressed against the wall opposite him, Ghost counted down on his fingers.
“One,” he whispered. “Go.”
He and Sanderson stormed the doors. There were people inside, some armed, some just manning the systems of the factory. It didn’t matter. He opened fire and downed every person on the left side of the room, taking them all by surprise before they could react. Sanderson handled his own and soon, they were the only ones alive.
“Close the doors, block them.”
“Sir.”
Sanderson moved quick as Ghost headed to the main controls for the gates outside where the rest of the soldiers had been waiting to storm. He reached for his radio.
“Delta-Actual, this is Lieutenant Riley. How copy?”
“ Loud and clear. What’s your status? ”
“We’re inside the control room. Standing by for orders. Are we proceeding?”
“ Yes. Proceed. We’ve been dying to give ‘em hell. ”
Ghost scoffed. “Copy that, Actual. Opening the gates now. We’ll hold the fort from in here.”
“ Understood, Lieutenant. You are free to open fire on any enemies. I repeat, weapons are loose. ”
“Copy. Good hunting, Actual. Over and out here.”
Ghost put aside his radio and searched for the controls. He flicked a couple switches and pressed a button. Sanderson looked across the screens.
“It’s opening, sir.”
On the display, the gate had opened wide, much to the confusion and fear of the insurgents. With the town falling more and more to the combined forces, Ghost knew the battle would soon be over. He watched a tank roll up into the entrance, surrounded by a flood of soldiers and smirked as it fired upon the enemies hiding behind whatever cover they could find. The explosions could be heard even in here.
“I wouldn’t mind firin’ a tank someday,” Sanderson mused, coming over to watch the free show.
“It’s fun,” Ghost admitted. He glanced at the kid. “You’ve done well today.”
Sanderson was clearly touched but he bowed his head. “Mission’s not over, sir. I’m not resting and letting my guard down until I’m back at base with a drink in hand.”
“Good man but are you even old enough to drink, private?”
Clearly and expectantly, his joke wasn’t taken well and Sanderson rolled his eyes. “I’m twenty-one, sir. I can drink back home, and I can drink here too.”
“Christ.” He eyed him up. “You’re aiming for SAS, right?”
Sanderson straightened his back. “Yes, sir. I hope this mission gives me a boost. I could really use it. I’d be the youngest to join.”
“You’d beat Soap.”
“Who?”
“My sergeant. He joined at twenty-five.”
Sanderson whistled low. “Damn. All the more reason to give him a run for his money.”
“You might.”
Ghost was willing to put in a good word for the kid. Despite his age and his lack of experience, he’d done well and every kill on his side of the room had been clean and precise. He hadn’t gotten a chance to shoot much but what he’d done had impressed Ghost. So a kind note on his record would be more than suitable. Twenty minutes passed before the teams searching through the factory and the compound managed to reach the control room. At least they didn’t barge in. When Ghost saw they approaching, he sent Sanderson to free the access to the door. Soon, the room was being taken over by American soldiers and Ghost was relieved of his duty as overwatch.