Work Text:
LOOK OF LOVE
The debris and bullets rained overhead as Ghost made his way through the streets of the warzone. The civil war had been raging in the small country for months now with no end in sight. The whole country was declared a no travel zone, but that didn’t stop special forces. They had a pass to go wherever whenever and it had been invoked this time for the special op. Solo mission one man in, make their way to the residential compound of one of the revolution leaders and get him out of the country his family had long been removed to safety in a nearby country but it was the leaders turn to find safety. The fight could continue from a safer strategic location.
Ghost hated being so exposed in the broad daylight but timing was critical. The intelligence they received they knew was delayed so the sooner they could get him out the better. The overturned cars in the streets and the glass and brick strewn pavement from the riots earlier still blocked the roads and pavement making the journey treacherous in places as well.
The compound was just ahead, Ghost needed to get to the back gate and pray the intel on the code was correct. The several feet high concrete and stone walls of the compound were riddled with bullets and covered in graffiti, so praising the leader, some denouncing him.
The gate was dented in near the middle the result of a car trying to run it down earlier in the day, the offending vehicle was just across the street turned on its roof, a blood trail leading from the drivers side window and down the pavement to where the body of the driver was tied to a lamppost long dead from the beating he received from the Leaders security detail.
Ghost pushed himself flush against the inner part of the gate pole as a car came down the street weaving through debris it turned before it reached the Lieutenants position.
Allowing himself a small sigh of relief, Ghost entered the code Kate had him memorize. No paperwork of intelligence could be on his person. Even his clothes for the most part were non descript. No flashes on his plate carrier, no markings on his guns, not even any tags or branding anywhere on his clothes. The only thing setting him apart being the black balaclava with the skull face print on it he wore to cover his face. He would have preferred his other one with the hard shell mask but the flat printed one was a bit easier to blend with.
The code worked and the little box beeped a happy chirpy little tune as the old gates creaked open, the efficiency of them hindered by both time and the dent. Ghost slipped through it the second it became big enough to fit though and following the map in his head he made his way into the house another code opened the door and he made quick work getting inside. The house was calm, too calm, he had been given a code word to tell any staff or security he encountered. But there was none, the place was still and silent, too silent. He looked into the first room, the kitchen. It was not a pleasant sight. The bodies of a cook, two maids and what looked like a butler were strewn about each laying where they fell a single bullet in each of their heads. Down the hall there were more bodies, these looked like private security.
A shuffle above made Ghost quicken his pace up the stairs, more bodies clogged the hall leading towards the back where the office was said to be.
Ghost shoved open the door instinct kicked in and he shot the unknown face hovering over the Resistance Leader, hands around his neck. The unknown person fell to the ground taking the leader with him Ghost rushed over and pulled the unknown off the leader.
Ghost checked for a pulse, weak and hard to find but there. He checked him over and found several bullet wounds to his arms and torso. He pulled the first aid kit from his belt and started patching them.
He got the leader over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and started back to the street.
“Bravo 7 to Yankee 7 need a exfil on the hurry to get as close as possible to the primary target area” Ghost called over the radio to his way out. 141’s pilot extraordinaire.
“Yankee 7 to Bravo 7 i can set down the gated in park three blocks south west the larger black building” Nikolai responded. “Fighing is not as chaotic there”
“Enroute” Ghost replied, getting his cargo sitting comfortably and headed towards exfil.
The route to the exfil was one of the better ones, and Ghost made quick work to the park. Getting in was harder but Ghost was able to make it into the clearing as Nikolai set down. He got the target laying on the floor and strapped him in before climbing in.
“He looks, not good” Nik said once Ghost had his headphone linked to the chopper.
“They got to him before I could. He's alive, barely but really roughed up.” Ghost replied leaning forward and checking on the rebellion leader. He was even worse, the field med kit he carried was not the greatest there was not very much he could carry in situations like this. Ghost sighed they were still far from any safe medical facility and his medical knowledge was not that good when it came to taking care of more than a few stitches on himself or wrapping a sprain.
Nik let him know he would go as fast as possible though the best route. Ghost just nodded and watched the slow uneven rise and fall of the man in front of his chest get weaker and weaker.
=-=-=
Nik landed the chopper on the runway of the base in the semi friendly company. They were friendly as long as the men and the British forces did as this country's military and government asked.
Ghost exited the helicopter, his charge draped in his arm he had covered the man's face with a clean rag Nik had in the helicopter. Ghost had performed CPR most of the way to the safe zone. He’d even used the AED Nik had.
The Medical staff still moved forward with the stretcher and took the body. Ghost gave the soldier that accompanied him a brief run down of what happened and that he would file his full report when he got back to his base before crawling back into the helicopter this time in the front this time he leaned his head back and closed his eyes to zone out as Nik took off to head back to home base.
“You ok Simon?” Nik asked
“Solid” Ghost asked but a pain still pulled in his chest. He hated when missions went wrong. But this one just hit harder. Behind the med team was the man’s family. Whoever ok’d that was an idiot but still seeing those kids peek out from behind their mother eyes on the verge of tears. It hit hard.
The ride back base was quiet including the fuel stops. As they landed in Credenhill, Ghost looked out, he knew Soap would not be waiting; he was due back later after a quick visit to Tehran to check in with some men there. Price was waiting as was Kate and three decidedly arrogant looking government officials with base visitor passes next to their government ID clipped on their suits that cost more than a soldier earned in six years.
Ghost exited the helicopter and stretched as he headed over to the waiting people. Price looked annoyed and Kate had a mix of annoyance and a look that said sorry while her eyes darted to look at the government men.
They group made their way to Kate’s office once inside Ghost was instructed to sit at one of the chairs in front of the desk. Price sat to his right the men behind the desk while Kate sat on the side of her desk.
“Is he going to take off that mask?” One of the government officials asked, looking at Kate and Price.
“No he will not be taking off this mask” Ghost replied keeping his voice flat not wanting to stir up any trouble or drag whatever this was, on for longer than needed.
Unfortunately that didn’t help for the next two hours he was reemed, out by the government officials Kate and Price defending him Price even being kicked out of the room. Ghost just stared ahead focusing on a photo of the team Kate kept on the cabinet behind her desk. Focusing on Soap, His Johnny. Even in a photograph that lopsided smirk and light in his eyes could keep Ghost grounded. He wanted to lash out; he wanted to hit one of the government men, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything. He didn’t need a court marshal or even civilian charges laid against him. His chest still ached as he tried to focus on Soap. In the picture his lover's image was replaced with the young kids looking out from behind their mother, their eyes moving between their fathers limp body and the man carrying it. What were they told, were they told that their father was fighting for a better future for them, were they told that the man carrying him tried to save their father but that the man’s government always seemed to get the shittiest intel for this area and therefor that was what most likely lead to the killers getting to their father first. That the man that brought their fathers body back had tried to save him, near rib fracturing compressions to try and keep him alive were performed without giving up. Or would they be told that the man sent to save him failed. Full stop.
“I think we are done, this is done” Kate said standing. “You’ve said you piece let my man get cleaned up and write his report, maybe if you moved your asses faster to allow aid this could have all been prevented”
The government men huffed but gathered their things and left spewing off something about visiting the intelligence department later.
Ghost stiffly stood from the low chair
“Go have a shower and grab something to eat. Soap’s plane should be landing in an hour or so” Kate said.
Ghost just nodded and headed back to the barracks. Price and Nik were at the table with Roach and Gaz having dinner when he entered.
“We saved you some Simon” Price said “for you and Soap if his plane lands when it should you can both have dinner together.
Ghost just nodded and went to his room. He emptied his plate carrier and tossed it and his blood stained clothes and mask in a rubbish bag, the clothes could be replaced and the plate carrier was an extra that could go. He opened his window and tossed it out and a bit sideways it would land by the large bin for rubbish collection day.
He got in the shower letting the hot water over his body. It went a long way to help ease the tension in his muscles. He lathered up his hair and body then stood in the stream of water till it first ran clear then ran cold. He stepped out and wrapped the towel around himself and exited the washroom and dug through his dresser drawers pulling out black joggers and a black t-shirt, he pulled them on then laid on his bed. The stupid government officials thought everything was always perfect and the plans and time lines didn;t change that things were as easy as their little models predicted.
He shouldn’t let them get to him, he normally never did but this mission was hard, he’d lost people in the field before and not all of them were friends some were just targets for rescue, but this one stuck with him, he hadn’t had much down time between assignments and the fatigue was getting to him, bringing up the darker thoughts of the past, prior missions that went sideways, those they had lost over time. He didn’t know when he drifted off to sleep. Not that it was restful, he tossed and turned nightmarish scenes of the past filling his head.
He jolted awake, something in his mind telling him to run, he went to get off the bed but was met with a friendly face, a soft smile and those beautiful blue eyes that he could get lost in forever.
Soap was back, ghosts mind wouldn’t fully focus on the words, the Scott softly spoke he just looked eyes and his heart rate started to slow, his breathing became normal and his body relaxed.
Soap smiled and he noticed Ghost calming. The smile gave even more of a delightful glint to the man's eyes.
Ghost allowed himself a smile as he kept eye contact. He was a blessed man in times like this when he could see the compassion, and the healing behind blues eyes.
FOCUSED
The team moved through the palatial compound. The drug trafficking ring had been a target of the SAS and other world government agencies for a while and finally they had intel to act on. The travel to the main operation hub hadn’t taken too long as the leader's compound was on the outskirts of a small Finnish village.
The early sunset was a huge help but they could do without the negative twenty weather. Even Soap who grew up in the chilly Scottish highlands was extra bundled up and still complained as much as the rest of them moving his fingers to fight off the chilling stiffness.
They were working with a larger team than normal. On top of the 141 members there was a platoon from the Finnish military that came with them, as they knew the terrain better and it was always good to have extra hands when it came to these large operations.
The ease of making it though the snow covered terrain and into the building should have been their first clue that something was up. It wasn’t quite a set up but something must have tipped off the group and it became an ambush. As the firefight raged on the snow and bad weather of the area had picked up and now they were trapped in a blizzard, the majority of the group here together with others spread out through the compound. There were still hostels around as occasionally the sounds of gunfire would erupt somewhere outside the room.
Ghost found himself pinned down in a garage like with his teammates and about half the platoon, Price was trying to keep a concussed Gaz awake while Ghost was trying to tie a bandage around his Captain’s arm. Ghost himself had a small graze on his upper thigh but it had long stopped bleeding. There were other injured men sitting or laying in various spots in the garage that also seemed to
He watched as Soap along with two Fins a Sargent Laine and an Undersergeant Juuso checked their position. They could hear the wind raging outside, even if the remaining targets didn’t get to them there was no way to get to the vehicles and not be trapped by the weather. While they were dressed for the cold they were not prepared for the raging blizzard, not with this many injured.
Soap was starting to limp. He had taken a harder fall on some stairs but had bounced right back up but now in the damp cold of the back of the compound he was starting to hurt though he would never say anything.
Ghost checked another Fin this young mane went but the name Vihreä the finish word for green as he was brand new to the military and this platoon, it was also his first real mission so the nickname fit him well. He had been hit in the shoulder and Ghost was not sure if the young man’s calmness was legit or shock.
He looked up as he heard Soap swear.
“There is an explosive device in this room. The timer is low and it looks like it’s on the servers to destroy any evidence.” Soap announced "Was it remotely activated just now?” He said looking around “Nope we triggered it entering and if we try to leave before the timer ends we will set it off early.”
There was a murmur from the 10 or so men looking around at the smaller enclosed space, the firefight outside still going.
“I need all who are able bodies to move these crates and boxes between us” Soap instructed the men started doing as told
Soap crouched down and looked at the device, he started rambling off specification, Ghost never fully knew what they meant but knew Soap no matter what loved to admire another explosives experts handiwork.
He watched as Soap's eyes narrowed in on the electronic components. It made his heart flutter. There was something about the way Soap’s eyes looked when they were so focused on a task that made Ghost feel almost giddy. Whether it was when looking at Ghost when they were curled up in bed, Soap's fingers tracing Ghost’s scars, or in the heat of a fight like now. His eyes just took on a new look in concentration and it was infatuating.
Ghost was so lost in thought of Soap’s beautiful eyes that he almost didn’t hear his lover asking him to hand him one of his tools from his bag. He snapped out of it and handed it to the man. Though as he watched the love of his life work it was so easy to slip back into that warm dreamy feeling.
The counter paused at 2 seconds left.
“How’s that for a movie moment finish” Soap smiled as he made sure the incendiary material was far away from anything left on the bomb that could ignite it.
“Fantastic” Was all Ghost could say lost in those eyes it took everything in him not to grab his Johnny close and kiss him hard as he could while backing the other man up against the wall of the compound.
Soap smiled and winked; he knew what that look in Ghost’s eyes meant and he didn’t break eye contact as he focused on Ghost with the same concentrated look he gave the bomb.
“Hey you two now that we won’t blow up when we leave this place can you help us get the rest of the men out” Price said peering around the makeshift blast barricade. “The guys outside have everything cleared up so we can get the hell out of here.”
Ghost blinked and gave his whole body a quick shake while Soap just smirked and didn’t let up on his gaze as they started moving the injured.
Those blue eyes were going to get them in trouble one day.
BLUE EYED FURY
Pure unadulterated rage and blind furry, that is what was all that most of the victims saw. They had been pinned down in an alleyway in some small village that neither could properly pronounce in a corrupt little country in South America. They had lost their path to exfil and found themselves lost and surrounded by the local militia that they had so hoped to avoid.
The corrupt leader's personal army knew full well the British special forces men were in the country to try and find information to bring down their leader. Not that they were loyal by any means other than monetary. They were well paid so they would defend the tyrant at all costs.
They were facing those costs now. One had taken great love that they had opened fire hitting the taller of the two men in the shoulder, leg and grazing his head.
Ghost had let out a grunt of pain and tried to keep upright, Soap, his partner both for the mission and in life, had turned, dragging them into cover. Ghost had wanted to tell Soap he was fine that the bullet wounds would heal but the graze had dazed him and he was finding forming words hard, he also didn’t seem to be able to lift his arm to reassure his love either.
The men that were surrounding them may have gotten off easy or maybe in some slim chance won, but they made a huge mistake. As Soap was hastily applying pressure bandages from his field kit one of the men started to laugh. And in full english that further revealed his bought and paid for mercenary position in the militia talked about what they could do to the two men before they executed them. Things that no person should endure: things Ghost had faced in his past when a prisoner of Mexican drug cartel leader Roba. The entire group laughed and added what they would contribute.
Something in Soap shifted. The look of concerned concentration faded and a wild look took over. Soap’s face went into a hard blank expression only his eyes showing the fiery rage within. He checked Ghosts bandages once more then stood arming himself with this gun and his knife.
The spray of bullets from his gun took out the first line of men, others started forward knowing he would be out of ammo soon, but the last few bullets took out the next few then the hand to hand started, the knife plunging deep into the next few men that rushed him. The first knife was kicked from his hand, Soap ducked and dodged the next hit in the process retrieving his second blade from the hilt attached to the back of his belt, he stood up taking out that attacker with the knife then used the man's body as a shield as he kicked a wheeled dumpster sending it to a few others.
Ghost watched. There was no other word for it but carnage unfolded in front of him, Soap had turned into a one man killing army and was taking no prisoners and showing no mercy. The hardness of Soap’s face had disappeared and what looked like something between a snarl and a smile creased his face now along with an even more wild feral look in his eyes, Ghost had never seen either like this. There was something about it that made Ghost want to turn away but couldn’t, there was something so terrifying and unsettling in that look, the almost joy Soap was having in breaking the men who cornered them.. Ghost saw his lover in a whole new light and didn’t know if he liked this look. It made him scared of his own partner, yet there was a part of him that also felt honoured and grateful that Soap cared this much for him to be this feral in his defence.
“Stand down MacTavish” Ghost heard from near the end of the alley.
Soap paused his final target in his hand pinned against the wall face beaten it to an unrecognizable bloodied mess. Bodies strewn around him, others who had started to run for their life now on their knees, hands on their heads as Price, and Gaz stood at the alley’s opening, the back up Ghost had forgotten they called had arrived.
Soap looked at the man in his hand and dropped him, the body crumbling in a heap. He looked at Price and Gaz then turned to head back to Ghost.
“Im alright Johnny I will be ok” Ghost whispered finally able to find some words.
Soap said nothing, his face back in the neutral expression but the rages still slowly calming in his eyes melting back into the look of concerned concentration as he didn’t speak but instead featured for Gaz to come help him get Ghost up.
“Thank you” , Ghost said as they got him standing one arm in a sling Soap protected him on that side and put an arm around his back as Gaz did the same on the other side making sure his uninjured arm was over his shoulders. The two sergeants helped their lieutenant limp towards the alley opening and into a waiting car that looked like their back up had commandeered from a local
Soap was quiet the entire way to the exfil and was still quiet as Ghost faded into a pain medication induced sleep.
=-=-=-=-
Ghost woke to a dark room, his body ached all over with his head being the worst. His arm seemed to still be in an immobilizer type sling but his leg felt like it was just wrapped. He attempted to sit and was hit with the wave of nausea no doubt from a concussion from the bullet graze. He risked pain and nausea from turning his head to do so and saw the love of his life curled up in a hospital bed of his own Price sitting between them.
“He was on the war path but he was not impermeable” Price said, seeming to read Ghost’s mind “The bullet in his side should have been enough to bring him down but adrenalin in a hell of a drug. Broken hand and knuckles, on his right hand and pretty nasty knife wound on his hip will keep him out for as long at the knock to your noggin and fractured shoulder will keep you on the sidelines”
Ghost just painfully nodded, and drifted back to sleep, the painfilled concussed dreams filled with the scenes of Soap’s utter brutality to the men who threatened them. His memories did not focus on the blood or the hits, they only focused on the feral look in Soap's eyes and the more he dreamed of them the less they scared him and more they made him feel safe, and loved.
=-=-=-=
Ghost watched as Soap made his way from the kitchen to sofa two recliners with tea and a coffee in hand. He was healing well but still moved slowly. The wound in his side was taking its time to fully heal. Ghost was doing much better, head only a little fuzzy now and then but the headaches were gone, just his shoulder was left to heal still in its sling they were up in their Scottish cottage on leave to heal together. Soap put the mugs down on the table in front before sitting next to Ghost who pulled him in to lean on his good side.
“Oh good choice” He said looking at the tv “Forgot the new series of Landscape Artist of the Year was started”
“Tonight this is the first one” GHost replied “They’re at Hampton Court”
“Nice”
“You should try out for it” Ghost said
“Maybe when I’m old and retired” Soap said “If we live that long”
“We will” Ghost smiled
“Look at you being mister optimistic for once” Soap smiled looking at Ghost who turned and looked at him.
“I have a new outlook now that I'm with you.” Ghost replied.
“Oh” Soap smiled. Ghost nodded and kissed him. Soap leaned in more returning the kiss.
“You’re my everything and I saw that in South America” Ghost replied
“I don’t remember much” Soap sheepishly replied “I didn’t want them touching you and then adrenaline kicked in and I blacked out. Price said it was brutal i’m sorry to show that side but”
“Stop” Ghost cut him off, “It was scary at first, but I'm ok with it now. Your eyes show so much, the care and concern you show when others are at their breaking point, the concentration when dealing with a tough puzzle or task at hand, and that feral rage when someone you love is threatened. The Johnny I love has so many qualities that bring me that joy and love but there behind those blue eyes there is the real Johnny, the man I will be with till the end of time.”
Soap blushed, and Ghost pulled him in tight again for another kiss.
Ghost loved his blue eyed man.