tw: gn reader, angst (another unfinished draft, i added some more just for context sake)
"He's a fuckin' liar, Kate." - Price
There was always a nagging feeling, a silent whisper at the back of your mind that where you are now — you don't belong. You always felt strange, felt unsure and uneasy even, calling Shepherd your father. You rarely ever mentioned it unless it was necessary, for both privacy and personal reasons, as it always seemed to draw unwanted fascination. Even Shepherd would avoid the topic, causing those who find out to become wide eyed and confused, mentioning things like no resemblance and lack of emotional interaction. You always had a target on your back from your fathers affairs, aiming to cut him where it hurts and use his weakness against him.
Naturally, you enrolled in the military at a young age. You were forced into vigorous training regimens and weirdly particular tests growing up, under the guidance of Shepherd, who deemed it as 'essential for the future'. An odd statement, you thought, but chalked it up as just an over protective father preparing his child for what the military holds. It took little time for you to be recruited for Task Force 141, your lifetime of training paid off in proving yourself worthy. Price saw a bit of himself in you, often offering praise with a pat on the back after a successful mission.
Very few suspected anything, and no one really questioned the validity of your connection with Shepherd. At first, you didn’t either. It wasn’t until small details began clicking in your head, each puzzle piece creating a bigger picture. There is no resemblance between the two of you, not a single feature seemed to match. The way his title as “father” felt odd, and the various subtle shifts in his body and demeanor around curtain topic.
Confronting him in the ways you knew best, he never seemed to budge. So instead, you took matters into your own hands. Past curfew, you snuck into his office and riffled through his drawers. Illegal? Sure, but answers is all you needed. In a particular drawer was a file that seemed out of place, as if purposefully hidden there. Inside the folder was various papers with information you never could have imagined.
You realized, while reading the documents as quickly as possible, that you were in fact adopted. Not a normal adoption, no, one done by force. Your parents were “terminated” in favor of using you as a human experiment. Experiments to create a “better soldier”. Your parents..your real parents, were murdered in cold blood by someone you believed to be your father.