TEW x CoD au
Implied child abuse/torture
It was part of the way to make sure the captives in Zaragoza remained loyal—to hook them up to an odd machine and slowly strip away their personality until they were a blank slate. Scare them to death until they have to comply. Or let their weakness take them, leave their bodies out back when they cleaned up. It's smart, it works.
But of course every system has flaws.
Simon Riley fought as he was put under. Falling and falling into pitch black until rain dripped on his ice cold skin.
He's never been in a place like this. Not his home in the UK, not any base he stayed at in the US, and certainly not where he got captured in Mexico. It's somewhere scarier. Somewhere that makes him shudder with each creak of the trees around him. Though, he lived in—thrived in—a place with wobbly floorboards and squeaky doors.
Except this place didn't have a pure monster to hold him against the wall as the belt came down on his hip.
Just unwilling participants, their weaknesses determining how they'd interact with this world.
His hands only tremble as the wind forces a shiver down his spine. It's unfamiliar, but not deadly for a trained eye. Riley knows what to look for, can hear before anything approaches.
With no one to protect but himself, he can figure his way through the maze that seemed to be this world tearing itself apart. He's alone here. No Sparks, or Washington, or Tommy. His stomach still flips when something growls in the shadows, but it doesn't matter when his silent steps are undetectable for a beast simply using echolocation.
He doesn't want to kill. Not these men, these people. Forced to become mangled and broken. He can feel something pulling him in the same direction with every hour. Splitting headache, moments of coming to after everything seemed to fade to black, ears ringing so loud he was sure there'd be blood.
Their purpose is to be frightful. Somewhere in him, Simon thinks he understands.