I sit down. I open my doc. I crack my knuckles. I prepare to write. A tumbleweed blows across my completely empty mind. I close my laptop. I lay down. I die.
Is there any story lines or blurbs y’all would be interested in or wanna request for ‘the ghoul’ Cooper Howard? Could also be other fallout requests? X readers?
I’d love to start writing for the fallout fandom again, lmk inbox is always open and I’ll get to them as soon as possible
Badger, a close combat specialist as been asked to join Task force 141 assist with carrying out the mission of capturing Hassan, what happens when a Badger gets backed into a corner.
or
almost a retelling of the Modern warfare campaign but lets add found family, romance? and maybe a twist
Chapter 1 > Prologue
Chapter 2 > Kill or Capture
Chapter 3 > Cartel Protection
Chapter 4 > Close Air
Chapter 5 > El Sin Nombre
Chapter 6 > Dark Waters
Chapter 7 > Interlude
Chapter 8 > Ghost Team
Chapter 9 > Why hes called...
Chapter 10 > Countdown Skip summary
Chapter 11 > The moments after
That's all guys! thank you so much for your continued support! I look forward to writing more for yall directly! please if you have any ideas let me know I would love to work on them for you!
A/N two things guys, firstly im so sorry at how long this chapter took, i struggle to write actual romance when its direct, especially when i know i want it to lead to something with a little heat, but i actually am a little proud of this one and hope yall like this chapter and it doesn't seem too out of character. Secondly, yall this is the end! i think i might write a few blurbs from Simon or Johnny's perspective from a few chapters. Thirdly ( i lied sorry) I would love to write anything for yall, send me ideas or comment directly on this post and ill see what i can do <3 thank yall so much for the support yall have offered this whole time!
They nearly collapsed into the SUVs. Simon surprisingly tolerated being piled on by Johnny who now that they were away from prying eyes, hadn't let go of either of them and instead pulled Badger down on to him to the point that Badger felt like he might be crushing him. Johnny didn't complain.
It was a long ride and Simon kept shaking them awake keeping them from falling asleep so soon after being concussed. The medic had insisted on at least two hours of them staying awake and monitored before they could simply go to sleep. Badger understood the reason but lamented the ability to sleep as soon as they hit the hotel room.
Johnny mindlessly filled the silence with conversation on nearly anything but he did seem to be avoiding speaking about the mission and he didn't ask Badger what had happened on overwatch that they nearly had to pull out. Instead though he did take to running a gentle but firm hand over the arm that he had trapped in his grasp. Badger hummed and nodded along to what Johnny was saying but he mostly paid attention to the passing city, he was counting cars and noting landmarks that they drove past. Johnny grumbled something at Simon when he started to fall off from speaking, and he twisted about in his position in the middle to nearly lay in both of their laps before he continued speaking. He had put his legs across Badgers lap and had pulled the arm he trapped previously to his chest playing with his fingers rather than his arm, he put his head down on Simon's lap and looked up at him as he spoke, Badger was a little surprised to see a gloved hand come to settle on Johnny's collar.
It was another short while before they came to a rolling stop in front of a nice looking hotel that stretched high, the driver brought them to a side door instead of the front entrance and slipped them hotel room keys and explained that Laswell had set them up and for them to have a goodnight.
They each had been handed a key with instructions to the way up to the rooms and the reassurances that the building was safe and secure. The additional Sentries and assurances that no one else was permitted on their floor had Badgers shoulders relaxing a tad. It would be nice to get some actual rest and not have to worry about watching his or the others backs for one night.
He was listening to the Handler intently as he spoke to them but caught that Simon had leaned down to whisper into Johnny's ear while looking almost anxious over to him as they spoke. Badger chose to ignore that for right now.
Once the Handler dismissed them Simon took the lead to the floor that contained their rooms, Badger focused on the three doors that were close to each other but painfully separate. He knew logically that they should have their own rooms, that it not only would be necessary when whatever resources Laswell at her disposal clearly wasn't limited, it would be improper for the three of them to share a room without it being necessary. Separate. It had to be fine.
He was focused on trying to ignore his feelings of anxiety that he missed the look the Simon and Johnny shared before they offered pleasantries before stepping into their own rooms.
Badger's room was quaint, neat and tidy, specifically unlived in. He felt out of place, the niceties of the room were a source of anxiety rather than comfort. He could feel the grime of the day and mission as thin film over himself, he could only imagine staining anything that he touched in here. There was a duffle bag set on the end of the bed closest to the door. He carefully lifted it from the bed and dumped the contents of it on the overly lit counter of the restroom.
It was simple enough, several changes of clothes, a small first aid kit and a fresh pack of cigarettes. He hummed with approval plucking the pack from the collection of clean clothes and stepped from the restroom to pull the balcony door open.
It was a small balcony, almost small enough to not deserve the name, it barely seemed to fit him, especially with the tacky lone bar chair propped to overlook the ledge and built-in counter. It took him a moment to get situated but eventually he fit himself in the corner without the chair and instead leaned against the wall with one of the disposable paper cups as an ashtray. He was halfway through a cigarette and staring blankly at the stucco walls that made the balcony private when timid knocks on the door reached him.
He turned slowly to face the door in full and took the cigarette away from his lips waiting to see if the knocking would continue. It did, of course. Badger put out the cigarette in the makeshift ashtray and walked to the door, checking in the peep hole to see that it was Johnny with hair damp and fresh clothes knocking at the door.
Badger froze for the moment and checked the time, it had been almost an hour since they've arrived here, almost an hour of him not cleaned up, sitting in the dark and zoning out staring at a wall, while Johnny at least had the common sense to clean up and he could only imagine that Simon had too.
“Badger?” Johnny called through the door to him, he was staring again and hadn't opened the door. “Badger I know you're standing at the door, open up” It was lighthearted but he could hear the concern lacing his voice. He took a breath and passed his hands over his front trying to look a little neat, he was still in his vest. Fuck. Johnny called out for him louder this time, and the door handle shook a little with his effort. He was bringing too much attention. He opened the door suddenly, Johnny's hand raised to knock on it and he looked startled suddenly looking back at him instead of the door.
Badger looked down at Johnny, he should say something, put him at ease. Instead he stared frozen like a statue blocking the entrance into the still dark hotel room staring down at Johnny who seemed equally stuck.
“What's wrong Badge?” His voice was whispered, and he turned away from Badger to look down the halls at the sentries provided by Laswell's people. Badger shook his head trying to coalesce any thought instead of the fog that seemed to have settled in his mind since stepping into the too neat, too clean, too nice hotel room.
“Nothings wrong Johnny, why are you here?” Badger was surprised at how steady his voice had sounded, Johnny turned back to him his face was pinched with his own thoughts, his brow furrowed and his eyes seemed to bore into his own.
“Why are you still in your vest?” Johnny's hand came up to pull on one of the straps on the front of the vest, He pushed Badger into the room and he followed. He paused looking around the room, and his eyes settled on the counter that was the only source of light in the room right now. “Are you okay?” Johnny questioned as he went over to the counter that Badger had dumped the duffle bag on, he noticed that Johnny had his own that was settled at the door just out of sight. Badger stayed silent watching him as he was neatly putting everything back in his duffle before handing it to him.
“We’re going to Simon” Johnny smoothed his hands over Badger's arm before leading him towards his own door before collecting his own bag and leading them to Simon's door. Johnny didn't have to knock, Simon had opened the door right as they were reaching it. Badger looked down the hall before stepping in. Both the sentries in sight were staring pointedly in different directions or out windows, specifically not in their directions. Johnny pulled on his vest again to lead him in the room.
Simon stepped back to the table that was pushed against the wall where he meticulously disassembled all of his gear and had the contents of his duffle bag set out neatly for inspection. It was clear that he had been going over it before they interrupted. Except they hadn't. Simon seemed to have known they would be standing there. Badger chose to ignore that too.
Badger's eyes settled on Simon taking him in noting the significant lack of gear hadn't taken too much away from his bulk. He was wearing very similar lounge wear to Johnny and Badger presumed that he too had a set tucked away in the duffle. Although unlike Johnny who was wearing a tight short sleeve with his sweats Badger could see the looser collar of a long sleeve under the wider collar of the hoodie that had ‘Lt. Reily’ stitched into the breast.
Simon caught Badger's eye looking him over before he flicked his eyes over to Johnny then back to him.
“There's hot water” Simon announced to them, he was focused intently on Badger, but Badger simply felt foggy again. Like he wasn't there. He wanted to be there. Instead he hummed in acknowledgment and stood dumbly watching them stare at him. Simon and Johnny shared another look before Simon took a step towards him removing the bag from his hands, his fingers were warm against his. He wasn't wearing gloves. Badger took another moment to look Simon over.
He wasn't wearing gloves obviously, but he also was wearing a balaclava cut similar to what they all had worn in Mexico though he was missing the eye black. He had pretty blond lashes. He was speaking at him.
“Badge why don't you follow Johnny, yeah?” Simon urged as he set the bag down on the desk beside his own and he too started to root about the bag. Badger was distracted from his staring when Johnny's warm grasp pulled him towards the restroom.
This restroom had slightly better lights, less overwhelmingly bright and more warm lighting. Johnny was speaking to him lowly but he was having a hard time following along, though he was sharply pulled back to the conversation as Johnny worked on pulling his vest off. Badger had flashed out to grab at Johnny's wrist, he tried to keep his grasp from being bruising especially when he watched Johnny flinch in surprise.
“I got it.” It came out more as a broken grunt than anything else, but he tried to smile down at Johnny to reassure that he wasn’t mad. He just had to be the one. He needed then control, otherwise it would feel like it was being torn from him again leaving him open for attacks. He was safe here. He took a deep breath.
“Okay,” Johnny nodded back to him and stepped to the shower, turning it on and placing his hand in the water stream testing the temperature before turning back to Badger, who'd now managed to peel off most of his gear and harnesses trying and failing at putting them down in a neat manner. Johnny simply took them from him, and pressed his shoulder into his arm for a moment, just trying to be close. “I'll have Simon work on these while you're in the shower” And he stepped out leaving Badger alone. He didn't want to be alone.
He frowned momentarily watching as the door clicked shut after Johnny stepped out, and he turned back towards the now fogging mirror barely catching a glimpse of his own face. He looked rugged, dirty and exhausted. His forehead was patched up with actual stitches this time and his nose was taped again. He tore his gaze away and focused on undressing trying his best to ignore the multitude of angry red and deep purple bruises covering most of his body, especially trying to glance over the largest that centered on where his plate had stopped the close range shot from the AQ Solider that pulled one on him.
The shower was scalding and he took care to keep his face directly out of the shower at Simon's reminder tossed from the other side of the door. He scrubbed vigorously at his skin to the point that is was raw, stinging under the heat of the water and he was rougher than he needed to be washing his hair scratching at his scalp feeling the film of grime that seemed to have collected all over his body leasing its grip on him to slip into the drain.
The water turned cold. And he snatched the handle to stop the water. He could hear his breathing picking up slightly and tore at the shower curtain to escape the claustrophobic walls of the cold tile.
The warm air of the steam greeted him when the curtain was thrown open. His breathing calmed again.
A towel had been set out for him on the toilet seat and there was a change of clothes on the counter. He made quick work of drying himself and dressing, thankful to whoever Laswell had packed the bags that the clothes had been a bit loose on him.
He stepped from the restroom and glanced Simon and Johnny out on the balcony chatting, they were overlooking the city line joking with each other quietly.
He moved to join them but caught himself in a mirror that was on a closet door. Or rather more specifically he caught the stitching on the sweater he had previously put on carelessly. The neat little stitching of “Lt. Riley” not his name. He looked out to the balcony again to where Simon, in just the long sleeved undershirt, turned ever so slightly from where he was speaking to Johnny to watch him. He nodded his head in a silent invite to join them on the patio.
Simon's balcony was significantly bigger than the one in his own room, but it was similarly blocked in by stucco walls although it lacked the tacky built-in counter and lone chair. Instead it boasted two monotoned modern deck chairs with an equally too nice table between them. It was a quiet little sitting area.
Badger settled himself into one of the chairs on the balcony, Simon and Johnny who had been standing at the ledge looked over to him before Simon offered Badgers own pack of cigarettes to him. Badger made a face of false annoyance before reaching out to take one out of the pack.
“Do you have a light?” Badger raised the cigarette to his lips and looked over at them expectantly, both of them had their own lit cigarettes hanging from their lips. Simon's mouth curled up in a smirk before nodding down at Johnny. A devious look slid onto his face as he pushed off from where he was leaning on the ledge to waltz over into Badgers space.
He stopped right in front of him, settled in between Badger's knees from where he previously was settled rather comfortably in his deck chair. Now he was tense at having him stand between his knees and was looking up at Johnny confused, he started to sit up a bit straighter pulling back from the situation. Johnny's hand on his shoulder stopped him and he leaned down towards him.
“Johnny don't tease the poor bastard that much.” Simon's voice was teasing as he watched from the wall, taking a deep drag and flicking the ash over the wall. “Give him a light first at least”
Badger was sent back to the last time Johnny had pushed this close to him on the rooftop of the Mexican special forces base only a few days ago. It felt like a lifetime.
Johnny was humming to pull his attention back from the memory, he could feel his face heat under his gaze. Johnny was looking at him asking for permission, that much was clear. Badger nodded at him and leaned in a bit closer to touch his smoke to Johnny's. But instead he was pushed back into his seat and a comfortable weight settled on his lap, then his cigarette was lit and he felt like he was sputtering and his face felt ablaze.
Johnny looked proud as he settled in Badgers lap, pulling his hand to help support his spot and keep him steady. Johnny's own hands slipped around Badger's waist as he leaned forwards to rest his head on Badger's shoulder, looking over towards Simon, who looked rather pleased as he moved to stand behind the chair that Badger was now trapped on.
“You're not very subtle” Simon complained as he settled his hand on Badger's opposite shoulder, the other pulling on Badger's chin lifting it so that their eyes made contact. He had slid his mask up further onto his face, showing off a wolfish grin that was complimented by a scar crossing over his lips.
Johnny laughed, pulling back and taking a drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke into Badger's face, the same devious smile gracing his lips as he did so.
“I'm not trying to be. You've seen how daft he can be.” Johnny leaned towards Simon as he spoke, before turning back to Badger taking another drag before he continued to speak. “You've seen how he stares, plus I think he could use a bit of a distraction”
Badgers took a nervous drag of his smoke, eyes darting between the two men as Johnny leaned closer and closer as he spoke. He could feel his hands that held his waist caressing as he spoke. He was glad for the reassurance.
Badger just barely caught Johnny's glace flickering upwards to Simon before he watched him take a final drag of his cigarette before suddenly warm and only just barely chapped lips locked with his. He hummed into the kiss as the taste of tobacco and something specifically Johnny reached him, he could feel Simon's hand that he had forgotten on his jaw petting at him lightly.
Johnny pulled back only when Simon's fingers carded through his hair and tugged him back slightly, the sound he made was absolutely sinful. Badger tightened his grip on him, sliding his hands from his waist to his hips and thigh.
“You're hoggin” Simon chastised, his hand sliding down from his hair to run his thumb over Johnny’s lip, tugging it lightly. Simon's other hand that had been cradling Badger's jaw pulled him further from Johnny, tipping his chin upwards so that it was easier for Simon to catch his lips in a heated kiss.
He was nipping at Badger's lips and when he let out a soft gasp Simon licked into his mouth, he could taste the smoke lingering from before and quickly became distracted chasing it.
Simon's hand wandered from Johnny and onto Badger's chest, wandering gently before Johnny had caught his hand and slipped it under the collar of his sweater to press it to where he could feel Badger's thunderous heartbeat. A coy laugh escaped from Johnny as he watched Simon step closer pulling them both to him slightly in possession.
Another gasp escaped Badger as Johnny was squirming on his lap, his eyes pleading for attention again from either of them. Simon nipped at his lip a final time being careful of Badger's split lip before he leaned forwards pulling Johnny to meet him.
His hand slid up from his heart to settle back loosely on his throat and was caressing while his other was tugging into Johnny's hair yet again. Johnny lurched forwards to try to get closer to Simon. Badger quickly clung to him pulling him further onto his lap to keep him from falling and simply to keep him still, his constant squirming was going to cause a problem he certainly didn't have the energy for in that moment.
Badger watched them as they kissed, bouts of rough clicking of teeth to soothing laves of tongue over harsh bites. Entranced.
He's not certain how long they all had been trading kisses and soft touches but Badger was simply having a hard time just keeping his eyes open, and Johnny was slouching tiredly into both of them.
“I think it's time for some real rest” Simon was tugging at a lazily protesting Johnny from Badger. He was complaining of the cold and that he was comfortable and wanted to stay put. Badger was surprised when Simon simply lifted Johnny up and deposited him on the large bed that the hotel suite boasted.
Badger watched them from his spot on the balcony chair as he pulled on the sweater he was wearing trying to keep some of the warmth that Johnny had provided. He felt a lazy smile tugging on his lips as he watched Johnny try to pull Simon down in the bed dramatically only to be foiled when Simon shoved one of the numerous pillows in his face instead as he told him to wait.
Simon made his way back to Badger, his mask tugged back down over what was definitely bruised lips but little chilled puffs of breath escaped him as he stepped back to Badger.
He stood between his knees just like Johnny had before he sat down on him, Badger chuckled before meeting Simon's eyes.
“I don't know if I can hold you right now if you sit on me” it came out in a joking laugh, as he reached out to grasp at one of Simon's hands that seemed frozen at his side, Simon was staring at his chest. He looked down to where Simon was staring at the ‘Lt. Riley” stitched into the sweater. Badger felt his lazy smile falter a moment.
“I'll give it ba-”
“I think you should keep it.” Simon interrupted him and he could just barely see the rosiness of a blush reach the bridge of his nose.
“Alright” Badger whispered, running his thumb over his knuckles. Simon flipped the grip and started to pull him up and once Badger was standing he was tugged into a tight hug and he felt cold hands slip under the hem of the sweater to rest on his lower back and a face press into the top of his head. They stood like that for a while.
“Oi! It's baltic here alone, come ere’” Johnny protested from his spot in the bed, the look he tossed them looking down right threatening if they took too long. Badger hummed as Simon chuckled and led him inside and shutting the sliding door of the balcony and closing the curtains. He pushed Badger towards the bed before he disappeared into the restroom with a promise of only being a few moments.
Johnny didn't give Badger a moment to hesitate getting into the bed and instead pulled him down under the covers before clicking the lamp off and curling into him. The only light left in the room came from what filtered in under the restroom door. Johnny settled himself on Badger's chest, he tucked his face into the crook of his neck and his hand settled on his jaw caressing. Badger grunted in surprise at how fast Johnny had made himself comfortable but took in stride to hold him close.
“I'm glad you're safe” Johnny spoke into his neck and his thumb swiped over the split on his lip gently. His voice sounded watery, and Badger pulled him closer and hoped he would take comfort in the rumbling of his chest as he spoke.
“I'm glad you're safe too, that we all are.” He turned his head so that he could press his lips into Johnny's hair and he ran his hand down his back. He could feel Johnny fall asleep, slowly relaxing into him more and his breath evening, Badger was feeling the pull of sleep too until he felt the bed dip next to him.
He tried to sit up a little disoriented and sluggish until a gentle hand pushed him back down.
“Shhh, Badge, go back to sleep.” Simon's voice was soothing and Badger nodded in the dark, it was hard to see anything in the room. He felt lips brush the top of his head and the movement to his side settled, Johnny had mumbled in his sleep, adjusting himself so that he was also pressed into Simon. A hand settled on Badger's hip and tugged him a bit closer.
“You'll stay?” Simon's hand tightened on Badger's hip as the hesitant question escaped him. And for once Badger didn't have to think, there was no reason to.
“Of course” and it was Badgers turn to pull them both close.
Thirdly ( i lied sorry) I would love to write anything for yall, send me ideas or comment directly on this post and ill see what i can do <3 thank yall so much for the support yall have offered this whole time!
Badger, a close combat specialist as been asked to join Task force 141 assist with carrying out the mission of capturing Hassan, what happens when a Badger gets backed into a corner.
or
almost a retelling of the Modern warfare campaign but lets add found family, romance? and maybe a twist
start "He rounded the corner" end "He could feel the damage of the plate in his vest"
summary > we know he is cornered, he runs into a group of aq, sustains a head injury, momentarily loses his weapon, dispatches final combatant by hand, then processes to try to draw out the last of the force, he blindsides 2 men dispatching them, one he chases and traps, leads to impromptu questioning by force, man is dispatched as well, surprise man trys to finish badger by surprise, fails, they both fire, aq is dispatched and Badger is shot, but vest ensures no major injury resulting. < Youre caught up :)
A/N > YALLL VIOLENCE i mean it, please if that is something that doesn't settle well with you please please please skip over a portion of this chapter, the start and end sentence are underlined, the last sentence will be a link to a tame summary of what happened so youre not lost.
They had four hours to get their shit together, formulate a plan for Chicago and prepare for it. Badger was especially appreciative of Alejandro and Rudy's send off as they restocked and rearmed him, helping him get a new kit, of which he was currently rechecking for the third time since the conversation of what was to be going on in Chicago started.
They all sat together watching the computer Price had set up shortly after they had taken to the air, it contained Laswell who was briefing them on their current mission.
“El Sin Nombre told us the third missile was smuggled into the United States through the Port of Chicago” Gaz quickly briefed them on what had happened while Johnny and Badger had been off dealing with Graves. “Hassan and his AQ soldiers are with it, no doubt.”
“We don't know where the missile is or where it's headed,” Simon leaned forwards towards the computer currently displaying a map of the area around the port of Chicago, Price nodded along and pointed towards the display this time.
“We do know that Hassan was taken to a building in downtown Chicago owned by a shell company of the Las Almas cartel” It was a tall skyscraper along the river that ran through the city, surrounded by many other buildings likely holding civilians. Not good.
“Police are on the ground cordoning off the streets around the building” There was no way that wouldn't tip off Hassan and his men, as much as Badger wished they weren't stupid. “They're on the lookout for a stolen container full of weapons, they do not know we’re dealing with a missile” Laswell spoke in a grave tone and it was clear that she was smoking as she was speaking, although of the camera. “We believe Hassan is holed up in a fortified server room on the 54th floor of this building” the building that Price had pointed out earlier was highlighted on the screen, Badger leaned in closer to see the monitor better. “I will be on the ground working to locate the missile.”
Gaz leaned further back in his seat, pressing into the wall of the cabin, he looked like he was making an effort to look relaxed, Badger eyed him nervously as Price started to speak. He went back to retightening a strap on the bag in front of him. “Gaz infil with the marines on the Chicago river and move in on the ground level.” He nodded towards Ghost “You and Badger will heli up to an OP across from the objective for armed overwatch, we'll touch two helos down on the roof of the target building, one with a troop of Marines, the other with me and Soap.”
Badger looked up momentarily towards Johnny and Simon, Simon was still watching the screen seemingly focused on the situation, But Badger and Johnny caught eyes and a nervous look passed between them. Badger knew logically that separating for the sake of the mission was important but it didn't sit right in his stomach, especially since over the past few days Badger was attached to Johnny's hip as he seemed to have a penchant of wandering into trouble and needed the extra help. Johnny tried to pass along a look of confidence but Badger dodged his look and instead looked back down at what his hands were working on.
“While Gaz and the Marines push up the building Price and Soap will work their way down, with Soap repelling-” Badger felt his stomach drop and it took all his will power not to look at Johnny in panic. “To the server floor, pinching Hassan in the middle” Laswell spoke as if this was going to be a simple routine mission. “Our primary mission is to locate and stop the missile, but you have execute authority to kill Hassan.” A dark rumble fell from Simon as he sat back when the execution authority was relayed and a dark look flashed across his eyes momentarily.
Laswell disconnected the call with simple formalities and informed them of the remaining time left of the flight urging them to rest.
Unsurprisingly, Johnny as soon as they had been released from planning seemed to overflow with conversation with Captain Price and Gaz. Badger was reminded that he was in fact one of the newest members of the task force 141 and had little to no interaction with the majority of the task force before this, he was reminded that while Johnny and very likely Simon were actual friends with the Captain and the other Sergeant and that Badger was simply a new co worker, and one that seemed manage to get captured on their first real mission with the task force.
Badger slinked away from the conversation that had bloomed, and instead took to repacking his kit again, pulling everything out examining for damage and replacing it back in its proper spot. He also was going over his vest and counting every magazine and knife he had on him, he managed to tuck in a few extra knives than usual for his load out, but the experience of being stripped completely of his weapons wasn't one that he wanted to go through again. He readjusted the place of his breaching hammer as well, he was thankful that Rudy had managed to find one similar to the one that he had before. The conversation had drifted from his mind as he was working but he was pulled back to it quickly when Gaz’s voice called his name. His hand stilled on the grip of the hammer that he was relacing again.
“Don't you think you've gone over that enough?” Badger didn't straighten up from what he was doing but instead just moved his gaze to lock on Gaz, he didn't look angry but his face almost looked too neutral as if he was purposely trying to hide what he was actually feeling. Badger felt his lips turn down as he kept silent, he flicked his eyes over the rest of them, Price similarly had an overly neutral look, Johnny looked mildly concerned and his eyes too were bouncing around the group, and surprisingly Simon looked tense and had his gaze locked on Gaz.
Badger chuckled nervously, sitting back up “right, sor-” “He's fine.” Simon interrupted Badger as he spoke. He paused momentarily and flicked his eyes to Simon who was now looking at him instead of Gaz, he dodged the stare and instead turned his eyes back towards the hammer grip in his hand he finished fixing it and tucked it back in its place on his kit.
He felt a slight itching under his skin as he left his kit alone and instead pressed further into the wall of the cabin, he tried his best to look unbothered, as if he wasn't wanting to make himself look smaller. He closed his eyes trying to drift off to sleep in the few hours they had left to get there. The conversation seemed to pick back up a little but he was certain he felt a presence closer to him but he didn't have the will to bother to look, he simply wanted to rest.
0200, it was dark out but the city lights kept it manageable. Badger and Simon were settled in their helo waiting for the clear from Laswell, Badger was about to recheck his rifle again before he stilled his hands clenching his jaw and turned to look out the window of the still grounded helicopter. Johnny and Price were across the lot in their helicopter and it seemed like they were chatting on either a separate comm line or they could hear each other over the sound of the helicopters.
“Give it to me” Badger turned from the window to Simon, who had his hand reached out towards the rifle in Badger's grip. Simon didn't give him a chance to question him and instead pulled it gently from him, and made a slight show of pulling it apart and inspecting each piece before putting it all back together and loading a magazine from his own vest into it. He handed the freshly inspected rifle and the other magazine back to Badger who was staring in mild awe.
“Thank you” it came out more breathy than he had meant and he swallowed looking back towards the other helicopter, he could feel his face warming up, he could also feel the weight of Simon's silent stare.
Their radio crackled as everyone turned back to the mission channel and Laswell's voice filtered onto the comm.
“Watcher-1 to Bravo-6 Actual, perimeter is secure. We have a possible hit on the missile container. we ‘re moving in now”
“Solid copy” Badger watched as Price gestured for Johnny to sit further back in his seat as he spoke to the pilot. “All Bravo, move to set. We’re on.”
“0-5 copies all” Gaz reported back, he was up river from the target building instead of on the small lot they had taken over for the helicopters.
Badger held his breath momentarily when the helicopter left the ground and sped towards the target building, they had an awful track record of keeping helicopters in the air and the last thing Badger wanted was to be thrown from the open door of the helicopter as they maneuver over Chicago. He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, now wasn't the time to get worked up, they had a mission to do and they had the relatively safe part of the mission to complete. He wasn't the one that should be worried about personal safety when Johnny was preparing to scale a skyscraper.
They were only in the air for a few moments before they could spot Gaz's team of Marines on the river.
“Bravo 6-2 is twenty seconds from the target building. Intel reports multiple AQ inside”
“Ghost, get to your overwatch” Price's order followed quickly after Gaz’s report, and their Helicopter split off from Price.
“Rog, on the move” Ghost responded and made a small wave towards the Helicopter that held Johnny.
“Floor fifty six is our primary objective. Its well fortified with limited access. Hassan may be holed up there.”
“Copy. Let's nail this bastard once and for all, sir” Johnny's confidence in the comms relaxed some of Badger's nerves. Their helicopter landed first on a shorter building across from the Skyscraper that Price and Johnny just landed on.
Simon rushed out of the helicopter and Badger followed, they were to stay on the roof and keep overwatch. Or rather Ghost was to keep overwatch and Badger was there to make sure they stayed in place. Badger swept the roof, ensuring that it was clear he also noticed that the roof access door wasn't locked, he frowned at that.
Simon was quick to set himself up on a partial platform, he was prone in front of his sniper rifle and was currently adjusting the scopes to view inside the windows of the target building. Badger once he deemed the roof safe, settled next to Simon he wasn't on the platform though and instead used the ledge to perch his weapon so that he could use the scope to watch the target building.
“Ghost, we’re set. You have eyes on?” Price's rumbling voice came through the comms, and Badger caught them in his sights watching as Johnny tugged on the rope that connected him to the building.
“A-firm. Flashing now” Both Badger and Simon flashed the lights on the barrel of their weapons, watching as Johnny stepped up on the ledge nodding in their direction.
“Copy visual, LT. What've you got?” Johnny tipped over the ledge and was walking face towards the ground on the outside of the building.
“Civilians” Simon sounded tense as he watched Johnny step onto the side of the building, Badger caught Price hooking on a bit further down and also turning over the ledge as he spoke.
“Hostages”
“Hassan's buyin’ time” Johnny continued further down the window, he was walking in an awkward manner as if he was trying to gauge his own movements.
“You lads clear all threats. Bravo-3 secures the hostages, RV on the target floor” Price ordered as he took off down the wall, Johnny still looked like he was struggling to orient himself and they could just barely hear his breathing pick up as he was staring down below.
“Reposition if you need,” Simon breathed into the comms as he too watched Johnny pause again in his movement, he turned around so that he was facing the sky, “two x-rays below, you're more visible to the enemies this way Johnny”
Badger watched as Johnny nodded in silent acknowledgement and continued down towards the window Simon had pointed out to him. The two men near the window were caught off guard as Johnny dropped down into sight and shot through the window, Simon called the clear as he inspected further from his overwatch neither of them catching more movement on the floor that would hazard Johnny.
“Bravo-3, five-five secure.” Simon reported to the inside team, getting an affirmative response and entry notice, Johnny continued to another floor. “Four x-rays ahead. Three in the room. One in the hallway”
They were dispatched easily, Badger watched as the AQ soldiers dropped the reactions of the hostages on that floor. A woman was cowering under a table, she back peddled and seemed to be shouting when one of the AQ soldiers dropped dead an arm reach away from her. Badger frowned and felt his jaw tightening at that.
“Five x-rays on the next floor. Three moving. Two stationary” Simons voice pulled him from watching the hostage and back to the mission. It was stupid to get so distracted from the mission. “Get a visual before you engage” Simon heeded at the end of the report and they both watched as Johnny flipped himself on the line to walk slowly to the next floor and try to peek without being seen to get a better handle on the situation.
He was hidden by a division in the window as he slipped into position. He was turned to take down the Soldier who was harassing a hostage first. There wasn't a warning before he opened fire, the man harassing the hostage dropped first and then the two by one of the ugliest paintings Badger had seen in a long time, the splattering of crimson not adding to it nicely either. Johnny shuffled to the right to get a view of the next room over, there was only one man in there but he was already firing at Johnny through the windows.
Badger swore under his breath, there was no reason to expect that Johnny couldn't handle one gunman in the room, but he seemed to be struggling with his gear again and slipped slightly when he misplaced his footing. Badger sensed Simon tense, he went still and let out a short breath.
The man firing at Johnny more or less ceased being there and Badger watched as the glass of that window shatter from the force Simons shot.
“Bravo, we’re clear on five-one” Simon sounded unphased by the situation, and simply adjusted his scopes.
“0-7, copy. Moving” Badger watched as the bravo team entered the floor and the area near the windows, sweeping all of the men double tapping where it was necessary, and checking on hostages.
“Price, all hostages secure” Johnny turned away from watching Bravo team as he spoke, he had flipped himself again so that he was facing towards the sky, he seemed like he was taking a moment to breath as he waited for Price to respond.
“Copy. Rally on the server floor”
Badger spotted Captain Price in a window further to the left than where Johnny was, he was currently crouching at the window and away attaching a breaching device. This was the floor Johnny was entering.
“Charge is set. Get clear” Badger watched as Price waved his hand at Johnny through the window urging him to get some distance from the window that was going to shatter into little pieces in moments.
The window blew outward just as Johnny cleared the area, and a small sound of elation escaped over Johnny's comms from the explosion. He made quick work of pushing off the outside of the building and landing solidly inside the server floor with Price.
“Watcher-1, were on the target floor. What's your status?” Price steadied Johnny as he was standing and gave him a once over while he was awaiting Laswell's response. “Laswell, what the hell was that?” Both Johnny and Price seemed to perk up at a sound that was unheard by Badger and Simon. They walked out of their view and deeper into the server floor, Badger felt Simon tense as he watched them disappear into the building.
“John, the missile is active, it's in the first stage. Be advised- controls are not in the container.” Laswell's voice was teetering on calm, urgency and concern slipping into each word.
“That means Hassan has them.” Price growled over the comms. “We're pushing into the target area now. Out.”
“We need those controls” Johnny urged. Badger distinctly disliked not having Johnny in eyesight when the stakes were this high, the calm of the roof top compared to the chaos inside the target building unsettled Badger.
“Let's hope Hassan’s here”
As the words fell from Price's lips, gunfire and shouting broke over the comms, they had met contact. It sounded like they had it handled, most of the shouting wasn't from either of them. They heard a scuffle and a shout up close from an AQ soldier and they heard the slashing gurgling come in over the comms and a whispered curse from Johnny before he called an all clear.
“Negative on Hassan”
They heard a door kick open and immediate fire afterwards, they must have breached into another room. Badger tried to refocus on the overwatch he was supposed to be performing instead of zoning out listening to the comms, he scanned the windows around the server floor hoping to catch Hassan or reinforcements heading towards where Johnny was operating. Nothing. He let his breath out slowly and focused more into the comms again.
They entered into another server room, it sounded like this one was more reinforced than the other two had been as the firefight seemed to be getting exponentially louder over the comms and they could hear more cursing from both Johnny and Captain Price. They heard the denotation of a smoke grenade, the hissing of the gas clearly recognizable over the comms and Badger hopped that it was either the Captain or Johnny who deployed that and not the AQ soldiers trying to get one on them. Badger was absolutely certain that they were out numbered as they hadn't seen bravo team follow after them.
They heard several more explosions presumably from grenades and another push forwards order from Price, and more firefight. It finally came to a slow a few moments later and several clicking of empty magazines.
“At the control room. Stack up” Price ordered and then they heard the breaking down of a door, and finally they could be seen again from the overwatch sight. Simon seemed to relax momentarily in his prone position before his breath hitched slightly, Badger turned from where he was standing to look at Simon. He was back to being stone and either didn't notice the hitch or was actively choosing to hide it.
Johnny looked a little beat up but alright, he had charged into the room and threw up his hands in frustration when there was no one in the room.
“Feckin’ hell. He's gone.” he paused to look out the window and towards where they had been positioned. Price joined him looking out to their post.
“All stations, negative on Hassan, Control room is a dry hole” he sounded frustrated. “Ghost, you got anything?”
Badger looked over at Simon again and was surprised that he wasn't looking into the server room that they had emerged into, but rather something further down. Rely on the Ghost to keep his head clear and focused on the mission, Badger bit his tongue in frustration. He turned back to the overwatch scanning towards where Simon was watching.
“A-firm. Possible visual. Forty-sixth floor” Simon rumbled over the comms, and adjusted his scope so that he could get a better ID on what was moving on that floor.
“Copy, we’re moving” Badger flicked his watch back up to where Johnny and Price were, Price was setting up another breach charge and taking a step back, both him and Johnny turned away from the blast.
“Hook up sergeant” Price was walking to another window and setting it to blast and hooking on as Johnny was stepping out the window, urgency this time keeping him more steady.
“Entry point if four levels down” Price waved for them to start moving towards the target floor.
“All Bravo, five is making entry on floor forty” Gaz spoke up into the comms,
“Copy. We’ll push him your way, let's tighten the noose” Price was taking larger jumps down the building, “Soap, we find those controls, it's up to you to disarm that missile”
“Copy that” no pressure right. Badger turned from his watch and took a step away from the wall and the platform that Simon was on. His skin felt like it was crawling, anxiety heightened but he felt with more and more certainty that he needed to check the roof again, the access door coming to mind again.
“Badger?” Simon sounded stern, it was certainly less of a question and more of an order to come back. Badger looked over his shoulder at where Simon was still facing forwards and focused and shook his head choosing not to respond. It didn't take him long at all to sweep the roof again and ensure that it was clear, that there wasn't any threat to them at that moment. He stood in the roof access door again and listened to the stairwell, he took a few more steps inside the stairwell and looked down towards the ground floor, nothing that he could see or hear.
Satisfied he returned to Simon, settling back into his overwatch position. Simon grunted at his return but made no more an effort to ask what he was doing.
“RPG!” Price shouted and they heard glass shatter over his comms, “move in! Now!” Badger hadn't had the chance to re center them back in his scope so that he could see what was going on, “I can't cover you sergeant! Get in here!”
He found them. It was a large open room with a ceiling that seemed to stretch what would normally be several floors. Johnny was still on the outside but they could see and hear the firefight that was going on in the room.
Johnny rolled into cover as he jumped into the room, Price was nearby returning fire and Johnny burst into action as soon as he was oriented. He was dodging in and out of areas that Badger could see, but he handled his own well, and quickly the room's defenders seemed to dwindle in numbers.
“All Bravo, be advised” Simon was reporting “Hassan is in the stairwell, he's moving down”
“Solid copy! Gaz- he's headed your way!”
Johnny jumped down from the stop of the banister and onto one of the final AQ soldiers, they heard them grunt and a wet squelch as Johnny dispatched the man trapped under him.
“Roger that!”
Another troop of AQ soldiers had to have made it to the room that they were fighting in, as what previously was a dwindling firefight seemed to renew in full as men seemed to filter in from everywhere again. Johnny was running through magazines like crazy.
It felt like an eternity had passed before Johnny called out a clear and Price ordered them to the stairwell that Hassan fled to.
“Gaz, sitrep?”
“0-7, target is cornered! Floor forty-six!”
“Copy we’re moving to you!” they disappeared from sight again as they went further into the building. Badger looked over his shoulder at the roof access door and fought the urge to recheck. He was simply finding a bad outlet for his anxiety, a growl tore from him in frustration but he turned back to watching the windows.
“On me Sergeant, let's hit the stairs” the tell tale sound of a crowbar was heard and then the echoing of a stairwell. “Downstairs, move!”
“All stations, missile is hot! I say again, the missile is launching!” Laswell broke over the comms, they all caught sight of the fiery streak launching from the ground, it made a sickening curve and seemed to take off with increased speed. They were running out of time.
“No no no-!” Price shouted over the comms, anger and panic clear in his tone
“Feckin’ hell!” Johnny joined in the outrage
“Watcher, where's the target?!”
“Unknown. We’re working on it” it sounded like she was detaching from the situation, her voice was ice.
“Copy. we’re going for Hassan!”
The sound of firefight reentered the comms, it sounds like they found Hassan's defenders.
“Gaz- where's Hassan?!” they must have linked with Gaz and his marines.
“End of the hall! Hassan’s held up behind those doors!”
“Let's clear this out and bag him, then!”
“Follow me” Gaz shouted over the firefight, only the sounds of fighting could be heard for a short while. “Hassan's behind those doors''
“Ill snake a camera in there”
It irked him to no end that the area that they were operating in was out of sight from the overwatch, they only had a narrow view of the width of the room, and Badger's scope wasn't strong enough to see all the way back to where they were.
“Soap, get positive ID on Hassan, we need those controls.”
“I'll get them” Johnny reassured.
There was an explosion, Badger heard Johnny grunt in pain and gasp escape him. He couldn't see what was going on but had seen the flash. He could hear AQ soldiers speaking over the comms, they were too close to their team. Firing picked up, he could hear someone being dragged their comm pulling against the floor. He heard Captain Price cry out in pain.
“Price!” Gaz called out for him. The firing didn’t seem to be stopping, Johnny hadn’t confirmed his status in the comms. “You broken?” He could hear Gaz questioning again.
“I'm good,” it was Captain Price “go, you got this”
“Soap, let's move!” Gaz urged.
“Watcher, Hassan has the missile controls. We’re going after him!’ Price reported, his voice only slightly betraying the pain he must be feeling.
“Copy, be advised, the missile is headed towards D.C. we don't have much time to divert!”
“Hassan's in the last car. Use the lift cars to get down there” a spike of ice ran up Badger's spine, he could only hope he didn't mean the elevator cars especially when they were on the 46th floor, a drop there would certainly not go well.
“Overwatch! Be advise, we’ve caught AQ movement in your building” Fuck.
An explosion came over the comms. Double fuck. Johnny shouted and Badger could hear the mechanical cluttering of a falling elevator cart.
“That car won’t hold! Jump down” Badger might throttle Johnny the next time he sees him if the thought of jumping into an elevator shaft onto what were presumably extremely damaged cars considering the amount of action that had been going on on the bottom floors was a good idea, no matter if that was the fastest way to get to Hassan.
He heard Johnny shout as he jumped and heard the grunting as he landed, another voice was there with him.
“Move sergeant!”
“Overwatch, AQ is heading towards the upper levels again, they’re sweeping floor by floor in teams.”
“Roger,” Badger responded, he turned to Simon “I've got it, keep an eye on Johnny, yeah?”
Simon hummed in response, but he turned away from his scope and eyed Badger before nodding at him. Badger nodded back before stepping away towards the roof access door. He'd be damned before he let them get up here. They needed overwatch.
Badger felt him slipping into the peace that was having a specific task, clearly outlined mission. He did a quick count of his munitions and went to the first floor, he could hear movement in the stairwells, the whispering of AQ as they tried not to alert the overwatch. They were close, too close. Badger felt sick that he hadn't noticed them before, that must have been why he was compelled to keep going back to the stairwell.
It doesn't matter.
Badger was just barely making it down to the top floor in the stairwell when he could hear the commotion of AQ soldiers working in teams only two floors beneath him. He moved silently and struggled to keep tabs on the moving teams below. He was grateful that Laswell had given him the heads up because he clearly kept brushing off any signs that there was a threat to him and Simon.
The top floor was disappointingly set up poorly for defense, clearly civilians did not think about things like cover when creating a penthouse level office building with glass doors and walls willy nilly everywhere. There were hardly any solid walls to take cover behind and the fire door that led to the stairwell opened outward, so he couldn't even barricade it effectively.
He knew his time was coming short, it was unlikely that high up they would assume the sniper position was going to be anywhere other than the roof, they might simply choose to go straight there as they continued to be spoilt in their attempts to find them. He looked around for anything that could help provide cover, he was going to have to draw them into the office level he was on. He had to keep them from getting to Simon. Keep them from pulling away Johnny's back up.
The office had a number of fancy solid wood desks, it would have to do. He made short work running through the offices and over turning and dragging the desks into better locations other than the glass boxes they mostly resided in. Badger didn't understand the purpose of the glass offices for a business, didn't they need the privacy for operations? Or maybe they favored the show of their work instead. Now wasn't the time to think about that. Focus.
He hoped the commotion of him over turning desks were enough to keep them from bolting to the roof, he wished that he had caught them at a lower level, to give him a few floors to fight through before they reached Simon. But now it really was the final defensive. He felt calm. He had a set of tasks to do. And he would die making sure he succeeded.
He readied his weapon in his grip and moved towards the fire exit, he could hear the footsteps of the AQ men on the stairwell, there was a distinct lack of conversation going on between them. Badger expected a team leader to be ordering them to split off, or simply expressing frustration. Nothing. And they were approaching his floor. One of the men in the front waved towards the door to the level he was on, and the rest of the team continued to the stairwell that accessed the roof. Fuck.
He let out a breath, steeling himself and then threw the door open, slamming it into the unfortunate man that had to open the door. Badger felt the door squish into him and heard him groan in pain as he was trapped with the handle digging into his stomach. The stairwell erupted into chaos at that moment and he wasn't able to get a count of how many men were there.
He fired wildly into the hall, trying his best to pull the attention of all of the AQ there, to get them to chase him. He snarled insults at them and backed into the dark office floor that he'd ripped apart, he ducked behind the first desk that he had dragged close to the door.
AQ poured into the room, it seemed like three fire teams at minimum in this force. He got lucky that they seemed to be under armored and pinched together at the door. He had dropped four of them as they tried to step into the room, they piled in front of the door blocking entrance to the others in the stairwell.
He heard shouting in the hall and the men pouring in seemed to stop. Something was thrown into the door in the vague direction that he was taking cover in. It clattered to the floor. Double fuck.
He turned tailed and bolted away from the canister, he dived behind the cover of a desk closer to the back of the floor, he covered his ears and clenched his eyes closed. It was a flash bang. He managed to avoid the majority of the effects, he was only a little disoriented but his bolt to the back of the floor gave him the moment he needed to catch back up to what was going on. Of which was the pouring of the men from the hall into the office space, guns blazing with disregard to where he actually was.
The glass of the office walls shattered and came down upon the men in the room. The wall closest to him was cracking as rogue shots spiderwebbed into the glass. He needed to move.
He bolted to another desk nearby, taking shots as he could to drop some of the threats around him; they hadn't wandered deep into the level and still seemed to be bunched in teams. His initial count of three firing teams had to have been wrong as he was still counting three of them, though one seemed to consist of only two people now.
They caught his movement further into the floor, he needed to pull them in further away from the door, keep them from getting back to the roof should they lose interest in him. He heard the order for them to break up. Tailing shots kept missing him, but a wall of glass shattered in front of him right as he was passing in, the glass poured down onto him cutting little knicks in any exposed skin. He covered his head the best he could without losing a grip on his weapon. He fired blindly behind him and flipped another desk in the now more open floor plan of the office he was passing.
He knelt down and replaced a magazine in his weapon before he peaked out from his cover. Nailing a pair of AQ stalking closer to him. They dropped with a shout and he could hear another team closing in on his location. He wasn't good at being stealthy, wasn't good at keeping the commotion down, so it meant the second he did something there were men upon him. Thankfully they seemed to only come in twos or threes, and he could hear the other teams tossing anything they thought he could hide behind.
He worked himself further to the back. It was a mistake. He started to become cornered, the walls here weren't glass and made visibly even harder.
“Fuck.” he cursed
“Sit rep, Badger!” Simon broke into the comms, Badger had forgotten about the comms still being linked, he had completely tuned out for the moment. He breathed hard trying to catch his breath, and whispered into the comms. AQ hadn't figured out that he pinned himself down yet.
“There's a lot and I'm starting to be pinned down.” Badger tried to sound detached, he didn’t want Simon to come down here. He needed Simon to stay on Johnny.
“I'm pulling back,” Simon sounded on edge. “Attention all stations- overwatch's pul-”
“Negative.” badgers own voice startled him, he didn't recognize the growl that had torn from him. “Stay on mission. I've got it handled.”
“Badg-”
“Not alone- he’s got AQ guards with him. I'm gonna kill every one of em’... and then I'm going for him. Out here” Johnny's voice cut back into the comms, Laswell was done speaking with him and they could only hope that meant the missile was scuttled. Johnny's tone was dangerous as he raved.
The pause was thick with desperation. He sighed.
“Stay standin’ Badger ” Badger could hear the struggle in Simon's voice, but Badger did a good job of sounding confident while Johnny sounded crazed.
Badger let out a shuddering breath, clicked off the input end of his comms and pushed back from the wall that he was leaning against, there couldn't be too many left, there wasn't enough commotion for there to be. But they had worked quietly before.
He rounded the corner and walked straight into a group of four of them, he dived back behind the cover of the corner he had just turned and fired back at them, he heard one drop to the floor. He peaked back over the corner, they had tucked into door frames and behind a filing cabinet for cover in the limited space.
He fired through the filing cabinet, the sound of the bullets ripping through the thin metal was sharp and the shout of pain and the following forward slumping of the AQ was satisfying. The other two had moved too far up the hall for him to reach from his position.
He was tired. Could feel the compounding of injuries from Graves compile with the exertion of fighting alone in this office level. It didn't matter right this moment. He had to get the rest of them.
A man jumped out from a corner that Badger hadn't seen and slammed into him, barreling him into the wall. The breath was knocked from him, his head bounced off the wall and he paused, trying to catch up with what had just happened. He thrashed trying to avoid the hands of the man that barreled into him, his weapon was tossed from him and tried to reach for it, but the AQ brought his fist down hard on Badger, he could feel the crunch of his nose under fist again.
With a shout he reared, sitting all the way up and grabbing the hair of the man on top of him and ripping him away, using the momentum to slam his face into the corner of the wall that he had burst from. He could hear the shouting of the final man from this team down the hall, he turned his head to see him taking aim but hesitated. He didn't want to shoot the AQ trapped in Badgers grasp.
Badger felt another snarl rip from him as the man stunted from being slammed into the wall started to thrash again with more vigor, he was ripping at his vest for a weapon. Badger saw the leg holstered handgun attached to the man and ripped it off of him. In seconds he downed the gunman further up the hall and slammed the face of the man he trapped back into the wall with a satisfying squelch.
He was breathing hard, his face was throbbing but he felt at his nose before continuing. It was definitely more broken. Shit. it simply isn't catching a break.
He leaned down and collected his rifle from where it had landed when he was barreled into, and stalked into the more open parts of the office, he hand to lure them out to him again, they were deep in the floor and had not come running towards the commotion that was killing that last team.
“Come on you ugly fucks! Out with ye!” he shouted standing with his back in a corner facing the split off that led deeper into the office, they would have had to come from that direction. And he simply hoped that the glass walls around him would hold up for a tiny bit longer.
He heard their shouting before he saw them, it was only three of them and breathed a small prayer of thanks to whoever that that was all.
They were caught off guard, and Badger nailed them the moment two of them stepped out from the entrance, they hadn't expected him to be so close and they now decorated the wall. The third one bolted from him running towards the stairwell door, fear was pouring from him and he was running frantically blindly firing towards Badger.
It was easily dodged and Badger took the moment to make a precision shot towards him, watching as his knee was no longer able to support him and he went falling face first into the shattered glass of the closet office walls to the door. He was crawling away from him, the weapon seemed to be forgotten in his panic.
Badger closed on him pressing a boot squarely into his back, watching as he writhed trapped in the glass.
“How many were there?”
The man babbled, Badger regretted his loose grasp on Farsi as he wasn't able to understand the man as well as he wanted to. He pressed down harder on the man and pushed the barrel of his rifle to the back of his head.
“ How many !” he tried. He wasn't certain the man understood and he shouted the question again roughly pressing the man into the ground, he was squirming and a sickening laugh erupted from him as he strained to turn his head to look at Badger.
“One more.” the man spit towards Badger. He squeezed the trigger, and he grimaced at the warmth that splattered his face from the blow back.
Another shot rang out, and the final standing glass wall from the front office shattered, Badger flinched at the sound of the falling glass and whipped to see behind him.
There was one man. He was wounded, gravely so if the clutching of his stomach and the growing pool of blood at his feet was to say anything. But he had one pistol in a shaking grasp leveled at Badger, the first shot clearly missing and bringing him to his attention.
Badger arrogantly took just too long to level his weapon at the doomed man, they fired one after the other. The man collapsed in an unnatural pile, distorted and crumpled, and Badger fell backwards, over the deadman and landing in the pile of glass digging into his palms with a hiss.
He backed himself against the wall closest to the stair access door and was gasping for breath. It felt like fire had bloomed from his chest and radiated throughout the rest of him. He tried to calm his breathing and take account of himself.
He brought his hand to his chest. Dry. No hole. Thank the light. He let out a shaky breath and tried to bring himself back to what was happening around him. He could feel the damage of the plate in his vest, thankful that Alejandro had graciously gifted it to him.
He could hear the sound of something being dragged, and he searched what parts of the area he could see, nothing. His comms. His comm was active again.
“I told you your nation would see fire. You think you can stop me…?” Fucking hell that was Hassan. And again with the dragging. Did Hassan have Johnny?
“Ghost..” Johnny's voice was hoarse and weak. Fuck. Fuck. fuck. Badger desperately wished that he was back on the roof. He need to see what was happening. Johnny never should have been left without backup.
“Soap…” Simon breathed back into the comms, he was tense. Simon could see what was happening. Simon would take care of it. He had to. Fuck.
Badger's breath was bordering uncontrollable, he felt his whole body shaking and he no longer could keep a grip on the weapon in his lap.
“Watch the window..” what the fuck did that mean. There was an explosion followed by shattering.
“We are not attacking…” Hassan's voice was picked up by Johnny's comms again. “We are invading” there was a sound of struggle from Johnny. Dread filled Badger and he simply stopped breathing.
There were more sounds of struggle, Johnny was cursing a storm at Hassan but small gasps and wheezes still escaped him, Badger was hiccupping and pulling at his own skin. He didn't want to hear Johnny die over the comms. He didn't want Johnny to die at all.
He felt sick to his stomach, could feel the bile burning up in his throat but all he did was dry heave.
A shot rang out. Not over the comms. Not over the comms. Simon. It had to be Simon.
He could hear heavy breathing over the comms, it sounded like Johnny. He couldn't be sure, what if Hassan took his comms. What if Simon missed. He couldn't have missed. Simon was silent too.
Another heartbeat of a moment.
“Perfect shot, Lt” Johnny sounded shaken up, Johnny.
“You called it, Sergeant”
The tension drained from Badger. He couldn't focus on anything, he no longer was paying any type of attention to the comms. He was simply tired. Johnny was safe, Simon had not missed. He slouched against the wall, he felt so tired. The mission was over. The missile dealt with, Hassan was dead.
He was being shaken. He groaned. Shook again, rougher. Fuck, he had to have missed one. Someone was coming for the butcher's bill and he was on the top of the list.
He struggled in the grasp he found himself in, a whine escaped him. His whole body felt useless, he struggled to move. He wasn't getting out of this.
“Badger please!” He felt like his head was going to fall off with the force that he was shook, his arms screamed for release from the iron grasp on his shoulders.
“stop… please” It was barely audible, he barely registered the words falling from his lips in complete desperation. He felt ashamed, he hadn't begged Graves why would he beg a random AQ. His hands pushed at the solid chest in front of him trying to create space, his head throbbed but thankfully the shaking had stopped.
“Badge, hey! Badger” Simon, it sounded like Simon. He tried to focus his eyes on who was in front of him. Slowly, oh so slowly did he recognize a familiar mask, and concerned eyes turned relieved. Badger heard his name before he was pulled into a too tight hug, a small groan leaving him but he pulled his arms to cling to Simon and bury his face into the others shoulder.
Safe. They all were safe.
“Can you walk?” Simon was pulling back from him, hands roaming checking for major injuries, he was gently prodding at his head and nose again.
“Hope so, feel right banjaxed though” Badger chuckled before reaching his arm up to Simon, who graciously pulled him up and kept him from stumbling.
“You look it” Simon pulled him a little closer than necessary and walked them towards the elevators in the middle of the office floor. “Hope these are still workin’”
“Right, o’wise you’re carrying me the forty whatever floors down”
They made it to where the two buildings had been cordoned off and filled with medical and police, the lights of which had Badger squinting his eyes and wanting to bury his head. Simon was leading them towards one of the empty medical trucks when a shout of their names stopped Simon in his tracks. Johnny!
Simon turned Badger just enough to not catch most of the impact of Johnny crashing into them, Johnny was shaking but pulled them both closer to him burying his face in Badger's shoulder as Simon's hand came up to cup the back of Johnny's head. He was speaking so so fast and it was nearly unintelligible, only little snippets of thanks that they were safe, and holy fuck hes done with heights and how cold he was. He was laughing but it quickly seemed to devolve into tears.
Simon turned all three of them again away from the prying eyes of bystanders and shuffled them into one of the trucks, Badger was certain the glare that Simon sent to the medic was murderous as they bolted from the back of the truck.
Badger settled back into the seat, peeling himself away from both of them for a moment, thankful that they were out of the flashing lights and in the relative peace that could be found in the medical bay. Simon made a sound of protest when he pulled away but Johnny simply just pulled him back closer and wedged himself between the two of them. He was clinging to Simon and had buried his hand in Badger's vest, near hysterical.
Something about a window, he was terrified and his breathing was coming out in short stutters and gasping. His whole body was tense and kept trying to speak but was hiccupping on the words. Simon turned to look at Badger desperately, he didn't know what to do. Badger stared back at Simon who was clinging to Johnny nearly as much as Johnny was clinging to him.
Badger took a steadying breath and scooted closer to the both of them, the hand that was attached to his vest relaxing as he got closer, Badger made a humming sound and put his hand over Johnny's lightly, not prying, just simply there, the other went to the back of Johnny's neck running his thumb over the exposed skin soothingly. Simon leaned his head down to rest his chin on the top of Johnny's, low words of comfort and reassurance slipping from him too quiet for Badger to make out other than the timbre of his voice.
It took a long time for Johnny to calm down, eventually they managed to pull themselves away from each other long enough for a medic to check on them.
Badger didn't like the medic that had come to inspect him, he was sure they were nice but their hands on him made it feel like bugs under his skin, and he felt nauseous when they flashed a light across his vision. He must have made a sound of discomfort because suddenly there was an ominous presence on his left leaning towards the medic who again looked fearful before muttering an apology. It was determined that he had a mild concussion, several bruised ribs, possibly even a crack, multiple lacerations from glass and a definite broken nose. Johnny similarly had a concussion and was significantly battered but thankfully alright. With medication pushed in hands they were sent out of the truck and towards Laswell and the truck that contained a cursing Price and a hovering Gaz.
“How is Price?” Johnny questioned the medic attending to him now, saddling up to Gaz in their hovering and constant harassment of the medic with non stop questions. Badger turned to Laswell who was currently taking a deep drag from a cigarette and looking up towards the target building.
“You got another one of those things?” Badger nodded his head towards Laswell’s cigarette when she looked back at him questioningly. She dug in her pocket for a pack along with a lighter and offered it to him.
“They didn't say anything about not smoking?” She teased looking back at the medic that still seemed to cower from them. Badger laughed more to himself than anything.
“You think that's gunna stop me?” He brought the cigarette to his lips and inhaled as he flicked the lighter to life, he exhaled the smoke slowly facing away from Simon and the truck with the rest of 141. “What's next?”
It was Laswell’s turn to laugh cynically before answering. “Hell if I know, you all will be put up in a secure hotel floor, we'll deal with the rest tomorrow. We’ve all been through hell and none of you are good to fight at the moment” She turned back to look over them all, she seemed to be cataloging them and he could see the wheels turning in her head. He stayed silent smoking his cigarette and nodded at her.
“We have transport for everyone to the hotel, we'll meet up at a secure location tomorrow to debrief.” She waved off handedly at a set of blacked out SUVs that were on the road a few paces from them. “Get some rest. You guys need it.” and with that she walked away from Badger, leaned her head into the truck that Price was fussing in, said something and then slipped into another sedan and drove off.
Simon plucked the cigarette from his lips, gloved fingers brushing his lips in the process and he pulled his mask up to smoke. They stood just close enough for their shoulders to lightly brush each other and they watched Johnny as he joined Gaz in fussing over Price as the medic stepped away with care instructions for Price.
Finally the day was over, and it was time for them to rest.
John “thinks he’s unlovable and people merely tolerate him” Soap Mactavish; is unconvinced when Gaz tells him that he is Ghost’s favorite on their team. Vehemently denies it. He’d love for it to be true, but knows in his heart that it isn’t.
Gotta love that sweet, sweet low self-esteem that makes that sweet angst
___
A Bit Too Much
Angst below the cut
___
Growing up Soap was described as “a bit too much”. By his parents, siblings, the kids at school— He just accepted that’s what he was. “A bit too much”. As he grew, he tried different things to deal with this. Not engaging with people was his first approach. Then when people started saying “too quiet” he changed things up.
“A bit too much”, “Too quiet”, “Tries too hard”, “Thinks he’s too good for us”, “Bipolar freak”—
So he gave up. He put up a front full of confidence. This became the persona everyone knew. This was Soap, that’s how he was. Brave, facing the world with a grin and a smug comment. But even though Soap lived the persona so long, he was constantly reminded that, well, he was too much. Too friendly, too arrogant. He talked back, stuck his neck out. And when he got those looks from everyone… Well, it took everything he had to not let his mask crack.
When he joined 141 and met Ghost, he smiled and continued the act. The confidence, the know-it-all attitude. That glare from Ghost almost made him break. But he kept going. He proved himself to be a valuable member of 141. He earned his mark. When Ghost started to tone down the aggression, Soap simply told himself the man was trying to be nice considering they were going to be working together for the unforeseeable future. He had to be nice so they could work together smoothly.
The jokes were odd but considering how dark some were Soap took them as Ghost trying to remind him of Ghost’s reputation. Then the shoulder pats after a job well done— Those were always done in front of others. Ghost couldn’t show people his distaste for Soap.
One evening they were on a mission in a temperate forest. It’s been quite a bit since then so Soap couldn’t really remember why they were there. But they had to camp out there overnight. A fire burning between them, laying on their backs, looking through the trees staring at the stars. The others were passed out, and it was between either Soap or Ghost to keep watch.
“Get some rest, sergeant.”
“Me? You tell me that with those bags under your eyes?”
The chuckle that came from Ghost wasn’t like the dry, forced laughter that he had heard before. It was warm, genuine. Soap couldn’t remember the last time he heard someone laugh like that in response to something he said/done.
He’s tired, probably thinks a knock knock joke would be hilarious.
Soap insisted he would take watch and Ghost looked at him with unreadable eyes before agreeing. Probably didn’t want to bother arguing with him considering how stubborn and insufferable Soap could be. Soap knows how he is, he remembers his mother telling him that several times before he finally joined the military.
Since then, Soap would think about how Ghost looked that night. Though he was in gear, same skull mask and balaclava, faded black grease around the eyes. He looked so- so—
Soap had a bad habit of becoming obsessive when he finds a person that he likes. Someone who he genuinely loves to be around. Past girlfriends and boyfriends and friends in general called him “clingy” and some said he would stalk them. He never tried to make them uncomfortable, but when he finds that person who brightened his day just by him seeing them… He tried to be around them as much as possible. But he would be constantly reminded of how weirded out people were by that.
But Ghost didn’t give him the same signs that he was crossing the line like those in the past. Wasn’t told to back away, stop talking for moment, just leave him alone for fuck’s sake. Soap tried to give Ghost his space, watched what he said, and leave him alone as often as possible. He wasn’t sure why this man was so patient with him. His own parents never gave him this kind of tolerance. Soap wondered if Ghost, despite his reputation, was a lot nicer then what people made him out to be.
So after deeming that Ghost was too nice to tell him to fuck off, Soap decided to avoid him. The first couple of days, if Soap saw Ghost in the hall or in the room he entered, he had to remind himself to leave him alone. The man needed a break. After a week and a half he got used to the lack of companionship (though he knows Ghost was loving the change). After three weeks Soap found company elsewhere.
He would pick random recruits to annoy for a day then leave them alone. Sometimes he annoyed Price because the captain had some actually funny facial expressions and if Soap said something off putting, Price would let him know without any words. But he tried to leave Price alone as much as possible. He didn’t want to wear him out like he did Ghost.
So Gaz became his next target. After the first day of inserting himself into Gaz’s dad-to-day, he would talk about whatever with him. He could say things to Gaz that he couldn’t with recruits or with Price (his judging facial expressions were amusing but did have a impact after a bit). Gaz would engage back, which was a nice change to the hesitant replies from the recruits or the short replies from Price (who was usually working on something when Soap “graced” him with his presence).
He found Gaz in Price’s office filing things away for the man while he was away. He decided to join him, pulling a chair from the corner of the room and sitting next to Gaz. After a minute they started talking about random things. Then Gaz asked him a question.
“Soap, I have to know… did you and Ghost get into a fight or something?”
Soap was doodling on his arm with a marker when Gaz asked this. He looked up with a confused expression, “No?”
“Really? Everyone thought something happened between you two since you’re not hanging out anymore.”
“I left before something did happen,” Soap replied as he returned to doodling.
It was Gaz’s turn to be confused, “What do you mean?”
“C’mon, Garrick. Man was bound to snap givin’ how much I bothered him!”
“Didn’t really look like you were bothering him. He’s been upset since you started avoiding him.”
Soap stops again, the felt tip of the marker presses into his skin. He’s been doing such a good job of avoiding Ghost and giving him his space that he hadn’t noticed how the man reacted to all of this.
“Upset? Sure it’s not been relief?”
He forced a laugh at the end of that statement but Gaz wasn’t laughing back.
“Soap, man is one wrong tone away from ripping someone’s head off. That’s why everyone thinks you two got into a fight. But you just left without any reason?”
Soap stares at Gaz, “What?”
“Soap… He’s been pissed at the world since his best friend just abandoned him!”
Best friend?
Those words shook Soap to his core. All his previous “best friends” were some poor sods who were a bit too friendly with him and Soap latched onto them, mistaking their tolerance for acceptance. He would notice after being dropped by someone he saw as his best friend that people would refer to them as his victim, not his friend. He never heard anyone referred to as his friend in general, let alone best friend.
“I’m-I’m not- He’s not my best friend. He could barely tolerate me…”
Gaz chose then to laugh, “You’re pulling my leg!”
When Gaz finally stopped laughing and noticed the incredibly confused look on Soap’s face. His smile drops and a grim look takes over.
“You’re not joking, are you?”
Soap shakes his head wordlessly.
“Seriously? You’re like his favorite person out of everyone anywhere. He likes you over Laswell!”
“No he doesn’t-“
“Man, yes he does! Where have you been where you think that you’re not Ghost’s favorite person?”
Soap stands abruptly, “Stop fucking with me, Gaz!”
Gaz flinches, “Soap-“
“Where have I been? Where have you been?! There is no way Ghost likes me- I’m just an annoying fly in his ear.”
Soap was nicknamed “Fly” as a kid by his dad, said he was as annoying and hard to get rid of as the actual insect. When he left for the military and eventually earned the callsign “Soap”, he never thought he would feel relief to be called a cleaning product before.
Soap storms off, leaving Gaz staring at him with concern written across his face. He all but ran out of the base, not caring how many people he almost ran into on his way out. He didn’t care that it was pouring rain or that he didn’t have a jacket on him, just a long sleeved shirt and some joggers on. He absentmindedly pushed his sleeve down on the arm he was doodling on as he walked. It was cold like hell froze over, which would have had to happen for Gaz, anyone, to think that Ghost liked him.
He came to a sewer pipe that they practiced crawling through with gear on to prepare for the field. But for now it was a place to hide. Soap crawled inside, finding it much roomier without twenty/thirty pounds of gear on. He curls up in a fetal position, every bit of his childhood, every moment that led up to him becoming who he was. To the mask that he wore every day. It all flooded over him.
His sisters complaining when he tried to play with them. His mother swatting him when he forgot to stop talking. His father forgetting to pick him up after school. His classmates talking about him behind his back. One of his teachers muttering “Something’s not right with him” as he walked away from her desk. His first boyfriend telling him that he was too clingy and that it was creeping him out. His first “best friend” telling him he was too weird and talked too much.
Once the dam broke he couldn’t stop the tears.
Out of all the cruel things that happened to him throughout the years, this was the cruelest of them all. That brief moment where he actually believed that Ghost liked him. That his laughs were genuine when Soap told a joke. That he actually paid attention when he told a story. That when Soap was excited about something he actually stopped to listen. But none of that was real.
Because Soap was a bit too much for anyone to handle.
Badger, a close combat specialist as been asked to join Task force 141 assist with carrying out the mission of capturing Hassan, what happens when a Badger gets backed into a corner.
or
almost a retelling of the Modern warfare campaign but lets add found family, romance? and maybe a twist
RIP to anyone that get notified when i post bc i gotta fix all my links bc NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU TOLD ME THEY DONT WORK and im dumb and was linking my blog to each thing not what it was suppose to be
Badger, a close combat specialist as been asked to join Task force 141 assist with carrying out the mission of capturing Hassan, what happens when a Badger gets backed into a corner.
or
almost a retelling of the Modern warfare campaign but lets add found family, romance? and maybe a twist
a/n I really wanted to change the name of the series to Why hes called Badger what do we think of that?
They were loaded into a van and had a pickup truck full of Los Vaqueros with them in a staging area. Time felt like it was dragging on while they waited for Ghost team one to clear through the tunnels and into the base. Badger had smoked down to the bottom of his second cigarette and was questioning whether to light a third when finally Alejandro's voice jumped onto their comm channel.
“All Ghost, one is inside”
Badger quickly put out the cigarette on the bottom of his boot and rolled his mask back down to cover his face completely while Simon responded back,
“Copy that. Two is inbound to the gate. You’re cleared hot when target is marked”
The van and the truck rumbled forwards on the road towards their target, and a helicopter could be seen rising from the tree line as well. Simon turned to them this time “We think Graves is in the HQ, holding his ground”
“Once we’re in, we split up. Close air clears the way.” Rudy pointed towards the helicopter that Captain Price was in. They all nodded and Simon continued
“With Shadows on the run, we locate Graves and kill him. Comprendes?”
“ completely , Lieutenant. All Ghost, stand by for breach”
Badger nodded and rechecked his newly issued weapon from the safehouse, he was packing light with only a hand full of replacement magazines being available for his use, he supposed Alejandro couldn't have expected that he would have to completely rearm the Los Vaqueros from just one safe house. He was trying to not bounce his leg in nervous energy the closer they got to the target.
“Soap, get the designator and mark targets for Price in the helo” Simon pointed to a scope on the wall of the van, Soap made an affirmative sound before collecting the scope and turning back to Simon. The van stopped in front of the gate, Badger's grip on his rifle tightened as he looked out the window to Shadows moving out from their post in suspicion. “Soap, you’re up- spot the entrance for the Captain”
“Security gate is off our left side” Rudy pointed out for Soap to get a better idea of where he was to be aiming the captain.
He stood from his spot next to Rudy and pushed towards the driver side crouching down in the window before bringing the scope to his eye, it only took him moments for him to target the right spot.
“Request for fire, Target marked” no sooner than the words leaving his mouth did the target turn into a fireball, and they got first hand witness of Shadows being tossed into the air from the force of the explosion and an entrance being made for Ghost team.
“Good guns, Bravo-6” The van was speeding towards the now open gate
“Copy, get to the HQ and find graves. Alejandro, use the chaos for cover and get to Valeria.”
“On me--go, go!” Rudy was rushing out the back of the van before it had even come to a complete stop, the driver was similarly bailing from the vehicle and they rushed to follow Rudy, the team from the pickup falling into as they rushed into the compound.
Badger stuck to Johnny like glue as he used the designator scope to mark targets for Price, Johnny had dropped to a knee the moment they had taken cover at the first building to mark up another building further up the road that had shooters firing down at them.
“Target marked- fire when ready.” He sounded a little giddy, it was expected when he was involved with blowing things up. Badger felt conflicted when the air support came in through, because on one hand they needed that cleared and on the other they were severely damaging the Los Vaqueros base, likely home for most of them. Rudy didn't seem to be bothered by it at the moment though.
“If Graves is in the HQ. we need to find him, keep pushing up”
They pushed forwards as the building in front of them erupted from the attacks from Captain Price and the Pilot. They came closer to the building, decimated and fired upon the Shadows that seemed to be flooding from the flames, most of them unable to return fire due to the flames that seemed to be sticking to them. Badger was trying to be tactical with his shots all too aware of the inability to be able to restock while hunting Graves but the firefight was chaos like Captain Price predicted and he was already reloading a magazine.
They pushed forwards again closer to where a scaffold tower was, well that is until they got pinned down dodging into the poor cover of cement barriers.
“Taking belt-fed fire from beneath the tower! Take it out!” Simon shouted into the comms looking over at Badger and Johnny from his own cover, Johnny was peeking out from behind the barrier to target the tower and Badger anxiously scanned the area to ensure no one was targeting Johnny specifically, it all seemed to be cover fire intent on keeping them in one spot for now. Not that it would last long if Johnny got his targeting right.
“Target marked, you're cleared hot!” He finally pulled back into the cover of the barrier and they took the moment to wait for Price to confirm the target.
“Copy- engaging your mark”
The Tower came down horrifically, the metal screeching as it crashed into the roof of a neighboring building and the suppression fire ceased, presumably crushed under the tower. They still had to fight through a motor pool littered with Shadows with the intention to kill, they pushed up as fast as they could, taking down any shadow that popped out from behind the cover of the cherry red tanker trucks parked in neat rows.
Rudy took the lead again running up to the stairs that lead to the higher level of the courtyard, this level held the destroyed tower and the building it crashed into. This of course was also filled to the brim with Shadows. Badger was surprised at how many Shadows Graves had managed to transport here originally, it seemed like an absurd amount of them for something that originally started as a covert mission to capture Hassan.
Badger and Johnny were following closely on Rudy's trail for cover, but Badger shouted when Johnny suddenly dropped down to his knee. His panic was only subsided when he noticed the scope back in Johnny's hand and he was targeting the building that held the tower.
“Requesting fire, grids marked”
“Copy your mark, weapons lose" Price confirmed as Johnny was being hauled back to his feet and dragged along with Badger.
“Feckin call when yer doin that shite, though you were fuckin shot” Badger snarled at him and Johnny looked to almost pale at the words, he nodded but Rudy was speaking to them before he could respond to Badger.
“Go through the barracks to the main building, That is the HQ. Graves would be there”
“That tower looks like it could get us closer to the HQ” Simon suggested as they pushed forwards again toward the barracks that Rudy pointed for them. Badger and Johnny pushed into the barracks, dropping anything that moved in their way, the place was crawling with Shadows that seemed to materialize in the corners. He had to reload again.
“Badge, targeting” Johnny called to him before he knelt again to steady his hand, he was looking out the window towards the HQ building. “Requesting fire, target tagged.”
“Target acquired, shots out”
They watched as the Helo drew closer, and the ripping sound of its gun tore through the air as the trucks that once in front of the HQ turned to fireballs killing the Shadows inside them. They targeted the men on the sidewalk in front of the doors to the HQ as they pushed from the barracks, Captain Price continued with the supporting fire allowing them to get closer with the limited cover between the ruined barracks and the HQ building.
“There it is, Graves should be inside!” Rudy and Simon were pushing up towards the further staircase from Badger and Johnny.
“Still got your flag up on the HQ”
“Let's keep it that way”
They got to the front doors and met back up, and checked the doors, all locked.
“It's locked, Rudy, what do you got?” Soap pulled on the door of the HQ again in a futile attempt to get them to open.
“Breacher charge”
“Nice” Soap took a step away from the door and let Rudy set the charge, Simon pulled Johnny further back from the charge, pushing him between himself and Badger.
“Clear to engage all threats inside. If you see Graves, drop him” Simon was ordering as Rudy was putting the final touch on the charge, watching as he too took a step away from the door. Johnny leaned out from between them and in an apologetic tone spoke to Rudy,
“Hey- Sorry about your base” he truly sounded remorseful, so did Rudy when he responded,
“ Me too, brother” he had the controls for the charge in his hands and he nodded to them before counting down and executing the charge, the door blew open and they rushed inside and were met unsurprisingly with the fire fight. Badger caught sight of Graves running on the second deck further into the building.
“Contact! Second Deck, Graves is on the run!” Badger shouted as he took fire towards Graves, he really wanted to get his share of the butcher bill from Graves, burning need for revenge and slowly started to replace the ice in his bones.
The second floor of the building seemed to be office space, or something similar because Badger found that he was jumping over desks in an effort to catch Graves, but Shadows per usual seemed to be popping out of nowhere keeping him from getting his hands on Graves.
Badger hadn't realized how much further he had gotten from his group, he was already in the control room and chasing Graves out an exit. He had just enough on Badger that he couldn't catch up and the shots that Badger managed to get off missed as Graves seems to be running erratically. Badger in his haste and unfamiliarity of the building ran outside and immediately fell half way down the flight of stairs that started only steps from the exit door. He cursed loudly.
“All stations, Be advised, Graves went over the wall.” Price reported over the comms.
“Sergeant!” Simon sounded furious. “Keep close” He was hauled to his feet and nearly thrown into Johnny as they moved down the stairs. They made it to the bottom safely just in time to watch an unseen RPG hit the helicopter that Price and the Pilot were in. Dred filled him as he watched the helicopter spiral with no control and Captain Price's panic come in over the comms
“We’re hit! We’re hit!”
“Price-!” Simon sounded equally as panicked as he watched the spiral come closer to the ground.
“Going down. We’re going down!”
“Steamin’ hell…Captain!” Soap was shouting into the comms looking for away to reach the Captain, they heard the helicopter crash as it went out of view,
“ That fucking bastard, Graves!” Rudy cursed “lets get over and stop him”
“Rodolfo, what's on the other side?” Soap reluctantly left the locked door that he thought would have brought him closer to helping Price, they had to focus on the mission they had to get Graves. He had to get Graves.
“Training grounds, who knows what his plan was with that” Rudy was standing at the base of the wall and looking up towards the top. Johnny immediately crouched to help Rudy up the wall.
“I gotcha, go on” Soap urged as he boosted him up to to the wall, ”let's end this asshole”
Badger helped Johnny get up the wall. They both sat straddled on the wall looking down at them, and Soap looked down at them expectantly. Badger hesitated.
“Guys coming?”
“No. Price and the pilot need help,” He nodded to Badger “you three finish this” It was all the permission that Badger needed, he hauled himself up the wall taking Johnny's hand for help to make it all the way over. He looked back down to Simon once he got onto the wall. “Don't get distracted” Simon was taking off as soon as the words left his lips.
“Look!” Rudy sounded panicked and it brought his attention back to the situation at hand. “That's not ours” Fuckin hell it was a tank coming around one of the buildings
“Holy shit… Graves brought a fuckin tank” This just got alot harder than he expected it to be. Badger's usual grace continued as he crashed down off the wall barely escaping the shot from the tank, Rudy and Johnny rolled out of the way with ease and took off in opposite directions. It was important they did not bunch up.
“Looks like the hunters are gettin hunted now, huh? Ain't that a kick in the ass?” Graves voice flooded over the comms, it shouldn't of been unexpected considering they've shared comms before but to hear his voice now sent a shiver down Badgers spine. He darted into the first open building he saw, he needed to get to higher ground.
The building wasn't empty, he ran straight into a nest of Shadows, it was stupid to assume Graves wouldn't of had support in the training grounds, He exploded into action taking down the first two closest to the door before dodging behind the corner of the stairs for cover.
“Contact! Buildings are festerin with Shadows!”
“Can't wait to bake this bastard” Johnny was teasing over the comms, Badger watched him dart behind cover in the open. Another set of shadows moved from their own cover, and with another burst of fire he watched as they collapsed to the floor, the final one shouted and scrambled for cover again.
“We'll need something stronger to Kill Graves in that tank” Rudy was also dodging between cover outside of the main training building. “This is our training area- plenty we can use, look around.”
Johnny was bolting again and narrowly missed being fired upon by Graves, who knocked down a wall in an attempt to get closer to Johnny, Badger cursed as he watched Johnny stumble, and cursed, he should have his help but he had to clear this building damned if they got Graves only to be taken by a stray shot. Rudy rushed to his position and dragged him to his feet and pointed to a brightly colored boxes that littered around the training grounds
“Soap! Find some C4 we can use on the tank” He pushed him towards the box before he fired upon Graves again taking the attention away from Soap as he searched. A Burst of fire pebbled the wall right next to Badger, he cursed as he turned around to see the Shadow that had scrambled for cover, weapon shaking in his hand.
“Thought yer were elite private army?” Badger shook his head and moved towards the Shadow who was struggling with his weapon, a jam maybe? He raised his own weapon to fire upon the Shadow when he bolted, out of the building, weapon thrown at Badger in an attempt to get more time. Badger just stepped to the door watching as the Shadow ran to the only area of the training grounds that seemed not to have cover. He collapsed as bullets tore into his armor and into his flesh. Badger turned back to the house and went to the roof.
“You and your Mexican friends fucked with the wrong hombre MacTavish” Graves voice was grating,
“Come on out and lets talk about it”
“You think this is a fucking game out here? You wanna play war? Lets place some fuckin war chicos!”
Graves spotted the building that Johnny was rummaging through and fired upon the building bullets tearing the wall open,
“One o’ you dip-shits need to die last-- whos it gonna be?”
Badger lost track of Rudy on the ground and he only hoped that Johnny hid further in the building. Graves needed to be distracted, he had to get him away from Johnny so that he could get the C4.
“Oi! Graves!” Badger had ran down and out into the same open section as the downed Shadow. He fired blindly towards the tank, well aware that it was doing nothing against the armor.
“Oh the little Badger back again?” Well he certainly got the attention he was looking for, the ground between him and the tank was torn up with Graves firing upon him, He darted between cover shooting blindly in the hopes to get Johnny and Rudy more time for whatever they were doing. The supporting Shadows were gone, He did his job. “Badger this cat and mouse game is significantly less fun when you hide the entire time!”
Fuck. He had done it this time, the last place he darted behind was too close to the outer training wall and Graves cut off his only other escape. “You know Badge, I wasn't finished playing before your friends interrupted, I think you've earned last to die” His voice grated on Badger's nerves, he wanted to get out from the cover, he wanted to get away, he wanted to tear Graves limb from limb.
“Go fuck yourself Graves!” Johnny! The tank turned away from where Badger was cornered and instead to view where Johnny had successfully made it to the roof of the building.
“You got a healthy respect for authority Soap” Badger was a forgotten plaything again, “I like that about you” Badger bolted from where he was pinned down, he caught a flash of Rudy running and he met up with him. He had a handful of C4 and a detonator.
There was a loud explosion from where the tank had been before Badger ran. He heard Johnny whoop and Rudy looked over his shoulder to the tank.
“Tank is taking Damage, hit him again!” Rudy reported before he waved Badger to follow him back towards the tank, he tossed his load of C4 and waited for the tank to cross over it. Johnny jumped down from his spot on the roof, moving towards the same direction that Rudy's C4 was, leading him.
“You’re Shepherd's lapdog. You get paid to break the rules”
“There's only two rules here, boys. Walk away or win. Guess which one I choose?”
More shadows entered the training grounds and crossed where Johnny was heading, Badger cursed and headed that way.
“Shoulda gone home when you had the chance Soap- y'all and that asshole with the mask, hiding behind that uniform” Graves was starting to become belligerent, the previous misplaced humor retreating from his tone.
Badger entered the same building as Johnny, the firefight inside already started in full, he entered through the carport and fired into the first shadow he saw, watching them fall back onto the hood of a rusted out car, they partially fell into the hood of the car it crumbing under the slack weight.
“You wore that uniform!” Badger shouted into the Comms, turning to further enter the building, he could hear Johnny going up the stairs, bodies littered behind him.
“That uniform was a limitation, I shed that skin..” Like the snake he is.
“Like a fuckin’ snake-” Johnny sounded disgusted as he spoke, Badger met up with him on the roof and followed after him as he pointed to a torn up building before jumping down from the roof, Badger rolled back to his feet following Johnny to the bright red box.
“Like a fuckin soldier, son” they had him, he was angry and the tank wasn't moving in a logical manner anymore,
“You had to make your own little army cause you couldn't hack it in the real one” Johnny was egging him on to get closer to where he was standing, he had another pack of C4 and shoved another one into Badger's hand. Rudy was urging them to keep pounding the tank.
An eerie laugh came from Graves “that's almost funny comin’ from you but then again, I remember my first rodeo too.” Another shadow appeared out of the cover of a wall, as soon as they were seen they were gone, a bloody pool on the ground. More were entering the building “you're on the short road to hell now, son. I told you to go home but you didn't listen”
“You'll hang for this” Johnny led them up to the roof, Badger did his best to provide cover fire but there were too many for just him to pick off in the time they had. Johnny tossed two grandads down the stairs and waited for the blast. Nothing moved behind them.
“Knock that honor shit off, Johnny, I'll be sipping Tequila, forgetting where I buried your ass in a week, That goes for all of you. Can you say the same?” Badger wished that he would forget where he'd bury Graves but he has the feeling that this mission is going to stick with him for a long time.
Graves must of caught sight of Rudy because the tank stopped in the pursuit of Johnny and Badger and instead turned away from them
“Hey-Rodolfo! Don't go thinking lo uno, Quatro, Unos are su amigos, Rodolfo, cause they ain't. Ellos no le gusta usted.” Johnny took the moment to launch another set of C4 at Graves, and Badger hoped it would drown out the sound of Graves' extremely American sounding Spanish.
It didn't. “Quando estees completo, los amigos will drop los vaqueros like a bad fucking habit brother. Comprende?” Badger launched his C4 at the tank as well, watching as fire bloomed under the tank. He finally drove over the set of C4 that Rudy threw ages ago, and he took the opportunity to set it off as well, the whole tank turning into a fireball. It stopped moving.
“We got em'” Rudy joined them in front of the blaze. Soap bumped his shoulder into Rudy's celebratory “Brought a gun to a tank fight…”
“Yeah we did.” Johnny was laughing and watching the fire with delight. Badger was staring into the flames and the smoke and watched as the hatch ever so slightly lifted before dropping down again.
That fucker was still alive.
He snarled and stepped to the tank, it took little effort to get himself on top of the wreck he could hear Johnny and Rudy protesting, they hadn't seen the hatch move.
The heat from the fire was borderline uncomfortable, but it replaced the ice. The hatch was scorching to the touch through his gloves but he tore it open, nearly tipping off the wreck with the effort.
Systems were blaring in the tank and he could hear the commotion of Graves in there, trapped like a bug. He didn't have to go too far into the tank to see that Graves was panicking, he was pulling at the driver who was most definitely dead, his neck turned at an unnatural angle. Graves was battered from the explosion, he had blood pouring from a gash across his forehead and flames had startled to lick into the inside of the tank, turning the heat to a swelter. He smiled looking down at Graves. Who stood pleading.
He shook his head and used one finger to cover his own lips over his mask in a shushing motion, Graves' pleas fell on deaf ears, quite literally unheard over the commotion of the fire and the shouting of Johnny and Rudy.
“You asked me why I was called Badger!” He stood straight and aimed his weapon into the tank, “Funny thing about badgers, they never seem to let things go” he leveled it off to Graves forehead, right between pleading eyes. “Belligerent as a Badger.” a single shot and his rifle clicked. He relished in the way that Graves collapsed to the floor of the ruined tank, relished in the warmth of the flame. He took the empty magazine from his weapon and whipped it towards the carcass of Graves. The fire was worsening around him, heat no longer a comfort and instead becoming scorching. He turned from Graves.
He stepped down from the tank feeling lighter than before, a grim look settled upon him as he fell back in line with Johnny and Rudy, They both looked startled at what they had witnessed. Badger picked up his Radio.
“Badger to Ghost, I've got Soap and Rudy, Graves is KIA. How’s Price” He pulled his mask up and lit a cigarette that he took from his vest,
“Angry. Lost a good cigar in the crash…pilots okay too. Out” Badger nodded in response although it was unseen by Simon. He turned to look over at Johnny who was flushed from the little skin that Badger could see.
“ Alejandro - base secure. Graves is dead. We’re coming your way” Rudy turned away from the wreck and led them towards the RV with Alejandro.
It took them a while to reach the area designated for RV and once they reached it Captain Price's voice was ordering in their ear.
“Soap. prep for transport and get Laswell, Hassan and the missile are in Chicago.” Fuck. Badger took the last drag of his cigarette before he crushed it into the ground. Rudy was quick to help get them transport to the hangar three, and was greeted by Alejandro smirking with a barely compliant Valeria in his grip.
“Tonight, Las Almas can sleep” He smiled wolfishly as he spoke and they all saw his grip tightened as Rudy opened the door of the truck for Alejandro.
“I'll be free in 24 hours” Valeria was smug as she was shoved into the seat. “Can't say the same about you, Vaqueros”
Soap was in the lead following behind Alejandro and took the moment to step closer and egg Valeria on.
“You're going down for what you did.”
“It doesn't matter what I did. It matters what you can prove…” she leered forwards before Alejandro shoved her further into the car and Rudy slammed the door shut. Price and Gaz loaded into the plane behind them, settling down into conversation with Laswell over the computer and going over plans for Chicago.
The Three of them stood with Alejandro and Rudy saying goodbyes.
“Go, you have work to do.” Alejandro pulled Johnny forwards in a brief hug, that wolfish grin returned as he whispered something into Johnny's ear, he flushed.
“Keep fighting the good fight, hermano” Johnny stuttered only slightly
“To the bitter end, my brother” they separated with a handshake and Johnny turned to embrace Rudy similarly though this time it didn't seem like Rudy whispered to him.
“Good luck Amigos” he nodded his head toward Simon and Badger who stood only a few steps behind. Johnny took the step away and brushed his shoulders with both of them as he pushed through them to get up the ramp to the transport plane.
Simon turned to watch him go up but Badger stayed facing Alejandro and Rudy.
“ Thank you for the hospitality” he laughed with them before settling back to serious “ sorry about your base. Best of luck.” he nodded and started to step back before Alejandro pulled him into a hug and Rudy pressed his hand to his shoulder.
“ Come back to visit” it was simple and it was a goodbye. Badger turned to follow Johnny on to the ramp. Simon trailed behind them.
“Ghost” Alejandro called out for his attention when he was halfway to the ramp, Simon turned. “ don't get lost, brother”
“ Of course” He raised his fist and then slipped onto the transport. Alejandro and Rudy were smiling as they watched them leave.
To Chicago
First Next Last Masterlist AO3
SOoo in game im pretty sure Graves isnt dead, this franchise def seems like no body means not dead. that being said i dont plan on him coming back up and it seems fitting that Badger gets to have the last say, plus i like to make him a bit deranged :)
Badger was groggy, the adrenaline that had kept him standing through the prison break had slipped from him in the drive to Alejandro's smaller safe house compound with Los Vaqueros. His whole body ached and his throat felt like he swallowed rocks, he wasn't certain that he would be able to speak if the desire had been there.
During the drive to the compound Price with the remote help from Laswell explained the Shadow's botched transport mission and the subsequent cover up. It was a right mess that Badger was upset that they had been pulled into. But he understood. He tried his best to keep up with the report and debrief of the situation but he kept slipping deeper into the dark than he meant to, and he knew he flinched himself awake at least once because he remembers the tight grip that lingered on his arm.
When the van rumbled to a stop and they poured out from the back, Price stepped out last and looked over his team. Badger had clearly taken the worst of it when they had been separated but the others weren't unmarred. Johnny was battered and had a bandage wrapped tightly on his bicep, it looked like it was starting to bleed through but was surprisingly neatly done. Ghost, not unsurprisingly, was mostly untouched, but his gear was slightly askew and the significant lack of knives was a tell-tale sign of physical combat and if one paid extra close attention, not that Badger was, he was ever so slightly favoring his left leg when he walked. They all looked exhausted. Price frowned at them, worry evident on his face.
“Clean up and get some rest, when the sun's up we’ve got a call to make” He waved a hand at them before turning back to Gaz who had just slipped from the van, pulling him along in conversation leaving them alone.
Badger felt like he was taking too much effort just to stay in one place and not wobble, he had no idea where they were supposed to go, it was a larger compound and it was poorly lit in the early hours of the morning. He looked up lamely to Ghost and Johnny, Johnny looked similarly unfocused and Ghost was just staring at the two of them before he made a grunting sound turning away from them too. Johnny had started to protest at being left behind before Ghost turned back to them expectantly. They clearly were meant to follow.
Ghost led them to what thankfully seemed to be a small private quarter, and Badger was simply thankful to be separate from the mass of Los Vaqueros that were reconnecting in the more open parts of the building. There also was a small restroom, it was simple and worn down, the mirror was tarnished giving it a cloudy look and was chipped in the corners, the sink had a wide basin but was stained and similarly cracked, a tub with a showerhead also graced the restroom and was relatively intact as well.
The room itself was also simple, it had two twin beds that were made in the same manner one would find in a barracks inspection, a small foot locker was at the end of the beds and a desk was pushed up against the wall underneath the only window the room boasted. The blinds were drawn. Ghost had pulled the curtain tight when he had entered, dumping his gear on the desk and set to work in relative silence, Johnny too was peeling off his gear adding his to the pile on the desk. Badger looked over himself and his distinct lack of gear and he felt a shiver run through him again, he locked himself in the restroom before they had finished, before they had a moment to look him over too.
A sound of frustration slipped from Badger as he stood in the small restroom, he stared into the tarnished mirror little bubbles and chips in the glass doing nothing to keep his eyes from tearing at his broken face. His nose was even more crooked than before, and he had a trail of blood that had dried leaking from his nose, it had caught on his lips making the split look like it had poured blood. He stretched his lips tight against his teeth, a small hiss of pain came from him as the split reopened and blood bubbled back to the surface.
He tilted his head to look better at his forehead, that of which was also split open and had leaked blood down this temple, he looked disgusting. A bloody mess and he felt sore and cold, like ice replaced his bones. His hands trembled as they settled back down onto the counter of the sink, he took a deep breath in and held it listening to what was going on out in the bedroom.
He could faintly hear Johnny rambling on and bickering with Ghost, who just responded in turn, he could hear gear being cleaned and the clicking of a weapon being dismantled.
He took another deep breath. He looked back down at his hands again, his fingernails dark with dirt and blood, his knuckles had been split as well though he doesn't remember how they came to be that way. He avoided looking at himself in the mirror, he didn't want to see himself as broken as he felt. He felt small, and he felt damaged.
He can’t. They had a mission to do, he couldn't be broken. Broken tools were set aside, left behind.
Another breath. He stepped away from the sink and towards the shower. Clean, he wanted to be clean. He turned the water on and hoped that he could get it relatively warm. Anything that wasn't the ice cold of the basin. That wasn't the case.
He stood dumbly before the shower still in the ruined clothes from the day, He could feel the tiny pinpricks of ice cold water splashing back from the tile and onto his skin. The ice of his bones felt ever colder and he turned the shower off. He couldn't face the cold again. He watched the water drip from the tile into the drain, he could feel bile bubbling up and he swallowed hard.
“fuck” he whispered. He was broken. He took a shuddered breath, and he could feel himself unraveling by the second. He swallowed and tried to steel his face, he just wanted to go back into the bedroom and sleep, he wanted to pretend that this hasn't happened, he wanted to just get back to simple missions with clear paths of actions. His body felt heavy with exhaustion. He opened the door.
One of the two beds in the room was strewn with parts from a rifle that Johnny was cleaning, he was perched on the foot locker. Ghost was still at the desk organizing and cleaning some of the gear. They both stopped what they were doing and looked back at Badger. Badger who was standing in the doorway of the restroom, still dressed in ruined clothes, nearly as bloody as when they saved him from the depths of the prison and definitely as distraught as then.
“oh…Badge?” Johnny set down the item he was working on and sat up straighter when he spoke to him. Badger just shook his head. He didn't know why he opened the door, he should have just stayed in there, let them fall asleep, rest in the few hours they had until they had to continue. Johnny turned distraught to look over at Ghost when Badger didn’t speak, Ghost was staring at him, eyes felt like they were boring into him, he felt himself try to deflate at the stare, he nearly took a half step back into the restroom. In the restroom the only eyes he had to feel would be his own in the clouded mirror.
“Come on Badger,” Ghost was stepping away from the desk and towards Badger “let's get you cleaned up, yeah?”
They all crowded into the small restroom, Ghost sat Badger on the lip of the tub and Ghost perched himself on the lid of the toilet, his hands lightly gripping Badger's face to inspect him, their legs threaded between each other so that Ghost could sit closer. Johnny was sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the tub and he had first aid supplies pulled from the sink cabinet strewn in front of him, he was taking the time to organize it. They sat in silence.
“Your nose is broken” Ghost stated simply before turning to look down at Johnny, who handed him a damp rag. Badger just nodded, he knew that. He brought the rag to his face and was gentle in cleaning his face, Johnny kept replacing the rag that he was using. Badger kept dodging their eyes but he could feel Johnny staring at him while Ghost worked, especially his hands that currently had a death grip on the tub.
Ghost tossed the latest rag into the sink behind him before he started to tape his nose, it wasn't much especially since it couldn’t interfere with his vision for what was to be upcoming, but the simple pressure and stability of the tape was a relief. Badger was staring blankly at a spot on the wall behind Ghost. Johnny's staring was making him anxious, he wasn't used to him being so silent.
He startled slightly when cold fingers touched the split at his lip, the bitter taste of an antiseptic gel made him grimace slightly and his eyes came back to focus on Ghost, his eyes seemed softer than usual and faintly held worry. Badger swallowed nervously before flicking his eyes back down to Johnny then back to the spot on the wall.
Fingers went to his forehead last, it had gotten a bit better from when it first was split, but of course Graves managed to make a mess of that as well. Badger let his eyes slip closed as Ghost worked.
Johnny pulled his hands from the grip on the tub and instead into his, Badger looked down at him and quickly flushed at the little smile that Johnny had shared with him. Johnny moved closer, he was leaning on Ghost's legs, he almost looked like he was lounging, as if the cold tile of the room wasn't bothering him. Maybe it wasn't, his hands felt warm compared to the ice of Badgers.
He ran a damp rag over his knuckles coming away red, he was gentle they both were being gentle and he was starting to notice the frequent breaks they took when touching him, and he was grateful. Slowly they replaced the memories of cold and ripping hands with their light touches and soft reassurances.
Johnny folded Badgers hands onto his own lap, he pulled away carefully and started to clean up placing the first aid kit back under the sink, Ghost also stood from his spot across from Badger as disappeared into the bedroom, returning after the sounds of rummaging through the footlockers ceased and he had handful of clean clothes, pushing them into Badgers hands.
“Here.”
Alone in the restroom again he looked down at the clothes in his hands, they were simple enough and clean and that’s all that mattered to him in the movement.
When he emerged from the restroom dressed and hair fixed to be more neat than what it had been he stood dumbly looking over the room. Ghost was gone but had clearly claimed one of the two beds in the room, his gear and knives set out against the still made sheets. He looked over to the other bed that Johnny sat at the foot of, his weapon still dismantled and being cleaned set across the footlocker.
“You look a lot better” he barely looked up from what he was doing, he sounded upset.
Badger hummed in response and sat down at the head of the bed, tucking himself into the corner watching Johnny work in silence on his weapon. His hands seemed to be trembling slightly as he worked pieces through a cleaning cloth and oil and he had his lip trapped between his teeth.
He was working in a more frantic manner the longer Badger watched him, he didn't know what to say, was he mad? No, it seemed more sad. It didn't matter because he tossed the pieces down in his lap and turned sharply towards Badger, his eyes were glassy, Badger froze.
“Johnny?” He nearly winced, his voice sounded so rough and it came out barely a whisper, he thought Johnny didn't hear him until he was suddenly outpouring of emotion.
“I'm sorry, I didn't want to leave you behind, were not suppose to leave people behind, we took so long to get back to you, I'm sorry, badger im sorry” it same out in a rush and it sounded like he was begging, he hand even leaded closer towards where Badger was staring back at him.
“Johnny its ok-”
“It's not okay! We were safe! Safe while you we subjected to graves,”
“Johnny stop” he ignored him,
“it's not right, Badger it's not right im sorry,”
“Soap” he was spiraling and he wasn't listening
“we shouldn't of even left, we should have followed, we shou-”
“Shut up!” Please just listen to me. “Johnny, you were shot, and outnumbered. There wasn't anything you could have done.” It was easier to be logical with Johnny's breaking than his own, breaking wasn't the right word for it, Johnny didn't break.
He stared at him, Badger didn't like how his face was twisted in despair, that he was shaking, he seemed like he might fall apart. Johnny was gripping his arm awfully close to where he was shot, and he shook his head before looking down at his lap.
“Come here,” he had shuffled a bit closer to the wall so that Johnny could sit next to him but instead he got the full weight of Johnny settled between his legs and pressing into his chest. His mind blanked for a moment before he wrapped Johnny in his arms, not that he seems to notice the hesitation. “It's not your fault, we had no idea what was going to happen. And it's not your fault I rushed Graves and was caught.” he tightened his grip on Johnny and leaned back into the wall.
“What happened to you guys anyway?” Badger felt Johnny take a sharp inhale before slowly letting it out, he didn't lean back to look at him when he spoke and instead kept his face tucked into Badger.
“Graves had started shooting and I was shot when everything started, you were already on the ground, you looked so bloody, your eyes were barely ope- I don't think you could see anything, Graves was stepping on you and I swear it sounded like a death rattle from you, i tried to stay, to help but Ghost kept shouting for me to leave, that it wasn't safe and that I had to go. I think he shoved me. I went over the road and down a hill. I don't know where Ghost had gotten off too, if he was alive, if you were alive.” Badger felt him shudder, “I couldn't get him on the radio for a while, I thought I was alone out there. I was for a while I guess. Ghost helped me through the City when I finally got him on comms, he made it to a church I guess and took to overwatch.” He paused and settled farther into his arms, Badger could feel his face flushing and he avoided looking down at Johnny settled safely in his arms, Johnny who looked like he felt safe, looked comfortable with his face resting on Badger's collarbone, his hair a whisper on his chin.
“I can't really remember a lot of after I met back with Ghost, I remember us pulling off the road for him to bandage up my arm, and us getting to a safehouse. Not this one. Rudy was there. Ghost fixed me up better there and he insisted that I rest, I don't know for how long but we made the plan to reuse Alejandro and you, and well you know the rest.”
Badger felt his hiccupping breath start up again and he was starting to mutter about leaving him behind again, Badger nearly crushed him pulling him closer.
“It's okay, you're not alone.” He spoke into the crown of his head, and he slowly felt Johnny's grip on his arm soften, Badger rocked slightly and tried to distract Johnny from his own thoughts, it seemed to work as eventually he felt his breath even out and him go slack in his arms, soon Badger followed into the inky dreamless dark.
Badger woke to the sound of clicking in the room, the lights had been turned off from when they were forgotten by Johnny and Badger earlier, but the window that had been dark was faintly filtering in the early morning sun. Ghost had taken up Johnny's previous spot at the end of the bed and was finishing the cleaning and reassembly of Johnny's weapon. He was missing the hard shell of his mask from previous and instead was in just the balaclava, and he was lacking the usual eye black that he typically wore. Badger could hear the faint dripping of the shower in the restroom.
Without the hardshell mask and the eyeback Badger could see the touches of his past, there was a deep scar that cut up from his right eyebrow disappearing into the balaclava, just under the same eye was the tail end of another scar that seemed to be sunken into the skin that too disappeared under the balaclava and at the bridge of his nose he had a jagged scar that still had touches of pink on it from healing.
Honey brown eyes met his own and he wasn't awake enough to look sheepish for being caught holding Johnny let alone staring at Ghost. But he didn't seem upset, rather he seemed content. When he finished with Johnny's weapon he set it down lightly against the bed and turned to lean on the wall and look back at Badger.
“I'm glad you're back” it was simple, and honeyed. He looked almost at peace, if only for this moment in the little sanctuary that was private quarters. Badger nodded back to him and he felt the beginnings of a smile on his lips. “We have to be up in 30,” He looked down to Johnny who managed to completely tangle himself in Badger while they slept, Badger could have sworn he saw Ghosts eyes crinkle in a smile before he stood up. He made a show of placing a new pack of cigarettes and a lighter down on the desk next to a tac vest that hadn't been there previously before slipping into the restroom again.
Badger looked down at the sleeping man in his arms, his eyes tracing resting features, none of the previous despair marring his face, his hair was a little messy and Badger could faintly see the impression of lines on his face from his shirt. With reluctance he shook him lightly, running his hand across his back trying to rouse him gently, not wanting to startle him into consciousness. Johnny mumbled slightly and pressed his face further into Badger, his breathing slipping back into sleep.
“Johnny,” he was a little firmer with his hand shaking him slightly again, a louder protest came from him. A low chuckle came from the restroom and Ghost peaked his head around the corner, eye black present under his balaclava.
“He doesn't get up if you're being nice about it.” He spoke like he had experience and looked at Badger expectantly. The corners of Badger's mouth turned down slightly before looking back down at Johnny, he wanted to be nice about it, clearly Johnny was having a rough go of it too. “Badge, I didn't mean be a monster about it, just be more firm and quit worryin,” He flushed this time, he didn't like being caught worrying and especially by Ghost.
“Johnny, it's time to get up” Badger started to sit up more from his half slouched position with Johnny in his lap, this time Johnny did wake fully and turn a dirty look upon him. “Quit yer fussin,” Badger sat them all the way now that Johnny wasn't leaning into him completely, he looked dog tired still and he yawned as he stood up to get ready.
They all hasten to get ready and soon they left the little sanctuary of the private quarters, the further they walked away from the room and closer to where they were to meet Price Badger could feel each other falling back into their rolls. Ghost was stern, and kept his distance, Johnny more awake now stayed in the middle of them and seemed to light up at the opportunity to strike back at Graves and the Shadows. Badger tried to look like he was put back together, he smoothed his face and stood with false confidence, he was to be stone again, quiet, dependable, not broken.
“You hid this-” they stood in a dark room, or rather a shed just outside of the main building of the safehouse, light filtered in from a covered window behind where Captain Price was sitting, he was ‘conversating’ with General Shepherd. “Why?” Price spoke with barely contained anger.
“We all keep secrets, Captain”
“Why the hell wasn't I informed?” his voice dropped to a deadly whisper, Badger was glad that he wasn't on the other side of the computer.
“Consider yourself well informed now, John” Apparently General Shepherd wasn’t that concerned about being on his side of the computer after all, he spoke with lazy confidence similar to Graves.
“Oh, that's really fuckin’ helpful, General, thank you” Price leaned forwards closer to the screen to better glare at Shepherd. “But you're a day late and a missile short, there's three of them- we only found two”
“Then point yourself in that direction and fix it” Shepherd was speaking as if they were children asking obvious questions, Badger gritted his teeth and watched as the others shifted in annoyance.
“And who fixes you, eh?”
“I don't need fixing” he was taken aback “I'm a patriot protecting my country”
Price huffed and got out of his seat, he was starting to pace, clearly annoyed with Shepherd he didn't turn back to the computer as he spoke. “You're protecting your own ass”
“I do what needs to be done and no one holds me down with a roll of red tape” Price was shaking his head and turned back to the computer, “I know what's best for the cause”
Price had a humorless smile across his face and a dry chuckle escaped him as he leaded back towards Shepherd
“You’ve lost your mind, General”
“And you’ve forgotten what you’re fighting for, John. To do good you gotta do some bad” His voice was rising as he spoke until he was shouting “when we shit we bury it, that's how it works.”
“Yeah” it was simple, and detached, Price was staring down the screen “we don't bury each other with it, do we?”
“You need to turn off that side o’ your head and face down the real enemy”
Price seemed moments from raging, he pulled the chair back from the table and stood in its place, his hand came down hard on the table as he leaned down to speak.
“You need to call off your Shadow.”
“Graves?”
“Yeah .”
Shepherd laughed “He's a dog with a bone, and I highly recommend you don't try and take it”
“This is your last chance to change your mind”
“Then what?”
“Then after I go for him…” he leaned ever closer to the camera, anger radiating from him “I'm coming for you.” He slammed the computer shut and looked back at them standing around the table, and nodded.
It seemed to be a que for Alejandro, a devious smile tore across his face as he stepped back from the table and led them to the main room of the safehouse though the quickly gathering Los Vaqueros trailing behind them.
“Hey- Vaqueros, pay attention.” Alejandro waved them over to another large table that Rudy was already standing at, Price took up the head of the table with Alejandro on his left, Ghost took his right, Badger and Johnny stood across from them next to Gaz, the Vaqueros officers filled in where they could.
“Alright, listen” Price's voice projected to fill the room, “we are taking back your HQ. we are getting our prisoner. We are killing Commander Graves”
“When?” Rudy looked eager as he spoke looking around the room.
“Now.” Ghost answered
“This is a fight against our own,” Price was speaking with his hands emphasizing each point “we are not 141 and Los Vaqueros on this, were a team” Ghost dumped a bag of masks onto the table, “Ghost team”
Ghost set the bag that had contained the masks down on the ground and he pulled his own mask off. Badger was surprised, and he felt Johnny shift next to him, He knew they were both staring. Staring at a conventionally handsome face with a strong nose, short cropped and the most lovely shade of honey blonde hair, he had eye black going over the tops of his cheeks and just above his eyebrow. Badger was most surprised by the neat beard he sported. He was right about the scars he saw in the restroom. He had a long scar that went from his chin, through his lip and stopping just at his eye, it was sunken slightly and pulled the corner of his lip just slightly. He was stunning.
“Good to see you again, Simon” Price was looking at Simon as he spoke, and a flash of jealousy struck through Badger. It was uncalled for, there was no reason that Price wouldn't have known his name being the Captain and all, but yet hearing Simon's name for the first time come from anyone other than his own lips stung. “If your in, take a mask… if not, don't”
As quick as Simon's face was there he pulled one of the masks from the table on to cover him again, they all did. It only took moments for all the masks to be cleared from the table in front of them, Los Vaqueros pushing forwards to join them and listen to Alejandro debrief them for this mission.
“My troops know the Fuerzas Especiales facility better than Shadows” He nodded as he spoke, “so we’ll have the advantage. Be advised, they'll be on high alert because of the prison break. We’ll infiltrate the base with two Ghost teams. Team one is Captain Price, Gaz, me and one pilot, Team two is Ghost. Soap, Badger and Rudy.”
Rudy had placed a few maps and blueprints down on the table as Alejandro was speaking and now he was pointing to sectors on them as he continued to explain the plan, they all focused on committing it to memory. “Team-1 will use the tunnels to get to the tarmac and commandeer a helo, the pilot will take the Captain up. Team-2, will stand by outside until Price fires on the entry gate and lets them in to fight their way to Graves.” His voice turned dark “I suspect he’ll be in my HQ defended by his best shooters. While Gaz and me locate and secure Valeria, Ghost team-2, will find Graves and kill him”
A small roar of excitement erupted from Los Vaqueros, Alejandro looked over the room with confidence before joining in the roar.
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